#any tags you'd recommend using or to avoid?

[theneighborhoodsave]

V1: Willow Creek + Magnolia Promenade 🏠

The Neighborhood is a CC-free save file that explores the concept of home. V1 celebrates the vibrant communities of the U.S. Gulf Coast. ❤️

This is what comes in V1:

13 community lots

22 total residences (includes 3 multi-family rental lots, 9 single family homes)

New High School & Auditorium in Copperdale (+8 school staff townies)

Secret lot (Sylvan Glade) reimagined

17 unique households with skills, jobs, relationships, and stories that tie into the town

New clubs and holidays

Download, screenshots & more info below ↪

The wonderful Ly family in Willow Creek was lovingly created for the save by @cowplant-snacks. All other neighbors were made by me, you can meet all of them here! Pets are from Pugowned, misc. townies from @cowplant-snacks and @simsontherope on the gallery.

There's lots of little details and things to explore, both around the world and relationship wise, so I'm excited to see what y'all uncover. Please feel free to @theneighborhoodsave in your posts or tag #theneighborhoodsave. I'd love to see what your sims are up to!

I also want to say thank you to anyone who's appreciated this creative journey with me. This save feels like home to me and y'all have supported me every step of the way!

Download the The Neighborhood save on SFS

Alt: Google Drive

The save is 100% CC free! Please note that I do have all expansions, packs, and kits (except for Castle Estate, Goth Galore + Crystal Creations.) For any items you don't own the game will try to auto find replacements for those items. The file is mostly blank this time around but does include the original EA builds in university and vacation type worlds (sans Granite Falls.)

Included is a folder of completely optional skin details/eyelashes for the neighbor sims. Thank you to @faaeish, @pyxiidis, @tamo-sim, and @landgraabbed! There are 4 pieces of CC I cannot include in the folder due to creator TOU. Please check the included "Read Me" file for more information.

All builds and families are up on the gallery (@sweetbeagaming) + tray files have been shared here.

If you've never used a save file and need help installing it, I highly recommend this tutorial by @leeleebsimming.

⚠️ A couple of disclaimers here due to some existing EA bugs. EDIT 4/25: Included in that link are directions on how to avoid TOOL'd items from disappearing. If you want to keep powerlines and such please check this out! ⚠️

Everything was tested to work around these, but I wanted to put them out there as an FYI.

TOU: Please don't reupload my save/builds/sims, claim as your own, and absolutely do not paywall them. Other than that feel free to build your own Neighborhood stories however you'd like!

[ririleil]

fake dating // r. suna

tags: friends/fake dating to real lovers, timeskip!suna, fem!reader is a resident doctor, love confession, suna confesses he was a dumbass back in highschool, two idiots in love, suna may be ooc here i am so sorry, wc: 3k

seeing suna get coddled and surrounded by your family members at your cousin's wedding reception was a sight you probably could never get used to. 

what started off as a joke–a desperate and last-minute (but still a joke, mind you) text asking for a plus one– turned into this:  

suna rintarou, your closest male friend and one whom you reconciled with after so many years of life taking you both in different directions, was effortlessly charming his way to your family's heart through warm introductions and small talk as if he wasn't the most indifferent, blunt, and annoying man you've met in your entire life. 

you hadn't expected him to pay any mind to that text you sent, much less agree to be your fake boyfriend just to put off your family's persistent nagging of finally getting one. but his response to your "joke" was just as quick and blatant as his personality that you weren't even sure if he was joking around or being serious. 

suna: yeah sure, im down with that. send me the dress code.

and now there he was, sitting at one of the tables and looking irritatingly and unfairly handsome with his baby blue dress shirt tucked and sleeves slightly rolled up that showed his defined forearms. dark hair slicked back that showed a bit more of his forehead, and posture, lax as ever yet aura radiating silent confidence. 

it was frustrating. 

your aunts hovered around him like bees on a flower. your uncle clapped him on the back like they were old pals. your mother and grandmother were surprised, but welcomed him warmly nonetheless. even your father, who usually had a sharp and strict eye for potential suitors and just wanted the best for his daughter, looked pleased with his presence. treating him like a son, in fact. your family seemed to love his smooth responses after interviewing him like some celebrity. 

well, he is technically one though. you reckoned this was something he had to deal with from time to time as the middle blocker from EJP Raijin and one of the key players from the National Volleyball Team. 

meanwhile, you were there stood off to the side, sipping your champagne and watching the scene in disbelief. you certainly hadn’t expected suna to be good and surprisingly sociable at this. he blended in so well with your family it got you worrying about the consequences that would happen sooner after this. 

“you should've done that sooner, you know.” a voice interrupted your thoughts.

you look to your side to see your younger brother walking up right next to you, holding a plate of his favorite dessert as he took a bite while watching suna from afar. 

“done what? i'm not sure what you're talking about.” 

“i know you're fake-dating that dude, suna.” 

you shot him a surprised look, which transitioned into a glare. 

“you knew? when?” 

he scoffed, looking at you like this was some obvious trick up your sleeve. “the moment you texted me you were bringing in someone. you'd never do something like that unless you’re trying to avoid another setup by our family. i know you're irritated by them recommending you guys to marry.” 

you let out a sharp exhale, pinching the bridge of your nose. 

“this was supposed to be just a joke. an act. just to stop them from nagging. but now it feels so real, it's starting to get concerning.” 

“yeah, well, joke’s on you. he’s actually pulling it off.” your brother looked back to the crowd, watching suna carrying one of your very younger cousins by the arm. 

“i didn't expect that guy to be all approachable though. he seemed a lot more distant when i saw him back when we were studying in inarizaki.” 

“he isn't. and he wasn't exactly that distant too. if you get to know him, he's actually very random and does things to annoy you just to get a reaction out of you. he's a pretty weird guy but fun around to be with. well... that's how it is with me that is.” you rambled out.

your brother gave you a confused stare.

“what's with that look.” you said, coming off more as a statement rather than a question.

“you sure there's nothing going on between you two? like, nothing at all?” 

“what? no. we're just friends.”

“yeah, uh-huh. just friends.” he snorted. “have you seen the way he looks at you? it's pathetic. i feel bad for the guy.”

you rolled your eyes, not truly believing a word your brother said. 

in truth, you had liked suna. truly. 

it started off as simple— as friends in high school. and you weren't even sure how it happened at first. 

maybe it was when you both had always bumped into each other that you started to notice him. maybe it was how you took the chance to finally approach him and you realized how easy it was to talk to him whether it was everything or nothing to talk about. then somewhere along the way in your highschool years that friendship slipped into something deeper without you even realizing it. 

but by the 3rd year when he got himself a girlfriend, you had to draw the line because that's when you started to realize that you had feelings for him. 

though heartbroken as you were, you were happy for him. 

truly.  

so you slipped away—quietly, carefully— telling yourself that distance would make it easier. even if it never really did.

after graduation, you eventually moved to tokyo for university. to attend a prestigious school so you could chase your dreams in becoming a doctor whereas suna travelled to shizuoka to become a professional volleyball player. suna and you hadn't really interacted since then, aside from the occasional likes on each other's social media posts. 

strange, isn't it? how just before you were talking everyday about everything and now the only thing connecting you both were just hollow double taps on social media and nothing more…  

that is until the miya twins’ 22nd birthday when you saw him again. all familiar yet different all at once. and somehow, after all this time, it was easy to fall back into place with him.

now, standing here, after graduating med school and just entered residency, it felt just the same as when you were both in highschool. 

it felt like he had never really left your life at all. 

“your eyes are just playing tricks on you.” you grumbled, taking another sip of your champagne. 

“keep denying, sis.” your brother said, softer this time. “but a man knows when another one is hoping for something more.” 

“what's that supposed to mean—” 

“mind if i steal your sister for a dance?” 

a familiar voice came out behind you. you turned around to see suna smiling softly, his voice cutting through your thoughts like a blade. you felt his calloused hand, a hand that's been molded from all those years of volleyball, reaching out for yours…

…and without thinking, you let him take it. 

like he’d always had a claim to it. 

“go ahead, she's all yours anyways.” 

.

.

.

“how's my resident doctor doing?” suna asked, slipping an arm around your waist and twisting you around for a twirl. the touch felt like fire, burning into every sensation of your tactile fibers and igniting every nerve. you kept a straight expression, even though inside, you were panicking. 

“not bad, thanks for asking. how's my athlete boyfriend doing, though?” you teased, earning a chuckle out of him and when you looked a little close enough, a little red on the ears too.

“not bad too, babe. your family is actually fun to hang out with.”

you laughed at the nickname babe. as much as you hated how corny it was, you couldn’t help but feel a little bit of heat warming up your cheeks— especially hearing it from your highschool crush.

though, that feeling didn't last long as you recalled the problem of this entire facade. 

 “seriously though, what's up? you've been frowning ever since you got here.” he pointed out, voice softening as he picked up a shift in your mood. 

“i'm just… worried what would happen if we ended up breaking things off. this fake relationship, i mean.”

“why would you think that?” 

“well…”

you spelt it out for him as you both continued your dance, words twirling as your bodies did. you told suna that the consequences had been gnawing at you since the moment this whole charade began. your family had warmed up to him too quickly—your mom already slipping in personal questions, your younger cousins clinging to him like an older brother, your dad finally relaxing in the presence of someone you “trusted”. if you suddenly broke this off, if they found out it was all a lie, that it had just been a temporary cover, the disappointment would be crushing for you. it would spiral into awkward explanations, misplaced blame, and relentless questions. that would be more infuriating than them giving you suitors to marry.

the trust they’d placed in you and the hope they’d built around him would all unravel and break into pieces. the idea was that you weren’t just faking a relationship. it was like faking a future, as well.

and that’s why ending it would feel more complicated than it ever should’ve been.

“then do we really need to break things off?”

“what?”

you both stopped dancing at that point. suna met your gaze, a soft and unmistakable look in his hooded grayish yellow eyes. eyes that you always loved to look at. 

“i'm just saying… does it have to end?” 

you blinked, unsure if you’d heard him right. the noise of laughter and music around the lively venue had slowly dulled into the background. the sound resembling tinnitus in your ears. he scratched the back of his neck, looking away for a second. 

“sure, it started as a favor for your family but it doesn’t feel fake anymore. not to me. not when you held onto me by the arm as we walked into the reception. actually, i think before that even.”

air got caught in your throat, making it harder to breath.

“i know we didn’t plan for it to get this far, and maybe asking this of you would be too fast but…” he went on, speaking quieter now. softer. 

“but somewhere between pretending and now… i think i stopped acting.”

you looked at him—really looked at him. the boy you used to talk with everyday in highschool. the one who used to feel so far away in your 3rd year. and now here he was, standing right in front of you, saying everything you never expected to hear.

but before you could open your mouth, someone called out your name. 

“sorry, dear y/n! rinnie promised me a dance!” 

it was your aunt. you turned your head to her voice to see your gleeful aunt pulling suna's arm for a dance. 

“ah. aunt suzume.” both of you muttered at the same time. before your aunt got a chance to drag him away from you, you said with your voice low but your heart pounding…

“come meet me at the pool later. there's something we need to talk about.” 

he nodded with a smile. not a teasing smile this time—just one full of understanding.

.

.

.

the festive music, the laughter, and the chattering from your family inside the reception faded more and more as you stepped closer outside, replaced by the soft hum of the crickets and the occasional splash of water echoing in the quiet night. 

you decided to sit on a chair near the edge of the pool as you waited for suna. the fresh evening air that greeted your face when you stepped outside was cool but the thoughts in your head ran around too warm to leave your mind.

he showed up around 5 minutes later or more with hands in his pockets and shoulders a little stiff. there was no smirk nor a lazy grin on his face. it was just suna but serious in a way he rarely ever was.

“i was starting to think you bailed on me,” you said without turning towards him. even though it was only 5 minutes you couldn't help but think that way.

“bail on you? never.”

you nodded, lips pressing together. “so… what was that earlier? at the party?”

suna sat beside you on the same chair, careful and quiet, both your shoulders brushing each other ever so slightly as he lowered himself down. just like you, he stared out over the clear bluish-light water powered by its underwater glow. he breathed in then exhaled slowly.

“you wanna know the truth?”

“mhm.” you gave a slight nod.

“i agreed to be your fake boyfriend just so i could finally ask you out.”

your head snapped toward him. “what?”

“i know. it’s dumb but hear me out.” he said with a dry laugh. 

“i'm asking this of you now is because i couldn't before. i was scared. a coward. i’ve never been great at dealing with feelings i couldn’t control and when i realized, back in highschool, that i might’ve been looking at you differently, i just… panicked. because i knew that i liked you back then.”

you stared at him, heartbeat too loud it made you unsure with what kind of words you would want to say as your response.

“you liked me?” was all you could ask, words almost disbelieving as they left your lips.

“yeah. still do.”

that completely stunned you. a warm rush crept up your cheeks but your heart was twisting painfully like a knife in your chest at the realization that you both had liked each other. mutually. for years, in fact. and here you were thinking you were crazy for thinking there might have been something more between you that's real and profound. but you buried that feeling deep inside—because he had tsubomi that time.

“wait.” you shook your head slightly. “but i thought you liked tsubomi. you dated her. what was that about then?”

suna grimaced at the mention of the name, rubbing his nape and looking away with a guilty expression. 

“i uh.” he let out a nervous huff. 

“shit, this is so embarrassing to admit. but uh, i thought back then that dating someone else would be easier for me. because i didn't want to lose what i already had… with you.”

you just blinked at him, caught between the ache in your chest and the urge to smack him on the head. 

“wait. so you've liked me since before but you dated tsubomi because you felt it was easier than risking what you already had with me? you thought avoiding me would fix that? are you serious?”

“yeah. i know. it was stupid— because you ended up distancing yourself from me anyway.”

“suna, you’re the dumbest smart person i’ve ever met, you know that?”

“like i said, i was a coward…” he added with a weak laugh. 

“...and i didn’t know how to deal with liking you while being close to you at the same time. i never thought you liked me that way and i figured, if i ever confessed to you and got rejected, i'd lose you… so i thought if i dated someone else, those feelings would fade. but they didn’t. they just got worse.”

there was a tight silence. one you could only break with a shaky laugh. and the truth.

“suna, you should've told me…”

he smiled, soft and a little sad. “yeah. but I’m finally trying to do something about it now.”

you looked up at him again, heart pounding in your throat.

“suna…”

“look. i get it if you don’t feel the same or if it’s too late. but i had to tell you. i don’t want to keep pretending i don’t feel anything anymore.”

and just like that, the wall you'd both carefully built over the years cracked—wide and irreversible. you stared at him, the world suddenly too quiet, like even the pool and the crickets had stilled for a moment to listen.

you swallowed the lump forming in your throat.  “you really are… incredibly stupid.”

his brows furrowed, and he pulled back slightly. “okay. not exactly the reaction i was hoping for—”

“no,” you interrupted, voice catching somewhere between exasperation and something else—something heavier.

“you don’t get to just drop that on me and act like i didn’t feel the same way for years. you were my crush, suna. for so long.”

his eyes widened slightly. “wait, what?”

you nodded slowly, biting the inside of your cheek. “yeah. and i thought i was crazy for imagining that every moment we had felt like something more. but then you started dating tsubomi and i figured i was just… completely wrong. that it wasn’t me you were looking at.”

“no, that was— i was looking at you,” he murmured, almost like it hurt to admit. “and i hated myself for not being able to do anything and choosing the wrong way to go about it.”

you let out a laugh—sharp, breathless, a little broken. “so we were just two idiots in love with each other and too scared to admit it?”

he smiled then. not his usual smirk, but something softer. almost sheepish. “sounds about right.”

there was a pause—charged, uncertain—but this time, you didn’t fill it with silence. you reached out, fingers brushing over his wrist, then settling over his hand.

“i’m still mad at you,” you said, “for not telling me sooner.”

“fair.”

“but…” you looked at him, really looked this time, and your voice softened, “i’m really glad you finally did.”

he blinked, gaze flicking down at your joined hands. “so…”

“so,” you echoed, letting your fingers lace with his, “if this is you asking me out for real this time–”

“it is,” he said quickly, breath catching in his chest.

“…then i guess it’s only fair if i say yes. for real this time too.”

his eyes lit up, and he let out a laugh—relieved, honest, and a little disbelieving. “god, we’re so dumb.”

“maybe,” you said, leaning just a little closer, “but we’ve got ten years to make up for it.”

suna leaned in to press both your foreheads together. no hesitation, no audience, no act. just suna, closing the space, like he should’ve done years ago.

and this time?

you didn’t slip away. 

a/n:  during the dance with aunt suzume, she threatened suna that if he ever breaks your heart she will release hell. suna assured her that he would never do that (he already planned to ask you out). i wrote this at an aunt's wedding too btw.

dividers: @/cursed-carmine

temp. m.list

© ririleil 2025 | do not copy, repost, or translate without my permission

[undressrehearsal]

dare to fuck this up

summary: ever since your last game of truth or dare ellie's been avoiding you and it's time for an intervention

tags: NSFW, tlou au, college!ellie/reader, mentions of drugs and alcohol (not used), oral (e receiving), fingering (r receiving), finger riding (r receiving), little bit of angst, afab reader, the knee thing

a/n: this took me 2 months cause i work full time and it's 10k words so. enjoy (thank u for all the love on part 1! <3) also for anyone who doesn't know the tiktok dance i mentioned i linked it. don't look under the sound you'll spend way too long watching hot women dance

part 1

You hadn't talked about it. 

You had woken up the next morning, the sun blinding you from the window that was still left open. A cold autumn breeze ruffled your curtains, pricking at your bare skin. With one foot still in a dream, you'd groaned, turning over and pulling your blanket over your head. You had burrowed your head into your pillow - it still smelled earthy, rich with cologne and the faintest smell of weed. It had made your nose wrinkle only briefly, before you had reached out, searching for the warmth of another body - but your fingers only landed on the sheets, now cool to the touch. 

You sat up with a gasp, the blanket pooling around your lap. But you had fallen asleep on top of your blankets, hadn't you? 

The comforter was laid neatly over you, the pillows on the other side of the bed propped against your headboard, unbothered. The sun was streaming through the window, filtering through your curtains and shining in splatters of light against your own bare skin. Your small room was deafeningly quiet. 

That had been three weeks ago. 

For three weeks, Ellie avoided you. You hadn't seen her when you left to take your exam that morning. By the time you got home - after classes and after your part-time job - it was dark. The door to her bedroom was firmly shut, the muffled sound of music leaking into the living room - you wanted to smile when you realized she was listening to that song you had recommended. You thought about knocking on her door; not even to talk about what happened, really, but just because she was your best friend. Instead, you ate leftover takeout - cold because you were too tired to microwave it - and went to bed. You could hear her quietly singing to the music through your flimsy wall, falling asleep listening to her voice. 

At first, you honestly thought you had dreamed it. You thought maybe you had fallen asleep, sleep deprivation and vodka drawing out this fantasy in your dreams to torment you when you woke. But when you looked in the mirror, the bruises were still there. You ran your fingertips across the one on your collarbone, pressing at the one left behind your ear; you could still feel the warmth of Ellie's mouth against your skin, her teeth grazing across your hips. The phantom feeling still sent a shiver down your spine, heat creeping in your stomach. 

Ellie was trying her best to avoid you, but she still lived with you. After three days of not speaking, you resorted to a different approach. She didn't seem to have any plan to speak with you anytime soon - certainly not about what happened - so you let your body do the talking. You began wearing primarily v-necks and tank tops - ignoring the fact that it was still fall - simply to broadcast the line of lovebites she had left, her signature written all over your skin. They had faded slightly, but the purplish bruises still blossomed along your collar. You began wearing shorts around, short enough to show the bruise on your thigh; you let the fabric sit low enough to show the one at your hip, a pretty blend of colors that made you ache. The few times you did see her - when she was scavenging for food in the kitchen or right when she got home, before she could scurry away back to her room - you could feel her eyes lingering on you, gaze like a brand against your skin, burning all the spots she had marked. 

And she would hurry back to her room, locking the door behind her. 

Fine. 

If she refused to talk about it, you thought, you'd just have to make her. 

Which is why, three weeks after your original game - three weeks after that stupid fucking night - you bought a new bottle of vodka (by the time you had found the old one, it had spilled the last of its contents into your rug. Your room still smelled of it). When you got home, Ellie’s door was shut, just as it had been every day for three weeks. You kicked off your boots, leaving them in a pile in the hall, and knocked on her door.

“Sorry, I’m busy,” she called - just as she had every day for three weeks. 

You pursed your lips and knocked again, harder. 

“I’m busy!” she called again, her voice hard. It might have stung if you didn’t know her so well.

So, you knocked again. And kept knocking, a steady, continuous rhythm that echoed against the walls. You heard Ellie curse under her breath, could hear the scrape of her chair and her footsteps, and you kept knocking. You didn’t stop - didn’t even slow - until she opened the door in a huff, your hand falling against open air. 

“What the hell are you-” 

You shoved the bottle of vodka against her chest, cutting her off. She gripped it hastily before it could shatter against the floor. 

She looked frazzled. You had seen her during several exam seasons, during harrowing projects and infuriating essays. You had seen her in the hospital, two years ago, after breaking her leg skateboarding to work. But there was something in the way her hair was disheveled, sticking up at odd angles as though she had been running her fingers through it over and over and over again. There were bags under her eyes, purplish splotches like watercolor. 

And her eyes…. Her eyes were completely shattered. 

So you hesitated - briefly, just long enough for her to see the stutter on your lips - before you said, “Truth or dare?”

And the game began. 

Ellie looked at you, staring for several moments that stretched into infinity. You wanted to grasp it, to wrap your fingers around that stretched thread of a moment and hold it there where it couldn't hurt either of you. You weren't ready to let it go. But Ellie was looking at you with those broken eyes, and before you could say or do anything - before you caved and took the bottle back, fleeing back to the safety of your own room - the thread snapped. 

Ellie shook her head - and kept shaking it, as if doing so would rid her of this… whatever this was. “No,” she murmured, avoiding your eyes as her grip around the bottle’s neck tightened. “No, I’m not doing this. I’m busy, okay? I have an exam tomorrow-”

She moved to close the door - shutting it right in your face - but you kicked your foot out to stop it. 

“When somebody asks the question,” you said, reciting the stupid little agreement you both had written out two years ago, the night you established this tradition, “you have to play the game to its conclusion; when you run out of questions or pass out from alcohol poisoning. Those are the rules, El. Remember?” 

And still, she just looked at you, her brow furrowed like you were an equation she couldn’t solve - couldn’t even read, really. Her knuckles were white around the bottle’s neck, and when you looked down, her hands were shaking. You wanted more than anything to put your hands over hers, to still them - to bring those hands to your lips and kiss the white knuckles until she released her fists. Instead, you dug your nails into your thighs. 

You watched as Ellie took a deep, steadying breath, clenching her fists tighter before releasing the tension, her fingers relaxing around the bottle; her hands stopped trembling. She smiled at you, but it was tight, her eyes empty of their usual mischief. “Alright,” she said, and her voice was just as tight as her fists had been moments ago - the tension not gone, only transferred. “Okay, I’ll play. But you only get an hour - I really do need to study.” 

Ellie’s bedroom was the same layout as yours, only flipped, the two a mirror of each other. Strings of lights hung crookedly along the walls, the bulbs casting a soft, warm glow amongst the room, the same hazy hue of a dream. An easel leaned in one corner, a canvas propped against it; there were only the barest scribbles of an outline, incomprehensible to you. You thought it may be a profile, the gentle slope of a nose and soft lips sketched in pencil, but you weren’t sure. 

You ran your fingers over her desk as you passed; it was in absolute disarray. Two different astronomy textbooks lay open, covered in highlighter markings and Ellie’s sloping writing in the margins. There were three different cups on the surface in varying levels of full: a mug half full of coffee, still steaming; a glass of water that was completely full, untouched; and a cup filled with murky, grey liquid. A few paintbrushes had been left to sit in that one, and in large writing along the cup was written PAINT DO NOT DRINK. You almost laughed, remembering all the times you had watched your roommate spit water out after she had picked up the wrong cup. 

It felt strange when you sat gingerly on her bed. You had sat in this spot so many times before, more than you could count. You had spent so much time lounging on this bed, your laptop open in front of you while Ellie worked at her desk - on homework or her latest painting or nothing at all. There were days laid out before you where you both at lain in a crumbled heap, eating takeout on top of the covers because Ellie didn't give a shit about crumbs, an open laptop playing whatever horror movie she wanted to show you (she was always more scared than you, hiding her face in your shoulder). God knows how many truth or dare games you had played in this room, a bottle of alcohol passing between shaking fingers. When Ellie bought it, it was cheap whiskey and you hated it; you drank it anyway. 

Now, sitting on her bed - carefully, as though you thought it might break - your skin felt aflame, a fire burning in your muscles. When you ran your fingers over the messy sheets, you could only remember how it had felt to have your fingers clutching the ones on your own bed. 

Ellie sat at her desk across from you, folding herself so that she had one foot propped up on the chair with her, her knee folded to her chest; her other foot tapped anxiously against the floor. She was looking at you, her face strategically neutral, but it was like she was looking through you; her eyes kept shifting away, unable or unwilling to settle on you. Her voice gave nothing away when she said, looking at a spot above your shoulder, “Dare.” 

You sighed, feeling the questions wanting to claw their way from your throat with nowhere to go. You knew what you wanted her to do - what you wanted to dare her to do - but the words would only cause her to withdraw further. You felt like you had to approach Ellie as if she were a scared animal, ready to flee at the first sight of danger. 

Wracking your brain for something mild, you said, “Try to recreate one of those dumb popular TikTok dances.” 

You didn't miss how Ellie's shoulders relaxed, her hands noticeably unclenching. She looked at you and it was almost like nothing had happened; like she hadn’t been avoiding you for three entire weeks, becoming a ghost in your apartment. Like you both hadn’t made what had obviously been a drunken mistake. 

The beginning of a smirk tugged at her lips as she dug in her back pocket for her phone - its case had an astronaut on it, because of course it did. The screen illuminated her face, flashes reflecting minutely in her eyes as she scrolled. She bit her lip absently - she often did when she was thinking. You tried not to stare and failed miserably. 

“This’ll be easy,” she muttered to herself, half laughing. She scrolled through a few videos, and she had the volume down on her phone, but you could still recognize the song that kept playing on repeat; you were going to fucking die. 

There were several minutes of quiet, only the music playing from Ellie’s phone. With nothing to do but wait, you brought your legs up onto the bed, tucking them under you; your eyes wandered around the room, taking in the stack of paintings by her desk, both finished and unfinished. The figurine she had of Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey had toppled on her desk, her spear falling in a glob of paint, the tip smudged bright yellow. You investigated the posters she had hung up of her favorite bands - almost all of them with female singers; she had a very specific taste. On her nightstand, in a frame made of macaroni, there was a picture of her and her dad, taken at the zoo when she was quite a bit younger, the blurry image of a giraffe in the background. She was holding up a peace sign, smiling so wide her eyes were practically shut. 

You turned back when Ellie stood up from her chair, placing her phone on her desk. Shoving her hands in her hair, she said, “Can’t promise this’ll be anything amazing, but you get what you paid for.” Even as she said it, she was smirking, a dangerous twinkle in her eye. 

You watched as she rummaged in her closet, shoving aside probably half a dozen flannels and at least 10 different band t-shirts. She rummaged through a bucket with a few beanies in different colors, and you couldn’t see her face, but you already knew she would be wrinkling her nose like she always did when she was getting frustrated. 

You jumped, startled, when she suddenly exclaimed, pulling her head from her closet and turning to you with a triumphant grin. She held a black belt in her fist, holding it up like a trophy. 

You shook your head at her, even as your throat closed up with anticipation. “If it took you that long to find one, it’s no wonder your pants are always hanging from your fucking ass.” 

“Hey,” she said, picking up her phone again and looking at you with mock offense; she was still smirking. “I don’t exactly hear you complaining when my ass is out.” 

You heard the stutter, heard the way her breath caught after she said the words. It was so stupid - a stupid little remark that she would have made any other day three weeks ago. She wouldn’t have even thought about it, wouldn’t have batted an eye. You would have rolled your eyes and said something mean in response - something like, “I save my complaints for when I see your face instead.” You would have laughed and then watched a fucking movie or something. 

Instead, Ellie only coughed awkwardly, ducking her head to fiddle with her phone. In the dim light, you could see the flush of her cheeks behind her bangs. You looked anywhere but at her, your eyes darting around to find something to focus on that wasn’t how pretty she looked when she was flushed pink - how pretty she looked with her cheeks red from alcohol and exertion, her lips shining wetly - 

Your brain short-circuited when Ellie started the music - only the bite-sized sample that was trending on TikTok. She set her phone on her desk and took a deep breath, waiting for the song to loop again as she positioned the belt by her hips. She didn’t look at you, instead casting her eyes to the ceiling and muttering, “This is gonna be so stupid.” 

When the music looped again, you were forced to watch as Ellie thrust her hips to the beat, pulling the belt slowly away from her hips. When she brought it up to wrap the piece of leather around her neck, pulling it taut, you were surely convinced you must be paying for some sort of crime, that this was your eternal torture. Her movements were janky, stuttering and unsure and off-beat - she had only watched the videos for a few minutes and was relying solely on memory to guide her limbs. When she tried to tie her wrists into the belt, she got stuck, her hands ending up in a knotted mess. Still, her eyes met yours when she raised her bound hands above her head - coincidentally or purposefully - and you couldn’t look away. 

This was definitely Hell. It had to be. 

When the song started to loop again, Ellie hastily tried to pull her hands from the knot. The belt clattered to the floor, abandoned, as she scooped her phone up, fumbling with the buttons to cut off the music. She nearly dropped her phone in her haste. 

When the room was silent again, Ellie sat back down at her desk. Last time you had played, you had asked her to do something ridiculous for her first dare, and she had grinned with pride, practically preening. Now, she wasn't smiling; she hardly even looked at you, fiddling with one of the many paintbrushes on her desk. You compartmentalized the image of her thrusting her hips with her hands bound over her head, saving it for later. You always did torture yourself with these things. 

Ellie was looking at that same spot over your shoulder when she said, “Truth or dare?” She sounded pained, her words strained against some invisible weight. It was like your very presence in her room - on her bed - pained her, but you couldn’t bring yourself to leave and give her relief. 

“Truth,” you said, hoping against hope that she would ask you fucking anything about that night three weeks ago. 

But she had never been that easy. Ellie had never been one to give you straight answers and she wasn’t about to start now - especially not now. So instead of saying anything - asking anything - about that night that she seemed keen on forgetting, she asked, “What’s the worst first date you’ve been on?” Before you could protest that you always told her about your worst dates, she added, “One I haven’t heard before.” 

So for the span of one question, you let yourself believe that you were still talking to your best friend. That she hadn’t been avoiding you for three fucking weeks and this was only your typical truth or dare game in between studying. You believed that you were simply gossiping with Ellie, who had been your best friend for several years and nothing more. In the space of one question, you let yourself believe that this was still only a game and not an intervention. 

So, in the spirit of pretend, you thought for a moment, rifling through the index of all the shitty dates you’ve been on. Ellie had already heard most of them, had been there whenever you came back home; she was there whether you were heartbroken or relieved that you wouldn’t see the person again. There were a few times where you had come home laughing, and she had passed you a joint as you told her all about the horrible date - you would take twice as long to tell the story because you couldn’t stop laughing. 

Finally, you said, “Okay, this was before we came to college. We weren’t close enough friends in high school for me to tell you, so I don’t think you’ve heard this one before. Stop me if I’m wrong.” She waved her hand for you to continue, twirling a pencil between her fingers. “I had just graduated high school so I was dating around before I left for college - nothing serious, just casually looking around.” 

“Window shopping,” she interrupted you with a grin - that same easy grin she always had with you. Your heart tugged embarrassingly at seeing it again. 

You swallowed the lump and continued, “Yeah. So, I went on a date with this guy - he was some friend of a friend’s, I didn’t know much about him. We went out to dinner at some local dive bar - which was already fucking weird because, like I said, I had just graduated high school.” 

“Was this guy a fucking cradle robber?” Ellie said, wrinkling her nose. 

You shook your head. “He may as well have been. He was either 21 or he was just really good friends with the bartender because as soon as he came in, he got two beers - the cheap shit, too. It tasted like musty ass.” Your stomach twisted when she laughed. “So we sit at a booth and I finally get a second to really look at him.” You leaned forward, bracing your hand on the bed so you wouldn’t fall, and made sure she was looking right at you when you said, “And this motherfucker was wearing a shirt that said Black Rifles Matter.” 

You reveled in the way Ellie’s jaw dropped, her eyes widening. Her lip turned up in disgust, and the only thing she could say was, “No.” 

You grinned, nodding, and you had to focus really hard to not start laughing. “Yes. And I rolled up to this dive bar, fresh out of the womb, with bright pink hair freshly dyed and a crop top that literally said Femme on it in bright pink letters - which, okay, maybe not the choice to wear on a first date with a straight guy, but still. I was in this booth with a baby face looking every bit as queer as I am, and this fucking dude with a patchy mustache and a shirt that has more problems than I care to admit opens up by telling me he doesn’t like when girls dye their hair.” 

Ellie was rolling her eyes, on the edge of her seat. She leaned closer as you continued, “But fine, whatever, everybody has preferences I guess. But this guy gets three beers in, and he’s already been talking about weird shit - conspiracy theories and telling me how kids today are too soft - one of those fucking guys, right? But then he stops,” you hold up your hands for emphasis, leaning even closer, “and he leans into me over the table, and he looks me straight in the eye - you wanna know what he said?” 

Ellie groaned. “Tell me he didn’t ask who you voted for or some shit.” 

You barked out a laugh; it echoed on the walls. “God, I wish. No, this bitch looks me dead in the eyes, his breath reeking of bad beer, and he says, ‘Are you on your period? I have this weird talent for smelling when girls are on their period.’” 

You watched, delighted, as Ellie slapped a hand over her mouth, muffling a choked gasp. “No!” 

You couldn’t stop laughing, pressing your hand to your stomach as you fell back against the sheets. Her laugh filled the room like helium, making everything feel lighter - easier. Even now, you couldn’t help but marvel at how easy it was being around Ellie. And for a moment, you did forget what had happened. You forgot about the string pulled taut between you waiting to snap. You forgot that this was anything more than simply another dumb game of truth or dare.

Until you looked up and saw the press of Ellie’s lips again, the way her eyes darted away, and you could feel yourself sinking again. 

And that’s how the hour went. Ellie - infuriating Ellie - did every single dare you asked of her. She did a handstand for a minute straight, her face turning so red you thought she might pass out. She called the local pizza place you often ordered from and asked for one hundred sardine pizzas, laughing when the poor teenage boy on the other line started stuttering. Last time, she didn’t take all the liquid in the fridge and make a nauseating cocktail; but this time, she did go and find four different liquids of her choosing - apple juice, almond milk, an old flat Dr. Pepper, and the remaining vinegar in a Kimchi jar - and downed it in front of you. She tried her hardest to hold a straight face, but only ended up scrunching her eyes closed, clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle a gag. She never chose truth. 

For your part, you never chose dare. You answered every pressing, embarrassing question she asked, ignoring the flush to your cheeks. You told her the most absurd dealbreaker for a relationship. (“What do you mean you’ll break up with someone if they don’t like garlic?” Ellie asked, smiling even as she shook her head.”) You went through the original Wiggles band and said which you would fuck, marry, or kill (“There are four of them! Do I choose to have a threesome?”) 

And you waited. Each time you chose truth, you held your breath. You watched Ellie mull it over, her eyes darting around as she thought, and prayed that she would just ask you something. You knew it was an unrealistic wish, but you still watched her lips and hoped against hope that she would give you some kind of acknowledgement that this wasn’t all for nothing. You just wanted her to stop being such a pussy and fucking talk about what happened. 

But the clock kept ticking. 

After about an hour had passed, Ellie looked at her phone and sighed, standing up. “Okay, I really have to get back to studying. I have this dumb astrophysics exam tomorrow and I can’t wrap my fucking head around this shit, so I have to -”

“One more,” you cut her off, standing up from the bed. You followed her as she walked to the door, one step behind her when she put a hand on the doorknob. She paused, her hand frozen there as she looked at you - actually looked at you, not through you. It was only a moment, but it was there; you could feel the way her eyes had branded your skin even after she’d looked away. Your voice was rushed, breathless when you added, “We haven’t even opened the bottle, so what’s one more? Just for fun.” 

Ellie looked behind you, back at the vodka bottle on her desk with the seal still intact. She sighed, but she never could say no to you. 

“Fine,” she said, and her voice was so quiet in the dark room; the word felt like a secret between you, soft against the tension stretched thin. “One more.”

You nodded, taking a deep breath. You tried to sound casual - you really did - but when you spoke, you found you couldn’t speak any louder than a whisper, afraid to disturb the air around you. You ducked your head, trying to meet her eyes when you said, “Truth or dare, Els?” 

She looked at you, meeting your eyes, and she seemed to deflate, sighing out a breath that ruffled your hair - you hadn’t realized how close you were. Her breath smelled of canned ravioli and weed; it was almost enough to make you laugh. 

Ellie took a step back, clearing her throat, and answered for one last time, “Dare.” Because she was too afraid of the fucking truth. 

And fuck it if your heart didn’t stutter in your chest. You felt your fingertips buzzing, your stomach twisting nauseatingly. You felt like you were going to be sick, but you forced yourself to look up at her. You squared your shoulders, feeling like you were preparing for fucking battle, and said, the words familiar on your tongue, “Kiss me.” 

A moment of silence passed, the words suspended between you. They were tangible, and part of you still wanted to snatch them back - to swallow them and leave, to pretend this never happened - but you didn’t. You held them out to Ellie - you weren’t sure if they were a threat or an offering. 

Ellie didn’t recoil, and you weren’t sure if that was more insulting. She looked at you for a long moment before turning away, shaking her head and turning the doorknob. “I really need to study, okay? I don’t have time for thi-” 

You put your hand against the door, holding it there so she couldn’t open it. Your stomach was a mess, tying itself into knots that you would never be able to undo. And you knew - you were far too aware - that this could ruin everything. It could drive her further away, pushing her further into this little cocoon she was hiding in. Ellie might hate you for it. 

But this was too important to ignore. 

“Kiss me, Ellie,” you said again, and you could feel the bite of it on your own tongue. When you had said it three weeks ago, you had been so unsure. It had been a rush of words on a breath, tinged with alcohol and desperation. The words had been so careless, a sober idea that had made its way from your drunken mouth. 

Now, Ellie was the one who couldn’t look at you. She stared at the spot where your hand pressed to the door, willing you to let go. Her knuckles were white around the doorknob. Her voice was a rumble that you felt in your chest when she said, “I need you to leave. Please.” That last word - please - made your heart break. 

You swallowed around the lump in your throat and said, “No.” 

Ellie finally turned her whole body towards you, but she was wearing a mask; she had schooled her face into a mockery of nonchalance, her eyebrows raised expectantly as she watched you. She crossed her arms, leaning against her hip, and watched you with measured expectancy, shaking her head. She shrugged and said, “What do you want? I really need to study.” 

And it was the lack of care that broke you. 

You slapped your hand against the door in frustration, feeling the sting in your palm, disappointed when Ellie didn’t so much as jump. You shook your head at her, and you were so fucking angry you could feel tears stinging at your eyes. You blinked them away and snapped, “What’s your fucking problem?” 

Ellie’s eyebrows shot up, her mouth opening in indignant shock. “What’s my problem?” 

“Yeah,” you cut her off before she could even continue. “What’s your fucking problem? You know what happened - what we did - but ever since that night you have been so determined to act like it never happened. You haven’t even talked to me in three fucking week, Ellie!” She closed her eyes when your voice broke on her name. “You’ve hardly looked at me all night. And look,” you sniffled, feeling some of the fire in you die down, “if you regret it - if you want to act like it never happened and go back to how things were before, I get it, okay? But can you at least have the balls to fucking tell me?” 

Your voice echoed off the silent walls, filling the space between you until you couldn’t breathe. You wiped a hand roughly over your face; your cheeks burned and you hated yourself for it. The room was so quiet you feared Ellie could hear the sound of your racing heart. 

It felt like hours before Ellie spoke; her voice was so heartbreakingly quiet, tip toeing on eggshells that were already broken. “I don’t regret it.” 

You huffed out a breath, shaking your head as she still wouldn’t meet your eyes. She couldn’t even look at you. When you took a step closer, you could feel the heat radiating off of her body, could feel the warmth in your chest. Your voice had lost its fire, your throat cold and raw and broken. You could only murmur, “Then kiss me again, Els. What are you so afraid of?” 

“You,” she snapped. You jumped, taking a step back; your heart lurched when she finally looked at you. Those shattered eyes were watching you, so open and vulnerable you wanted to look away. You forced yourself to watch, to bear witness to it when she shook her head, blinking tears from her eyes. Ellie pressed her lips together, blinking several times before releasing her held breath. She held your gaze like it was a lifeline and said, “I’m scared of you.” 

And just for a moment - so filled with silence it might pop - you saw it. You saw how Ellie had run from you like an injured animal, hiding away. You saw the way her hands shook around her biceps. You saw the way she bit her lip to keep it from quivering. 

You shook your head, feeling so incredibly small underneath those eyes that had avoided you all night; now they were vividly, overwhelmingly focused, broken in the hazy light and so green it was dizzying (and you couldn’t even blame it on the alcohol this time). You didn’t recognize your own voice, so small and vulnerable that the words themselves ached: “How can I fix this, Els? You want me to-” You huffed out a heavy breath, choking on your own voice. “Do you want me to act like it didn’t happen? Do you want me to leave you alone? I’ll do whatever you want, Ellie, I just… fuck. I just want my best friend back. So just… tell me what I did wrong.” 

You jumped when Ellie barked out a laugh, so dry it cracked. It may have been a trick of the light, the soft string lights making everything feel unreal, but when she looked at you again, she went impossibly soft. 

“You,” she said, so softly it ached, “haven't done anything wrong.” She sighed, leaning back against the wall; it was like all the fight suddenly drained from her, her shoulders sagging against the weight of three weeks. She looked away, her lashes casting shadows over her cheeks, and said, quiet as a confession, “You were drunk.” 

You furrowed your brow, shaking your head. “What?” 

Ellie ran a hand through her hair, making it even more disheveled. Pathetically, you wanted to fix it; you knew how soft the strands would be under your fingers. 

“You were drunk,” she repeated, as though it pained her; as though it explained everything. Her voice broke, the shattered pieces falling at your feet. “And I…. Fuck, I shouldn’t have pushed you. I shouldn’t have… forced myself on you.” She heaved in a shaky breath, her words tumbling from her, broken glass cutting her throat, leaving it raw. “I couldn’t even… wait for you to wake up after. I just fucking ran - I couldn’t even look at you, and that’s even shittier! And for three weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out how to fucking talk to you when I know that we - that I shouldn’t have done that.” 

Ellie pressed her hand to her mouth, taking in a shaking breath - her entire body was trembling as she fought to hold it all in. She looked ready to burst, struggling to take in a deep breath. You reached out to grab her hand - to hold her together - but she flinched away. 

“I don’t-” you started, unable to find the words. You watched your best friend dissolve, and you couldn’t seem to fit all her pieces back together. “Ellie… Els, are you saying you’re avoiding me because - because you thought you took advantage of me.” The words tasted ridiculous on your tongue, a foreign object.

Ellie was shaking her head wildly, her hands balled into fists. “You were drunk!” she repeated, like a mantra. She pressed a hand to her chest as though to keep everything in. “You were drunk, and you kept telling me no, and I just… pushed. I pushed and I didn’t know when to stop and, fuck, I still can’t believe I did that and I didn’t even have the fucking balls to face you or even tell you I’m sorry, and-” 

“Ellie.” You reached out and grabbed her wrist, cutting off her rambling; she flinched again but didn’t pull away. She looked up at you, her eyes wide and vulnerable and so impossibly green. “For one, do I need to remind you we were both drunk. And that I was the one who told you to kiss me?”

She watched you carefully, guarded; her bottom lip stuck out and, embarrassingly, you found you wanted to kiss it again more than anything. She took in a deep, shaky breath, ignoring the tears running down her cheeks; they mixed with her freckles like watercolor. “You kept telling me to stop - to leave it alone. And I didn’t listen.” 

“Els, I told you to stop because I was scared,” you admitted in a rush. Before she could respond, you continued, “Not of you. I was scared of how badly I wanted you, okay? And that’s fucking embarrassing to admit, but I’m saying it so you know it wasn’t your fault. I was scared because… fuck.” You scrubbed a hand over your face, feeling tears on your own cheeks. “Because you’re my best friend. And I knew that, as much as I wanted it, it could fuck everything up. But I didn’t want you to stop.” 

She shook her head. Her voice was raw when she said, “You couldn’t fuck anything up. You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

“Neither did you,” you practically shouted. “Ellie, I asked you to kiss me! Yeah, I had a few shots that night, but I knew what I was doing. You asked me how long I’ve wanted it - what did I say, Els? Tell me.” 

Ellie looked up at you, her cheeks splotchy from crying; she let you slip your hand into hers anyway. “A long fucking time.” It was no more than a whisper. 

“Yeah,” you said, gripping her hand to keep her grounded. “Not just when I was drunk. Not just when it was late. And definitely not just when you wanted it too. I’ve wanted you for a long fucking time, Els.” 

Ellie watched you, studying you like you were an equation she couldn’t figure out (she really needed to study for that astrophysics exam). She pursed her lips, nodding slowly, rubbing roughly at her damp cheeks. “Yeah.” Her voice broke again; she cleared her throat. “Yeah. Me too.” 

You took a step towards her; her body was so warm it was dizzying. You could hear her breath catch when you reached up and pressed your palm to her cheek. 

“What do we do now?” 

When she sighed, you could feel it on your lips. You felt the warmth of her hand at your waist, a steady anchor. “Like you said,” she murmured, her gaze soft; she reached up to brush your hair from your face, her fingers grazing the side of your neck. “This could fuck everything up.” 

Your heart lurched; you swallowed it back down so it could throw a fit right next to your twisted stomach. “Yeah,” you whispered, afraid to break the spell that made Ellie’s eyes watch the way your lips moved, captivated. “But….” 

“But,” Ellie repeated, leaning in so her nose brushed against yours; it was cold against your skin. 

You hardly had to move to kiss her, tilting your chin up to finally kiss that pouty bottom lip you had been staring at. You heard her breath catch again, her fingers pressing at your waist, drawing you closer so the warmth of her pressed against you. After three fucking weeks, you hadn’t forgotten how her lips felt against yours. It was just as intoxicating as it had been the first time; you were dizzy with the way she moved her mouth against yours, warmth spreading through your chest. 

Ellie broke away from you, but she didn’t stray far; she pressed her forehead to yours, and you could see that her eyes were still closed, her brow furrowed. She sounded impossibly small when she said, “Are you sure about this? I mean, what-”

“Ellie,” you interrupted; you twisted your fingers into her short hair and tugged lightly, delighting in the gasp it pulled from her lips. “Just shut up for once, okay?” 

You hardly even heard her replied Okay before her mouth was on yours again. Last time she had kissed you, you had felt lightheaded, floating with the weight of alcohol in your veins. Each press of her hands on you had felt unreal and distant, like she was touching you in a dream. 

Tonight, the vodka bottle sat unopened and forgotten on her desk, and Ellie was pressing against you with a sharp realness that made your breath stutter in your throat. When her fingers ran along your jaw, cupping your face and tugging you closer, they were lightning against your skin. She had the welcoming warmth of a bonfire, and you were like a fucking moth drawn to her. 

Ellie took a hesitant step forward, pressing you back, moving so slowly as though she thought you’d push her away. You let her push you backwards - encouraged her, really, entwining your arms around her neck and tugging her with you. You stumbled on the last few steps, practically falling back against the wall; Ellie braced her hands on either side of you to keep herself up, laughing into your mouth. You wanted to swallow the sound, to take it into your chest where it could curl up right next to your heart. 

The wall was cold against your back, but Ellie was quick to chase it away; her warm hands ran up your back, rucking up your shirt and scratching her nails lightly over your skin until you shivered. She was so gentle with you this time, running her fingers over your skin with such careful deliberation, as though each kiss and each caress was meticulously planned out. 

It was with this painstaking consideration that she lifted your shirt, pooling it around your chest; you raised your arms so she could pull it over your head. 

Ellie snickered, snapping the strap of your bra against your skin. “This is new.” 

“Shut the fuck up,” you said, batting her hand away. It was one of your nicer ones, and you couldn't tell her that, embarrassingly, you had worn it on purpose with the hopeless thought of just in case. “Sorry I’m not in my pajamas. I’ll be sure to fix that next time.” 

She grinned, ducking her head to press a kiss to your jaw. She hummed against your skin, “No, I like it.” 

You didn’t talk about the implication of what you had said - next time. But the way she kissed her way across your jaw, her teeth grazing over your skin and sending a shiver down your spine, promised a next time. As Ellie’s tongue darted out to lick along your pulse, you could feel the words in the breathy sigh that escaped your lips. When she ducked her head to bite at your collar, she branded the words into your skin. 

“You’re such an asshole,” she said, her laughter warm against your skin. She pressed a gentle kiss to your collarbone; the bruise had long faded, but the phantom ache was still there.  You could feel her smile when your breath hitched. “Just had these on full display. Drove me insane.” 

You huffed out a laugh that stuttered when she pressed a kiss at the edge of your bra. “I had to get your attention somehow, didn’t I?” 

Ellie lifted her head to meet your eyes. Her voice was barely above a whisper, her breath brushing your lips when she said, “You’re crazy if you think you’ve ever not had my attention.” 

When she kissed you again, it was with a new fire that burned bright in your chest. Her hands gripped your hips, pulling you closer so that you could feel her body against every inch of you. Her fingers dipped below the waist of your pants, pressing at the soft skin there. You felt her tongue press against your lips; when she ran it along the room of your mouth, she swallowed your moan. 

Ellie hummed against your lips, pressing you firmly into the wall and shoving a knee between your legs. You gasped at the sudden friction, heat pooling in your stomach when Ellie gripped your hips and pulled you closer, grinding against her sweatpants-covered leg. Her lips brushed against your ear and she murmured, “Tell me to stop and I'll stop.” 

She had said those same words last time, pressed drunkenly into your skin. There was an affirmation hidden somewhere underneath: Do you still want me? Before, they had been slurred, like a sloppy kiss against your lips. Now, her hands steady against your hips, her body warm from something other than vodka, it was whispered like a promise. 

You answered by pressing your hands to her chest; she didn’t fight you as you pushed her away, didn’t hesitate as you walked her backwards until the back of her knees hit her bed. She let herself fall backwards, but she wrapped her arms around your waist as she did so. You fell into a crumpled heap on top of her, knocking the air from both of your lungs, and you could feel her laughter against your neck. 

Lifting yourself up on your elbows, you glared down at her; she only answered it with a grin, lifting herself just enough to kiss you briefly. You couldn’t suppress your own smile when you said, “You’re infuriating.” 

Her eyes sparkled mischievously. She hooked her fingers in your belt loops and gave them a tug as she said, “Yeah, get used to that.” 

You kissed her again to hide your smile. You didn’t talk about the implication of that either. 

Growing impatient, you swung your legs on either side of her, sitting up and straddling her hips. Ellie’s hands ran up your sides, captivated, as though refusing to keep her hands off you for even a moment. You idly ran your fingers over her stomach where her hoodie had risen up, the warm skin right above her sweatpants; you delighted in the way she shivered at your touch. 

“This doesn’t seem fair,” you hummed, running your hand higher up her abdomen, revealing the expanse of soft skin; if you pressed just a little bit harder, you’d be able to feel the muscles beneath. You smiled when you heard her breath stutter, chest rising just slightly to meet your touch. “You’re wearing way too many clothes.” 

Ellie - ever enthusiastic - wasted no time in sitting up just enough to tug her hoodie over her head, leaving her hair an absolute mess. She tossed it across the room; you thought you heard it knock something over, but you didn’t have a chance to look before Ellie was grabbing your hips, digging her fingers into the soft skin. You gasped when she used the leverage to pull your hips down, grinding against her. 

This time, she was the one not wearing a bra - she had been home studying all day, so you hadn’t expected otherwise - and your eyes raked over miles of fair, warm skin. You wanted to run your fingers over it and watch the shiver your touch pulled from her. You wanted to press your lips to every inch of hot skin and feel the way her body arched into you, chasing your tongue. 

But she was watching you with an intoxicating shade of anticipation in her half-lidded eyes. You realized you had been staring for a few seconds too long because she had that cocky ass grin on her stupid face. 

“Like what you see?” she teased, pulling your hips down again so you had to bite down a moan. 

“Shut the fuck up,” you mumbled. You couldn’t tell her how many times you had imagined what she would look like under your hands or how you had always wondered how far down her freckles went (you couldn’t keep yourself from running your fingers down her chest, tracing them like constellations). You couldn’t tell her how your eyes had tracked her anytime she walked around the apartment in a sports bra or, sometimes, in only a towel, your imagination running away from you. 

If you told her, she’d never let you live it down.

Instead, you let your hands drift across the small swell of her chest, feeling the way her body arched into your fingers. You had to bite back a grin when your thumb brushed over her nipple, feeling her body shudder beneath you. You wanted to record the way her breath caught in her throat to listen to over and over again. Her eyelids fluttered, her lip caught between her teeth; you knelt down to kiss her, hard and deep, smiling into it when you pinched her nipple gently and she moaned against your lips, fingers tightening around your hips. 

You needed to taste her, you realized. Your mouth watered with it. 

You bit her bottom lip between your teeth, grinning when you heard her hiss. You took a moment to kiss your way across her jaw and down her neck, open-mouthed kisses pulling sighs from her lips. You couldn’t resist sucking the skin into your mouth, feeling the way her pulse jumped under your tongue and loving the moan that rumbled in her throat, her fingers gripping your hips so tightly you were sure you'd have bruises - again. But when you pulled away and saw the red beginnings of a bruise on her pale skin, a thrill ran through you. She would have to walk around with a physical reminder of how you had made her feel. 

You loved revenge. 

But you weren’t like Ellie, who had taken her sweet time in unraveling you. You didn’t have that kind of patience - certainly not now, not tonight. You had spent far too long holding yourself back - too long averting your gaze, never letting your touch linger. You had spent so long schooling your own imagination, trying to ignore the way your heart stuttered whenever Ellie wandered too close. You had spent too many nights letting your mind wander, only feeling safe to let your imagination run when you could hide in the dark; you had spent far too many nights with your hand between your legs and the fleeting image of green eyes and that crooked fucking smile. 

So no, you didn’t have any patience left in you.

When you reached between your bodies and pressed your palm to her sweatpants, you swallowed her moan, drinking it in and feeling like you could survive on it alone. Maybe it would finally satiate your fucking thirst. 

Kissing your way down her chest, you pressed the words into her skin - “I can't fucking believe you though I didn’t want this.” - before pressing the flat of your tongue to her nipple. You could get drunk on the breathy moan that dripped from her lips, the way she arched up into you like her body ached to be closer to yours. She pressed her hips into your palm and you could feel the heat through her sweatpants. 

When you pulled back just enough to tug at her sweatpants, Ellie started laughing, breathy and hitched as she said, “Little eager, aren’t you?” Even as she said it, she was lifting her hips, pushing hastily at her pants to get them off faster. 

The fabric was damp when it dropped to the floor, pooling around her ankles. Stepping off the bed, you placed your hands on her knees, pushing them apart. You dropped to your knees and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the skin above her boxers. Her skin was hot under your tongue when you said, “Haven’t I waited long enough, Els?” 

Ellie only responded with a moan as you sunk your teeth into the soft flesh of her thigh and pressed the heel of your palm to her underwear. You grinned against her skin when she cursed, grinding down into you. You soothed the bite with your tongue and backed away to admire the red beginnings of another bruise. 

Ellie groaned, twisting her fingers in the sheets when you ground your palm into her. “Fuck, I’ve waited long enough too, right?” 

You couldn’t hold back your grin, tugging at her boxers so she would lift her hips. With her underwear around her ankles, Ellie lifted herself up on her elbows so she could look down at you. Whatever she saw - you on your knees between her legs, lips parted so your hot breath fanned over her - made her groan, another breathy curse falling from her lips. She reached down and carded her fingers through your hair, fingers soft against your temple. 

You smiled, blinking coyly up at her, and said, “Little eager, aren’t you?” before pressing the flat of your tongue to her clit. 

The moan that wracked through Ellie’s chest sent warmth spreading through your stomach, an ache pooling between your legs. You raised your eyes to watch her as you licked a slow, painstaking stripe over her slit, watching the way her mouth fell open in a choked gasp. The metallic taste of her on your tongue made your head spin; you moaned when she twisted her fingers in your hair, delicious pain stinging your scalp when she tugged. 

Ellie gasped your name like it was a promise. “Fuck - what the fuck -” Nonsensical words dripped from her lips with abandon, sweet as honey to your ears. When you ducked your head down to press your tongue inside her, a brief, hot pressure, her fingers tightened in your hair, her voice hitching when she cursed again, her words slurring together. 

You wrapped one arm around her thigh, feeling the muscle trembling as you pressed your fingers into the soft flesh. You ran your other hand up her stomach, feeling the way her breath quickened in the rise and fall of her chest. Stretching further, you flicked your thumb over her nipple and tightened your arm around her thigh when her hips bucked, holding her in place. 

You wrapped your lips around her clit, sucking it into your mouth and fighting back a smile at the keening whine it pulled from her. Her fist in your hair tugged you closer, guiding you exactly where she wanted you - and how could you resist her when she was chanting your name like a prayer? 

A shudder wracked through Ellie’s body when you flicked your tongue over her clit, lapping at her like you were starving. (After waiting so long to taste her, you might as well have been.) She groaned when you pinched her nipple between your fingers, her thighs clamping around your ears. Her legs shook when she came, your name on her tongue as though it were the only word she knew. You coaxed her through it, the flat of your tongue licking over her clit until she was gasping for breath, her hips slumping back against the bed. 

You peppered kisses over her thighs as she came down, your hand brushing across her stomach in soothing circles. Your knees ached from the cold floor, the carpet burning against your skin, but you couldn’t convince yourself to move just yet. When you glanced up at her, Ellie was looking down at you with glassy eyes; she had slumped back a little against her elbows, her limbs jelly - you tried not to let that go to your head - but she held out a hand to you, grasping for you. “Fuck, come here.” 

You both took the time to finally scoot further up the bed, Ellie's head propped on her pillow, her hair a messy halo around her. She pulled you on top of her, bracing her hands on your hips as you straddled one of her legs. When you leaned down, she tilted her chin up to meet you, kissing you lazily, licking into your mouth like she had all the time in the world - like she could kiss you forever and it still wouldn't be enough. With your elbows braced on either side of her head, it felt like you were both in a small bubble, the world left outside to wait for you. Fuck, maybe you did have all the time in the world. 

You gasped when Ellie raised her leg, pressing it between your thighs with an intoxicating pressure. She used her hands on your hips to push you down, guiding you as you grinded down against her. She broke away from the kiss, taking a moment to just look at you. Her pupils were blown, swallowing the green entirely. 

She grinned, endearingly lopsided, and murmured, “Now you're wearing too many clothes.” You whined a protest when she took her hands off your hips, but she only reached behind you to fumble with the clasp of your bra. It took her a few tries - you bit back a laugh when she cursed in frustration - and she threw it across the room when she finally got off. 

“Who the fuck designed those things?” she grumbled, fingers quick on the button on your jeans. 

You got off of her for only a moment, just long enough to kick your jeans and underwear off, but each second her skin wasn't on yours was agony. Your clothes hadn’t even fallen to the floor before Ellie was pulling you back in by the nape of your neck, her other hand guiding your hips back over her leg as she kissed you with a hunger that may as well have devoured you. You hissed when her teeth sunk into your lip, her tongue soothing over it before licking into your mouth. 

Your breath caught on a broken moan when she pressed her thumb into the dips of your hips, pressing you back to grind against her leg. The feeling of your bare pussy sliding against her thigh made you lightheaded, the dizzying pressure sending sparks through your stomach. Ellie's fingers still on the back of your head twisted in your hair, giving it an experimental tug; you felt her smile against your lips when you whined. You were pliable under her hands, your hips stuttering against her leg. 

Ellie pulled away, pulling you back by your hair just far enough away for her to look at you; her eyes raked over your body with a hunger that set you nerves on fire, looking ready to devour you. 

“God, look at you,” she breathed, raising her leg just slightly, the added pressure making your heart stop. Releasing your hair, her hand ran down your side, sliding across your chest. You moaned when her thumb grazed over your nipple, your hips stuttering; her other hand on your hip tightened, fingers digging into the bone. “So fucking wet for me and I've hardly even touched you.” 

“Shit,” you cursed when Ellie bucked her hips, her thigh grinding into you. You tried to glare down at her even though you knew your own traitorous eyes betrayed your growing desperation. Her cocky smile didn’t quite land, its impact softened by the way she watched your lips in fascination, her pupils blown - you couldn’t see the green anymore. Your voice wasn’t nearly as hard as you wanted it to be, your want softening the words: “Fuck off, Els, don’t be a dick.” 

“Am I being a dick?” she asked in mock offense, pouting up at you. “Good things come and all that shit, right?” Ever as she was teasing you, Ellie’s hand crept down your stomach, fingers warm against your hungry skin. She lowered her leg just enough to slide her hand between your thighs. You gasped, feeling lightning in your veins when those calloused fingers slid over your clit, already wet with want. Her eyes darkened, her lips parting. She slowly circled your clit, sending your hips jerking into her, and said, “Fuck, look at you. God, I finally get to see you like this….” 

You struggled to speak past the breathy moans beginning to drip from your lips: “Finally? How - ah - fuck - how long - how long have you…?” You couldn’t think of a way to finish that sentence, your thoughts clouding over when Ellie dipped just the tips of her fingers briefly inside you, gathering your wetness. 

“Like you said,” she murmured, finally pushing two fingers slowly inside you; even as she kept talking, she watched your face carefully, searching for any sign of discomfort, “a long fucking time.” 

Your jaw went slack when she curled her fingers, gasping when she found that spot that made you see stars. She paused, as though giving you a moment to adjust, unaware of just how many times you had done this with your own fingers. 

“Shit, Ellie,” you moaned, canting your hips down into her hand. She adjusted her arm, positioning herself so that the heel of her hand pressed to your clit, pulling another breathy moan from your lips. Her other hand was still on your hip; she pushed you back, guiding you to grind on her fingers. “Ah - fuck.” 

She watched you carefully, fascinated by the way your eyes rolled back in your head, your brow furrowed; you felt her own wetness on your thigh again. Her voice was so fucking breathy when she said, “How long have you wanted this, baby?” She hummed; releasing your hip, she ran her hand up your side to knead at your tit, her fingers so careful against you. You groaned low in your throat when she flicked her thumb over your nipple. “How many times have you come thinking of me? Did you imagine my fingers inside you, angel? Did you moan my name?” 

You couldn’t even think of a snarky response; you were too distracted by the way her fingers curled inside you as you fucked yourself against her. Her rough palm slid deliciously against your clit, grinding into her with a growing desperation that made your thighs shake. Your shoulders ached from holding yourself over her but it was only an afterthought as you felt a tight warmth building in your stomach. You leaned down just enough to kiss her, moaning into her mouth when words failed you. 

“Fuck, look at you,” Ellie repeated, groaning when your hips stuttered. You were lightheaded, fucking yourself desperately on her fingers, grinding down against her palm and chasing that intoxicating warmth spreading inside. “So fucking pretty for me.” 

She kissed you as you came, licking into your mouth and tasting herself on your tongue. You pressed your clit down into the heel of her hand, riding it out, feeling the way that warmth spread down to your fingers. Ellie broke away from the kiss to trail her lips down your neck, leaving wet kisses along your skin and saving every broken moan that was gasped right into her ear. 

Ellie didn’t move as you came down, letting you ride out your high, tracing gentle circles down your side. You slumped against her, your arms giving out; your weight landing on her forced all the air from her lungs. She only laughed breathlessly. 

It was several long moments before you were able to move again. Ellie ran her fingers through your hair as you gasped into her neck; she hummed absently and you could feel the vibration against your lips. 

When you were able to, you slowly lifted yourself off of her, wincing slightly at the sudden emptiness. With gentle hands, she guided you back down to lay beside her; you curled up against her without waiting for her invitation, resting a hand on her bare chest so you could feel the steady pounding of her heart. 

Ellie didn’t wait for invitation either before she wrapped her arms around you, pulling you closer; she was blissfully warm against the suddenly cold air. Something tugged pleasantly at your chest at the realization that you would no longer have to monitor your own movements so carefully - you could touch her, you realized, any time you wanted now. God, how were you going to ever stop now? 

Without anything else to say, you sighed against her skin: “A long fucking time.” 

Ellie hummed, giggling at your delayed answer. The fairy lights on her walls cast the room in a warm glow; with the hazy lights around you, you would almost believe this was a dream if Ellie wasn’t so solid and warm beneath your fingers. You traced the freckles across her chest, connecting constellations you had seen her chart before. 

Her voice was so quiet in the small room when she asked, “What do we do now?” 

You hummed, feeling sleep winning the war inside you. “We can figure that out tomorrow,” you said, pressing a kiss to her collarbone. Tilting your head, you leaned up just enough to kiss her, warm and deep and breathless, before moving away to meet her eyes. “Just don’t fucking run off again, okay?” 

[herecirmsims]

Lily Child

This was a commission for reeyal_state and I'm sharing it now as part of the Family Collab hosted by @theserenadeofshadows!

Pack contains 6 poses between an adult and child, although several of the poses have alternate versions. You will need to have the lily acc on the adult Sim for all poses, and the poses were made specifically for the Mari hair by Sunivaa, BUT this set can also be used with almost any hairstyle (I recommend one that covers the ears, since Sim ear height/shape can change and the lily may clip) and you can also use them without the acc at all.

You will need: - Pose Player - Teleport Any Sim - this lily acc (optional)

Download here (always free): SFS | Patreon

TOU: you may adjust for personal use to avoid clipping etc., but please do not reupload/paywall/claim as your own.

I’d love to see them used! You can tag me on Bluesky, Instagram, or Tumblr. I repost. ❤️

You can easily browse more of my posepacks using my Ko-Fi gallery. Want to commission me and help support my work? Details here! Want to leave a suggestion for poses you'd like to see? Form here!

About the collab:

The Sims 4 Family Member Collab is a collab where each participant shares one or more family themed pose packs throughout November and December. Keep an eye on the other participants:

• Call.MeDomino [Patreon] [Tumblr] • TheSerenadeOfShadows [Patreon] [Tumblr] • LegacyTheSims [Patreon] [Tumblr] • Raspberrywhimss [Patreon] [Tumblr] • Sakura.Simz [Patreon] [Tumblr] • Sciophobis [Patreon] [Tumblr] • Simmerianne93 [Patreon] [Tumblr] • Simmireen [Patreon] [Tumblr] • StarrySimsie [Patreon] [Tumblr] • Subiesims [Patreon] [Tumblr] • Willow's World [Patreon] [Tumblr]

@ts4-poses @alwaysfreecc

[osleeplessflowero]

Previous Part🍪 First Part 🎃 💜Oneshot Masterpost💙

[*Notes!] - Context from the previous 3 parts is heavily recommended. Please go check those out! - Reader is gender neutral, They/Them pronouns are used by default. - CONTAINS: Swearing, Typical Haunted House Violence, Mutual Pining - ❕New Tagging Section! If you would like to be tagged when I update this or any other of my series, please let me know in the comments/reblog tags! I'm always happy to.

@xcryptk33p3rx

Fire crackles in the fireplace near the TV, keeping the living room warm against the cold November air outside. You furrow your brows in your sleep before fluttering your eyes open, glancing around in confusion before remembering you'd fallen asleep the night before. Briefly glancing upwards, you freeze when you spot Sans' sleeping face, feeling your own burn as heat rises to it.

Shit, you fell asleep on him! ..Well, he fell asleep too.. For a skeleton, his body's surprisingly pretty warm..cushioned, too. Perhaps it's some kind of magic? It's comforting, in any case. You lean on him a bit, not quite ready to get up yet.

Slowly but surely, Sans' eyesockets open. His single eyelight rests on you, and he feels his skull burn as a mix of red and blue spreads across it. Your gaze meets his, and your face burns a little more. His expression of shock soon shifts into a smile as he looks down at you, catching you off guard.

"..comfortable?" He grins, earning a playful shove from you as you sit up. He chuckles at that, sitting up a bit himself. Such a change in demeanor..you might not be the only one who's gotten more comfortable. And you're not too sure whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing..for your heart's sake.

"You're like a big ol' cushion over there. You're a skeleton, how can you be so soft? And warm? Aren't bones supposed to be cold?" You tilt your head as you wonder aloud, earning a shrug from the skeleton next to you.

"it's just magic. makes our bodies more fleshed out than they actually are. if i appeared as just regular ol' bones, my clothes would be a lot closer to 'em. want an example?" He raises a browbone, and you match his expression. It wouldn't hurt to find out..

"Yeah, sure, show me." You offer, resting your arms in your lap. He adjusts his jacket a bit, before pulling up his shirt. Sure enough, there's a faintly visible magical outline there, a mixture of two colors of magic making a typical stomach. The view flickers in and out, transparent. You can see his actual bones beneath them, still fairly large but not as much as the magic makes him. Huh, makes sense. A few seconds pass before you realize you've been staring for far too long, and you quickly avert your eyes.

"Oh.. so that's how. Cool." You smile sheepishly as he pulls his shirt back down, pausing for a moment when you feel heat rise back to your face. "Oh, uh, by the way.. I'm sorry for falling asleep on you like that. I didn't mean to overstay my welcome, and..y'know.." You rub the back of your neck, avoiding eye contact until you hear him chuckle.

"hey, don't worry about it. i don't mind. you're..welcome anytime." He averts his single eyelight, a hint of color making its way across his skull again before you both hear who is presumably Papyrus coming back downstairs. Once his tall, slender form makes it down, you give him a wave.

"Good Morning, You Two! Have A Good Rest?" He grins slyly, causing you both to flush even further before Sans waves him off as he enters the kitchen; leaving the door open so he can still hear you both.

"yeah yeah, it was good. mornin', paps." Sans coughs into his sleeve before getting up. "i've gotta get ready for work soon, so you two talk."

"Wait, where do you work? I mean, I know you had that haunted house on Halloween, but like..where do you work normally?" You rest your arms in your lap, genuinely curious.

"..i'm still a scare actor, i just move around. i do it full time." He looks back at you, raising a browbone amusedly at your surprised reaction.

"Oh, really? I didn't think you'd wanna do that full time. I was thinking like...I dunno..you worked at a pet shelter or something." You shrug, standing up to go get your coat and tie it around your waist since it's too warm to wear yet.

He lets out a laugh at that. "and let all of those traumatized dogs bark at me in fear or gnaw on my bones? yeah, i think i'll pass on that. not for me. i don't mind dogs though. they're fun little guys."

"When They're Not Stealing Your Attacks From Under Your Skeletal Equivalent Of A Nose, That Is!" Papyrus calls out from the kitchen, earning a confused look from you as you glance towards his brother for context.

"underground, there was this little white dog who would keep showing up to steal the bones paps would use in combat, so he'd have to chase it down. ever since he's been super..wary, around dogs, i guess. it's pretty funny. i wonder what happened to that little guy.." He mutters that last part to himself as he goes upstairs to get changed.

You stand still for a moment, thinking over that last statement. ..There are a lot of aspects about Sans that you don't fully know or understand yet. What happened Underground to mess monsterkind up so badly? Considering the state a lot of them were in when they came up..it must have been pretty damn bad. A part of you wonders how Sans and the others are taking being surfaced, after everything they'd gone through. Maybe someday when you're close enough, you can talk to him about it..learn some things.

Papyrus slowly slides his skull into the room from the doorway, raising a browbone at you as he observes how you're longingly staring up the stairs waiting for Sans to come back down. Once he clears his nonexistent throat, you tense in place before slowly turning and walking over to the kitchen to help him with breakfast. It's the least you could do for being allowed to stay over so late.

"I Fear I May Be Out Of Those Delightful Cookies You Baked By The End Of This Week, Would You Be Willing To Come Over To Visit Again Anytime Soon?" He glances over at you while mixing pancake batter quickly, a hopeful glint in his eyesockets. You huff amusedly, giving his shoulder a nudge.

"Of course, Paps. I'd be happy to come back anytime. Beats hanging out alone at my place." At Papyrus' hum of acknowledgement, you stare at the bowl while he's mixing it in anticipation for the pancakes he's going to make. "..What will you be up to today?"

"I'll Be Going On A Class Trip With Our Friend Aliza! You Might Know Of Her As The Monster Ambassador. We Became Well Acquainted Underground! ..Well, After A Few..Traumatic Experiences, But- What's A Few Traumatic Encounters Between Friends, Hmm?" He laughs awkwardly, continuing to stir before pouring the batter into a pan.

You raise a brow at that, before shrugging. Well, if she's willing to go on a trip with him, surely they must be on pretty good terms now. That's what matters.

Sans shortly comes down a bit later, wearing clothes smudged in fake blood and a few other practical effects minus the mask he'd been wearing when you met him. Papyrus shoos you both away to the table, where you sit patiently while waiting for him to finish.

"..So, uh..hooow would you feel if I tagged along to see you in action? I've only gotten to see you at work once, and that experience was kinda..well, y'know." You offer, earning a nod in reply.

"i don't mind. it's just one of your run-of-the-mill haunted houses. animatronics, actors, practical effects, the works. i doubt you'd be the type to get scared by too much anyway.." He rests his arms on the table. "wantin' to spend some extra time with me, huh?"

Your face flushes at his sly grin, and you wave him off.

"Well, yeah- I like your company, so.." You cross your arms. He blanks at that, a bit surprised that you didn't deny his attempt at teasing you. Heat rises to his skull, a mixture of red and blue giving his feelings away before quickly dying back down as Papyrus returns with the food.

You both don't say much while you eat unless Papyrus prompts you to, and eventually you're both on your way outside, waving goodbye to him.

"m'kay, just hold on. you might feel a little dizzy once we get there. do not let go of me until we're on solid ground." He warns you ominously, a serious look in his eyesockets as you quickly walk over to grab his arm. Within a few seconds, the world seems to flicker.

You glance around a dark, empty void, the two of you being the only signs of life within it. It's cold..eerily silent. You could only hear your own breathing and the faint hum of Sans' magic within the space. A chill goes down your spine, and your grip on him tightens a bit before you finally land on solid ground.

"..And you just..look at that every day?" You blink, before staggering a bit. He quickly loops an arm around your waist to keep you up so you won't fall. You feel your face flush a little again as you look over it..he has really strong arms. Big, too. He could practically engulf you in them.

"yep. careful now, don't want you falling." He smiles a bit, before helping you stand up straight and entering the decorated building. You quickly follow behind him, before stopping at the entrance.

"Hmm..wouldn't hurt to get the intended experience-" You mutter, before letting him go further in and paying a small admission fee, entering when instructed. This'll be fun! You're sure this'll be a breeze to get through.

As a sound effect plays to signal that it's time to enter, you walk in alone. You can't help but feel a sense of familiarity as you do, thinking back to the first time you met Sans in one of these. Only then you had your shitty ex boyfriend ruining your experience, now you can enjoy your time by yourself.

A few actors jump out here and there, earning light yelps and a laugh from you as you make your way past them. You don't seem to realize it as you're doing it, but..your eyes dart around in the hopes of finding a tall silhouette you've grown accustomed to, waiting somewhere in the darkness. You're sure he's around here somewhere, based on the screams you just heard up ahead.

You pick up your pace a bit before entering a room off to the side, jolting once you hear the door lock behind you. Ah, an escape room. Of course. Okay..time to find a way out of here. First thing's first..gotta check your surroundings.

With a sigh, Sans tugs on the mask over his skull while watching over a set of cameras. It's a normal procedure he has to go through to know when his cue to go out is, he usually doesn't linger for too long and waits for one of the other actors to give him a cue. But this time, well..this time was a little different.

You were here, so he couldn't help but watch you work your way around the escape room with a determined smile. The way you light up when you find a puzzle solution, rushing over to solve it and moving to the next swiftly. The way you hesitate to reach into a box of fake guts they made out of random solutions and slime, before your Bravery overtakes you and you grab another puzzle piece. He can't help but find it charming, leaning a bit on the desk beneath all the screens as he watches you move.

Then he pauses a second. Reflecting. Those feelings that had been eating away at him the day before resurface. ..Fondness, appreciation..admiration. Maybe something more, something he hasn't grasped just yet. He puts a hand where his teeth are, feeling his skull burn. His magic forms that familiar mixture of blue and red across his skull, hot enough to cause his mask to emit a faint glow before he calms himself down. He can't get distracted like this, he's working.

A sound cue plays since the others are out acting at the moment, and he moves to get in position behind a bookcase. He closes his eyesockets, listening to the sound of your heartbeat. A hunting skill he'd learned down Underground when hunting down prey that had carried over into his life on the surface. ..He doesn't typically use it for much anymore, aside from to tell how scared the people he's acting for are. It can be pretty amusing to him, listening to their heartbeats speeding up at the mere sight of him. And that's BEFORE he takes out the prop hatchet.

You lift a small note that hints to go to the bookcase to retrieve the key, rushing over and moving one of the books to grab it. As you do, the case begins to rumble before moving off to the side. There he stands, looming over you and covered in fake blood. A wide grin stretches across your face, and Sans can hear your heart rate pick up once you recognize him. ..It's..not from fear, though. You're smiling way too wide for that..

"..Hey." You point finger guns at him. It takes everything in him not to smile, stepping out from his space in the bookcase. "Come here often?"

"are you seriously hitting on a masked murderer right now?"

"It's totally a fear response, I swear-" You let out a little laugh as he scoffs, before raising up his prop hatchet into the air. Your smile dies down almost immediately.

"regardless.. i'm still on the clock. so i suggest you start running." A grin stretches across his skull beneath his mask as you book it out of the room, quickly unlocking the door with him chasing you out and down the following hallway.

A tension in the air picks up as you run, hearing his booming footsteps behind you in the darkness. Adrenaline rushes through you and you can't help but smile, letting out a few laughs as you make daring escapes. You're..doing the complete opposite of what one would expect in here. Sans finds that a bit more charming.

A few other actors jump out at you as you run before sliding into a room, Sans still right behind you. The door closes behind you both as you rush over to the other door to try and open it.

"..Wait, is this another escape room?-" You're cut off by Sans making his way over. As you turn to face him, you lean against the door a bit as he corners you. You both take heavy breaths from how much running you'd been doing, taking the opportunity to stare at each other. Is it getting hot in here?

He moves his prop hatchet over, lifting up your chin with the fake blade so you look at him. His mask had come a bit loose, allowing you to see his shining red eyelight just barely illuminating his face. ..And then he grins.

"caught ya."

A shiver goes down your spine, and you feel your face burn. Any response that comes out is incoherent, earning a chuckle from the skeleton before you as he moves the hatchet away. You move your hand up to where the blade had been pressed absentmindedly, staring for a second.

"..the key's on the table there. looks like you made it." You glance over, spotting the key to the door. Internally, you facepalm. Why didn't you see it when you rushed in here? Taking it in your hand, you unlock it as a sound effect plays to indicate you'd made it out.

"That was fun. Nice work, Sans." You smile up at the skeleton, who huffs amusedly in reply. "I'll have to see how it is behind the scenes next time."

"can't wait." He gives you a pat on the back as you start to make your way out. Glancing over, you notice a bit of color crossing his skull as he pulls his mask back down. Seems he's a bit flushed, too.

[sarotati]

*very nervously* hello! i’m new to the mount hua fandom and wanted to ask if you have any fic recommendations? sorry if i make mistakes, english is not my first language! i usually read on wattpad but i just made an ao3 account too. i’m new there.

um anyways, i read your posts on tumblr and they’re amazing! i don’t usually read Xreader fics but you write chung myung so well! i wanted to ask if you have any similar recommendations? i used to read OC fics on wattpad, any good ones on ao3 you know about? somethingwith good romance, nice writing?

sorry if i am rambly! thank you in advance!

Omggg sweetie I can't believe you asked (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)/ of course I have a little list for you!

Fics I read and love:

1. Im so bored i wished "to transmigrate" as a joke by JiangShan18

This is an (x oc) and I think slow burn but I'm still on ch.16 so I'm not sure, you'd like this if you like system fics and funny and strong female characters with aura. ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

2. who lives, who dies, who tells your story by flamefenrir2003

This is one part followed by a sires and all I could say about this is that it's PEAK, (x oc) you need to read this.

3. the virtues of your insanity by flamefenrir2003

This is the sires, it's slow burn, I love it, the female lead is so cool and the story as whole is just so well written.

4. How to Kill a Plum Blossom by UrPen_pal

So cute it's an (x reader) and the reader is written realistically wich I love whenever it's and (x reader) fic.

5. A Tale from Long Ago by A_griaa

The first fic I read in this fandom and oh my god I think that's why I'm unlucky, finding this first was such a fortune!! The story is so interesting and Chung Myung's interactions wit the reader is so fun. You need to read this ৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻)

6. A kiss at midnight by popipoya

This is a short one shot I read a while ago, it's light and sweet and if my memory isn't betraying me it's and x reader fic.

Haven't read *yet*:

6. Poison among blossom by Ashnnix

An (x oc) fic, I haven't read this yet but I can tell author-nim has good writing.

7. I love you for a thousand more years by JiangShan18

This is a oneshot I'm not sure weather it's x oc or x reader but the summary is so cute and it's a soulmates au!! Gotta read this soon.

8. Renewing Plum Blossoms by M8MCreator10

A short oneshot, the tags says it's an (x oc) fic and the summary is interesting so I bookmarked it without second thought. ദ്ദി・ᴗ・)✧

9. in all three lives by loveallen (caramelilie)

Another short oneshot that I think gonna be full of fluff!(don't trust this because I don't know ;-;) the tags says that it's an (x reader) fic.

Last but not least (at least as I'd like to believe ⸜( •⌄• )⸝)...

My Humble Fics On AO3:

10. Can You Hear?(I Am Here)

In wich the female lead reincarnates in rotbb world only to possess Chung Myung and no one else!

11. Nights

In wich the female lead trys to help Chung Myung without telling him that she's a former disciple of Mount Hua Sect too!

Both are (x oc) and slow burn cuz I prefer writing this type, the first focus a little bit more on action and is pre-war while the second is more focused on characters' relationships and is post-war. The pseud is also sarotati.

My only advice for you when reading on ao3 since you're new to it (just like me~) is to pay good attention to tags in case there are things you loathe reading so you can avoid fics that are not in your interest.

I think there are some other fics out there with (x oc & x reader) but I couldn't mention them all but I will update this post once I find other ones.

[scummy-writes]

Ikemen Series Tierlist Video

Using the tierlist here, I spent four hours going through each ikemen game listed and ranking how I felt about them. We talk about route spoilers, ships, which characters need to 'get bent', and which should be given a loving home...or second chance. For the first hour-ish, @rjthirsty joins me on voice chat to gasp or agree with my opinions.

This is a long one, and in my opinion its fun background noise. We go through Ikepri, Ikesen, Ikevamp, Ikevil, some JP ones I don't know, and even Ikerev! Thank you to everyone who joined the stream!! If you enjoyed this, please feel free to suggest other ikemen discussion videos/streams I could do that you'd be interested in!

Under the cut are going to be some fandom folks I mentioned (due to discussing fanworks and such). I may miss some names and I apologize in advance. Further, timestamps for when each game was discussed will be right under the cut.

TIMESTAMPS:

Ikemen Sengoku - after setting up the tierlist, it's the first we tackle!... but it's at 11:37

Ikemen Revolution - 57:20

Ikemen Vampire - 01:21:33

Ikemen Prince - 02:14:54

Ikemen Villains - 03:15:12

Smash or Pass with other ikemen games - 03:44:30

Server Member Tierlists - 03:57:30

MENTIONS:

@rjthirsty a friend and co-host for a part of this stream! RJ writes a lot of gilbert with me, in and outside of DMs, and streams with me every now and then! I highly recommend their writing in general. We also do reviews together over at @dokidoki-digest and do a podcast on the youtube channel.

@honeybyte with their fanworks with motonari and kennyo (and kennyo again) that live in my head rent free. They're mentioned a few times with ikevamp too, so overall check out their art!

@beni-draw-ikemen-please just. so much ikemen arts. she is now heavily into twst, but she ALSO has a fun youtube channel discussing art and her life. Right now she's working on becoming a japanese VA - check her channel out!

Dark-Frosted-Heart was also mentioned - I'm avoiding a tag since I do not Know her (I'm sorry if this still somehow tags), and is a fun resource for upcoming JP spoilers for some of the games, and some other games!

@kazesuke a writer who used to write ikevamp a ton! I love a lot of her works, and I do recommend them if you enjoy poly mansion fun and more.

BatteryRose has a bunch of fun fanarts of the ikemen series, but the arthur/vincent i mentioned is here.

I distinctly remember mentioning Tarren, Solomons-poison, I don't remember if I referenced any fanworks they've created, but they're another writer I recommend!

@drewadoodle created the gilbert chibi we use later in the stream! go check him out, many good arts.

I am likely missing a few people! I apologize. If i mention someone and you're curious, feel free to reply and ill try to figure it out.

(The arthur/naps fic we laughed about is...mine.. and it's Here.)

also hi! I have written a lot of fanfics for ikepri and ikevamp, but I also stream video games over on my Twitch, @scumberly. Feel free to check any of that out, and if you like my streaming shenanagins, here's a link to my discord server regarding it.

Ikepri Masterlist || Ikevamp Masterlist || Ikepri/Vamp Server

[not-poignant]

Up until your version, I actually refused to read any omegaverse. (NOT for lack of trying ... my god. so many disappointing attempts.) And even then I didn't start UtB until I had run out of literally everything else you'd written and the apprehension was real. I was staring at that omegaverse tag with a 'don't go where I can't follow' look of distress.

Should have known you'd absolutely kill it though. So so so good. It also helped me figure out how to approach other people's omegaverse fics/writings. Alpha/Alpha pairings actually did give me what I was looking for but never found before.

A lot of my disappointment with the whole genre before came from how the heats were depicted. Not to generalize, but a lot of writers use the heat's as a way to just ... delete personalities in a way that is not engaging to read in the least... characters reacting to each other is 90% of what I'm looking for in fics, not 'Alpha 1' and 'Omega 2'.

ANYHOW, all of that is to say that Underline the Red is my /favourite/ of your rainbow stories so far. I love the world-building in general, but oh my god. The dynamic between Faber and Caleb is so phenomenal. Beta's so rarely get a spotlight and it's just like 'yeah what would it be like to be in this heavily binary world where nothing seems to be made for you'

...I would ramble more if this wasn't already so long.

Hi anon,

Tbh, I agree with you on a lot of your points.

There are aspects of heats which are my least favourite thing about omegaverse. Even less appealing to me than mpreg. I understand why they're other's favourite things, but the lack of coherent thought, the inherent dehumanisation* of going 'alpha!' 'alpha!' or 'omega! my omega!' (which to me often sounds as silly as 'man! man!' or 'woman! my woman!'), etc. are kinky for some people, for sure, but for me it's the opposite of appealing. I can only really handle a little of this in like, noncon / dubcon PWPs, but not in long stories.

*There are many different ways to express this kind of fantasy/irl kink. I actually don't mind some of them. But this one I don't like at all.

My favourite kind of heat is a heat that doesn't go smoothly (which is why I've written so many of them, lmao), and my favourite kind of omegaverse relationship and sexual development happens outside of heats (which is why I write so much of that!) But even when I do write heats, there's aspects I deliberately omit because I just don't prefer it, so it sounds like on that level our preferences mostly align. (Not to say that any other version is bad for the folks who write and love it! It's just bad for me, and I don't want to read it).

I also avoided omegaverse for a long time because the ones people tend to recommend have a lot of the most standard tropes, some of which I enjoy, and some of which I find empty and meaningless. 'I'm so aroused I no longer think of you as a person but as a generic vessel / knot' is not appealing to me, but I can see how it appeals to others (and I can see other, different interpretations of that to mine, appealing to others too). 'I'm so aroused that I have no choice but to surrender to something I'm going to loathe afterwards' is appealing to me, and I can see why that doesn't appeal to others.

Tbh I do fall into the trap of vastly preferring alphas and omegas over betas, but I like Faber, he's interesting to me, and tbh it turned out all I had to do to overcome my broad dislike was like, just make a character I enjoyed, lol. Give him enough angst and I'm there!

I also generally enjoy crunchier pairings. I like the mindfuckery of alpha/alpha pairings, and I do think there is really great tropey omegaverse out there. But as soon as a fic is tagged with something like 'knotdrunk' I know I'm not likely to enjoy it. There's only so far I can go on the deep dehumanisation that seems innate to the 'standard vanilla heat.'

From an objective, analytical standpoint, there's a lot of things you could find appealing as a kink depending on how you hooked into it (i.e. 'someone is so consumed with me they lose all rational thought and can't see anyone but me' or 'I am just an object of this person's desire and they are going to use me and even if that's scary I'll still enjoy it' or 'I have realised who my true owner is' etc.), and to a degree, I can get behind some of it, but once we get to the 'I am no longer saying your name but a generic word that applies to everyone in this secondary gender, and you no longer matter as an individual, it's just your knot that counts' and vice versa, I have to dip. It's also why I tend to gloss past writing (consensual, smooth) heats in any great detail myself (people who want that from me are going to be disappointed). As a character-focused writer, in omegaverse, this is generally where you find the least characterisation, 404 error - Character Not Found.*

*It's not always this way, but it's often this way (as in, I have encountered it in hundreds of fics and published works now, and given I only read m/m or t4t or some permutation of both I dread to think how prevalent some of this stuff is in cishet), especially in generally 'No Archive Warnings Apply' omegaverse fics.

Everyone's preferences in omegaverse are different, what I like about it, honestly, is that there is plenty of room for me to write my own versions of the tropes that I enjoy, and that I'm not alone in that. I can omit mpreg, I can omit the 'call me alpha' trope, I can omit soulmates, I can keep 'claims can hurt omegas', I can include alpha/alpha and beta(omega)/alpha pairings, I can fuck with secondary gender, I can keep the dystopia part, I can keep the fluid play and the knots, I can have knots happen outside of heats, I can have 'alpha voice' and make it multi-layered, I can invent hormones and glands and give them names, etc. And someone else who hates everything I love, can do the opposite, and that will still be omegaverse if it happens to have alphas and omegas!!

This is why I think people who dismiss omegaverse outright probably just aren't aware of how vast the umbrella is yet. That's understandable, there are people who dismiss anime because all they've ever seen is shounen, and they just literally don't know there's so many genres within that broad umbrella/technique that will actually appeal to them. You can't know what you don't know, and all! I used to be the same, because my first encounters with omegaverse were like 'oh no, this is like, vanilla dehumanisation. I hate it.' Thankfully I found my way to the subversive humanising side, and I love it here. (ETA: Vanilla dehumanisation is actually pretty damned subversive at times too, I just don't find it hot, lmao).

[jae-bummer]

GG

Request: can i get wonwoo and #20 please? (fluffy haired online gamer boy)

Prompt:

20) You and your bias have become online friends who have never seen each other...until the day you decide to meet.

Pairing: Seventeen Wonwoo x Reader

Genre: Fluff

.

"WannaWoo," you sang into your mic. "What inspired your gamer tag?"

"It's because my name is Wonwoo," his deep voice said matter-of-factly. "You know that."

"No shit," you laughed. "But why not something else?"

"Why is yours KillerQuiche?" he mused.

"Because it was an autogenerated recommendation and I was thirteen," you grinned. "And at the time, I may or may not have misunderstood what a quiche was."

"And you've just stuck with it? All of this time?"

"Brand continuity. And it gives me ample opportunity to say, "Unleash the KillerQuiche,"" you laughed. "You have to admit, it gets our opponents pretty nervous."

"Or excited because they think they're about to win against a pair of thirteen-year-olds," he hummed.

"And then we devastate them," you chimed. "Because we make a great team!"

"More like give them a false sense of security," he chuckled. "But I suppose we make a pretty alright team."

"Be careful," you grinned. "That sounded dangerously close to a compliment."

"I compliment you all the time!" he gasped.

"Saying "good game" when we win hardly counts as a compliment," you argued.

""Good" is a positive descriptor," he muttered. "It totally counts."

"Fine," you sighed. "I'll allow it."

This wasn't the first time you had gone fishing for actual praise. Something like "Gosh, Y/N! You're so smart" or "Y/N, I know I'm Facetiming you at 2AM, but you look ravishing." Hell, you'd even settle for some variation of "Congratulations, you don't look like a rat today." To say you were thirsty for your friend's attention was an understatement. There had been a drought since the moment you had "met".

You had been long distance friends with Wonwoo for years and he hadn't realized that you were completely in love with him, despite your best efforts. Any attempts at flirting were just that, attempts. The one time you thought he was coming on to you, he was actually sweet talking a locked chest he was trying to open in a game.

At one point, you had considered that maybe he realized how you felt and was keeping you at arm's length to avoid an awkward let down. After you got to really know him though, you quickly understood that he was just reserved and in his head about things that did not concern you. Understanding emotions was not his strong suit, so picking up on them was nearly impossible. That's why he thrived in his digital persona. The worlds the two of you created and navigated were logical and safe. Things were risky when he became friends with you outside of the internet.

"Hey, Y/N?" Wonwoo's voice rumbled over the line. You had just entered the lobby of a game you often enjoyed playing together, so you assumed he was ready to strategize.

"Hmm?"

"Do you want to meet up?"

Furrowing your brow, you adjusted your headset to make sure you were hearing him clearly. "Like...have a designated time we do a video call or something?"

"No," he continued earnestly. "Like meet up."

"I'm sorry, I must be lagging," you said quietly. "We do not live in the same area, Wonwoo."

"Astute observation," he hummed, the tone giving away that he was clearly amused. "I've heard of this incredible invention. You see, it's this giant metal contraption that people actually get inside! And the technology it uses-"

"While I have no earthly idea how an airplane actually works, I don't need you to explain it to me," you rushed out. "Are you saying you want to meet in person?"

"No, I'm saying we should designate a time we do a video call or something."

"Wonwoo!" you whined. You felt like you were having an out of body experience. This was a request you never saw coming.

The man across the line erupted in laughter. You stared blankly at the screen, completely disregarding the cue to jump from the virtual plane and onto the map.

"Is this a joke? If this is a joke, I'm going to be really upset with you."

"It's not a joke!" he sighed. "I've wanted to meet you in person for a while. I hope you feel the same way about me."

"Of course I do!" you gasped. You hoped the "I've probably wanted this longer and more fervently than you" was implied by your tone.

"I was thinking I could come to you," he proposed. "I don't feel comfortable with making you travel so far by yourself."

"I'm more than capable-"

"I did not say you weren't," he cut in. "It's other people I'm worried about."

You felt your heart do a little spin. You weren't used to hearing him be protective. "Okay," you conceded. "But I won't have you pay for a hotel. You can stay in my guest room."

There was a short pause before Wonwoo cleared his throat. "I appreciate that."

Well, that was odd.

"Unless I"m totally overstepping," you added. "If you don't feel comfortable-"

"It sounds great, Y/N," he said much more confidently this time. "Now let's talk logistics."

After refusing to coordinate a plan while he continued to play video games (even when he argued how excellent he was at multitasking), the two of you finally worked out a schedule. In a month's time, he would get on a plane and end up in the same city as you. You'd pick him up, he'd sleep at your apartment, and hijinks would ensue.

As you told him goodnight and logged off for the evening, it felt like you were floating on air. In your wildest dreams, you would have never imagined that Wonwoo would be the one to propose meeting in person. You had thought about it dozens of times, but never wanted him to feel pressured. Plopping onto your bed, you stared up at the ceiling and tried to imagine what it would be like. Attempting to picture his tall, broad frame navigating life beside you, sent your heart tumbling to your toes. The simple intricacies of life seemed to be so much more important when you factored him into the equation. This would either be the best week of your life or the most awkward.

Knowing Wonwoo, it would probably be a happy mixture of both.

..

You shifted nervously from foot to foot, your stomach tying and untying itself into knots. You weren't sure if you were going to pass out, or spontaneously combust. When Wonwoo had insisted that he fly hours to see you, you had welcomed the idea. Now you were lightheaded and questioning every decision you had ever made to get to this point.

"It'll be fine," you muttered to yourself as you readjusted the balloons you held from one hand to the other. "It's just Wonwoo."

It being "just" Wonwoo was exactly your problem. Wonwoo wasn't "just" anything. He was multitudes. In all of the years that you had known him, he had made you feel the gamut of emotions. He was the truest friend you could ever hope for and the most clueless crush to stumble into your heart.

Keeping a watchful eye on the door marked "Arrivals," you nearly stopped breathing as you saw a face you recognized. Easily a head taller than the people walking around him, he was wearing a bright yellow beanie (so you'd know it was him - as if you wouldn't be able to identify him in any universe). It took mere seconds of him looking around for his eyes to lock on yours, a close-lipped grin on his lips.

From there, it felt like your mind had entered an intensely realistic daydream. Hurrying his steps, Wonwoo strode over until he was standing only inches away. The open expression on his face definitely signaled that he was waiting for you to make the first move. Lifting his arms slightly he breathed. "I'm here."

"You're here!" you all but screeched as you launched toward him. Wrapping yourself around his torso, you were amazed with how he could smell so good after being in the air for multiple hours. You nuzzled your face into his oversized t-shirt and let out a contented sigh.

Smacking at the balloons you still held, he navigated around them to snake his long arms around you. Shimmying in closer, he rested his chin on the top of your head. "A moment that's been years in the making."

You were surprised as you felt a soft kiss on your scalp. Leaning away from him, you looked up with wide eyes. "Wonwoo?"

"I didn't realize I could actually miss someone I had never met," he chuckled, shaking his head. Pushing up his glasses, he stared down fondly at you. "Is it...is it okay if I kiss you?"

You couldn't stop your mouth from popping open in surprise. Would it look bad if you pinched yourself to make sure this wasn't in fact a stress-induced mental break?

Wonwoo furrowed his brow as he searched your face. "I just...I just thought...Did I read the moment wrong? Oh god, I did, didn't I?"

The reality of the situation crashed into you with surprising force. Stepping forward to wrap him in your arms again, you cautiously glanced up. The last thing you wanted him to think was that he had crossed a boundary and made you uncomfortable. "Sorry, no, you didn't read the moment wrong. I was just...surprised?"

"Surprised?" he asked, still clearly confused.

"Well, uh," you said quietly. "You've never really given me any indication that you were romantically interested?"

"What?" he asked, shaking his head in disbelief. "What do you mean? Y/N, we've known each other since we were teenagers at this point. You're impossible not to fall in love with."

"...in, in love?" you croaked. This was all terribly new information.

"I had just assumed..." he said, growing smaller the more he talked. "I assumed we were...kind of...a couple?"

You continued to stare at him.

"You flirt with me all the time!" he offered. "And I flirt back!"

"In what world do you flirt back?" you laughed. Maybe you really were going through a mental break. Had he really known you had been flirting with him this entire time?

"I tease you," he muttered. "And I try to say sweet things, but every time I think I've come up with something good, it comes out wrong."

"I had no idea," you whispered. "But Wonwoo, I feel exactly the same."

"Oh," he huffed, now trying to process the whirlwind of information that had been exchanged. "Well, excellent!"

"Just...can you try to be a little more obvious with your attempts to romance me?" you laughed. Apparently, you had been the clueless one all along.

"I'm more than happy to try," he said, a cautious smile finding its way back to his lips. "I have your favorite compliment geared up and ready."

"Oh? And what's that?"

He prodded your cheek with his nose, closing his eyes as his forehead came to rest on your temple. "Good game, KillerQuiche."

[comicaurora]

These have been pent up for a while, so there's a whole list lol. Some are Aurora, some are not.

1) Can lacrimas carry out multiple purposes at once? Or will they blend them? I'm assuming that this is possible, considering that the automaton in the ruins was using a lacrima as a brain

2) Has anyone tried to make tools or weapons out of lacrimas? I'm talking like chisel that needs no hammer. Or maybe a Fire lacrima on a bow that sets your arrows on fire

3) Can you engrave runes on lacrimas to make them affect themselves?

4) Where can I read more about the Twins? If I'm not wrong they're the creator gods, aided by the Light dragon and the Void dragon to create life, but I might be getting a wrong read on that

5) Since we see Erin successfully become the first Void mage, does that now mean there's potential for him to make a Void lacrima? The dragon probably won't allow it, but still

6) What exactly does elemental corruption of each element do? Fire literally burns you up, as we saw in Arc 1. I can infer that Life likely makes you a chimera. Void corruption makes you a cave crawler. But what do the other one do? Does Earth make you a statue? Does Wind disintegrate you, Thanos style?

7) Now onto the non-Aurora questions, is your art vector or raster? I believe it's vector, but it's always better to confirm

8) What are your opinions on reading into the environment and the character design to infer things about the character themselves? In any type of media

9) Have you played Baldur's Gate 3?

10) Do you have any music that you'd recommend? I've listened to every song I liked so many times that I hate them now.

11) I'm new to Tumblr, anything that I should know? You don't have to answer this one if you don't wanna. I think I know some of the basics already. Reblog what you like, and avoid the terfs, right?

You might be able to tell that I like the idea of the lacrimas a little bit. Just a teensy bit. The artificer in me definitely isn't obsessed. I appreciate any answers you can give :3

Cheers!

Ooh, lots of stuff!

Yes, it's possible. A lacrima can be engraved with multiple spells, set in a casing engraved with commands, or some combination of the two. Typically, all spells engraved directly on a lacrima will activate at once when the lacrima is "switched on", but a spell can be quite complex, and conditional activations are possible - "if-then-else" statements, basically.

Yes, magic items exist.

Generally no. If the lacrima is disrupted or broken, the spell generally stops functioning, so a self-affecting lacrima will run only as long as it takes for the lacrima to distort or break.

There's an extra lore page about them!

He probably could if he wanted to (and the Dragon allowed it) but Void energy is very dangerous, so he likely doesn't want to.

Each form of elemental corruption agitates the presence of the element in the mage's body. Earth corruption can damage or alter bones, encourage unhealthy petrification of soft tissues, etc. Wind corruption can have physical effects but it often most obviously produces breakdowns in the person's ability to speak or understand language. Lightning damages, numbs or intensifies a person's physical senses.

Raster, I draw with CSP's digital pens. I've only very briefly experimented with vector art - I don't like how it simplifies the lines.

I think it's a fun school of analysis but, like all literary analysis, it runs into trouble if it tries to lock down exactly what the writer was thinking or intending (which is an objective fact that one can be incorrect about) rather than trying to analyze the story on its own and what meaning might, intentionally or unintentionally, be factoring into it.

Nope

don't trust my taste in music it's 90% nu metal and sonic OSTs

Like what you like, reblog what you want, generally it's considered dubious form to add a comment to a reblog unless you have something profound to contribute (commenting in the tags is fine), steer clear of discourse and callout posts and generally the sectors of the site that are constantly on fire, blocking someone for any reason is 100% fine

[ceoandslutler]

I appreciate your fic writing advice! I was wondering if you'd like to share any of your favourite sebaciel fics?

unfortunately i don't read many sebaciel fics... which is crazy. but there's 3 reasons for it:

1) i used to read them many years ago but i didn't have an account and didn't save them anywhere and i don't remember which ones i liked (and my tastes have probably changed because i was a minor back then LOL) but i'm probably gonna go through the seb/ciel tag after exam season (may) and bookmark all the ones i enjoyed so you guys can see what i recommend :') [rip to all the authors i was reading, i was a tween who didnt have an account, sorgy i would leave guest kudos tho 🙏]

2) i go into ao3: the sebaciel tag. i look at the fics... i'm looking for: a) the sex to be hyperrealistic, b) to be in character; as in these 2 should be hating on e/o like there's no tomorrow, c) bottom!sebastian with adult!ciel or at least both vers/switching. i'm fiending for it, so i keep scrolling, i keep looking, what i want to read isn't there. the well-written stuff is so long that i feel overwhelmed to start it and usually it's underage or not versatile, i think for a while about what to read then suddenly i'm out of time, i have work the next morning (i currently work for my dad's small business) and my lecturer is emailing me about whether i've chosen my title for the essay due in 2 weeks and i have to waffle up a title that i could feasibly complete within 11 days. i forget about reading fics for a month then it happens again.

3) i have a lot of ideas for things i want to write. if i find out someone already did my idea, i will become so nervous that people might think i copied them or that i was inspired and didn't credit. you see my own first fic? i literally linked a fic i read with a similar concept because i want to be original so bad, it's actually silly. so i don't read much fanfic. i just write my own stuff.

i know badbadz, amanitus, ks-morgan, and many many others are legendary fic writers in the sebaciel community (the word counts are too huge for a fulltime student who's also working AND writing my own fics to be able to read since these works require a lot of time invested into understanding them/commenting, etc so i wouldn't want to halfass read them. also a lot of underage sex which i try to avoid since it's not for me). iirc apocalypticromantic, plague of insomnia, luci_on_the_moon, etc write multi-pairing stories with sebaciel involved. there's a lot more people but im having brain fog so instead i cordially ask everyone to reply/rb (whatever's more comfortable) with their favourite fics/own fics please :)

here <- is all the sebaciel fics w the most hits (english, no crossovers)

here <- is all the sebaciel fics w the most kudos (english, no crossovers)

[mosskissed]

RULES + INFO

BEFORE YOU FOLLOW:

↳ ; this is a strictly 18+ blog. make sure to have your age in your bio or pinned post to avoid being blocked. basic dni criteria also applies i.e., do not interact if you are a bigot in any way, shape or form.

↳ ; this is a dark content/proship friendly blog! do not follow if you aren't comfortable with that! it will always be tagged appropriately, but some topics to expect are: stepcest / pseudocest / incest / yandere / dubcon / noncon / major power imbalance etc. warnings will be tagged as ‘___ cw’ such as 'stepcest cw', 'dubcon cw', etc.

if you'd like me to start tagging certain things or if i ever miss a tag, send me an ask to let me know!! remember that you are responsible for your media consumption when things are tagged appropriately.

↳ ; the characters i write for will always be written as at least in their early/mid 20s. if you have any issues with aging characters up, this is not the blog for you.

i do my best to keep my reader as neutral as possible description-wise, though if i miss anything please feel free to let me know! 99% of the time reader will be fem/afab though.

HOUSE RULES

↳ ; please do not recommend me on any other social media. do not copy/repost/feed my work to ai under any circumstances.

↳ ; this blog is discourse free! anything discourse-related that's brought to my inbox will be deleted.

↳ ; please hard block if you want to break the mutual for whatever reason !! there’s no hard feelings but it just protects your space bec i will probably assume i unfollowed by accident and try to interact shfjdj likewise i will do the same, so if you think i've unfollowed you feel free to shoot me an ask because it was definitely an accident!

INTERACTION GUIDELINES

↳ ; this is a social media site more than just somewhere for me to post what i write !! the main reason i joined tumblr was for the community aspect ^^; my inbox is always open to everyone for a chat nd i perk up like a golden retriever whenever people interact — trust ( ◡̀ . ◡́)ᕤ

my messages are open to mutuals (+ feel free to ask for my discord if you'd prefer)

↳ ; the best way to get to know me is to talk like we've always been pals!! i love love love using petnames (beloved/my love/angel etc) so if that ever makes you uncomfortable just let me know! likewise, i'm a little flirty with my friends so if i overstep just lmk!!

↳ ; mutuals + non-mutuals are free to tag me in posts/fanart/fics/tag games etc !! u get a flower tucked behind ur ear every time u do :3

INBOX GUIDELINES

↳ ; my inbox is always open for thirsts/suggestions/general yapping. sometimes i might be a little slow on answering but i try my best (^ω^)

i don't formally take full-fledged fic requests unless specifically stated for an event, but again my inbox will always be open for thirsts!! i'll leave a list of my fav kinks and characters if you’re unsure who i’ll write for c:

↳ some of my favourite things to write about are degradation/humiliation, manhandling, choking, omegaverse, dacryphilia, pet play, pussy slaps, sweat kink, anal, knife/weapon play, piss, somno, dubcon, noncon, stepcest/pseudocest and predator/prey

if there's anything not listed that you aren't sure about, just send in an ask anyways!

↳ DON'T SEND THIRSTS ABOUT ; scat / vomit / feederism / ddlg / cheating + there's probably some more things that i'm not thinking of, please be respectful of my boundaries! i'll add and take from this list over time and if i write anything from this list, it's at my own discretion

↳ some of my favs (not an exhaustive list! i can and will thirst for anyone :p) ;

haikyuu: hinata, atsumu, seijoh4, kyoutani, bokuto, osamu, ushijima, kita, meian, yachi, ukai + honourable mention to every other character

honkai star rail: mydei, kafka, boothill, jing yuan, phainon, blade, himeko, welt, sampo, gallagher

blue lock: reo, bachira, kaiser, sae, shidou, oliver

my hero academia: shinsou, kirishima, bakugou, hawks, dabi, izuku

demon slayer: douma, obanai, sanemi, mitsuri, tanjirou, tengen

OTHER: miyuki (daiya), chobei / yuzuriha / shugen / jikka (hell's paradise), yuuji / gojo / nanami / sukuna / toji (jjk), narumi / hoshina (kn8), sousuke / rin (free!)

[herecirmsims]

Mer Things

Happy birthday to @theserenadeofshadows , queen of the sea! Melissa asked for something aquatic, and I decided to do a collection of random mer behaviour poses to try and help make storytelling a little easier, because we're all looking forward to her mermaid story returning! Regular emotion poses etc can be used on mermaid rigs, so I thought that some basic swimming poses might be useful?

Pack contains 12 solo poses plus all-in-one. I recommend using TOOL to raise or lower your mer to the desired height. Top tip: you can use the Occult section of MCCC Commands to force your Sim to show their tail! No need to get them wet first!

You will need: - Pose Player - Teleport Any Sim - Island Living EP for mermaids

TOU: you may adjust for personal use to avoid clipping etc., but please do not reupload/paywall/claim as your own.

I’d love to see them used! You can tag me on Bluesky, Instagram, or Tumblr. I repost. ❤️

Download here (always free): SFS | Patreon

You can easily browse more of my posepacks using my Ko-Fi gallery, or by browsing my collections on Patreon. Want to commission me and help support my work? Details here! Want to leave a suggestion for poses you'd like to see? Form here!

@ts4-poses @alwaysfreecc

[loganwritesprobably]

Law with the 3° genre, prompt (y.)

Since there's no specification, I'm pairing Law up with a gender neutral reader

Find the prompt list here

Content/Warnings: Law/GN!Reader, hurt/no comfort, break up, reader decides to leave the crew

If you had to hear one more stupid word from his stupid mouth, you were going to lose your mind. Breaking up with Law while underwater in the Polar Tang, still days away from your next island, may have been a bit of a mistake but you just couldn't do it anymore. You couldn't keep pretending. It had to end. Everything was tense, and uncomfortable, if he entered the room you immediately left, and the other crew members were struggling with the discomfort. Not one of them tried to criticise you though, they sympathised.

Law did not seem to understand how serious you were, though.

He went out of his way to seek you out, searching for you when you had downtime to try to speak to you. You avoided him at all costs, often walking away while he followed you, ignoring every word that he said. If he did it again, you were going to develop a serious violence issue.

You were sitting quietly in the kitchen, reading a book, and enjoying just being alone for a while. There was a lot you needed to organise, and you needed silence to do it. Feelings to sort through, things to plan, and decisions to be made. You'd already moved all your things from Law's room back into the crew's room, and you were sleeping in your old bed again - still alone, but at least now it was by choice.

That was why you'd split up with Law, you couldn't deal with the way he treated you anymore.

He was never around, always prioritising work over you and even yourself. It was one thing for him to put the crew before you, because you understood that - he was a Captain, that was his job - but to even neglect himself to the point where he was snapping at you and other crew members; making poor decisions; missing all his time with the people he claimed were his friends.. you weren't willing to put up with it anymore. You couldn't date a man who had all these responsibilities when he couldn't take care of himself.

Did you even want him as your Captain?

Hence, things to think about.

Law walked into the room, and for the first time in several days, you didn't leave. You were capable of ignoring him while he puttered around to finally feed himself, you were reading a good book. Instead of doing that though, he sat in the chair beside yours, and just stared at you. It was hard to concentrate on you book when he was staring at you so intently but you kept your eyes on the page, refusing to bend to whatever he was trying to do.

"Since you're finally done running, I want to talk about us." He said eventually, and you sighed, slamming your book closed. "There is no us Law, get that into your thick skull." You hissed, standing up from your chair to leave again, retreating to another quiet room to gather your thoughts. "Why aren't you even willing to hear me out? You'd think I'd hit you!" He yelled, and you froze. "Why? Because you act like you have no interest in yourself, never mind me! We barely spent any time together, and when we did half of it was me forcing you to look after yourself and the other half was you being grumpy or mean because you can't do that for yourself! I'm done with it Law! Grow up a little - then come back and talk to me." You'd turned back to face him, eyes wild, chest rising and falling rapidly with your anger. Law stared back at you, mouth hanging slightly open, understanding finally dawning on him.

"I'm not getting back on the Polar Tang after this island. I'll find my own way - I don't want you as my Captain anymore."

Requests are open! See below links for my other works, and how to leave requests. I write both canon/canon and canon/reader requests for your enjoyment

AO3 | Fanfic Masterlist | Request Rules | WIPs | Recommendations

Tags: @claryeverlarkf @uselessboots @cainnoable

[the-radio-demon-blog]

Hello hello, its me again! *gives a small grin*

Thank you for sharing a bit of insight into your childhood pastimes with me. It was really intriguing!

I used to enjoy tag as well, though I am not very good at card games, minus go fish and possibly old maid. I can play uno though. I don't think I have the best poker face myself. Surprisingly enough, though, I am exceptional at liar's dice. It's a social game of deception and strategy were people make bids and call bluffs on other players while attempting to avoid losing their own dice, so to speak. Its quite fun, I recommend it!

However, math isn't a strong suit of mine, nor is figuring out the probability of things; but some how I have a weird sort of luck with that game in particular. I believe I even made an acquaintance of mine nearly loose his mind in trying to figure out how I was able to guess correctly almost every single time without an ounce of thought put into my strategy haha.

*clears throat and shuffles in place, holding both hands behind her. It's obvious she's holding something*

In any case, that's not the only reason I'm back. I wanted to give you a surprise. You seem the type to appreciate those, I'm assuming.

*glances over into the lobby at all of the flower arrangements present gifted from previous guests*

But I think I'm a little late to the party with the surprise I have for you, haha. Well, great minds think alike I suppose. Anyways, the suspense is probably killing you, so here you go!

*Presents a bouquet of magnolias and violet Louisiana Irises in a sizable vase with a soft, shy smile*

Everyone deserves to at least get a bouquet of their favorite flowers every now and then. Its a token of my respect for you, my appreciation for your time and just to say I'm a fan of your work and radio show.

Also, if you guys need any help around the hotel, I don't mind volunteering! Though I'm not the best at fighting for security purposes, I am quite good at listening if someone needs to express troubling emotions and the like. I am also somewhat of an artist and can help make pamphlets and such for the classes and activities the Princess is providing, if you think that would be beneficial to anyone...

*Sheepishly laughs*

Though, I suppose you would need to discuss such an arrangement with the princess first. In any case, if you think my assistance would be necessary or profitable, I am willing to lend a helping hand wherever it is needed.

"Ah, of course, my dear! I am happy that you found my childhood pastimes intriguing!"

"Hmm...that's quite a curious skill? Terrible at poker yet good at liar's dice? How fascinating! Ah, yes, I have played old maid in my time at the bars. You should truly take up card playing, my dear! It is quite fun!"

"Well, fate and luck works in mysterious ways, darling! That's what keeps life fun, hm? I must also admit my strategies can be erratic. I like to be unpredictable. Once you fall into a pattern, your opponents can exploit it."

Alastor gives you a curious look and tries to discreetly peer behind you.

"Oh my goodness! Thank you, dear!" Alastor takes the flowers eagerly into his hands and sniffs their wonderous scent. He lets out a good humored laugh. "I never thought I'd ever get to smell them again! Hah! As strange as that sounds! It is always nice to meet a fan of my work!"

"Yes, of course I would have to discuss such things with the princess." Alastor tilts his head and grins at her. "That's quite alright that you aren't exactly prowess, not everyone is built to be. However..." Alastor taps his chin. "...the Princess has been organizing this...hmm...this odd "therapy" activity. Perhaps you could help her with that?"

Alastsor sets the vase on the coffee table, taking good care to arrange them in a pleasing position. Then he turns back to her and offers her an arm. "If you would follow me, I can take you to the princess herself if you'd like!"

[aquilathefighter]

Reading Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @softest-punk !!

The rules: List the last book you read, and/or the one you’re currently reading and/or what you’re planning to read next and tell us a bit about them and whether you’d recommend them.

The last book I finished was Uzumaki by Junji Ito. The premise is that a small Japanese town becomes haunted by spirals, and if you think that doesn't sound so scary, you'd be surprised. The spirals infiltrate every part of the main duo's lives, killing family members and classmates along the way. Ito is a master of pacing and body horror and this book made me scream out loud as I turned the page. Highly, highly recommend to people who has enjoyed any of his short stories, fans of Davids Cronenberg and Lynch, or anyone who wants a book to devour in a weekend!

I'm currently reading 2 books:

First, I'm rereading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams by way of the More than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide, which includes the first 4 books, as well as the short story Young Zaphod Plays It Safe. H2G2 is one of my favorite books of all time and I come back to it again and again, but I've never actually read the rest of the series, so I'm rereading the entire collection. If you haven't heard of it, here's the premise: an Earth man and an alien narrowly avoid becoming vaporized when Earth is destroyed to put in an interspace bypass. They go on a series of misadventures trying to avoid other alien species and along the way meet the President of the Imperial Galactic Government, who has stolen a state-of-the-art ship. It's silly, it's nerdy, it has completely shaped my psyche and humor forevermore. I cannot recommend it enough!

The other book I'm reading is Flight Paths by Rebecca Heisman. It's about the scientists behind bird migration research and how we understand where birds go when they leave their breeding or wintering grounds! I haven't gotten far enough into it to give a recommendation or not, but I'm reading it for a book club next month and I can give an update when I finish it.

Tagging: @virgo-dream @athymelyreply @verminetroglodyte @kydrogendragon @tj-dragonblade