#but given that ive been on a few dates with someone and i really like them

[gaytobymeres]

hmm

[redclercs]

DELICATE✰ CHARLES LECLERC.

iv. you and me would be a big conversation

— the one where both of you have big reputations.

warnings: this one got a little long sorry, bashing towards charles and y/n (i love them ok), taylor swift references,2.6k words.

masterlist ✢ next

FROM DATF1GURL ON TIKTOK: "IS Y/N Y/LN AFTER CHARLES LECLERC NOW?"

[female voiceover]: ❝(...) while it is true she has a contract with Elix the new MAJOR sponsor for Ferrari—horrible drink by the way—rumor has it y/n's actual goal is to get the monegasque driver to spare a glance her way... Like, okay girl, but you left a 3-year relationship five minutes ago, chill.❞

IN pure Taylor Swift fashion, y/n y/ln has found her own ‘Getaway Car’ in none other than the 25-year-old Monegasque Formula 1 pilot, Charles Leclerc.

While nothing’s been confirmed, (come on now, what celebrity will just confirm rumors of their own free will in this day and age? Screw you, PR agents) the actress has been seen at two Grand Prix and the Elix contract gives her good camouflage for being constantly photographed with her new beau.

No matter how much sex-appeal these two exude, let’s not forget that we have a victim here: Aidan Kim. How can you leave a three year relationship with the man that gave you everything and not even two months later you’re already with someone else?

Is it a rebound or are we looking at something serious? In your humble writer’s opinion it’s most likely the former. And let’s not forget what Taylor Swift, in her infinite wisdom, said: “Nothing good starts in a getaway car”, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Ferrari.

SEE ALSO:

→ Aidan Kim buys new home in Sherman Oaks.

→ Every celebrity present at the Miami Grand Prix.

→ Is y/n y/ln really done with RomComs?

May 13th, Los Angeles, California.

“ARE you sure this is who you want as your rebound, babe?” Victoria places the magazine down and turns her head to look at you, using the precise force and tilt for her sunglasses to slide down to the tip of her nose.

“Stop reading that garbage,” you warn, not bothering to change your position in the chaise-longue, you don’t even look away from the script in your hands.

The day started pretty well, sunny Los Angeles made you feel hopeful for the first time in a while as you opened the script Mildred sent you when you got back from Miami. A drama about a young widow. You can work with that.

“I just mean—” Vic shifts her whole body in your direction, “—You have options, what about Timothée? I’m pretty sure the Kylie thing is fake. And he wouldn’t say no to you.”

“Stop that, Vic,” this time you do look her way for emphasis, you mean it. “I’m not looking for a rebound, or anything else for that matter. I want a job.”

“Fine,” Vic makes a show of capturing her lip between her teeth to pronounce the “F” and lies back in the chair. “I’m just saying…”

You’re glad to be wearing sunglasses, so she can’t see the way your eyes rollback. To be fair, you’re at Vic’s house so she has every right to occupy the same space as you at any given minute. Which is all the time.

After the breakup you ran to Vic’s Los Angeles home and left the SoHo apartment to Aidan. Vic's house is amazing, with eight rooms, five bathrooms, a black granite kitchen and of course, the pool. But you miss New York, even if you can fit your own room two times in one of Vic's. At least, according to rumors, Aidan is moving out of the apartment so you might be able to return to it soon.

“I think it’s bullshit that they see me breathing near a guy and suddenly we’re dating,” you drop the stack of papers on your legs, startling Vic with the sound. “Bullshit.”

“It’s just tabloids, babe.” Vic goes quiet, knowing she’s annoyed you and now you feel guilty about that too.

“I know,” you sigh, picking the script back up. Suddenly you don’t like it that much anymore.

Of course you know it’s just tabloids. People talk shit just for fun, but you’ve been their main target for a few weeks now and you cannot wait for them to move on. Which seems unlikely.

You've never been more glad about turning down a Yankees game invite.

Following Ferrari’s disappointing Sunday and the respective mandatory Elix pictures, you hung around the Suite a little longer in aims of gathering your thoughts and the will to leave to meet Vic at another after-party.

“Hola y/n! I thought you’d left,” Carlos carried his bag in one hand as he struggled to put his sunglasses with the other.

“I’m about to,” you smiled at him, locking your phone. “You too?”

“Yep, going straight to the airport. See you in Italy?” he asked, running his now free hand through his black hair, all set.

“See you there, Carlos.” you waved him goodbye before leaning back on the couch.

Vic had apologized for the shenanigans she'd pulled the previous night, saying she knew she should have asked you instead of just running with things. So you were looking forward to the after-party, it would be fun to hang out with your best friend after making up.

It wasn’t even five minutes before Charles came out too, hanging up a call in his half-destroyed iPhone.

“Oh hey!” He greeted cheerfully, the bad aftertaste from the race wasn't evident in his demeanor anymore. They had their debrief and Charles was willing to let go of the negativity momentarily.

“Hi Charles,” your not-as-cheerful tone didn’t bother him one bit. “Are you flying back today too?”

You couldn’t picture yourself in an eight hour flight after everything they’d done today, but they’re not really regular humans.

“We’re driving to New York, actually,” his hand hovered over the refreshment table, until he picked one of the leftover Elix. Charles examined the black can he chose before speaking again, “We’re going to a Yankees game tomorrow.”

“That’s very nice, Charles.”

He hates Elix as much as the next person so you can't help but wonder why he drinks them even when the cameras are off. Carlos and you never do.

“Would you like to join us?” He offered, the last word deafened by the click of the can as he opened it.

You took a few seconds to process the question, long enough for Charles to down about half the can in one gulp.

“Thank you, but I’m flying back to L.A. tomorrow.”

Charles' mouth went down in one corner and you were uncertain whether it was your answer or the taste that caused it. He tilted the can making the remaining liquid dance.

“Maybe another time,” he added, downing the rest of the blueberry flavored Elix. “Don’t worry.”

“Thanks for asking me, though,” you smiled, grabbing your purse from the couch. You had recovered enough energy already, and you didn't want to miss the DJ set at the party. “I hope you enjoy it.”

“Thanks y/n,” his mouth was still frozen in that slight wince and you shook your head gently at the sight of the empty Elix. “I'll see you in Italy, right?”

“I’ll be there.” you assured, although you hoped not. But a week didn’t seem like enough time to secure a gig.

YOU land in Italy the day the Grand Prix gets canceled. Which is very much just your luck. It’s for the better, though, safety must always come first.

It makes no sense to run back to America when you have nothing else to do, so you resolve to stay in Rome and catch up with a few friends you have around. Matilde Bassi being the best among them, and she would rather die than let you stay in a hotel instead of her house.

"I said no," she repeats, and her accent—although barely even there— reminds you of Charles for a split second, before your brain lets go of the image. "I've told you a million times to come visit, I won't let you stay in a hotel."

You give up after that because you don't want to annoy her. Matilde has quite the strong character, which is the reason she got to Broadway in the first place. After years of being in New York, where you met her, she decided to move back to Italy. Mati, still pursuing her passion, is currently the European public's favorite Juliet.

The fact that all of this goes down in a phone call gives you time to pick up what little stuff you've gotten out of your suitcase and check-out of the hotel before Matilde gets there to take you to her house.

─────────

"So, how are you doing?" she asks, refilling your wine before moving back to the stove, where she's cooking your favorite Italian meal.

"I'm fine, I've told you," you chuckle, sipping the drink. Her house is beautiful too, and spacious, but it feels homey compared to Vic's. "Taking it easy."

One thing you tend to forget about Matilde is how she is able to see right through your bullshit, and that's exactly what she's doing now.

"You never take it easy, y/n. And I mean how are you really? How do you feel? A lot has changed for you lately." she flips her head back to remove a stray curl of hair out of her eyes, "You can be honest."

"I'm fine, seriously, Mati," you know drinking so fast will make the wine go straight to your head but you'll do anything to avoid really talking about this. Which is unfair, Matilde is being genuine.

"You moved from one coast to the opposite and you're fine? What are you working on right now?"

You sigh, managing to smell your own alcoholic breath. "I'm with Victoria, and I've lived in Los Angeles before, while filming, it's not a big deal. As for work... I'm just– picking some stuff out, seeing the best options."

Matilde nods and turns around to grab two plates from the sky blue cupboards behind her. "Are you planning on going back to New York?"

"Yeah, hopefully," you get up to help her and she gestures for you to take a seat again. "My name was on the lease and Aidan is moving out of the apartment, according to People Magazine, anyway so..."

"Your apartment was amazing," Matilde smiles, reminiscing the girls' nights you spent together while she worked in New York, it was always so much fun to be with Mati. "I hope you can go back. If that makes you happy, that is."

She manages to carry both steaming plates and the bottle of wine to the table, and finally sits down. "Well, enjoy!"

"Thank you, Mati, this smells amazing," you missed Mati's cooking so much because no matter how many Italian restaurants you visit, nothing compares to hers, and you're also glad to have something on your stomach that will make the effects of the wine go away.

Or that's what you hoped for anyway, because you're halfway through another cup of wine, almost done with your food, when you drop the grenade you've left unpinned in your brain for 2 months.

"I don't miss him," you whisper, resting the fork gently on the edge of the plate, between two of the yellow flowers painted on it. "Am I a horrible person because I don't miss him?"

You gave it a lot of thought ever since you took the plane from New York to L.A. the night you said no. You thought—still think—there's something wrong with you because the feeling that something was ripped out of your life and the hole that it left would never be filled never even appeared. There was no hole, it was a scar already, and you picked at it trying to make it bleed. But nothing happened. Nothing ever happens.

"You're not a horrible person, y/n don't say that."

You're glad Mati doesn't let silence fall between you, it would have made you regret everything that left your mouth, but she's already reaching for your hand and you feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

Mourning the idea of someone is worse than mourning their absence. And you had missed Aidan for a long time, even when he was with you.

"I just feel awful for leaving and not wanting to go back, I hate myself for being okay."

The rejected proposal is something you keep close to you still. You love Mati, and you trust her, but you cannot bring yourself to touch that subject.

Mati squeezes your hand, her food forgotten as well. "I'm glad you're okay. I liked Aidan, too. But you're my friend, and I love you and all I want is for you to be better than okay."

"Thank you Mati," it's her words that actually get the tears flowing, and you wipe them quickly with your free hand. "Sorry for dumping this on you so suddenly." you give a choked laugh before clearing your throat.

"I did tell you you could be honest," she laughs, giving your hand a last squeeze before letting it go. "How about we just go straight to dessert?"

You nod, grateful that she leaves to get the tiramisu you bought on the way home from the fridge so you can pull yourself together.

MONACO welcomes you the Sunday before the Grand Prix. Which you are excited about, for the first time in a while.

Matilde proves to be the best company once again, knowing her way around Monaco like it's her own home. You're glad she's attending the Grand Prix too and you were able to get her into the Ferrari Suite with you, unlike your failed attempt at Miami with Vic.

One thing you find out about Monaco pretty soon, is that they're obsessed with Charles Leclerc. He's in buses and billboards and you can see people waiting to catch a glimpse of him outside grocery stores. It warms you up inside that he's so loved in his own country, not many people can relate.

You don't love, however, that the articles online have brought attention to your presence in Monaco too. And although it’s far less than the one Charles gets for obvious reasons, the heat that comes from it is closer to ire than affection.

Still, you take photos with those who ask on your way back from dinner with Mati and ignore the “you’re here for your boyfriend, huh?” Questions that come from people with their cameras millimeters away from your face. Saying “it’s not like that” isn’t worth the effort because it won’t work.

May 23rd Montecarlo, Monaco.

Mati is introducing you to other celebrities that attended the All-Stars game, when Charles comes back from signing autographs to the part of the stadium where you are. He's messy, dirty and all dimples—again— which you start to find annoying. Although it's mildly sweet how he always smiles at you when your eyes meet, you cannot allow yourself to think of that too often. He's a nice guy, he's being nice.

"Hi y/n, I thought I'd see you until the weekend," he greets you, still drying off the sweat from the back of his neck.

You shrug, making way for a couple of guys who give Charles a bro hug, joke about the several mistakes he made during the match and then leave, acknowledging you in the form of a quick scan.

"Good game," you can't help the small laugh that follows the compliment, but Charles only smiles wider.

"I'm a natural," he replies, but takes his hand to the place he hit when he face planted. "Don't you think?"

"Definitely," you laugh again, raising both eyebrows. "I'm just glad you stick to racing."

"Me too," it's his turn to shrug, and run a hand through his damp hair.

“How was New York?” You look over your shoulder to Mati, who’s holding her own conversation a few steps away. “Did you have fun?”

“It was really fun, noisy, big. It’s a shame you couldn’t come.”

“Thank you again for inviting me. I do miss New York, but i had things to do.” You let the air out of your lungs hoping, albeit stupidly, he can’t see in your face that the things you did was read stuff on the internet about the two of you together.

“Oh you live in New York? That’s wonderful, so you know your way around. Lorenzo and I got lost.”

You chuckle gently. “It happens to the best of us.”

“Ready to go?” Mati puts an arm around you, smiling. “Hello, Charles.”

So it is true everyone knows each other in these circles.

“Hello Matilde,” Charles smiles back at her, “I won’t keep you any longer, y/n.”

“No worries, it was nice seeing you.”

“I’ll see you soon, maybe I can show you a place or two in Monaco.” Charles is very casual, but his eyes don’t leave yours for a heartbeat.

Matilde tilts her head and her ponytail falls into your shoulder, the small hairs tickling your ear.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks Charles.” You shake your head away from Mati’s and wave Charles goodbye as he walks by you.

“My advice,” Mati is still holding you by the shoulder. “If I may be nosy… You don’t want to do that.”

“Do what?”

“Charles Leclerc. You don’t wanna do that, y/n.”

You roll your eyes but Mati is unbothered by the gesture. “I’m not doing anything, Mati. He’s being nice, we see each other every weekend.”

“He is a homie hopper, trust me, run don’t walk.”

You tsk, making her shake her head this time. “If it makes you feel better, I’m not doing that, never, ever.”

And although you intend to keep your promise, the first thing you do once your phone is hooked to the hotel’s wifi, is google Charles and his reputation.

Even if you know better than anyone that the internet is full of lies.

─── team principal radio: ❝hello! i really enjoyed creating this chapter, especially the fake media so i hope you've enjoyed it too. thanks for reading!♡❞

✰ paddock club members: @majx00

[peterparkouryo]

rebound iv | ✧.*

✧.*

prompt; You had been in a relationship with Peter for months until he broke up with you. It was tough at first, but over time you began to move on and eventually found someone new. However, Peter couldn't handle seeing you with someone else and it was clear he was still harbouring feelings for you.

warnings: one-sided pining, angst (cuz you love it), guilty peter, very bad person peter, arguments, and maybe fluff idk

word count: 8.0k

a/n: ITS HEREEE!!!! tysm for the love on this series and sorry part four took so so so long to publish! THIS IS THE LAST PART DON'T ASK FOR MORE, PLEASE!! i'm so glad to be back, but if i'm honest? this last part is trash and rushed lol.

part one part two part three

"You should consider Ned." 

Betty shows a smile, one to only be described as sarcastic before shrugging, digging through more clothes in her closet.

"Yeah, sure, maybe, but I'm more of a committee kinda girl." She offers, pulling out a black plaid skirt, turning to face you.

You accept the skirt from her hold, scanning the fabric curiously before giving her a nod in approval, to which she claps her hands together in excitement to.

"When's prom anyway?" You wonder, putting the black plaid skirt in your bag with the many other donated clothing your friend had gave you.

"Like couple weeks?" The blonde shrugs, closing her closet door before spinning toward you and made her way to the edge of her bed.

Betty had invited you over her house so she could "put you in something" nice for an upcoming date you had with a boy you had been dating for well over a few weeks now.

It was safe to say that asking her for an outfit recommendation wasn't the smartest of ideas, but it's not like you had many other girl friends to ask.

And your blonde friend was definitely the more expert of boys than you were (obviously), despite her having the lesser advance of dating when it came to them.

"What's his name again?" Betty asks, sitting next to you as she sorts through your clothes and folds them neatly.

You fight the urge to roll your eyes at her motherly habit.

"Miles." You answer.

"The junior?!" Betty gasp, you can see eyes light up in excitement and can't help but nod and smile widely.

"Yeah." You confirm.

Miles was the better half of you, probably the best version if you were being honest. He wasn't toxic, a sweet boy, and always knew what the right thing to say was at the most inconvenient times. Of course, he was a nerd, or what you'd call a dork (guess you had a type).

It took you a while to come to terms with the fact that the boy had a crush on you, for...well, many reasons, but once the sun came down and reality settled in, you slowly found yourself noticing him more than just a quiet classmate in your physiology class.

Though it took awhile for you to come to terms with those feelings given the fact you had just gotten out of a relationship at the time, but you deserved to be happy, not wanting to dawn too much on your trouble passed.

"He's been asking you out for like, ever." The blonde points out and you laugh as you give her a nod.

"Right, like I felt bad when I kept saying no, and it's only because I was fresh out of a relationship." You explain as Betty nods, reorganizing the closet she messed up on behalf of you.

Miles tried one last time to ask you out on a date, and you finally gave in, though you weren't full healed from your previous relationship, but you figured you weren't the type of person to lead someone on and deserved to be happy with someone who you knew would give what you craved for.

Miles was the perfect example of providing happiness, even if he himself didn't really know that. 

When you said yes, you were your nervous self and immediately asked Betty, who was more than thrilled to help.

"And he's so cute." You sigh dreamily.

Betty laughs, closing her closet before turning back around and made her way to you once again.

"You think he's gonna ask you to prom?" She wonders, and you give her a look of confusion.

Honestly, you had little to no thoughts about prom given the fact that who you thought you were originally going to go with wasn't an option anymore. After the past couple of months, you had not given prom a single thought, because by default, there was truly no point in thinking you were going unless your blonde friend forced you against your will to go.

Had you known you'd be dating someone else as the deadline got closer, you'd given it much more thought, but neither you or Miles had voiced your opinion on it, so you automatically assumed he didn't want to go or just didn't have the right courage to ask you.

"I dunno, not something we really talk about." You say with a shrug.

"You should ask him, you're the senior." 

You give Betty a look one would describe as if she suggested something completely outrageous.

"No, no that's not a good idea. I think we'll just see how this goes, and if it comes up I'll see how he feels about it." You quickly explain, Betty only shrugs.

"And if he doesn't wanna go I'll take you." She smirks.

"I figured." 

You both let out a laugh.

-

You knew being the ex of a superhero would eventually come back to bite you in the ass.

It wasn't like you could avoid him forever, he was your Queens hero, so yes, you were aware that you did have to hear high praise about him from time to time.

But it being from Miles, the guy you were seeing was weird. 

Of course he didn't know of Spider-Man's true identity, but it was eery having to hear your current boyfriend sing praises to your ex boyfriend.

You weren't a mean person either, so you let him.

"And when he beat up those muggers," Miles reenacts most of the accurate actions Spider-Man does. "It was really cool." He smiles from ear to ear at you and all you do is force one back.

"Yeah, well, that's Spider-Man for you." You begin to pick at your food, wanting more than anything to have this conversation come to an end.

Miles being no idiot, notices your lack of interest into the subject of Spider-Man.

"Oh, am I being annoying? I'm sorry." He deflates and you're quick to stop picking at your food to look at him.

"No, no it's not that you're being annoying, I swear. I just...." You trail off.

You were wondering exactly what would happen if you told him you dated Spider-Man. It probably would end up being more questions than jealousy. 

And you were in no mood for either.

"I have a friend who works for the Daily Bugle, so you can imagine how much I have to hear about him." You lie and Miles lets out a small chuckle at your sentence.

"Right, I'll make sure to only mention him when completely necessary." 

All you really can do is smile at him. Miles was too good to be true, you really had no idea what you could have done to earn such a perfect boy.

Minus the here and there mentions of your ex boyfriend, you'd like to think the date was going well.

You were so nervous as the days went by, getting closer to this well anticipated date and the butterflies never really left when the day became real.

Miles was no surprise a gentleman, bringing your favourite flowers to you and compliments fell from his lips the minute he saw you. He made you feel good.

You two decided on a pasta date only because you expressed how much you loved Italian food and he was more than happy to take you to his favourite Italian spot with its thankfully cheap food. 

After the date, he offers to walk you home, and you accept it a bit too eagerly, hoping he wasn't so observant to notice.

You decide to fill the comfortable silence with a question.

"Got any plans for the summer?"

Miles gives you a look as he holds your hand, absentmindedly swinging it back and forth before deciding to answer your question.

"Hm, not really. I just do whatever my parents have in mind." He shrugs.

You nod, giving his hand a small squeeze.

"I mean, we can do stuff?" You suggest awkwardly, your free hand fiddling with the necklace around your neck.

The boy's eyes light up at your suggestion and you can't help but smile at his look of happiness, and he starts nodding before he speaks up.

"I'd love that, totally." He grins and you look ahead of you as you watch your building become more into view.

You both continue your walk, chatting about anything that came in mind and the more you talked, the more you come to realize how much you two have in common. 

It was like fate was falling into your hands, and you couldn't be more than happy. It was all too good to be true and you made the mistake of trusting fate in your previous relationship, only to be severely traumatized and heartbroken.

You prayed to any god above Miles was nothing like Peter, if anything, better.

Peter. It had been a long time since you said that name, let alone thought it.

Your train of thoughts are broken when you reach the entrance of your apartment building and you smile at Miles, watching him return it with his gorgeous white teeth.

"I'll see you at school?" Miles slowly drops your hand as you give him a nod.

"Yeah, today was really fun." You tell him honestly and his smile never really goes away.

Before the boy even has a chance to respond, you lean in to give him a kiss on the cheek.

You two never had any sort of intimate moment, even anything as small as this, so you were a blushing mess when you pull away to watch his reaction, noticing his adorable brown eyes dilated and if you pay closer attention, you could almost see the heat rising to his face.

"That good?" He quips and you playfully roll your eyes.

"Bye Miles." You wave as he gives reciprocates it, turning around with a bounce to his step (which you can't help smile at his dorkiness), walking more and more out of view.

You smile to yourself as you make your way to your apartment, and you only wish you knew this'd be your last time at feeling even remotely happy.

-

You were starting to believe someone was out to get you. Maybe fate wasn't actually falling in your hands and you just had this habit of attracting bad things whenever something good came your way.

This time around, it was not your fault for the bad things happening to you, it was Peter's.

You thought you two had this silent agreement that after you found your closure, you'd never have to talk to each other again, which was going well for the past few months, avoiding each other like the plague or just simply pretending either or did not exist.

For some reason though, the boy couldn't take the hint and it was bringing back old nightmares you didn't want to relive.

Peter had this habit of sticking to you like a bug (no pun intended) and you were worried it had something to do with the still lingering feelings he clearly still had for you, which is something you did not know until you started seeing Miles.

When you said you hadn't thought about Peter in a very long time, you meant it as three days sober without the boy trying to ruin your life. You really had no idea why it was a problem for Peter to be happy for you when you were more than supportive for his now ex relationship with MJ.

Michelle wasn't too keen on telling. you the details of why they broke up after two months of dating, but you had this feeling it had something to do with you, which is so selfish, but Peter being Peter can't help but make the obvious, well, obvious.

Every conversation you have with him ends in an argument, a petty one at most.

So, when he approached your locker, you were prepared for the worst.

"Are you still coming to the decathlon meeting?" Is the first thing he asks you, and it's not like you're expecting an 'hi, how are you?', most of your conversations nowadays are usually straight to the point.

"Why?"

"Because, you never go anymore? Like, what type of question is that..." Peter mumbles the last bit, but you hear it, and you take a deep breath in to not say anything back.

"We'll see, I might hang out with Miles after school." You shrug as you close your locker and you see Peter roll his eyes from the corner of your eye.

"If you're gonna keep ditching, what's the point in being on the team?" Peter questions almost hypocritically.

"You're one to talk." You argue.

"That's different. I have a reason to, you? Not so much." He shrugs and you let out a scoff and turn to walk away, not wanting to be predictable and provoke an oncoming argument.

And as also predicted, Peter follows you like a lost puppy.

"Do you always have to hang out with him after school?" He quizzes, and you stop in your tracks, to give him a questionable look.

"Well yeah, that's what boyfriend and girlfriends do Peter. Once upon a time, we use to do that exact thing." You narrow your eyes at the boy as he looks anywhere but at you.

Again, you're not the smartest person alive, but it was painfully obvious Peter for some reason still harboured feelings for you and you were all sorts of confused as it was him who broke up with you in the first place.

You just wanted him to leave you alone, you've been through so much because of him, but yet, he can't take the hint no matter what you do.

"I know, and I still feel bad about breaking up with you." Peter sighs and you shake your head quickly.

"No, please Peter, stop while you're at it." You warn, watching the boys face visibly deflate at your rejection.

Peter was not stupid (most of the time), so you knew that he knows just how good he was at being a manipulator. His favourite technique was obviously guilt-tripping and being the best at putting the blame on others because he's "been through so much". You learned that the hard way, and now you were glad you could point out the red flags whenever he tried to do exactly that.

"What? I'm not doing anything." He shrugs innocently and you roll your eyes at his faux innocence.

Before you could voice your comeback, the bell rings and you let an all too familiar feeling settle in your stomach.

You decide to keep the silence in between you both, turning around to walk to your class and dare you even try to look back at Peter.

You both knew this was not the end of it, if anything, only the beginning of something worst.

-

It had been a week since that encountrment with Peter, and of course things have gotten progressively worst for you. All because of him.

Quite frankly, you had no idea why your ex boyfriend was so obsessed with you. Yeah, most exes are and normally it'd be the other way around but when you two were together he never made such an effort as he was trying to make now.

It was painfully annoying and you keep wishing he'd leave you alone, but its almost as clear as day that he will not do that until you rekindle whatever relationship you had to begin with.

Miles is thankfully unaware of Peter's obsession and he has been the best boyfriend (dare you say you've ever had), and unknowingly helping you keep your mind off of things Peter related or not.

"What if we don't go to the movies and just watch one at my place?" Miles suggested, placing a fry in his mouth after he finishes his sentence.

You look up from your shake and tilt your head for a moment to think about his not so subtle suggestion.

"Y'know most movie watchings at home with your significant other leads to a make out session?" You shrug just as Miles eyes widen at your words.

You were kidding of course but you didn't want to tell him that because his reaction was just so adorable.

"Is that a known statistic or...?"

You shrug again and drink your milkshake.

Miles continues to stare at you, digesting your suggestion slowly before nodding his head rather out of habit or he started to consider what you had said.

"I mean, sure why not?" He smiles and you wipe the whipped cream from the corner of your mouth and retort his smile.

It was rare for you and Miles to have any alone time because you both were just so awkward, more awkward than your previous ex boyfriend but you guess it was justifiable considering Miles was a year younger than you and from what you know, barely had knowledge of how girls worked.

You weren't any better, but you at least had some understanding ono how to have a boyfriend and it wasn't anything to be taken seriously because you two were having fun.

On the plus side, you had a plan to ask him to prom (after the whole make out session), and there was this strange feeling that made you have hope because even to a blind person anyone could see how smitten he was with you.

"Are you saying 'sure, why not' to making out with me?"

Miles blinks rapidly before shrugging. "Yeah?"

You nod and play with a fry, the door's bell ringing indicating someone has entered, but you pay no mind to it.

"So are we gonna like...watch the movie first or y'know, make out..first, I mean." Miles clears his throat as you look up, tilting your head.

"Well its not like a thing planned out so, we can just see what happens." You answer unsurely. Honestly, most of half your movie watching with Peter always lead to make outs on some level, but you never really understood how they happen.

But, this thankfully is not about Peter, who broke your heart because he was in love with someone else, Peter who is your Queens superhero, Spider-Man, and Peter, who was walking toward you?

You blink a few times to make sure your head isn't playing tricks on you and once you have time to think, you realize that, yes he is walking toward you, and you have no time to run or hide.

"Do you think we could do that first?" Miles asks with a small smile and you look away from the approaching Peter back to your boyfriend way too quickly for your liking.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" You furrow your eyebrows and show what you hope was an apologetic smile and not a nervous one.

"Hey guys." The tortuous voice you had no option but facing greets and you watch Miles and only Miles as he looks away from you to show a friendly smile towards Peter, who you are surely becoming more loathing towards.

"Oh, hey Peter," Miles spares you a glance as you shake your head.

One thing about Peter is that he's the kind of guy to set his mind on a goal and make it his mission to achieve it, so whatever it was that he had planned that involved you, you knew that all your interactions so far was merely just the beginning, and it scared you.

"Didn't know you two would be here." Peter presses his lips together, something he did when he was either nervous or lying, and you had a feeling it was the latter.

You remain silent, which evidently did not help with the awkwardness, but you weren't going to give into Peter's satisfaction and talk to him when you were here to enjoy your date with Miles and not acknowledge the boy who broke your heart.

You could feel your heartbeat speed up, and not in a good way. It was the kind of anxiety someone experience when something unpropitious lingered, like a bad taste in your mouth.

You wanted to get up, take Miles' hand and drag him and yourself out of the diner, but you didn't want to come off as rude and have your poor boyfriend question the sudden departure from the establishment, but deep down you knew that it was either that or suffer through the presence of Peter Parker.

"You wanna join us?" Miles offers, gesturing towards the table with a friendly smile, you only frown at your plate of fries.

"Oh no thanks, I'm already meeting a friend." Peter declines, shrugging his shoulders with a small smile.

Mentally, you thank god for the boy declining Miles offer, because frankly, things are already awkward enough. You can feel the tension growing more uncomfortable with each passing second, and you're wishing the waitress hurried up with the bill.

Your boyfriend mumbles a small 'oh', and nods his head before glancing at you, probably wondering why you're suddenly so quiet. 

Theres another deafening silence that dawdles in the air and you press your lips together to withhold the grimace forming on your face, because you can't stand any sort of undetermined traction.

Peter lets out a nervous laugh and clears his throat. "I should go, nice seeing you Miles." He doesn't spare you a glance (not that you care) and leaves you and your boyfriend alone, finally.

You look up as Miles watch Peter walk to a far booth away from the both of you, shortly after he's done staring down the boy he looks at you with furrowed eyebrows.

"Does he hate you or something? A blind person could point out the tension." He says with a small frown of confusion.

You shrug and play with a fry. You could keep the truth to yourself or just give Miles the honest answer, which could just make things even more awkward. There's a small debate in your head for five more seconds before you sigh.

"I mean, we dated for awhile a couple months ago." You mumble, keeping your gaze on your half empty plate.

"You dated him?" Miles gasps as you nod silently.

"That makes sense,"

You give him a look as he shrugs.

"He seems like he still has some feelings for you if the tension was that awkward." Miles explains as the waitress finally comes to the table with your bill.

You grab the receipt as you replay his words in your brain. The signs couldn't be more clearer, even if you evidently tried to ignore the fact that Peter still had feelings, it was almost pointless to remain oblivious if even your new boyfriend could see how your old one felt.

"Yeah, well its in the past." You shrug as you stand up from the booth. Miles does the same and holds out his hand for you to take and you smile and accept his offer.

As the two of you make your way out of the diner, you feel a pair of eyes on you but you don't have the energy to turn and scan every single face just to find the culprit who's staring you down. Plus it certainly doesn't take a rocket scientist to know exactly who that culprit is.

A comfortable tranquility takes over when you and Miles walk hand in hand, the warmth flowing from his touch is a solace to the chaotic life that is yours and your mind is temporarily at peace when you're with him.

Fall was leisurely making its way into winter as you felt the freezing air ruminate your skin, the comfortable yet small sweater doing almost nothing to shield you from the chilly air.

You're thankful Miles' hand in yours keeps you from completely freezing to death. His fingers were more of a heater than the thin layer you dare called a sweater.

"Why'd you two breakup, if you don't mind me asking?" Miles' voice is soft as he asks a question you'd much rather not ask since the wound of that scar has yet to heal, but you're not going to hold the curiosity of your boyfriend against him.

"Um," You search for the best way to explain the words stuck in your brain. "He kind of just, fell for someone else." You grimace at the memories climbing its way to your mind and you spare no glance at Miles.

There's a sensitive silence that looms in the air and you assume its because Miles takes the time to digest your words.

"Oh,"

"Yeah, but I'm over it so don't feel bad." You reassure and you look over to the boy with a small smile and he unsurely smiles back with a nod.

"Hey, so I was thinking..." He starts and looks down at the pavement the two of you were walking on. You raise an eyebrow, gazing at him as you patiently wait for him to continue with whatever it was he was willing to open up to you.

"I know you're a senior, and I'm a junior but I really think you and I should go to prom." Miles blurts and looks at you just as quickly as you look at him, both of your eyes widen.

"Prom?"

You couldn't help but smile at his suggestion, because you were itching to ask him ever since Betty brought the idea to your head. You just didn't know how to go about asking him, and you did plan to make it all romantic like, since it would've counted as a 'promposal'. Miles most likely asked you because the deadline was just two weeks away, and that gave you no time whatsoever to find a prom dress.

"Yeah, if you wanna go with me, I'd really like that. My mom already bought the tickets so..." He trails off and you raise your eyebrows in surprise.

Now you couldn't say no, not that you had any thoughts to reject his proposal. Never even haven met Miles' parents, or mother, and she was already so eager to see her son and his new girlfriend she had no face but a name to, to go to prom together. Your smile that never really went away extends into a grin.

"I think you stole the words straight from my mouth." You nod as your boyfriend grins from ear to ear and you two stop walking, awhile ago you notice.

Miles pulls you into a hug and you laugh whole-heartedly at his embrace, hugging him back as the comfort embeds through your body.

"Thank you." He mumbles before pulling away slightly to stare at you as if you hung the stars in the sky, which makes you blush and smile with a soft hum.

"You're welcome."

-

You flinch when your blonde friend tightens the string of the prom dress and you glare at her through the mirror as she mutters a apology.

"This hugs your body so nice, I'll buy it for you." She promises for the 100th time and you roll your eyes and take a step back to observe the dress in your reflection.

If you were as confident as you desired to be, you'd say that this dress had been the one from all the other ninety-nine others your friend had made you tried on.

The dress was your colour, it fit you nicely the way you wanted it to, and you felt beautiful in it. Since dresses weren't really your thing you opted to wear a suit to which your blonde friend gasps in horror as if the option was completely ludicrous and off the table. She told you it was fruitless to wear such a thing to a ball because Miles most definitely would already be wearing a nice tux and it'd be corny to have you in one as well.

You agreed to let her put you in dresses and such like a barbie and you went to your local dress store where she had only made you try on a gazillion outfits until you found the one you were currently wearing, making you absentmindedly check yourself out in the mirror in front of you.

"You look like a twenty-five year old model that Leonardo DiCaprio would go for!" Betty squeals and claps her hands together. You shake your head at her weirdly sweet but yet more disturbing compliment.

"Thanks?" You furrow your eyebrows and turn to look at her.

Betty twirls you around like a princess, observing your fit from head to toe. Almost like an artist critiquing its art.

"I think you'll have Miles speechless." She grins and you smile hopefully. "Really?" Betty nods.

The mirror made you look almost angel like as you stare back at it. You really did feel gorgeous in the gown and you really wanted it to make yourself feel good, and you knew anytime of dress, or even a garbage bag would look good to your boyfriend because he really is that perfect.

"'M gonna go see if I can find any shoes," You hear Betty's voice and you nod as you look at the corset of the dress, tracing your fingers across the fabric slowly.

You continue to check yourself out in the mirror and a person behind you clears her throat and you turn around swiftly, surprised to see Michelle standing there with a shopping bag and an almost glare had you paid close attention to the glare.

Your hand fiddles with the necklace around your neck and she looks you over and your self-consciousness arises with her gaze.

Michelle had not been the nicest person, to anyone really since she broke up with Peter and the quiet girl went MIA from school and the decathlon team. You felt terrible for the poor girl, because there were the obvious reasons and maybe even reasons you didn't know about as of why her and Peter broke up. 

"Your dress is gorgeous on you." She hums and you look at her with an unwavering blank stare. The confusion must had been evident on your face because MJ shakes her head with a sigh.

The tension consumed the vibe of both your presence. You speak up in a calm manner.

"Look, I don't know if you hate me or something but I'm really sorry, you deserve so much better MJ." You look at her with an empathetic gaze.

"Michelle." She corrects.

Your nose scrunches up in a small grimace.

"Right, Michelle. Sorry." You nod in understanding.

"I don't blame you for the break up, but we both know." Michelle gives you a look, the only thing you can do is nod once again. Your head gazes at her converses with a defeated sigh, nothing coming to your mind to say to her because yes, you do know.

The tension fades away when the bubbly girl who is your friend, Betty returns with shoes that match your dress with a happy grin and holds them up to you.

"Cute, right?" She shows you her pearly whites and you give her a thumbs up, watching Michelle walk past the two of you and Betty catches the back of the girl's head and looks at you with a raised eyebrow.

You shake your head quickly, not wanting to talk about it.

After the whole short but definite straining conversation with Michelle you try to take your mind off it, changing into your regular clothes and both you and Betty buy the dress you're satisfied with as well as the shoes and you suggest ice cream for lunch and she agrees without hesitation.

-

"Divina!" Mrs. Morales exclaims and takes another picture. You try to keep your smile prominent for the maybe millionth picture? You lost count.

When you arrived at the Morales household, Miles' mother was the one to answer and she had gave your mother a look of disbelief, small praising spanish words fell from her lips with a smile. You were already feeling hopeful and just to hear the praising words from your boyfriend's mother who you did officially meet for the first time, was rewarding to say the least.

Miles came down from the stairs, looking quite handsome in his tux and the way his jaw dropped when he saw you standing there with your mother, looking around his apartment aimlessly had been an out of body experience for you, because no one had ever looked at you the way he did, not even Peter.

"Mama, por favor!" He groans from next to you and you laugh as your mother does as well.

Mrs. Morales finally stops taking pictures, placing her camera on the counter nearby.

"Sorry, sorry. You two just look so good together." She smiles and turns to your mother, showing her the pictures she had took.

You turn your attention to Miles, who now takes the time to hold up the container of which had your corsage in it up to you, a silent question and you nod as an answer.

The boy slowly and yet so carefully opens the container, taking out the corsage and slipping it around your wrist, taking ahold of your hand after he finishes, looking from your wrist to your eyes that had already been staring at him.

"You look really pretty, beautiful even." Miles whispers, but before you can say anything there's a flash and the both of you tear your gazes away from each other, to the culprit at hand, Mrs. Morales and your mother both have their phones in their hands with ear to ear grins as they capture the memory of your little moment.

The two of you groan in annoyance at the ruined gravity of peace.

-

The dance was like anything you could had ever imagined, from the sequence sparkling chandelier lights dangling from the ceiling, illuminating the gym with an almost elegance aura, to the blue and white decorations to represent your school colours made you feel like you were at a ball rather than the prom.

"This can't be the same gym as our school's." Miles hand was in yours as the two of you enter the gymnasium, and you giggle at his words, watching many bodies chatter or dance with each other.

He was right, the gym you were used to always had a weird smell and it unquestionably had no qualities to hold students for a senior prom, yet you were proven other wise.

The two of you make your way further into the dance and you see Betty with Ned, which you find ironic since she had sung a tune in your ear that she would much rather be helping set up the prom and keep it well done than ever consider having Ned take her as a date. You tilt your head at the girl with a knowing look, her only retort is rolling her eyes.

The night was bound to be full of surprises, you suspect.

"You look great guys!" Ned smiles and fist pumps Miles, an adorable thing the two of them did whenever they ran into each other, and you hug Betty as well as Ned.

"Thank you."

Your gaze scan the dance once again, your anxiety rises when you catch a familiar set of brown eyes walking towards your group.

Never in a million years would you had ever thought Peter Parker to attend a dance without a date. It was a out of character thing to observe, but it was true since every year from the ninth grade, stopping at last year, you two attended every single dance together, even making a promise that if you were to break up before prom that neither of you would participate in said dance.

Times had changed of course, given you now had a new boyfriend, attending with him instead of Peter, but the brown haired boy had no date and that is what you truly found weird. But you had no room to judge him, ultimately, it was none of your business, nor did you care why he was even here.

The way he looked at you as he made his way towards you made you nervous for a multitude of possibilities. He had never made the effort to give you such attention before, but there was something in his eyes that gave you an unsettling feeling, a feeling that you were growing accustomed to since he broke up with you all those months ago. 

The gut feeling as if something bad foretold in the air.

Once Peter had successfully made it over to the four of you, his gaze never actually left yours and you had to subtly hide behind Miles to inaudibly declare your uncomfortable state, though sadly it went unnoticed as your boyfriend converses with Ned.

"Peter, you look very handsome." Betty voices, causing the two boys to stop their chatter and look over to the boy who broke his gaze away from you (finally), clearing his throat, giving your blonde friend a small tight-lipped smile and greeted Ned with their signature handshake. 

Miles gives Peter a nod and he reciprocates it. You look down at your heels, that were a pain to walk in, avoiding eye contact with the brown haired boy.

Thanking the gods from above, Miles takes your hand with a smile and you look up at him with your own, ignoring, shutting out, whatever you want to call it, Peter's gaze that you sensed form into a glare.

"Let's go dance." Betty quickly drags Ned away, being little to no help with the eye-twitching obvious tension between you, Miles and Peter.

Why had Peter made it his mission to give you an anxiety inducing, gut wrenching run for your money every time you two interacted? You wish you knew, you really did.

You fiddle with the necklace and Peter takes notice of it and speaks his mind, and you wish he hadn't.

"I like your necklace." He nods and you stop your fidgeting to glare at him, watching the boy smile innocently. This, of course draws the attention of your boyfriend.

"Oh yeah, cool spider necklace." He smiles.

Peter could careless if you were glaring at him, and you felt your anger boil through your entire body, ready to attack him had he have the audacity to say something sly from his mouth once again.

You both knew that Peter was the one to had given you the very necklace you wore around your neck, almost everyday and the reason you didn't take it off was unclear, but you knew deep down it had nothing to do with Peter, or maybe it did but it was not like you still had the feelings for him you once had before.

It was a shame that the boy took pride in the gloating fact you still wore it, but it wasn't for him. More so, for you.

"Miles, do you wanna dance?" You look over to your boyfriend with a smile and he quickly nods like you had just offered him candy, Peter frowns and you glance at him before walking off to the dance floor.

The two of you make your way to the centre of the gym, most students still danced or talked nearby, but you paid no mind to it as you wrap your arms around Miles' neck, he was unsure where to put his hands and you smile at his awkwardness.

With pleasure, you guide his hand to your waist, he understands with ease. His hands on your waist was a comforting experience for both you and him. As if on time, the music switched from a Taylor Swift song you briefly recognized to a slow song, an Elvis Presley one at that.

You can't help but notice the way he was looking at you with a small smile, but his eyes held adoration in them, and it was the same look he always gave you, but his longing stare was more amplified than per usual, it made your heart speed up and you could feel the heat rise to your cheeks.

Your neck begin to itch with anxiety, but it was the good kind and you were so happy that you were able to feel easiness that you had been looking for in the past year.

Miles was the person you were meant to be with, and you felt like nothing could get in the way between you both. No matter how hard Peter tried to slither his way back into your life, the better person will always be Miles.

The solace is beautiful, the two of you holding each other as 'Can't help falling in love with you' (ironic), played in the background, other classmates were dancing as well, but they disappeared from your mind. Everyone but your boyfriend blocked out from your brain, the both of you looked at each other with such protection and warmth that you failed to notice which one of you even leaned closer.

The kiss was short, sure but it was confounding and so very soft. You pulled away with a, looking down as Miles laughed at your behaviour.

"That was nice." He nods and you look back at him with raised eyebrows. "Yeah."

"Thirsty?"

You nod as the slow song comes to an end, pulling away from him, but still close enough to feel his residence. 

"I'll be quick." Miles promises and gives your cheek a kiss, turning his back to you and walks toward the punch table, that was more of a buffet if anything, given the unnaturally amount of food and desserts decorating the furniture piece.

You gnaw slightly at the bottom of your lip with a smile, and your fingers trace the spider trinket of the necklace around your neck, a voice interrupts your dreamy thoughts from behind you and you turn around.

"Can we talk? I know I say that a lot for the past three chapters of our conversations, but...please." Peter walks closer to you and you take a step back when he does, your hand falls to your side with a frown.

"Not now, or maybe ever." You scoff, attempting to walk away from him but he gently steps in your way.

This was going to take a turn for the worst, that much you could tell.

"Please!" He gives you puppy dog eyes, and looks at you as if this was the last thing he will ever get the chance to do. You groan before giving in.

"Make it quick."

Peter nods and lets go of your arm, trailing his eyes from your necklace down to your dress, the words spill from his mouth before you could even comprehend them.

"I love you." He breathes, and your heart drops to your stomach.

"Stop."

You try to walk away again, because your head was starting to hurt and you didn't have it in you to deal with Peter's bullshit.

"No, listen to me, just listen." Peter quickly shakes his head and steps in your way once more and you notice his heartbroken stare.

"I get that you hate me, I understand that you want nothing to do with me and you're with Miles, but I love you. It took me way too long to realize that, but I--I do." The brown haired boy runs a hand through his hair in frustration, you keep quiet to let him speak his mind.

You were long gone out of love with Peter Parker, the same boy who broke your heart on your birthday, because he was in love with someone else. He for some reason thinks it'd be a good idea to express his feelings at a school dance that you had gone with, with your boyfriend, that was not him.

The deju vu was eating through your body, you were wondering where the hell Miles was with that punch.

"It's too late to even tell you this, but thats why MJ broke up with me, not because I told her but I mean she's a perspective girl so...y'know." Peter shrugs in defeat as you nod slowly, your head still trying to digest his words.

"Peter, you're so stupid." You finally say and he blinks in utter confusion, but you continue anyway.

"You have no right to tell me you love me, months later and I mean months later. Because its unfair and it's selfish, you put me through hell and back, only to do it again once I find a little ounce of happiness." You ramble in anger, not knowing what else to say as you try to put all your thoughts into one simple breakdown for him.

"I know--"

"No, you don't." You cut him off quickly and held up a finger in his face. "Because if you knew like you claimed, you wouldn't had made it your life's mission to seek out attention from me or whatever the hell it is you're trying to do. I was happy for you and MJ, I grew to accept that, so why can't you do the same for me?"

Peter's face switch from confusion and hurt to a glaring look within seconds, and you almost regret your words.

"You told me you loved me while I was trying to meet ends with MJ, and now you're telling me I can't do the same? To the person who's wearing a birthday gift I gave her, around her boyfriend." He argues and sadly, he does have a point.

You were lost for words for a brief moment and Peter scoffs at your silence.

"That's not fair."

"No, if you throw the ball at me, I'm going to throw it back harder. You claim to not love me anymore but you wouldn't still be wearing that necklace if your feelings changed." Peter takes a step closer to you.

You're paralyzed, not having the energy to fight back as his words sink into your brain. He was so painfully right, you knew deep down no matter how hard you deluded yourself that there was still feelings there, and Peter was your first love, so you can't just completely shut him out of your life, no matter what the boy did or how bad he hurt you.

"I know that...but Peter I'm with someone else. Had you told me this before months ago, maybe things would be different, but you need to stop trying." You're sure these words hurt him more than they hurt you, but you were so sick and tired of the one feeling the rougher end of the stick.

Peter needed a taste of his own medicine anyway.

"Please, stop trying." 

He nods his head in a silent bob, the tension simmering down from the screaming steam that loomed around the two of you.

He nods his head in a silent bob, the tension simmering down from the screaming steam that loomed around the two of you.

Peter looked like a kicked dog, which kind of made you frown, but you knew better than anything to try and comfort him in the way he hoped you would.

"Okay."

"Okay?" You furrow your eyebrows at the one word after a few uncomfortable seconds of silence.

"Okay, I'll stop. I want you to be happy, and I shouldn't be the reason you're not." Peter slides his hand into yours and you feel the unsettling consolation within his touch, biting your bottom lip as you watch him sigh with a deflated smile.

"Just know that I do love you, even if you don't feel the same way anymore, I know deep down you do." 

You didn't think you'd cry on prom night, but the tears had made an unannounced approach, you were just thankful that the mascara you had on was waterproof.

Quickly, you wipe your tears and nod your head with a clear  of your throat and take a step back.

"I should go look for Miles." You gesture your thumb behind you to nowhere in particular, Peter's hand slip from yours for the very last time. He tilts his head and looks around the gym.

"Alright."

You had no idea of what to do, so you just stare at Peter for a moment as he stares at you. 

This boy was truly the love of your life, you did everything together but sometimes not everyone is meant to be. 

When he broke your heart on your birthday, you thought you would never find the kind of connection the two of you had again, and it ate at your heart. Peter had ripped it out, and held it in his hand, maliciously squeezing at it but not intending to, because he was as lost as you were, truly.

The two of you didn't know how to love, and that was evident. He thought he loved someone else, but he was wrong. Karma some might say, but you'd call it a life lesson for him. You on the other hand, didn't have any idea what you were doing. Miles wasn't a rebound from Peter, he was a saviour from him. Though not put so nicely, but Peter was an experience to learn from, to grow from and that's what you did.

From the break up, the who kissed who, and the lingering feelings he had for you, you all but hoped Peter would find someone who wasn't you, someone who loved him for him as he could love them for who they were.

You knew it wouldn't be you, and you were glad. Peter deserves happiness as much as you did.

Even if the two of you wouldn't end up hand in hand.

taglist: @clairebearfr @ietss

[christinesficrecs]

Author Spotlight is a Saturday thing now **checks to make sure it really is Saturday** 😋 Enjoy these gems. They are all amazing!!

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"And you'll come to my best friend's wedding as...my... date?" Stiles thinks the whole proposition bears repeating.

"Yes," Derek says again, brows furrowing like he's starting to regret asking.

it's free (and always will be) by kellifer_fic, maichan808 (maichan) | 31.6K | Explicit

Stiles starts looking around, like there's someone who'll rescue him from this painfully awkward situation and Derek can't blame him. All he can think is this is some kind of elaborate prank Laura is playing on him after she'd found his pile of Fangboy back copies last month.

Or, the one where Derek has to marry a human to save Clawbook and it turns out to be Stiles. He's completely doomed.

[freyito]

Could you make General Shao's sfw alphabet, please?

tbh as much as i love kenshi & kuai liang, shao is like my favorite outworlder. never thought that would happen lmfao. sorry for the long response time, like i said ive got a packed schedule and now that im moving my free time is minimal T_T

cw: gn reader, just fluff, soft shao cause i said so, proofread

ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ ꜱʜᴀᴏ || ꜱꜰᴡ ᴀʟᴘʜᴀʙᴇᴛ

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Shao is affectionate behind closed doors. With his status, he has a certain image to maintain, so he doesn't even look your way when on the job. However, when you two have a private moment, he's attached to you. Not once does his hand leave yours, he has to be touching you somehow. Whether by having a hand on your shoulder, hugging you and completely towering over you, anything. Despite his rough n tough demeanor, you are the only one who can really get to see this softer side of him.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

It depends on where and how you meet him. At the banquet, he comes off rather standoffish and rude. However, if you ran into him by chance, he's rather friendly. He has a bit of an edge to him, of course. As general, he has to be on high alert, so he can't afford to be too friendly.

As a friend, a best friend specifically, he's rather protective. But only in the same width that he'd be protective of the palace's consultants. You are important to him, and in his line of work, friends are few and far between. Yet, his loyalties still lie to protecting Sindel and her daughters.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Shao loves to cuddle. Anytime he has alone with you, he's dragging you to the bed and wrapping himself around you. Really, any way he's comfortable, he'll hold you. However, he loves it when you rest your head on his chest when you two fall asleep. Having you close to his heart is something that means the world to him.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

As impressive as the range of achievements under his belt are, he really wants to settle one day. Enjoy the pleasures of the mundane, live a peaceful life with you. He's amazing at cleaning, but he sucks at cooking. So, if you two can divide the work once he achieves his peaceful life, he's more than happy.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

He's formal about it. Too formal. He wants to let his soon to-be ex partner down softly, and he's polite about it. When he dates, he's in it for the long term, so if he ahs to break up with someone, it is simply because of his line of work and his title.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Like I said, Shao dates for the long term. He doesn't exactly think about marriage right away, but if he's been with his partner for a year at least, he puts it into consideration, He'd love nothing more than to settle down, really. But his title gets in the way of that. So it is something he has to think about for another year after he considers it.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

He's big, he's bad, he's mean, but you are his moon and he is going to treat you as such. Doesn't matter if he towers over you, he's the sweetest man in your hands. He's almost afraid to touch you, really. He's hyper aware of his strength and he's afraid of even so much as squeezing you. He isn't afraid to tell you just how much he loves you, though. He's equally as gentle with his words as he is with his touch.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Shao loves hugs. To come home and hold you close, it's one of the greatest joys in his life. His hugs are firm, and given the fact that he's over 7ft, he'll always tower over you. But he loves leaning down into you, he'll simply stay at the door like that for minutes before finally getting along with the end of his day.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

He's cautious about it. Really cautious. With his life, anything he truly loves can and will get taken away within mere seconds. He's afraid of even thinking it. It takes him a while to say it, even if he knows he does love you. It'll be about 9 months in that you first hear it, but it is rather sparse after that. He does love you, but as mentioned before, he's afraid you will get taken from him.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Shao's good at hiding his emotions. But he fails horribly with jealousy. He thinks he's able to keep his composure, that no one can tell he's seething when a very bold royal guest attempts flirting with you. In reality, he even throws Reiko off with his jealousy. Regardless, he can't step in. He knows you have your boundaries, and you shoot down the guest right away. But that night, when you two have some time to yourself, he's rather possessive and clingy. He refuses to let you go, even for a second. Just to remind him how grateful he is to have you. And the fact that you are his, and only his.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

His kisses are nothing short of passionate. He refuses to give you any less, he has to make sure you can tell just how much he loves you. He prefers simply kissing your lips, however he'll also find himself kissing the corners of your mouth from time to time. He'll lean down to you and pull you in close, keeping his hands on your waist.

Shao loves to be kissed on the forehead. He loves it when you ask him to lean down so you can plant a soft kiss on his forehead or temples. He can't tell you exactly why, but he finds the gesture comforting.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

In public, he'll act as if he's annoyed by the children running around, or just outright ignore them. But, if he's absolutely positively sure that no ones around, he'll sit down and play with them, let them climb all over him, or even see if he can find a story (that doesn't involve his countless accomplishments) to read to them.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Normally, he's up and about and out of bed before you wake up. He doesn't get much time to see you in the morning because of his title, but he does enjoy seeing you before he leaves. Standing at the door, leaning down to give you a quick kiss before leaving to attend to his duties.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

He'll show you around the city before bed,- if you're up for it- and once you two are home, he's carrying you everywhere. Don't think you can get out of it, he refuses to let you walk. He'll hold you close and stay rather still over the night, but he does sleep light.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

It will take Shao quite some time to finally let his guard down and start opening up. He opens up slowly, after about 7 months. And he still withholds some information from you, for your safety, he says.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

When he's drunk, he's got a temper. However, sober, he's a lot more calm. Not a lot angers him, aside from maybe getting his ego challenged. But he has to be calm, as said many times before, his status requires it.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Shao commits every little thing to memory. Every. Little. Thing. He freaks out if you wake up even a second later than you normally do, or if suddenly your hands are cold. He knows your favorite flowers, and just exactly which arrangement you loved, your favorite meals, the list goes on and on and on.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Your first kiss. As cliche as it is, Shao looks back on it fondly. Finding a quiet area away from the city, the palace. Bathed in the soft glow of Sun Do, he leaned down to kiss you ever so gently. It was the first time he showed proper vulnerability around you, and he cherishes it.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

You're asking me if GENERAL Shao is protective? He is. Beyond so. Any sort of bruise, he'll ask you who did it. He keeps an eye on you, whenever he can. He does not care if you are more than capable of defending yourself, he has to make sure you are safe.

Shao hates the idea of you protecting him, or anyone else protecting him. His ego's a little fragile like that. He knows he can keep himself safe, in fact, he has a tendency to welcome danger.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

He makes sure everything he does is done out of love. Every gift end up over-the-top, every date seems almost too luxurious. He has to show his love in every single way, and he cherishes you too much to give you anything less than his best.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

You know that intro with him vs Johnny? Where Johnny says he thought Bi-Han needed a breath mint? Sorry to say, but he definitely forgets to brush a couple times a week. He won't kiss you if he knows this, and he swears he tries his best. But he's got a busy schedule.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Shao could care less. There's no need for him to worry about his looks, he thinks he looks fine as he is.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

He misses you every single waking minute he is away from you. He worries over you, constantly. And if you were to leave him, he wouldn't really find a place in his mind for peace.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Shao loves dancing. He loves those small moments where he can place his hands on your waist and dance around the house. He's surprisingly good at it, and he takes the lead, every time.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

He cannot stand a helpless partner. Yes, he wants to protect you, but if you have no will to fight for yourself, he cannot see a future with you. He wants to know that you can fight for yourself, and that you can keep yourself alive- on the battlefield, at home, anywhere- without his guidance. He'd actually probably make you deadlift his hammer, as well. Make sure you are more than strong.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Shao sleeps lightly. Any small sound can wake him up. He's on high alert at all times, and the smallest noise that he isn't used to has him up immediately. He'll go though the house, and leave no possibility unturned. He'll look under the goddamned pillows, in every closet, the cupboards, until he is absolutely positive no one broke in. Then he'll return to bed and fall back asleep near immediately.

© freyito, 2023 | masterlist | queue | kofi DO NOT REPOST AS YOUR OWN OR USE FOR AI/AI CHATBOTS.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if i cut off my partner for dating someone who is manipulative?

👁‍🗨📼 for recognition

i know these asks arent typically accepted, but i am curious and feel pretty guilty for feeling like this. for some context, me and my partner are both polyamorous, this is an online relationship, and has been going on for a little over two months. ive also only known and have been dating them for over two months, a bit after we both went through break ups with someone else. other than a few issues with communication and hurtful comments, its a pretty healthy relationship and we both love each other a lot. however, theres someone else theyre dating and while i said i dont care who they date as long as they tell me, this doesnt apply to people who do this kinda thing. this person has been manipulative and kind of weird towards them. i wont go into all the details right now, but the main issue i have is that at the start of their relationship, the other person lovebombed them and then begged them to break up with them, and then later that night apparently got drunk and tried to commit. since then its been an on and off cycle of them leaving and going back to them, despite me making it clear that i do not like or trust them and am uncomfortable with it. i accidentally lashed out at them for this recently, after they went back yet again, and ended up just agreeing to not worry about it, but i cant do that. i know that this person is in a bad situation, but i dont think that excuses their behavior. again, i dont care who they date but i dont think this is a healthy relationship. theyve already been given several chances, way more than they deserve, and still havent changed much, and thats why im uncomfortable with it. among the main thing, theyve also been venting to my partner while theyre not in the mental state to help or listen, and ive had to listen to my partner stress out about them for a while. they said they would block them if i wanted them to, and i do, but i know theyre very attached to this person and it would hurt them a lot like every other time theyve blocked them.

i think i may be the asshole in this situation because for one, i lashed out at them over this recently and have already done it a few times in the past, for two i am a very jealous person, and it feels irrational to do this over their relationship, but it also feels like they dont really care about how i feel about it either. i mean, they outright said that theyre litstening and understand, then immediately said theyre not. and i also did say during my lash out that i didnt want to hear about their issues with this person anymore, which i didnt mean in the end, but it still was said and was hurtful. i was just generally angry and hurtful when talking to them about this.

i think im not the asshole because this person doesnt really have an excuse for their behavior, other than possibly the fact that theyre in a bad situation. theyre stuck in an abusive household, and while i sympathize and hope they get out soon, i dont think thats an excuse to project that behavior onto your partner or anyone else. and the last time i tried to confront them, they took no accountability and wouldnt let me talk to them about it.

so, would i be the asshole for cutting off my partner?

What are these acronyms?

[pinkrose787]

Amnesia! Branch AU Chapter 2

AO3: Link Part 1: Here

Summary: Branch wakes up in a world that he doesn't fully understand, and finds that everything has changed.

Chapter 2:

The hospital is so bright and loud. The fluorescent lighting that illuminates the ICU hurts his eyes. And these machines won’t stop beeping. Each beep is like a knife into his brain.  A far cry from Branch’s dark and quiet bunker. He can feel the IV digging into his skin, shifting every time he so much as breathes.

But even with this sensory hell, all he can think about is Poppy. Dr. Moonbloom referred to her as queen, a title that Branch dreaded Poppy getting for years. And the way that she acted. Hugging him, holding his hand, being there by his side.  It’s a way that Branch had dreamed of her acting for a long time. Did they start dating? No. That’s impossible. There’s no way Poppy would ever be with someone like him. Besides she likes Creek. Not him. Never him.

Then his mind wanders over to his brothers. Are they really beyond those white doors waiting for him? Have they really cared enough to reconnect with him? And what of Spruce? Poppy mentioned John Dory, Floyd, and Clay, but didn’t mention Spruce. Maybe he really died like he always assumed his brothers did. Damn. He hopes not. Even if he’s been angry at them for almost his entire life, he never wished for death on any of them.

Dr. Moonbloom checks up on him. “How have you been feeling?”

“Confused, mostly.” Branch says. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

She writes that down in her clipboard. “Well, that stands to reason. You’ve lost the last four years of your memory. Now, I would catch you up on what you have missed, but I have a feeling that Queen Poppy would prefer to do that herself.”

It’s so strange to her Poppy referred to as Queen Poppy. He guesses that it’s just something that he is going to have to get used to. But he still doesn’t fully understand why Poppy is so insistent on helping him. As much as he wants to spend all his time with Poppy, he isn’t sure if could handle it. He looks up at Dr. Moonbloom who stands there with her trademark indifferent expression. “When am I going to be able to go home?”

Dr. Moonbloom looks back down at her clipboard. “Well, given the injuries you sustained we want to keep you here for a few days for observation. After that, you’ll be able to go back to your bunker.”

His bunker! If he’s not there who’s going to maintain it! He’s never been away from his bunker for more than a few hours. Being here in the open, injured, and surrounded by strangers, makes him want to get up and hide in his bunker. But these damn IV lines in his arm won’t let him. “I’ll be here for a couple more days?” He asks. The thought of being in this overstimulating hospital ward for another few days makes him wish he’d have died out there.

“Yes and no. Given your stable condition you’ll be moved to your own personal hospital room at the request of Queen Poppy. Now, I have other patients to attend to. A nurse will be here to move you shortly.” Dr. Moonbloom leaves Branch lying alone in the hospital bed.

There it is again. Poppy is referred to as queen. It was something he knew would happen someday, since she’s King Peppy’s only child. But he never expected it to happen so soon. Does that mean King Peppy is dead? He hopes that Peppy simply stepped down. He’d hate for Poppy to have to feel the pain of losing someone close to her. 

It isn’t long until Dr. Moonbloom’s words come true. A couple of nurses come and help Branch into a wheelchair. Apparently, they don’t trust him enough to walk. There’s something strange about one of the nurses helping. She looks just like Cooper except different.  In fact, as they wheel him to the room where he’s staying, he notices a lot of different trolls. Some are like Cooper and the nurse, others are small and gold, a few are fish-like, some are half-horse, and there are multiple trolls that have more muted colors like him but have much sharper features. He wonders if he doesn’t have memory loss but was rather knocked into some sort of warped nonsense dimension.

The hospital room he was moved to is incredibly nice. It’s so spacious, even though Branch isn’t going to be moving around much. A nightstand next to the bed with a lamp on it. There’s a small couch and an armchair meant for visitors.

Normally, Branch would assume that he won’t have any, But with Poppy and his brothers, he might actually have someone come visit him. That’s such a foreign thought to him. Frankly, he isn’t sure he welcomes it. He’s gotten so used to going through everything alone that the mere thought of someone being there for him when he’s at his weakest makes him anxious.

What really catches his eye in the hotel room is the window. It’s large and lets sunlight stream into the room. And it has an amazing view of Troll Village. Looking through it he can see all the different pods hung up on the branches. There’s all sorts of trolls going about their daily lives. It’s a world that Branch feels like he can never truly be a part of.

It isn’t long before there’s a knock at his hospital door. The door opens to reveal Poppy standing in the doorway. She’s holding a tote that’s so heavy; it’s causing her to lean. “Hey Branch!” She says. Her voice is excited and perky as it always is. She’s smiling so wide. If it weren’t for her eyes Branch would assume that she was happy.  They are red and puffy. The mascara and eyeliner around them is smudged.

“Have you been crying?” Branch asks. Never in the entire time of Branch knowing her has he ever seen her cry. She’s always been so happy and upbeat. The thought of her being sad enough to cry is unnerving.

“What? No. I’m fine,” Poppy says. Her smile falters a little.

“Okay…” Branch doesn’t believe her. But he doesn’t want to push the issue. He knows how much it sucks for people to try and get you to tell you what’s wrong when you do not want to. He glances down at the tote. “What’s with the bag?”

Poppy perks up again. “I brought scrapbooks of everything that’s happened!” She pulls the armchair to Branch’s bedside. It makes a low groan as it scrapes against the floor.

He looks at the tote again. It’s almost ripping at the seams from the weight of all the scrapbooks. “Looks like there’s a lot,” Branch remarks.

“There is!” Poppy sits down in the chair next to Branch. “We’ve done so much over the last four years.” She pulls out a couple of scrapbooks and shows them to Branch. “These are the three really big ones where our lives changed the most.” The scrapbooks are labeled “Befriending the Bergens”, “Troll Tribe Togetherness”, and “BroZone: Here we Bro-again”.

“Befriending the Bergens?” Branch repeats the title of the first scrapbook. He looks up at Poppy with a skeptical expression. “There’s no way we befriended the Bergens. Did you forget that they used to eat us every year?”

“No, I didn’t. Besides they all agreed to stop eating us two years ago! And ever since then we’ve all been friends!”

“There’s no way that I would ever be friends with a Bergen.” He crosses his arms.

“Well…” Poppy chuckles. “You did.” She opens up the third scrapbook. On the first page is Branch in a suit standing next to a Bergen. Poppy points to the picture. “That’s you and King Gristle at his wedding! You were his best man!”

Branch cannot look away from the image. There he is. Next to the Bergen king. Someone he swore would always be his enemy. “There is no way that’s real.”

“It is.” Poppy puts down the scrapbook. “I know that us befriending the Bergens is going to be hard for you to understand without your memories, because I know that what happened with your grandma deeply affected you.”

Branch’s blood runs cold. Poppy knows his most deeply held traumas. All the years and all the effort of hiding himself from her were undone in just four years.  “I told you about my grandma?”

“Yeah, in a pretty dramatic way actually.” She grabs the first scrapbook. “I detailed it in here. If you read it, you’ll see that it happened in the past. Things have changed. You’ve changed.” Her voice is soft.

For a second, Branch doesn’t respond. He doesn’t know how. His gaze goes to the wall across from him. A flurry of thoughts fly through his head. He’s felt more emotions in the couple of hours since waking up than he has in years. Was that good? Was that bad? He isn’t sure. What he does know is that he doesn’t like it.

Poppy gently takes Branch’s hand. “Hey, we don’t have to go through this all right now. That’s why I brought the scrapbooks. So, you can read through them at your own pace.” Branch looks up at Poppy. She has a soft smile on her face. “Though if you want, I can go through them with you. Fill you in on all the little details the scrapbooks miss.”

“I… I.. guess I do have some questions,” Branch says.

“Ask away!” Poppy says.

Branch takes a second to think. There’s a million questions buzzing about in his brain. There is one that keeps showing up in his mind. One that he’s been having trouble getting used to. “When did you become queen?” he asks.

“A couple of years ago. Right after we befriended the Bergens, my dad abdicated and gave the crown to me!” Poppy says. She opens up the first scrap book to an image of her and Branch holding hands and standing on top of a toadstool. “You were actually right there beside me at my coronation.”

Poppy smiles gently as she brushes the picture. “Actually, you’ve been by my side for pretty much my entire reign as queen,” she says. A lone tear falls down her face.

There’s a bit of pain in Branch’s heart. He’s happy that Poppy didn’t have to lose her dad. But she lost him. Or at least she lost the troll that he was before he lost his memory. It’s strange to the see the woman you love mourn you while you’re still alive “I wish I could remember it.” Branch says.

“I wish you could too.” Poppy wipes away the tear. “But we’ll work on getting those memories back!”

There’s that typical Poppy optimism that has pestered Branch for years. The optimism that made Branch fall for her in the first place. Though Branch doesn’t feel as optimistic about him getting his memories back. “Something else that’s been on my mind.”

“Yeah?” Poppy asks.

“What were we? Before I lost my memory, I mean.” Branch takes a deep breath. “Because it seems like we were more than friends.” Though Branch doesn’t really hold hope that she ever returned his feelings.

Poppy pauses at that question. Her eyes start to well up with tears. “We are… well…” She takes a deep breath in and blinks away the tears in her eyes. “We were dating.”

Branch’s heart almost stops at Poppy saying that. They were together. And he doesn’t remember a damn thing about it. This feels like another joke that the universe has played on him. “We were dating?” he repeats lightly. “How? And since when?”

Poppy picks up the “Troll Tribe Togetherness” scrapbook. She turns to the very end. On that page there’s Poppy, Branch, and a bunch of other trolls that Branch doesn’t know standing in a coliseum. The little Branch and Poppy scrapbook characters are holding hands. “It was right after Barb tried to steal all the strings. After I smashed her guitar and temporarily destroyed all music, we sang a song that brought music back to the world. And there on that stage is when you said, ‘I love you’ for the very first time and that’s when I said it back to you. After that we were always together.”

Branch is quiet. He wants to say something, but what? What could he possibly say to that? That sounds like such an amazing moment, like something out of Branch’s wildest dreams. And he doesn’t remember it.

Rage wells up inside him. He’s had so much stolen from him over his life. His parents, his brothers, his grandma. And now he’s had four years of memories stolen from him. Memories where he lived a happy life. A life that he thought would never be possible. He wants to rage against everything. He wants to tear everything apart. He wants to scream and scream and scream. But he can’t. He doesn’t want to say anything to hurt Poppy.  

“Do you want to see my favorite scrapbook?” Poppy says.

This snaps Branch out of his own mind. He looks at her. She has a soft smile on her face, though her eyes are still misty. “Sure,” Branch says.

Poppy pulls out a brown scrapbook. It’s unlike all the other scrapbooks Branch has seen. The construction is shoddy. On the front there’s a poorly drawn image of Branch and Poppy inside a heart and written in abysmal handwriting is “Branch and Poppy’s Great Adventure”.

He stares at it for a second. “This is your favorite scrapbook? Why?” Branch asks.

“Because it’s the one you made for me,” Poppy says softly. She caresses the cover with a smile on her face.

“I made that for you?” Branch asks. Truthfully, he should have figured that out. He might know how to make traps that can catch anything and build a functional survival bunker, but crafts have never been his strong suit. It’s hard to focus on gluing paper together when you feel like any moment a Bergen is going to pick you up and eat you.

“Yeah, you did.” She hands the scrapbook to Branch. “I think maybe it’s best if you see what happened from your own perspective. Maybe that’ll wake up your memories!”

Branch opens the scrapbook. The construction of it is not any better on the inside. There’s so many little drawings of them, going on adventures, being with each other. The page that strikes Branch the most is near the beginning of the scrapbook. Him and Poppy are standing on top of a mushroom and holding hands. Written above them “You make me happy.”

Such as simple statement. But it feels like a stab in the heart. It’s a sentiment that he’s never expressed out loud, at least not that he can remember. Poppy makes him about as happy as he can be, which usually isn’t very much. But it seems like Poppy managed to break through every barrier he had set up over his life.

But without his memories, all those barriers are back-up. It feels like Poppy teleported behind them, and Branch doesn’t like that. As much as he loves her, as much as he wants to be close with her, having her be behind all his walls makes him feel panicked.

Branch looks over at Poppy. Her face has such a soft smile, one that Branch would hate to see go away. But they have to face reality. The one she’s smiling thinking about isn’t him. He looks away from her. “I know you want me to say that I remember everything now, but I don’t. Nothing in this scrapbook is familiar.”

For a millisecond, the smile on Poppy’s face fades. But she forces it back up. “Well, that’s okay! No one expects you to remember everything right away!” She takes Branch’s hand. “And while you get your memories back, your brothers and I will be here every step of the way.”

Oh, that’s right. He’d been so distracted by his forgotten past with Poppy; he forgot that his brother’s came back. “I can’t believe it. I thought I’d never see any of my brothers again.” Branch looks at Poppy. “It’s not some prank right? They’re really here?”

Pranks have been pulled on him in the past. A lot of them were cruel and meant to stir up his paranoia about the Bergens returning. But Poppy never pulled them on him. Usually, she would get on the case of whoever was pranking Branch.  “It’s not a prank. They are really back. If you want to, you can see them. They’re actually in the waiting room right now.” Poppy says.

Truthfully, he still doesn’t know if he wants to see his brothers again. It seems like past him did. But from what he’s seen past him had a whole better life. All the anger at his brothers is still so fresh. He glances down away from Poppy. “I don’t want to see them.” His voice is angrier than he expected it to be.

“That’s alright. You can see them when you’re ready.” Poppy says. She gently smiles at him. “Meanwhile, I’ll be here for you.”

Branch looks at her. Even though she’s smiling, he can tell that she’s struggling to keep up this façade. “Is anyone going to be there for you?”

Immediately after asking Branch feels a little dumb. Of course, there are going to be people there for her. She’s the most beloved troll in all of Troll Village. If she so much as sneezes, the entire village loses their minds.

Poppy puts her hand on Branch’s. “Don’t worry about me. Viva hasn’t really left my side, since you were hospitalized.”

“Who’s Viva?” Branch asks.

“Oh? Yeah!” Poppy perks up. “I forgot to tell you! She’s my long-lost big sister!”

“Wow.” Branch really cannot think of anything to say to that. “You have an older sister?”

“Yeah, I know. And my dad never mentioned her...” Poppy starts to go into a speedy talk about her sister. Branch is barely catching any of it. He’s hearing Clay’s name mentioned a couple times. But he isn’t sure in what context it’s being mentioned.

A sharp pain shoots through Branch’s head. “Augh!” he exclaims.

Poppy stops mid-sentence. “Oh my goodness? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Branch presses his hand against his head. “My head just hurts.” It could solely be from his head injury, but the insane amount of information and emotions that he’s had to process in the last hour definitely have not helped.

“I should probably let you rest.” She gets up to leave, but leaves the tote bag filled with scrapbooks behind. Before she turns the door handle, she looks back towards Branch and smiles. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back tomorrow!”

With that statement, she leaves Branch alone in the hospital room. While Branch is sad to see Poppy go, he’s also relieved. Now, he can sit and process every thing without worrying if what he says is going to hurt Poppy.

____

Closing the door, Poppy feels a wave of exhaustion wash over her. She knows that she should have expected Branch to figure some things out. Nothing prepared her for the conversation about what the two of them were. Reminiscing on her and Branch’s relationship with Branch was one of the most painful things she’s ever experienced.

Right now, she just wants to go home and collapse. Well, what she really wants to do is collapse in Branch’s arms, tell him all about the day she’s had, and let her exhaustion melt away. But that’s not possible. She needs to be strong for Branch. Just as long as it takes for him to get back to how he used to be. Hopefully, that won’t be too long.

Helping Branch catch up isn’t the only tough job Poppy has to do. Now, she has to be the one to tell Branch’s brothers that he doesn’t want to see them. It’ll break their hearts, but it needs to be done.

Poppy takes a deep breathe to compose herself, and heads towards the waiting room.

[brimleysbears]

(Featured media: Burl Ives - from The Spiral Road, 1962)

"Fan" fiction erotica - "Hollywood Confessions: My Date With Big Daddy"

Post 2 of 4

Part II:

The Human Clipboard and the Night Visitors

As he was lying down in the middle of that king-sized bed, I was lounging next to him. That’s when I served up a few glasses of water and set them next to the bed. As I looked down, I noticed he had made a ‘tent’ for himself under his great belly. “Oh dear, well would you just look at that,” he signed, “The General is standing at attention once again! Do you mind?”, he then asked as I nodded, although not sure exactly what I was nodding about – that’s when he reached under my skirt and proceeded to remove my panties. His fingers made their way up my legs until he gently reached up there.

“Ahh,” he signed, “just like the girls back home. No need to remove what God gave you. After all, who ever heard of a beaver without fur?”

I had been with a lot of men up until that point, even some older men, but nobody as chatty as Mr. Ives. In fact, I wondered if he was ever going to stop talking, although he did become speechless more than once that night. Another thing was how wooly that man really was in person. All over his shoulders, back, underarms, and just about everywhere – he was like some kind of beast, although not what most girls would consider ‘handsome’, he excited me much to my surprise, in fact so much, that it didn’t take much to get me moist enough to want him inside of me that instant. That is when I slowly pulled the covers down to reveal his hairy patch poking out generously through the V-neck of his white sleeveless undershirt. Pulling the covers further down revealing his big round belly, which his shirt had pulled up slightly revealing a tuft of hair under his belly button. That’s when his hands stopped me and pulled me by the hips, and he gestured me to sit on his lap. Having not given a chance to even see his naked lap, I obeyed and climbed on top of him, resting my skirt over his tummy.

Just then, I could feel his stiff bulge under me as I shifted my weight back and forth a few inches. That’s soon after he finished pulling the covers down, as if he didn’t want me to see him completely naked, at least at that point. As I sat on his lap, he just laid there and smiled as his breathing was getting heavier with each breath. Up until then he was talking, almost nonstop, but at this point, he would just whisper, “that’s a good girl… just take it easy… sit on Big Daddy’s lap… almost there… take your time…” That’s about the time I was sitting on his erection which was then pressed flat and pointed towards his belly. I rocked slowly as I could feel his shaft massage up and down my opening that proceeded to cause it to be even more wet with every thrust. Not too long after teasing the fat man was when, somewhat intuitively, he fully entered me. That’s when he got loud. Very loud in fact. So much so, I assumed he was blowing his load up in me right away, so instinctively I tried to thrust quickly as to enhance his perceived orgasm, however he just grabbed my hips firmly beckoning me to move slower, staring at me intently.

That’s about the time when I was startled! Someone was at the door! In fact, nobody knocked, they just barged in. I panicked hoping it wasn’t the press and when I tried to unmount the old beast, he gripped me even firmer, looking at me as if he was completely oblivious to those intruders. I couldn’t even look behind me to see what was going on. Did they have guns? Cameras? Luckily, I was still wearing my top and my skirt was covering most of us, including his shirt, and the fact that his legs were still under the bed covers. It was as if we could have been doing something other than sex and no way to prove otherwise. A million thoughts raced through my mind as Burl asked me to stay exactly where I was, and he immediately greeted the rude guests.

“I assume you still need my John Henry for the useless paperwork with those useless concessions, well you might as well get over here and get it done with!” Mr. Ives exclaimed through his teeth while he addressed me, “please give me a moment while I work, and be a dear and light my cigar”, and motioned over to the man’s younger assistant who was producing a form and an ink pen along with his cigar and something to light it with. “My glasses too!”, he barked as I placed the fat cigar into his mouth. As I was handed a lighter by the assistant, I lit his cigar while he read a sheet of paper which didn’t take much time. Meanwhile, his erection was still almost solid, and about as far up inside me as it possibly could be, and although I tried to stay still, the occasional slight movements would cause his dick to shift in my hole, causing him to get excited however, like any good actor, pretending to not enjoy any of that, but subtly effecting his breathing and he would make a kind of snorting sound every time he would get excited.

The two men, bewildered at whether Mr. Ives was actually having full blown sexual intercourse, continued and also pretended that everything was normal, although I knew from my experience with professional entertainers that things like this were actually quite common. Something that I did not expect is when he started mumbling through his smoky cigar, “would you be a dear and shift back ever so slightly – I need a good firm surface to write on. That’s when he pulled up my blouse, revealing my belly button and the undersection of my bra, he then placed the piece of paper just under my breasts as he held the pen, trying to sign the form. At that time, the businessman politely asked his assistant to hold the blouse up as to not hinder Mr. Ives trying to use the ‘nice lady’s front side as a surface’. That’s because at that point, I was trying to hold up my body with my hands placed on the fat man’s knees behind me. As I rested back a little further, trying desperately to get comfortable (and nobody is ever comfortable trying to be a ‘human clipboard’ while men in suits are breathing down my neck while at the same time, trying to remain having sex with a rather obese old singer.

That’s about the time that Burl said, while clenching the lit cigar between his teeth, “you know dear if you move back any further, The General is going to slide out of his little cockpit, and you don’t want to make The General upset now do you?” That’s when the businessman and his assistant became very wide eyed and embarrassed and were clamoring to leave that that point.

“Don’t worry, gentlemen, you haven’t spoiled our fireworks, in fact we were just now getting acquainted with each other when you arrived. We have yet to get that far as the night is still young…”, the horny old bull continued to speak as he removed the cigar from his mouth, quickly finishing writing his signature, “now scat you two! Don’t you see I have more important business to attend to! Don’t forget to turn out the light and lock the door behind you, we would be displeased to have more coitus interruptus.”

As the men left, the room was now lit by one of the lamps sitting on the nightstand. I could make out his face through the smoke as his angry stare softened suddenly as he looked me in the eyes, smiling with joy as he chuckled and politely said, “sorry about that, now be a good girl and carry on will you, things were just beginning to disappoint us down there, let’s see if you can get The General back to work my dear?”

I gladly rode his half-hard cock as it soon fully stiffened up again, causing the fat man to moan as he handed me his cigar. I tossed it in the ash tray next to me carefully while remaining on top of him, much to the surprise of both of us. By this time, he was removing my top, and my bra, revealing my breasts which felt fully aroused even before he touched my nipples. The more I rode up and down, then slightly forward and back, I could hear his breathing harden, especially the more naked I became.

It’s true what they say about that iconic twinkle in his eye. Remembering his impeccable charm while on the movie sets with him over the years, the way he is with women, the way he was with me that night, I never imagined I would enjoy a man so old and so large as he is. It was marvelous, although at times obnoxious. Sometimes, even while he was penetrating me, he’d talk about other sexual experiences he had, even some unusual things growing up in farm country and when he was a traveling hobo, but I have to admit, it was all part of his charm, and I was hooked. I hoped the night would never and, and at that moment as my mind wandered, he pulled my hips again as he entered me deeper still. Letting out a sigh of relief, he lifted me up as I laid down next to him. That’s when I saw it for the first time. Foreskin covering the tip of his hard-moistened-shaft, surrounded by long brown and gray hairs nearly covering everything below his beltline to his husky legs. There was a clear bead of liquid resting on top nearly dripping down. His testicles were somewhat large but couldn’t tell because they must have been pulled up a bit because of his stiff erection. I have definitely seen bigger dicks over the years but could not remember if at that point had I seen a stumpier boner, although in retrospect, it was over average sized when I later pressed around his surrounding padding. It’s just when I saw it in the dim light it looked like the most stumpy member I had ever seen on a man, and the more I looked at it, the more I found it erotic; maybe because it was so different – or that it resembled something that you would see on an animal.

Thinking back to that unusual night, I had to wonder why he didn’t want me to see him naked until we were having sex. Perhaps I would have been more excited to, at first, feel that thick dick inside me, surprised at it, because I might have anticipated something unfulfilling if I had seen it ahead of time? Perhaps some women had run away believing there’d be no pleasure for her? That would be sad. He gave me immense pleasure, and I simply couldn’t wait to have it inside me again! Just at that thought, I felt his big warm hands gently push me back where my head was resting on a pillow. He finally removed the rest of the clothes I was wearing, my leggings, skirt, and now totally naked although the bear himself was still wearing his white undershirt and black socks, he had something else on his mind. For a moment he was on top of me, and just when I was longing to have him back inside of me, he giggled and started giving me kisses all the way down, starting from my lips, all the way downtown, so to speak.

Feeling is wide tongue inside me was more than I could bear. I was already aroused; I could have cum while he was riding me. But the more I felt his little beard tickle my fuzzy patch, his tongue knew exactly where to go, and within minutes, fireworks were exploding. Just when I thought I was as wet as I could get, I became somewhat embarrassed at not only the mess I made, but the sounds I made. Just then, as my legs were out of control, nearly strangling the old man, he released himself from my grip as he removed his shirt, panting and in utter expectation. Suddenly, he was all the way on top of me, face to face, and smothering me with kisses as he began to make a few strange grunts like some kind of hungry animal. That’s when he entered me again. I didn’t realize he was still erect. Eating me must have kept him turned on. I gasped, having not fully recovered from that mass orgasm, he pounded my pussy and enveloped me with nearly the full force of his massive weight. His girth completely covering me, dripping his sweat on me, thrusting, but not very rhythmically, but almost sloppy and out of control. Sometimes missing my vagina, sometimes hitting close by, his rock hard dick nearly bruising other parts of my body as he poked around, in and out, thrusting between my legs, then back in; sometimes just teasing me with the tip, and then thrusting himself in as far as he could go although his massive bulk made it impossible to fully penetrate me the way he did while I was on top, the experience was so erotic, I was speechless. I lifted my legs further as he mounted me even deeper then propped himself up a little higher. He remarked more than once about how much he liked it sloppy wet like that.

Then he fell back on me like before. That’s about the time he started talking once again: “you realize that if you can no longer breathe, you can dial ‘0’ for the front desk and they can send several men to remove me.” But at that time, I wasn’t even listening to his constant joking, although quite funny in retrospect, all I could do was moan and gasp for air. I didn’t care if he smothered me half to death, I was in such a state of bliss. He rode me faster and faster, this time, once again, not saying a word. Panting like a dog, and grunting again, I wondered if this was going to be him finally finishing up in me. Then he kissed me on the lips again and offered me a cigarette. Burl, then giddy like a schoolboy, reached into my purse, and proceeded to light a cigarette in my mouth as he lit his cigar again. He lied back next to me, dripping with sweat, his hair wildly out of place, as he let out a sigh. I looked down as he shifted, his stumpy boner bounced around like a jack-in-the-box, it was so cute. I rested my head on his thick hairy arm and could have drifted off into dreamland when he began to talk again.

“Glad you got your fireworks,” he whispered romantically as he continued to puff on his cigar.

I replied, “glad you got yours too”.

He just chuckled, “I suppose I’ve been teasing you more than you realize… But I must say, you’ve sure made an old man happy… hey, want to make an old man even happier?”

Continued in Part 3, link:

https://www.tumblr.com/brimleysbears/743868840199536640/featured-media-burl-ives-from-the-spiral-road?source=share

[munsonsreputation]

"fight or flight" by conan gray but make it steve x r

so like (you don't have to incorporate this but this is what my silly little thoughts came up with) r crushing on steve despite their long, strong friendship. r having to see steve with a new girl every week. r wishing it was her. and finally, r can't take it anymore and then that's where the song comes in "well, fight or flight, i'd rather die than have to cry in front of you. fight or flight, i'd rather lie than tell you i'm in love with you." and yeah.. aslkfjlsdk sorry if this didn't make sense 😭😭

cleo!!! this is one of my favorite songs by conan and i hope i was able to do your request justice 🧸💐 i kinda left the ending up to you to decide and i really hope you like this!!!

ive been loving the angst requests ive been getting and this is def one of my favorite ones i've written so far!!! 💌💫

It was so wrong. So very, very wrong. But at this point, you should’ve seen this coming. 

You’ve known Steve and been his friend long before high school. The two of you practically grew up together, hung out all the time, and there was only a brief pause in your friendship when freshman year came along…Steve transforming into King Steve…the version of Steve you didn’t quite know anymore. 

While the break in your friendship during that time was short, it wasn’t until he showed up at your doorstep apologizing for his behavior that you two reconciled. And then the two of you were back to being the best of friends, only this time, the desire for Steve starting to develop as the years went by. 

By now the two of you had graduated high school, each of you moving out of your parents’ home and renting out an apartment just a few minutes away from your neighborhood.

It was nice having Steve as a roommate. 

Having someone you could talk to at two in the morning when you couldn’t sleep. 

Waking up to breakfast being made in the kitchen with coffee just the way you liked it. 

Drunk karaoke nights where the two of you would belt out duets and receive angry letters in the mail from sleepless neighbors. 

And of course, a person you could always give you a hug at any given moment during the day. 

But sometimes it sucked to be roommates with Steve. 

Three months ago, he stumbled into your shared apartment with Tina, glue to his side. Offering you a shy smile as she and him giggled their way into his bedroom and spent the night together. 

You and Steve usually had movie nights on the weekends, and there was one instance where he phoned you from work, apologizing, saying he couldn’t make it because he had scored a date with a customer. 

The kitchen, just a few footsteps from the living room where the landline was, you could hear Steve talking to the next girl he was seeing, shooting her compliments as you tried not to seem affected by it, beating the eggs a little rougher as you tuned his voice out. 

And the shittiest part?

Having him come to you for advice on whichever girl he was seeing. Putting on a fake smile and nodding your head like you gave a shit about any of them when the only wish you had was that it was you that Steve was seeing. 

Fight or flight? 

Sometimes you could expect if he was coming to you for your advice regarding his dates. This was a lifesaver because you could fight it off, telling him to just talk to them if he was so worried about not hearing back. But most times your flight would activate, pretending to be asleep when he knocked on your bedroom door telling you it was a girl emergency. Or making up excuses that you had to run errands before he had time to even ask you at all. 

“Hello? Did she really zone out?” Your frozen eyes fluttered lazily, coming back to your senses while Nancy and Robin stood in front of you, flapping their hands in your face and looking at each other. 

“S-sorry!” You withdrew, shaking your head as you got yourself together, fingers stiffening around the red solo cup you were holding filled with lemonade. 

Somehow you had been convinced to come to this party, by none other than Steve, of course. Thankfully, Robin, Nance, and Eddie were around too, sticking by your introverted side while Steve socialized with familiar faces. 

Robin smiled earnestly, shaking her head at your apology. “S’ok, you were just…staring a bit too hard at Harrington.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Robs,” Eddie chimed in, nudging her shoulder than sending a smirk your way, “she was practically eye-fucking him.” 

Nancy choked on her drink, suppressing her laugh, as you rolled your eyes, doing an awful job at concealing the blush that was developing on your cheeks prompting you to turn the other way. 

“Don’t be dick!” Robin scolded, shoving at Eddie’s head as he just continued to laugh to himself. 

You felt arms around you, flickering your eyes to Robin who was now holding you securely with her head on your shoulder, “She just has a crush alright…nothing wrong with that.” 

“Oh, I didn’t say there was anything wrong with her little crush…I’m just sick of these two dancing around their feelings.” Eddie noted, followed by the tsk of your tongue. 

“There are no feelings on his side…trust me.” You exhaled wistfully, resting your head on top of Robin’s as she and Nancy grunted skeptically. 

On the other side of your shoulder, you felt Nance slot herself there, glancing up at you. “Steve’s an asshole and he’s bad at feelings…but I know he likes you.” 

“We’ve been friends for years and he’s never made a move on me.” You speculated, and Eddie rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his drink before speaking. 

“Like Wheeler said, he’s bad with feelings…shit, I’m bad at feelings too, but that won’t stop me from getting some.” 

The three of you girls furrowed your brows at the somewhat tipsy metal head, “What the fuck are you talking about?” Robin shook her head as Eddie howled. 

“I hate to shit on my species here, but we find ways at avoiding. Steve likes you, alright? But he just doesn’t know how to tell you…better yet, he’s scared! So what does he do in return?” 

Nancy leans forward, shrugging her shoulders towards him. “Sleep around?” 

“Exactly!” Eddie beams and snaps his fingers, like a proud professor or something. 

You go for another drink, teeth biting down on the plastic as you grumbled, “Seems like a pretty fucked up thing if you ask me.” 

Robin nods, peering up at you. “Have you ever thought about going for girls? They aren’t as complicated, trust me.” She half jokes, as you laugh lightly, waving her off. 

“Maybe you should make the first move?” Eddie proposed as you puffed, letting out an absurd laugh, shaking your head with vigor. 

“Nope!” You pointed your finger at him, wagging it back and forth as he pouted innocently, “Never going to fucking happen.” 

Nancy squeezed your elbow, gaining your attention. “You’ll never know what could have been unless you say something.” 

Your eyes widened, shaking your head even more roughly, “No! Not you too! C’mon, back me up Robs!” 

You turned back to Robin who smiled, looking over towards Steve who was talking to some guys at the punch table. “They have a point…and he’s right there!” 

Eddie leaned closer to your ear, whispering, “And no girl in sight.” 

There was a point Eddie was making. Steve hadn’t been seeing any girls that you knew of for the past couple of weeks. In fact, he was more adamant about staying in at the apartment with you. Spending nights together falling asleep on the couch watching movies and waking up in the morning a tangled mess as the two of you laughed and made breakfast together. 

Maybe he did like you?

“Oh shit! You’re debating it, aren’t you!” Robin egged on, bumping your shoulder with hysteria, seeing the look in your eyes change the second you found Steve in the crowded home. 

Nancy yelped, jumping up and down and hitting Eddie’s chest cheerfully, “She’s totally gonna do it!” 

“Well, what are you waiting for, princess?” Eddie pushed you lightly, giving you some bravery. “Go and tell the boy you love him.” 

You snapped back, eyes widening, “I do not love Steve!” 

The three rolled their eyes, sick of your horrible way of lying or being so bad at knowing your own feelings that you couldn’t tell the difference between an innocent crush and the obvious love that you held for Steve. 

“You’ve been friends for years…you love him. How many times do you two say “I love you” to each other on a daily basis?”

Ok true, you two did say you love each other, every night before heading off to bed and every morning before you’d part for work. But it was in a friend way…right? 

Ok maybe you said it more than those two instances.

Like when Steve would drop you off lunch even when you didn’t ask. Or that one time that Steve almost forgot to turn off the stove and when he called you panicking, but you had already turned it off the second you got home and saw the red light illuminating the glass. 

You loved Steve…more than a best friend should. 

“Ladies, I think it’s finally hitting her.” Eddie declared as the two girls grinned and nodded. 

No more fighting it and definitely no more running away. 

You had to tell Steve how you felt. 

Feeling the wave of certainty flow through your veins, you thrusted your now empty cup into Eddie’s chest and he grabbed it. The three of your friends watching as you took a deep breath and dragged your feet from the other side of the room to where Steve was. 

His eyes instantly shifted to your figure the second he saw you appear his peripheral, shooting you that classic smile you’d never get tired of seeing time and time again. 

“Hey, you ok?” He sought, peering behind you to see your friends watching on with concentration.

“Yeah, I’m great!” You responded too enthusiastically, making him grin again, this time reaching for a cup to serve you some punch. 

You watched his movements, moving ever so smoothly despite the cramped space, “I—I actually have to tell you something.” You straightened up, rolling your shoulders back and taking a deep breath. 

He nodded, keeping his eyes set on you as he spooned in a ladle full of juice into the plastic cup, offering it to you, but you shook your head, waving your hands for him to keep it. 

“You’re shaking,” Steve furrowed his brows, noticing your shuddering hands, placing down the cup and steadying them in his hold while he squeezed. 

The action making your knees weak, threatening for you to melt into a pile of mush and seep into the floorboards beneath you. 

“Did someone do something to you?” He ordered worriedly, looking around the party to study every person as if they caused this state of you. 

“Nonono!” You closed your eyes, shaking your head, psychologically preparing yourself. 

You could hear Steve let out a sigh of relief, gripping your hands once more before you opened your eyes, facing his soft gaze. 

“I’m in love with you.” 

The words flew out of your mouth too fast for your like and definitely too easily. Like there was no hesitancy behind your statement. His eyes enlarged, hands freezing against yours while the two of you stared at each other, feeling like hours were passing by when it was just milliseconds. 

“I... I, um, wow, ok, I—“ 

Steve was stumbling, undoubtedly taken aback by this confession while trying to look deep down inside himself for the right words to finally say to you, but they never came up. 

“Steve, what’s going on?” 

A voice popped up from behind him. The girl standing with a look of hurt on her face, seeing the hands tangled together. She was just a girl he met a few nights ago, the one who invited him to this party. 

Oh, my god. You should’ve known. 

You dropped his hands, eyes darting between the stranger and Steve, who looked just as remorseful and apologetic, stumbling on his words once again. 

Fight or Flight. Fight or Flight. Fight or Flight. 

The lump in your throat grew bigger and tighter, not knowing if you should apologize or say that it was a mistake. And you could feel the tears creeping into your eyes, just moments away from slipping out, but you’d rather die than cry in front of him right now. 

Leave. Definitely leave. 

Spinning around, you only caught the concerned looks of your friends before you bumped into bodies trying to find the front door so that you could flee the scene as quickly as possible. 

Thankfully, you and Steve had gotten to the party separately. Him coming from work and you taking your car. Your fingers dug into your pocket, jamming the key into the car door once you found it, and starting up the vehicle. 

The wind rustled as you sped, loud and deep chested sobs leaving your mouth as the roads and stoplights were a blurry mess behind your tears. Cursing at yourself for being so stupid for believing that Steve could ever quit his antics and have feelings for you. 

There was no way you and Steve could live under the same roof again. Not after this godforsaken night. So you stormed through the apartment, collecting all your belongs and stuffing it into backpacks and stray boxes you had lying around. Needing to leave this place you once called home so that you would never have to see Steve ever again and talk about what had happened. 

But the phone rung noisily, garnering your attention as you messily crammed clothes into already full bag of garments, wanting to avoid having to do a second trip here to get all your things because that would mean running into Steve, again.

You cried, pushing off the floor and neglecting the clutter as you ran out of your room and into the living room where the landline rested on the side table. Perhaps it was Robin or Nancy calling to check up on you, knowing they were too late when they reached the outside of the party and your car was long gone.

“Hello,” You sniffled, picking up the phone and trying not to sound so crushed. 

Cries came from the other side of the line, confusing you, “Are you his fucking roommate!?” It was a female voice that snapped at you, accompanied by more cries and expletives. 

“W-what?” You croaked, forehead creasing as you repeated the question in your head, trying to go through the list of people who it could be.

Maybe the neighbor downstairs who could hear you scrambling from above them. 

“Are you Steve’s roommate?” The voice ordered as you gulped, detesting to hear his name. 

You sighed sadly, closing your eyes as you could feel the hot tears never stopping since you came home, “Y-yeah…soon the be ex-roommate.” 

There was a laugh, almost mockingly, until she spoke. “I bet you’re happy with yourself! He loves you and you stole him from me! I asked him out first and you just fucking stole him from me.” 

You choked, fingers tightening around the phone, eyes hurling open once you realized who it was and what she was saying. 

Then there were noises outside the door. Frustrated curses and mumbles, along with the sounds of keys jumbling against each other. 

Slamming the phone back down onto the receiver, you stood up, darting towards the door to open it, but it had already been unlocked from the outside and there Steve was, nearly knocking into you if he hadn’t halted on time. 

His chest was rising and falling rapidly, hands shaking just like yours earlier that night as you two stared at each other. 

And finally he spoke. 

“I’m in love with you, too.” 

This time, you didn’t want to fight it or flee the scene. 

It was up to you and Steve now. 

[morethanmeetstheass]

Tell us the “sob story” 8O

lol im gonna put this under a cut so its not massive, but here u go, sob story!

so i think i mentioned that my former apartment got lit on fire, so i had to move to a new place because i was too fuckin scared to live in that place anymore. upside, the guy who blew up my furnace got fired, so W

lived in apartment 2 for a while, it was pretty good, but extremely lonely! i had no local friends At All and like, exactly 1 online friend, so i was wallowing in a sea of loneliness for like, a solid year and a half living there. woe is me, whatever. eventually decided fuck this place, i wanna move back to new york-- i went to uni there, i was born there, i loved it there so i wanted to go back. bought a house, WHEEE-- THAT was a hell of a nightmare, house had code violations, contract was a mess, it was a whole stressful thing. but we got it settled. i have a house now! so that's cool!

but it's also not! because i had a friend/situationship i guess? in new york and i invited them to live with me bc they needed somewhere to live, i'd feel more comfortable having a roommate bc im still afraid to cook and use heat or anything, it was a win win. we went on a few dates back in like, 2020, and i was like, we'll see where things go romantically! without really any expectations of whether we'd get together or not, since ive changed a LOT since 2020 and i really didnt know them all that well. but hey, potential partner! we'll call them jill.

wrench got thrown in THAT when i met a guy, oops! started modding for a pretty big youtuber who's also become one of my best friends, and met a wonderful guy. we very much fell for each other and are now dating. we'll call him levi. told jill hey, i met someone, so suna x jill isnt gonna happen. that didnt go well! jill was apparently much more under the impression that we were gonna date than i was, and was/is very heartbroken about it. whoops! so now i live with someone who is currently still in love with me, while dating someone else! yikes!

which would be fine if there wasnt also a shitload of drama about jill cleaning up their stuff! they've been here for almost 5 months and ive had to ask them dozens of times to please get their huge piles of stuff out of the middle of the floor bc i needed paths for the movers to get their stuff in, i need to unpack my own stuff, etc. they got so upset about me asking them to do this (bear in mind, literally the entire living room was full of stuff FLOOR TO CEILING, and i've given them plenty of warning on dates i was coming to renovate/paint/when my move-in date was) that they threatened to move out and i was like? ok? then move out LMAO. also their cat injured one of my cats and ripped a hole in his ear!

so yes, a lot of unnecessary stress and drama on top of already dealing with all the shit involved with interstate moving, new finances, job changes, relationship changes, all that. the upside being, im very very very happy with levi, im starting to feel settled in my new house, things at my job have calmed down, and things are overall pretty okay. im aware that im extremely privileged to be able to own a house (granted, in an area with a very low cost of living-- the house was like 150k which is actually a semi-sane house price, compared to my friends with 700k homes and stuff LOL) and that my problems arent really all that bad, but topped with the dystopian state of the world right now and the existential dread ive had for months because of it, its just Not been a good time in the suna world. but its ok. things are calming, im making the best of it, and we'll see how things go from here!

[buckgettingstruck]

https://www.tumblr.com/buckgettingstruck/756191320359534592/can-we-talk-about-ryan-using-the-word-hetero-for?source=share

I want to know your thoughts about Ryan using heterosexual male in interviews when talking about the coming out scene. The BTs love using this as Ryan “forcing” 911 or “confirming” that he wants Eddie to remain straight. 🙄 My view on those interviews was how he handled someone close to him coming out and wanting to use that as inspiration for the scene and it had nothing to do with Eddie’s sexuality, the future of the character, and Ryan “confirming” that he doesn't want to play gay.

oh god i didnt even remember that. i agree with you but answer under the cut because i got crazy:

but considering the 7x05 plot for eddie was about him and marisol outside of buck’s coming out stuff then i think what i said before still applies. hes dating a woman in that episode and has only dated women, so hes not really wrong to say it since theyre pushing that plotline 🤷‍♀️

(also i do wanna say dating women doesnt mean hes not queer but that was how he was being portrayed. so far eddie has only dated women. im a queer woman dont even start. btw this disclaimer isnt aimed at you anon 🫶)

also to our knowledge at least ryan is straight so it’d make sense for him to come at the scene from his own experiences of being a straight man who has queer friends. using their experiences is just a technique a lot of actors use. now of course he was given direction in the script and by the director so some of his facial expressions about certain things buck says are… interesting (which ive already expressed my opinions on like literally why did they do all that butni digress) but ULTIMATELY that’s how ryan came at the scene. the main goal was to get across that eddie would always be supportive of buck. ryan was supportive to his friend in his personal life so thats how he approached the scene.

ANYWAY. this horse has been beaten to death and then some at this point but im annoying and need to defend my guy who plays my favorite guy. i do not understand the rhetoric that ryan doesn’t want to play eddie as a queer character. ryan has played a gay character before and ryan has been supportive of buddie for years. like im pretty sure they didnt let him do interviews for a few seasons because he said something about eddie replacing abby in buck’s life and fox didnt want that 😭 he has also said in these interviews where he’s called eddie hetero that if the story were to go the buddie route he’d be down for it. if he wasnt they wouldnt even let the journalists ask the question.

RYAN ALSO SAID. BY THE WAY. THAT THEY WERENT SURE WHO BETWEEN HIM AND OLIVER WOULD GET THE QUEER ARC THIS SEASON. HE SAID THAT IN AN INTERVIEW. WHERE THE JOURNALIST ASKED ABOUT THE EDDIETOMMY STUFF LOU MENTIONED. IF RYAN WASNT OKAY WITH IT THEY WOULDNT ASK.

like ultimately i do think any time ryan has referred to eddie as hetero its just abc telling him to say that in interviews. like he’s a very eloquently spoken guy and in those interviews he’s come off more stilted to me. more rehearsed. but im also not a psychologist so maybe im reading this wrong

[trash-can-sam]

Ive finally made a sandrock OC (KIND OF) I havent just stolen the design of and put somewhere else. and I really want to talk about her. So here she is.

I wanted to give some lore to this character Qi mentions 3 times

AND now shes in my brain, so Ill say some things about her:

She wanted to be a biologist but ended up going into the same type of research job Qi's in because it paid more

Qi and Bugs went to college together and ended up working pretty closely on a few projects, maybe even had internships/jobs at the same place for a while before Qi moved to Sandrock.

She got the nickname Bugs because she would always pick up random bugs in elementry school and the name just kind of stuck. She prefers it to her actual name (which I have not thought of yet because names are hard)

Qi says that they are rivals, but I dont think thats actually true given how much they talk. I think its a lot more like a one sided rivalry where Qi has decided shes his rival and she just kinda plays along because its fun, but theyre actually just friends (not that Qi would admit that, but Bugs refers to and thinks of him as a friend)

Although she still works in Vega 5, she doesnt particularly love it there. To her, she just has nowhere else to go and the pay and lifestyle of Vega 5 is too much to resist, especially for someone wihtout that many goals.

Qi managed to get her into Gungham and so they have amazing conversations that only come from ADHD-Autism friendships where both people have the same hyperfixation. (I speak from experience when I say its the best thing)

She visits sandrock sometimes because she doesnt know where else to go when she has stacked up vacation days.

She gets very annoyed whenever people dont know what they're talking about, hence her friendship with Qi not really being an issue, because both of them are like this and they both thrive off of each others intellectual energy.

ALSO. Some things about her personal relationships to people in Sandrock:

Her and Grace are dating, mostly because I want Grace to have a girlfriend so bad (I am so starved for sapphic relationships you dont understand). They have been rotating in my brain SO MUCH, so I'll talk about them. This is largely because it would be SO FUNNY.

Their relationship started because Bugs would regularly visit Sandrock, so she would see Grace a lot. Since the Blue Moon Saloon isnt really that busy, they would talk to eachother quite a bit. After a few trips of both of them talking, Bugs decides it would be funny to mess with Qi whenever her and Qi eat dinner later that night, and she thinks the funniest way to do that is by Grace hitting on her at this dinner. Make it real awkward for Qi. I plan on making a comic for this actually SO we will see if it actually gets done. If it does it will be so funny you dont even know (it definetly will not be thats the brainrot talking.)

After that, they meet up outside the Blue Moon Saloon to toast to their success of making Qi extremely confused, they walk around sandrock and sit at the oasis a while. Nothing happens that night, but they both come away from it as deeper friends and a little crush. Not in like, a way that is that noticable, or a way either of them intend on pursuing, but a way that definelty exists. Neither of them are stupid, and both of them tend to do a good amount of introspection, so they both pick up on this and it changes the dynamic a little, but in a good way.

As time goes on, Bugs makes more and more visits to Sandrock, to see Qi of course, but the reason increasingly becomes to see Grace as well. They both flirt with eachother a bit here and there, until Grace asks her out on a date and it ends up becoming a thing. Still thinking of details there BUT! They will be thought of, dont worry.

NOW, For what this relationship means for them both and their similarities and a couple differences:

For both of them, this is the first romantic relationship they have had that really feels like the other person can keep up with them. Both of them are super smart, and they both sort of have unfollowed dreams.

They are also both workaholics discontent with the circumstances they're in, and I feel like they bond a lot over that.

BOTH OF THEM ARE VERY SILLY. Grace, especially if youre dating her, uses a lot of very silly language. Like whenever youre dating, her greeting is "Hey good lookin, what ya got cookin?" She has many many silly lines and I would reccomend reading her dialogue page if you havent already read it all the way through like 3 times. Bottom line is, shes goofy. And Bugs is also goofy. Not in exactly the same way, but like she calls Qi a chatty cathy, thats goofy. AND SOMETHING GRACE WOULD DO IF HER AND QI WERE FRIENDS IN THAT WAY. They would be a very annoying couple and I find that extremely funny especially in the context of them spending a good amount of time with Qi, who probably doesnt pick up on it half the time.

Both of them are the type to distract from their inner turmoil with humor. If you have gone on a playdate with grace or read her entire dialogue page, you would know she does this a non-zero amount of times, quite commonly in fact. Bugs does the same type of thing, but she does tend to talk a lot less than Grace.

Bugs is an introvert unlike Grace, but she can read people surprisingly well. Not anywhere near as well as Grace, of course, but still pretty well.

Both have jobs that end up with them being relatively isolated from personal connections. For Bugs, shes working in a team with a lot of people she doesnt really like, for Grace, she has to keep quiet about her job for the most part. This leads to them having an interesting dynamic in which both of them dont really know how to navigate personal, unguarded relationships super well. Bugs hasnt had any close friends in a long time, and Grace cant turn off her agent brain, oftentimes getting a lot more from Bugs than Bugs would want her to. I have a real thing for relationships where one person is quite guarded and the other person can read them super well, and Bugs and Grace fit this dynamic very well in both directions. Bugs tends to read Grace more than she expects too, not by a crazy amount or anything, but she does catch Grace offguard occasionally, just because Grace tends to drop it more often without realizing it around Bugs.

They have the same sort of (aspiring) archeolegist and researcher dynamic Grace and Qi have (That I touched on here) but romantic so. I think thats fun personally, because its a cool sort of combining of forces. It also hits a bit different from Grace's and Qi's simply because Bugs is a lot more like Grace personality wise.

A couple other relationships in sandrock:

Her and Zeke get along. She visits Zeke sometimes, because of her interest in biology. And I just think they would get along. Not just because she likes plants but I also think she would appricate how Zeke is very knowlegable on what he does as well as desert farming in general.

She doesnt like the church very much (for the innate ideological differences that come with being a researcher), but she still has a laugh with Dan-Bi occasionally.

I like the idea of her getting along with Fang a bit. I think she has at least looked at some of what she uses to make medicine and is like "oh wow thats genius!"

I think she would have a very fun time messing with Yan (because Yan is literally so funny idc what anyone else says I love him so much) I dont think she would like him, but I think she would have fun talking to him every now and then just to prod him (which Yan ofc doesnt notice) for goofs.

I love the idea of her getting along with Unsuur. I cannot explain why. But I think they would be drinking buddies.

Some design notes and how she dresses when shes not in a lab coat:

I had to give her a long lab coat because thats a demographic severely underepresented in sandrock

Her shirt color is pretty similar to Qi's undershirt, it just felt like it fit. Its also half untucked like Qi's, but Bugs does it because she thinks it looks good while Qi does it because hes tired. I dont really know how to draw that sort of distinction, but just know that its there.

Her belt buckle is gold while Qis is silver

Her hairtie is dark blue, Qis tie is light blue. Theres not a whole lot to that I just thought it was neat personally.

Her fashion sense tends to be pretty casual, usually hoodies and shorts while shes in her apartment and pretty normal streetwear outside of it. I dont think that she wears as many belts as the average Sandrock or Portia citizen. Since we havent been to Vega 5, I cant say for sure what the normal fashion sense is like, but based off of Qi and Petra, who are more like the average Vega 5er, and what is known about the culture, I assume regular dress tends to be more busniess casual-formal. I dont count Merlin, who was so eccentric she got kicked out of Vega 5, Or Mint, who seems overly casual, in this assesment. However, Bugs dresses in whatever is slightly more casual than the normal Vega 5 streetwear. Not as casual as Mint, but definetly not formal. She's kind of done with Vega 5's general busniess culture, not done enough to leave, but done enough that she doesnt really care what she wears off the clock if that makes sense.

That is all for my unhinged ramblings. I have a lot of ideas about her and maybe I will actually do something with those, so I thought I should introduce her.

[your-phantomfield]

TSUBAKI = YAYOI

i .. ii .. iii circa 2198 for @nkn0va

Dating Tsubaki Yayoi...

I.

Tsubaki grew up sheltered and incredibly lonely; an only child in a house that should have been full with her siblings, a cloistered princess in the garden of a radically conservative family. Even as she grew, her status and conviction pushed many away, leaving her with precious few friends.

All of this is to say, Tsubaki has so, so much love to give, and desperately wants to connect with someone. As a lover, her heart is tremendous.

From the moment you start dating, Tsubaki approaches your relationship as a lifelong partnership. Even if you two were to ever break up, you’d have to do something truly terrible to ever lose her as a friend. Once she loves you, she’ll love you all her life.

II.

She’s actually very shy.  She might initiate a little teasing, and she’s constantly admiring you, so compliments are given freely and often- but touch is complicated for her.  Hand holding, hugging, kissing, cuddling, that’s just not the way she was raised.  The Yayois don’t really hug.

This isn’t to say that she doesn’t enjoy physical affection- honestly, it’s one of the fastest ways to break her composure. She gets flustered quickly.

It’s just that unless you’re into a real slowburn, you’ll have to be the one to initiate most of what we’d consider ‘normal’ relationship activities.  Do go for it, though.  She is so touch starved.  Pet her head and watch her stutter.  Hug her, especially from behind, and catch the exact moment her heart stops completely.

Maybe go a little easy on her, though.  Everything she knows about romance comes from the historical dramas she loves to watch, or poets like Natsume Soseki, infamous for arguing that saying “I love you” directly was much too forward for Japanese sensibilities.  Her media consumption (and the daydreaming it’s inspired) has left her with a kind of 'storybook' idea of how these things work.

III.

Tsubaki does instigate affection- just, in her own way. She approaches those she loves gently. Where another lover might go for a hug or kiss, Tsubaki expresses the same sentiments by brushing dust off your shoulder, adjusting your clothes- or your hair, if she’s feeling incredibly intimate.

Her desire to be near you is expressed by taking care of you. She loves how you look, and she wants everyone to see you as she does, so she encourages you to look your best. If she could wash your hair or your back, that would be the most romantic thing in the world to her.

Her default as a caretaker can lean a little into her starting to nag you, though. Even if you’re in public, if you end up with some food on your face, she’s going to try to wipe it off. She’ll be horribly embarrassed once she realizes what she’s done, and she will apologize- but is she really that sorry? She can't help herself. She thinks you’re cute and she loves to be needed.

IV.

Tsubaki sees a relationship as a partnership. She sees so much good in you, and so much potential for even more amazing things. As far as she’s concerned, you could move mountains if you wanted to. So she wants to do everything in her power to make sure you’re living as your best self- and she really appreciates it if you can offer her the same push.

As mentioned above, this can manifest in some arguably annoying ways; she’s always reminding you to sit up straight, to speak clearly, to apologize less, not to procrastinate, etc.

On the more positive side of things, you will never meet someone more genuinely invested in your life. Tsubaki remembers every interest you share with her, and asks about them often. She wants to know what you did during the day, what you plan to do during the week. Even for hobbies she doesn’t understand, she’ll do her best to learn the lingo and keep an eye out for any events you might be interested in. Any project you’re working on, no matter how trivial you may consider it, she’ll be genuinely excited to see how it goes.

There's a bit of a cute double standard here, actually. Even though she thinks its obvious that she'd be interested in your hobbies, she finds it hard to believe that you would be interested in hers. Even the confident Tsubaki can get a little anxious sometimes. If you offer her some of that same investment and encouragement, she thinks you're some kind of saint.

V.

Speaking of her hobbies. Did you know she loves to paint? She may want to keep this to herself for some time, assuming you wouldn’t be interested in her silly little hobby, but she will eventually set out to paint something specifically for you. Something heartfelt, something connected to good memories. Maybe a landscape of a place you’ve gone on a date, or just somewhere special to you.

More than anything else, she’d love to paint you. She spends a lot of time admiring you and thinking about how she’d do it; where she’d start, what colors to use or mix, what background would suit you the best.

Of course, this can be a difficult ask. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on display like that, but the mutual awareness of the fact that she’s staring at you, taking in every detail, for so long, can be a vulnerable thing for both parties involved. And even then, she’d feel so bad for asking you to stay still, probably bored out of your mind, for the hours it would take to give your portrait the consideration it deserves.

When she does finally paint you, it’s the most romantic date she could ever dream of- and though she probably won't ever tell you, she has been dreaming of it.

She’ll chat with you quietly, teasing a bit if you seem embarrassed. Despite all her worrying before the event, she’s in her element here. You look amazing, and she knows that, so it’s adorable (and quite funny) to see you unsure of such an obvious truth.

VI.

Tsubaki has always imagined a certain path for her future. She would fall in love. Get married. Have children. Raise another generation to do good in the world, and never be lonely again.

Meeting you only strengthened that image. Now there was a face to imagine at the altar. Someone's taste to consider as she fine tuned the wedding in her head. Whether or not you and Tsubaki could have children together in our time, by the BlazBlue era there are numerous magical aids for family planning, and she often wonders about what kind of parent you'll be.

This is something she's always wanted.  This is something she's looked forward to.  Something she's proud she can promise you.  A bright future.

VII.

Of course, her status as a member of the Yayoi family presents some difficulties.  Dating any member of the Duodecim means entering into a life of court politics and all the manipulation and animosity that entails, even if you’re already coming from a high status family.  This is the top of the top.  And if you aren’t coming from a high status family, there are questions about your suitability at every turn.

And then there’s the main issue for a Yayoi. Tsubaki’s father still firmly believes in their family’s tradition, the Yayoi family’s pride; the Yayoi family are excellent with Ars Magus. They marry specifically to ensure that the next generation is just as exceptional as the last.

Raised in this mentality from her birth, Tsubaki does believe in her family traditions wholeheartedly. Her interpretation of things are shockingly innocent, though. She sees you in the best possible light all the time. Anything you enjoy, anything you’re skilled in, she sees as an exceptional talent. Who could be more worthy of the family name than you? Any hobbies you have related to physical activity prove your health and strength, any mental or artistic hobbies prove your genius.

Regardless of your skill in Ars Magus, in the absolute worst case scenario where her father is… hesitant, to accept you, she is willing to argue him on this one thing. The NOL themselves have asked that the Yayois loosen up on their marriage criteria over the past few generations, and it’s obvious to her that you are an incredible match who would honor the Yayoi legacy. She just needs to explain it to her father. She’s positive he will understand.

VIII.

Most of these are set in the year 2198, before Calamity Trigger.  But let's take a moment to jump ahead one year.  To 2199.  The year she received the hardest mission of her life.  The year she picked up the Izayoi.

The moment the weight of the Izayoi settles into her hands for the first time, that bright future she longs to share with you becomes clouded.

She goes to see you before she heads for home to retrieve the Izayoi. Before she starts her mission.

One last careless, happy day together before she'll have blood on her hands. Before the nightmares of a confidential mission she'll never be allowed to tell you about. One last look at your perfect, smiling face before she may never be able to see it again.

[anjaelle]

White Light | Part III

Characters: Ghost!ATJ x Black Female!Reader Rating: M+ (Warnings: Death, Claustrophobia, Nyctophobia, Horror Elements [Demonic Entity]) Word Count: 2.2K Summary: Your new, dead roommate disappeared into the ether. So...now what? a/n: This chapter is a little more creepy than previous chapters. I felt like horror comes with the territory of the not-so-dead. You know? There will probably be more horror elements in the future. SIDE NOTE: Below is a playlist of songs that give a great idea of what his band sounded like in 2003. I've also included parts 1 & 2. If you'd like to be tagged in the update, please let me know. Please like, comment, and reblog!

[Part I] | [Part II] | [Part IV] [☁ Masterpost ☁] | [♫ The Crimson Zombies Mixtape ♫]

--

It'd been about three weeks since he poofed into thin air.

Not that you were really counting.

You'd just gotten used to the idea of having a ghost in your apartment only for him to just disappear without a trace in less than 24 hours. After learning that Gavin was Aaron's former bandmate, you briefly wondered if finding out Gavin's fate was his unanswered business, and why he moved onto the other side. It was a true hardship to get over the feeling of constantly being watched, and you questioned your sanity for feeling that way. Aaron's presence--before you knew he was there, obviously--never felt threatening. You could compare it to having a very clingy cat who seemed to shadow you wherever you went. Though, he swore he never watched you in the bathroom, a fact you were thankful for.

At least he was a respectful dead guy, given the circumstances.

You decided that it'd be best to move on and mark this as just one very strange initial experience in your new home. To stave off the loneliness, you decided to invite over your best friend, Kayla, for a sleepover. Between the drinking, the dancing, the movies, and the junk food, you were able to forget about the last few weeks only for a moment.

"Have you ever considered dating, again?" Kayla suddenly asked, as she sat at your feet. Your hands hesitated as you braided her hair, and you sighed before resuming the task.

"No." You responded, shortly.

She made a noise that sounded like a slightly sympathetic hum, and you nudged her with your knee.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

You playfully tugged at the braid in your hand, "That. Say what you wanna say, babe."

Kayla made a point to sigh dramatically, and pull her knees up to her chest. When she slightly rocked from side to side you rolled your eyes, dropping the completed braid down her back.

"I just..." she sighed again, and you snorted, "Don't laugh, I'm concerned about my little sister. You're in your twenties, you're beautiful, smart, funny, and you're supremely prickly."

You feigned offense, "I am NOT prickly. I'm just able to see through the romanticism of it all."

"So you say," Kayla hmphed, "You and I both know you get a little bit of a thrill out of bullying people."

As you combed your fingers through the completed braids with mousse, you smirked to yourself. She wasn't wrong. But you didn't fully see that as an inherent character flaw. Bullying could be fun sometimes.

"Maybe..." you agreed.

"Not 'maybe.'" You could almost hear her pouting. "I know things with your ex ended badly--"

"--Don't." You warned, leaning away from the woman sitting between your knees like she'd scalded you.

"I'm just saying that you were right. And I still wish you'd let me hit him with my car, but whatever. I'll ask again in a couple of months and see how you feel..." At this, you giggled. "...BUT I think you should consider dating around. Just so you can remember what it feels like to actually like someone, you know?"

"I did go on a date with someone and you know how that ended."

Kayla sucked her teeth and turned to look at you, squinting her dark brown eyes in annoyance.

"What?" You asked, fighting the growing smirk on your face.

"What?" She mimicked in a voice that sounded impressively close to yours.

Kayla, of all people, knew that dating in the modern age was trash. Who really wanted to go through the talking stage over and over again, with numerous people? As much as you hated your ex at the moment, there was a small comfort in never really having to question if he wanted to be with you. You watched your friends have tired dating experiences. And though your relationship was far from perfect, you didn't envy those who still had to search for their person.

Karma was a no good, rotten ass bitch. You refused to entertain her.

You finally tilted Kayla's head back and gave her a gentle smooch on the forehead.

"I'm okay, babe. I promise," You reassured her. "I'm okay with my solitude."

She scrunched up her nose at you--the perfect mirror of yourself, and you knew she was very much your sister.

"Gross." She chuckled.

Once Kayla finally went to bed, and you had the chance to get lost in your own thoughts, you tried to better understand what the emptiness you felt stemmed from. I couldn't have been a relationship. Despite everything that happened in the last year--and a LOT had happened--you didn't feel like you needed a partner. You simply just felt aimless.

You examined your face in the bathroom mirror, with a towel wrapped tightly around you. You focused on your grounding mechanisms to ward off the dissociation that'd been slowly creeping up on you over the last few months. There were two dark, dull eyes staring back at you.

"Ooookay." You said to yourself, shaking your shoulders out before hanging up your towel and stepping into the tub.

You mentally examined yourself: a nose, a mouth, braids with a disappointing amount of new growth. A neck, shoulders, a chest, a stomach, and legs. You were there: thinking, existing, blinking, and breathing in the minty steam rising from your shower.

The repetitive sound of the water hitting the tile walls made you zone out, briefly wondering if maybe you were just doing something wrong with life. After all, no matter what you did, you could never seem to find that much needed level of satisfaction. Maybe you were meant to be unfufilled--

"SHIT!"

You jumped at the sudden outburst, nearly braining yourself on the floor of the tub. A new shadow shifted on the other side of the curtain.

"GOD DAMN IT, AARON! FUCK!"

-x-

He had no idea where he went. One moment, he was standing beside you in your bedroom. The next, he was submerged in pure darkness. He saw nothing, he felt nothing.

He tried to call out for you, but it was as if his voice was snatched from his throat. His brain was floating in an empty space devoid of sound and light.

He tried to scream.

Nothing.

The unnatural quiet of the liminal space set his nerves on edge. It was as if his brain--or what was left of it--was trying desperately to find something to latch onto.

Aaron's consciousness felt stretched thin and compacted at the same time. He called out for you again. And again. And again.

Nothing.

That was when he felt it.

Something that watched him in the darkness. It had a thousand eyes that seemed to be stalking him from all sides, and he could almost feel the heat of its breath on the back of his neck. The thing spoke, croaking from deep inside his subconscious, and scratching at the inner corners of his mind.

Malevolus...et caedes. I hunger. I'm watching. ...you can't have her.

The thing shifted around him, and he felt its icy hand on his shoulder, nails digging into him hard enough to draw blood. It leaned in close to him, and the smell of mold and blood lingered on its mouth.

Suddenly he was in your bathroom, hands up in a defensive stance, and screaming.

"GOD DAMN IT," you screamed, "AARON! FUCK!"

He curled up in a ball, trying to get his bearings but unable to focus. He stared off into space, chest heaving, eyes wide and unfocused. He couldn't hear you calling his name. And even as you crouched in front of him in your towel, he couldn't stop staring at the thing that seemed to stare at him from the corner of your bathroom. Grinning with sharp jagged teeth and a mouth full of blood. Its eyes were black without pupils, and its face seemed to shift in the light. Then it was gone.

"Aaron?" You whispered, reaching out to him. He shrank away from you, continuing to stare at the wall where the creature had been.

"I was gone for almost a month?" He asked the following day, watching you pace back and forth in your bedroom. He shook his head, "That's...that isn't possible. I was only gone for a couple of minutes. Maybe an hour."

It killed him inside to watch you ignore him as Kayla rushed in to check on you and eventually led you to bed. He didn't want to be alone. Not when that thing was still watching him. But now that he was back, he wanted to grab you by your hands to get you to stop and look at him. He just needed to know that he wouldn't disappear again.

"I thought you'd moved onto the other side after the Ga-" you hesitated, then glanced at him cautiously and whispered, "the Gavin thing."

You both paused, almost waiting to see if he would drop off the face of the Earth. When he didn't, he let out a deep sigh and shuddered to himself.

"What happened?" You asked. When he quirked an eyebrow at you, you clarified, "What made you disappear?"

He swallowed hard and avoided your questioning gaze, choosing to stare at his hands. He was relieved to see them again, but was confused by some new scars that seemed to have appeared on his knuckles. That couldn't have been right.

"I was so angry," he confessed, "I felt white, hot rage. Rage I'd never felt before. I just...Gavin was like my brother. And Talia was the only woman I'd ever really loved. He was constantly saying that Talia was terrible, and I defended her with my life. I died angry at my best friend over her. Only for them to get married not even a year after I was put in the ground?"

When he said it aloud, he felt the heat rising up again, and he flexed his hands.

"My body wasn't even fucking cold yet." The lights flickered in the apartment, and he tried to reel himself back in. Aaron wanted to desperately squeeze the bedsheets in his fists, maybe even punch something, and was frustrated that he couldn't. "And now he's dead. Gone forever. And I can't even ask him why he did it."

He briefly wondered if Gavin was haunting some hole-in-the wall somewhere. It'd be on brand for him. Maybe he was in Hell, if that existed. That was even more on brand.

"I'm sorry." You murmured, sitting beside him, "For all of it. I'm sorry you found out this way. I'm sorry you lost your best friend--"

"I want to know how he died."

He watched you fidget with your hands and bite your inner cheek, avoiding eye contact.

"...Are you sure?"

It still hadn't even sunken in that his best friend of several years was dead, leaving behind Talia and three children. He figured it'd be better to rip the band-aid off.

"No. But tell me anyway." He wanted to reach out and hold you to let you know that he'd be okay. Instead, he offered you a small smile and shrug, hoping to reassure you that he could handle it. You still stared at him with wide, worried eyes.

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"C'mon..."

You huffed at him, crossing your arms, "You don't know how you looked when you came back. You were terrified. You were babbling about a thing in the dark. And you were gone for almost a month over this. Who's to say you won't be gone for even LONGER next time, just because your emotions shifted?"

The mere mention of the dark made him involuntarily shudder again, and you motioned at him as if to say, "I told you so."

He decided it'd be better to concede. For now. He would ask again at a later date. He was sure you thought he was curious out of a desire to feed some morbid curiosity. He wished it was just that.

He finally coaxed you to sit beside him on your bed, and he was surprised to find that there was still a small tingle of warmth as you sat near him.

...you can't have her.

The croaking voice seemed to ring in his head as he looked at you. He didn't tell you everything. He couldn't. As long as it couldn't invade your thoughts you were safe.

At least that was the assumption he was going to make.

He spent the following nights sitting in bed next to you, keeping watch as you slept and it watched him from the darkest corner of the room.

I hunger.

He focused on the sound of your breathing, actively trying to ignore the grinning creature. As the nights wore on, it seemed to slowly vanish. Soon there was nothing.

On the eighth night of his hypervigilance, he watched as you sighed in your sleep and curled up closer to him. Your brows furrowed, and you groaned.

"You alright?" He whispered, hovering his hand over your forehead. You were burning up. He could feel you burning up. He hesitated, and then fully pressed his hand to your forehead. In turn, you instinctively grabbed his hand in your sleep, and jolted awake.

You both stared at your joined hands.

"Oh...you're ice cold." You whispered before passing out.

[eldritchmochi]

Coping Skills Info Dump!!!! Anytime all the time omfg, I live for that fic, it has rewired my kinky disabled brain

cs info dump u say?? and i was given no specific topic for said info dump?? unfortunately this means im gonna talk about my bf because i have One (1) topic of convo lmao

SO part of what has me struggling to pick cs back up is the past 8 months of flirting with my boy leading up to him deciding no we are dating now has given me SO MANY THOUGHTS wrt the wizards early relationship and ways i could have better developed it given what my demi disabled ass has gone thru since christmas

one of those things is more emphasis on the intimacy inherent in someone else touching your cane (not a euphemism lol). its there a little but i think id like it to hit essek like a mack truck how much he likes it to really lean into the kink ive created. the second rope scene where essek hands caleb his cane to hold while he undresses could have been SO MUCH BETTER had caleb casually leaned on esseks cane rather than holding it as a weapon the way i described. at the time, that was the only way i had seen someone hold my cane for me but my boy just does not and i bluescreen every single time. i know better now. i could make it SO horny now and i rly wanna lol

another thing i wish i had brought in earlier is the concept of horny paperwork. not only is it absolutely hilarious but it is a thing in kink, yes-no-maybe forms you fill out with a new partner as part of negotiation. in hindsight, i think cs!esseks characterization falls too much towards avoidance in his anxiety over intimacy when i really really like him as Must Plan Every Detail kinda anxious too (ala rts). in combo with how he's just. incredibly baffled by the extent of his boner for caleb, i could absolutely see him taking "research" notes and searching for empirical quantitative data from the very start

the last thing is leaning in harder to esseks anxiety over intimacy and how different it feels compared to his previous relationships. again something that i touched on but am now qualified to ramp up significantly considering i have spent the last several weeks losing my mind over how the dating cliches are cliches because apparently people really do desire to do them, they dont do them because theyre cliches they (i) want to do them??? and i think that would be a very fun theme to explore in the early-mid section of cs, and would give me good jumping off points for scenes between essek and his guides (and verin, and maybe other friends of esseks which is another thing i wish to have done different, is give him a few more friends from the get go this man is too introverted aaa)

so there ya go, the Problem ive been chewing on since like, may lmao

[alxssarosex]

So here's the what's been going on with Alyssa (me) post.

1. This has been lightly yapped about on here before. I have an ex bf from like a year ago now (we started dating may of 23 and broke up September 23). I was in love with him but he moved halfway through our relationship about a hour and a half away and He was kinda insecure (never really understood why I was with him) so we brokeup. I've missed him ever since. I've had a few bfs since but none that even compared to him. He however got a new gf a month later and they didn't breakup till a couple weeks ago. I've been hoping he'd text me ever since and he hasn't so I've given up it's embarrassing for me to still be caught up on it. but yeah I've referenced it on here a lot so I figured I'd Start with that.

2. So this is longer and more traumatic and has also lightly yapped about. My ex situationship psychologically abused me very very badly. I was stuck in that situation for like a year and a half. I'm honestly probably permanently traumatized from it. Well when I was with her their was this girl she was friends with and I just knew the girl liked her she told me I was crazy and making shit up the whole time. Well I found out she had slept with her and it was the final thing I needed to leave and get with my ex bf (the previously mentioned one). The girl she had slept with recently followed both my Instagram accounts. When I looked at her page I saw a guy I thought was cute so I followed him. My friend goes to school with him and said she'll put me on with him. I lowkey- highkey got a crush on him but he's also friends with my abusive ex which could undo the healing I've done but I also have a feeling about him and ive only had it with my ex before and that was my best relationship and someone who I loved so I don't know and I also don't know him like my friend hasn't put us on yet I don't know if that was clear or not.

I have more I could yap about so I could make this like a series let me know if you'd be interested sometimes my life is like a movie.