#but by that point shes already uncovering some of the fucked up shit hes doing at work + all his past indiscretions and shes like Ok Bye .

[faarkas]

2079- vs 2075-2077 x

[xoxotaylynn]

gangster kind of lover

warnings: dom!chris, sub!reader, drugdealer!chris, druguser!reader, y/n, abusive!chris, oral sex, unprotected sex, let names

summary- a look into y/n's and Chris's relationship and how his actions affect her life and her drug addiction

i need a gansta to love me better

since i was a little girl i’ve always wanted a disney prince boy, as i got older i learned those boys will only fuck you over and gangsters will love you better.

to always forgive me

a gangster boyfriend will always forgive you with some sex.

ride or die with me

a gangster boyfriend would kill for you.

that’s just what gangsters do after all

i’m fucked up, i’m black and blue

i’m getting ready to go out clubbing with a few girlfriends i’m applying some make up on my bruises that my boyfriend? left i don’t know what we are. i want to be his girlfriend but he “doesn’t commit” little does he know i’m built for it, all the abuse

i’ve got secrets that nobody knows

“omg girl what’s on you’re leg that’s a nasty bruise!!” my friend halle says worried

“oh nothing i just ran into a table REALLY hard and hurt myself it’s fine tho!” i lie i tried to cover that up but my lower body ones are harder to cover.

i’m good on that pussy shit

“nah give me the hard stuff weed is for pussys bitch” i laugh as my hookup is making a line for me currently

i don’t want what i can get

“hey girl you look good tonight” this random dude flirts

“yea no thanks i’m alright” i laugh

“girl you need to get out there stop rejecting guys and live a little

“trust me girl i’m getting out there and living a lot!!” i laugh

“i’ll believe it when i see it!” she laughs

“okay girlll”

i want someone with secrets

“we gotta hurry up my friends don’t know we’re together” my hookup says while sucking in my neck

“do they also know that you sell drugs?” i breathe out

“someone’s got an attitude tonight but no they don’t and they won’t find out” he demands the last part

“are you tryna seduce me even more?” i laugh “next thing i know you’re gonna tell me to call you daddy” i’m PANTING at this point

my freakness is on the loose

we kissing as we walk into his bedroom and he shuts to door with his foot as he leads me to bed, he lays me on the bed and he doesn’t waste any time he strips me if my clothes

“hurry up and fuck me chris” i complain as i throw my head back

“be patient or you won’t cum” he taunts

“yes sir” i smirk

he grabs my jaw and makes me look at him “ill fuck this little attitude right out of you don’t even”

“fine next time i’ll call you daddy” i bite my lower lip and smile

“keep the fucking attitude up and we won’t fuck” he warns

“fine” i huff and he starts kissing down my stomach and to my uncovered pussy.

he starts to pepe’s kisses all over my sensitive cunt and i start to moan already “of fuck chris please give me more”

“patient sweetheart” he says sending vibrations up my pussy. he starts to eat me out and i’m a moaning mess the second he starts i know this is gonna go to his ego

“oh mother fucker don’t stop” i moan he adds three fingers no warning and i’m not going to last much longer now “please chris i’m gonna cum!!!” i whine

“whenever you’re ready baby” he says in my cunt but just like that i’m LEAKING with my juices all over his face “mmm taste so good for me” he says as he finishes swallowing

“just fuck me chris please” i beg

“well sense you said please” he teases and takes his pants off

“no condom i’m on the pill i just want you to cum inside of me” i ask

“just this once” he tells me as he grabs my hips, he then slides me over to him and he aligns his dick up to my wet sensitive cunt

he goes in and with no time to adjust he rams into me.

“OH FUCK!” i yell the second he starts fucking me

he’s ramming into me with no cares making me yell his name out, and i hear slight moans from him, i feel my pussy walls tighten around his dick and it’s twitches inside me

“oh fuck chris i’m so close” i moan

“me to baby cum with me” he basically moans

and then on cue we both cum together with our juices mixing inside me. he lets his cock sit inside me for a minute while we catch our breath.

“oh fuck you did so good today angel” he compliments laying beside me now

“thank you! you did good to i don’t think i can walk anymore” i laugh

“good you don’t need to be walking anyways who are you tryna go see with those legs anyways” he always does this

“no one just you but now i can’t get to you” i respond making him mad

“well you won’t be leaving then” he gets up

“wait what that’s not fair i have a life besides fucking you” i argue

“well to fucking bad” he yells

“no! you can’t keep me here” i yell back

“FUCKING WATCH ME” he screams and yanks me off the bed, he throws me onto the floor and then slaps my face leaving a bright red hand mark

“OW WHAT THE FUCK CHRIS” i yell still on the floor holding my cheek

“STOP BEING A FUCKING SLUT AND LISTEN TO ME AND I WOULDNT FUCKING DO THAT” he yells

“get the FUCK away from me” i grab my clothes hurriedly put them on and run out of his house “whatever we have is DONE” i yell outside

you got me hooked up on a feeling

“fuck i have NOTHING” i scold myself. i try to call my new dealer but he won’t answer “fuck it we’re calling chris

“chris can you get my my usual i’m out.” i say over the phone

“i was waiting for this call you know you love my cock to much” he laughs

“go to hell you know that’s not true you’re not even that big i’ve seen bigger and better dicks” i attack him

“ouch that’s not what you said in bed” he argues

“chris just get over here and get me my shit i’ll have money” he deamand

“if you wanna see me so bad just ask but sure i’ll be right over” he grunts

“great” i hang up

5 minutes later he’s knocking at my door

“hi chris come in” i say coldly

“hi ma” he flirts

“chris is told you i’m done with you” i tell him

“then why am i here” he asks

“for DRUGS” i empathize the last word

“you know we’re gonna end up fucking” he says factually

“whatever you have my shit” i ask

“right here” he pulls a baggy out of his jacket pocket

“here’s some money” i say grabbing it off my coffee table in the living room

“no thanks ill give this one to ya” he declines my money

“oh my fucking god just come here” i say annoyed cause he only does this when he wants to fuck and i’ve learned to just suck it up cause he won’t take the money

“that’s a good girl” he praises and i connect our lips and we start making out.

you got me hooked up from the ceiling

“chris come over i’m hornyyyy” i whine over the phone

“i’ll be right there” he groans and i can here him pick up his car keys this makes me smirk

“see you soon” i moan into the phone knowing that will make him hard

“goodbye ma” he hangs up the phone

got me so high, i’m barely breathing

“are you feeling it” chris asks

“hell yea i think i can hold my breath for ever i like don’t end have to breathe right now” i say laughing

“baby breathe please” he softens his tone

“yea okay i will” i say taking a deep breath

i need a gansta to love me better

chris will always love me better than little disney prince boy, my gangster boyfriend will do what we it takes to make sure i’m his no matter what.

[whoopsyeahokay]

October Sun

summary: Simon had been on the verge of getting the fuck out of Dodge, the enormity of everything he'd found out starting to bog him down. He hadn't been able to do it alone, not anymore, not even for Maddie. Thankfully, the universe had heard him and had held out an olive branch.

pairing: Wally Clark x fem!reader

warnings: eventual smutty smut smut. and mad spoilers. and obvious Canon divergence. very involved, very dense plot.

bon reading, frens

___________________________💀

OCTOBER SUN pt.11

Simon crept to his car, a tactical advance, hunched low to the ground and clinging to the shadows as far as they would take him. He was afraid, adrenaline pumping, heart pounding in his ears; he didn't want Mr. Anderson to find him sneaking around the school a second time. Not after what he and Maddie had uncovered in the supply closet.

Mr. Anderson had propelled up Simon's short list of suspects to the top spot, the cache of money a sure sign the man was up to no good. Simon didn't have a lot of experience with society's seedy underbelly, but if movies had taught him anything, it's that normal people didn't hide stacks of cash outside of their homes unless they expected a police raid.

Was Mr. Anderson a drug dealer? Some kind of kingpin moonlighting as a high school English teacher? It was the perfect disguise. Cops would never think of a man who works with teenagers capable of that level of corruption. At least, not in Split River. No matter how many problems the town had, it wasn't that degree of shitty.

Only, Mr. Anderson had seemed nervous; a man forced onto a ledge at gunpoint. Threatened. Scared.

Okay, Simon reasoned, so Mr. Anderson wasn't a high-ranking drug lord. But he was definitely on the wrong side of the law and was obviously desperate. And desperate people were unpredictable when they felt backed into a corner.

He'd claimed he'd given Maddie what sounded like had been a large sum of money. A bribe, maybe. One that, in the end, hadn't been enough to convince Mr. Anderson she wouldn't rat on him. The thought made Simon's stomach churn, bile burning the back of his throat.

Maddie had been wrecked by the discovery, hands shaking from a surge of emotion too enormous to contain. She'd held it together long enough to caution Simon not to contaminate the evidence by touching it, assuring him she'd count it after he was safely off campus.

She'd shooed him from the classroom, "You have to leave, now," eyes watery as Mr. Anderson's betrayal had finally seemed to register. "I've got this, okay? Just go."

Simon had done as ordered. What good would he be if Mr. Anderson took him out next?

He peeled out of the parking lot and into the road, lightheaded as a thousand and one questions flooded his brain. His chest tightened, breathing labored, and—God, shit, he hadn't had a panic attack since middle school but, since Maddie's disappearance last Friday, they'd made a grand comeback. Kept him awake at night when there was nothing left to distract him from what could've happened to his best friend.

"Fuck." Simon rasped, smacking the steering wheel with his palm. And then, increasing in volume and intensity, "Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!" He beat the steering wheel, accidentally hitting the horn once and startling a woman walking her dog.

"Sorry!" He called, sheepish, through the open driver's side window, flashing a hand in apology. He didn't wait for a reaction, simply continued to drive home.

The thought of interacting with his parents put him on edge. He didn't know how he was supposed to stay quiet about Mr. Anderson. Noticeably off the last few days, Simon had already endured three separate lectures about drug use, depression, and sexuality respectively.

His parents' unconditional support, though amazing, made him feel like garbage—or, more accurately, a landfill—for causing them to worry to the point of draping a rainbow flag over the back of the couch and reassuring him that, "Love is love, mijo. We just want you to be happy."

Even if he could slip past his dad, his mother would undoubtedly pick up that whatever plot she suspected Simon of hiding had thickened. And, frankly, if she asked just right, Simon knew he'd crack and tell her everything. About Xavier, about Mr. Anderson...about developing The fucking Shining and assuming the role of Watson to his best friend's ghost.

Buying himself some time, Simon took turns he didn't have to; drove through random neighborhoods as he tried to think up a plausible excuse for his behavior that wouldn't result in another intervention. He didn't have it in him to watch his mother's face crumple as he lied to her again. The umpteenth time that week.

He needed to talk to someone. To get it out of himself and share the burden. His skin felt too tight and his bones too heavy and he couldn't carry the weight of Maddie's murder mystery alone.

And then, as if God had heard him, Simon's prayers were answered.

Without thinking it through, he pulled over and beeped his horn to get your attention before you turned onto the path that margined the small, neighborhood greenspace.

Clambering sideways to get out of his car, his foot caught on a pedal, seatbelt still hooked, Simon called out, "Hey!" grunting when he was knocked back into his seat by the strap. He took a second to collect himself, unbuckled his seatbelt, and climbed out in a less frenzied manner.

"Uhhhmm, are you okay?" You asked, your face displaying how not okay you thought Simon was. You glanced up and down the street, puzzled, "What are you doing here? Don't you live in Cedar Bank?" A suburb on the other side of the river that bisected the town.

Simon debated whether or not it had been a good idea to stop, but he didn't think he could give you an excuse and drive away, either. He dimly sympathized with how Mr. Anderson had felt back in that classroom; splitting threads pulled through the eye of a needle.

He summoned his resolve and turned to face you, "I need to tell you something."

You cocked your head, looked Simon over, and nodded slowly. Simon could tell you were trying to determine what this was about. Realized as you walked him into the little playpark and took a seat on one of the two swings, that he'd come out of nowhere in a move that could easily be interpreted as stalkerish.

"I could give you a lift home if you wanna talk in the car?" He offered, settling into the second swing all the same. The park was deserted, dark, the glow of the streetlights falling short by a few meters.

You shook your head and hooked your thumb over your shoulder, "That's literally my backyard."

Simon followed your indication and saw the top half of an antique build, painted a deep royal purple and trimmed in evergreen, that peaked over a tall, bushy hedgerow. A wooden fence several inches shorter than your family's hedges divided the public space from private property, running the length of the park behind your house and a few others.

"Huh." Simon returned his gaze to yours, "Never mind."

"Did you talk to Nicole?" You asked, possibly thinking that that was what Simon wanted to discuss.

He fiddled with his hands, closed his eyes, and supported his head on the metal chain that held the swing up. "No." He stated honestly. He needed to tell you about Mr. Anderson. Just. Start talking. But the words kept sticking in this throat.

"Simon? You're starting to scare me, is everything okay? Is this..." You trailed off and when you spoke again, you sounded worried, "Is this about Maddie?"

"Kind of," Simon admitted, pressing the meat of his palms into his eyes. "Screw it," He spun the swing so he faced you completely and then uncorked the bottle, "I found a shit ton of money in Mr. Anderson's classroom. Like, wads of it. Probably thousands of dollars hidden in the wall in the closet."

‗‗‗‗•‗‗‗‗

What the f u u u u u u ck.

One minute you'd been on your way home, trying to parse out why the connection between you and Wally had gone dormant as soon as you'd left him, and now, there you were, listening to Simon basically tell you that he'd unmasked Mr. Anderson like a Scooby-Doo villain.

You didn't have that on your Everything is FUBAR bingo card, that's for sure.

Okay. Okay. This was...big. Huge. And, "Holy shit, maybe it has to do with why he freaked on me in the theater," you said, mostly to yourself though you knew Simon would hear it.

"He what?"

You looked at Simon, "Earlier, I was—" Lie like a smart girl, "—looking for something Tilly forgot in the theater and he found me. But, Simon," You stood, started to pace, "He was acting paranoid like I found his dead mom à la Norman Bates. He practically threw me out of there." Which was, fine, a mild exaggeration, but Mr. Anderson's paranoia hadn't been. "I've never seen him like that. And he kept getting these phone calls that made him even more angry."

"Wait, what do you mean 'phone calls'? Did you hear anything?"

"No, just that he needed a minute. I guess to go find somewhere I wouldn't hear him."

Simon was standing now, pacing in a pattern the opposite of yours.

"He was on the phone when I saw him. Talking to someone about how he shouldn't have given Maddie money."

You felt like the sky had fallen on your head, "He gave Maddie money? Is that why she..." You'd wanted to say ran away, a kneejerk reaction borne from days of convincing yourself she'd just put Split River in the rearview. With what you knew now, you settled for, "Disappeared?"

Simon appeared to notice your choice of wording, peered at you like a math problem, but didn't mention it, instead revealing, "It's a line of inquiry."

You rubbed your temples to ease away the migraine that was building. Today had been too much; too many things unfolding one after the other: First hearing from Wally that Maddie was a ghost, and then just Wally and everything you had to unpack with that, and now Mr. Anderson's apparent criminal activity that may or may not have had a direct impact on Maddie's being a ghost in the first place.

Of course, you reminded yourself, she wasn't a ghost because you couldn't see. her. Which meant that, if he was involved, Mr. Anderson had drugged her to the point of a coma and had hidden her body somewhere.

"Oh my God," You moaned dismally, "This is so f u c k e d." As the gears turned, a thought clawed for your attention. "Simon," you ceased pacing to lift your gaze and regard Simon closely, "Why were you there?"

‗‗‗‗•‗‗‗‗

Simon knew he had to give you something, but, Jesus Christ, he was nervous. He'd already decided not to admit he could see Maddie, unable to believe that you wouldn't tell a trusted adult. And he wasn't keen on getting pumped full of antipsychotics and locked in a padded room, thanks.

You watched him, eyes hard, jaw set, more serious than he'd ever seen you, "Simon, what the hell?"

He swallowed, opting for half-truths, because he'd come this far. He needed help. A confidante. Would've preferred Nicole but she'd galivanted off with Xavier, apparently, and took the choice out of Simon's hands.

"I've been looking for clues about what happened to Maddie," Simon confessed, a weight lifting from his shoulders. "Since the search on Monday, when Xavier got arrested—"

You interrupted, fierce, loyal, "He wasn't arrested, Si. His dad was just taking him to the station to give an official statement."

"In the back seat?" Simon deadpanned.

"There's no room in the front of the cruiser!" You threw your hands up as if dealing with the situation would drive you to drink.

"With the lights on?"

"Because there was a crowd of people practically throwing themselves at the car to get Xavier's face on video."

Simon conceded and resituated himself on one of the swings. You followed his example, though, this time, you shrugged off your backpack and dropped it in the sand beside you.

"So, what do we do?" Simon wanted to know, close to getting on his knees and begging you to take the reigns on this because he was exhausted.

"Alright." You shifted to straddle your swing, hands in front of you as you counted details on your fingers. "We know that Maddie went missing on Friday. We know Xavier had nothing to do with it." Your eyes narrowed, daring Simon to comment. He didn't. "We know that Mr. Anderson is hiding money and that he gave some to Maddie. To keep her quiet?"

"That's what we-" Simon tensed, quickly undoing his mistake, "I'm thinking."

That intense look of scrutiny was back on your face and Simon resisted the urge to gulp. Three days ago Simon had figured you for the only person who'd believe him about Maddie's ghost. My how times have changed.

"If he was hiding money in his classroom, he could be hiding other things around the school, too." You rationalized. "Like the theater. I bet you anything that there's something in there he doesn't want us to find."

True. In fact, "Do you think he's hiding Maddie in there?"

"What, like, under the stage? That'd be pretty risky. And the cops went through every room in the school with search and rescue dogs and everything. Wouldn't they have found her if she was down there?"

Simon deflated, "Good point," reluctant to add that those dogs probably weren't the type trained to find cadavers.

"Right." You paused, either to organize your thoughts or analyze Simon further, he wasn't sure, but you soon continued, tone weak, "Simon, if he did have something to do with Maddie...I take back what I said before."

"About?"

You shrunk into yourself, forcing, "Maddie being okay," as if the words had to be wrenched out of you. "I don't want to believe Mr. Anderson could've hurt her but..." You blinked a rapid dozen times up at the sky, visibly shaken as you considered the worst, "I don't think she's okay."

A lump formed in Simon's throat. He was all too aware of the painful truth. His vision blurred, nostrils prickled, the enormity of the situation closing in on him.

"Yeah," He sniffed, "Me neither."

‗‗‗‗•‗‗‗‗

Neither you nor Simon were aware that, only ten feet away, crouched in the bushes, a figure wearing Simon's best friend's face had heard everything.

Cold.

Hungry.

And without an iota of guilt.

💀___________________________

PART TEN - PART TWELVE

also available on AO3!

MASTERLIST

[mossy-green-aka-ferrythem]

I like. Have not played a single Hoyo game so it is quite shocking to see people take deeper looks into the games and their themes to uncover just how DEEPLY racist Hoyoverse is.

When I say racist I mean like. Painting this fantasy, ideal, "aesthetic" world that only wears the face of multiculturalism, while explicitly making it so all the heroes and good characters are white, while making the enemy characters typically with a darker shade of skin. Like just. In fucking Genshin. Look at the Hilichurls. They've literally got pitch black skin and masks, and despite having their own culture, are constantly and consistently treated nothing more as "pests". Like just. I swear to god there are so many "Hilichurl" like examples of weaving weird racism into video game enemies in the wider media sphere, but I digress.

What really gets me is like. I saw some shit from fucking Honkai or whatever where there is an entire character who was born black, but bleached her skin out of shame. Like. What. Also this is all second hand, so forgive me for getting details wrong, but doesn't she just. Keep hating herself for her skin color and her heritage? Also the way her mother is drawn is just like. Somehow both a racist and transphobic caricature rolled into one. Like they illustrated her in a way that doesn't feel done in good taste. It fees like they want to evoke a sense of confusion and maybe disdain. Perhaps they wish for you to sympathize with the girl who bleached her own skin (???) and like. What the fuck is this writing HOW DO PEOPLE JUST NOT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THIS??????

Also. There is of course ZZZ. The issue here is more what people have already mentioned and something I don't feel like fully relaying. Which is the sort of heavy emphasis and inspiration from Hip-Hop and Rap culture, but without any black characters actually in the setting. Ben Bigger is like. Legit the blackest character there, problem is that he ISN'T HUMAN. Like it shows that they would sooner create an anthropomorphic bear, a fantasy character, than a black character that actually displays their culture in a proud way. Not really my place to say all of this, since others have said it much better than I ever could. Last thing I would say is that the Black edits of the characters (especially Ellen Joe), make the character designs leagues better.

To cap off this messily organized tumblr post and rant, it brings me to my biggest issue: erasure. The fact that when you search up Tighnari, you only get that dogshit anime boy, hell, the issue even still persists somewhat when you specify for Al-Tighnari. I am not well read on who Tighnari is, but even skimming past a description of that man is truly breathtaking. He sounds like a very well traveled, very wise man who likely had a sizable impact on the world. Thing is. When you search up Tighnari you don't see this man anywhere. When you bring up Tighnari, it is unlikely people actually recognize who the man himself was. Instead you have this character, who's skin is as white as a sheet, actively acting like a shroud being thrown over an old cultural icon. His design has been criticized endlessly for how little it lines up, but that's not the point. The point being is that Tighnari in Genshin has uprooted knowledge of the original in the public eye. This is but one example, and doesn't even BEGIN to touch upon the absolute shitshow that is Natlan. However, people have already exhaustively described what is wrong with it so I digress there. Oh and I said I would close this out but like. Fucking Star Rail or whatever has a character with Dark Skin who has "shacklebreaker" as one of their main skills and like. This is some J.K. Rowling type racism. Like what. What the fuck?

Look what's really important here is that I am just so fucking taken aback by learning the extent of it. I always bore a minor grudge against Genshin, but the clarification, and the knowledge of how deep this shit goes... just makes me realize this. There is no longer any confusion about how this got so popular, because racism is excusable in general fandom spaces. Racism isn't considered a dealbreaker to many people, and that is the root of the issue I believe. How general online fandom communities and people as consumers are just so unbothered by racism that they will just not criticize it, pass it off as normal, and will actively engage in racist tendencies, rather than making any effort to better themselves and to be more tasteful in what they choose to support financially, and what they choose to consume.

[igotanidea]

Backyard : Jason Todd x stripper!reader

The plan was simple.

Get inside the strip club, gather some intel on the newest and yet already one of the most influential crime lord in Gotham and get the f out.

The last part got a bit more complicated, when Jason figured out that on this particular day, in this particular club a bachelor’s party was taking place.

Shit was not enough of a word to describe the situation he found himself in.

Should have gone dressed in his Red Hood gear instead of civilian mode.

Should have never let Dick accompany him.

Two hot guys in the club full of horny men and girl strippers trying to lead a mission.

One dying inside, the other going with the flow.

What could possibly go wrong, right?

Well while Dick was having the time of his life, Jason actually tried to focus on the task and uncovering the identity of the guy who was recently raging terror on Gotham. Tried being the key word here. Instead of pursuing the wild game he found himself being a prey rather than a hunter. A bunch of unknown girls tried to grope him, seduce him, damn, even give him a lap dance, all that making Jason’s hair stand on his head as he struggled to reach the back door and break free.

What was a torture to him, seemed to be a lot of fun to his adopted brother though.

And what was even worse, was the fact that Dick, with his charming smile and  ladies-swooning attitude, would probably end up knowing more than him and it made Jason grit his teeth and clench his fists.

“You look like you need  a smoke.”

“What I need is five minute alone”

“Well I’m sorry to break it to you pea brain, but this-” the girl, who judged by the outfit was another stripper, waved her hand around the backyard of the club “-is as close to alone as you can get here.”

Right.

As if the couple making out against a wall, going way to close to public sex, a homeless man sleeping next to the dumpster and a few shabby wild cats, tearing with their teeth something that was definitely not suitable for eating, even by animals, could be described with that word.

Jason sighed half in frustration, half in relief.

“Fuck.”

“Mhm. Yeah, close enough.” the girl agreed as her eyes landed on the man who was now drilling the woman against the wall, apparently causing her enough pleasure to let out a breathless moans.

“You’re enjoying exhibitionism?” Jason raised an eyebrow at girl’s unamused gaze.

“I’m learning new techniques.” She spit out.

“What?”

“Don’t make me say it again, pea brain.”

“Hey!”

“What? If you believed it, you truly deserve the nickname. I’m a stripper not a prostitute.”

“Is she one?” Jason pointed towards the other woman and reached to his pocket in search of a lighter and cigarettes “Fuck!’

“Nah, she’s just faking for the hell of it. Touch starved one, if you ask my opinion. Would settle for what she can get at a club like this. ”

“Do you have a fag?” Jason couldn’t care less about the answer, more focused on getting his own high and calming nerves, that was something he needed at the moment.

“I’m not sharing with a stranger.” She chuckled “seems way too intimate to me.”

“So what, you only give the guy a pipe on a third date?”

“No one got that far.”

“So you’re a stripper with a high standards?” Jason smirked

“Well. As the movies show, there are only three reason of why a girl is a stripper.”

“Don’t tell me you are a sucker for Pretty woman or another bullshit like this.”

“Nah. I’m just a working girl who has to raise a three year old illegitimate child and has no real qualifications for other job.” She send him an innocent feigned smile and tossed a pack of cigarettes his way.

“Three year old kid huh?” he caught it mid-air and lighted one up immediately exhaling deeply, when the familiar scent and flavour of nicotine filled his lungs “How old are you?”

“Rude.” She leaned on the railing “And you only proving my point.”

“Which is?”

“Pea brain.”

“Made you believe I believed that bullshit story, didn’t I?” another  cloud of smoke flew into the air, quickly joined by the other once the girl started to enjoy her own cigarette.

“Congratulations. A guy from a good house just tricked a stripper in the club. Great job, buddy.”

“What makes you think I am a guy from a good house? Maybe I’m a pervert who –“ he stopped for  a second as the sound of woman and man coming chimed into the sentence “maybe I’m a guy like this?”

The unnamed girl only smiled and shook her head causing her hair to flow around her face.

“If you were a guy like that you would just stay inside letting Candy or Chastity give you a lap dance.”

“Are those real names?”

“Pea brain.”

“Right. Sorry.” Jason chuckled involuntarily, much to his own disbelief. “What’s yours then?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Pretty much why I asked.”

“Pretty much why you run away from the inside and found yourself here.”

“How do you even get clients? You’re insufferable.”

“And I got big mouth. Comes in handy sometimes.”

Before he could stop himself he chuckled again.

Jason Peter Todd, Red Hood, adopted son of Bruce Wayne was smoking outside the strip club, with a working girl, having more fun than he ever had in his entire life.

“It’s not comedy central, stop laughing.”

“You could be a stand upper for sure.”

“Well – if you think about it, I am kind of a stand upper…”

This time Jason fully laughed and the girl couldn’t help a tiny smile on her own face.

“Jerk.” She threw his direction biting on the inside of her cheek, focusing on the cigarette rather than on the guy next to her.

“Bitch.” Jason’s reaction was immediate and completely instinctive.

Any other girl would probably take that as an offence but she was familiar with the fandom and popculture classic.

“What demon are you after, Winchester?”

“Too many of my own to go looking for more.” He sighed

“Yeah tell me about it.” She did the same and for a moment they just stood in undisturbed silence. Even the cats seemed to sense something was going on and went completely quiet.

“What’s your name?” Jason finally asked “for real, not the stripper one and not the fake one you’re probably thinking about giving me.”

“You first.”

“Oh no. I’m a gentleman. Ladies comes first.”

“Idiot.”

“Moose.”

“Stop it!” she laughed at another TV series reference

“Tell me your name.”

“Yy/n” she said finally “Happy now?”

“Rapturous.”

“Splendid. You owe me  a cigarette, now you know what girl to give it back to.”

“Sounds like you’re asking me on a second date.”

Before she got a chance to come up with some quick respond, another working girl came out the club clearly searching for y/n, giving her just one warning look before her eyes travelled to Jason and then back to y/n.

“Fine!” Y/N rolled her eyes in frustration “god damn it, there’s something like a break for fuck’s sake! What the hell is happening now? I swear one day I will burn this hell hole -” the rest of the sentence died behind the door along with the walking away girl.

Jason was finally left alone.

Truly alone.

But it felt oddly dissatisfying to smoke by himself in the dingy backyard, that suddenly became grey and empty.

Y/N.

A girl who seemed to have all the answers.

Infuriating and keeping a man on his toes since the first minute from the meeting.

And who called him pea brain.

Jason smirked to himself, while still smoking the borrowed cigarette in the empty backyard of the strip club.

Letting himself forget the mission for a moment.

don't worry people we'll get "there" ...

[paeries]

Sick Of You III — h.s.

[when a boyfriend of two years breaks it off and offers a new arrangement, of course you’ll take it up. this is your prime chance to prove him wrong. and Harry can’t bear to watch it]

[part one is here, part two is here, and i just wanted to say thank you thank you thank you for all the love you’ve shown. this one took a loonnngggg time to hash out because I wanted to give it a good realistic feel to the argument, bc y/n fucked up badddd. so, that being said, i'm hoping i was able to deliver and i really hope you enjoy it xxx]

wc; 13.3k

pairing; harry x reader

cw; friends to lovers au, brief smut, annggsssttttt, harry tears, lots of arguing, drinking, smoking, swearing ALOT of it, we’re not exactly y/n’s biggest fans

pov; y/n, but third person

[pssst…. you can find my masterlist here]

“There y’go, sweet girl.” Harry panted out, his hands cupped under her ass as she rocked back and forth on his cock, the tip practically smushed against her g-spot. “Tha’ feel good?” He hummed, as she buried her face in his neck, her hands gripping tight at his shoulders for leverage. She nodded quickly, gasping out a weak ‘Yes!’ before whimpering against the crook of his neck. “So full, Harry.” She hiccuped and Harry’s head fell back, Y/N taking the opportunity to litter kisses anywhere she could at the newly uncovered area. His hands came up to smooth along her back, one hand finding the soft ends of her hair, his fingers twirling the strands around each digit. He’d learned long ago about how she’d coo and preen into his touch. He had moved his head back to watch her do just that, and watch the goosebumps skirt up her arms. “All mine, dove.” He had hummed against her skin. “Tell me.” He begged, sliding an arm around her waist to lift her up a bit, his hips rocking up into her. He heard her gasp, whine, whimper, everything but what he really wanted to hear. “Tell me, Y/N. Please, tell me you’re mine.” He asked again, peppering kisses across her chest. Just as he found her nipple beginning to suck gently, as he knew would get her to say what he wanted to hear, a lower voice from the corner began to laugh.

“Go on, tell him.”

Harry’s head snapped up, ignoring Y/N’s cries as she came, her hips still rocking against him with her head thrown back.

Mark was standing by the door.

•••

Harry’s eyes flew open, sitting up immediately before scanning the room for his clock that he must’ve kicked to the floor in his sleep. 4:16am. He groaned, his hands reaching up to rub his face before laying back down. Maybe I can stare at the ceiling some more and fall asleep?

“Tell him.” Harry audibly scowled, pulling the pillow over his head. He couldn’t even find peace in his sleep, his own brain won’t let him get the girl while he’s unconscious. Ridiculous, really. At this point, he’d rather just scrap the whole day and try again tomorrow. He didn’t feel like moving. Didn’t feel like sitting up and he didn’t feel like stretching his aching limbs. He certainly didn't feel like pulling his curtains back to let the daylight in, definitely didn’t feel like getting in the shower, didn’t feel like tidying up his living room from the night before, he didn’t feel like doing anything but lay down.

So he did. With the T.V. on whatever was already channelled in, he laid in his bed and let his thoughts drift. If he looked out to the aforementioned curtain covered window, he wondered if it was going to rain, since the sun should’ve begun coming up by now. It had to have been covered in clouds, a perfect start to a shitty morning evidently. He dared look back at the clock. What had felt like it had at least been ten minutes, in fact was a little of an hour had gone by. So, with his throat scratchy, his eyes raw, his head pounding, and feeling like shit, he pushed himself up to trudge into the bathroom despite his lack of motivation. Start with a shower, he thought to himself, as he brought a heavy hand to the knobs before stepping under the water.

Usually, he would let his mind wander. Sometimes long enough for his hands to find his cock, tugging till he found his relief under the water. Now? He shuts his eyes, focusing instead on the feel of the hot water pelting at his skin. If only he could put it all off until tomorrow and stop existing only for the day. He was well aware that the minute he’d let the reins go, his thoughts would return to her.

Yet, Harry suddenly can't seem to catch his breath in the shower, the inevitable tears slipping past his cheeks as hard choking sobs wracked through his body, his forehead resting against the ceramic tiles. Nothing could stop whatever noise clawed its way from his gut and out of his mouth when he thought about the night before. He wasn’t even sure why this time was so much worse than all the others.

Was it because he felt like the end was near? That his efforts paid off, or that it was looking like he’d come out on top after all? That all signs were pointing to yes? Not, watch out for the rug that's about to be ripped away from under your feet? Or was it how stupid he never thought she’d have been to throw away what was obviously the right kind of love? That she'd be so blinded to deny it?

You shouldn’t think like that, it’s not like you don’t love her anymore.

Finally stepping out of the shower, he grabbed whatever clothes his hands found from his drawers and began down the hallway to the kitchen. As Harry brewed himself a cup of coffee, he scrolled through his phone for unanswered texts or calls, even updating himself on the news. Again, anything that allowed his mind to venture away from her. Sure there were things that always reminded him of her but he did his best to steer clear as best he could.

While he waited for the machine to finish, he glanced over his living spaces. Nothing too terrible. There were some empty pizza boxes on the kitchen island (he later learned that someone was kind enough to put the last unopened box of pizza in his fridge along with the drinks), and the chairs were a bit haphazard and the couch was covered in crumbs and pillows. This really shouldn’t take too long to tidy up.

About an hour passed, and Harry had gotten through his second cup of coffee, feeling somewhat better and more alert. At least enough to get the day done and over with. So Harry, after looking at the state of his neglected garden from the window, decided to dip into the closet for his broom to start there. The area hadn’t been used since the summer, and with the snowier months on the way, he thought he’d better tidy it now so it wasn’t so atrocious come next springtime.

By the time he finished and stepped back inside the heated walls, a knock came from his front door. Dread ran through his blood, as he stared at it before hurriedly opening the door, immediate relief rippling through his body when Daphne was revealed to have been standing at the other side.

“Hey, Daph.” He sighed, his head tilted in confusion afterwards. “S’quite early, isn’t it? Why’re you up?” He asked but Daphne shook her head, and he noticed she looked quite frazzled. “Nevermind that, y’busy?” She asked hurriedly. “Not exactly, but,” Harry started before Daphne was pushing past him into his house. “Come on in, I guess.” He muttered, shutting the door to follow her. “Are you cleaning?” She asked immediately and Harry’s eyes widened. He wasn’t exactly awake just enough to have prepared himself for company. “Not deeply, just tidying.” He replied, eyeing her carefully. He couldn’t tell what was wrong with her. She wasn’t as put together as usual. Honestly, she looked quite dishevelled. “Good. I’ll help you.” She answered, going to grab a trash bag to collect the empty beer cans and bottles. Harry waited a second, feeling his confusion grow deeper before grabbing a bag as well.

They cleaned in silence for a while before Daphne, who was now holding paper towels and some sort of spray to wipe the counters. “Y’sleep okay?” She finally asked and Harry straightened up. “Slept fine.” He answered quickly, hoping that was the last question. (Somehow, he wasn’t convinced.)

Silence again, apart from the occasional spraying sound from her surface cleaner. “Because, y’never came back out after you got sick.” Daphne pried again, and Harry let out a loud exhale. “I’m fine, Daphne.” He reiterated, looking at her sternly. He reaaallllyyy did not want to talk about it, especially with Daphne. She had barely paused, still wiping down the tables or setting glasses in the sink. “It’s just that, I-I’m having a hard time believing you, Harry. I know how you get.” She began again and Harry groaned, his head tipping back. “Daphne. I’m fine. S’alright.” He said again, staring at the ceiling as silence filled the room again.

Thank Go—

“What’d y’mean, s’alright, Harry?” Daphne shouted suddenly, her eyebrows furrowed at him in some form of disbelief. Surely, he’s joking, she thought. “It’s not alright, you get that, yeah?” She huffed, shaking her head at him. “That, that, what she’s doing, is, is- She’s stringing you along! I-It’s nasty, it’s cruel!” Her voice climbing higher and higher, until she was shouting.

“Enough, already! Alright? I know what it is, Daphne! But, you popping up out of nowhere at six a.m. and throwing it in my face at volume 10 isn’t helping things either!” Harry snapped, pausing from picking up the pizza boxes and glasses strewn about the coffee table. “I don’t need you to tell me any of this shit, I can handle m’self, thanks.” As much as he tried not to, he took one look at her and guilt rushed over him. “M’sorry, for yelling. I’m just,” He sighed, setting the garbage bag down to free his hands. “I’m trying to get my mind off it, so, it’s just not something that I really want to talk about. I appreciate your concern, I do. But, I think I just want to be alone.” Daphne chewed at the inside of her lip as she listened to him, “I’m sorry, I really didn’t come here to pry. I just wanted to check in.” She finally uttered out, going to finish tidying in the kitchen. “I’m at least going to help you finish first.” She said adamantly. And Harry let out a sigh of relief. That, he could manage. “Thank you, Daph, really.” He reiterated, grateful for the help and now silent company.

By the time Y/N left Jodie’s and arrived at Harry’s, she found that his car was running in the driveway, and his front door seemed to be cracked open by a smidge.

Where was he headed off to? Should I go?

Before another thought could form in her brain, Harry came out in what looked like a hurry, stopping briefly at the sight of her before bounding right past her to the boot of his car.

She stayed still while chewing at the inside of her lip, watching as Harry wrapped up six or seven bags in his arms. Without much acknowledgement, he slid past her again to get in the door. “Would you take the keys out of the ignition for me, this is the last of it.” He grumbled as he passed her. “Sure-,” She sighed, opening his driver door to pull the keys out, the engine shutting down immediately.

After making what felt like a walk of shame to the front door, she froze upon entering. Harry was busying himself with getting the groceries put away, walking back and forth between the bags on the kitchen floor to the fridge or cupboards. Harry was determined not to show her how upset he really was. He wanted to give her the same treatment he had been experiencing from her. Besides the fact, that he was terrified he’d start crying the minute he got a good look at her.

“How have y’been?” He asked, barely taking a glance at her as she shut the door behind her. Just focus on the groceries and the house, he thought to himself. Chairs were still every which way, and Harry had relieved Daphne of her duties about an hour earlier once she finished mopping, so he could manage to pop out to the store and grab some groceries for the week. Organising his apartment, unfortunately, took a brief back corner.

Y/N had stepped in, cautious to watch him as he moved over his apartment. “Have t’say that I’ve felt better.” She mumbled, choosing to stay in the entryway and out of his way. “That so?” Harry replied, his jaw clenching. It was clear that she wasn’t going to let it blow past another day. He decided to prepare himself for the second argument of the day.

“Yeah, um, Harry?” She said hurriedly, wringing her hands together to try and work up the nerve. Harry sighed, ducking his head in the fridge to keep himself busy. “Yeah,” He said dejectedly. There’s no running from it now.

“I wanted to apologise for leaving everyone in the dark last night.” There it was. Harry felt his teeth begin to grind against one another, and he turned to collect some of the emptied reusable bags amongst the others to put them away for his next trip. He hated the plastic bags.

Maybe we could distract ourselves with our thoughts long enough to tune her out?

“It was a rough night, and,” she paused for a moment, “Clearly, I had had a major lapse in judgement.” He feels like his blood's boiling a degree or so higher with every word coming out of her mouth.

He clears his throat, “It’s fine, Y/N.” Can’t you take a hint?

“But it’s not fine, and,” She goes on, but Harry isn’t listening. He knows she's still talking and he’s fully tuned out, but he can’t stomach this much longer. He knew what she was saying without even listening. It was always some excuse, or half-assed ‘Sorry’. So, trying everything he could to cut her off, “I don’t want to talk about it right now.” he griped, hoping that was enough to let her know to back off. What was everyone’s deal? Wanting to talk about it? When did everybody start caring about it?

“Harry, I’m sorry,” She began again, “you’re clearly angry, so just let me,” Harry’s loud groan interrupted her again as he lifted a hand to stop her, “Just stop, yeah?! Sorry?” He spat, “Sorry’s not good enough! You can’t just say- M’tired,” He seethed, “Of hearing how sorry you are. This time, sorry won’t fix it. S’just too soon.” His long legs carried him to the living room to bring a chair back to the kitchen table along with a few wine glasses to sit in the sink, desperate to find something to busy himself with. Anything to avoid this exact argument.

“Wow, y’sound like Daphne.” She muttered, and what meant to sound like a lighthearted joke to lighten the mood, now sounded bitter and demeaning as she now understood, shutting her eyes tight when she saw his head snap back to her. “What?” He asked carefully, taking a few steps in her direction. “What did you just say?” She’d never seen him so angry, taking a few steps backwards as well. “I-I- I didn’t mean,” She stuttered, chewing at her lip when her back met the front door. “Cos’ t’me? Sounded like you had somethin’ snippy to say, and I’d say that you’re in no place to make petty remarks. Especially, when asking me to forgive you all while you stand there, mottled with bruises and hickeys from him.” He spat, shaking his head at her. “How stupid do you think I am?” His head tilted at her, finally backing up to continue unpacking the bags from the store in the kitchen, even laughing as he did. “Hilarious.” He laughed out, glancing back at her before laughing again as he dug through the groceries.

“I-I don’t- think you’re stupid, that’s,” she sighed, starting again with a concentrated breath, “I know you’re angry. And, I know that I deserve to hear it.”

It made his head spin. The same way it always did when he would put his argument aside and give in. Harry could feel his blood bubbling with anger, with hurt, sadness, all of it coming to a head. Before he could do anything to stop it; he turned around again.

“No, what you deserve is each other.” He spat, immediately regretting the words the minute they came out. He knew it sounded morose and beneath him. But he wouldn’t take it back. He was angry, he is angry. Her eyes went wide, opening her mouth before closing it shortly after taking a few steps towards him again. “I-I,” She began again and he watched as her eyebrows furrowed, her lips pursed as her eyes danced around the floor before continuing, “You used me! I can’t continue to be the backup, Y/N! That’s all I am! When he doesn't want you, I’m suddenly good enough. Do I matter that little to you?” He felt like he was gasping for air, suffocating slowly and desperate for relief.

She stopped in her tracks, “Of course not, Harry. You know how I feel about you.” She couldn’t think of a time when Harry didn’t matter to her. So her confusion, trying to understand where everything went so wrong, left her at a loss. How she couldn’t see when it went wrong. If she had just talked to Jodie months ago, would they be standing at arms with one another? She’s never seen Harry like this before, ever. The normally cool, calm, collected and goofy Harry, was now hard-eyed, rigid, and cold. Hurt.

Harry scoffed, narrowing his eyes at her. “When?! When have I ever known how you feel about me? When was I something other than your plan b?!” He spat after turning back around, angrily putting cans in the cupboard and throwing frozen vegetables in the freezer. “Worst part is that I fucking knew what was going to happen at breakfast that morning! I knew it!” She thought she was hearing things, but she swore she could hear a choked whimper in his voice. Y/N pursed her lips, shaking her head in disbelief. “I don’t believe this, Harry. Everytime he cancelled on me, I called you. Anytime he said or did something wrong, I wanted your company. It wasn’t about the sex.”

Harry felt like throwing a full-blown tantrum as he turned around, his eyes widening. “Jesus, so what? Y’telling me I ought to be grateful then?” He quipped, staring at her.

“Of course not! I’m trying to say that I always wanted you around. And that, maybe sometimes, I was happy Mark would cancel.” She explained but Harry wasn’t buying it. “You’re something fucking else, y’know that? ‘Maybe sometimes?’ Fuckin’..” He huffed, deciding to leave it there as he went back to rinsing the wine glasses in the sink. “It’s my fault, I should've got out sooner. My bad.” He spat, leering at her over his shoulder.

“Why did you stay then?!” She yelled, her eyes boring into his back, her frustration reaching its peak. “If there were a million reasons to stop like you make it out to be, why did you stay?!” Harry rolled his eyes, “Oh, come on now. Don’t be daft.” He huffed, shutting the water off to turn to her again, drying his hands on the hand towel over his shoulder. “No, seriously! Why?!”

His eyes met hers, searching hers to try to figure out if she was being serious or not. If she was making some cruel point. “Do you really want to know?!” “Yes!” She breathed, throwing her arms in the air exasperatedly. “Do you?! You’re sure?!” “Jesus, Yes, Harry. I want to know!”

“I,” He paused for a moment to collect himself, “M’- I am in love with you.” He managed in one exhale, his body taut and tense as he looked at her.

Silence for a moment, In love? “Harr-”

“There is no ‘I think’ or ‘maybe’ or ‘could I be’, I am in love with you.” He was breathing heavily now, and deeply thankful she was keeping her distance because he was sure he’d have bursted into tears by now. “If I were Mark, I’d have married you by Month 3.” He practically growled, pained by the comparison. Harry knew full well Mark would never be a quarter of the man he was. “Unfortunately, I haven’t got the money, as we all know, but, I like to think I do well enough on my own.” He was breathing heavily, staring at her fiercely. That was a low one to hurl but he couldn’t stop himself. A full year of his misery, and now she had to make him tell her like this?

“The money?!” She was glaring now, her hands finally settling on the island counter opposite him. “I don’t give a fuck about the money, Harry. I never have, and y’know that. My mother introduced us because she knows his family. Just so happened, I fucking fell in love with him!” Harry rolled his eyes and it only fueled her on. “Right, shocking. As if you’d know what love was if it had landed in your lap.” He spat sarcastically, turning again to flip the tap back on to go back to the last few dishes left.

“Harry, I came here to tell you that I love you.” She admitted, causing Harry to flinch. Something he’d once die to hear, now he couldn’t take seriously. ”No, you don’t.” He groaned, pained to even have to reject it, his lips pulling tight to stop himself from saying anything else. “Yes, I do.” She repeated, her voice catching an irritated tone. Harry couldn’t take it, she just kept pressing, and pressing. “I want to believe you, I do,” He said, his hands shaking while scrubbing the pots and pans. “but, I can’t, not anymore.”

“You can’t- What do you mean you can’t believe me?” She breathed out, bringing her hands up to brush the hair messed around the frame away from her face, the weight of this argument growing heavy. They’d hardly argued before, and never before to this degree. “I can’t believe you when you say you love me. I believe you care for me, or about me, or whatever.” He paused, swallowing thickly so as not to break down. “I don’t believe you’d ever give me an honest chance.” He admitted, his head hanging as he leaned against the kitchen sink, refusing to look at her.

She laughed almost incredulously, “Why not?” And Harry splits, “Because of Mark!” He barked at her, spinning around to finally face her. “It’s always Mark! You've never even considered me as an option!”

“Not once did you ever even contemplate it!” He was seething now, unsure as to how he could possibly get her to grasp a fraction of an idea as to how bad she's hurt him. “What do you want me to do, Harry! I can’t go back in time! I’m apologising now!”

“Oh, Christ, Y/N- They’re just fucking words! If that’s all you have for me, you’d better just go.” He admitted, a mixture of sadness and disappointment etched across his features.

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to collect herself. “What do you want, Harry?” As she finally spoke, her voice was timid and defeated, and as Harry’s voice boomed over, she jumped.

“I wanted to be first!” He shouted, veins popping out on his neck from the force. “I wanted you!” His chest was heaving, fully unloading his anger. “Every time I think about you, Y/N, my chest hurts. Like, like someone is stepping on it. Especially when I think about you with him! It’s killing me, and I thought, I-I thought that I could,” He sighed, his eyes fluttering closed, deciding he had shared enough. He said what he felt he had to say.

She didn’t really know what to say, taken aback by his outburst. “I’m-,” She managed before Harry decided he had enough. “I think you should leave.” He muttered, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “Harry,” She tried, even going as far as to take a step closer to him. “Get out.” Whatever sorrow she thought he could be feeling was so clearly gone. Now, he stood in front of her, tense and angry.

“Leave! I’m tired of this!” I can’t trust you anymore.

“H-Harry, I can’t lea- m’not leaving.” She tried again, begging herself not to let the tears fall. “Now you’re crying?!” Harry barked, reaching up to move his hair from his eyes, tugging as his fingers reached the ends. Rage surged through his body, grabbing her keyring off the counter to take his home key.

He snatched his own keys off the hook to take her house key off, linking it back onto her keyring. “I’m dead serious, Y/N, leave.” He said, cursing himself at the way his voice shook. He knew how scary he could look when he got angry like this, catching a glimpse of his reflection one time in an argument at work.

After pushing her keys back into her hands, he opened the front door and waited, his teary and red-rimmed eyes trained to the ground in front of him. “I-I’ll, I’ll earn it back, Harry. I promise, I-I’ll get the key back.” She murmured, as she walked past him out the door reluctantly. “I swear I’ll prove it.”

Harry managed a small half smile that bordered on sarcastic through his blank stare, hoping she would but still doubtful. “I guess we’ll see.” He gritted, shutting the door immediately afterwards before the unshed tears creating a gloss over his eyes finally fell. Only standing there another few seconds before going back to the distraction of cleaning his apartment again.

“Jod?” She called, stumbling through her best friend's house while fumbling to put the keys in her pocket. “Jooooodddddd!” She giggled out, her vision fuzzed enough as it is without it being pitch black.

Jodie opened her bedroom door quickly, “Y/N? Is that you?” She mumbled, knuckling at her eyes to make sure it was in fact, her drunk best friend. “D’y’know it’s about four in the morning?” A giggle came from the kitchen, as well as some glasses clinking. “Is it?” Y/N hummed, finally finding the kitchen while blindly feeling around for the lightswitch. “Goooot iiiit.” She sang before flipping the light on.

Jodie grabbed a robe, tying it across her waist and shuffled down the hall. “Are you drunk?” A good question, as she was slurring her words while pouring up another drink from her cabinet. “Is Daphne ‘ere?” Y/N hummed, teetering to one side momentarily. “No. Why don’t y’sit down and we can talk about it?” Jodie tried again, reaching for her friend's arm to tug her into the living room.

As both the girls sat down, the room fell quiet. “Talked to erm- Harry.” Y/N muttered, lifting her glass to her lips for a sip. “And?” Jodie asked, leaning forward to lower the other girl's glass. “C’mon, s’just me, relax.” She pressed and frowned as she watched the girl shake her head, more to herself than to Jodie. Y/N scoffed, standing up again to look for her speaker. “It's just us here, right?” She asked again, and Jodie furrowed her brows. “Yes, Daph’s out for the night but I don’t see why that matt-” And suddenly she was cut off by music. “I knew I’d regret giving you the house key.” She muttered to herself, knowing the music was too loud for her friend to hear her.

“Are you alright, Y/N? Have t’say, I’ve seen this kind of behaviour before.” Jodie said after standing up to turn it down. “I talked to Harry.” She repeated, giggling as she did so. “He looked sad. Sooo, sooooo beautiful, but sad.” She sighed, pouting before sitting against the couch’s arm rest. “Everything they said, s’true.” She muttered, staring into her lap as she swirled the liquid around the glass. “Y/N…” Jodie began, “I don’t know where this is go-,” Jodie stopped, as she was interrupted again. “I’m a terri- ‘hiccup’ -terrible person.”

Jodie took a breath, and decided to try again. “Just because you made a bad decision, doesn’t make you a terrible person.” Jodie sighed, somewhat pleased she was able to finish her two cents as she leaned her head against her palm.

“Jodie?” Y/N murmured, hardly looking up from the glass in her lap. “Yeah?” Her friend answered, her head snapping up at the mere thought of her best friend opening up. (Or the exhaustion, it was nearly 4am after all.) “I think I missed my chance.” Y/N whimpered, “I mean, he hates me. I thought I was goin’ over there to tell him what we,'' a hiccup interrupting her, “we had talked about.” She hummed, taking a quick breath to continue. “Was not the case.” She breathed out, shaking her head sadly at the memory of the fight.

“Y/N, I don’t think he hates you.” Jodie repeated, sighing before leaning back against the couch cushions with a soft yawn. “Jod, I’ve never seen him so angry. Ever.” Y/N mumbled, playing with the rings on her fingers. “I’ve just been an awful, awful, person lately. And, I know s’late a-and I wouldn’t normally be here. Becos’ usually, I can go to ‘arry’s. But I fucked that up for m’self, didn’t I.”

“He’s hurt.” Jodie reminded again. “Y/N, you realise that you’ve become his own Mark?”

Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed, “What?” She gasped, and her friend forgave the dramatics, chalking it up to her level of intoxication. “Don’t ‘what’ me.” Jodie laughed, sighing after she caught her breath. “Seriously, you did damn near everything Mark did to you. Whether or not you meant to, is not the issue. You did it, and you need to make it right.” Y/N frowned, reaching for her glass again. Jodie sighed and lowered it again. “And, this? This is not how you make it right. Straighten yourself up. M’not letting you go down this road again, and definitely not when it's from your own doing.” She stood, taking the rocks glass and brought it to the kitchen. “Now, what kind of sandwich would you like?” She asked curtly, dumping the remnants of the glass in the sink before turning to open the fridge and fish out the necessary items. “I’d like you sober now.”

———

Now that Jodie had been certain she had somewhat sobered her friend up, she settled on the couch with a blanket strewn across her lap. Y/N was eating a carefully crafted turkey and brie toastie with a glass of water, laid across the other couch. The two girls were watching some of the ‘007 movie series to settle back down for the night. Jodie was undoubtedly closer to sleep than Y/N, but she didn’t mind staying up with her if it brought her friend some solace. Of all the times she could remember, (other than recent unfortunate events) Y/N had never let her down. Always there, even when her mother died, Jodie actually had to send her on random ‘quests’ to find some alone time in those first few months. “Jodie, I couldn’t imagine going through what you’re going through and keep the same…. Jodie-ness about you.” She’d said all those years ago. They were young, just freshly in the middle of their college careers. In all honesty, Jodie had stayed ‘Jodie’ because she had Y/N. As silly as her statement was at the time, it truly summarised her most valued friendship.

“What are you thinking about?” Y/N suddenly asked, and Jodie lifted her head, “Are you asking me?” She giggled, “You never ask!” She admitted when she received a ‘duh’ and Y/N shrugged, pursing her lips. “Well, you’ve been practically counselling me for the past week and a half and I haven’t asked. S’been eating at me for a while.” Y/N explained, watching as Jodie frowned. “I just, I know you’ve been dealing with a lot too. About the house and,” To her relief, Jodie cut her off. “That’s okay. Your little dilemma offers a much appreciated distraction if we’re being honest. I’ll be okay, I’ve got time.” She explained through another yawn. “You, however, are fucking up left and right hourly.” Jodie teased and somehow successfully dodged a throw pillow tossed her way.

“I wish you would just cry and that could be it. Y’have to get confusing and block everybody out.” Jodie huffed, cracking a smile at her friend who feigned shock. “Honestly!” She laughed, Y/N joining along. “I’m not doing it to push people away, I just hate to complain about something so trivial. I mean, Daphne’s moving for her new job, stressful. You have this house to worry about securing, I-I mean, I can’t leave a man alone if it killed me. All the while, mucking up a great relationship with a guy that actually cared about me enough to at least try and wait it out. That’s done with.” Y/N huffed, her face burying into her hands. “It’s just embarrassing, that this is my life issue.”

“Your life issue?” Jodie laughed, “I somehow doubt that this is it for you, Drama Queen.” She giggled again at the thought, shaking her head. “I’m gonna try to fall asleep, you nutcase. You’re welcome to stay.”

“Love you, Jodie.” Y/N hummed, standing to collect the plates and glasses to set down in the kitchen. The very least she could do was fix her kitchen back up after she barged in and woke her friend from a dead sleep.

—

When Daphne walked in the door the next morning and saw Y/N on the couch, she immediately stormed down the hall to Jodie’s room, who had gotten up just an hour prior to go to her bed. “Jodie!” She whispered, opening her door a crack to poke her head in. “Get up! Right now, get up!”

Jodie groaned, whining as she flipped over, pulling her pillow over her head. Daphne walked over to her bed and pulled the pillow away. “Y/N is on our couch!” She huffed, Jodie grumbling out, “Yes.”

“So! What is she doing here?!” Daphne huffed, setting her hands on her hips. “Christ, Daph, does it look like I’m alert and ready for the day?” She complained and Daphne pulled the blankets back. “I’m serious!”

“She got drunk and came over in the middle of the night, we talked and fell asleep. What is the big deal?”

“The big deal is that I’m pissed off at her! So I’d like to know if and when she’s here.” She explained, irritance written across her face. “And I still live here too!”

“Stop it, Daph! She wasn’t here for you, she was just here to talk. You weren’t even here last night.” Jodie grumbled, blindly reaching for her covers. “Well, I’m leaving. Text me when she leaves.” Daphne huffed, leaving Jodie’s room to duck into her own to collect the things she’d need for the day, showering and dressing before slipping back out the door. (She did, however pack a bag with her ‘daily essentials’, her hair and makeup products. She absolutely couldn’t risk taking any longer.)

“Thank you.” Jodie grumbled, before burying herself back against her bed.

—

“Hey you’re up! I was just getting my things to head out.” Y/N hummed at the sight of her tired looking friend.

“Yeah, might need another nap.” Jodie yawned, going to the fridge for a glass of water. “Daphne’s mad at you.” She added, turning to look at her friend. “I figured, she hasn’t been answering my texts.” Y/N sighed, taking her keys and wallet. “She ever tell you why?” She pried, chewing at her lip. “I mean, I know why, but,” She sighed again, shrugging.

“Well, s’the same shit. I’m assuming she’ll have to talk to me about it at some point. Dunno why shes so pro-Harry all of a sudden.” Jodie answered, “Thinkin’ she thinks this is her chance?”

“Not my business.” Her friend replied curtly, pressing her lips together before taking a step to the door. “Well, I convinced Cade to come pick me up to take me home and he’s here so, I’m just going to try and pretend everything's okay for a little while longer. I’ll see you later Jodie. Thank you, again, and m’sorry again for keeping you up.” Y/N apologised, before she stepped out to meet Cade at the end of her drive.

Jodie sighed, shutting the door and headed to the kitchen to start a kettle for some tea. It always put her in the mood for a nap. With her tea ready, she shuffled to the couch to collapse against it after carefully sitting the cup on the table in front of her. “Peace,” She hummed, “and quiet.” before settling for another rest.

Somehow she had spoken too soon, the front door was opened again and Jodie grumbled something incoherent about having been so close to sweet sleep. “Is she gone?” Daphne’s voice rang through the entryway. “Jesus Chr- Yes, Daph, she left about ten minutes ago! You practically passed her, how long are you gonna keep this up?”

“As long as I feel is necessary.” Daphne countered, heading to the kitchen to set her bags down. “What’s all this?” Jodie asked when she sat up, shuffling to the kitchen to look at what her housemate brought home from the store.

“Went out to the store, grabbed some stuff. Are you hungry? It’ll be some sort of an orzo pasta salad.” Daphne shrugged, pulling the ingredients out of the bags, as well as pulling out the necessary pots and utensils.

“I suppose,” Jodie yawned again. “Let me get cleaned up and dressed, I’ll help you.” She muttered, taking her tea to the room to shower and change. “No, no, get your rest, shouldn’t take too long. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.” Daphne called as the other headed down the hall.

—

“And that’s it, it says, Chill overnight or serve as is.” Daphne read off her phone, “I’m hungry now, so as is it is.” She snickered to herself, setting her phone to the side to give a few final stirs before turning the burner off. “Jod! S’about ready, now or never! M’starving.” She called out, loud enough that she was sure her friend could hear her clearly. “Coming!” Daphne heard back, muffled as it was, as she began to run cold water over the orzo before mixing the vegetables, cheese cubes and dressing.

Before long, Jodie came down the hall with a swiftness. “Been smelling it for ages wondering when you’d call me down.” She hummed, “Looks amazing, Daph.” Jodie praised, taking the time to give her friend a good once over. “Hey,” Jodie began cautiously, “You okay?” Daphne huffed, cleaning up the counters' surface. “Yeah, Jod. I’m perfectly fine.” She sighed, disappointedly. “You could have at least let me accept your compliment before you dug into me.” She mused, rolling her eyes, worrying now that their lunch was ruined. Jodie stared at her for a moment, blinking every now and then. “You realise everything you’re currently doing is in fact not fine?”

“Okay, I’m not. It’s not like it matters. Nobody listens to me anyways.” Daphne grumbled, taking her seat after passing a bowl to Jodie. “What’s your problem then? You’ve been as irritable as ever for the past three days.” Jodie asked, her brows furrowed with confusion.

“Because! You baby her! Let her get off the easy way and she’s in the wrong. I don’t care if she cries or begs, she fucked up and she deserves to hear about it.” Daphne sighed, shaking her head gently in thought.

“Yeah, Daphne, but some people learn differently. How can you expect someone to learn from their mistakes if you throw them to the wind and never give them the chance to fix it?” Jodie asked, still leaned against the counter as she watched Daphne clear the kitchen and turn the light off to sit at the breakfast counter. “And, I don’t baby her.”

"Oh, come on. Why’d y’think she stuck with Mark? She likes playing games, and she doesn't care about the victims of those games; even when they're her own best friends." Daphne griped, finally taking a bite from her bowl. “I’m not sure why you act like she’s been like this for your entire friendship.” Jodie counters, both unimpressed and growing irritated with how her friend is speaking about their supposed shared friend.

“She practically has! She was always the nicest, the smartest, everybody loves her. Even while making the most colossal mistakes!” Daphne groaned, rolling her eyes. “I love her, I do, like I would my sister! But I make one measly misstep and I’m done for. It’s time she gets a little bit of reality.”

“There’s reality, and then there’s meanness.” Jodie shrugged, grabbing a spoon to sit down with her friend. “And Daph, you’ve made tons of measly mistakes, and the world never ended, nor did we ever throw you out.”

The group met at the Stumble close to a week and some days later, and the night was getting into its usual spring, with Cade drunk and slumped at the bar booth they sat at. Unfortunately, Cade lost another shot challenge to Jodie, as usual, and it had left him incapacitated for the evening.

With Daphne at the bar and Cade practically asleep, Y/N scooted closer to Jodie. “I fucked up.” She whispered and Jodie’s eyes widened, “Do not tell me you slept with Mar-,” Y/N shook her head quickly, watching for Daphne. “No! Nice vote of confidence, that, thanks. No, I went to Harry’s last night to drop off a pizza, he said he didn’t get to eat so I thought it’d be a peace offering.” Jodie nodded, leaning in closer to hear her better. “He had a girl over.” Y/N murmured, watching as Jodie’s eyes widened again. “Harry did?!” She practically shouted, “Yes, shh! Not too loud, Daphne’s coming back. Mums the word, Jod, I mean it.” Y/N winced at the memory, reliving the humiliation all over again before shooting a glare at her friend and straightened up as Daphne began walking back over.

“What are you doin’ ’ere, Y/N?” He hushed, his breath leaving him at the sight of her. She had a box of pizza in her arms and a hopeful smile. “Y’said you hadn’t ate today, thought I’d bring some pizza for you.” She explained, her eyes holding his for a minute before she began feeling her cheeks heat up. As she looked around to avoid his stare, she caught sight of a jacket on the coat rack and a thin silked scarf. Brown leather, that looked far too small to fit around his broad shoulders. Harry’s stomach dropped, and he felt his mouth go dry. “Thank you, but uh, s’not really a good time. Could I call you tomorrow?” His heart was hammering, thumping through his eardrums. Y/N could feel herself deflate, putting the pieces together. His hair wasn’t dishevelled from napping, he had a girl over and she was interrupting their date. Her eyes widened and she began nodding, “Yeah! No worries,” She assured him and handed him the pizza box. Harry felt like he could die right there, his arms taking the box from her out of shock. Why tonight? Of all nights?

“It’s for you, I uh, already ate.” Come on now, Y/N. Just get out of there already! “Er, right. Talk to you tomorrow.” She muttered again and awkwardly turned to get back down the driveway to her car, walking as fast as she could without obviously running.

Harry watched as she retreated back to the car and groaned, shutting the door. “Everything alright?” His brown haired guest asked, coming down his stairs in one of his shirts. They had hardly gotten very far, really. The doorbell chiming just as the woman, Claire?, had broken their makeout to remove her shirt. Harry sighed, looking to the box and grumbled. “Yeah, everything’s fine.” He managed to make the trip to the kitchen and set the box down on the island. “You ordered a pizza?” She asked, coming up behind him to look from around his shoulder, before taking a sip of her wine. Harry tensed and rolled his shoulders back to get her off them. “Sorta,” He sighed, ”Listen, m’really sorry, but I’m not feeling too well. Could I order a ride share to come pick you up?” He asked, feeling as though his legs were cemented to the floor under him. Her eyebrows furrowed, and he could tell how awkward the air got. “Uh, sure? Are you alright, Harry?”

“Er, not really, m’so sorry but,” He sighed, shaking his head at himself. “I’ll help you grab your things.” He murmured, picking his phone up to order a ride for her. The woman, looking very confused, began to gather her things and slip her boots on. “Did I do something wrong?” She paused when she got to the doorway, looking at him for some better explanation. “No, no, really, believe me. It’s my fault. I’ll give you a call.” He added, chewing at his lip just desperate to get this girl out of his home.

“Anyone know if Harry’s coming by tonight?” Y/N asked, sipping cautiously at her drink as she watched her friends turn their attention to her. She really just wanted to apologise to him for intruding and that she hoped it didn’t ruin his night, as crushing as that reality felt. There was a lot she wanted to apologise for, the list just keeps growing by the day.

Daphne giggled as she returned, clearly having just caught her question. “Well, I imagine he has other friends, Y/N. He’s probably out with them.” She snipped, setting the drinks on the table and took her seat next to her date she decided to bring along impromptu. Y/N grimaced at her answer, of course he has other friends, lots of other friends.

The two girls haven't been on the best of terms, hardly speaking to one another if Daphne didn’t have something snarky to say. Jodie tried her best to dispute any minor arguments, for the sake of the two's friendship. They’ve butted heads before but they’d also gotten over worse situations. The fact that Daphne seemed to be going out of her way to bring it up, had Jodie on edge the past week. And Harry hadn’t texted Y/N nor had he really been seen in the same amount of time. The last time he came out with the group, he had to leave early after he began introducing the group to a random girl he met by the bar that looked a lot like Y/N, even going as far to introduce her as The Nice Y/N, the poor thing, after having a bit too much to drink. From then on, if he did come out, he never stayed long.

“Chill out, Daph.” Jodie spoke up, eyes practically searing at Daphne. “Y’sound jealous.” She giggled, playing it off as a joke effortlessly for her date whose eyes went wide at the accusation.

Most of the group rolled their eyes, preparing for another gruesome catfight between the two girls. Peace was found few and far between nowadays, Daphne just wouldn’t drop it.

The truth was, Harry was out with some of his other friends. A rehearsal party for a wedding in Italy to be exact. One he had planned to take Y/N to when he got the invitation a few months or so prior, but, well… that played out the way it did all on its own.

So, as he sat on his own at the full service open bar, making friends with the hired bartender. “Think I can get another one of those pomegranate things, mate?” Harry asked, having just finished his first drink. “What’s in it, by the way?” The bartender smiled, setting out the bottles he used for the drinks. “Bit of Prosecco, the pomegranate liqueur, and some white rum. Garnish and whatever else.” He shrugged. “Agli sposi è piaciuto molto.” Harry sighed and nodded, taking the drink besides not knowing what he had actually said. “Salute” He said before taking a big gulp. “Make that two of these.” He gritted, raising his glass.

———

“So, did you come here with someone?” Harry asked, staring into his glass. He wasn’t exactly sure how long he’d been sitting on the ground with…Luca, and Luca, as he found out, didn’t speak great English, but he’d been doing well thus far. And surely, it could’ve gone smoother had alcohol not been involved.

Luca’s brows furrowed, shaking his head at him. Harry frowned, trying to remember some basic keywords he tried to learn while on the plane. “Erm…fidanzata?” Harry tried and Luca nodded, turning his head to look for his girlfriend. “Mia ragazza, Vita, è seduta lì. Over there.” Luca repeated in his best English after noticing Harry’s confused look. “Ahh, ‘Ve got a girl, whooo, by the way,” He mused as he sat on the floor by the bar, leaning against the wall for stability. His head falling heavy on his neck as he gave in to his memory, those pomegranate things…or whatever they were seemed to be working their way through him. “Would’ve looked gorgeous tonight. Could’ve outdone the bride-to-be.” He hummed, lifting his head to take another gulp of his drink and loosen the tie around his neck. “Probably best I didn’t bring ‘er after all, isn’t it?” He laughed out, letting his heavy head fall back again, his hand coming up to run a hand through his dishevelled hair. “Would’ve left early, back to the ‘otel,” He hummed, his eyes fluttering closed, “Jesus Christ, she’d give the sloppiest blowj-“ He was interrupted by a sudden weight at his knees. When Harry quickly opened his eyes and looked down, a dog had laid its head on his lap.

As he looked around, the guy he thought he was talking to from the groom’s side was nowhere to be found. “I thought we were bonding, Luca!” Harry laughed out to nobody, his hands scratching behind the dog's ears. “S’a good thing you stopped me, far too young to hear about all that yet. Where’d you even come from?” He laughed to himself.

To: Y/N

I just poured my feelings out to a dog.

Y/N turned over in her bed, her phone buzzing on her bedside table had lifted her out of her pathetic half sleep. She grumbled to herself in annoyance, knuckling at her tired eyes before pushing herself up in the bed. Finding the lamp's knob to turn it on, she reached over to grab her phone.

*Message from Harry*

Her brows furrowed, rubbing at her eyes again to clear her hazy vision before unlocking her phone to view the message.

From: Harry

I just poured my feelings out to a dog.

Y/N let out an involuntary giggle, trying to ignore the daunting question forming in her head as she wondered what exactly that dog got to hear.

She stared at the message for a while, glancing at the time before tapping on the character field to type out her reply.

To: Harry

am I supposed to laugh? because that’s funny

I hope he didn’t bill you for the therapy

Harry chortled embarrassingly as he read her text, staggering down the hall of his hotel until he got to his door. The shock that he normally would have felt, had he not drank as much as he had, was nowhere to be found. If he was sober, he’d surely not have sent any text whatsoever like he bad been doing. He just missed her, annoyingly. Nevermind the aches and pains from the memory, apparently, going more than a week without talking to her hurts more. He rolls his eyes at that, “Go figure.” He muttered to himself.

Once the door was unlocked and opened, he trudged inside, yanking at his tie to slide it off his neck while looking at her reply. “Y’could’ve been here wiv’me.” He mumbled to himself, sighing as he toed off his dress shoes, stepping out to the balcony for a few quick puffs of a cigarette to ease his nerves. Cefalù, Sicily seemed to have gone quiet for the night, apart from some clubs and bars, and a few stragglers still at the beach, surprisingly quieter than he had expected. Harry sighed, looking over the view as he took a drag, snubbing it out and tossing it in the trash before dipping back inside to finish getting undressed for bed.

His thumbs fiddled around his keyboard for a few minutes, and he decided to send whatever echoed in his head, pressing send before another moment could go by and began unbuttoning his dress shirt.

To: Y/N

I wish you could be here.

He had only sent the message just over a minute ago but the anticipation was eating away at him, nevermind the fact that he was pretty drunk from the four, or was it five? He lost track after the conga line. Needless to say, the pomegranate drinks did their job well.

His thumb immediately hit the call button, putting it to speakerphone as he attempted again to undo his buttoned dress shirt. One ring, two rings, three… four… Is this a bad idea?

“Harry?” He could hear her whisper, and he held his breath. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. She sounded like she was asleep and he brought his hands up to rub across his face. “Shit, m’sorry, I wasn’t thinkin’ about if you’d been asleep.” He started but Y/N was quick to cut him off. “No, m’not, I haven’t,” She sighed, starting her sentence again with an amused giggle. “I hadn’t been to sleep yet.”

Harry hummed, taking a seat on his temporary bed for the remainder of the week. “Havin’ trouble?” He asked hesitantly. She snickered, propping her pillows upright so she could lean against them. “Something like that.”

There was a few seconds of silence, the both of them somehow content with the knowledge that the other was there.

“Did you have something to say, Harry?” She asked timidly, unsure why he was calling her at 3am. She could hear him take in a deep breath on the other line, and she sunk further into her bed as she waited anxiously. “N-Not that I’m trying to get off the call, o-or anythin,” Harry laughed, effectively stopping her rambling. “I really don’t have anything else to say.” He admitted as laid himself down, and tried to ignore the flutter he felt in his stomach when she giggled.

“Why? Because you said it all to a dog already?” She giggled out, the line on the other end going quiet, deathly quiet.

—

“Did you mute me to laugh? Or were you just acting like I was funny this whole time?” She countered, her eyebrows furrowing.

A faint click was heard and Harry’s giggling voice rang through the phone again. “As if you know me.” He laughed out, sighing as he relaxed on the bed. She giggled, pursing her lips as she thought of anything else to keep the conversation going. “Oh! How was the wedding?”

Harry hummed, exhaling as he prepared to answer. “S’tommorow, so we’ll be expected to be fully sober and prepared. Tonight was the rehearsal dinner, or party, or whatever they called it. M’hopin they’ll have more of that pomegranate drink they had tonight.” Y/N snickered, thankful they were on the phone so he couldn’t see the stupid grin plastered across her lips. “I wanted you here with me.” She could hear him murmur and sighed at his admission, her eyes shutting closed as she laid on her bed. “I hope m’not keeping you up.” He spoke again, suddenly remembering there was a time zone difference. Y/N giggled, shaking her head. “No! No, you’re only an hour ahead, Harry. I’m technically keeping you up.”

“Have I mentioned how beautiful it is here? I know m’pretty trashed, but seriously. The pictures don’t do it justice.” She had seen the pictures, the sunsets, the meals, the giggly videos uploaded to a story she was somehow still allowed to see.

Y/N sighed, staring at her ceiling as she listened. “I can imagine, are you near the beach?” She hummed, tucking her legs up closer under the covers so she could turn slightly to look out her window; a true fashioned England thunderstorm was reaching its peak. “Well, I’ve got a slight view where our hotel is, but the wedding will be closer when we head that way tomorrow evening.” He hummed, finally laying in his own bed.

“It’s raining here, thundering, actually.” She sighed, her bottom lip tucking under her teeth as she looked to twirl her rings around her fingers. Harry closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. There were a few nights that they spent together during a storm, some of the best time he’d argue they ever had. The house would inevitably get colder, and they’d have food prepared, movies downloaded and flashlights nearby. Harry would get a fire going in the fireplace, and they’d sit on the couch with all their snacks, waiting the storm out.

Here comes the ache. It felt like shutting down, the way his brain cut that train of thought, the memories. He shouldn’t have called. “I can imagine.” Harry repeated, a low rasp settling in his voice as exhaustion began to set in his body. “Harry?” He heard her soft voice through the receiver, her tone letting him know what was coming. “Y’ought to get some sleep, Y/N.” He sighed, reaching up to turn his light out.

“I’ve tried.” She murmured, clearing her throat after a moment of silence. “Well, try again.” He hummed, setting an arm behind his head. She snickered herself before laying back down in her bed. “Yeah. Goodnight, Harry.”

Harry frowned, brows knitted together before uttering out “Goodnight.” just before the call ended.

“I’m tellin’ you, all of a sudden everyone was gone, and it was just me and the dog!” Harry laughed out, leaning back against the backrest of the booth, listening to the confusion and laughter spread amongst the group.

He looks so good. She couldn’t stop staring at him. Italy did him well, a full tan across his skin. He was truly glowing. Thank God he was telling a story so no one else would notice her absolutely staring at him. And she wished she could pay attention to what he was saying, because everyone was hysterical around her. So much so, that now it was clear she hadn’t been paying attention. She faked a laugh, looking around at everyone else in order to gauge just how funny the conversation got.

“And you didn’t realise everyone was leaving?” Jodie laughed out, a little more than skeptical at his story. “Or the lights dimming?! Music stopping?” Harry laughed and shook his head, “Not at all! Hand over my heart, s’them drinks! Which, I’ll be recreating as best I can because they were phenomenal.” He sighed, going over (to the best of his ability, in hindsight he probably shouldve asked the bartender to just write the ingredients down) what was put in those drinks.

“Italy was beautiful, I mean, everything was gorgeous. The food, the villages, I mean, my God.” Harry sighed, his hand placed over his heart. “I’ll miss it.”

Y/N was busy with her drink when she felt a nudge under the table. Her head snapped up, finding Jodie who had locked eyes with her, a smirk placed on her lips before mouthing ‘worldly experience’. A small gesture to cheer her up, something she had always loved about Jodie. Nevertheless, Y/N rolled her eyes playfully. ‘Rub it in, why don’t you?’ She mouthed back.

“You’d all love it. We ought to rent out a place for a week and all us of go together.” Harry suggested, reaching for his glass to finish off. “Have t’say, wasn’t the same without you guys.”

“Let’s just crash our own wedding.” Cade offered, snickering as he was probably already drunk. “I don’t know anyone getting married, Cade, do you?” Daphne asked, shaking her head at him. “Doesn’t have to be someone we know, Daph,” Jodie piped up, “you’re supposed to check out venues, times and all that. If there's a wedding event, then you go. That’s a properly crashed wedding.”

“But they wouldn’t recognise us! They’d escort us away immediately.” Daphne argued with a huff. “Yeah, but anyone that asks, you just tell ‘em that you’re a friend of either side. Family doesn’t really care about the friends part of the invited.” Cade explained, holding his head up. “Tell ‘em Y/N. She’s done it before.” He grumbled, “If y’dont believe me.”

Y/N giggled, shaking her head at Cade before sliding a glass of water over to him. “We have done it before,” She replied, gesturing between herself and Jodie. “Nobody bothered us.” She shrugged, before standing. “I think Mr. Man over here, needs a burger and chips.” She giggled, Jodie standing as well. “I’ll go with you. Anyone need a top off?” Jodie asked, looking around the group for the show of hands. “Not you, Cade.” She laughed out, before the two made the trip to the bar for the tables orders.

“So,” Jodie started, leaning against the bar while waiting for the bartender to finish their serve. “So?” Y/N laughed out, shrugging her shoulders as she scanned the menu items for a decent burger for Cade. “Sooooo, have you talked to Harry?” She asked again, wriggling her brows at her with a giggle. “Christ, Jod.” Y/N laughed and shook her head, “No, nothing since the phone call.” She sighed and pursed her lips, “Think he’d do that onion and bacon cheeseburger?” Y/N asked, trying to change the topic. “Cade would eat styrofoam if you handed it to him, now, are you planning on talking to Harry?” Jodie pried again, rolling her eyes as Y/N grinned at the bartender, relaying the orders to ignore the question again.

When the barman shot off, Jodie huffed and tapped on her friend's shoulder. “Er, Hello? M’talkin t’you here, sweets.” Y/N groaned, tipping her head back, “What do I say to him, Jodie? Hey, remember our phone call when you were slaughtered after living it up in Italy? Ooh, or, My God, Harry you look great! I wish I wasn’t such a nonce, and we could’ve gone together!?” Y/N rolled her eyes, “No thanks, really, m’fine.”

“Not really a bad start is it? And, you still haven’t talked to him about the pizza incident.” Jodie reminded, watching the bartender talk to the cook in the back. Y/N sighed, her eyes shutting. “Jodie, please..” She breathed and Jodie scoffed, “Don’t give me that, I think he should’ve at least mentioned leaving for a week, after whatever that was. He never explained himself to you.” She asked and Y/N shook her head, “And he doesn’t have to, I had no business being there, and if I had just kept to myself then I’d never have known anyone was with him that night. So, please. I’d like to drop it.”

Jodie sighed, collecting the drinks tray as Y/N reached for Cade’s food before they made their way back to the table, Jodie uttering a quiet, “If you say so...”

“Well, Harry told me earlier that the same night he had Carina over, Y/N had showed up with a pizza.” Daphne murmured to the table, consisting of Jodie, Cade, and Daphne’s date for the night. Jodie’s eyes widened and carefully slipped her phone out to send a message. The group had just arrived at the bar after a pregame party at Jodie and Daphne’s to celebrate Daphne’s birthday, and Harry had just stepped out to the bathroom, thankfully.

To: Y/N

Daphne knows about Pizza Night

“While Harry was with her?” Cade asked, his brows knitted together in confusion. “No, you idiot,” Daphne laughed, “He said she just showed up with a box of pizza while he had my friend Carina over.” She explained and snickered again when she finished. “Why is that funny?” Jodie asked, her tone quick and sharp as she dug in her bag for her lipstick.

“Guess it’s not funny, just, er, unideal.” She giggled again, shrugging her shoulders in response, to which Jodie rolled her eyes. She’d never known Daphne to be so petty in her life, and she couldn’t stand to see it. Just as she was going to correct her friend, Y/N had come bursting through the front doors.

“What took you so long? Ordering pizza?” Daphne snickered as she watched Y/N rush in haphazardly to get to her seat. “No,” Y/n snapped, setting her coat and bag down to the inside of the booth. “Had to take care of some things, my car’s been acting up so I had just now gotten to pick it up from the mechanic.” She breathed, sitting down finally with her forefinger and thumb pinching at a throbbing nerve at the bridge of her nose. “Had to call three rideshares, the first two just never showed up. It’s just been,” Y/N sighed, trailing off as another throb derailed her train of thought. “Well, lemme get you a drink, babes.” Jodie offered, ignoring the wave of Y/N’s dismissive hand as she got up anyway to fetch her friend a drink.

“Ought to get some sleep, all those headaches.” Daphne chirped, shrugging her shoulders as she sipped at her own drink. “Never known you to be late for my birthday.”

Y/N sighed, nodding, “I know, and m’sorry Daph, really. Happy Birthday.” She muttered before sliding over the gift she somehow managed to pick up before the shop closed. “V’been so stressed lately, wasn’t sure if you’d like it but there's a gift receipt if you want to exchange it.” She explained breathily. No matter how bad they had been fighting lately, a birthday is a birthday. A silly promise they made all those years ago but something Y/N took to heart.

“A birthday is a birthday.” Jodie raised her glass to the air, huffing as her friends stared at her before bursting out into laughter. “C’mon, it’s a toast, you idiots!” Jodie groaned as they began to laugh harder. “To what?!” Daphne gasped out in between giggles. “That no matter where we are, different time zones or with one another, mad or not; a birthday is a birthday. And y’can’t miss it.” Y/N wiped her eyes and clutched her stomach, an attempt to calm herself down.

“S’not bad, actually.” She hummed, raising her glass as well before looking at Daphne. “Come on!” Jodie coaxed, grinning as the third rolled her eyes playfully, lifting her arm in the air to gently tip against the others' glasses. “A birthday is a birthday!” Daphne grinned, the three girls knocking their shots back to begin their night.

Daphne’s eyes widened for a moment, reaching across to accept the bag. “I- Thank you.” She breathed out, pursing her lips as she set the gift to the side.

Harry had emerged from the bathroom, stilling slightly when he saw Y/N had in fact made it before continuing to the seat. “You look exhausted.” He said, a frown pulling at his lips at the sight of how tired she actually looked. “I know, I know, they’ve said so.” She sighed, straightening up as Jodie came back with her drink and a chip and wings platter for Cade. “Thank you, I’m poor at the moment.” Y/N laughed, reaching into the chips pile.

“Are you sleeping well?” Jodie asked, nudging her friend's shoulder when she shook her head no. “Keep waking up throughout the night. Might need a new pillow or something.” Y/N explained, sipping quickly at her drink and hoping the conversation would venture elsewhere.

“Maybe if you weren’t showing up at random times to peoples houses-,” Daphne started again, only opening her mouth once more before Y/N lifted her head to look at her. She couldn’t really be this mean? “Then perhaps you’d getting better sleep.” She finished, and Harry froze, swallowing thickly. He never meant for Daphne to use it as informational ammo. Harry cleared his throat, shifting in his seat as he prepared to intervene but Y/N had beat him to it after finishing what was left in her glass.

“Are you done?” Y/N cut, glaring at her. “Shut up about it already, okay?”

“Touchy.” She quipped, giggling as she glanced at Harry. Y/N rolled her eyes, excusing herself from the group to get the next round of drinks.

“I like when Daphne drinks.” Cade laughed when he was sure Y/N was out of earshot earning a smack on the arm from Jodie. Daphne grinned, pretending to fan herself at the praise. “Happy Birthday, to me.” She hummed, reaching for a shot from the centre and downing it. “Wasn’t really that big of a deal, was it? Some advice and she takes off.”

“Y’have to love the theatrics, though.” Harry added, shrugging as he reached over to down a shot as well. Jodie huffed and leaned back in her seat, her legs crossed one over the other as she braced herself to tell the whole group off. “Hardly theatrics, isn’t it.” Said Jodie, as she couldn’t take much more of the banter. “Well, she stormed off over nothing.” Harry huffed and Jodie's eyes widened. “Nothing?” She scoffed, rolling her eyes again. “Don’t act stupid, Harry, you know what Daphne was getting at, and you!” She glared at Daphne, sneering at her even. “That’s far too low for you, you’ve got more class than that.” She added, leaving Daphne with her mouth hung agape.

“S’a fucking ploy, Jod. So, she’s a lil’ embarrassed, she’ll be fine.” Harry reluctantly replied, his eyes darting at the rest of the table as a silent plea for help.

“Oi, I hear her crying in the middle of the night, Harry. S’hardly a ploy. You, of all people, should know what I’m talking about.” Harry, of course, did know immediately what she was talking about, and it made him sick. The first time they got together, what started it all. So long ago, but somehow still as bittersweet as it was now, it was the happiest time of his life. Before he knew, before it was ruined. His jaw clenched, thinking back at it now and remembering it’s not his fault.

“I’ve cried too, Jod!” He argued, his chest beginning to feel the far too familiar ache. Jodie rolled her eyes, with a sarcastic laugh. “It’s your doing! Both of you! Harry, you could very easily get all this over and done with a simple yes or no. Just rip the bloody bandage off already. We all know what Y/N did, and I don’t know why Daph’s so set on making it ten times worse. I don’t feel bad for you, for anyone!” She argued, crossing her arms over her chest. “And Daphne, just because it’s your birthday doesn’t mean you get a free bitch pass, not from me anyway.” Jodie finished, leaving Daphne to grumble her response. “You all suck. I want new friends.” Jodie huffed at that, cracking a small smile to ease the tension. “I expect to hear apologies in the next coming days. Cade, you too!” Jodie sneered, grabbing from the chip pile to toss at him, “What did I do?!” He whined, groaning when Daphne grabbed some of the fallen ones to toss at him too. “Shut Up, Cade.”

Jodie sighed, feeling the weight loft from her shoulders now that she’d spoken her mind. “She’s not even there anymore, I don’t see her.” Jodie grumbled as she turned to scan the bar area. “Lemme…” She trailed off, pushing her chair from the table to get up and find her.

When she got to the bar and tried explaining what Y/N was wearing to the barman, she caught a glimpse of her dress in the outside area. “That’s okay, think that’s her outside, thank you anyway.” She said over the music, grabbing for the made drinks and hurried out the door.

“Y/N?” She started, quietly and sighed as her friend's head tipped backwards at the acknowledgement of her presence. “It’s fine, Jodie.” She breathed out. “No it is not. You were supposed to be at the bar, know better than to just disappear.” She scolded, setting the tray of drinks on one of the iron wrought tables sitting on the stone patio, sprawled each way for any patrons needing a smoke break or fresh air.

“Didn’t disappear, paid for the order and thought I’d earned a smoke break. I’ve been running around all day, stressing. Thought tonight would be a nice peaceful distraction, but nooo, not as long as Miss Perfect is around.”

“Miss Perfect,” Jodie laughed at that, “Really, you both act like you’ve never been friends in your life! Over what? Mark of all things?” she added exasperatedly.

“Yeah, well, I tried being nice. Tried a birthday is a birthday, she doesn’t care. Harry doesn’t care, m’over it. I fucked up, and it’s done with. M’tired of feeling like I’m the only one trying to mend my mistake. Feels like beatin’ a dead horse. So, so, so fuck it.” She rasped, bringing her arms around herself as she took another drag. “Fuck it.” Jodie repeated and sighed, “Alright, well, I’ll leave you to yourself then.” And Y/N spitefully laughed out, “Yes, Thank you!” before turning her head to the door to find Jodie had already left.

—

“Did you find her?” Cade asked, lifting his head as Jodie returned with the forgotten tray of drinks. “Yes.” She griped, setting the tray down and returning to her seat. Daphne and Cade carefully reached over for their drinks, watching as Jodie glared at Harry who kept his head down.

Cade nudged Harry, “What?” Harry barked, annoyed he was shaken out of his thoughts. Cade glanced to Jodie and then away again, acting like he heard his name from behind him. “O-Oh, h-hey…. Charlie, haven’t seen you in a while!” He said before scrambling away to the back of the pub.

“What?!” Harry asked again incredulously and Jodie rolled her eyes and pointed to the outside area. “Fix. It. Now.” Harry groaned, pursing his lips. “She doesn’t want to talk with me.” He tried and jumped when Jodie gave a swift kick to his shin under the table. “Alright, alright…” He winced, standing carefully with a slight limp as he hobbled to the side door.

As he opened the door, he brought his arms around himself at the feel of the bite from the wind. And upon a short glance around, he saw her toeing at the cobblestone in the back corner, half burnt cigarette in hand that desperately needed ashed off. He sighed, a little too loudly as she had jumped, spinning around with a hand to her chest. “Jesus, you scared me.” She admitted, and Harry could see she’d had herself a little cry.

“Hey.” He mumbled, his hands shoved into his pockets to keep from pulling her into his arms. He really hated to see her so upset, “You okay?”

“Oh, m’fine, Harry. Thanks.” She huffed, taking another drag of her cigarette after she turned back away from him. “Really, for everything. S’nothing for you to worry about.” She snipped, gritting her teeth together. “I’ll guess, Jodie sent you.” She scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Y/N, about the other night,” He began, taking a step closer. “I, it wasn’t, well-,” He struggled, pursing his lips tight. “S’fine, Harry. Daphne’s right, I shouldn’t have just shown up. Wasn’t my place to do so.” Y/N interrupted, shaking her head. She just didn’t want to know, she felt stupid to have tried a stunt like that to begin with. But Harry continued anyway, “A-and, I didn’t think she’d use it like that when I told her, and! We weren’t like, making fun of you. I was just venting, I felt awful. The timing of it, it was just, it was awful.” He finished, watching her carefully as his hands dug into the material of the pocket of his trousers.

“And, I wanted to erm,” he added, looking at his shoes and began to fuss with a loose cobblestone. “I wanted to apologise, for how I acted the other day. Well, really, days ago now. Er, I know, I wasn’t exactly fair.”

“Please don’t apologise, Harry, I don’t know what I was thinking. Of course a simple sorry wouldn’t have fixed it. I just, I talked with Jodie about it and it- it all hit me that I had it all wrong. And,” She sighed, shrugging it off. “I fucked up, a-and, it’s done for, so, if we could swiftly just er- try and forget?” Her voice began to shake, her lips quivering as she struggled to get the words out. Harry frowned, taking another step closer. “Y/N, I don’t want to forget.” His voice was strong and sure, and she groaned in frustration, “Cor, Harry, I’m so confused.”

Harry grumbled a bit to himself, “Look, just, come back inside. We’ve got all of our friends inside. S’Daphne’s birthday, possibly her last with us, yeah?” He tried to reason, to get her mind of it. He loved her, yes, but he wasn’t quite ready to forgive and forget either. He wanted the opportunity for the pair to get their frustrations out, the dramatic side of him needed to get to the bottom of this. Whether it meant he had to yell, and hear her yell too. He felt it was the most raw way to get to the solution of an argument. Or maybe that he needed to hear that she cared about losing him as badly as he did. That she’d been as miserable as he was.

Y/N stayed quiet, chewing at the inside of her lip. “Know it’s her birthday an’all but, fuck Daphne right now.” Harry laughed a little, reaching a hand out to her. “Come back in, s’bloomin’ cold out here.” She sighed and tipped her head back. “I don’t know, Harry. Think I should just go home.” She admitted, reaching through her bag for her phone. “Noo, really. Stay, please.” He shifted closer and grabbed her bag. “So Jodie won’t chop me up into a million pieces? Because she’s really scaring me.” He added and glanced back through the door to see Jodie staring at them through the glass. Y/N laughed and shook her head fondly at her friend, “She’s come a long way to get that intimidating,” and with a heavy sigh, “yeah, c’mon. it is cold.” Before she could take a step towards the door, Harry stopped her. “We will, talk later, y’know,” He assured, swallowing thickly as he ran a hand through his hair; a poor attempt to retain his newly set boundaries, he thinks. “Later?” She repeated, her brows knitted together. “Yeah, later, s’alot to say, wouldn’t you agree?” He grumbled, something of a curse was all she could make out, yet seemingly annoyed with himself. “I-I do…” She mumbled, even more uneasy than before somehow. “Plus, we’d better head in before the Birthday Girl gets drunk before we do.” He added and Y/N laughed, still uneasy but shrugged it off all the same. “Later works with me, yeah.”

[part i.] [part ii.]

(a/n: WOW its here, and dont even let me BEGIN on tumblr’s mobile editing format bc it SUCKS!! anyway! sorry again for the long wait, and i hope your patience is rewarded with the third part!!! xxx as always, feedback and comments are always appreciated!)

[lxrd-ren]

OK but christ now that I've thought about it more, there is a lot of shit happening at the same time rn

● Maxo (The code infection on his leg + his nightmares about the codes. The fact that he hasn't shown up in a hot minute concerns me ngl)

● Luzu's computers (There's like 6 or 8 that's been discovered on the island as of now. Still don't know what their deal is but they've just been kind of sitting there for a week or two. But the fact that the code showed up when Fit and Aypierre tried to investigate I think is a kind of hint towards this being very important)

● Eggs (Both how they turned up cracked, dirty, tired and slight amnesia + how they all disappeared the next day and left their accessories on their beds + we still don't know ANYTHING about it) This one is probably taking the most toll on the islanders. (cough cough BBH literally fading away all whilst going through of 5 stages of grief cough cough Forever might have tried to destroy the whole island) Without their kids and no clue on how to get them back, the islands in a kind of depressive / hopeless state at the minute

● Missing Furniture (The hidden messages behind it were uncovered but we still don't know the full extent of it. For example, we don't know who / what did it)

● Waystones (As the audience, we know Aypierre did kinda do this. But, as far as the majority of the islanders know, its still a mystery. Fortunately, people like Cellbit and Antoine are catching on)

● 'Missing People' (It really wouldn't be Quesadilla Island without the weekly kidnapping /hj. As far as we know, both Mike and Baghera are M.I.A. Mike was 100% kidnapped and the islanders are somewhat aware of what happened. For Baghera, the last thing we know is that she uncovered her past alongside 'There's no escaping this time'. And then there are the long-term disappearances, such as Mr Mustard and Walter Bob. We're slowly but surely discovering clues about them two but who knows if they're even still alive)

● Code (As we saw yesterday, the code is still active and will still attack. Without the eggs, they are less of a threat atm. On the bright side, nothing major seems to have happened with them since Etoiles' fight with them)

● They're fucking drugging them (Forever disappeared for a day and came back with white clothes, a big ass all-might smile and meds from Cucurocho itself. As long as Forever takes the drugs, he seems happy-go-lucky and basicly is living in this warped reality of the island where everything is 'perfect' for him. That is until he hears the ticking; then he'll become violent and scream for the ticking to stop. He'll eventually take the meds again, and go back to that artificial happiness. The islanders have made the majority aware of the situation and are trying their best to investigate. However, it seems Forever wants everybody to be happy like him, which is really fucking bad. Already Pac is 'receiving treatment' in an attempt to try and make an antidote for the meds; we'll see the results of that today. Even more concerning, Forever has enlisted Tina to make a list of all those that want treatment. PLUS, Forever wants to talk to Jaiden specifically to give her something and they've already agreed to meet up today at some point. Considering the last couple times Forever wanted to 'talk' with someone it ended up either Forever pulling a gun on them or trying to kill them with mines, well, o7 Jaiden)

● The Whole Quackity Situation (We still are in the dark about what exactly happened but as far as we know, the federation messed with Quackitys memories. They fucked him up so bad the guy forgot how to read and write. Again, he hasn't been seen in a hot minute but is likely due to unrelated irl stuff)

● Jaiden (Recently we learnt about Jaidens ties to the federation and it is concerning to say the least. I haven't been fully caught up on it regarding the conversation last night, but she is definitely important in the grand scheme of things)

● And finally, something may or may not happen on the 16th, so just kinda bare that in mind

I still don't think that's everything 🤣 I freaking love this server

[teecupangel]

An idea I have but don't want to write - Minerva sees Desmond sacrifice himself and feeling somewhat guilty, she broadcasts who desmond is and what he has done into the minds of every human on earth - in doing so also spilling the beans on the Isu and the Juno, and also assassins and Templars. Every single human being now knows that Desmond Miles died to save the world. A stereo is panicking. The assassins are freaking out. JUNO is freaking out. Religions are freaking out. And also new ones featuring Desmond start being made.

Minerva just going:

I get it. I have a lot of ideas I don’t wanna write too. We write what we want and what makes us happy. Sometimes, the ideas we have are just ‘hey, you know what would be awesome/fucked up’ but at the same time we’re like ‘hhhmm… yeah.. not gonna write that…’ Sometimes, ideas just remain ideas in the end and that’s okay.

Okay, but on a more serious note, this has soooo many things that could go wrong. Like, Minerva’s pretty much going “fuck it, I’m already dead by this point, it’s no longer my problem!” and screwed up everybody in the process.

Let’s not even focus on Desmond yet.

By blowing the lid on what the Isus were, Minerva had effectively hit a deadly blow to every religious organization in the world. Not only that, the scientific world would be scrambling as everything they know to be true about the world must be scrutinized now that they know that there was an ancient civilization before them.

Then there are those drenched in power and those who desire power.

Politicians, terrorists, CEOs of corporations that control the world, etc…

They would be scrambling to get ahold of these POEs because they would be a source of power that they do not have but crave.

And now we get to the shit that comes to light because of Desmond…

The Templars and Assassins.

The Templars have it harder. Soooo much harder.

They’re Abstergo. Their deeds have been broadcast which included Desmond’s abduction, forcing him to relive his ancestors’ life, toying with his feelings using Lucy Stillman and…

Oh yeah.

The Great Purge gets uncovered too because Desmond hears about it and there are journalists and conspiracy theorists that smelled blood in the water and they’re definitely eating everything they can.

The Assassins are panicking but they’re fine, all things considered. They’re used to hiding. Rebecca, Shaun, and Bill are the only ones whose faces everyone knows right now (also Desmond’s mom, I guess?). But the rest can still stay in the shadow.

And now…

The world is shifting.

Religions featuring Desmond as a messiah and even a god (the one true god, the god of humans, not the false gods of the Isus) are popping up and they’re making things... actually easier for the Assassins.

Because they all have the same thing in common.

They wear white hoods.

Some wear hoodies.

Others go for the whole white robes that are pretty much monk robes.

So now the Assassins have an easy way to blend in.

It’s like they’re retreading the path walked by the Levantine Brotherhood during the Third Crusades.

But this time, it is the cults and religions worshipping Desmond Miles that are sweeping the world.

Shaun, Rebecca, and Bill knew that Desmond would have hated this.

He had sacrificed himself so that the world would not treat him as a god.

So that his deeds and words wouldn’t be twisted into fanaticism.

But, in the end, that was what was happening.

The religion and cults are joining together, creating a large religious organization that places Desmond as the one true god (although some say that he is a human turned god, others say he is a reincarnated god). Altaïr, Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton are even getting added to the 'doctrines', being called prophets and saints. Some sect even consider them Desmond the god taken human form. Haytham, if he is even added, is more divisive with many sects calling him a false Prophet while others call him a Fallen Prophet.

This religious organization marks every other religion as worshipping false gods and it doesn’t help that Juno has shown herself, protected by her own cult or whatever bullshit those nutbags call themselves (the Instruments of the First Bitch or whatever). Juno is showing a very bad image of the old gods and that’s only making everything so much worse.

And that is how…

The Holy Wars begin anew.

[altrodent]

Sundress

Pairing: Abner Krill x reader

Genre/Warnings: Fluff, slight NSFW, little make-outish, friends with benefits, lots of flirting from other characters (besides Abner), PDA (Public Display of Affection)

Summary: Abner was living a totally “normal” life… until he saw his best friend in a sundress. ❤️‍🔥

(PS: does this photo look small out of editing (like when it’s posted) or is it just me??)

It was a rare occasion that The Suicide Squad would get to go on a badass mission to save the world. This wasn’t the first time, but the last mission of just tracking a small drug cartel wasn’t as fun as your current mission.

“Operation: Sun n’ Gun” Waller announced, the current mission list consisted of Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Ratcatcher 2, King Shark, Rick Flag, Polkadot man, and you! This was your first mission with everyone, except for Polka-dot man. As amazing as it was, you two had actually grown more together in prison, seeing as he was the only one able to get you to come out of hiding.

“Question-“ “No questions until I say so, Christopher. Your mission is to uncover a cult that plans on summoning some sort of Kathulu like demon from the ocean. As ridiculous as that sounds, I’m sure you’ve seen the human-sized weasel, so don’t think about the demon too much. Any questions?” Chris raises his hand, Waller ignores him and calls on Bloodsport, “How the hell are we gonna blend in, in a place like that?” He makes hand gestures towards himself, with the way everyone is dressed, he has a point. “We have that covered, and if we don’t have any more questions, we can get you all suited up and dropped down there.” She turns off the projector as we all make our way to a room, with in which eight people stand, each with a costume bag. They’re a thick white material so you don’t see what’s underneath “Jesus, do we really need to dress up?” Bloodsport groans, Waller taps your shoulder to give you the signal to let her through “It’s necessary if you don’t want me to eradicate you. Now, they will hand you the outfit, then your will get changed and head straight to the drop ship. Are we clear?” She eyes everyone, her eyes landing on your “You will need extra time, seeing as you will be distractor number one, understand?” Your brows furrow “Distra- what do you mean?” She sighs, “talk and walk, I’ll discuss it with you while you change. The rest of you, hurry up, and get dressed out.”

“So what’s this about me being distractor number one?” You step into a small dressing room, closing the curtain behind you. “As shocking as it may seem, the cult leader is obsessed with women, and with various amounts of research into his ‘type’ I felt as if you were the best candidate.” You open the bag “Is this a dress?” She leans against the changing room “I asked most of my men what they think women on the beach look most attractive in, and while I expected them to say ‘Skimpy Bikini’s’ or even nothing at all, the majority said Sundresses. Strange, but they know what would happen if they were to lie to me, so I trust their responses.” You exhale, loud enough for Waller to hear “I’ve done some fucked shit, but this is probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever done... or wore.” You turn it around looking at it from every angle, it isn’t even on you and you’re already concerned. “Look if anything happens, everyone else will be there to help… especially Abner Krill, he seems to have taken a liking to you.” You laugh a little bit “Feelings mutual.” You mumble to yourself, biting the inside of your lip just thinking about him, he’s cute, quiet, and as thrilling as you could ever imagine. He would sneak off and find you during free time, and if he feels like it, maybe gets a little touchy. But after two arms through the sleeves, the sundress is on “holy shit…” you step out, the only person left, looking more than perfect. You could almost see a slight smile forming at the corners of Wallers mouth “You’re ready. Hurry up and get on the drop ship. You have work to do.” You nod and quickly hurry to the ship. It’s fitting in all the right places, short in the most flattering way, and god damn you had to admit you looked hot.

“Woah.” “Holy shit!” “What happened to you?” You hop onto the drop-ship, everyone inside staring, even Colonel Flag of all people. Your face turns red from embarrassment, but there’s just something you can’t seem to not notice. Krill is sitting there, just looking at you. While he normally smiles once you spot him and then look away awkwardly, he is just staring. From shoulders, to thighs, he just can’t seem to get enough. You sit next to Abner, his eyes still scanning over your body. Cleo, Harley, and even King Shark still spewing compliments, “You look very nice in the dress!” “You’re so hot, OMG! We could be like- twins!” “PRETTY FLOWERS”, and you delivering them back. Peacemaker making inappropriate remarks, while Bloodsport just makes quick peaks with undeterminable facial expressions. You still turn back and see Abner, not looking at you. You gently graze your fingers over his hand, “Hey, you doing okay?” His head shoots up, as he was recovering from his daze. “Uh- yeah-“ he gazes finally meets yours and he offers you a soft smile. Peacemaker laughs way too loudly “He totally wants to bang!” Abner looks away, ashamed “Don’t worry Polka-man, I would too, trust me-“ you shoot Chris the most painful daggers, “What? It’s a compliment, ever heard em?” You grimace “Chris, I will shove this umbrella so far up your ass, I swear” Flag stammers into the conversation, “I will say you look very nice.” You smile, “Thank You, Colonel Flag.” He smiles back, Chris pouting in his seat.

The drop-ship lands and quickly lets you all off. “So we just have to stay on the beach all night and wait for the cult to arrive?” Flag asks Waller, “Yes, and remember if you deviate-“ “We lose our heads…” you all say in unison. “Well, we get to have a fun day in the sun before we uncover a cult.” Flag says, grabbing some of the luggage. “Did Waller provide these?” Cleo asks, “Nope, I just don’t want to be bored for however the hell long the cult takes.” Bloodsport and King Shark grab the rest of the stuff before everyone else goes ahead. “After you” Flag winks at you, you blush. You go ahead and catch up with Abner “Hey” he smiles at you, biting the inside of his lip. You lean your head against his shoulder “Hey, you feeling better?” He nods “Yeah, sorry… it’s just rare to see you out of orange. You look…” you can hear his breath hitch as he tries to avoid looking at you. “Stunning.” He says trying to hide an oncoming smile. Getting a random burst of confidence, you shoot back “Well you can look at me as much as you want before the mission really starts” you can hear Cleo “oooh” to her rat, Sebastian. He mumbles, “I’d like to do more than look.” You genuinely didn’t hear what he said, but it couldn’t have been that important… right?

After about 30 minutes of walking through the jungle, you reach the beach and set up. Immediately, you realize the only fault of the disguise… you can’t swim. There wasn’t a bathing suit or anything in there, so unless you want to strip, you can’t get in the beautiful, clear water. You pout, laying on your beach towel. Although you wouldn’t really care just swimming in your undergarments, Chris had to be creepy and say ‘he wouldn’t mind seeing that’, which earned him a slap across the face. After a minute of pouting someone sits next to you, casting a light shadow on you. You look up to see him, “Abner, you don’t have to stay up here. Go, swim and have fun.” He leans back on his hands “They’re doing their own thing. Besides, I don’t want you to be lonely.” You smile, as you sit up be at his eye-level. And with a burst of, what can only be assumed as lust, Abner’s hand quickly reaches to yours, and his hands wander mindlessly. “Abner-“ his face leans in close to yours “yes?” His breath clashing with your own, his hand finding its way to your thigh. “What about the others?” His lips inching towards yours “I don’t give a shit what they do anymore.” His open hand reaches for your face as his lips clash with yours, and you’re down for the count. Your lips melt into his, and his hand that was placed on your thigh makes its way up to your waist. He earns a pleased moan from you that echos between your mouths. You can’t hear the others whispers over the sounds of the waves, but like Abner said, you don’t give a shit what they do anymore. Your back reaches the towel and Abner quickly starts to slightly hover over you. Once he pulls away, he starts leaving kisses around your jaw and neck. He loves the way your legs squirm when he touches the right spots. Your arms slowly work their way up his caging arms. “Abner…” he hums as his lips make their way down your arm and to your thigh. Your arms retract to hide your blush ridden face, his lips slowly growing closer and closer to the inside of your sundress. Hands wandering, heat rising, situation escalating. He pulls away before he goes too far, and holds your head in his hands “If I see any of them looking at you the way only I’m supposed to, I’ll do something rash.” He says calmly. “I won’t let them.” You both slowly sit up, as he gently moves you to his lap. “You’ve been praising me this whole time Krill, and I haven’t gotten a chance to do the same for you.” You pout, he leans his forehead against his “Don’t worry about it, love. I like seeing you in this… and in this way.” His almost liquor laced words keep making you want to come back for more, but you have to resist as much as you don’t want to. “Yes, but I like seeing you like this too. I’ve never seen you in just shorts before… I must admit, it’s much better seeing you this close.” You tease, he smiles shyly. “Maybe after this mission, if Waller lets us go… we could have our own beach date?” You cup his face in your hands, “Abner Krill, are you asking me out on a date?” He averts his gaze, as if he didn’t just ravish you on the beach in front of others. “W-well, I mean if-“ you bring a finger to his lips “I’m just teasing, Abs, I would love to go on a date with you.” His gaze returned to you, seemingly melting with love. “Words can’t describe how much I cherish you, love.”

You lean in before someone touches your shoulder “Sorry, Krill, but the Cult leader arrived, and we need your lover girl to go for him.” He pouts, as Flag helps you up. “I’ll be safe, Abner. I have You after all” You send him a smile before straightening the dress out.

“So, I just go over there, hope he’s seduced by me and get intel?” Flag nods “yep.” You give him a confused look “But why me, and not Harley or Cleo?” He straightens his posture “Well, out of all of us, you’re exactly his type. And if I may say, you do look very nice, so it should work.” You grimace “I don’t even wanna know how you figured out his ‘type’ of woman.” He seethes “You really don’t but, you’re ready just walk past him.” You fix your hair, puff out your sundress, and you saunter your way past him. He isn’t attractive, to say the least. Hell, you probably would’ve gotten with TDK before him. He’s scrawny, but has some muscles. Hair is probably the best feature, but has a hideous open scar on his face. You don’t stare too long, but as soon as you look away, he whistles “Hey there, Pretty Kitty, c’mere!” You walk over to him, and he’s basically foaming at the mouth when you walk up to him. “Well, what brings a pretty thing like you to this here beach?” You fake giggle “I just like the way the sun feels on my skin… why, should I be here for something else?” He leans in closer to you, as if he wasn’t a tiny bit terrifying to begin with he was humongous, at least 6’11. “Why don’t you come sit with me, I want to get to know you better” he holds out a hand for you to take, the pungent smell of old beer on his tongue. You take his hand, scared to see what he might do next “I’d like that.” He smiles “Good girl.” You want to barf, if anyone was going to call you that it’d be Abner… but we’re not gonna talk about that. He guides you to sit on his lap “Don’t be shy, now, baby. I won’t bite… unless you want me to.” His tongue, abnormally reptile shaped, you begin to wonder if he’s even human himself. Still, you keep up the act, giggling and blushing at his creepily “flirty” passes. “Take me out to dinner first” you drape your arms around his shoulders, “I can do a lot of things on a first date, baby.” He winks at you. Barf, gross, Ew, no, thank you. “Oh really… could you show me?” He smiles with an evil grin “I’d show you but we’d have to go somewhere more discreet.” You sigh, luckily your radio is on, so flag understands his signal. “What would you show me?” He leans in close to your ear, his hot breath tingling the peach fuzz on your face, all you can think about right now is Abner, how you want him to save you from this god awful mission “Whatever you want me to show you.” You lean into him, trying not to break character “Oh, my…” he chuckles before standing up with you still in his arms. He makes his way to the forest before he gets shot down by Bloodsport… and Chris too. The screams of other beach visitors echoing in the air, the beach eventually being fully cleared. He looks up at me with some of his final breath, “You fucking- you set me up whore!” You take one of his nearby beer bottles and break it on his head “I did, and you enjoyed it too!” You take the rest of the bottle and stab it through his chest. “Fuck! That guy sucks!” Quickly you’re scooped into a pair of arms, arms extremely familiar. “I’m so glad you’re safe. He didn’t hurt you right?” Abner checks your face for wounds “I’m okay, Abbie, I’m okay.” He holds you for a second before looking behind you in horror “What’s wrong-?” You’re cut off by the distant sound of chanting and eventually a giants roar. “No fucking way-“

“Are you kidding me?!” Everyone groans “I thought they needed their leader??” You drag your face with your hands before Waller comes back on the comms “Apparently, what you just did, is make their leader the sacrifice. I was hoping the sacrifice was just going to be our lovely Agent here, but whatever. Kill the demon and the cult members.” You’re furious “I’m sorry, re-fucking-peat what you just said?” Cleo gasps “She was trying to sacrifice you!” You turn to Flag “Did you know about this?!” He puts his hands up “I swear to god, I didn’t, you know that!” You huff “I don’t give a shit, I’m killing all of them, and when I am done, you better pray to whatever gods you all believe in that I don’t come back and kill the rest of you.” You argue, walking away… before quickly coming back “Okay, maybe not by myself, but- just come on!”

Operation: Sun n’ Gun: Successful!

Flying back to the prison, ready to be released was the best feeling. Well besides laying on Abner, and him being the most comfortable thing in your life. After your releasing, you did go on the beach date. It was quiet, empty, and most importantly; romantic. Now it was just you two against the world, and you both loved every minute of it.

~

(A/N): I’ve been meaning to write him for a hot minute, and with the sundress season coming up I couldn’t get him and his slutty man face out of my head 🤭 Anywaysssss… I hope you enjoyed! 🩷

[kingprinceleo]

Please tell us more about Shadow and Rouge , Shadow and Knuckles, or the trio itself pls I’m begging 🧎🧎🧎🧎

!!! Ok uhh

They're fun I love them I need to do more stuff with them 😰

Knuckles and rouge have known each other for years before shadow appeared, knuckles used to offer his own blood to rouge so she wouldn't get into trouble with GUN for stealing or attacking people. Once rouge finds Sol it becomes way less common, since rouge can easily access food through their markets, but she still teases him about biting him bc she finds it funny.

Knuckles is a farm boy out in the Wild Zones! (Angel Island is one main island with 7 smaller ones branching off, 3 of them belonging to GUN, and the other 4 being untouched, the Wild Zones)

He's got a pickup truck 😎, growing food for himself and to supply his (pizza) food truck with fresh ingredients. In his free time he likes to treasure hunt around Angel Island, trying to piece together echidna tribe artifacts and other remnants of an older society before their modern time. Rouge likes to tag along sometimes and "help", stealing his shit >:/

She knows the echidna stuff is very personal to him tho, so she'll leave those pieces alone, everything else? She tries to snatch for either herself or to sell off to her black market dealers. They have a knack for knowing all the gemstone hotspots on the islands, they've been around for a long time, so rouge keeps contact with them regularly.

Things get shaken up pretty fast when they find shadow tho, a bloodied ball curled up in knuckles field, running on pure adrenaline and prey animal fear. Knuckles is the one primarily trying to deal with him while rouge just watches fjfjfnfn. Shadows pretty fucked up with some teeth growing over each other, claws out of control, and knuckles has to tussle with...All of that as he tries not to get his face ripped off

Shadow eventually gets taken care of and the next few days are knuckles just trying to understand what's going on, but shadow won't speak a word. Rouge decided to go digging for anything about him, and finds out that GUN is looking for him. And since rouge is already off the grid and doesn't exist to them, they decide it would be best for shadow to go stay with rouge rather than knuckles (neither rouge or shadow are a fan of this)

Rouge brushes him off a lot at first ! Doesn't care if he runs off on his own, not her problem. But eventually he starts growing on her, especially when he proves to be incredibly useful when she's stealing from GUN. That's how she starts bonding with him fjfjfnfn and it's something they regularly do for years, even while rouge is working within GUN as a supervisor for the chaotix.

At one point she finds shadows inhibitors and uncovers more about it through old documents and scans, and she lightens up on him a bit. Once he has his inhibitors back he slowly starts working up to talking again, and the blackouts he used to have stop entirely. Then rouge realizes he's the Biggest Bitch in the West <3 now being able to sling insults at each other like a full time job

But mostly things carry on pretty smoothly! Shadow used to have an extremely violent reaction to vampires even being mentioned, so rouge has never told him that she's one herself. And it's been so long that shadow just thinks all of her bat and vampire themed decor is just normal fnfjfnfjjrj.

Present day shadows out and about during the night, sleeping during the day bc he's got paranoia about being vulnerable. He n rouge still regularly loot from GUN for chaos drives and other valuables and shadow helps with the black market things on the occasion. Rouge has Tried to dissuade shadows obsession with wearing silver but he never listens </3. rouge would consider shadow a friend, but he views it more like a teammate situation, he's not a friend guy

And with knuckles! He would frequently come by to check on shadows wellbeing, maybe wrestle with him a bit for the enrichment and getting shadows energy out. Eventually knuckles offers shadow a job to work with him on the food truck and on the farm, which shadow accepts since he's really got nothing better to do on this island and needs money eventually and that's their main thing, being coworkers. Knuckles at one point gets shadow a sick ass hover motorcycle since shadow can't buy anything big under his own name. And shadows an incredible worker, his perfectionism being both a gift and a flaw.

All 3 of them hanging out present day would likely be rouge dragging shadow to knuckles house after a heist where they can just unwind and watch something together

Or knuckles and shadow sparring in the field, which rouge insists she's above getting her hands dirty for fun, until they bait her into the fight by starting an argument

And probably other little things I need to think about more !!

But uhh one last thing I think, rouge and knuckles are both fiercely protective of shadow, it won't pop up often, but if something is wrong theyll both always be the first to be there

Like when shadow n Hoax make their blood deal, rouge won't actively intervene unless something bad happens, she's trusts shadow can handle himself. But she would bludgeon Hoaxs head in if she found out he did something horrible to shadow

Knuckles . Didn't wait for an answer. Fjfjfnfn literally the first time he sees Hoax after learning about the blood deal it is On Sight, which is how knuckles is the first to learn who Hoax is!!!! He punches him so fucking hard he turns back into Sonic 🤭

uh !!!!! Oops that is a little long, they are just so silly to me, hope u got what u were looking for !!! Dnhfjfnfjf

[afewproblems]

Lost and Lonely, Just Like Heaven (Part Three)

You can find Part One and Part Two with these links, sorry for the wait everyone! I hope you enjoy!

"That, that happened right?" Steve whispers, he swallows roughly and brings a shaking hand into his hair as Robin nods rapidly beside him.

"Yeah! I say again, what the fuck?" She whirls around on him with fast hands that catch him in the chest, "you have a ghost?? Why didn't you say anything??

It's Steve's turn to glare this time, he cocks his eyebrow at an irritated angle and bats her hands away, "I didn't think you'd believe me, but also," he brings his arms around himself tightly, "this is the first time it's happened anywhere else but my place".

"Okay," Robin says eventually, she's got her nose pinched between two fingers and won't look at him, "setting aside the implications this ghost has on several levels, like religious and scientific and all that shit," she waves her hand as though coaxing each point closer towards her chest, "shouldn't we tell someone?"

"Like who?" Steve sighs, letting his shoulders drop slightly. Something like this, so farfetched and impossible after everything they’ve suffered from. They have uncovered some small moment of normalcy with recovery and how could Steve take that away from all of them? 

This was his problem to deal with, this slow spiral towards insanity. 

Or well, it had been until Robin's presence revealed he in fact was still as sane as the rest of them.

He shrugs listlessly at her, "Besides, who would even believe this?" 

Robin levels him with an unimpressed glare. 

"Who do you think?" 

***

The sun hangs low in the sky, bathing the street in soft copper light as Robin locks the doors behind them, her number eight pool ball Keychain clinks against her house key as she stuffs them back into her hoodie pocket. 

"Keith is going to flip," Steve says with a smile as he walks around to the driver's side of his car, he lets his gaze fall on the empty Family Video one last time before opening the car door. The lights flicker just once inside as he eases into the cool leather seats, he ignores the mop of brown curls and wide brown eyes that meet his gaze from the rearview mirror. 

Robin slides into the passenger side and flings the door closed behind her, she tosses her backpack once more into the back seat and somehow, the fact that Robin doesn’t register how her bag passes smoothly through Eddie leaves Steve feeling slightly hysterical. 

He shakes his head and twists the key into the ignition. 

“I don’t know why you think he’ll talk to me Rob,” Steve murmurs as they pulls out onto the road, the lack of traffic in the area would have been strange just a few months ago, but it's become the new norm in the wake of the earthquakes and sinkholes that opened up deep caverns throughout their town. 

“He has to eventually, and this is as good a reason as any,” Robin says sharply, she drums her fingers against her glove compartment without looking at him, “it's probably the best way to get you two talking again, maybe Eddie’s onto something?” 

Steve’s eyes flick to the rearview mirror again, Eddie’s gone. 

“Maybe,” he sighs as they turn down Woodrow street, the rows and rows of identical houses seem to blur as they pass.

It's quiet as Steve pulls up across the street from the familiar house, he breathes out slowly as Robin unlatches her seatbelt and turns to him.

"Hey," Robin says softly, drawing his eyes away from the white knuckle grip he has on the wheel, "it's going to be fine, what's the worst he could say that he hasn't already?" 

Robin winces as she says it. 

It's true though, their fight, if you could even call it that - it mostly consisted of Steve silently standing there while Dustin screamed at him, left Steve cold and alone while Dustin took off on his bike, away from the hospital. 

He'd been avoiding Steve ever since.

And Steve had asked after him, hoping for even the smallest crumb of information to make sure Dustin was okay. 

The rest of the kids assured Steve that Dustin was fine, even Mike rolled his eyes after the fifth question and told Steve to, 'relax' and that Dustin would get over it eventually. 

"He can't hate you forever man," Mike said, his voice uncharacteristically solemn as they took their turn keeping vigil over Max's still form. 

But that had been weeks ago, and Mike hadn't been there in the end, how could he really say with such certainty that Dustin would come around eventually? 

It's not like Steve was anything to these kids but the part time babysitter, he wasn't related to them, he wasn't dating Nancy anymore, and he wasn't in school with them. 

Steve orbited their party, their little family, always operating just outside, just out of reach.

And that fact had never been clearer than the day that Dustin had told him to go to hell.

Steve sighs and rolls his eyes after a beat, "Anyone ever tell you, you’re amazing at the whole comfort thing?" 

"Shut up," Robin breathes out as she opens the passenger door and climbs out. 

They make their way up the driveway, past Mrs. Henderson's 62 Ford, and up to the steps before Steve hesitates.

He clenches his hands again and again, staring at the doorbell. He can do this, all he has to do is press the bell. Just extend his arm, a simple motion, so so simple, but his arms feel as though they have been tied to the concrete and the ropes are beginning to creep over his legs and feet.

Robin clears her throat and tilts forward on the balls of her feet, she leans into his space and lingers at his shoulder, "is this some kind of weird space wizard trick from those movies you idiots love? Are you going to will the door open?"

"Ya know--"

The words die in his throat as the door swings open a fraction.

The shadow from the dark foyer does nothing to hide the glare that paints Dustin's face, it looks so out of place from his normal cheerful demeanor. Steve wants nothing more than to hear Dustin smile while going on and on about his 'pearls', but his mouth remains twisted in an angry grimace.

He looks tired, purple bags have affixed themselves below his normally bright eyes, and his curls hang lank and limp across his face. He doesn’t have his hat today…in fact, if Steve thinks about it, he hasn’t had his hat since--

"What are you doing here?" 

The words come out in a growl, Dustin’s hand remains on the door, ready to slam it shut at any time. 

Steve's mouth opens and closes, oh god, where does he even begin. This is not how he thought he'd be mending this fence but here they are. 

"I uh," he whispers, the words catch in his throat

Robin sighs and steps forward, just ahead of Steve, "Look, I get that you're mad dude, but we have a big problem”.

Dustin’s glare moves from Steve to Robin, he opens his mouth to say something else when another voice calls out from farther inside.

“Dusty, who’s at the door?”

Dustin inches the door away from him so it’s nearly closed once more, “No one mom--”

“Oh honestly Dustin, it must not be ‘no one’ if you-- oh!” Claudia Henderson appears just behind her son as she gently swings the door open all the way; she has her floral apron on and her blond curls are slightly in disarray as she swats at Dustin with the spatula still clasped in her hand.

 “Steven, and…Robin is it?” Claudia flips on the porch light which buzzes just above them and bathes the steps in a warm yellow glow, Robin nods beside him and throws a lopsided grin at Mrs. Henderson, “well aren’t you two a sight for sore eyes, come on in, Dustin - don’t be so rude!”

“Mom--”

“I’m just making dinner, have you two eaten yet? Feel free to join us if you’d like,” Claudia calls over her shoulder as she turns and sweeps away from the foyer and back into the kitchen entryway. 

Robin steps over the threshold, past Dustin who remains immovable inside the door frame, she turns back to Steve and tilts her head questioningly, you coming or what, she mouths at him silently.

Steve hesitates, his eyes fixed on Dustin who is scowling at Steve, but he slowly walks past him to follow Robin through the entryway and into the cozy living room.

The Henderson home is all soft textures and warm wood, a knit striped blanket is folded neatly on the back of a plush white rocking chair, while bold striped cushions populate the brown couch against the large front window.There are even more books on the shelves along the back wall than before and a new loud geometric wallpaper has sprouted up in the hall connecting the kitchen to the living room. The lace curtains have been drawn but for a small gap in the very center, ah, so that’s how Dusitn had known they were there. 

“You guys uh, did some redecorating huh?” Steve manages, his voice slightly louder to reach Mrs. Henderson in the kitchen.

“Oh yes, thank you so much for noticing Steven, such a dear,” she calls out over the sound of clanging pots and running water, “dinner will just be a second if you kids want to make yourselves home in the living room, I just need to get these pans soaking”.

Robin perches herself on the rocking chair while Dustin sinks down onto the couch after a beat, Steve remains standing close to the glass coffee table, he won’t allow himself to sit, it's too soon.

“So…here’s the thing,” Robin says slowly, carefully, “and I’m going to need you to let me get through this before you interrupt”.

Dustin’s face remains pointed at the carpet, his arms curl up around himself as Robin speaks. Steve hates it, hates that this kid who has always been so unapologetically loud and happy seems so small now. 

He did that. 

“Just get to the point,” Dustin grinds out sharply, cutting off Robin’s babble and dropping the room in a brief but stilted silence. Steve sighs and swipes his hand through his hair, he steps forward, ready to explain but Robin beats him to it.

“Steve has a ghost, and we think it might be Eddie”.

“Get out,”

“No wait, listen--”

“No, you listen,” Dustin says lowly, his voice just barely above a whisper, “did you think this would work?”

Robin’s mouth shuts with an audible snap, her head swivels between Dustin, the kitchen entrance, and Steve, but words have seemingly failed her for the very first time as Dustin stands up and stalks towards where Steve is standing by the table. Steve still has a good six inches in height on Dustin but the fury that seems to course through his small frame hurts. 

He did that too.

If Dustin tried to hit him right now, he’d probably let him.

“Did you think that lying to me, telling me that Eddie was what,” Dustin snarls as he clenches his fists tightly, “back from the dead, would get me to talk to you again, to trust you? I'm not some stupid kid anymore".

Dustin shakes his head as his lips turn down into a frown that wobbles just slightly, fuck.

 “Get out of my house, get out of my life,” Dustin whispers before he turns on his heel and walks down the hallway towards the bedrooms. 

Steve swallows hard, the small ache in his chest that had been present since he carried Dustin out of the Upside Down sharpens and claws its way out. He blinks away the heat from his eyes and resists the urge to bring his hand up to pinch his nose. 

What the hell were they going to do now?

Robin stands up and makes her way to his side, she says something to Mrs. Henderson, he can’t quite make it out over the pounding in his ears, before herding Steve away from the living room and out the door.

It isn't until he's sat down in the driver's seat of the Beemer with Robin clicking on her seatbelt beside him that the tightness in his throat and chest begin to loosen. 

Steve's eyes flick to the rearview to meet the soft brown gaze once more, Eddie's pale face stares from the backseat, his brows pinch together in a soft somber frown. 

"S'not your fault Eddie," Steve whispers to the mirror, he feels Robin freeze beside him.

Robin reaches over to squeeze his shoulder briefly before slumping in her seat, "you know, it's not your fault either dingus," she whispers.

And that does it.

The brief hot sting behind his eyes that had dissipated since they left the Henderson's living room slams back into him, his throat closes up as he bites his lip hard enough for the tang of copper to seep into his mouth. 

He blinks rapidly and brings a shaky hand up from the steering wheel up to pinch into his eyes, it's not enough to hide the tears from Robin though. 

"Oh no, Steve, don't, come on," she tugs him over towards her into an awkward hug over the gearshift, "you know if you cry I'll cry and I finally got some decent mascara so I'll murder you if it goes to waste," she mumbles into his hair, her voice trembles just slightly as he presses into her warmth. 

"I'll buy you another one," he says wetly into her shoulder, which startles a bark of laughter out of her. 

They stay like that until the lean and the press of plastic and metal into Steve's ribs gets to be too much, until the last rays of copper light fade into blue as the sun finally sets behind the rows of houses and trees. 

But for now, Steve let's himself be held.

Tag list for those that requested!

@ajamlessbaby @eddiesbabe95 @memys-art-stuff

[gravesung]

quick and dirty bios for the unseen's inner circle (the sanctum)!

bc i just remembered sage and fletch are the only unseen creatures i actually have bios for.

*note — by default, these descriptions apply to the unseen as they are in shelter island. some details are subject to change based on verse. *note 2 — each member of the sanctum has a self-chosen tarot card that's left behind as a "calling card" at a particular job they claim responsibility for. in place of a stolen bounty, on top of a body, etc.

acheron ??? (he/him) — the poisoner

the emperor

dilf

calm, collected, honest but in a kind way. pretty emotionally intelligent.

as a rule, never pries into other people's business. lane = stayed in.

has a son who's in college rn! on good terms with his ex-wife.

ex-safecracker/bank robber

he makes poisons! has a little lab and everything

occasionally fletch will pull him out of retirement and make him go crack a safe. he complains about his knees

norah suman (she/her) — the engineer

the sun

lesbiab

has had a secret crush on seph for a couple years. designed her arms from the ground up, and the first point of contact when something goes wrong or seph needs a redesign/upgrade

dry humor, very blunt and often sarcastic

eyebrow piercing

habit of chopping off her hair when she's sad

makes the gadgets. makes explosives, modifies weapons, invents new shit, always thinking about new ways to do stuff. engineering as an art and a science at the same time.

also an up-and-coming tattoo artist!

orion aisa (he/they) — the forger

the moon

seph's twin brother

not a great fighter, hates using guns

eyepatch over his right eye. fletch took it when he and seph tried to escape as teenagers, along with ripping seph's arms off, which is a very normal and cool and chill reaction to have

trans lad. top surgery, took testosterone for a few years but then stopped. pretty satisfied with where he's at right now

excellent painter

suffers from hand tremors, though they fade when he paints

hector dionísio (he/him) — the muscle

the wheel of fortune

unpredictable and violent. unhinged.

will be having a drink with you and then at a hair-trigger provocation, he'll just turn around and start kicking the shit out of someone

scarily good fighter, way too fast for his muscular build

no one knows why fletch trusts him to be in the inner circle and not rat on them

unexpectedly very reliable as a teammate. he does his job very well

fixated on seph in a "constantly riling her so that she'll fight him whenever he wants" way

fixated on edith in a "why can't i land a hit on you. come here" way

pit fighter. so far undefeated

cody shimura (he/him) — the accountant

justice

the most guy ever

he's so tired.

retired hedge fund manager, went into crime because he did some digging, realized the finance industry was already in fletch's pocket anyway, and his ability to stealthily uncover those secrets impressed fletch enough to hire him on.

tries to be a plant dad but he keeps killing them

surprisingly well-trained with a gun

occasionally pulls out the most scathing one-liners in the quietest and calmest voice imaginable

sage / VECTOR (she/her) — the driver

the world

technomancer (arcane hacker)

pokemon superfan

harvard dropout

a pretty normal person, generally, probably the least traumatized out of the crew

can summon cars / motorcycles made of, essentially, compressed/hardened demon souls sourced straight from hell

also has normal, non-summonable cars / motorcycles that she likes to augment and fix up with norah's help

has a giant fluffy dog named Baby

fucking Maniac behind the wheel. the dog's name is a reference to baby driver for a reason.

if she knew about @tewwor's vector alias, she would make them matching shirts

edith winter (she/they) — the thief

the hermit

sneaky. quiet. wow shocker

fey changeling who's lived on earth their whole life, but is in contact with the human child they replaced

raised by wolves a gang, sort of collectively alongside her parents. it takes a village yaknow. they all had a hand in training her to be the insanely skilled thief she is — edith was probably the most valuable piece on their board, even at a young age

said gang was absorbed by the unseen and scattered across the world for resisting said absorption. one of edith's parents was killed in the conflict, the other was sent across the world but she doesn't know where

no one knows if they're bitter about it or not. they don't talk about it

acheron taught her how to crack safes

caro vitale / deadfall (he/him) — the fence

the hanged man

owner of the black stag, a bar and antique shop just at the northern edge of the city where metropolis meets highway meets forest.

can sell anything to anyone

no one knows a single thing about this man except for the fact that he's fluent in italian. he WILL lie if you ask him anything else. caro vitale is also not his real name

he got that thang on him (a club)

tattoos everywhere

ishal king (they/them) — the doctor

death

fae nephilim (an angel fucked an archfey and produced a very strange kid), exiled from the autumn court for death crimes before going into the human medical field as a surgeon.

nearly got arrested for experimenting with nephilim blood (their own, but whatever guys), faked their death, joined the unseen. now works happily and privately for fletch in their silly little lab.

mushroom garden

medicinal plant expert alongside their knowledge of modern medicine

ominous positivity

anah tannar (she/her) — the spy

the lovers, reversed

you know her! you love her! she's probably broken your heart!

local celebrity influencer

resident honeypot for any woman-attracted target

prefers to be flashy and stand out, but also insanely good at blending in and being invisible when need be

serial dater. never lets anyone too close, but loves to have a web of one-way connections to people who think they're her best friend or favorite ex, and/or owe her a favor (she has a book of debts)

a genuinely compassionate person underneath it all, she just leaned hard into her manipulative side after being used one too many times

persephone aisa (they/she) — the assassin

judgement

first lieutenant/right hand to amari fletch, and thus second-in-command to the unseen itself

sharpshooter, beat-upper, gunfighter, knife-swinger. if john wick can do it, so can they

cold, aggressive, hostile. deadly as fuck. if you follow this blog you probably came from hers so i won't go into too much detail SJDKHJKSD

amari fletch (they/he) — the leader

the tower (also the name they're publicly known by)

i swear they're not secretly thousands of years old i swearrrrr (yes they are) (they cheated death in a game of dice and bear the mark of cain for it)

think gus fring, netflix wilson fisk, silco — that type of person

spidery motherfucker, aka has connections eeeeverywhere. so many judges, cops, government officials in their pocket.

for the most part, fletch is satisfied with the world the way that it is. the unseen profits nicely, they have as much power as they need, and no one fucks with them (if they even know it exists)

if someone does fuck with him and his, however, he will not hesitate to make a violent and chaotic example of them for the rest of the world to see.

calm and levelheaded 99% of the time. 1% of the time, off-the-wall destructive

will take risks if they can see a benefit and the consequence of failure won't fuck up their plans.

extremely powerful in a fight (is not human) with enough raw strength to fully charge straight through a building wall by wall if they wanted to. but they don't. lmao

seph is their protegé (????) (i genuinely don't have a term for their relationship it's so fucked up and hard to describe), & they are very very possessive about it

[astrotoilet]

||My Guardian|| CHAPTER 2

// Cate Dunlap x Sam Riordan //

Episode 1 of the series: Cold thoughts by: Me

Freezer

Summary: Cate and Sam confront ice supe

WARNING: This story contains: Murder, detailed murder, swearing and torture.

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Cate stod in there watching how Sam's fists hardened and he stared at the ice supe. Freezer, in his way had his hands energized ready to attack at some point, he was breathing heavily as the seconds felt like hours.

The eye contact was intense

Then it was when Sam jumped at him trying to blow a fist but failed, breaking the ground, cate panicked and walked a few steps back, Freezer started then to shoot energy from his hands hurting Sam a lot.

"Sam!" She shout causing the supe to look at her and getting ready to attack the blonde girl, however Sam got up and made him turn around a punched him, it did almost nothing to him and freezer just laughed, Freezer only punched him, they we're beating the shit out of themselves until he ice blasted Sam weakening him.

However he still was strong enough to continue fighting him, it was a pretty violent fight with the supes bleeding.

Sam punched his neck, making him choke and the punched his balls, giving inmense pain to the supe.

The ice supe grabbed sam by his sides. Freezer then tossed him to the ground and started to charge an ice blast him with his hands.

Desperately she tried to find a way to mind-control him to make him stop but it was futile, he was completely covered and had no uncovered spots, ignoring her thoughts she went to him anyways trying to find one but then he turned back quickly and throwed her to the wall, then went to her and grabbed her other arm.

He was going to rip it off, to leave her armless, she started to scream in pure horror just by thinking losing her only normal arm left, just when Freezer was about to do it Sam returned to fight punching him very hard in the back, making him fall then punching his head making him dizzy, freezer did the same to Sam completely breaking his nose, then he also ripped some of his teeth,He also bruised one of his eyes. Sam managed to rip off a piece of the supe's jumpsuit on the arm along with a part of the long sleeved shirt he had underneath it, exposing a part of his skin.

It was when Cate saw the chance to control him. She charged at him and touched his arm.

"Get the fuck away, and go to sleep" she whispered near his head and he seemed to resist but ultimately fell to the ground.

"Gosh Sam are you okay?" Cate asked in pure fear as the guy was coughing blood and his nose formed a sea of blood next to his head.

She touched him a she quickly screeched and jumped back at the burning extremely cold feeling of his skin.

"Fucking god, Sam i need to take you to medical care as soon as possible"

"I-it's okay Cate, im g-good"

"No Sam you're probably dying""I can't lose my partner and basically my only friend"

Sam did very small and weak smile to her as she tried to get him up

"For fuck's sake, how im i supposed to get this fucking asshole to Vought tower when im helping Sam and the entire squad is fucking dead"

Then Cate remembered the vans where still outside and she could find someone outside to force them to drive to Vought.

Cate left the lab dragging Sam with her outside then going back inside to drag Freezer.

She seek for some to force to drive and ended up finding a guy that was just arriving for his security guard turn.

He felt something behind him and then Cate said "Drive the van" and the guy followed the order.

Then cate found herself on the van on her way to VoughtWith Sam half-Conscious and Freezer still asleep

During the road she thought about her feelings for Sam and she wasn't sure about what she wanted, she surely wanted him but she wasn't sure if she really wanted to go far but it might endanger them, her relationship would have to stay as a secret.

Their movie Flipped already created a fanbase and people where constantly shipping them, and spreading missinformation online about them dating. However, what if the fans knew that all they said was true?.....

Cate started to caress his shoulders and his eyes weakly widened

"It's okay Sam, it's over"

"It's over?"

'Yeah, we're fine, we got him"

Sam looked calmed and close his eyes again.

She felt terrible after seeing what happened to him but was glad she was able to save him from the ice supe, she felt a massive need of kiss him right now but she didn't wanted, she was scared of how will he react.

She was at least safe that they we're fine and the mission succesed as Homelander would probably kill them for failing it but they got it and she felt calm for it.

She then looked at Freezer and suddendly he woke up a started to breath quickly.

Cate on inmene panick touched him again to control him "Sleep now, fucking sleep!" The ice man the fell asleep again.

"Oh my god, oh my god"

When the van arrived in a alley a bit near to Vought tower she left holding Freezer's body along with Sam who was now enough recovered to help her, they entered earning surprised and shocked gazes from the people inside, but they didn't cared about them, when they arrived to The Seven's meeting room via elevator most of the seven where surprised by how they looked, but mostly by the supe they brought into here.

Homelander looked at them then he turned his gaze on the supe that was on the ground.

"Sir, the whole squad was killed by this guy, so that's why they d-"

"I don't care about them, i care about him"

he said looking at Freezer.

"Get him to the table and get ready, we're going to interrogate this guy" Homelander said

Then Firecracker and the Deep moved him into Homelander's chair, Sam and Black noir ready ti neutralize him if needed, Homelander and Sister sage where going to ask the questions and Cate would force him to answer if he refused.

A-train was also gonna stop him if he tried to run away.

Firecracker took off his mask and helmet, revealing his face, the put them on the table leaving him without his two more effective protective equippment

After an hour he finally woke up and his eyed widened when he noticed that The Seven and The Guardians of Godolkin where in front of him.

Cate the noticed his pupils shere kinda red and and had spiked hair

"What am i doing here?" He asked

"Why did you brought me in here"

"I think you know a few things we would love to hear, things maybe we should know, so you know what you have to do" Homelander said

"What are you talking about?"

"The secrets of the lab you came from"

"The lab?, and why the fuck are you interesed in hearing what happened in that place?, it's not your business, and also is something you probably would not handle" Freezer answered showing no fear to him.

"Do it now, otherwise i'll laser you in half" homelander said his eyes getting red

"Okay...i'll do it, but not for your dumb threats, because i wanna see all of you shit on your pants"

Homelanders's eyes returned to their normal look and freezer got ready to talk.

"The scientists of the lab where working on a virus, a virus that is capable of killing supes, it only affect supes humans are not affected by it, and they already have a lot of the substance with them"

Cate's eyes showed fear at the word "virus" remembering all the things that happened on The Woods

"A lot of supes have been already killed by the substance, and i would dare to say that the body count is of 30 supes"

"They're working on the virus with the only purpose of killing you, your team and all of us"

"Once unleashed, there's nothing we can do" Freezer said laughing

"Anyways...they equipped me with a homemade costume to keep my identity as a secret and with the goal to deliver a lot of the substance and spread it, to kill every single of you included me, i am on a suicidal mission"

"And to end with this, the lab was forced to work on the substance by the orders of a guy called Billy Butcher, and that's all i know"

"Are you happy now?"

Freezer looked around seeing the angered faces of the supes around him

Cate was completely horrified by what she just heard, it was sure to say that her homicidal hatred to humans only grew even more bigger to the point of just wanting to kill them all, no matter what.

"Thanks for speaking" Homelander said

"So this means that i can now get out of h-" Freezer said before letting lasered by Homelander, exploding the left part of his head and shocking everyone on the room, and a lot of blood everywhere.

Freezer fell to the ground apparently dead as smoke came out of the hole in the left part of his head, and what's left of his brain coming out.

Cate was shocked with her hair, face and clothing covered with a lot of blood and pieces of  his brain.

Cate looked at him and could not contain herself from smiling as the guy that almost killed Sam and contributed to the planned genocide of her kind was now dead

"We're done with this piece of shit, a lot quicker than i thought it was gonna be, get him off here now" Homelander ordered his army.

Firecracker then slowly approached to see him only to find with horror that the supe by the way had regeneration and the left part of his head was now back, and his hand where charging blue energy.

Before she could say anything an ice icycle quickly fled directly to her face, trespassing it from her eye to the back of her skull. Firecracker then turned around and fell to the ground dead

Homelander and the rest of The Seven and The Guardians of Godolking quickly looked at her shocked as freezer just stod up again and began to charge himself.

Homelander lasered him but this time his lasers only did small effect on Freezer, as he covered himself with ice.

Freezer started to shoot at homelander his blue frost energy and it actually seemed to hurt him, then she quickly fled against him destroying a wall in the process, Homelander began to punch him causing severe damage this time, Freezer's nose was broken but he took adventage to blast an ice energy ball on homelander hurting him, he punched homelander in the back and that made him fall, freezer continued to punch him until The Deep and Black Noir came to help.

Deep blow a fist on his face and the ice supe spitted blood, black noir punched his stomach and her lost his breath, the 3 supes began to violently fight until Deep and Noir grabbed him by his arms, homelander then started to laser him on the chest, now doing great damage.

Unfortunately Noir fell asleep and Freezer ice  blasted deep on his face sending him flying away and doing massive damage on him, he put his gas mask  and helmet on again and began to blast homelander again, who dodged his ice, after that Homelander and Freezer began to exchange punches, homelander being superior.

A-train began to rush him as he tried to find a way to stop him,Cate was panicking as the meeting room was destroyed and tried to find a way to mind-control him again but it was now even harder.

Then Sam tried to help but once again he was humiliated by the ice supe who destroyed the window  with ease and grabbed Sam by the neck, getting ready to throw him off, to make him fall.

"SAM NO"Cate yelled her lungs out at the horrific image she was seeing

"FUCKING DO SOMETHING"She screamed at Homelander

"Goodbye Sam, we will meet again some day on hell"

Then Homelander lasered him once again this time making a hole on his chest.

The supe fell to the ground in inmese pain and Sam fell too very near to a fall.

Noir and Deep returned and along with homelander and A-Train and prepared to finish the supe but he quickly recovered and escaped flying on a good speed.

"Fucking hell, he escaped" Deep said

"Oh my god Sam are you okay?" Cate approached him desperatley at what she just saw

"Y-yes im okay, it just hurts a little, thanks for getting worried" Sam said

"I don't know wha would i do if i lost you" Cate said

Homelander was completely furious and he angrily told everyone to search for the supe

"Move your fucking asses and go to find that motherfucker now!"

He said before dissapearing in a sonic boom flying to find him.

"Sam, this thing is getting pretty worrying, this guys is an actual monster" Cate said

"Yeah, but we're going to defeat him, i promise" Sam told her grabbing her hand

"We have to stay together, i trust you i know we can"

"We are the Guardians of Godolkin Sam, we have to protect the Supes from the humans, even if it means we have to kill a supe to save the rest, it's okay"

"Anything for the greater good"

"Let's get out of here, you need care Sam"

"Im fine as long as im with you"

"Same"

"I have to tell you something Cate"

"What is it?"

"Im in love with you"

The two just looked at eachother.

THE END

"I have to tell you something Cate"

NOTES BEFORE WE END:

•Freezer is not the main antagonist of this story, main antagonist will be introduced later.

•Virus plot isn't the main plot of the story.

•Freezer is a neutral character, neither a hero or a villain.

•Freezer is not stronger than Homelander.

[sashaforthewin]

Fuck it, here is a very small excerpt from a long fic I'm hoping I'll someday actually finish and post. But just in case I never post the fic, I at least want to share this backstory because I think it was a pretty good one.

CW: period-typical homophobia and slur mention

+++

When Eddie saw his entire torso bare for the first time, completely uncovered from bandages, he lamented.

"Ah, no, my Hellfire demon!"

Only the bottom and very edge of his tattoo remained, the rest lost to the grotesque mass of flesh trying to knit itself together in any way it could. There were weird shiny stretched areas from skin grafts, and uneven lumpy areas from stitches and all of the tattoos on Eddie’s torso had taken damage of some sort, but he only focused on the hip tattoo.

"Probably can't even get this redone if this skin isn't gonna smooth out."

"Look, I know that club was important to you but-"

"-This wasn't a tattoo of a club logo, Steve; the club had a logo of my tattoo. Look, I know I'm being way too pissy about this but this was my first tattoo and it meant a lot to me.

"You know those little chick tracks religious people hand you? Just little zines basically but with absolute nonsense judgemental over-the-top Christian crap in them. Well, so obviously I am like a prime target for people trying to 'save me' or whatever, so I get handed them all the time. But one day this guy just started harassing me and wouldn't fucking let up. He's yelling at me and following me for blocks and finally I got fed up and turned around to tell him off and he gives me this chick track called Hellfire, which I thought was a pretty fucking cool title, actually, and it was all about how Dungeons and Dragons was summoning actual demons and turning the kids gay and making them like heavy metal and wear jewelry and grow their hair out and all this other badass shit. Like, this list was basically everything that makes me me, and there was this actually really badass drawing of a demon and the guy just wouldn't stop so I told him he was entirely right and that a demon made me this way and then I walked right over to the tattoo parlor to get the demon from the chick track tattooed on my arm.

"But then when I got in there and showed the asshole working there, he said 'you gonna get this somewhere cool or somewhere faggy like your hip' so I said 'faggy hip' obviously because fuck that guy, too. It was my first real step to sort of claiming my body for myself and specifically choosing to be the things about me that everyone wanted me to hide or not be. So, yeah, Hellfire chick track demon on my hip."

Steve watched Eddie, imagining all of this happening, and his heart broke for what he'd had to go through in life just for being authentically himself. 

Unable to think of how to respond, Steve kneeled down and very gently kissed the very bottom of the Hellfire demon tattoo that remained, careful to not touch any of the angry scarred skin. 

"Stevie, that is real sweet and all but also I'm gonna need you to knock it off unless you want to change your mind about the no-fooling-around-in-the-hospital rule."

"Sorry."

"Never apologize for kneeling in front of me. But also, get up, I don't want to have an erection in front of Blanche when she comes back in."

Blushing more than he thought himself possible, Steve got up and tried to calm down. He hadn't really thought about what he was doing until he was doing it, but once it was pointed out to him, Steve realized he was in over his head. He didn't know how to do any of this stuff with guys. 

But he's not a guy, he's Eddie. He isn't some random man, he's Steve's favorite person. And besides, they had already agreed to have no expectations about sexual activity. Obviously he knew he had just gotten close to blow job territory, but Steve wasn't sure if that was why he was feeling a bit hot; if the tension was why, or if he was just nervous about the situation. But once again he remembered this was Eddie, not just some guy, and he decided that he would at some point try to give a blowjob. Definitely not in the hospital, though. Probably not in the hospital. 

Steve snapped back to the present and watched Eddie examine the rest of his torso, trying to will away the erection he had at some point gotten while thinking of blowing Eddie. 

+++

[arcplaysgames]

okay so I was kinda right about Medjed! is that another victory in my column or not? hm

After sleeping for I think 22 days, Futaba wakes up and gets to counterhacking the hackers.

Reverie and Morgana get bored and start cleaning up her room while she works.

Reverie got them skills. I still want an AU where he's a housespouse who moonlights as a cat burglar, if the fandom hasn't written a dozen of them, what the fuck have they been doing.

gurl, we need to get you some vitamin c and iron, holy shit. i hope you like edamame and oranges, it's all your eating for the next week.

Does anyone else think this voice actor does NOT fit this character, or is it just me? It's a constant distraction.

Aw he looks nice. What horrific creative crimes has he committed?

I finally belatedly noticed that the Palaces are all built around one of the deadly sins. "Arc, how could you not notice--" deadly sins are dumb, it's not in my authorial wheelhouse, blah blah. so anyway we did Lust, Vanity, Gluttony.... then the Thieves call out Futaba's sloth in the calling card, but she's actually associated with Wrath? Which is confusing. That means our options are.... uh. /googles.

Envy, Sloth, and Greed.

If the Final Boss is, like, the dude positioning to be the future Prime Minister, then I would say he should be Greed? Greed for power? But who even knooooows.

OKAY SO I WAS KINDA RIGHT! She was Medjed! But it's basically Anonymous, it's a placeholder name for anyone who wants to use it. Yeah 'cause that always goes well.

looks worriedly at Morgana

Beige Boy shows up to sass Sae some more and

squints at these dialogue boxes

You know what I'm interested in seeing? I figure Akechi is gonna join the Thieves in some capacity at some point, it's being set up pretty aggressively. What interests me is whether we will see his persona awakening or if he'll already have a persona when he joins.

'Cause like.... Okay I'm pretty sure Akechi knows the Thieves aren't behind the mental shutdowns. I'm 70% sure. Ergo:

There is a 70% chance that Akechi is the black masked guy in the Metaverse causing the mental shutdowns.

Or there is a 30% chance that Akechi is being played by someone he trusts, who is giving him bad information re: the mental shutdowns. Which... would dovetail nicely into him joining the crew, actually, if they uncovered the true culprit and Akechi (like his Detective Prince predecessor) swapped sides to the Thieves upon realizing they're the only people who can stop the true perpetrator.

Actually, that would be an incredibly tidy bit of writing, I'm gonna say its 50/50.

He's still sus as fuck 24/7/365 though.

hello i am here for the Futaba and Sojiro Show

Also Sojiro fucking drops the fact that his curry recipe was from Wakaba. He made her curry once and she was so intrigued, she asked for information on how to make it, then returned to Sojiro with a refined, scientifically reinforced recipe, and that's the one Sojiro still uses.

I love Sojiro, what the fuck.

BITCH JUST TELL ME WHO YOU PUSHED YOUR FUCKING MALWARE APK TO AND SAVE ME THE TIME, I KNOW IT WAS YOU.

Makoto has this whole plan to basically give Futaba's interpersonal skills a workout until she's a little more able to handle Thief-y work, but of course Futaba latches onto Yusuke, because she has excellent taste and they are both kindred weirdos.

oh yeah you guys are gonna be besties, i can tell

She also keeps putting on a big costume head when she gets nervous, which is an interesting literalization of "masking" I guess.

I have no intelligent commentary, I just like that when Futaba whines at Sojiro here, he stops and assesses the situation, deems it harmless, and goes back to what he was doing. There's no doubt he'd jump in to help if needed, but also I think Futaba is just the time to simper and tug at his attention because both of them enjoy that. It's very good, I like it.

Also, again: Futaba's VA choice is so fucking good. Love it.

Next up is a beach trip and I cannot imagine it beating P4G's incredible beach vacation, but we shall enter it with open hearts and open eyes.

[missywritesfor7]

🌙Moon’s Light | JJK🌙

Synopsis: Luna is a young paralegal trying to maintain her new found independence and enjoy life. Too bad her job sucks and her boss is the worst. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she encounters a vampire named Jungkook who changes her life in more ways than one.

Jungkook is a shield and protector of the vampire kingdom of Korealis. He’s trained his entire life to block out any and all distractions and focus solely on becoming the strongest. While investigating a potential threat to the kingdom, he encounters Luna who turns out to be more than he could have ever imagined. It becomes his job to protect her, but he can’t tell if what he’s feeling is his devotion to the job or perhaps something deeper.

Secrets are uncovered. Lives are on the line. Hearts are tested.

Pairing: Vampire!Jungkook x Fem!OC

Warnings: Violence, character death, eventual smut, tragedy, some angst, strong language, MINORS DNI

Previous chapter | Next chapter | Masterlist

|| Ch. 34: The Promise ||

Luna felt better after letting everything she had been holding in out. She and Jungkook remained in place on the floor for a while holding each other and crying. Jungkook hadn’t cried like that without transforming in a very long time. So long that he was actually getting angry while simultaneously releasing his feelings. The conflict of emotions makes him want to unleash his own power, but unlike Luna he’s had many years to learn to control it and unleash it in other ways. He cried a lot.

He’s glad that Luna knows the truth now and won’t have to sit around in silent doubt anymore. He’s glad that she released everything she had been holding in so that she would stop hurting herself. He’s glad he can comfort her in his arms.

He hates that all of this happened because of his father. He hates that even after all of these years his father continues to meddle in his relationships. He hates that his father tried feeding Luna bullshit just to get her to do what he wants. He hates his father.

He wants to confront his father. He wants to end all of this once and for all. He’s ready to march down the hall right now and fuck Minseok up the way he wishes he had done many years ago.

When he and Luna recollect themselves, he tells her he’s going to go out for air, but she stops him. While he was thinking of showing his father his power again, Luna saw everything. They were still holding on to each other and she could see him play the memory of nearly killing his father. She already knows that him going to “get air” is likely going to be him retaliating against his father and she can’t let him do that.

Jungkook gave in and stayed with her, but only until she fell sound asleep. He waited a bit to make sure she was in a deep sleep to not be disturbed, then he quietly slipped out of the bed and left the room.

Jungkook’s steps are heavy but determined. At this point he has no desire to ever let Luna go. Something he’s never felt so sure of in his life. If he doesn’t stop it, it will never end. If stopping his father means bringing him close to death, then so be it. Close. He still doesn’t want to kill his father, no matter how awful he is, but he sure as hell will bring him close to it if it means protecting the ones he holds closest to his heart. His mom and Luna.

When he approaches his father’s door he considers knocking, but instead walks right in. Minseok doesn’t seem to be surprised at all by his son barging in unannounced.

“What did you say to her?” Jungkook says shutting the door behind him and storming up to his father sitting on his couch.

“Excuse me?” Minseok says looking at Jungkook offended that he’s talking to him in such a rude tone.

“Why do you do this shit?” Jungkook roars. “Is it your goal to ruin my fucking life? Because you’ve been doing it since I was born!”

“I’m trying to make you stay focused.”

“No you’re not! I’d be more focused if I didn’t have to constantly worry about you feeding my girlfriend lies!”

“I only told her the truth,” Minseok snarks.

“No you didn’t! You knew that engagement was all an act! I told you everything, you knew it wasn’t for real! So why did you tell Luna about it? Why were you talking to her at all?!” Jungkook’s rage is rapidly growing, but Minseok only looks up at him expressionless.

“Do you think she’d still want to be with you if she saw who you really are?”

Jungkook pauses a moment taking in those words. What if she did see him when he’s in full rage? Would she still want to be with someone that has such power?

“Do you think a convert that doesn’t know the level of power you possess will be ok being with you?” Minseok stands getting in Jungkook’s face.

“If I ruin you without her knowing then it wouldn’t matter, would it?” Jungkook says through his teeth.

“Until when?” Minseok says not backing down. “If you’d really do that without her knowing, how long until you do it again and she witnesses it?”

Jungkook doesn’t have a response. He’s pissed and unsure, which makes him even more pissed.

“Don’t you ever come near her again,” he growls not wanting to admit that his father’s words have actually struck a chord. “I will protect her the same way I protect mom.”

“What makes you think she’s worth that?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Jungkook huffs. “You never gave a shit about anyone other than yourself.” He turns and walks out of the room before his father can think to say anything else.

That’s not exactly how Jungkook wanted that to go. He walks out to the courtyard before going back to his room so he can figure out why he gave up so easily. Why did the mention of Luna seeing his true ability send him into shock? Why is he afraid of her leaving him if she saw it? Of course he has no intention of letting her see that part of him, but what if she does? She passed out when he first told her he was a vampire. How would she react to his power? The power he can’t even be truthful with her, or anyone, about.

“What are you doing out here?”

Jungkook turns around to see Jimin casually strolling through the courtyard behind him.

“Trouble sleeping,” Jungkook lies.

“Would it have something to do with whatever caused Luna to use her power earlier?”

“How do you know about that?”

“Did you forget my ability?” Jimin asks pointing to his ears.

“Right,” Jungkook exhales. “You and your bionic ears.”

“These bionic ears might save you one day.”

“From what?”

“Yourself,” Jimin says as if Jungkook should know better. “What happened? I thought it was you at first and almost gathered the troops, but it was a little different so I figured it was Luna.”

“You thought it was me? Is her power that similar to mine?”

“No,” Jimin chuckles. “Her power doesn’t make the entire ground tremble. Your power is fucking terrifying.”

“Thanks,” Jungkook says sarcastically. It’s not exactly what he wanted to hear while he’s trying to convince himself that Luna wouldn’t lose her shit learning about his power. “My dad got to her. Fed her some bullshit and she was upset about it.”

“But she knows he’s just trying to get between you two, right?”

“Yeah, but this…I guess he found one thing that she would struggle to let go of.”

“What did he tell her?”

“He told her I was engaged before.” Jungkook looks right in Jimin’s eyes to convey his displeasure. “He gave her no context or details, just fucking said it to her and she sat on it until she lost her shit.”

“But you explained it to her right? That doesn’t count as a real engagement.”

“Yeah I told her that, but she damn near blew my ass away before she gave me a chance to explain.”

“She’s really strong, isn’t she?”

“You heard her,” Jungkook chuckles.

“Yeah I did,” Jimin laughs. “Make sure you don’t piss her off too bad in the future.”

“Yeah thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. What are you doing out here anyway?”

“Wasting time,” Jimin sighs. “Thinking about Hyungwon.”

“So you know?”

“Yeah. I’m not worried or anything.” That’s a lie. Jimin may typically stay awake through the wee hours of the night, but he isn’t usually walking around alone when he is.

“Right,” Jungkook says seeing right through him. “You think he’ll find a way out?”

“Probably.” Jimin’s eyes are almost as big as Jungkook’s. He won’t admit how afraid he really is, but truly he’s terrified. Knowing that Hyungwon knows who he is has left Jimin unsettled since the moment they saw each other face to face. If Hyungwon manages to escape somehow, Jimin knows he’d be enemy number one. Or number two.

“He knew who I was,” Jimin continues. “I spent so much of my life trying to stay undercover, but somehow he still knew exactly who I was. I just don’t know what he might do to me if he breaks free.”

“I’m sure he won’t though,” Jungkook says trying to ease his worries. “Plus you’re under the protection of the King, they won’t let anything happen to you.”

“And Luna? Will she be under the same protection?”

“She’ll be under my protection.”

Jimin knows that look in Jungkook’s eyes. He’s never been more serious about anything since he vowed to protect his mom from his father. Jimin knows Jungkook will stop at nothing to protect the ones closest to his heart.

“You like her a lot, don’t you?” Jimin smiles.

“I love her,” Jungkook answers without hesitation.

“Don’t kill your father,” Jimin says knowing how Jungkook gets. He can just tell Jungkook is very close to ending his father if his attempts to interfere with his life don’t stop.

Everyone has been worried for years afraid that Jungkook would finally snap and they won’t be able to bring his mom in to calm him down like last time. Contrary to the lies Minseok told Luna, Jungkook hadn’t dated anyone in years. The rest of the guys found relief during that time because they didn’t have to worry about Minseok interfering and Jungkook possibly causing more trouble for himself by killing the man.

Then Luna came along. Minseok’s schemes began. Jungkook got angrier. Everyone else was back on edge.

They let Jungkook have his time with her. If he’s protecting her they know he’d be happy. Jin even went so far as asking his dad to talk some sense into Minseok, to no avail. No one thinks Jungkook should put up with as much as he does, but no one can do anything about it.

“I won’t,” Jungkook says. “I won’t kill him. I might come very close to it, but I won’t kill him.”

“For some reason I don’t fully believe you,” Jimin says half joking.

Jungkook shrugs with a smirk then starts laughing. Jimin pushes him matching his laughter.

“I mean it,” Jimin giggles. “What would Luna do if you have to spend the rest of your life in servitude?”

“I know, hyung,” Jungkook reassures. “I won’t kill him. I might break his other leg, but I won’t kill him.”

“Go to bed and stop talking nonsense,” Jimin laughs pushing Jungkook again.

“I’ll go to bed when you go.”

“I’m going now,” Jimin smiles. “Now go.”

“Yes sir,” Jungkook laughs. The two turn to go their separate ways.

“Hey,” Jimin says turning back around. Jungkook stops and looks back at him. “I’m glad you have someone that makes you happy.” He gives Jungkook a knowing smile and turns back towards his room.

Jungkook can only stand there a moment and smile. He knows exactly what Jimin means by that. He continues back to his room feeling a little lighter. She does make him happy. Every single day.

The next day Luna wakes up to an empty bed. For a moment she begins to worry that Jungkook snuck out of bed to confront his father. While he may have done that the night before, this morning he’s actually preparing a special breakfast for Luna.

When he returned to bed the night before he spent a while laying there unable to sleep. While tossing and turning he came up with the idea to bring Luna breakfast in bed. He has no reason for doing it, and he even tried making one up, but he couldn’t. He just felt like putting together a nice meal for her to wake up to.

He was hoping to surprise her the moment she opened her eyes, but when he returned to the room with a service cart full of food she was already awake.

“What’s this?” Luna asks as he rolls the cart over to the bed.

“Breakfast,” Jungkook smiles. “Just for you.”

“Really? Why? I mean you’re not trying to make up for doing some shit that’s going to make me mad are you?” She asks suspiciously.

“No,” he chuckles. “I just wanted to do something nice for you.”

“What are you up to?” She asks with a raised brow.

“Is it that hard to believe that I would do something nice for you just cause?”

“Yes,” she giggles. “There’s got to be a motive.”

“My only motive is your smile,” he says presenting her with a plate of hotteok.

“You’re so cheesy!” She laughs. “What kind of devil uses cheesy romance drama lines?”

“Call me a devil again and I’ll turn this romance drama into a murder mystery very quickly,” he growls.

“Thank you for the breakfast my devil bunny babe,” she grins.

“I really don’t know what I did to get stuck with you,” he chuckles.

“You’re the best, Jungkookie,” she laughs taking the plate of hotteok from him.

“Yeah you’re welcome,” he says rolling his eyes. He can’t help but smile right now. Why he enjoys the back and forth they always have is beyond him.

Maybe because in the past people thought they had to be a certain way to get his affection. Everyone he dated before was either too afraid of his status to be themselves, or only wanted to use his status to get to other people. Luna, however, is new to this world so his status means nothing to her. She doesn’t want to use him to get someone higher on the royal chain. She fought til the very end to not be a part of this world at all. She can call him whatever she wants to call him and he’d be endeared knowing that she chose him for who he is, not what he is.

After breakfast, Jungkook takes Luna through the portals to a different city. He shows her the wonders of Losisco, the city that’s is like being on the Las Vegas strip at night 24/7. They start with an acrobatics show that leaves Luna in awe.

For lunch they find a restaurant that overlooks the skyline of the city. Even in darkness it looks beautiful to Luna. The entire trip she’s hanging on to Jungkook and dragging him in whatever direction catches her eye. They’re both enjoying this rare time of freedom somewhere outside of Korealis.

What they don’t realize is someone watching them while they’re enjoying a fruit cup with whipped cream and blood syrup on a nearby bench. They stopped at a central shopping area and took a moment to have a treat on one of the benches in the middle of the area.

“I never thought you would stoop so low,” a female voice emerges from behind a tree in the distance. Minseok followed Jungkook and Luna and has been watching them all day.

“What?” Minseok says turning around to see the owner of the voice. Sunyoung is standing behind him with her arms folded.

“You followed him all the way out here?” Sunyoung asks.

“She’s no good for him,” Minseok sighs turning his attention back to Jungkook and Luna.

“What do you know?” Sunyoung snaps. “I know for a fact that you don’t know what good is.”

“Is that some type of statement that will make me beg you to come back?” Minseok snarls.

“No,” Sunyoung laughs. “I don’t want you back. I want you to let our son live his life.”

“Are you going to lecture me now?”

“You wouldn’t listen regardless,” she huffs. “It’s not a lecture, it’s a warning. You know what he’s capable of, you’re just playing with fire now.”

“You think I’m incapable of handling him?”

“You told me yourself that you saw the end of days in his eyes before. Why would you keep pushing him like this?”

“I’m trying to save him from making a mistake.”

“Who are you to say whether he’s making a mistake or not?” Sunyoung asks sharply.

“Who are you to say he’s not?” Minseok snaps back stepping up to her.

“Have you thought for one moment that maybe, unlike you, he’s capable of being in love? He’s capable of doing his job, one you failed at, and having feelings at the same time?” She knows she struck a nerve by saying that. That’s exactly what she wanted to do.

“The fuck are you trying to say?” Minseok growls.

“I’m saying he’s not you. He’s much better and you know it.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” Sunyoung smirks. “You’re scared he’ll find his independence like Junghyun and leave you with nothing.”

“Did you come here to provoke me?”

“I just want to ask you something. Do you remember the promise I made you?”

“What promise?”

“Minseokie,” she says hitting him with the old nickname she used to call him. “You couldn’t have possibly forgotten this promise,” she smiles.

“You mean,” Minseok pauses in thought. “The promise you made the day you left?”

“Yes. The promise I made to protect my boys. You remember what I said?”

A promise Sunyoung made as a warning to Minseok who she knew would try controlling their sons’ every move. Some abilities are inherited, some are combinations of their parents’ abilities. Jungkook’s ability to level the entire kingdom comes from his mother. Sunyoung may not be able to cause earthquakes, but she’s powerful enough to give Minseok nightmares. She’s strong enough to suck the poison out of the wound that caused Minseok’s leg to never grow back. Yet she’s vengeful enough to allow the poison to burn through him anyway.

Before their boys were born, Sunyoung had already learned what type of person her husband really was. Over the years he had quickly become inattentive and verbally abusive. Minseok didn’t know the extent of her ability at that time. Just like Jungkook, she gave a fake ability that was still believable so no one would know her true power. After years of abuse, Minseok chose the wrong day to piss her off.

Seething with anger, even after learning of the battle that took place killing the King, Sunyoung still couldn’t find it in her to let go of the years of pain and torment she endured at the hands of her husband. She took care of him after the battle. Doctors checked him regularly and couldn’t find a solution for the poison hindering his ability to regenerate. When the two were left alone she confessed her ability to him. She even proved it to him in the cruelest way possible. She sucked the poison out of his wound. Watched him begin to regenerate and rejoice at the new development, only for her to spit the poison back into his wound and leave him needing to rely on the prosthesis for the remainder of his life.

She doesn’t tell the story because she’s not exactly proud of what she did. She doesn’t want her boys following her example and prefer they not know. Minseok hasn’t told the story because it’s very embarrassing to him.

She wanted to leave. She tried to leave, but then she found herself pregnant. She wouldn’t be able to take care of a child on her own. Plus, Minseok was a royal shield, the benefits don’t get better than that. She felt she had no choice. She stayed, hoping a son would bring change in Minseok. It did, but only for a short while. Sunyoung was once again considering leaving until she became pregnant once again.

After Jungkook was born things seemed to only get worse. Minseok became obsessed with making him the strongest and greatest ever. Sunyoung tried her best, but in the end she had no choice but to leave, and leave her boys with their father.

She packed her things and one night while the boys were asleep, she left them each a note and then told Minseok that she was leaving for good. He scoffed at her as if calling her bluff, but she wasn’t bluffing. She put her curse on him promising that he would suffer a painful death if he ever came near her residence. She then grabbed him by the neck and sucked nearly everything out of him. When he was sure he was on the brink of death, she stopped and promised him if he ever harmed Junghyun or Jungkook, she would do it again and not let go.

Jungkook tells Sunyoung everything. She knows how Minseok has been acting. At this point, catching him spying on them, is where she’s drawing the line. Jungkook’s life is his to live and she only wants him to be happy. She’s only going to warn Minseok this once.

“So?” Minseok says defiantly. “Are you going to kill me then?”

“You don’t believe I would?” She asks with fire in her eyes.

“Go ahead. I know you wouldn’t last a day in servitude.”

Sunyoung places her finger on his chin and begins slowly but painfully sucking the life out of him. “And you wouldn’t last one minute with me,” she growls.

Minseok stays silent too weak to make a sound. She’s not even using much of her power, but it’s still enough to nearly bring him to his knees. She tortures him another moment before finally letting him go leaving him gasping for air.

“This is the only warning you’ll ever get.” She stares him down one more good time then walks off.

Minseok finally catches his breath as he watches her stroll further away. She made him feel small and powerless and he knows that was her goal, but it doesn’t piss him off any less. He looks back to the bench where Jungkook and Luna were sitting only to find that they’re gone. He looks around and can’t see them anywhere.

On his way back to the portal Minseok curses Sunyoung and Luna. He curses their power and he curses the hold Luna has on Jungkook that he’s certain will only end the way he and Sunyoung’s relationship ended. Because for whatever reason he can’t seem to fathom that he was the issue in the relationship. He can never see himself as the issue. He can’t even see how deeply narcissistic he is. But everyone else does, and everyone else is getting fed up.