#and start knitting it like 5 seconds later

[quins-makeshift-menagerie]

Hey Quin? How are things going with y’all?

I want to say better but I don’t think that’s entirely right

For now things are just okay. Like a neural okay

[meazalykov]

nice to finally meet you

lena oberdorf x bayern!reader

summary: reader discovers that her long time rival will be her teammate-- and possibly more.

warnings: long chapter, not 100% proofread

you walk into the training headquarters at bayern, excited since this is the first training which will prepare for the pokal round of 16. since this will be your second time in this competition, you hope to win finally. 

as you walked into the locker room, the familiar chatter of your teammates seemed subdued. it was still there, with sydney and sam with their inside jokes– but it was quieter. your mind can't shake the feeling that something is off. 

sitting down on the bench in front of your locker, you change into the training kits then drink a bit of water, since there was still time before you had to head onto the pitch. 

you look up and see klara give you a sympathetic smile, you smile back brightly. this made klara’s eyes widen– did you not know?

as you lace up your boots, you catch georgia, sam, giulia, sydney, and klara exchanging glances before looking back at you. this bothered you. these people are some of your closest friends on the team– are they hiding something?

"alright, what's going on?" you demand, your voice echoing off the walls of the locker room as you crossed your right leg over the left. 

your shoulders flinched when you felt lea’s hand rest of your right shoulder. everyone knew about the news– except for you. lea hopes you will take the news well, for the sake of her best friend. 

georgia hesitates, her eyes darting to sydney before she takes a deep breath. she moves to sit beside you. 

"did you hear about who's coming to bayern?," she starts, her voice cautious.

you eyebrows knit together in confusion. usually, transfer news doesn’t occur this early before the summer– so you shake your head. 

“no. who's coming?” you look over at lea, who looks down at your cleats without saying anything.

"lena. lena is transferring to bayern." sydney says. 

they’re all happy for lena transferring to bayern, since they’re all close to her. they knew that you never had a good experience with lena– so they were nervous to see your reaction. 

this news hits you like a punch to the gut. lena, your nemesis on the pitch, the wolfsburg midfielder who always seemed to have the hack for getting under your skin. 

the first time you guys met was in the champions league final in 2020. 

you weren't with bayern. lyon was the club of your life at the time. you were 18 years old during this final and weren’t wise enough to hold back your words. 

being subbed into the final in the 70th minute, you wanted to contribute something. 

when you had the ball at your feet in the midfield, you felt the spike of a cleat smack into your ankle. you squealed as you hit the ground in an awkward position, lucky that your ankle didn’t twist. 

you looked up to see “5 oberdorf” standing up and walking away from you nonchalantly. the medics determined that you were okay, all you needed was a bandage since your ankle started bleeding, but you took her actions personally. 

lena had the ball and before she could pass it to alex popp, you pushed her to the ground harshly before dribbling the ball away from her. you didn’t bother to pass up to sommer before shooting the ball– scoring the third goal in that champions league final. winning against the german club. 

after finishing third in the 2022 ballon d’or ceremony, and lena getting fourth— just below the two spanish superstars bonmati and putellas– the media declared that there was a new rivalry among you and lena.

you remember the friendly between germany and the united states later in the year too, just after your transfer to bayern months before. 

germany won the first game against the united states, but you were out sick with a fever. 

the second game– you were back healthy. you took every opportunity to play aggressively against lena, even earning a yellow card for a particularly hard tackle after she tackled you moments before. 

despite lea, sydney, and klara’s assurances that lena was a sweet person, you could never reconcile that with the competitor you faced. you were stubborn and knew that lena felt the same towards you. 

you force a laugh, trying to mask the mixed emotions inside of you. "lena? lena oberdorf?"

“yeah, she wants to be closer with her friends and family.” lea says. 

“that's surprising, she said that she never wanted to come here. i guess things change.” you say, after tying your cleats quickly, you walk out of the locker room. 

practice didn’t start for another twenty minutes, but the girls decided to leave you alone with the news. 

the reality of the situation sinks in, and you are terrified.

you KNEW you had to be friends with her once she joined the club in july. there was no way you would sacrifice your professionalism over lena oberdorf. 

but– how are you supposed to get along with lena after years of arguments, yellow cards, and on-pitch battles? the thought of sharing the same locker room, training together, her wearing the same colors as you working towards the same goals—it all feels overwhelming. it's a thought-process you don’t know if you’ll get used to. 

the rest of the day passes in a blur. on the training ground, your mind isn't on the drills or the tactics; it's on lena. 

what if she hasn't changed? what if the friction between you only gets worse? what if she tries to take your spot in the midfield? you knew that last question was ridiculous, since you’re an attacking midfielder and she's defensive. 

and yet, a small, nagging voice in the back of your mind wonders if maybe, just maybe, there’s a chance to turn this rivalry into a duo that would terrify the future opponents. 

a few days later, you saw a post made by lena. yes, you both followed each other on instagram. you didn’t know why, but it just happened. 

she confirmed her transfer to bayern after receiving many hate comments about an old interview she did. 

in your mind, you felt bad for her. It's not just about football anymore; it's about finding a way to exist together, to move on from the years of competition that have been created. she will be your teammate soon and you have to accept it.

over the next few months, you focus on your training. the reminder of your rival coming to bayern disappeared from your mind for a while. 

until july 1st. you woke up that morning and you did everything that morning to delay your route to the training grounds. 

however, you still arrive on time– walking into the locker room, you see all of your friends and greet them for the new season.  

today was just performance diagnostics, which requires a lot of running, balancing, and strecthing– but that wasn’t the only thing on your mind. 

sitting down in the locker room, you avoided your eyes from looking at her. 

she sat in the locker right next to yours– with lea on her other side. 

little did you know– the coaches and captains wanted it this way so you both could try and get along after years of only knowing each others competitive side. 

you take a quick glance at her when you put on your adidas running sneakers. you say to yourself that she looks different in bayern's red and white.

standing up, her eyes meet yours. 

“hey.” lena speaks. 

for a moment, you pause. at first, you thought she might’ve said hey to someone walking in the locker room– but no. 

she is looking right at you. 

the expression on your face is unreadable, “hi.” 

“we're teammates now." is all lena could say. she looks awkward just as much as you do. this is a hard watch for your teammates in the locker room. 

you nod, trying to keep your emotions in check. "yep, we are."

neither of you knows what to say– so nothing else was said. the rest of the team still watches– knowing what will happen. 

your teammates know that lena and you will get along and become friends. the two of you are very similar in terms of personality, passion, and hobbies. 

obviously, years of hard feelings don’t go away in a day– but they hoped that you guys would accept that you’re teammates and it's okay to be friendly now. 

the performance diagnostic goes well, everyone is happy. you forget about lena for a while when you, giulia, sydney, and klara are fooling around in one of the rooms. you’re happy to be back with your teammates for a new season. 

as you’re running on the treadmill with a breathing tool over your mouth– sydney, klara, and georgia clap around you in encouragement. you want to smile– but you’re focused. you move your eyes to see that lena is staring right at you. this didn’t throw your running off– but you’re curious about what she is thinking. 

as much as you hate to admit it, having her on the team might actually be good for everyone involved– including yourself. you hope that she feels the same about playing with you. 

the next week, after receiving advice from lea and the coaches– lena approaches you. 

"can we talk?" she asks, her tone earnest as you take off your boots from your tired feet after a day of training on the pitch.

you hesitate, looking at her, but eventually nod. "sure."

you find a quiet spot away from the rest of the team, knowing that they’re all eavesdroppers. 

choosing a media room, where the tables are empty with no outside presence, the both of you sit down in chairs beside each other. 

you chose to not speak first, since you weren’t the one that wanted to be here. 

lena takes a deep breath, clearly gathering her thoughts. "i’m sorry if i have made you feel some type of way over the years," she begins, "i feel like we would both be great together in the midfield. you’re a very good player and i don’t like how we are avoiding each other. "

you study her, searching for any hint of insincerity, but find none. "yeah i agree," you admit. "i’ve built a bias about you and i need to push it away for the sake of bayern. i don’t want the team to be affected by what we went through.” 

“i agree, i’m sorry again.” lena frowns.

“don’t apologize. i’m glad you finally chose the right team.” i smirk as lena rolls her eyes, playfully, at my remark.

“this isn’t going to be easy though.” i mumble as i cross my feet together. 

lena nods. "i know. but I'm willing to try if you are."

“i will oberdorf, its nice to finally meet you.” i hold my hand out and smile. 

“es ist auch schön, sie kennenzulernen.” lena smirks and shakes my hand.

---

weeks turn into months and the season is in full-swing.  

the oberdorf, stanway, and y/s/n midfield is an extreme combination. no opponent can walk into the midfield with you three.

for the first goal of the season– it was scored by you against essen. something unexpected happened. 

lena had the ball and dribbled it around a few defenders from essen. she looked forward and saw that you were free from a marked opponent, so she passed the ball up to you. your feet dribbled around the last defender before you launched the ball past the goalkeeper. goal!

processing the golozo you scored, you ran to the corner and did a knee slide. lea jumped on your back which made you both fall onto the ground– but you were happy to provide the first goal for bayern this season. 

standing up after receiving hugs from your teammates, you saw oberdorf standing with a smile on her face.

lena wasn’t sure if she could hug you– yes you’re her teammate now, but that doesn’t mean that you’re friends. 

however, you were high off of the joy from the goal. knowing that lena assisted your goal, you launched your body onto her– giving her a hug that was unexpected from her and your teammates. 

“what an assist oberdorf!” you yelled as you released your body from her arms and ran back into position. 

she didn’t know what to say– but lena did want to hug you again and she didn’t know why. 

a few weeks later, bayern had to play a game which determined if they'll be in the champions league group stages.

remembering mistakes from last year, you didn't want another repeat of that.

during the match, bayern was up 2-0. thanks to a goal from giulia and madga.

in extra time, you had the ball and looked around to see if anybody was free to accept a pass. before you looked back to pass the ball to stanway-- a midfielder from the other team pulled your shirt before throwing you onto the ground.

the opponent wasn't going for the ball, so it was a yellow. many of your teammates argued that it should've been a red.

you didn't have a chance to argue for yourself. you hit your head off of the grass and pain struck throughout your upper body.

you couldn't move, as the quickness of it all had you overwhelmed.

"y/n, y/n! are you okay?" you opened up your eyes slowly to see lena kneeling beside you. you closed your eyes again and held her hand that was on your head.

"I think?" you mumble.

"the medic is coming. can you breathe?" lena asks, just to keep you talking.

"I can yes. my head hurts though." you mumble again.

gently, lena moves her hands to the back of your head- laying it there as a block between the hard grass and your head.

you didn't think too much about the gesture at the moment-- but it hits you later in your living room hours later.

over the months-- you started to see glimpses of the person your teammates always insisted lena was: kind, dedicated, and sweet.

lena's actions from earlier replayed from your mind and your heart started to flutter as your stomach felt tingly.

"lena, I just want to say thank you for helping me last week before the end of the game. i didn't forget about it." you sat down beside lea, who was talking to lena across from her in the lounge room at the training center.

lena smiles slightly, "it's no problem-- the opponents were playing dirty and that wasn't right."

"I agree, usually I'm fast but I didn't see her coming." you say as you giggle at the memory.

you had to skip out on a few training practices and most of the next game-- since the head slam on the grass could've gave you a concussion, but you felt fine after two days.

lena and you talked more, which caught the interest of a quiet lea. she sat back and let you guys talk while she observed.

the blonde saw a look on lena's face that she hasn't seen since she was with her ex. a look of happiness and desire.

as she turned to look at you, she saw the same look in your eyes. this made her eyebrows knit together-- she knew she had to tell the other girls. there was no way that this could be ignored.

the next morning in the gym rooms-- lea tells the girls about her observation before you or lena arrived.

"wait I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed their behavior towards each other!" georgia yells. klara covers her mouth and looks towards the doors, uncovering it when she realizes that lena and you aren't nearby yet.

"yeah, they're giving each other the same googley eyes that sydney gave sam last season." giulia comments.

"hey?" sydney says, pretending to be offended.

"at least they're getting along-- well, a little too well. I knew they were gonna be friends once they pushed their old rivalry aside but a potential relationship? I didn't see that coming." ana joins into the conversations.

"you didn't see what coming?" you say, walking into the door seeing your teammates surprised at something you were unaware about.

some of the girls exited the conversation and pretended like they were doing their workouts the entire time-- others look to find an excuse to your question.

"we were talking about the champions league group stages that come out this morning. we are grouped with paris fc, real madrid, and ajax." sydney says.

pernille rolls her eyes,

"lets not lie-- yes those are the group stages that came out but we were talking about you." pernille says. your heart drops at her words, what were they saying?

"about me?" you question as you sat down on a workout mat.

"you have a crush on lena and its starting to become obvious." ana says.

your heart skips a beat as you shake your head in denial, "no way! I don't have a crush on her. you guys aren't used to seeing me getting along with her that's it!"

"we are, and you're getting along with her just a tad more than with us. we see the blush on your face and the twinkle in your eyes with you see her, love." georgia squeezes your cheeks as goes she sits beside you.

"I don't know what to say."

"you can say that you have a crush on her-- but its fine since she might have a crush on you too." Sydney says.

"no she doesn't."

"well you didn't deny that you have a crush on her!" sydney smiles.

you playfully roll your eyes.

"it hasn't been that long you guys-- I need to wait a bit." you say.

"and you can-- but you can't hold it in forever." sydney replies.

another week goes by when lena and you are sitting outside a cafe in amsterdam. the first group stage match between bayern and ajax occurs later that night and everyone is excited.

originally, everyone was going to go to the cafe.

little did you and lena know, everyone was going to back out of the cafe plans. just leaving lena and you to go by yourselves.

neither of you minded that nobody else was going. in the middle of the hangout while you were talking-- lena slips up.

"this a nice date, i mean when-" lena cuts herself off when she processes her words. you smile at her as she goes to rub her eyes in frustration at herself.

"a date?" you tease.

"i'm sorry it just slipped out." lena mumbles as she takes a sip of her coffee.

"don't apologize. I can see this as a date with you obi." you smirk. lena's eyes widened, in shock, before she smiles back at you.

after winning against ajax 3-0, thanks to a brace from you and a goal from franz, lena and you switched jerseys.

"well, hello #8 ms. oberdorf?" an ajax player and your friend from the national team, lily, walks up to you as your back was faced towards her.

you wore the number 16, and oberdorf isn't your last name (yet haha), so the swapped jersey confused her at first.

"omg lily!" you turn around and embrace the younger girl in a hug when you notice her. she holds you with confusion on her face as you pull away.

"I was going to ask if we could swap jerseys but I see you already have someone." lily smirks. you playfully roll your eyes, knowing what your fellow american friend is hinting at.

"oh be quiet! I'll give you my jersey when you play us in munich next time ok?" you smile.

"is oberdorf the girl you were talking about back at camp?" lily says.

back in the united states, you might've told the girls on the national team that you had a crush on someone from your club team. all of them begged for you to tell them who, but you refused.

"maybe..." you say.

lena and you grew extremely close throughout most of the season, and all of the fans were starting to notice.

all of your teammates did too-- and they were sick of lena and you cutting corners and not confessing your feelings to each other.

in march 2025, sometime before the start of the pokal games, lena and you sat in a media room, trapped thanks to pernille, ana, giulia, sydney, and georgia.

neither of you were allowed to come out of the room until you both confessed your feelings to each other.

three minutes of silence in the room passed by before lena had enough.

"I love you, y/n" she spoke up.

your heart flutters and your dimples appear on your face as she stares at you. she's sitting right beside you and you could see that she was nervous.

"gosh-- the dimples on your face are so cute. you've been my number one since I've arrived at bayern and if I told myself a year ago that I'd be falling in love with you or that I'd be here right now-- I'd laugh at myself. your laugh replays in my mind all of the time and the way we connect on and off of the pitch mad me realize how much I miss you when you're away for international camp. y/n If you don't feel the same--"

you knew what she was going to do. she was going to invalidate herself and start the whole "if you don't like me back" part of her confession.

she didn't have to though. you pulled your body on top of hers and kissed her. as if this happened a million times before, lena held onto the outside of your thighs and pulled yourself on top of her lap.

still kissing, five minutes ago by before you pull away.

"lena, i love you. i feel the same way about you. please be mine and let me be yours." you whisper against her lips.

you didn't give her a chance to respond before you made out with her lips again. she kissed you back and slipped her tongue into your mouth after you moaned slightly. the tension building up over the months was a lot.

"I'm yours." lena says as she forces herself to pull away from you. forgetting that the two of you are still at bayern training grounds.

"and I am yours." you repeat, starting a new relationship with your once old rival.

[hbyrde36]

STWG Daily Prompt 5/7/24: Mermay

Rating: Gen | WC: 1929 | AO3

Eddie had always lived his life in fear of being caught, of being labeled a freak for more than just his love of Metal, Tolkien, and D&D—not to mention his less than heterosexual leanings in the romance department, but that was a whole other thing with its own set of worries.    

Now here he was quite literally being hunted, though not for any of the reasons he’d expected. The whole town thought he was a monster, and he was—

Just not the type of monster they were accusing him of being.

They thought he was a murderer. 

In reality he was just a scared boy who’d spent his whole life trying desperately to keep the family secret, and got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

For the first time since he was little, Eddie found himself grateful for his deformity, on the night Jason and his buddies had finally found his hiding place, the boathouse, and he’d been forced to flee via lake Rick’s boat. He’d paddled quietly by hand, hoping to avoid notice, but of course they’d spotted him anyway. Then the motor had proved all but useless when he’d tried to start it, and suddenly the other boys were in the water coming after him, gaining on him, until Patrick— 

He didn’t like to think about that part, the second time he’d had to watch someone die such a horrible death at the hands of Vecna, even if the guy had been part of the mob calling for his head. 

Knowing what was coming, Eddie had quickly shucked his pants and shoes, tucking them under his arm just as the boat tipped, sending him crashing into the dark water. And there it was, that familiar tingle at the base of his spine, the sensation of pins and needles running up and down his legs as bones and muscle reformed, knitting themselves together in a new way to form a long powerful tail—skin giving way to glistening black scales that covered him from hips to fluke. 

In seconds he was clear across the lake, much faster like this in the water than he could ever be on land—so fast that Jason was still screaming out Patrick’s name as Eddie pulled himself up onto the shore, praying he would dry out quickly and get his land legs back, and somehow be able to get in touch with Dustin and the others. 

That should have been it, the closest he’d ever come to discovery, but no, it seemed Lover’s Lake wasn’t done trying to ruin Eddie’s life yet, because he was right back on it the next night, in that same fucking useless excuse for a boat. 

His legs had eventually returned, and he managed to steal a walkie and reconnect with the others, but just as he was starting to think things were looking up, they spiraled out of control again, and they wound up hunting the day into the night chasing an electromagnetic field that would lead them to a gate to the underworld. 

A path that eventually led them—you guessed it! 

Back to Lover’s Lake. 

Steve bravely volunteered to be the one to take the dive, as the self proclaimed best swimmer of the group. Eddie had done his best not to snort at that, any semblance of laughter dying suddenly on his tongue anyway as he’d watched, or rather, gawked openly, as Steve stripped off his shirt, tossing it pointedly right at him. 

Eddie gulped. 

It’d all been fine at first. Steve came back up, announcing that he’d found the gate they were looking for, only to be pulled right back down again by an unseen force—and did not resurface. 

Nancy jumped in first, Robin shortly after, and Eddie…

“Goddamnit! Son of a bitch! Oh this is so stupid, this is so stupid, this is so stupid—shit–shit–shit!”

Eddie jumped in after them. 

The water soaked through his jeans in seconds—jeans that he’d neglected to take off this time—and his body quickly got the memo that it was being submerged, the denim fabric shredding to pieces in the transformation. 

Great, that was going to be awkward later. 

With a whip of his tail, Eddie dove deeper. Nancy must have made it through the pulsing red hole in the ground already, but he could see Robin still struggling to swim her way towards it. He snatched her by the hand on his way by, pulling her down, and shoved her through the gate ahead of him, hoisting himself through, well, up and out right behind her. 

Nancy and Robin had taken up oars from somewhere, and were about ten feet away fighting off an air attack of freaky looking bat creatures, while Steve was laid out on the ground, struggling—choking, while one of the things had its tails wrapped around his neck. 

Eddie dragged himself, hand over hand, along the dry ground, the girls too busy to spare him more than a wide eyed glance, until he reached Steve’s side, and together they were able to pry the little fucker’s tail loose from his throat, while Eddie beat another one off Steve’s side with the end of his tail. 

When the last of the bats had been dispatched, and the group had collectively caught their breath, Eddie found three puzzled faces aimed right at him.

“Well, don’t stand there gaping at me, help him!” Eddie hollered, gesturing to Steve and his multiple bleeding wounds. 

Steve startled, looking down at himself as though only just realizing for the first time that he was actually injured, hissing in pain as his fingers ghosted over his chewed up sides.

Nancy leapt right into action, tearing a strip of fabric off the bottom of her shirt to use for wrapping his torso, as Robin watched attentively over the whole thing, holding Steve’s hand. 

But Steve couldn't seem to stop looking at Eddie, with this… unreadable expression. 

Eddie fought not to squirm. 

He knew what was coming. The second Steve was taken care of they would all turn on him with suspicion, with questions. 

But they never got the chance. 

No sooner was Steve patched up and ready to go, than a series of chittering calls sounded, a few close by, more off in the distance. Four or five of the demon bats surrounded the gate, cutting off their way back, and a swarm, dozens more of the creatures filled the sky, heading straight for them.

Robin wrung her hands as she stared out at the horizon. “We have to get out of here.”

She was right. They were too exposed out here in the open, sitting ducks.

Nancy looked around wildly, searching for a solution. “The woods!” She shouted, pointing towards a thicket of trees that just might provide enough cover to hide them.

“But, Eddie–” Steve began.

“Just go,” Eddie shook his head, dropping his gaze to the ground. “I–I won’t be running anywhere for a while, and you–” he cut himself off, gasping as he felt strong arms slide under his tail and around his back, lifting him.

“You’re one of us now, man.” Steve said, cradling him to his chest. “We’re not leaving you behind.”

Eddie threw his arms over Steve's shoulders automatically as the other boy began to walk at a brisk pace. “But you can’t! Steve, you're hurt!”

Steve looked Eddie right in the eyes, grit his teeth, and adjusted his hold. “Not too hurt to carry you. We’re gonna make it out of here. All of us. Okay?”

“Okay.”

When they were deep enough into the woods and fairly confident they were no longer being stalked by the army of evil overgrown flying rats, Nancy and Robin scouted up ahead a bit to figure out the way to the Wheeler house, while Steve and Eddie made their slow and steady way along behind them. 

“Thanks, by the way, for saving my ass back there.” Steve said after a while.

“Thanks for carrying me.”

“So,” Steve cleared his throat awkwardly. “How does it work?”

Eddie had never really prepared for this, never thought he’d have anyone to explain it to. “You, uh, you see the movie Gremlins?”

Steve tilted his head.

“Dude, don’t you work in a video store?” Eddie sighed. “You know, the furry little monsters with the rules? No light, no feeding them after midnight, and–”

“Don't get them wet.” Steve finished for him, nodding. 

“Bingo.”

“Is that why you always skipped gym class on swim days?”

“Be kinda hard to hide this thing, don’t you think?” Eddie flapped the end of his tail for emphasis, the force making Steve stumble. Eddie grimaced, heat rising in his cheeks. “Sorry.”

There was something so incredibly intimate about talking like this, with Steve holding him close, their faces only a handful of inches apart. It made his heart race.

Steve smiled, letting out a breathy laugh as he shook his head. “What do you do when it rains?”

“Rain is usually okay. My legs have to be completely soaked or submerged to start the change.”

“And right now your legs are..?”

“They’ll be back once I dry out.” Eddie bit his lip. “I’m sorry, I know it’s disgusting.”

Steve frowned. “Is that what you think?”

Eddie shrugged. “It’s what my dad always said. That’s why I live with my uncle Wayne now. Good ole Al kicked me out. I–uh, inherited the gene from my mom, apparently, and after she died and he saw what happened to me in the bath he freaked out. Said he didn’t sign up to raise a monster.”

“You’re not a monster, Eddie.”

“Look at me, Steve. If not a monster, then I’m definitely a freak,  just like everyone says I am.”

“I think you’re beautiful.”

Eddie scoffed. “What, you got a thing for dudes with tails, Harrington?”

It had to be some kind of joke. He was part fish for fuck’s sake. Slimy—gross! Even if, by some miracle, Steve Harrington of all people actually was some flavor of queer, he could never be into Eddie. Not really.  

“No… Just you.”

“What?”

“You are beautiful, Eddie. With and without the tail. I’ve always…” Steve halted his steps, holding him impossibly tighter as his gaze flitted between Eddie’s eyes and mouth. “I used to look at you, in school. I just didn’t understand why, but… I’ve done some growing up, and I think I get it now.

“Oh.” Eddie found his own gaze being drawn to Steve’s lips as well.

Steve leaned in, asking softly, “Can I?”. 

“Yes.” Eddie breathed. He couldn’t believe this was happening, it couldn’t be real. 

Steve closed the small distance between them, his soft lips so unsure at first, ghosting over Eddie’s for a moment before pressing in, insistent. Eddie melted into it, toes curling, and a sound, an embarrassing mix of a whine and a moan, formed in the back of his throat. 

They both pulled back from the kiss panting and flushed, and that was the moment Eddie realized—toes curling. 

He had toes again, and feet, and legs—

And no fucking pants on!

He was half naked, bare ass out in the air, being carried bridal style in Steve Harrington’s arms, in the middle of another dimension—all while being on the run for murder and trying to thwart an evil psychic wizard named after a D&D villain. 

Suddenly the kiss didn’t seem all that far-fetched. 

“Hey Robin?!” Steve called out. “Can we borrow your overshirt?”

Permanent taglist(open): @penny00dreadful @pearynice @hitlikehammers @bookworm0690 @wonderland-girl143-blog 

@goodolefashionedloverboi @themagicalari

[littleplantfreak]

Happy 100 followers!! For the request event, can I request the prompt "Bringing their bento to them at work when they forgot it at home?" As for the characters, I'll make that a dealer's choice! Pick between any 4-5 characters you like!

Hi foxx!!!! I kinda mixed it up a bit so they didn't sound to repetitive, but I hope you like them :D

I chose Sako, Hiragi, Suo, and Choji since I don't give them enough love.

Sako Kota

"Fujiwara, I need at least a draft of the contract by 2:00PM today or we'll have to cancel the meeting at 4:00PM." Sako sighs, his arms crossed as he looks at the paralegal, pushing down his irritation enough that he won't snap, although Sako's icy expression is more than enough to send the other man on his way in a frantic attempt to correct his mistake.

Sitting down at his desk, he checks the clock and sees it's about lunchtime. It gives the paralegal time to get the appropriate documents together, and he would never fess up to it, but he does tend to get prickly if he hasn't eaten in a while. He never fails to perk up when you make him food, and today is no different. You both usually make your lunches together, but work ran late for him yesterday, and he never got the chance. The guilt he felt was quickly wiped away when he came home to your sleepy face waiting up for him on the couch.

"Welcome home," You'd said sweetly before shuffling towards him in your slippers and pressing a kiss to his lips. "I already made us lunch, so don't worry about it and come cuddle with me, please?" The way you helped him with his coat and tugged the wrist of his shirt, leading him to your bedroom, had his shoulders relaxing and the stress bleeding out of him slow but steady. He didn't even think to check the fridge the morning after, having slept past his first alarm due to his fatigue.

Which leaves him here now, sitting at his desk with his head in his hands, wondering if he's got enough time to order from one of the food places on his block and get back in time to read what will hopefully be a wonderful contract that he has to do very little editing on.

His text tone goes off, the little chime specifically chosen by you when you two first started dating.

[Look out your window, please owo)/*!]

A quick spin of his office chair has him looking down at you from the second floor. Not even bothering with his phone, he's walking down to meet you. Before he can even open his mouth, you blurt out something first.  

"I didn't wanna bother you, but I realized I forgot to put it on the counter this morning," A bashful smile playing on your lips, as you try to collect yourself a bit. Sako's oncoming headache that was building up suddenly stopped like a TV being flipped off by a remote. The bento wrapped neatly in your outstretched hand felt more like treasure than lunch as he takes on the weight of it, two of his fingers slipping through the tied fabric before he settles his other hand under it for stability.  

"It's not a bother; you know you can come visit whenever you want." He says, but seeing your eyebrows knit together, he's sure you're still worried about it. He places a swift kiss right where the wrinkle's formed, and he brushes it smooth with a soft swipe of his thumb before stepping back a bit, cheeks starting to heat a bit. "If you have time...we can share it in my office before lunch ends?" He says, though the end sounds more question than statement.

"I'd like that a lot," you laugh, showing him your matching box, nestled in your backpack. He doesn't spare a glance at Fujiwara, but as he walks by with you, he tells him to take his time with the draft and go for lunch. His own is going to be a little longer today.

Hiragi Toma

The hours the boxing gym Hiragi owns are later than normal. He likes being able to run his errands in the morning, and then get to the gym by 11:00 where someone will always be waiting to come in regardless of the weather. Unlocking the door, he's greeted with the sight of his lunch on the counter, and he wonders briefly if he forgot to bring it home yesterday to be cleaned, settling the keys on the ring behind his desk and walking over to it.

"Did you miss me?" You ask, poking your fingers in each side of his waist, laughing as he jerks away with a jesus christ and a groan. His arms crossed around his torso, still hiding where you've stabbed at him just in case you try for a second attack. His eyes full of betrayal at you have you gasping for breath. He forgot he gave you the spare key in case he ever needed you to open for him, which he guesses is his own fault for not considering you might use it for evil.

"You're a menace," He's grumbling, straightening up to full height.

"Yeah, but you love this menace," Your voice singsongs before adding, "this menace also brought the bento you forgot this morning, so don't you think I deserve a reward?" The cheshire grin on your face has him shuddering at what you might want your reward to be.

He's heaving out a sigh, and before he knows it, "What do you want?" comes out a bit harsher than he meant it to.

"Rude way to ask, but Ume and his girlfriend are planning a camping trip..." You trail off, already batting your lashes at him, knowing he's getting the best angle for your puppy dog eyes, though he's pretty much used to them by now. You can see the gears shifting as he thinks while he cups the back of your head and just...takes you in. Either the eyes worked wonders or he's feeling needy today, because you usually only get those eyes when you're at home.

"'s been a while since we've taken a trip, huh?" He asks, smoothing your hair down, waiting on your answer.

"Yeah...I guess it has." You say, seriously now that you're matching his energy. The last trip you both took together was months ago; both of you just got busier with work, and never planned another one. Hiragi thinks it's about time to rectify that.

"I heard one of our bands is playing in the town over next month. I'll grab tickets for it later, and," He pauses for a second to hang his head, "you can tell Umemiya's girlfriend we'll go on the camping trip too." The look lighting up on your face has him almost feeling okay, though the thought of spending a trip with Ume has his stomach tying little knots.

"Oh my god I love you so much! Enjoy your lunch. I'd eat with you, but I've got a camping brunch to attend." Tiptoeing up to kiss him proves quite easy when he's actually leaning down for you instead of teasing and saying you've gotta work harder for it. The way his hand grabs at your hip, thumb digging in slightly, tells you how appreciative he'll be for you bringing him food later tonight.

Parting from you takes more willpower than he'd thought, but he catches the mailman coming through the door in his peripheral and knows he'll only stand there gawking if Hiragi doesn't grab the mail from him. He notes how you've waited till the day of this so-called camping brunch to attack him and nearly huffs a laugh at your strategy, knowing he would've bent either way. He watches you practically skip out, turning back to wave, before walking out the door. Mail thrown on the counter, he decides his best bet is to eat while it's still quiet, knowing later in the day he'll be too busy. Maybe he'll shoot a text to Umemiya thanking him for the invite, too. Maybe.

Suo Hayato

Your phone rings as you're on the train, and you look around you before answering it, making sure to speak softly so as not to bother anyone.

"Did you forget something this morning?" Suo's voice asks coolly from the other line. You tilt your head a bit confused at the question, and he laughs. "You look like a puppy when you do that head tilt," and you huff, looking around to make sure he's not actually on the train with you.

"I hate when you do that," you pout, leaning into the speaker to hear him better. "I have my purse. My keys...I kissed you twice before I left...can I have a hint?" The hand that runs through your hair pushes it back in exasperation.

"Last time you forgot this at home, you cried in the bathroom at work." A jolt goes through you, followed by a sheepish chuckle on your end. He knows just how much you value the lunches he makes you every day, and that day had been especially stressful, building up until your forgotten lunch was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. "Your train arrives in about...8 minutes right?" he hums as if to check the clock. "I'll be at the station when you get there."

"Hayato darling...it's snowing," It's not enough to delay the trains, but it certainly isn't warm out either. The concern in your voice is apparent, and that warms him more than anything else.

"I'll make sure to warm myself up when you get here," he teases, knowing you'll understand just how he intends to warm himself up.

"Wha- fine! If you get sick, I'm calling off to take care of you this time, though." You grumble before saying your goodbyes and hanging up. He's not particularly delicate, but the last time he was sick, he insisted he was fine until you found him face first on the living room floor with an insanely high fever.

The way the cold causes his cheeks to bleed rose-red is the exact same as that time, though you can see the clarity in his eye where there hadn't been when he was swaddled up to his chin being fed soup for three days. He's holding an umbrella, his long scarf wrapped stylishly around his neck.

"Can't have you going hungry, love." Smiling, he passes your lunch over to you before stepping closer into your space, bringing you undercover of his umbrella. "Mind if I escort you to work? I have a few errands to run, so I'll take my leave from there," he says, allowing you to wrap your arm around his own. It looks like a formal way to walk with a lover, but it gives you both enough flexibility to shift here and there, looking at storefronts or the snowflakes feathering down to the ground.

You grab his hand and kiss it before he does it to you, catching him off guard for a moment before his sly smile mirrors your own. "Pretty bold of you. Is this my thanks for bringing lunch?"

"Part of it, but really I just wanted to try it. You're always doing it to me, so I wanted to see if it made your heart flutter like it does mine." Oh, there's that blatant honesty he loves so much that he'd kiss you breathless right now if he could. He's a gentleman, though, so he opts to mimic your earlier move, watching your expression change to the sweet little fluster he's used to, even though you knew he'd do it. He knows when you dig in later, you'll also make that cute face that comes every time you eat his cooking, and he can't wait to be able to see it later tonight during dinner.

Choji Tomiyama

Choji's sleep schedule is screwed. Bar tending most nights would normally be rough on a person, but he can sleep pretty much anywhere and everywhere. Your sleep schedule is only screwed every so often when you get the urge to wait up for him. His meals are kind of everywhere too, since he wants breakfast when he wakes up in the afternoon, and then has his 'lunch' right before work.

Dinner comes around 8:00 or 9:00PM, and usually he'll just order something from the kitchen before it closes, but Togame brought over leftovers earlier that you knew Choji would love. Togame would've taken it himself, had he not had a women's self defense class to teach around the time Choji would normally eat.

So here you are, wading through people laughing and pool bets being made to your left. The bar is full of people, and it's not even a weekend. You never have trouble finding your boyfriend, though, because he's always got a crowd around him. When he first started, it was a part-time thing. Something to try while he figured out what he wanted to do as a real job. But once he got the drinks down, he started making his own, and with that came a trick or two. Leading up to the present, he's doing one of his easier tricks, flipping and spinning his tumbler with a shot or two of vodka in it around his back as the crowd of already tipsy people cheer. He makes excellent tips, and is content doing this full time for the foreseeable future. You figure you can always leave his dinner to one of his less busy coworkers, but a flash of blonde in the corner of your eye darting towards you has you bracing your leg behind you waiting for impact.

Impact is quite the word for the way his body veers towards you latching on with a big oof coming from your chest as your arms wrap around him. His pretty eyes lock on to you, and he's never been happier. Usually you don't come visit because of how loud and chaotic it can get, but when you do, his energy doesn't wane for the rest of the night. The containers you're carrying in your hand register to him immediately.

"Did you eat yet?" you half-yell over the music and laughter, and he shakes his head.

"There was a bachelor party who took up most of the bar until about half an hour ago, so I didn't get to put an order in."

"Good thing Togame made extra, huh?" you grin, seeing that he knows it's his favorite dish. You've tried replicating it, and while it tastes great when you make it, Togame must have a secret to making it just that much better. You agree wholeheartedly, not competitive in the slightest when he's been nothing but wonderful to both you and Choji. Handing it over, he gives you a big wet kiss on the cheek and then goes back for the other one, longer than the first.

"I'm glad you came, even if it's just to bring me food. I missed you yesterday when you went shopping, and I couldn't see you before work," and the little hold he's got at the bottom of your shirt, rubbing the fabric between his fingers, has your heart doing loops in your throat.

"I guess I can stay for a few, if there's an empty stool somewhere near you..." you say trailing off when a quick peek shows every seat taken.

"Not a problem," He grins, grabbing a chair from the back and putting it close behind the bar where he works. You think you'll be in his way, but he actually works around you just fine, asking if you'll feed him whenever he makes a drink for someone. A mouthful of food and a swipe of a wet cloth across his face keeps his hands free enough to keep working while also getting his dinner in.

By the end of the night, he's actually allowed to leave early, and you walk home swinging your entwined hands as he's telling you about all the interesting patrons he's met before you showed up earlier. There's no better way you'd want to spend your night.

[ladylooch]

Nico's Best Girl - [Nico Hischier]

A/N: It has been a hot minute since I wrote Nico Smut.. or at least it feels like it? But the people spoke, and they were desperate for Nico and some spanking 🤭 So let me introduce you to Nasty Nico and all the things he does to his beautiful wife on the occasions he comes out.

Word Count: 2.1k

Read more Lexi and Nico Here.

Nico Hischier is so far in my dog house, he can’t even see our house anymore. 

This is a rare occurrence between the two of us, but I’m livid. Seething. Visualizing myself smothering him with a pillow.

Why?

Because he walked into our daughter’s room after his latest road trip and woke her up, then fell asleep next to me. So now, I’m the one up at 5 am in the living room, watching god awful toddler TV and sucking down my second cold brew of the day. Huge bags are under my eyes, purple and blue, for the three hours of sleep I managed to get.

It’s well into the late morning when Nico emerges from our bedroom. I’m still mad, but at least Lucie is taking a nap. My shoulders tighten when he leans down to kiss my head next to my dilapidated bun. He stays there for a moment, breathing in the smell of me after being gone for so long.

“Good morning.” 

“Mmm is it?” I mutter back as I stand. I begin gathering some of Lucie’s toys, starting by putting one of the puzzles back into its home.

“I think so?” Nico wonders. “I am so tired. I might need a nap later.” He says through a huge yawn. I look up at him, scowling at the back of his head. “Where is LuLu?” He asks, scratching at the hairs on his chest. 

“Sleeping.”

“Aww.. I wanted her to nap with me later.” A disgruntled pucker hits his lips. Nico goes to the fridge, pulling out orange juice and pouring himself a glass. I watch him, standing still and flabbergasted in the living room at his lack of attention. He turns back to make eye contact with me as he drinks. “Hm?” He asks between slurps, bushy eyebrows raising in question at me.

“If you ever do what you did last night again, I am going to blow an airhorn in your ear.” Nico pauses from drinking. He seems to take me in more, then grimaces.

“I’m sorry.”

“You think, Nico?” I question, shrugging my shoulders with attitude. He cringes and brings a defensive hand up.

“I’ll make it up to you.” I start grabbing the couch pillows Lucie threw on the floor, tossing them back into their places. I reach for the knitted throw blanket next, beginning to fold it back aggressively. “I missed her so much. I didn’t want to wait until morning to give her a hug.” 

“Well, now I’m missing the five hours of sleep I need to function.” I toss the blanket back onto the ottoman, adjusting the ends so it drapes over the side the way I like.

Nico watches silently from the kitchen while I stalk around the living room, trying to repair the disaster of our living room. My displeasure is obvious. Whenever I glance at him, I can see Nico’s mind calculating which fix he needs to pull out to move us forward.

“Lex.” Nico’s quiet call reaches where I am tucking her Lightning McQueen ride-on toy by the side of the couch. I look up at him and startle. He decided the fix is sexual. “You need me to wake you up?” His voice is husky, gone is the rough coating of sleep, replaced by the burning desire. It’s a reminder of how long that road trip really was- almost two weeks without each other, filled with FaceTime calls that barely grazed over the itch.

“Not sure you can, cap.” I quip back. Nico’s chuckle is low, accepting of my challenge. He pushes off from the kitchen counter. I bite back the desperate whimper in my throat at the sight of his hard cock straining his black pants. My lips part as he stops by the couch. He gestures for me to get on it. My cheeks are pink, eyes wild, chest fluttering as I take slow, teasing steps. 

“The longer you take to get over here, the more angry I’m getting… the harder your lesson will be.” My green eyes sparkle. A slight smirk pulls one side of Nico’s lips up, reminding me he is still there even as Nasty Nico is beginning to take over his body. Nasty Nico doesn’t like when I’m an ungrateful brat. Or when I whine at how hard he fucks me, or pulls my hair, or shoves his fingers into my mouth. He demands for me to be a good girl, his best girl, while I take him so well.

My folds are slick as I come to stand next to him. His hands reach for my big t-shirt- an old one of his he won’t wear anymore, from a playoff series that didn’t result in a cup. The old fabric teases my nipples when his fingers work it over my head. His thumbs come up, probing the puckered skin until I sigh. Nico kisses along my cheek until he gets to my ear. He tugs the lobe with his teeth, then continues with his lips down my throat. 

He lowers himself to the couch. Then he grabs my fingers, tugging me to bend down so he can suck a nipple into his mouth. I grip the back of his head, working to straddle his lap. Nico’s hand wraps around my waist, releasing my nipple. He jerks me forward, pinning me down to his side with my ass in the air. The harsh vibration of skin hitting rips through our living room. I moan, savoring the feel of my ass cheek tingling beneath his hand. His palm rubs over the area, then he digs his fingers in to heartily grip the muscle.

“That what you want baby, hm? You frustrated with me?”

“Yeah, asshole.” I sigh.

SLAP!

“Oh.” I moan. 

“Keep it up.” His tone is searing. He pins me down harder, gripping the waistband of my leggings. I turn my face out of the couch cushion, unable to see him, but the coolness of the room strokes against my wet, pulsing heat. 

His finger prints bleed into my ass, then pull apart my cheeks to hear the crudeness of my wet folds splitting open from his force. Despite his profession, Nico’s hands are relatively soft, no callous or hard points, so the smoothness of his palms over my bare ass have me closing my eyes. It’s a hard distinction, between how good his skin feels on me and how hard his next slap is. I jolt, screwing my eyes tightly shut. Those same fingers get soft again, going to explore my folds. He gathers my wetness on his fingers, then slides his middle finger into my entrance. I’m more than ready and pulse my muscles around him.

“Mmm, greedy girl today.” He stuffs another finger inside, fucking me hard with them as I try to press my hips back into his hand. His thumb rolls over my clit. 

“Cap.” I groan, “want your cock.” My hips buck back, finding enough momentum to thrust his fingers deeper into me. Nico steadies me for a moment, curling his fingers up, rolling them over the velvet spot inside of me. I quiver around his appendages.

“You can have my cock when you cum.” 

Everything gets wetter at his dirty words. Nico's free hand finds my nipple, rolling it between three of his fingers as he fucks me with his hand. I moan, wiggling under his pin and bucking my hips again. Nico lets me this time, groaning as I take over. The distinct slurp of wetness from each rock into him has Nico cooing encouragement to me.

“You looks so sexy right now.” He praises me. 

I moan loudly, then cum. Nico takes over, gently riding me through the orgasm. He pulls his fingers out, releasing me from my position and letting my knees straddle him upright again. I grab his wrist and before he can even demand, I wrap my mouth around his middle finger. The sweet, tanginess of myself explodes in my mouth. Nico’s pupils blow wider at the sight, mouth dropping ajar. I close my eyes and hum. His breathy moan dances across my face. 

“I taste so good for you. Only you.” I confess after finishing his ring finger.

“Mine. Forever.” He grabs the back of my neck to pull me in for a hot, wet kiss. We moan into each others mouthes. Nico helps me work my pants the rest of the way off. Then he drops his sweatpants and underwear to the floor. I watch, intoxicated, as his thighs tighten while stepping out of them. Fuck, I want those thighs slamming into the back of mine.

“Hard, Nico.” I request as he strokes his cock in front of me. The tip of him is swollenly pink, oozing already. “So hard.” I moan as he puts that same head against my clit. He slaps it there. I bruise my bottom lip with my teeth. Another small whimper pushes out. Nico smirks, slapping my clit again. A bead of his pre-cum sticks there, creating a thin line of connection as he pull himself away. 

“My pussy.” He reminds the room as he bottoms out inside of me. I groan at how tight the fit always is at first. He works his way all the way out, then does the same push forward. Nico moans this time. “So wet for me. Know how much you like it when I slap your ass.” 

“Mmhm.” He brings his fingers up oo my mouth, the same ones that made me this wet, and he stuffs them back into my mouth. He watches them slide in and out, pressing down on my tongue as he presses his cock deeper inside of me. 

“Look how good you are for me today. Even though you’re mad at me. Such a good girl, Lex. My perfect wife.” The last praise gets me and I moan loudly through the room. He pulls his fingers out of my mouth, bringing them instead to my clit as he leans farther forward. “Kiss me.” He demands. I curl up, pressing our tongues together, then allowing his to hurriedly enter my mouth. 

“Right there.” I moan, shivering, feeling the tightness in my body coil to an unbearable point. My face scrunches up in pleasure and I put my forehead to his big shoulder as I scream out his name in ecstasy. Bright hot white explodes across my eyelids as Nico fucks me faster and harder. “Oh my god!” I yell, feeling myself tighten up again, instantly. Nico picks me up off the couch, fucking hard and fast. His balls slap against my ass as those powerful, hockey thighs take me to heaven again. This time, he comes too. He curses in his languages, almost dropping me as his powerful orgasm explodes inside of me. His fingers bruise me in his desperate grasp to keep me upright.

A freight train of blood rolls through my ears, trying to regulate me after two incredible, back to back orgasms. Nico lays me on the couch, staying on his knees between my spread legs as he curses again to the ceiling. After a few moments, I hear the faint call of a little girl.

“Daddy?” Lucie’s small voice comes from the monitor in her room.

Nico’s brown gaze come back to me. We are both panting, barely breathing. Lucie cries on the monitor again, then Nasty Nico disappears completely, and in his place is my sweet husband. He reaches from my hips, flipping me so my ass is in the air again. Nico leans down, kissing the red marks he’s left on my flushed skin. Once he is satisfied they have been fully covered with his appreciative mouth, he leans forward, connecting his chest with my back.

“I’ll get her.” He murmurs. “I love you.” He closes his eyes as he says it like a grateful prayer. “You need help getting to our room?”

“Mhm.” I respond. He chuckles, pulling my naked body up into his arms. He hands me my clothes before we move towards the hall. I lay my cheek on his shoulder.

“One minute, LuLu.” Nico sweetly calls to her when we walk past her room. “Gotta take care of my number one girl first.”

“I am not your number one girl.” It’s light hearted and I chuckle as I say it. Nico hates it and makes me look at him.

“What? Yes you are.” Nico is confused. 

“It’s Lucie.” I shrug like it’s obvious.

“No, it is not.” Nico shakes his head insistently. “It’s you, baby. No matter how many girls we have in our life, you’ll always be first.”

I know better than to argue further with Captain Nico Hischier.

[starhvney]

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: mystreet vylad x fem!reader

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: you’ve jokingly given vylad small flowers since you’ve known him, but as newly weds he surprises you with a leather bound journal, the scent of flowers pressed into the pages.

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐒: tooth-rotting fluff, vylad actually being sickeningly romantic, established relationship, vylad and reader are married

𝐂𝐖: none

𝐀/𝐍: vylad the man that you are

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

“where are you going?” you ask, turning to your husband as he leaves your side from the swinging daybed, his feet padding across the back patio to the door.

“don’t worry, i’ll be back in a second. i just have something i want to show you.”

“okay.”

you wrap the knitted blanket around your body, the apple cider in your cup still steaming as it keeps your cold hands warm. your wedding with vylad couldn’t have been set for a more perfect time of year. it was at the prime time of autumn, when the leaves had all turned into beautiful shades of red to yellow, yet hadn’t begun to fall to the ground. it was now two weeks later, and the both of you had officially settled into your new home.

the evening air was chilly, rustling and carrying leaves across the ground and invoking more evening coos from the last waking birds of the day. you’re not sure what could make you feel more at peace and utterly happy in this moment, yet the stunning man you married never ceases to give you more reasons.

he’s soon snuggled back next to you, placing a thick, tied, leather-bound journal in your hands with an eager smile. for a moment you see that eager young boy you had met so long ago, round cheeks squishing against those beautiful green eyes.

“what is this?” you ask, gingerly taking the book in your hands and smelling a faint whiff of dried flowers from between the worn pages.

he holds your mug for you, cheekily taking a sip before nodding down at the journal.

“just take a look.”

you stare at him in awe for a moment, before turning your attention down to his gift. unbinding the tweed rope that kept the journal from flopping open, you crack open the worn leather to the first page.

a small pressed dandelion is preserved under a cleanly placed sheet of clear tape, displayed under a small entry written in vylad’s elegant writing.

thursday, 8/13

i don’t know what’s wrong with me. i’ve always been a quiet person, but when i’m with her i’m not quiet out of choice. how can i feel so comfortable and happy around someone yet be so nervous?

she gave me this flower today, with the most beautiful smile i’ve ever seen on her face as she told me to cheer up. she’s as sweet as ever.

your head whips back to your husband, who merely smiles and presses a soft kiss against your cheek. he rests his head against your shoulder, a contented sigh leaving his lips as you turn to the next page. then the next. then the next.

each page was about you, from simply fawning over every detail of how beautiful he found you, to describing the days that you had spent together. you remember starting to give vylad flowers as a cute inside joke between the two of you–but then it grew to simply be a habit of expressing your love for him.

while he had given you flowers too, you hadn’t taken the time to neatly press each one into a journal, writing it down to engrave each occasion into your memory like he did.

the sweet scent of the dried flowers wafts into your face with every crinkle of the next page turning, but you don’t think they’re the culprit for the dizzying surge you feel in your throat. 

“vylad…” tears prick your eyes, an overwhelming feeling clouding swelling your heart in your chest.

“just keep reading, love.”

saturday, 2/5

she wouldn’t stop apologizing, saying she couldn’t afford a “real” gift for me on my birthday. she laughed and gave me a flower instead, saying she’d make up for it in the future. how do i tell her this was the best thing she could’ve given me, that her presence is the greatest gift that i cherish?

you remember that day. you were both freshly young adults, and while trying to stabilize yourself in this world you struggled to get the funds to spare for anyone but yourself. you felt so guilty that you couldn’t get one of your closest friends something nice for his birthday, but you can’t forget the bright smile you love so much when you had given him a singular flower instead.

he had insisted it was the best gift he had gotten yet, and while you had shaken your head disbelievingly at the time, you’re starting to realize he may have been telling the truth.

friday, 6/14

i gathered the courage to ask her to be mine today. i was the one who gave her a bouquet this time, and yet she insisted on giving me back the singular rose that was in the entire selection. her soul is sweeter and lovelier than any of the flowers i could give her. i’m so lucky.

more pages. more entries. you read every one like they were sacred artifacts. like they were the answer to why you should take your next breath.

small pictures of you and him. and so many flowers. had you really given him this many? you suppose you did. always running off into fields and tripping over fences anytime you saw one, bringing it back to him with a stupid goofy grin. you always remember he’d slip it carefully into his pocket or bag, but you assumed it was just him being too kind-hearted to toss them away in front of you.

wednesday, 3/24

we went to that beautiful field, the one that blooms with tons of different kinds of flowers during spring. of course she was so excited, my sweet girl. we made each other flower crowns and rings, and after slipping on the flower ring on her ring finger i pulled out the real one i bought a couple months ago. i was so nervous, i thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. she said yes, though, tackling me into the grass and accidentally squishing our flower crowns underneath us. i don’t think that really mattered to her anymore though. i’m the happiest man alive. 

saturday, 9/22

she’s so beautiful. i thought i might be able to stop myself from crying, but i knew it was over when i saw her walking down the aisle. i stole a flower from her bridal bouquet, but we’re preserving the rest of it and i don’t think she’ll be too upset. i love you, my sweet flower.

underneath it was one of the flowers from the theme of your wedding, it’s white petals only just beginning to fade in its liveliness under it’s neat confines. scribbled underneath it is one more line of writing, vylad’s cursive scribbles once again beautifully decorating the page. 

your beauty is everlasting, the flowers you gave me could never compare. my love for you is forever and eternal. it will out live any petal this earth can produce.

tears stream down your face, and once you gently set the journal shit next to you, your arms are tightly wrapped around vylad, who startles at the sudden movement as the swinging daybed jolts with your movements.

“woah,” he laughs, lifting away the cup of cider from spilling on either of you as his other hand pulls you to him. “careful, love.”

“i love you.” your voice is thick, throat tight as you cry into his shoulder. 

“i love you too, my beautiful flower,” he laughs, finally finding a place to set down the cup and earnestly pulling you snuggle into his lap. “you know, the goal was not to make you cry.”

“how could you think that i wouldn’t?”

“well, i cried when i completed the last page, so i guess we’re even.”

you laugh, melting against him as he presses sweet kisses along your forehead and cheeks, wiping away the tears from under your eyes.

“i guess you liked it, then?” he laughs, and you erupt in giggles again.

you didn’t just like it, you loved it enough to dedicate a whole shelf in your house to neatly display the thick journal, right next to the framed resin preservation of your wedding bouquet.

©starhvney, 2024. please do not steal, copy, or repost my works as your own.

[siriusleee]

ii. sage green

Zombie Apocalypse AU | SIMON RILEY x f!READER

↳ SUMMARY: The world is trying to knit itself back together after fracturing apart. You're trying to put yourself back together with it; Simon Riley is just trying to stay alive. ↳ WORD COUNT: 2.5K ↳ TAGS: mentions of cannibalism, mentions of shooting things, mentions of dying. smut to come. canon typical violence to come. additional tags to come as the story progresses. female reader. no mentions of "your name". reader is given a nickname later on. nc-17. ↳ AUTHOR'S NOTE: I want to desperately thank @gazs-blue-hat, @lethargicluv, and @victoria-writes-sometimes for proofreading this for me when I was in an exhaustion field brain melt. If you'd like to help wake me up, my Ko-Fi is always open for commissions and donations. ↳ TAG LIST: There will not be a tag list for this story, as Tumblr has issues with letting me tag people. To get notifications of updates, please subscribe on AO3 or turn on notifications for my blog.

additional chapters | ao3

At first, you think it’s the sun warming the attic enough to be stifling, to wake you up from the heat pulling the air from the room. 

But your nose catches up with the rest of your brain when the acrid smell of fire catches your senses. You’re awake in an instant, shooting up from your spot. Blind panic overtakes you first; your hands scrambling in the darkness for something . Instinct has you reaching out for a fire extinguisher, for a way out of the room, fingers scrambling against the splintery wood before the rest of you catches up with the situation. It takes almost a second too long before your brain finally processes that there is no fire extinguisher, nothing to do but try to escape.

You scramble to tug your boots on, shoving your thermal blanket into your pack at the same time. Slinging it across your back, you fumble for your bow and arrow pouch; your fingers pull against the rope you’d tied to keep the attic door shut, and in the darkness, you can’t undo it. 

The blind panic starts to rage inside of you. Smoke is filtering faster through the cracks in the flooring, obscuring what little you could already see in the moonlight filtering in through the little attic window. 

“Fuck,” you whisper to yourself, repeating it louder as your fingers slip against the rope. “Fuck.”

When the hint of flames shows themself at the edges of the attic door, you abandon the attempts to pull the rope off. You pick your way across the attic, lungs screaming as the oxygen is pulled into the fire. The little window overlooking the back garden shatters easily under the weight of your bow slamming into it. But as you watch the glass shards tumble onto the roof, you know that even if you could slice yourself to bits and not attract the Biters, you would never fit through the window. Gulping down the fresh air, you try to hold it in your lungs as long as possible before you’re forced to turn back to the rest of the smoke-filled attic.

Your feet stumble against what you can’t see - you have to pull the rope away from the door. The only other option is to -

The floor falls from beneath your feet. Rotted drywall and insulation rain down with you; your back slams into something solid, a sharp pain shooting through your spine and rib cage. The blaze from the hallway illuminates the sage walls; as you try to catch your breath around the lack of oxygen and the pain spitting through you, you realize that you’ve crashed into the empty nursery.

From the first floor, just loud enough to be heard over the fire, the groans of the Biters come to you around the ringing in your ear. Struggling to breathe around the smoke and moldy insulation that fill your mouth, you scramble to your feet. The taste of iron coats your mouth; through the dirty window, you see a group of Biters congregating on the front porch of the little house.

Whatever human instinct has forced you to survive these past 5 years takes over; you push through the half broken bedroom door and stumble directly into a Biter. 

There was a saying - it slams into your brain as you watch the burning mass roll towards you - that whenever soldiers go to war and their adrenaline starts to pump, explosions turn into little “poofs” and gunshots no more than a “pop.” You wonder if it was the adrenaline that turned the Biter’s unearthly wailing into a soft whisper as it flails on the landing, hand reaching for your ankle. 

Without thinking, you kick out; the flames bite at your boots, at the skin that shows above the leather. The bottom landing is ablaze, the floor beneath you buckles; the house groans with the weight of the fire and the Biters groan and wail in hunger. Any minute the entire place is going to crumble down into a pile of burning bodies and dust and take you with it.

You stumble past the burning Biter, shoving it away with the end of your bow so that it falls down the steps. Feet heavy and lungs screaming from the lack of oxygen, you punch your way into the other bedroom. Without thinking, you throw yourself through the half open window.

The ground races up to meet you; you try to catch your feet beneath you, but you collapse into darkness instead.

The ringing in your ears is thunderous; the hands that pull at you try to rip you apart. In the darkness, you feel yourself slam into something hard and cold, feel hands slap at the fabric covering your legs. You try to lift yourself, to swing at the force but your body won’t do what your brain is telling you and you wonder if you’ve already been bitten and this eternal blackness is just the beginning of the end.

The ground pulls from underneath you and vaguely you realize that you’re moving. The growling of an ATV cuts through the darkness you’re hovering in along with the feeling of cold metal biting into your back. Your sight is the last sense to come - the sun trying to break through the horizon just barely illuminates the hulking figure driving the ATV - fuzzy at first and then coming into sharp focus. 

You thrash out, becoming keenly aware of ropes wrapped around your ankles and feet. You teeter dangerously on the back of the ATV as you roll. In the corner of your eye, you can see the entire village ablaze, the howls of the Biters nearly drowned out by the crackling of the flames. One large hand reaches back to grip the front of your shirt and pulls you back before you can fall off. Too scared to fall off of the back, you lay still.

Like a deer, dressed and ready for slaughter, you ride on the back of the ATV until the flames of the village are gone, and the forest swallows the two of you up. Heart in your throat, you wonder if finally, the body snatchers had gotten to you.

You struggle against the rope binding your hands together. If you can get your hands free, you can fight against him - you’d rather be subject to the Biters, to starvation, than end up the dinner of a savage from the woods. 

But the struggle is for nothing: there’s a blinding pain crawling up your legs, and you’re distinctively aware of a pain in your side that you think might be a broken rib. The inside of your mouth and throat are covered in the thick taste of ash and burning Biter and iron. Your soot lined lungs can barely pull in a breath - there’s just not enough strength for you to break free. 

The sound of the ATV changes to a lower purr and the vehicle jerks as the driver downshifts. You nearly tumble off the back, but your kidnapper’s hand reaches back around and grips your shirt again.

He doesn’t let you go until the ATV cruises to a stop beside a felled tree, propped up against a second fallen tree, ivy and moss trailing down from where the two meet. When he shifts in his seat to turn the ATV off, you see your bow and pack on the front of the ATV behind a dusty red gas canister and a rifle. 

You can’t tell if it’s the angle you’re laying at or if the guy is just huge; there’s not a chance in hell you can fight him off - especially not with the pain that’s radiating through you as the adrenaline wears off. 

But it kickstarts again when he turns to you - his eyes are dark in the shadows cast by his mask. A graying skull stares down at you, and you know he’s going to take you to a body farm, that you are fodder beneath his gaze. 

He reaches towards you; you jerk back, heart in your throat. The little animalistic part of your brain that’s kept you alive for so many years takes over; you thrash away from him, rolling off of the ATV and slamming into the ground. Your teeth clack, pinching your tongue in between, and fresh blood blooms in your mouth. 

“Stop it,” he growls out, peering at you over the edge of the ATV, annoyance written into the wrinkles around his eyes. 

You wiggle away from him in the dirt, but this time you don’t escape his hands as he grips the front of your filthy shirt and hauls you upright. 

You don’t know what to do, so you spit on him. Saliva and blood spray across his faded black jacket; he doesn’t let you go, and doesn’t even seem phased by your actions. Instead, he drops you down onto your feet; you teeter, struggling to stand with the rope wrapped around your ankles; he keeps one steady hand on your elbow to keep you from falling.

“That make you feel better?” He asks, voice rough and low. You keep your mouth shut; if he’s going to take you to a body farm, he’s not going to get you to talk or beg. 

“What were you doing there?”

The silence stretches through the forest; the man breathes heavy through his nose, the sound muffled by the black fabric and skull. This close you can’t tell if it’s real or fake, but you don’t want to find out. 

“Are you one of them?”

“One of who?” The question escapes you before you can stop it. But once it’s gone, you realize the ball is in his court - the only bit of power you had was your silence, and you gave it away.

“Answer my question, and I’ll answer yours.” 

You chew on the possibilities, but you have to admit that if you don’t answer he may just leave you tied up here for the Biters to find. 

“I’m moving north, to where it’s too cold for them during the winter.”

It’s not a good enough answer; he squeezes your elbow. Beneath his fingers, the joints rub together, and you can’t help the yelp you let out.

“I was staying the night there! My group has stayed there for years on our way through.”

“Where’s the rest of your group?”

It’s iron and pennies to say it.

“They’re all gone; I’ve been on my own for the past year.”

He must believe something written on your face because his grip on your elbow loosens. Slowly, he reaches down to tug on the ropes binding your ankles and then your wrists until they fall loose. He keeps one hand on you as he drags you over to the ATV. 

“You’re not going to let me go?” Your voice rises in pitch with each word.

“Dunno who you might run back to.” 

He shoves your pack in your arms. Beneath it is another pack, this one dark black and dusty. He slings it onto himself, along with your bow and arrow carrier. The rifle also comes off of the ATV and over his other shoulder. He never lets go of the grip on your arm, pulling you around painfully as he moves.

“Go move the ivy out of the way,” he says, shoving you towards the two fallen trees. You eye the rifle on his back - it would drop you before you could get ten feet. So you follow his directions, pulling back the ivy. Behind it is a cut out in the hill, a dark pit, and for a moment you think he’s going to push you in. But then, without a sign of a struggle, he pushes the ATV into the hole and you realize it’s a hiding spot. 

He pushes you out of the way, rearranging the plant life until it again looks like just two trees toppled onto each other. With a smooth, practiced motion, the rifle slides into his hands, and he gestures toward the open forest with it.

“Start walking.”

You don’t know how far the two of you walk; the cold starts to seep through the thinning material of your boots, and with each step the burns and bruises you acquired during the house fire grow more painful - the sharp pinch in your rib makes it hard to breath, but you don’t want to show a sign of weakness. If he thinks you’re not eatable, he might just shoot you where you stand. 

But you know that if your feet are beneath you, you have a chance of running free.

The horizon grows gray with the threat of snow; some flurries that must have fallen in the nighttime cling to the highest branches of the tree. It isn’t until your feet are numb, and you can’t feel your pinky toes that you finally ask the question that’s been nagging at you for hours. 

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

“You can just slaughter me now if you think I’m going to let you take me to that farm.”

His footsteps don’t falter behind you, but when he speaks you can hear the amusement in his voice.

“I’m not going to eat you.”

“I don’t believe you.”

The trees start to grow thicker around the two of you, the snow growing heavier on the limbs until finally, it starts to dust the ground. Your whole body is numb at this point, and whatever has been keeping you together is starting to fall apart. Your tongue is dry and fuzzy, stomach empty. You think for a second that he might be trying to walk you to death, that he might find some sort of pleasure in watching you break down as you walk.

The rough edges of a cabin peek out at you from the trees and snow. The barrel of his rifle digs into your back, pushing you towards the cabin. You stumble over your boots, nearly tripping from the weight of your pack and empty stomach. Your kidnapper herds you towards the door, pushing you out of the way to unlock it with a key tucked beneath his jacket until he can shove you inside.

Inside it’s dark and dusty; your eyes struggle to adjust to the darkness when the door finally shuts behind you, trapping you in the place with your kidnapper. A thread of fear tries to go through you at the thought of what he might be doing to you in the dark, but you’re too exhausted for your heart to beat faster. 

He leaves you standing there to fumble with something in front of you. A moment later his face is illuminated by an oil lamp blazing to life. It illuminates just enough of the room that you can see a small fireplace and little couch on the opposite sides and a little kitchenette you’re standing in. 

You stand awkwardly as he shuffles around the room, shrugging his pack off, lighting another oil lamp, but never dropping his rifle.

He turns towards you, gun held loosely in his hand and studies you over the top of his mask.

“What’s your name?”

[aeneakarts]

‼️ EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS OPEN ‼️

I have my current situation all explained after the cutoff but to put it short, my younger brother has been hospitalized for sudden lung complications and I am across the country away from family trying to finish my final year in college. Tuition + medical bills in America is an absolute nightmare for a barely middle-class family so I am trying to help my family by opening commissions!! Reblogs are very much appreciated <33

All commissions in my carrd are open, from pixels to digital to animated items. If there is something you would like that isn't listed on the carrd (such as ref sheets, customs, phone wallpaper, badges, etc), feel free to inquire about it and I can get you a quote. I am quite desperate and would honestly consider doing nsfw commissions as well for an additional 50% of the original price. Payment will be through ko-fi/paypal!

Carrd with commission prices: https://neacomms.carrd.co/#

Trello for commission updates: https://trello.com/b/pX0vbAXb/owed-art

Contact: Feel free to send me a dm here on tumblr but I would much appreciate if you are able to instead contact me on [Toyhouse]. Feel free to also send me a friend request on discord @/Aeneak if you prefer that as well. My carrd lists my email for contact as well but do note that you might get a delayed response there.

Donations: If you would rather just leave a donation (trust me when I say even $1 can go a long way) feel free to send what you can/are willing to spend through my ko-fi or Paypal. Note that my ko-fi is able to process credit/debit/and other forms of payment as well!! <3

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/aeneakarts

https://ko-fi.com/aeneak

If you are reading this then thank you for taking the time to do so, it is more than I could ever ask for <33

So just yesterday on Sept. 4th it felt like any other normal day, I get to my dorm to video call family and instead of seeing my parents at home, I see them both in tears as my younger brother is laid in a hospital bed with tubes and oxygen and wires from several medical devices coming out of him. He had a normal morning but as he was dropped off to class he started to have chest pains, not one hour later he had to get picked up from school and soon enough he was rushed to the ER. After some xrays the doctors had said there were some holes in his right lung which had collapsed and had been giving him complications in breathing properly and gave him severe pain. He spent the night in the hospital, and earlier today he was taken for surgery to get a pump installed to help him breathe and get his body to recover and heal. I am so so thankful that things are going smoothly but he will be in bed in the hospital for the next several days, my mom is with him just about every second possible and my dad has also taken the week off of work to spend as much with them as possible. I am stuck across the country barely starting my year in college and have no way home, the best I can do is continue my studies but with no current income, I am opening commissions to work on between classes. I have been here the past two days since I found out about this news absolutely sick to my stomach unable to eat/rest properly trying to go through my day as normally as possible. I am Hispanic so my family is very close-knit and they mean the absolute world to me, especially my brother who has always been by my side and we do just about everything together, hell, he would always look up to me for everything and has been inspired to dabble in art because he saw me doodling all the time.

We still do not know why this happened suddenly, they tell us it can be common for athletes especially those who push their bodies to the limits, but my brother does not do any kind of sports. He is not unfit either, he is the healthiest person I know and always watches what he eats, so to have this suddenly happen was completely out of the blue. My parents will stay with him in the hospital for the next 5 nights until he can hopefully be released to recover at home. During this period we are not getting any income and with everything that's happened so far, the medical bill is going to be a nightmare.

If you are unable to send in a commission request/donation please do not worry, everyone is going through their own struggles and I completely understand, take care of yourselves first!!

A reblog is always very much appreciated to help spread the word but regardless, if you've made it this far thank you so so much for reading everything, I hope you all are having a wonderful day/night and if not, I truly hope things get better for you soon! Please take care and remember to drink water <3

[starleska]

welcome to...starleska's f/o round-up 2023! 🥳🥳🥳

below the cut is every single character i've had a crush on in 2023...and there are 30 in total!! 🙈💖 these are given in chronological order of fixation, and they are all new crushes (so re-entering a fixation for a character i've simped for previously doesn't count 😂) now be warned, this is a genuinely unhinged list. they are largely villains. one is a mushroom. one is a vehicle. one is a casino-themed duck-shaped robot. my autism is indiscriminate in the characters it fixates on, and they are all suitably embarrassing 😭💖 without further ado, here we go...

1. James the Red Engine | Thomas the Tank Engine

...shut up 😂💖 at the start of this year i truly lost my mind and fell headfirst into the Thomas the Tank Engine fandom (everyone there is so lovely and creative!!)...and of course, the vain train is my favourite 🙈💖 James is cute okay!! i don't need to justify myself!!! 2. 'Big' Jack Horner | Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

there's no way anyone missed this one - we are quite the tight-knit and dedicated group in the 'Big' Jack Horner fandom 😳💖 come on, look at him...a huge, powerful, obsessive, fancy-bastard collector with an affinity for magic??? he's stunning 🥴💖 i made so many lovely friends through gushing about this horrible man!!! we had so much fun making OCs to ship with him 🙈 one of the most intense fixations i've had all year, and one of the best villains we've seen in years...he is fantastic 🥰 3. Pizzahead | Pizza Tower

i don't know what's in the water of Pizza Tower but it's impossible to be normal about any character you like from that game 🙈💖 of course the evil sentient pizza slice took the top spot, he's so cartoony and ridiculous!!! the amount of power he exerts is also quite the draw 🤭💖 i'm not gonna lie there's a couple other characters from this game i may get into later...we'll see 😉 4. Fingers | Dead End: Paranormal Park

have you heard this guy's voice. can you blame me. deliciously evil fruity monstrosity with supernatural powers? sign me up to whatever sinister scheme Fingers has going on now or in the future 👉👈 he hits a lot of boxes...between the cabaret-style makeup, the posh, dismissive and manipulative personality and the inexplicable Eldritch body, he was always gonna be a crush 🤭 5. M.O.D.O.K. | Marvel

wheeze okay, this was originally a JOKE!!! @thelighttasteslikelasagna sent in this message joking that i look like i'd find M.O.D.O.K. hot, and i was really angry about it for five minutes...and then i discovered the stop-motion cartoon where he's exactly the kind of cringefail malewife villain i enjoy (in the Augustus St. Cloud vein), and the rest is history 🙈💖 definitely one of the silliest crushes i had this year, but he holds a special place in my heart :3c 6. Gargamel | The Smurfs

nah man i was on some serious mental illness at the start of this year 💀 i just can't help it when bad guys are like this, alright!!! Hank Azaria's performance as Gargamel is sooo silly and over-the-top, i couldn't help but love every second he was on screen 🙈💖 Gargamel's just a whole lot of fun!!! who doesn't love a magic-wielding freak hellbent on the destruction of a group of little creatures?? (i cannot and will not be taking any questions at this time 😶) 7. Wally Darling | Welcome Home

my God, the Wally Darling fixation hit the entire Internet like a train 🤭💖 soft-voiced, ambiguously-moraled rizz puppet that he is, how could we not all fall head-over-heels? i have to thank this guy for throwing me headfirst back into fanfic writing, as the whole Welcome Home story really inspired me...not to mention all the lovely folks who wanted to imagine different ways of getting to hold Wally's hand 🥰 hooray for our pretty puppet boy!! 8. Killa Harkan | John Wick: Chapter 4

...yes, i know, it's funny that Killa's the first of two cartoonishly evil German-accented bad guys with sleight of hand tricks and gold teeth on the list this year 😂💖 sitting in the cinema, the second he opened his mouth my partner just turned and stared at me, because they knew. i refuse to apologise for appreciating a really awful bastard - especially one who dresses so sharply 😉 9. Ian Hawke | Alvin and the Chipmunks

yet another member of the 'it started off as a joke...' club 🤭💖 listen, Ian serves!!! we can't resist a smarmy music producer/manage type, can we? Ian's in the same camp as Gargamel for being a deeply evil man whose capacity for doing harm is directed at little creatures. all i'm saying is, he can sign me up for a dodgy deal any day 🥴 10. Myc Cellium | Inside Job

i can't tell if it's my monsterfucker tendencies or my consummate attraction to Brett Gelman but the crass sentient mushroom got me down bad 😭💖 he's just such a menace!! he's got that intoxicating combo of being horribly socially inappropriate and an actual outcast...fellas, Myc was fixation bait for me 😭 11. Klaus Kickenklober | Sing 2

i don't care if you think you're not a furry, someone can and will get you from the Sing franchise, and that is a threat 🙈💖 yesss laugh it up, Star's got another stern and vaguely European cartoon villain added to the list 😂 i just find Klaus so impossibly delightful!!! he'd be a terrible teacher to have in real life, but in fiction, i think i could fix him :3c 12. The Spot | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

ohoho, i know you guys were living for The Spot fixation because i remember your reaction to the x Readers 😉 look at him and his incredible design!!! the transformation of The Spot from weak laughable villain to reality-bending monstrosity had me by the throat...and i can't wait to see more of him when the next Spider-Verse drops 👀 13. Mad Mod | Teen Titans

MAD. BLOODY. MOD!!!!! i think our favourite British bastard has to take the crown (literally and figuratively) as my strongest fixation out of the whole of 2023, i lost my mind over this guy. he just consumed my every waking thought!!! 🙈 the style, the voice, the unbelievable engineering skill...Mad Mod is one of those once-in-a-lifetime f/os that you know you'll be obsessed with for a very long time 😳💖 i look back so fondly on those wonderful few months of Mad Mod fandom resurgence, and how that still continues today...here's hoping even more people find out about him and develop their own crushes 😉 shout-out to the lovely @iriso-page who suggested him and Music Meister to me 🙈💖

14. Control Freak | Teen Titans

sdfgdf okay back on form with the fat dweebs, i know, i know!!!! my ravenous Mad Mod fixation wasn't enough to ignore Control Freak, one of the most delightfully stupid villains in Teen Titans...!!! he hits all my buttons (ha!) and i genuinely think his design and powers are kind of epic. would love to see him utilised in the future 😉 (i am never beating the Discord kitten allegations...) 15. Ken | Barbie

well, this particular blond himbo was quite the surprise!! 🤭💖 i'm not usually the one to go for such a stereotypical hottie, but Ryan Gosling plays Ken as so unhinged and...off for the whole movie, he activated the same neurons which come with the weirdest of my crushes 🙈💖 Ken's a misguided sweetheart and i'd love to help him feel a little bit wanted;;; 16. Buck Ruffler the Duck Shuffler | Toontown: Corporate Clash

fell into the wonderful world of Toontown: Corporate Clash and imprinted on this fucker like...well, like a baby duck 😂💖 is this not the most spectacular design for an original Cog you've ever seen?! i love that Buck is an absolutely scrambled robot with a gambling addiction, and i think he'd be lovely (and hilarious) company 🥰

17. Barnaby | Billie Bust Up

ohhhh yesssss Billie Bust Up caught my attention with this sinister goofball!!!! fancy, flamboyant and very into murder...Barnaby has all the traits for any Tumblr Sexyman, and i cannot wait for the full game to drop so we can see even more of him 👀

18. The Mad Hatter/Jervis Tetch | Batman

Jervis Tetch my beloved!! this has been the year of fancy blonds in top-hats, as well as deeply silly hypnotists, and Jervis kicked off this trend with a bang 🙈💖 i'm a Mad Hatter fan generally but B:TAS Jervis is a special kind of pretty stalker, and that voice is delicious 🥴 thanks to him for kicking off an Alice in Wonderland fixation and for finally getting me into drinking tea...the things we do for our crushes, eh? 🥰 19. Music Meister/Darius Chapel | Batman

and here is the first character played by Neil Patrick Harris who made it onto this year's list!!! 🙈💖 another camp, theatrical Batman villain to add to my collection...gorgeous voice, such an immense sense of style, and wonderfully good fun!! i think more people should get a little obsessed with the Music Meister 😉 20. Buggy the Clown | One Piece

none of you can judge me for this one - i remember all the TikTok edits!!! 😂💖 Buggy is pathetic and so much fun - i wasn't expecting to enjoy him as much as i did!! although my fixation for him may have been short-lived, my love for him certainly isn't 🥰 21. Pat Butcher | BBC Ghosts

ohhhh, every now and again a little sweetheart will get me right in the feelings, and Pat Butcher is added proudly to my f/o collection as the second Yorkshireman (next to Salad Fingers 😭). i just love what an upbeat, lovely man he is!! he's so soft and warm to everyone he meets and tries his best to do everything right by his friends...i'd love to cuddle with him 🥺 22. Josh Levy | The Eltingville Club

a classic return to form with Josh Levy, à la Comic Book Guy and Control Freak...really telling on myself by collecting these horrible greasy nerds who would 100% call me something derogatory if i tried to talk to them 💀 i appreciate every last one of The Eltingville Club but Josh, as a failed writer who remains just as toxic as he was when he was a teen, is my undisputed favourite 🙈💖 23. Swan | Phantom of the Paradise

oh God, reawakening my crush on Paul Williams by discovering Swan damn near killed me!!!! 😭💖 i was so obsessed with this man as a kid and the moment i saw him as Swan in POTP i felt intense attraction and gender envy in equal parts;;;; Swan's whole aesthetic and demeaning, inhuman approach to people is impossibly sensual, and i can't overstate enough how little evil dudes in tinted shades will always get me down bad 🙈💖 24. Kinger | The Amazing Digital Circus

my love for Kinger was such a pleasant surprise!! 🤭💖 sweet, anxious fella that he is, all i want to do is get him out of that digital hellscape and ensure he can wrap up in as many blankets as he likes!!! i love his always-on-the-edge-of-a-breakdown portrayal and am so eager to learn more about him and his backstory 👀 25. Peter Gregory | Silicon Valley

ahhh, kicking it the old-fashioned way by getting extremely invested in the most autistic character on the show (and that's saying something, given the high neurodivergent coding of everyone in Silicon Valley 🙈💖). Peter's style and methods of communication are traits i simply find attractive in real life, and although he sadly wasn't with us long, he absolutely stole the show ✨ 26. 'Action' Jack Barker | Silicon Valley

given my love of nerds it's no shocker that Silicon Valley hit me with two f/os, and 'Action' Jack Barker - the tech-field Colin Robinson - was a surefire entry 😳💖 what is it about these milquetoast men who are so whitebread yet are capable of such terrible things which gets me every time?! Jack is such a fun character and i'm glad we got as much of him as we did 🙈 27. Avery | Pokémon: Sword and Shield

i cannot believe none of you guys told me about Avery, the most amazingly dressed character i've ever seen in the whole of Pokémon 🙈💖 shhhh he is so very pretty and petty and his powers are incredibly cool. i just love everything about him and would delight in helping him develop a real sense of self-esteem, because he does not deserve the dismissal he receives from his family 😭💖 28. Matthew Patel | Scott Pilgrim

oh my God, heart in my MOUTH seeing Matthew Patel get the glow-up villain arc he so desperately deserved!!!!! 😭💖💖💖 Matthew is just the epitome of style and power in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and it was so fantastic getting to see him grow as a character and get self-actualised. plus his fight scenes were some of the coolest things i've ever seen. Matthew can i have your number please 🥺 29. The Toymaker | Doctor Who

!!!!!!!!!! i don't know if you guys can tell, but i really love the Toymaker...and even predicted that he'd completely consume my mind months before we got The Giggle 🙈💖 e v e r y t h i n g about him just gets me so bad. his reality-bending, his teasing attitude, his ridiculous accents, his gorgeous costumes, his emotional inconsistency, his tragic backstory...god, if i so much as look at him smiling i melt 🥴💖 characters played by Neil Patrick Harris really get me!! i'm so proud to be modding a server dedicated to the Toymaker now, and have met so many brilliant, wonderful friends through him and falling back into Doctor Who!!! i think we're all going to be brainrotting over him for quite some time 😉💖 30. Dr Mark Fry | Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

Dr Fry, rushing in at the finish line!!! 🤭 the second my pals saw this guys they were all spamming me, begging me to watch Dawn of the Nugget!!! and ooooh i was noooot prepared for the specific brand of soft creepy genius he is 💖 even if they'd played Dr Fry purely as your run-of-the-mill mad scientist he would've gotten me bad, but they just had to make him equal parts freaky and brilliant with just a touch of arrogance, didn't they?? Melisha scored well 🤤 (also, three whole Yorkshiremen in my collection now!! is it the accent? 😭) aaaaand that's everyone!!! phew, is anyone else out of breath? 🥵 what a wonderful, silly year of fixations this has been 🤭💖 thank you all for being here, brainrotting happily alongside me for some of these characters, and for all the other characters you love!!! i hope 2024 is awesome to you, and that many more fictional characters are around the corner, ready to make you smile 😉

[fayes-fics]

It Had To Be You: Chapter 2 - Pour myself a cup of ambition

Masterpost PREV | NEXT

Pairings: Benedict Bridgerton x fem!reader (also features Thomas Dorset x fem!reader, Benedict Bridgerton x Tessa), Modern AU

Chapter Summary: Set 5 years after Chapter 1 (linked above). As your job takes you abroad for the very first time, you bump into the last person you expect on another shared journey full of revelations.

artwork credit: @colettebronte

Warnings: none really… some sexual language, swear words, bickering, and flirting.

Word Count: 2.2k

Authors Note: Unbetaed. Chapter 2 of my multi-chapter modern rom-com, heavily inspired by When Harry Met Sally. Sorry that it's taken a while to get this next part written. I hope you all enjoy! <3

7 years ago (5 Years Later)

You stand just before the security gates at St Pancras International, engaging in a rare PDA moment. But you justify to yourself that this is the first time you have had to go away on business since you started your new relationship three months ago, and this one seems like great potential. Dr Tom Dorset. Friendly, sweet, handsome and, so far at least, well-adjusted and emotionally mature. Your friends agree he’s quite the catch. And he is pretty fantastic in all sorts of other ways too. You certainly have no complaints in the bedroom.

Just as he whispers how much he will miss you and kisses that spot on your neck that makes you a little weak, your moment is interrupted.

“Tom? Tom Dorset? Is that you?”

There in front of you is the man you thought you would never see again. Looking a few years older and dressed better, but there’s no doubt who it is. You’d never forget those eyes.

“Ben? Ben Bridgerton?!” Tom seems delighted, and it occurs to you that they must be old friends as Tom takes his arms from around you and shakes his hand warmly. Just fucking great.

“I thought it was you! I haven't seen you for years! Was the last time when I came to Ant’s at Trinity?! What have you been up to?”

“Medical school mostly,” Tom offers demurely, then turns to you. “Oh, sorry, Ben, this is y/n y/l/n, y/n this is Ben Bridgerton; I was his brother’s roommate at Trinity College, Oxford.”

Ben’s eyes cut to you, and you see a confused look pass over his face; like you are familiar, but he can’t place why. 

“Well, I must get this train, but it was great to see you! Email me!” Ben smiles warmly, and with one last brow knit in your direction, he takes off. 

“Thank fuck he didn’t remember me,” you exhale loudly when he is out of earshot.

“Ben?” Tom looks confused.

“Yes, We drove from St Andrews to London together five years ago, and it was the worst road trip I think I've ever had,” you bemoan. “He was dating a friend of mine, and I agreed to split the drive. Urgh, it was terrible. He’s so obnoxious.”

Tom looks over your shoulder. “Well, looks like he just got on your train, honey, so umm, good luck with that,” he chuckles, bemused as you roll your eyes.

“Just fucking great,” you sigh sarcastically and plant your head on Tom’s shoulder as he draws you into his safe, warm embrace again. 

“I love you; I will miss you,” he says softly, cupping your jaw lovingly as he gently kisses your lips.

It's only the second time he has said it, and your heart flutters as you break into a huge smile. “I love you too. I will be back before you know it,” you promise, pulling him in for a passionate kiss you hope he will remember.

As you part, he exhales raggedly. “God, now I’ll miss you even more.”

“Mmm, that’s the point,” you whisper coquettishly and run a hand down his back, inside his coat, unseen by people around you. “Text me, sexy stuff,” you request quietly, then gently bite his bottom lip.

He groans, “Good god, woman, get on that train before I drag you somewhere or buy a ticket to join you.”

___

You are still giggling and feeling so fizzy and light, like champagne is in your blood, as you skip onboard the train to Paris. Taking your seat in First Class that you’ve been assigned by work feels like such a luxury; excited to cover your first story abroad.

Your phone pings just as the train slips out of the station. Love you. Safe travels. Txx

You can’t help your little titter of happiness, and just as you go to type a reply, someone leans over from the seat diagonally behind you, across the aisle.

“I swear I recognise that giggle. The University of St Andrews?” 

It’s Ben. Of course, it is. Thanks for that fate.

“Yes,” you sigh, not turning around, annoyed he doesn't remember more detail. How could he possibly forget calling you beautiful? Your traitorous brain yells in your skull.

“Did we date?” he questions.

You can't help but almost snort at that. “Hell no!” You twist around. “You were dating my friend Gen. We drove to London together after term ended.”

“Oh, I remember now!” he smiles, “you wouldn't give me a Malteser.”

“You propositioned me!” you blurt out as you watch him pull an apple out of his bag.

“No, I didn't,” he laughs, “I just said you were beautiful,” and he takes a bite out of the fruit. “You still are, if it's any consolation,” he offers, around a mouthful.

“None whatsoever,” you fib, feeling your cheeks heat at the compliment. “And you still talk while you eat, like an animal,” you roll your eyes, barely believing how riled up you are from exchanging less than five sentences.

“Would you two like to sit together?” the man opposite you at the table offers.

“No, that's really not….” you begin.

“Yes, thanks!” Ben interrupts, and you scowl at him as he stands immediately, throwing his bag down next to you before swinging over as the man moves aside.

“So you were going to be a journalist?” he winks after he settles into the seat opposite you.

Up close now, he is still just as handsome as he was. Maybe more so, jaw more defined and smattered with stubble. The utter arsehole.

“I am a journalist. My internship at the Guardian turned into a job. I'm going to Paris to cover the climate summit,” you state proudly, squaring your shoulders a little. “You?”

“Visiting my fiancee,” he grins, and something twinges in your gut. Maybe getting tacos for lunch wasn’t a good idea.

“You are getting married? You?” you laugh in total disbelief.

And you are suddenly back in your old studio flat, hearing more about his player reputation. A few months after the drive to London, Gen came to crash on your sofa and commiserate her reentry to single life. She didn't seem that upset about the dalliance ending, to be fair, mostly about how much she’d miss the ‘fucking mind-blowing fucking’ as she had so indelicately put it. You can see the words floating like a speech bubble above her face in your mind “Y/n, I can live without the dick attitude, but damn, I don’t know that I wanna live without that dick, you know?” Then threw herself face-first into a cushion. You cut off her margaritas at that point. How much that had to do with not wanting to think about him and his member, you decided not to dwell on.

“Yes,” he cuts into your reverie. “Her name is Tessa. She's an artist too. She's Parisian.”

“Tres chic.”

“How long have you been with Dorset? Wait, don’t tell me. Let me guess,” he smirks.

You fold your arms and raise an eyebrow. “This ought to be good,” you mutter as much to yourself as to him.

“Hmm, three months?” 

Dammit. How did the bastard get it spot on?

“Why?” you try to bluff, but the victorious crooked grin that unfurls over his face shows he knows he's right without you having to say it.

“Goodbye before a trip. Classic three-month behaviour,” he opines, taking another huge bite of his apple.

“Glad to see your eating habits have at least got healthier,” you state dryly, trying to change tack.

“Tessa likes to eat healthily,” he explains with an almost dreamy expression. Part of you is already impressed by this woman you have never met who has turned the human rubbish bin into a more impressive version of a man. “Has he told you he loves you?” he queries, spittling just a speck of apple onto the table.

“Why is that ANY of your business?” you frown.

“Because if he hasn't, he's a fool,” he shrugs casually as if those words aren't some of the sweetest you’ve heard.

“Luckily, he’s no fool,” you respond, confirming without actually confirming.

He nods. “Good. Dorset is a good one. Don't ‘y/n’ him away,” he jests, using air quotes.

“What the fuck does that mean?” you spit, suddenly whiplash angry when just a few moments ago you were impressed with his sweetest.

“You can't smoke in my car. Eating that will kill you,” he adopts a high-pitched voice and waggles his head as he mocks you.

“Fuck you,” you grumble.

“I would have, happily, but you said no,” he winks, and you want to punch him.

“I thought you just denied propositioning me!” 

He just shrugs and laughs loudly. You can tell everyone around you is most amused by your back and forth, so instead, you shoot him a glare and then change tack, staring out of the window as the countryside of Kent zips by. So irritated you forget to text Tom back for another five minutes.

___

“Do you know anyone in Paris?” he asks, pulling out an AirPod as you close your laptop sometime later. 

The train is somewhere under the Channel, and the darkness of the tunnel outside the window makes the train feel a touch more intimate, claustrophobic even.

“No,” you admit.

“How about Tessa and I take you out for dinner?” he proposes.

“Isn't tonight your first night together in a while?” you frown.

“Yeah… and?” he seems to be either not catching your train of thought or being intentionally obtuse, goading you into a trap to state the obvious.

“I would have thought you'd be otherwise occupied,” you arch an eyebrow pointedly.

“Oh…” he suddenly catches your drift and, rather adorably, a spot of pink dust his lovely cheekbones. OK, maybe not the latter.

“Certainly not wanting a third wheel, like me hanging around,” you point out meekly with a knowing smile.

“If that is your way of offering a threesome, I’m down,” he flirts, his voice suddenly velvet smooth, so much so the hairs on the back of your neck prickle up.

“God’s sake,” you mutter, feigning more indignation than you actually have.

“You're the one who told me about your lesbian experiences at uni!” he argues defensively.

“I was just trying to prove a point!” 

“Got to be honest, don't remember a damn thing except the visual that almost had me drive into a bus shelter,” he admits with a chuckle.

“And take out that delivery cyclist,” you remind, joining in.

There is a moment where your eyes meet in a joint nostalgia of amusement, and something feels softer between you.

“Listen, Tess’s brother is a chef at a great little bistro; we will almost certainly end up there anyway, as we usually always do. I'm sure she would be delighted for you to join us,” the sincerity of his offer touches you.

“Thanks, but I have to do some research ahead of tomorrow. I’ll probably just order room service and crash out,” you admit, knowing that is a lame response.

“Fair enough. Well, let's at least exchange numbers this time. Stay in touch? If you are at a loose end at any point, let me know, and we’ll happily give you a tour or just grab a drink?”

“Okay”, you capitulate and hand over your phone for him to punch in his number.

“Wonderful” he smiles genuinely, and his hazy eyes dance. “Are we finally becoming friends?” he teases gently as he seems to fiddle a little longer than needed to put in a few digits.

“I guess so,” you respond with a laugh.

He hands back your phone, and weirdly it's screen locked.

“Good, And as my very first act as your friend, may I make a comment you are not allowed to take offence to?” he questions, with an odd tone.

Your dander is suddenly way up. “Whatttt?” you elongate the word rife with suspicion.

He leans over the train table suddenly, and you startle as his lips are warm against the shell of your ear, your heart-rate spiking. “You have a fucking fantastic pair of tits,” he murmurs.

You splutter, shame, outrage and desire flooding your system in almost equal measure. Incapable of forming words, you sharply pull back into your seat and shoot him your most sour glare.

“Maybe don't hand your phone over when it’s open to the message thread with your boyfriend,” he chuckles.

You feel mortified, recalling the photo you'd texted Tom last night as a going-away present, and you are almost blinded as the train suddenly swoops out of the tunnel and sunlight floods into the compartment.

In fact, you are grateful that he gets a call just at that moment. It seems to last ages, and he wanders away, probably to find the buffet car, knowing him. By the time you see him making his way back through the carriage, the train is pulling into Gare Du Nord. You are on your feet and walking to the next carriage to alight. Not certain you can live down your embarrassment. 

There are a few moments as you wander around Paris over the next two days when your fingers itch to dial his number… but you never do, something always stopping you. Bizarrely, you think it might be the idea of meeting his fiancee, and you have no idea what that means, so avoidance seems like the best tactic.

After all, he’s probably moving to Paris soon, so really, what's the point?

Benedict taglist: @makaylan @foreverlonginguniverse @iboopedyournose @colettebronte @aintnuthinbutahounddog @severewobblerlightdragon @margofiore @writergirl-2001 @heeyyyou @enichole445 @enchantedbytomandhenry @ambitionspassionscoffee @chaoticcalzoneranchsports @nikaprincessofkattegat @baebee35 @crowleysqueenofhell @bridgertontess @fiction-is-life @lilacbeesworld @angels17324 @broooookiecrisp @queen-of-the-misfit-toys @eleanor-bradstreet @divaanya @musicismyoxygen84 @benedictspaintbrush @miindfucked @sorryallonsy @lilithseve @cayt0123 @hottytoddyhistory @truly-dionysus @fictionalmenloversblog @zinzysstuff @malpalgalz

[gardenvarietycrafts]

WIP Wednesday

One sock is done, and I couldn't be happier with that gradient! It's really making me excited to finish the second sock so I can actually wear these (though It's getting a bit warm here for wool socks). I feel like I've really gotten used to using the 9" circulars, so now I'm really flying through the start of the second sock.

No pattern, they're just vanilla socks with pinned short row toes and heels.

Yarn is Willow Duo Sox in color 3 Aegean. I originally got it for 2aat (since it comes with 2 balls of yarn to make matching socks) but I think I like my 9" circulars better.

The leafs have multiplied! I've been doing one or two a day to keep myself from getting tired of knitting leaves, while still making progress. I also looked up different ways for how to make leaf garland, and I think I'm going to connect these with a crochet chain (inserting the hook through the bottom of a leaf when I want to attach one, then making the next chain by pulling the yarn through both the leaf and the chain) and then slip stitch along the chain to make it sturdier.

Pattern I'm using is below the cut, and I'd love to see if anyone else makes some leaves or a leaf garland from them!

The Leafy Leaf cowl was frogged and put in time out. I dropped the center stitch in between a line of yarn overs and ended up losing stitches and couldn't figure out how to get them back without making that leaf's lace a lot more open, so I decided to restart it later. Or not! I wasn't in love with how it was working up, so if I find a better use for that yarn I'll use it there instead.

This does mean that I'm back down to one project with the ace hat having been finished as well. Which means I'm all clear to (re)start the burgundy cardigan! I'm using a different pattern than last time I started it, and looking at it, I think the sleeves will end up too big if I follow the decreases as written, so I am probably going to wing that section and just take super careful notes so I can repeat it for the second sleeve. We're aiming for an end product I love here, that's why I've restarted this one so much.

Leaf pattern:

CO 6 stitches using Judy's magic CO or your favorite cast on for knitting from the center out. Divide the stitches so you have 3 on each needle, then knit a round.

1. *k1, yo, k1, yo, k1* ×2 (5st/needle, 10st total)

2 (and all even rounds) knit around

3. *k2, yo, k1, yo, k2* ×2 (7st/needle)

5. *k3, yo, k1, yo, k3* ×2 (9st/needle)

6. *k4, yo, k1, yo, k4* ×2 (11st/needle)

7. *ssk, k7, k2tog* ×2 (9st/needle)

9. *ssk, k5, k2tog* ×2 (7st/needle)

11. *ssk, k3, k2tog* ×2 (5st/needle)

13. *ssk, k1, k2tog* ×2 (3st/needle)

15. cdd ×2, break yarn and pull through remaining 2 loops twice, then hide tail inside the leaf

[golden-eye-ramblings]

Moore Tomato Headcanon Dump Part 1

Yea ok so I caved this was an inevitably, I need to join in on this. Mashle gives me crumbs so I make bread with it(also sorry no cool gif of Moore he shows up like 3-4 times but you can still admire his handsome face)

----

Moore Tomato

Height: 6ft/184cm

Age: 18

Birthdate: August 9th

Sign: Leo

Gender: Uhhhh??(Agender he hates labels)

Pronouns: He/Him

Sexuality: Demiromantic Pansexual(<- he doesn't know the name of these he's purely going off of vibes)

• Likes rock music. Has a record player in his dorm and one at home so he can play his favorite bands

• He is also in a band! It's your typical 4-person garage rock band he started with his friends. He's not entirely committed, but he still shows up for practice(he is actually really good at playing guitar but he downplays his music skills hard)

• Favorite food is tomatoes... Yes he is aware of the very obvious joke.

• He also often prefers being called by his first name than his surname. For obvious reasons. Mr. Tomato isn't a name to be taken seriously...

• Often teased as House Lang's mascot(wolf wulfes joke here). Hates it. Because they don't know how true they actually hit the mark(put a pin in this and stick it in ur brain we're coming back to this later)

• Son of Mr and Mrs Tomato and is the eldest of 5 siblings. The Tomato Family Tree is extensive...

• Moore's family is quite the rowdy bunch, well known beast tamers with their unique summoning bloodline magic Wulfes. Well known for using "pack tactics" in order to subjugate magical creatures.

• Each Wulf is unique to each corresponding member of the family, size varies as well depending on magic aptitude and hierarchy status within the family. With Mama Tomato's Wulf being the largest and strongest with Moore's coming in second.

• The Wulf Bloodline Magic originally was a curse. Though with each generation, that curse eventually was twisted and evolved into the wulfes magic known within the family today. Unfortunately, for Moore, that curse eventually circled back to him.(aha see it circles back)

• Moore is cursed with lycanthropy. During every full moon, he will transform into a werewolf. It is an incredibly painful and terrifying process, as his body will actually physically change. Aching joints and bones growing and breaking and healing, muscles tearing and mending, fur and hair growing. Actually feeling his intelligence and awareness dwindle. Worst yet, he will not remember a single thing he does whenever he transforms.

• He often treats this condition of his as a form of chronic illness. There's not much he can do about it, no known cure as far as he's aware of. So he kinda has to deal with it every time it happens. He becomes irritable and moody whenever a full moon is coming up, so he often pays a visit to the nurse so they can help deal with his transformations. On the days he cannot make it to the nurse however, he often just fucks off to the woods and prays he doesn't get lost when the following morning comes.

• Very few people know of his condition. That being select members of staff, his family and those he considers to be extremely close friends.

• Comparatively to most other known Lang students, Moore is known to be the most... Approachable, despite his rather blasé disposition. While not nearly as ambitious, he still very much prides himself in his abilities. when it comes to succeeding his goals all on his own without the use of underhanded tricks or a sense of crude superiority over others(or whatever the fuck was happening in the Magia Lupus he doesn't wanna be associated at all with that mess). He is extremely independent and rarely asks for help, making him a bit of the odd one out given how tight knit/close his family is(insert wolf pack joke here).

• After the events of the Divine Visonary Exams, Moore found himself spending more time with that Adler student he teamed up with during the trials... Hmm...

[puuta-heinaa]

Joker Out -sweater series Post 1 Post 2 Post 3 Post 4

Happy Carpe diem's birthday!

As promised, here's the chart now that I've finished the yoke! The four rows I added on the go (20, 22, 29, 31) are now part of the chart, so no need to knit any row twice. I did alter the most annoying cloud rows slightly.

There's "colours only" chart at the end of this post.

What you'll need:

Technique Ladderback jacquard/invisible stranding technique is a MUST, and honestly it makes following the chart easier as well! If you don't feel like learning it, you might want to mark the blue lines with stitch markers. Here's an EXCELLENT video of the technique in Finnish, it's very visual + auto-translated subtitles seemed to work reasonably well, so it might work even for non-Finnish speaking people! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtapBYocY80&t

Yarn I'm using Drops Alaska, 17s/10cm in color 15 and 58 and 3. It is widely available and affordable yarn. It's not soft but it's not worst either, somewhere around 29-33 microns I'd say.

In reality I'm using Drops Nepal 0501 for the grey, as I was going to use Nepal in the first place as it is a lovely yarn!!!! I'd say around 25-27 microns, and 35% alpaca, makes even warmer sweater! Colours are sold out in most places in Jan and Feb as it's always on big sale in Nov-Dec, but 6790 or 1709 would work for blue, and 2923 for the yellow.

I used one skein of grey, 1(2) skeins of yellow and as I'm making a crop version like I always do, about 8 skeins of main colour. If you want a regular sweater, you'll need 10-12 skeins of blue depending on your height.

Friendly reminder to check your local shepherd's and local mills' yarns before buying Drops, if that is something you financially can afford.

Needles 5 mm needles. I've recenlty fallen in love with addi's unicorn needles. They're easy for the hands as they are slightly shaped. No need to grip hard = more knitting time per day! And they're pretty! You want to use lacquered or metallic needles for this yarn, you will struggle with bamboo needles.

Some adjustments The chart is not scaled. It's one size. It makes size M/L. The widest part of the yoke is 150 cm, and I'm aiming for 100-105cm for the body. If you need a bigger sweater, use yarn that has 15 or 12 s/10cm and bigger needles, or add a few (blue) stitches on each side of the chart. If you need a smaller sweater, use yarn that has 18-20 s/10 cm and smaller needles. Do some math before choosing your yarn. And please swatch!! It's boring and annoying but you will thank yourself later.

+ stitch markers (you can use yarn loops)

I'll write up the whole pattern once I have energy to do that. I started with 86 stitches, knit rib for 5 rows, placed the stitch markers (17,17,17,17,18), did some shaping for the neck (5 short rows with 42 stitches in total) and moved on to the chart. 1-2 rows with just blue to cast off the ladders, and then I'll move on to sleeves. I don't promise my pattern will be any clearer than these quick notes right here, but if you know someone who knits or have already knit few sweaters, these should give you a decent starting point.

OK ON TO THE CHARTS.

One with only the colours. The numbers on the cloud are upside down when you're knitting, but they still help somewhat (I had put them in the same table/layer with the colours, and couldn't hide them easily, so we'll just have to live with them.)

Dark grey boxes are stitches that don't exist yet, but where will be a stitch later on on the chart. You add the stitches on rows where the boxes turn white.

And the second; what you might want to embroider on the suns and clouds as finishing touches.

And yoke part of the sweater for those who hadn't yet seen it yet and didn't click the links:

[remuslupinkinnie1979]

Some Emilute headcanons cause I'm obsessed

Lute - she/they (mean) lesbian

Emily - they/she/neos pansexual

Lute is VERY protective, if you even look at Emily the wrong way, you have a spear inches from your throat a second later

I hc that Emily is autistic, so Lute always carries noise cancelling headphones in her back (Emily often forgets them)

Lute loves listening to Emily infodumping about their current interests

Whenever Emily sees a homeless animal in the streets she takes it home. Lute thought it was adorable, until it got to the point when: "No, Em. We already have 5 dogs, 4 cats, 2 snakes, 3 turtles and a chicken, we can't adopt this lizard."

They ended up having a little animal shelter

Emily cried every time they had to give out a pet, but was also happy it found a new home

Lute listens to stuff like Metallica, Nirvana, AC/DC etc. and Emily listens to Melanie Martinez and musicals. They both love Queen

They watch anime (why? Because I said so)

Lute gets a lot of bruises and injuries during training and stuff, and Emily always insists to take care of them

This one is kinda dumb, but I hc that when angels blush their face goes yellow (cause they have yellow blood, yk) and Lute blushes A LOT around Emily (especially when they started dating) and Adam gave her a nickname "banana" cause of it and every time he caught them simping he'd be like: "You're staring, banana" (idk, I made it today at 5 am, okay?!)

Emily loves making bracelets and giving them to people (Lute especially). It got to the point when Lute almost had her circulation stop, cause she insisted on wearing them all the time

Lute is more scared of Sera after her and Emily got together, cause Sera is kinda like Emily's parent/big sister so Lute wants her to like her

Sera picked up on it and is very cold and serious around Lute, to not show that she actually likes her

Lute has anxiety/panic disorder and sometimes gets bad panic attacks from all the pressure and Emily always succeeds to calm them down

Also Lute has some major anger issues and is often like "I'm gonna murder the next person I fucking see, I swear..." And then she sees Emily and IMMEDIATELY turns calm and nice. Adam makes fun of her for it

They paint their nails together. Lute always gets black and Emily never can decide what to pick (xe ends up with multicolour nails)

Sometimes when they're talking/flirting and Adam is in the background he would do some stupid shit to ruin the moment, like:

Emily: You look nice today... Pretty much like every day

Lute: *blushes* You think?

Adam: *Fake sexual/puking noises in the background*

They often go on dates on Earth (they love cinema, concerts and Disneyland)

Sometimes on Earth people would give them dirty looks or throw slurs at cause they're gay and Lute would be like cracking her knuckles and getting angry, and Emily has to hold her, so she wouldn't murder someone

Emily pretty much NEVER swears and Lute swears a lot. Lute loves that about Emily, so she makes sure to never swear in their presence:

Lute: Oh you little *realises that Emily is next to her* you little... stupid person?

Emily: *laughs, cause she knows what Lute really wants to say and finds the whole thing adorable*

Adam would CONSTANTLY make fun of Lute for simping

Sera would definitely give Lute 'the talk'

Emily tends to dismiss ze's own emotions and overworked themselves to make everyone happy. Lute sometimes ends up forcibly putting them to bed so she'd get some rest.

Emily loves sweets and Lute loves salty food

Emily drinks tea and Lute drinks coffee

Emily likes knitting, especially in winter, so Lute has a closet full of sweaters, scarves, hats etc. She'd never wear them if they weren't from Emily

Lute likes sketching (mostly their girlfriend)

Hufflepuff x Slitherin

Emily loves hairstyling, so ze insists on styling lutes hair

St. Peter and Emily are friends and Lute absolutely fucking hates this guy

Because of their height difference Emily has to stand on her tiptoes when they kiss

Lute takes advantage of the difference and gives Emily a lot of forehead kisses

Lute often gives Emily piggy back rides (or flies)

Lute always insists on doing 'gentlemen' stuff, like they ALWAYS carry Emily's bag and open the door for her

When they move in together Adam often just comes in uninvited and crashes on the couch like he actually lives there. Lute is kinda annoyed with it, but Emily mostly doesn't mind

Lute plays bass

When they sleep Lute always has her spear next to the bed, just in case

When Emily has a shutdown Lute either speaks for them or makes sure to get her out of there. If anyone is trying to keep Emily in the room and is being kinda pushy and obnoxious, Lute gets all protective and is like: Don't you see we're busy? With a spear targeted at them

When Emily gets overstimulated xe tends to pick up on their skin. Lute noticed that and always has some fidget toys on them, to offer

Emily collects plushies and squishmallows and when ze sees one in a store, it goes like this:

Emily: Look! It's so cute! Can we buy it?

Lute: Babe, we already have like... 20 squishmallows in our room.

Emily: But it's an elephant... *Sad face*

Lute: Oh, fine. But it's the last one. *It's never the last one*

Adam is sceptical about their relationship at first, but grows fond of Emily pretty quickly and sees them as his little sister

They cuddle using their wings as blankets

Okay, I guess that's it for now, but I will probably update. As u can probably tell I'm a little, tini-tiny bit obsessed with them atm

[donaweasley]

His True Form

Okay, so here is another snippet from another WIP because Heaven knows when I would finish the story!!

Read time: ~5 min

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

“What is your true form?”

Her question was met with silence and with eyes that were trying to answer and question at the same time.

“You’re a frost giant! Of course! That’s your true form. How could I forget!”

Loki cast his eyes down. “Yes, I’m a frost giant,” he agreed with a remorse in his voice, “I’m a monster. That is my true form.”

“Show me.”

“What??!!!” Eyes wide, he wondered if he had heard her properly or had misunderstood her words.

“Show me your true form, Loki. I want to see you.”

“I cannot! I...It is not something you would like to see. Trust me.”

“I trust myself. And I trust you. If you know me, then you must know that I like you for who you are, and not for who I imagine you to be.”

“Well, part of you does like the imaginary me in your head,” he jested.

“I do, yes,” she shook her head, “But...at the core, it’s all about who you are, Loki. I like you regardless of what you have done. Or what you look like. Don’t you see? A change of colour won’t change anything.”

Determined, Loki shook his head, replying more to himself than to her, “No.”

Seeing his stubbornness, she sighed, “I won’t force you. I never will. But...if you trust in what I feel for you...well, I don’t know how to put this. Know that I feel all of that for what’s in here,” she placed a hand over his heart, “and not what’s on here,” and moved the hand to place on his cheek. “Well, some of it is,” She concluded with a laugh.

Loki gave her a sad smile, and looked at her face. He was looking into her.

Less than a second later, a small gasp left her mouth, as his porcelain skin gradually started blending into a shade of blue that could only match that of the western sky at dawn. Her hand slowly drew itself away from his face as it turned cold. The green eyes that were boring into hers morphed into a shade that was richer than vermillion, the colour of life and eternity. The once smooth skin now displayed a million ridges, ones that reminded her of waves of a swelled up sea.

She stared at him shamelessly, unable to believe the spectacle unveiling before her eyes. Under her very roof! She had imagined it, read about it, and now...she was actually witnessing what was no less than a miracle to her.

Loki stood with his eyes glued to her feet, not daring to look at her face, lest any fear etched on it should stab him. He stood there fidgeting with his fingers while the cold breaths coming out of his mouth became more and more erratic.

He was on the verge of spinning on his heels when he heard her. It was barely above a whisper, but he heard it clearly.

“Beautiful!”

His hands stopped their movements. With knitted brows, he looked up at her, unable to believe what he had heard. He was ready to believe that he had broken her but...what was that?

“What?” His own voice had lost its strength.

“You are beautiful!” She managed a little louder this time. “You’re...you’re...I’m sorry, I-I think I lost my words!” Her breaths formed adorable little wisps as she spoke.

“Can you hear yourself? Did I scare you so much that you are blabbering nonsense now?” He almost scoffed.

This snapped her out of her trance. “What? I’m...I..I’m speaking what?”

He did not say anything.

“No, mister,” she spoke confidently, “I’m absolutely aware of what I’m saying. You are,” and her voice dropped back to the enchanted one, “even more gorgeous than what I had imagined. You...” her hand moved up to his face and before she had hardly touched one of his lines, she pulled it away. “I-I’m...I’m sorry.”

“It is alright,” Loki said gently, “You may.”

“Are you sure? It’s...”

He gently wrapped his slender, icy fingers around her wrist, “I am”.

She shivered at the sudden contact. But Loki now knew that it was the cold and not fear that made her react. So, instead of backing away, he slowly pulled her hand up and laid it on his face.

As her fingers gently landed on a ridge, it made her gasp and made him close his eyes. For a moment, he stopped all thoughts, and simply relished in the soft, warm touches that her fingers paved across his cheeks, across his chin, down his neck…

But her path lasted just till there. As if suddenly awakened, she cleared her throat and simultaneously, removed her hand from where his skin got lost inside the collar of his tunic.

“I’m sorry. I...got lost...” She gulped.

“No. It is fine. It is absolutely fine,” he convinced her.

She gave him a nervous smile.

As they were, once again, covered in a comfortable blanket of silence, he noticed goosebumps forming on her arms.

The cold.

In the blink of an eye, he was back into his porcelain skin.

“Wh-What happened?” She wondered aloud. “Was it uncomfortable? I’m sorry if I pushed you too far!”

“It was not,” he gently held her by the arms, “not for me, at least. But I do not want you to catch a cold.” His fingers were comfortably cool now.

She searched his face for an answer to her confusion. Loki simply gestured at her arm with his eyes. And she realised.

Oh!

She quickly rubbed her arms in an attempt to make them go away. Not because she was uncomfortable. But because she thought that Loki might be.

He probably guessed it, having known her pretty well by now. Especially now, when he knew what she really felt for him. 

“It does not bother me,” he said with a smile, “unless it bothers you. I am sure goosebumps are never pleasurable.”

“Not if they are a result of something pleasurable,” her natural tendency to make quirky remarks slipped out before she could gauge the situation.

Shit!

When her face turned crimson, Loki took the opportunity to regain his charm that was momentarily buried under a wave of emotions. He tilted his head with a smirk, and took a few steps towards her, enough to eventually back her up against the desk.

He leaned in, his breath - now warm again - fanning over her ear, and spoke in a gravelly voice, “I was only teasing you.” Leaning back, he took her hand and brought it to his lips, “Good night, darling!”

Before her flustered brain could resume proper function, the air mingled with a soft green glow, and somewhere amidst it, a smirking Loki disappeared from view.

“Rascal,” she huffed. But her frustration was quickly taken over by a wide grin and a ferocious blush.

***

Taglist:

@evelyn-kingsley @theaudacitytowrite @dryyoursaltyoceantears @modestlyabsurd @black-and-white1 @lokisgoodgirl @muddyorbs @fictional-hooman @superheroesandstardust @finnishjerseygirl @idy-ll-ique

[peoplefromheaven]

Purging the home

If you’re like me, and you’re bad at throwing stuff out, here are some tips to help. It’s still not going to be easy and you will probably still feel guilty about certain items, but that’s normal.

1: when did you last use it? Was it 6 months ago? A year ago? Did you even know you still had it? If that’s the case, toss. This goes for unused clothing hangers, toys kids don’t use, those really beautiful bowls you just couldn’t leave behind and then never used, etc.

2: How often do I use those things? For me, this mainly goes for clothes. Pants I’ve worn once, don’t really have an outfit for in mind, donate and make someone else happy with it. This also goes for makeup, skincare, haircare…

3: what’s the condition of the item? If it’s an easy fix and I still want the item (e.g. ripped seam in a stuffie)? In a box, have I not fixed it within a week, toss. Fixes that will take more time and money than getting a new one? Toss. Kitchen accessories that look like they’ve been in war? Toss. You deserve beautiful things.

4: expensive items. This one is one of the hardest, but keeping expensive items for the sole reason of them having been expensive, is only going to create more clutter. Do you still use it? Do you still love it? If not, toss. You’ve already lost the money, clinging on to the item is not going to bring that back.

5: why are you holding on to that item? Is it guilt? Cost? Emotional value? All of those can have different outcomes. Cost we’ve already talked about. If you’re feeling guilt, why? Because it was a gift maybe, but keeping something you don’t need or use in your household is only going to make you unhappy. The person that gifted you said item should understand that maybe, this one thing just wasn’t for you.

6: emotional value: this one I struggle with the most. I love everything people ever do for me. I do cling on to thought out Christmas and birthday cards. However, I now have a map where I keep them, all nice and tidy, all in one place. And we don’t cling on to every single card. If your grandma did knitting or anything like that, check first if you can’t incorporate it into anything, maybe just frame it, that’s already less clutter in closets and drawers. Lastly, if there’s no use for an item, hard as it can be, think about donating. Grandmas plates and cups are beautiful, but you don’t use them ever, because you have other ones, donate them and make another person happy.

Don’t get stuck. If you come across items where you cannot make a decision, put them into another separate pile or box and keep going. Your maybe box can be sorted through later. Lets say 2 weeks. Do you still know what’s in it? If not, toss. Have you figured out ways you can use it? Yes? Keep. No? Toss. Also, let’s say you find half of a pair of earrings, throw it in there. Find the second half? We have earrings! Still only one after 2 weeks? Time to toss.

Pay attention to why a space gets cluttered. Do you simply have too much stuff? Or do you not have efficient places to keep said stuff? Those are 2 very different problems. In my home, it’s board games, we do use all of them, but I didn’t have the space for them. That’s when you can invest in extra organisation storage. But always remember, declutterring first, tidying second.

Do a no buy week/month/year: your decluttering isnt going to get anywhere if you keep bringing stuff into your home. Calm down. Breathe. Get decluttering, and then you can fully see what you need to replace or buy new.

Don’t make it a one time thing, after your big declutter is done, go over stuff once a month. That drawer full of stuff that’s starting to get really full? Check it. Pile of paperwork on the kitchen table? Check, organise what’s needed, toss what’s not needed. When you keep on top of it, you never have to do a full house declutter again.