#but he's just really particular about getting the glory for it

[triangle-strategy-notes]

Lyla, Booker, Tenebris, Sorsley, and Exharme Concept Art

Concept/reference art for Lyla, Booker, Tenebris, Sorsley, and Exharme. Translation notes and text id beneath the cut.

Translation notes:

Gonna be real haha, I kinda gave up on the note that's pointing to the sash. The handwriting style is a little disjointed/vague, and I wasn't able to tell what exactly the characters were. But there seemed to be some reference to "inner" there, so I made reference to that.

The comment about Booker being an assassin might have been something more like "Booker plays the role of an assassin" or "Booker acts the part of an assassin" (with the implication that he's not literally an assassin).

Tenebris's name in Japanese is phonetically "Enigma." His name is probably the one that changed the most in the Japanese -> English localization.

Text id:

[id: The first image is of the full first page. It has portraits of Lyla, Booker, and Tenebris. There is another caption with an English translation of the caption on the first page. The first part reads, "I feel like Tenebris is the correct way to dress the Saints (lol). Everybody else dresses up too much. (Tatsuaki Urushihara)". The second part reads, "I was in charge of finishing Lyla. She is a wonderful character with many subtle gold elements. I like the fact that she's holding the blade of the dagger, which seems to show her mad-scientist-esque personality. (Rina Yoshiura)". The next image is of the full version of the second page, with several WIP drawings of Lyla, Exharme, Sorsley, and Booker. The next two images are English translations. The page is titled "C5House_Mad_Scientist." There is an image of Lyla walking toward the viewer, with some bowing men behind her. These men are labeled "Homunculi". Next to an image of Exharme and Sorsley, there is a diagram of their hooded capes and the purple sash they both wear. The same drawing is repeated below it, but with slightly different designs; Sorsley has a turban and Exharme has shorter, lighter brown hair. There are also beta designs of Lyla and Booker next to them. Lyla is labeled "Shaman", Booker is labeled "C1 House Subordinate", Sorsley is labeled "C1 House Head", and Exharme is labeled "C2 House Head." At the end of the page there is are some illustrator's notes. The first reads, "Since Booker turns out to be an assassin, we had him wear black gloves to give the impression of a professional killer. (Tatsuaki Urushihara)" The second reads, "Is this the rough draft for Lyla and the Hyzante characters? I thought Lyla was very nice from the first draft, and I think she ended up being a good character in terms of the story. (Yasuaki Arai)". /end id]

[creatingblackcharacters]

Lesson 1: "White Man Painted Black"?

Okay, I recognize that this is a strong foot to step off on! But! If you learn nothing else from this series, if you decide for whatever reason to forsake me: this is the ONE perspective I'd like you to take away!

You may have heard this quote before, when Black fans deride a character design as 'a white man with the brown bucket tool'. On its face, it means exactly what was said. But specifically, what it means is that we recognize that whomever designed the character drew the way they normally draw for a 'default' character in their mind- default usually meaning White/Eurocentric features- and they added a shade of brown within the line art to make that character now 'Black'.

Now if you're feeling defensive, wait just a moment! This discomfort is not inherently a bad thing!

I'm going to use both a 'real world' example first, to show you what your Black fans and peers are seeing, and perhaps you will also understand our discomfort!

(if anyone was curious, my folder for this lesson is titled 'brad' lmao and you'll see why)

(I'll have y'all know that I actually worked very hard to make Blackface Brad look mildly presentable lmao I'm sorry, I'm wheezing, I can hardly breathe looking at him 🤣)

You see how, despite knowing where this was going, and using one of the darkest shades of brown in my Skin Tones arsenal, you still know that that's Brad Pitt? That nothing about his hair texture, his lips, his nose, or really anything other than the palette change... changed? And you can still see that?

It's incredibly hurtful to be told that that's supposed to be you. You know it's not, you know why it's not, but rather than hearing how it makes you feel unseen and what they could do to be better (since they wanted to draw a Black character!), the artist lashes out at you.

And as an artist, you might have worked VERY HARD to do this! That might be a real handsome guy you drew!! But... is he really Black? Did you walk into it with the intention, that you were drawing a Black Character, or did you draw a character that just happened to be Black? It seems like a silly thing, but it matters!

Okay. I just finished laughing over Brad. Now let's get into some more perspective changes:

Now, imagine you drew a character. You want to make her Black, so you change the hair and skin colors. All right! You have your Black character... right?

Changed ONE feature about her? (You should obviously change more than one feature, but let's just go with the simplified example.)

What if, instead of just changing her palette, we changed her:

Hair?

There isn't nearly enough time in the world, let alone in this little scribble and blurb, for me to describe the IMPORTANCE of Black hair in Black character design. There are so many ways to do curls, afros, braids, twists, locs, SO MANY HAIRSTYLES!! Get used to searching in the 3C-4C hair textures!!!! I plan on doing an entire lesson or two on hair alone, but suffice it to say, Hair Texture is thee BIGGEST giveaway that you 'painted a white person Black'- from cartoon styles to realistic! It reveals itself in your writing as well- just based on how your character takes care of their hair, how your describe the texture, how other people might perceive it... it lets me know just how much research was done. Because we can have straight hair! But again, that's a conversation for a whole 'nother lesson so- come back later 👀?

Lips?

I love our lips, I really do. There's a long history of shaming Black women in particular for the way our lips look. So when I see them done in all their glory, it makes me very happy. Two-toned lips vary in shade and intensity, so make sure you're using references if you want to be 'realistic', but it doesn't have to be that hard. Even a little subtle shift like this in the design/story description lets me know that a creator was thinking about me.

Nose?

One thing I've noticed ever since I starting drawing is that... people in a lot of mangas/manhwas barely have noses! I admit, out of all the features on the face, the nose isn't the most important. I think they should be, especially when you want to emphasize that your characters look different! People have different types of noses! I especially want to gear this towards those with a goal of drawing realistic portraits and the like- there, the nose is ANOTHER dead giveaway. There are Black people with aquiline and straight noses- we aren't a monolith- but is that why you drew it? Consider why you went for that nose specifically. That's part of the intent, in all this!

Now, you might be looking at me and going "Ice... this is just character design". To which my answer is: Yes! It is! It feels so basic, and yet if you ask your Black friends/peers how often they've come across this feeling of not being properly drawn/written, from fanart to professionally produced works, it's unfortunately common despite how simple of a concept it is.

I hope that you can walk away from my first lil lesson with new eyes. Remember, it's the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

[slvttyplum]

you told me your new man don’t make you nut, that’s a damn shame.”

going back and telling suguru things you told him with confidence was something you cold-heartedly regretted; he was a gossiper.

but with the particular issue you told him about, he didn’t just gossip about it, or make fun of you, or bring it up at random times; he decided to help.

“he can’t even make you nut? that’s a problem, princess."

of course, your cheeks turned hot, and you shooed him off and told him never to bring it up again, but he didn’t listen. what did he do? just that.

he brought it up time and time again, even in front of your boyfriend. slapping your hand over his mouth to get him to shut up.

“you really don’t want to do anything about it?” his mouth in a pout and his hand sliding up your thigh.

you know he’s probably teasing you, but a part of you actually wants to give in to see if he’s actually serious.

as usual, you ignore him, yet he keeps bringing it up, as if having a partner that can’t satisfy you is bad enough.

“don’t knock it til you try it.” and that’s when you gave in. stripping off your clothes as your lips press against his, taking in his scent.

and damn did he taste good.

his hands roamed your body like he was looking for something; his touch sent shivers down your spine. you felt good.

this was wrong, and you knew that, but if it was wrong, why did you feel so good? so good that you’re moaning into his mouth and sliding your fingers through his hair.

sliding his arms under your thighs and picking you up, your legs immediately wrapping around his waist like muscle memory.

it’s your chance; stop now. you can tell your partner everything if you just disconnect the kiss; that’s what you were supposed to be thinking in that moment.

you were supposed to be fighting suguru off and cursing him out, but you weren't; you were condoning this and, worst of all, loving it.

his hands gripping your ass so hard, you can feel the tip of his fingernails digging into your flesh.

“tell me to stop.” his voice in a whisper as he disconnects his lips from yours for a second before diving back in, his lips on top of yours one second and yours on top of his the other.

the taste of cinnamon and mint swirled around your mouths, and it was heaven. you needed more.

you didn’t bother to respond to his question; if you didn’t tell him to stop, then there wouldn’t be a conversation. this felt too good; you couldn’t stop now.

the next thing you know, you’re on the bed, and he’s in between your legs, his tongue teasing you as he licks the inside of your thigh and then your slit.

a shiver being sent throughout your body, then tingles closely following. that’s the sensation you were missing for months—a sensation suguru was finally able to give you.

his tongue gliding over your clit and his middle finger entering your tight, wet cunt, your back arching.

this was the feeling you were craving, and there suguru was in all his glory with his hair tied back in a bun, eating your wet pussy sloppy.

before you could reach climax, suguru got up and lined himself up with your entrance. this was your final chance to stop, but you didn’t.

he pushed into you, and your moans were bouncing off the wall, your hands gripping the sheets and suguru’s thumb on your clit.

the pleasure you were receiving was out of this world; it felt so good that you didn’t even want him to stop. the way his hips moved and pushed you deep into the mattress was sexy.

his grunts and guidance as the both of you switched positions repeatedly were sinister; he treated you like you were fragile, yet he was fucking the shit out of you.

when all was said and done and you were laid on your back with cum all over you, there was no regret; all there was was blissful pleasure.

[punkpandapatrixk]

🌟Blessings to Expect throughout 2024 ♦︎ Timeless Pick A Card

‘You’re always here. What are you doing?’

‘Nothing…nothing in particular.’

‘You’re Saibara’s grandson, right? Aren’t you working at the Blacksmith shop?’

‘I’m not interested in that. I want to go back to the city.’

‘Oh… I came from the city, too. My dad moved the family to this village because he was going to study plants. I felt lonely at first. But the people here are all very kind.’

‘I don’t feel lonely. But I can’t find what I want to do in this village.’

‘What is it you want that you can’t find here?’

‘Well, it’s…oh, nothing…’

‘My mother always says that if you can’t find what you want to do, then do what you can see to do now. Nobody finds what they want immediately. But if you waste your time every day because of that, you’ll never find anything... To tell you the truth, I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet, either. See you.’

— Mary and Gray’s conversation from Harvest Moon: Back To Nature

SONG: Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland

MOVIE: The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 1 – Welcoming Love, True Love

VIBE: Ready for Your Love (feat. MNEK) by Gorgon City

end of a struggle – King of Swords

You’ve been incredibly and marvellously responsible for…quite a number of years, I think? For some of you maybe a couple of months or so. But your struggles have ended; nearing ending; or you just haven’t realised yet how everything has changed for the better now. If you take a moment to really notice yourself, I’m sure you can tell just how much clearer you’ve become about many things pertaining to your surrounding and sense of Self. I feel you’ve worked really hard to overcome excessive trauma noises that have caused you a great deal of psychological pain.

Starting this year, you can feel more confident in your intellectual capacity to gauge situations right in front of you. Making choices will be a lot easier now because you’re clear about who you are as a person and what it is you truly want out of your own existence. You’ve clearly set enough boundaries with those who didn’t have your best interest. Seems to me you’ve learnt the hard way to be more selfish in the spirit of self-preservation. And so, the adventure of a lifetime begins right this moment.

In fact, I feel like your entire Life up until this point has been quite the adventure—only it has been filled with sorrow and misery, sorta. Surely it was your Hero’s Journey taking shape for the early chapters of your Life’s Story. A slow burn of a lifetime, if you will. Beginning this year, you’re entering the most exciting part of your rise to glory and everlasting happiness!

in your favour – 8 of Pentacles

You’ve been hustling behind the scenes for the most part. At least, those who aren’t close to you will never know just how much work you’ve put into bettering your world from the inside out. You worked so much on your mindset; you must’ve exercised a lot, too; tried to eat more cleanly and healthily; worked on your glow-up; brushed your skills; etc. You were investing in yourself for the future vision you’ve always held close to your heart. And for that reason, the seeds are now blooming.

You’re making me think of the bamboo plant. Did you know that a bamboo seedling takes around 5-7, maybe even 8-10, years to gestate underground? All alone in the dark without anyone knowing what’s going on down there. And when the seedling shoots up to the surface, the bamboo plant is famous for being the fastest growing plant there ever is.

So yeah~ fast or no fast in your mind, the point is that you’ve done the work on yourself and all the plans you’ve ever had for your Life. This year, 2+0+2+4=8, is the year you reap all the rewards and grow even faster from where you are now. Whatever undertaking you begin this year will gain traction super fast! Pat yourself on the back because when things get super good, you deserve to take a small break and just enjoy how far you’ve come~! Breathe~

catching stars – Page of Wands

Your Story is totally far from finished. With the Page aenergy—a kid’s aenergy—you’re only on the precipice of entering a Life of passion and purpose. You could almost say, it’s a new Story altogether just because this chapter of your Life is SO SO SO super good in comparison to the chapters about your struggles. I guess you’d call this a new arc huehue

You’re young Hercules now. Pretty soon, there will occur some big event that propels you into a bona fide hero, and then, you’ll meet your Megara~ This part of your Story is where you enter a circle of true—at least truer—friends and lovers who will motivate you throughout the next chapters of your Life. Sure, sure, struggles don’t just end, poof, like that and you will continuously need to learn to sift through these new breeds of friends and acquaintances. But that’s also part of your next level growing up, so don’t sweat the possibilities XD

Throughout 2024, you could be moving to a new environment and then meet new friends. Highkey you’re gonna be meeting Soulmates and Soul Fam members; these are the people who resemble you so much either on the inside or outside. These are people who think like you, care about the same things as you; basically you’re gonna finally feel like you truly belong somewhere on this Planet. Love is in the air because you’ve been giving so much Love to yourself before this point. You are Love. You emanate Love wherever you go because you love yourself, and thus you become a magnet for people who also will love you just as good~

APPLE STRUDEL🔻💛

honey lemon juice – Silver Magus (Merlin)

have a sweet time, honey – Priestess of Love

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 2 – Rising Up to Accept Yourself Wholly

VIBE: She Said from Kamikaze Girls

end of a struggle – Knight of Cups

You’ve kinda just gone through a death of a paradigm of sort. I feel that in the past, you simply didn’t really know who you were or what you were meant to be. This confusion of an identity was caused by your parents/caretakers not really appreciating you for who you were as a child or it could also be caused by your environment, race, culture, custom, tradition, stuff like that. It wasn’t your fault, you know. You literally grew up on your own and finally got clear about your own identity—you stopped caring if your real identity is too weird, too eccentric for this world.

Basically, you got tired of rejecting yourself. And you realised that you were doing that because you knew others wouldn’t accept you. Then you realised people are shitty and lame for the most part anyway, so you learnt to be OK with embracing all of your weird heart’s little desires. And you nurtured yourself and nurtured yourself until you rose above the lameness of most of Humanity. Did you know? You did the right thing, really. Through and through.

You’re definitely an Advanced Soul. I think even when you were a kid you always felt like there was some spirit/shadow parental figure walking behind you, guiding your thought processes. This older/bigger unseen figure was really just your own Higher Self, you know :D More than others would give you credit for, you’ve been such a good gal/boi for always listening to the guidance of your Higher Self~

in your favour – 3 of Pentacles

Beginning this year, you’re going to finally meet people who are similar to you. Similar as in, you’re going to meet a lot of colourful characters, really. People who also feel somewhat like society’s outcast. These people are going to come from various backgrounds and they will each have very interesting back stories and life experiences that will entertain you for a long time. These people could also have very strange, unusual hobbies that will spark your interest in new, alien pursuits.

With that said, this year could be the year you begin a new passion project of your own, with these people, new friends, you share a vision with. They do care about you and want to succeed together, so you can trust that these connections are going to bear sweet feelings for you. Most importantly, this year you’re going to know the sweet feeling of doing something meaningful with your natural talents born out of your innate interests. When you finally get the money, you will first and foremost taste gratitude from those who seem to love and enjoy what you do or have to offer~

Life really is getting better now because you’ve mustered the courage to explore your possibilities in all your eccentricity. Your Higher Self never meant for you to fit in anyway. You were always meant to be some sort of a genius trailblazer—a source of inspiration for the other lameass Humans who are too afraid to be themselves.

catching stars – 10 of Pentacles

What more can be said? On top of embracing yourself fully, loving yourself wholeheartedly, and meeting kindred spirits, you’re also going to gain a massive amount of money! Life’s always good when you have a lot of money! More money means a happier heart and more to share as well. But in your case, if you’ve chosen this Pile as your main pile, know that before a lot of money even trickles into your reality, it is the sense that you’re serving your Life Purpose what will make you feel rich.

After all, there could people reading this who came from a wealthy background and you may think you don’t crave or even care about money. Exactly. You never cared about a lack of money but didn’t you struggle with grounding yourself to this Reality because you didn’t know what you were put on Earth to do? This ‘10 of Pentacles sense of abundance’ encompasses a sense of material abundance that feels deserving; you can now feel worthy of getting paid for some passionate, incredible, show-stopping contribution you’ve made to society. Isn’t that such a wonderful feeling?

Some of you reading this could mend some broken bonds with family; some others could finally find a tribe—a Soul Family—and feel that you belong; some could start a family of your own with someone worthy of your high-grade affection. Congratulations~! You’ve really made it this far~ Things can only get better and better from here♥︎

APPLE STRUDEL🔻💗

honey lemon juice – Green Historian (Herodotus)

have a sweet time, honey – Priestess of Patience

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 3 – Stepping On the Pedestal of Destiny

VIBE: Cheer Up, Charlie from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

end of a struggle – King of Pentacles

If you’ve chosen this as your main pile, I just know it that you’ve been working so hard on yourself, on a level that’s practically incomprehensible for most people. I’m sure you’ve survived so many deaths of the spirit—and perhaps even some of the more dramatic attempts. And you’ve come on top of your misery now. You’ve gotten healthier and clearer about where you’re going next. I sense sometimes you still doubt yourself but it isn’t a sin to doubt, it’s just a sign that you want to do well. And on so many levels, sometimes you’re afraid because you genuinely want this dream/vision to happen to you.

I assure you with this reading that you’re on the fast track towards a rendezvous with Destiny. Fast…is honestly relative to each Soul’s blueprint tho XD Time is on your side and what’s meant for you can’t miss you. So chillax, OK? One thing to know about this great dream/vision of yours is that you’re going to see it manifest because you’re different from the rest. Different in that you want to see it manifest to be of service to the rest! When you really think about it…

Don’t you just know from deep within your Soul that you’re deserving of this great destiny? It’s because you’re going to serve a massive purpose with it! So many people would benefit from your realising this dream. And that’s the very thing! You’ve been holding on to this vision, and you want it, because you’re MEANT for it.

in your favour – 4 of Cups

I’ll be referencing the 1971 ver. of Willy Wonka here. And honestly, I think you should watch it by the weekend or something because that movie’s whole vibe will feel tremendously validating to you, I sense hahah

Have you heard of the theories that say Charlie was literally singled out by Willy Wonka from the very beginning? That he had chosen all of those horrible brats because he wanted to punish, oops, teach them a lesson, and that principally he had been watching Charlie and wanted HIM to inherit the Chocolate Factory. If you watch the 1971 film you’ll literally get it! And with this 4 of Cups, know that that’s how the Universe feels about you stepping into your destiny. Willy Wonka, or God idk, doesn’t want anybody else but YOU to fulfil this role~!

You’ve literally been chosen and singled out by the Universe to win the grand prize! Just so you know, as I’m typing these words I literally have the Willy Wonka movie playing on another window and as I typed ‘grand prize’, the person in the movie is saying it right at the same time at around the 19:11 minute mark. Things can’t get any more synchronous than that!🤯

This year, you’ll really see how every single thing is going to work out in your favour. And knowing the inner work you’ve done on yourself, I’m sure you’re spiritually mature enough to sense, to notice every small nudge that tells you what you need to do at a given time😊New adventures are just around the corner, baby~!

catching stars – 5 of Pentacles

So you see, how is 5 of Pentacles appearing for a segment about you catching stars? This is, in fact, reaffirming that your dream come true will also serve as a salve for those who are wounded and hurting. You really are a medicine for this sick world. This year, you’re going to see serendipitous events and meetings what will open the door towards the physical manifestation of your dream Reality. Once you step on to the pedestal of Destiny, there’s no stopping you. You’ll be moving so fast it drives you mad!

This card is also saying you must be careful of possible leeches coming towards you; it’s best to use caution and discernment when revealing to others your plans and goals. Be stingy with information as per your gut instinct’s nudges, OK? Be mature enough to know not everybody will be happy at the prospect of your massive success that could potentially change Mankind. People get envious of such ideas, alright? Be careful not to hit the already low self-esteem of some people around you LMAO

I also feel that this year you will begin new routines that benefit your health and physical strength. If this is something you’ve been working on, you will see this year that the implementation of these routines feels more natural and effortless. You’ve managed to master your thoughts, emotions, and time management—or soon to do. Money will also come more abundantly, so all your basic needs are easily met. You’ve become a magnet for good luck—or soon to notice you’ve done so!🍀

APPLE STRUDEL🔻🧡

honey lemon juice – Red Astronomer (Johannes Kepler)

have a sweet time, honey – Priestess of Innocence

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

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[rivatar]

Can I make a request for dilf!JakexFemale! Omatikaya!reader?

While Neytiri is out hunting with the kids, jake makes his way to readers hut. And let’s just say reader is shorter than Neytiri so size kinkkkk🤭

Guilty Pleasure

MDNI!🔞

Pairing: Dilf!Jake!Sully x Fem!Omatikaya!Reader

Warnings/content: SMUT, jake cheating(sorry Neytiri), size kink, stalking/obsessing, some roughness/power over reader, oral/face sitting (Jake being a pussy eating king), p in v, cream pie, dirty talk, a sprinkle of angst at the end

W/c: 3.2k (holy shit-)

A/n: thank you for this request anon!!💖 I am a SUCKERRRR for dilf Jake! I got a lil carried away heheh but I hope y’all enjoy this! Comments, likes, and reblogs are SO appreciated! Muah 😘

“We will see you later, ma’Jake,” Neytiri sweetly said while motioning for the kids to go out of the hut, holding up the flap of fabric for them to walk by. Neteyam and Lo’ak went first, throwing a hand up and bidding a short “Bye, dad,” with their bows in hand.

“Come with us daddd!” Tuk whined and ran up and clung to his side. He chuckled at her.

“I’d love to, kiddo, but I gotta take care of something. Ya know, all my boring adult responsibilities,” He smiled gently.

She frowned up at him but had no choice but to accept he wasn’t coming.

“Bring me back a big ‘angtsìk(hammerhead titanothere)!” He joked while bending over and ruffling her short braids in an attempt to cheer her up. She giggled at his absurd request and ran off to catch up with Lo’ak and Neteyam.

Kiri came moping out and rolling her eyes like usual, she was not excited that she was being forced to go hunt with them. It just wasn’t her thing. She gave Jake a quick “Bye” and walked out without looking at him.

“I love you too!” He laughed, “You’ll do great!” He cupped his mouth and shouted to her. She looked over her shoulder and couldn’t suppress her small little grin of amusement. She pretty much always blatantly disrespected him but he loved her to death.

Neytiri smiled one last time at him before ducking under the flap, following her kids to go off to their hunt.

Jake’s smile faded from his face once they were out of sight.

He had a lovely wife and an amazing family—everything he could ever want and dream for. But unfortunately for him, his heart yearned for someone else. Someone who occupied his thoughts day-in and day-out, consuming his entire being.

He started to resent you for how bad he wanted you. But how could he blame you? You’ve done nothing. Nothing but just be utterly and effortlessly perfect. He felt like you casted a spell on him, damning him to be desperate for you. You were quite the sight to see; young and beautiful in all your glory. He could worship your body all day— the stunning curves of your hips and the rounding of your breasts. You were short in stature, not tawtute short but very much on the short side for a na’vi girl. But that just made Jake be drawn to you even more. During his endless daydreams involving you, he would have some particular thoughts of you. Images flooded his mind of getting to manhandle you around. He was bulkier than the average na’vi due to the combination of his human DNA, so he had no doubt in his mind he could toss you around effortlessly in several different positions. He also inevitably thought about how much tighter your smaller pussy probably was. And fuck, it wasn’t just your stunning appearance— it was also the way you were so damn sweet and compassionate to others. You never did anything wrong, it was like you really were perfect.

He longed to touch you and pleasure you, he would die a happy man if he could just watch you cum for him. It wasn’t even that he wanted the pleasure for himself, more than anything he wanted to pleasure you. So many scenarios have ran through his mind of imagining how your pretty face would scrunch up as an orgasm wracked through your petite body. He felt like he was loosing his mind, he hasn’t had this many vulgar, horny thoughts constantly since he was probably 17. It was like you made him young again. He wanted to show you how good he could make you feel. After all, he was experienced. Whether it was keeping Neytiri’s needs satisfied or previous lessons from his sexual partners back on earth, he’s learned a thing or two over time. He wondered if you’ve let any of the omatikaya boys fuck you. He hoped not, but he was sure they were all throwing themselves at your feet. I mean who the hell wouldn’t?

Jake had been stalking you for quite some time now. He pretty much had your daily schedule memorized and he’s even learned all your little mannerisms. Like how you looked down at the ground when you laughed, or how you quietly hummed to yourself when you were weaving. Sometimes throughout the day you would make eye contact when passing by each other. He noticed you would give him a little smile. It was like you knew you were torturing him.

But watching you from a distance and stalking you wasn’t cutting the mustard anymore for him. Sure, it satisfied the itch at first but it left him only wanting more. And stroking his cock to you felt good, but not as good as your soft, dainty hand would feel doing it.

He knew Neytiri was taking the kids hunting today to let them practice. And at this time of day, you were usually in your hut. He decided there wouldn’t be a more perfect time than now to approach you. He couldn’t let this keep eating him alive, he had to do something about it. So, he gathered up the courage to start his way over to you.

…

You were in your hut, cooling off a little. It was a hot, sunny day in Pandora and you always take a midday break around this time. Right before you were going to sit down, you seen a figure in your peripheral vision. It was… Jake?

“Jake.. I-I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” you stuttered and shifted to face him respectfully, caught off guard by your leader entering your hut. “Is something wrong?”

He stood confidently, almost like he owned the place— I mean he was the Olo’eyktan. Which was why you felt concerned and surprised to see him, surely it must be something important if he took the time to come here.

He surveyed you as you stuttered and slightly fidgeted with a hint of amusement in his eyes. His piercing gaze burned right through you, making you feel small and embarrassed. But he was the one coming into your home, so why were your cheeks heating up in embarrassment?

He finally broke the silence and breathed out a sigh. “Yeah, I’m afraid something is wrong,” he spoke with that low, sultry voice of his and once again burned holes into you with his eyes. He took slow steps towards you, casually.

Your heart dropped to your stomach and the blood left your face. “W-What is it? I’m sorry if I’ve done something wrong, sir-“

“Don’t play dumb and innocent. You know exactly what it is.” He cut you off sharply.

You were taken aback, eyes widening in offense. “Excuse me?” You scoffed.

He kept inching closer and closer to you and you backed up in return, scowling at him. But unfortunately you backed up against the wall, having no more room to back up.

He was eyeing you down fiercely, power and authority exuding from his aura. But you weren’t a pushover, and you gave it your best effort at holding his eyes and not cowering.

He swiftly grabbed your wrist and shoved your hand on his hard erection covered by his loincloth. You gasped, once more taken aback.

“Understand?” He quipped.

You snatched your hand back and hissed at him. You were unable to form any words, so shocked at this predicament. Your scowl deepened and your breathing picked up, feeling the intensity in the atmosphere.

He let out a single chuckle of disbelief and shook his head.

“You do this to me. It’s your fault” he snapped, “You’ve been torturing me night and day and you know it” he accused with his pointer finger in your face.

Your mouth dropped a little, eyebrows scrunched in anger. “What?? I’ve done nothing! You’re fucking crazy!”

“You are such a little brat. Sounds like you need that attitude fucked out of you,”

You couldn’t help the coil that twisted in your stomach to his words. The obscenity of them made your body react with a mind of its own. Slick trickled out of your hole, making a little wet patch in your cloth.

His nose twitched and he grinned menacingly at your new smell of arousal. “Is that right? The lil’ slut needs her pussy stuffed with cock?”

Your cheeks heated up, making a purplish color on your face. You were losing this battle quickly. You blamed your body for betraying you so shamefully.

“Fuck you!” You finally said. It was your last attempt at trying to get the upper hand.

“Yeah,” he laughed, “That’s the plan.”

You scoffed again, still trying to make it seem like he was crazy and you didn’t want this. But in reality, you don’t think anything has ever piqued your interest more.

He put his fingers inside the band of your loincloth, tickling the soft area below your belly. Your heart thudded hard inside your chest and more waves of arousal coursed through you.

He slowly and lightly teased the area, making your breath hitch slightly.

“Not stopping me, I see,” he quietly mocked.

Your let your eyes fall to his chest which was right in front of you. You didn’t want to see the smug grin on his face.

“Now what if I touch your little pussy? Is she gonna blow your cover?” He taunted some more. You swallowed roughly as his fingers traced further and further down into your cloth until he got to your soaked cunt.

He ran a finger up your slit, eyes dilating as he basked in the incredible feeling of your slick pussy. Your legs parted on their own, giving him easier access and you whined softly, leaning your head back against the wall.

“Fuck…” he breathed out, seemingly losing his control.

Your half lidded eyes met his again as he ran his fingers through your folds. You knew you were at the point of no return.

“Please..” you mewled quietly.

Trying to regain control of the situation, he straightened up and cleared his throat, still continuing his touching. “Oh so the brat has manners now?”

“Mhmm” you hummed shamelessly, pride be damned.

He licked his lips and looked down at your pretty lips, just waiting to be kissed. But he had other things in mind.

He yanked down your loincloth and it fell to your ankles then you kicked it aside. Then suddenly he knelt down and hitched one of your legs over his muscular shoulder, much to your surprise. You gasped hard at the first stroke of his tongue on your pussy lips.

“Oh!” You cried

You grabbed his dreads for support because your knees already felt weak. Looking down at him, the sight was purely sinful. He lapped, licked, sucked, and kissed all over your cunt, slurping up all your juices and making a complete mess on his face. He hummed and moaned on it, creating vibrations which elevated your pleasure.

He pulled back only for a second, your juices falling down his chin and painting his blue skin with white and clear shimmer. “You taste so fucking sweet, even better than I imagined,” he groaned in near disbelief. Then he continued working his mouth on your pussy.

You felt so good, feeling the most ecstasy you’ve ever felt. You’ve had a few partners and of course masturbate when needed but nothing and nobody has ever felt like this. He knew exactly where to go and how much pressure to apply and suck at.

He stuck a finger in your hole while he continued lapping on your clit. You moaned and fought to keep yourself standing up. He caught onto your struggle and swiftly moved to reposition you both. He laid himself back against the ground and had his hands hooked around you, bringing you down with him to then plop you right on his face.

Sitting on his face was much more comfortable and you tried to hold yourself up to hover some, but he grabbed your ass and pushed all your weight down on him. You switched between watching him do his thing and throwing your head back, closing your eyes and welcoming all the sensations. All his sounds were muffled but looking behind you and seeing his still rock hard erection and watching his feet curl and his legs dance around told you that he was very much enjoying himself.

You knew your orgasm was about to come. The pleasure was coming to a peak and you relaxed and let it happen. You came with a loud and drawn out moan, thighs shaking from the intensity. His humming got louder as he licked up all your essence, drawing out your high but letting off before you got overstimulated.

You rose off and scooted back a little to sit on his chest, looking down at his absolutely soaked face.

“Holy fuck,” you breathed out roughly, trying to catch your breath, “you didn’t tell me you were a pussy eating expert”

He chuckled with that deep voice of his, making your pussy flutter. “You thought the old man wouldn’t know how to eat pussy? Baby girl I am very experienced,” he winked.

You rolled your eyes at his cockiness, trying not to smile. Before letting you fully catch your breath, he sat up and effortlessly carried you with him, you were like a little rag doll in his huge, bulky arms. He hung you over one of his shoulders, ass up in the air. He smacked it and you let out a little yelp of surprise and smacked his back in return.

“You are so tiny, ya know that?”

You rolled your eyes once again. “Yes, everyone loves telling me how short I am” you complained.

“Mhmm well I think it’s hot as fuck”

He set you down on the table and you were facing him, legs spread out and pussy on full display. His eyes drank in the sight of your most intimate part, being fully captivated by you. You then took the reigns and slipped off your skimpy top, leaving him even more speechless. You smirked in satisfaction at how pussy whipped he was already.

He didn’t fail to notice your shit-eating grin and quiet laugh. “Oh yeah? You won’t be laughing much longer,” he threatened while untying the strings of his loincloth, letting it fall to the floor.

And it did in fact shut you up. He was huge. Your jaw hung low like an idiot and he laughed at you.

“You’re not that big. I’ve had bigger.” You lied, trying to sound confident.

He narrowed his eyes and felt a pang of jealousy at the thought of someone else getting to fuck you. “That so? Well then you should have no problem taking me,” he taunted.

You were nervous about how it would hurt but you put on a brave face. You spread your legs wider and gave him doe eyes as an invitation to go ahead.

His bigger body hovered over your small frame as he positioned his cock at your entrance. He teased your folds and your opening, making you buck your hips up in an effort to get him inside of you. His cockhead breached into your hole and you gasped in unison. He was so thick and girthy, the stretch against your walls was one you’ve never experienced this intensely.

He sank in deeper, thrusting a little to help break it in. You winced and moaned but stayed relaxed and let him keep going. He finally bottomed out. Then pulled back and started thrusting.

Your eyes widened and your jaw fell slack. The drag against your walls and the pressure his dick provided on your cervix made you nearly see stars, clouding your vision in a bit of a haze.

“Mmmm!! ‘s so good!” You slurred drunkenly, choking on your moans and cries.

He grunted and moaned above you, keeping a steady rhythm as his balls slapped against your ass.

“Holy shit” he gritted between his teeth, slightly baring them at you while he got caught up in the passion. He squeezed his eyes shut and his head slumped down, hanging from between his shoulders. “You’re gonna make me cum too quick” he panted.

You moaned in response, loving how you were breaking him. He cupped both your tits and gave them a squeeze, edging both of you on more.

“More!! Please!” You didn’t really know what you were asking for but he seemed to know right away.

He pulled out quickly and swiftly flipped you over, pulling you from the hips to scooch your ass up against him. He entered you again easily and plunged all the way in making you moan loudly.

“Cum on this dick, baby,” he grunted as he then started a fast and hard pace, increasing it from the previous pace.

His dick was now reaching so far up into you and satisfying all your sweet spots. He was fucking into you like a bunny in heat, hiking up one of his legs and placing his foot on the table to have a better grasp on you and a better angle to fuck you.

“Fuckkkk!” You screamed, getting your cervix pounding into over and over again. You felt your walls convulsing around him and knew you were getting close.

He pushed your head down into the table, his enormous hand pretty much engulfing the entire size of your head. Your hair fell around your face and was scattered in a complete mess.

“Shit baby, you’re close, huh?” He groaned.

“Yesss! Don’t fucking stop!” You begged and whimpered.

And then you felt your coil snap. The waves of sweet release spread throughout your whole body. Your pussy’s grip on his dick tightened, making him cum right after you.

“Nghh- gonna fill you up” he moaned while still bringing your ass back to meet his hips, slowing down and milking out both your orgasms. His hot cum spurted into your womb, filling you up just like he said.

He finally stopped his slow thrusts and pulled out gently making you whine as you felt some of his cum seep out.

He stepped back to admire his work, taking a mental screenshot of your cream pied cunt. He used his thumb to gather what had dripped and pushed it back into you.

“Your pussy looks best with my cum in it,” he admired.

You rolled over to your side, completely exhausted. You looked at him expectantly, wanting him to lay with you now.

He got your message by the look in your face. “I’m sorry baby but I gotta leave now. As much as I’d rather be stuffed inside you, I gotta get back to my place before my-“ he paused, looking physically pained, “before my family gets back home.”

Of course, you thought to yourself, how the fuck could you forget? Guiltiness flooded your heart, making it physically ache for his wife and kids. You felt terrible. You never liked a homewrecker and now you were a complete hypocrite and felt like a whore.

“Yes, o-of course… I’m sorry,” you offered weakly.

He weakly smiled as a response, pain still in his eyes as the post-nut clarity washed over him and guiltiness attacked his conscious as well.

“I’ll see you later, y/n.” And with that he left your hut.

Taglist: @neteyamssyulang @bambithewriter @professional-yapper @anemonelovesfiction @property-of-neteyam @luvv4j4ybe11 @loakstahni @fluorynn @zafrinaxyz @live-laugh-neteyam @nonamevenus @inolaphoenix @ladykat73 (if you wanna be added or removed, just lmk!)

[sugudollz]

⊹ ࣪ ˖ MISTAH STEAL YA BITCH!

So what if you’re married? Toji can fuck you better, anyways.

MDNI!! Dumbification. Cheating (from reader). He’s a bully :( he calls you “slut”, “whore”, n “dumb girl”. Orgasm denial. He grabs your jaw n your hair. Face down, ass up :3. “Cheating pussy”, “slutty ass pussy” 😭. Unprotected sex n he cums inside (wrap it before you tap it). Yeah Toji’s just really filthy. He’s kind of soft at the end? Not proofread, are we even surprised? Ngl this is so boring and my mind was going crazy writing this so ummm it’s probably all over the place. Lmk if I missed a tag or misspelled a word or something.

Toji’s got you face down, ass up on your bed—the bed you sleep on with your husband. However, that husband of yours is not Toji. What does it matter, anyways? Toji can fuck you better tenfold.

The head of his fat dick is hitting that sweet spot inside you repeatedly, his grip on your hips harsh as he thrusts his back and forth; that’s all it takes to get you stupid on his cock and drooling everywhere.

“You like that, huh? You like being a fuckin’ slut and being fucked in the bed you share with your husband?” Toji taunts in your ear before a loud groan slips past his wet lips. When you clench around his dick because of his harsh words, Toji laughs mockingly. “Fuckin’ whore,” he’s a complete menace.

One of Toji’s hands reach for your jaw, forcing your head to the side so he can look at you in all his dominant glory. When a smirk plays on his lips, a pout is drawn on yours, suddenly feeling small and shy.

Tears start erupting in your lash line, slowly falling down your flushed cheeks and Toji wipes them away with his thumb, but his face contrast his careful actions.

“Quit your whining and fuckin’ take it.” Toji spits out rudely, his aggressive thrusts matching his cruel demeanor. He’s pounding his cock into your tight pussy even harder now, chasing his orgasm, yet he seems to not care about yours. “Shiiiiit, this cheating pussy is so good…” Toji lolls his head back, eyelids closed and teeth digging into his bottom lip.

“A-ah—! Toji!” You whimper when his thrust of his hips cause his dick to hit a particular spongy spot in you. Toji lets go of your jaw to take a fist full of your hair and push your head into the pillow.

With your head in the pillow your husband sleeps on, you grip desperately onto the bedsheets of the bed you share with your husband, the grasp Toji’s fingers have on your hips creating marks on your skin. The skin on skin contact of your ass and Toji’s heavy balls echoing throughout the bedroom.

“Fuckin’ slutty ass pussy…” Toji nutters under his breath, ending the mocking words with a deep grunt. A knot in your stomach begins to tie, your back arching and granting a more pleasureful experience for your needy cunt.

“Toji…! ‘M gonna cum!” Whimpering, your tears begin to soak the pillow your face is slammed against, drool soaking into the thin pillowcase.

Grunting, Toji thrusts his hips with a force strong enough to fuck you to the sun and back. Sweat drips down from his forehead to to the crease between his furrowed eyebrows, and his thick dick is about to make you pass out just from how amazingly good it feels when it continues to slam against your sweet spot.

However, when Toji feels your tight walls clench harshly around his cock and he notices you getting louder and squirming more, he sends a smack to your ass. Though it’s not hard enough to actually hurt, it’s hard enough to tell you he’s upset.

“Hold it in,” demands Toji in the most strict, yet mocking, tone he’s ever used on you so far as he begins to rub the area he slapped on your poor ass cheek. With Toji’s words, your eyes shoot open and you’re upset as well as whiny.

“Toji!” You cry, your grasp on the bedsheets getting firmer. Despite you actually on the verge of tears and your genuine frustration, Toji fucking laughs and by now he’s balls deep into your pitiful pussy.

“Huh? What’s the matter, dumb girl? Crying cuz you can’t cum?” Toji pouts in feigned sympathy, his cock continuing to pound into you and hit all the right spots without fail. When you nod in response to Toji’s cruel words, he clicks his tongue and sends another palm to the flesh of your ass. “Too bad, I’m getting off first.” He sounds like a child who wants to play with a toy first—he’s so arrogant and he’s such a bitch.

The dick is too good, though, so you can’t really complain. Even if that wasn’t the case, you still literally couldn’t complain, thanks to the unforgiving thrusts of Toji’s brutal hips and his cock making you go dumb. Those same hips are causing you to see stars, galaxies even, and you’re just babbling on and on as saliva seeps through your parted lips.

As tears cascade down your cheeks from the aggressive pleasure and the denial of your orgasm, your muffled cries and pleas are being ignored by the man who’s fucking his fat cock into your warm, tight walls. Your needy cunt is gripping Toji’s dick desperately, silently praying for release but it’s never easy with Toji.

With a push of his hips, Toji feels his hips stutter and he curses under his breath. A long groan slips past his lips, and you would’ve heard a grunt of your name escape them as well if it weren’t for your fucked out state.

“Fuckkk…!” Toji throws his head back, his thrusts becoming sloppier and lazier due to the nearing of his orgasm. “Gonna cum in this cheating pussy,” he begins, “yeah? Gonna lemme fill your pussy up? Mhm? Give you a baby?” Toji either forgot about your husband or he either doesn’t care, and it’s most likely the latter option, knowing Toji. It’s not like you care, either way.

“Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! Please! Cum in me, Toji!” You whimper, eyes rolling to the back of your head as Toji’s fingers dig deeper into the flesh of your exhausted hips. When he hears your begs, he laughs tauntingly, sending a smack to your ass once again, eliciting a whine from you.

“Whore,” Toji mocks, a shit eating grin plastering itself on his face. However, when your walls squeeze his dick from his degrading treatment, Toji’s load dumps itself into your warm, tight pussy, painting your walls white and reaching your womb.

As if on instinct, you’re immediately cumming all over his thick cock from the feeling and thought of being filled to the brim with Toji’s release. Your juices coating his dick, Toji’s heavy load making a mark on your womb.

You’re thinking about how funny it is that you never let your husband go raw. Ever. The man you were sworn to, the man you promised yourself to, the man you were meant to spend the rest of your life with. But you let Toji do it—you always let him feel your warm walls. Why? You don’t know.

With such a life changing finish, you’re left breathless when Toji pulls out, same with him. He’s breathless, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with his veiny forearm. If your head wasn’t still shoved into your pillow, you would have seen how hot Toji looked in that moment.

“You fuckin’ slut,” he says playfully between heavy breaths, a smirk playing on his lips. You pout in response to his words as you turn over to lay on your back, seeing Toji face to face when you do. He allows his exhausted body to fall next to you, instantly wrapping his arms around your sweaty body and burying his head into the crook of your neck.

Toji’s ready to fall asleep, but an abrupt sound from your phone erupts and he groans. Reaching for your phone that lays on your nightstand, Toji finds a message from none other than your husband, reading: I’ll be home in five.

Not only is Toji upset with the fact that your husband will be back in a few minutes, it’s also the fact that the message looks so unenthusiastic—almost lukewarm.

He sets your phone back on the nightstand, returning to his position he was in before your annoying husband disrupted his rest.

“Who was it?”

“No one.”

© 2023 sugudollz only on Tumblr — do not copy, repost, translate, or steal.

[whateveriwant]

Beside

Simon was the perfect boyfriend, until he wasn't.

~1.2k words. Angst, mention of alcohol, mention of sex/18+. This is just a little something that was plunking around my mind.

Simon Riley, who met his younger, civilian girlfriend at a rundown pub one night. 

You noticed him the moment you entered your local dive, not just because he was a new, handsome face in the crowd, but because of an inherent magnetism that seemed to pull your gaze to him. Though he was a bit older than you were used to chatting with, that didn't stop you from accepting his offer of drinks when he approached you at the bar. And after sharing a few friendly pints and a few more-than-friendly touches, he ended up heading back with you to yours for the evening, and the rest, well, was history.

Now, it's been over eight months since you first got together, and you couldn't be happier. Simon is probably the best guy you've ever been with. He's kind, smart, funny as hell, and fucks you like no man ever has before. He really is the perfect guy for you, just with one small caveat: how rarely you get to see him.

Because of his job in the military, he's gone more often than he's in town. When he's not jetting off to God knows where, on average, you spend about a week with him each month; maybe a week and a half if you're lucky, though you rarely are. Hell, he's away so much that he doesn't even bother holding a permanent residence anywhere. His home is his little corner bunk on the base across town – the one you've still yet to visit, despite your asking. 

Naturally, you've tried floating the idea of having him move in with you permanently, but he's always assured you that he's content as is, that it'd be more stress than sense to relocate so far away from his work. 

And you understand, or at least, you try to see it from his point of view. Simon's always been a private guy – a man with no family or friends to speak of, apart from a few colleagues he's forced to interact with semi-regularly. His choice to not want to cohabitate is not an indicator of his feelings towards you. He simply likes having a little space purely to himself, that's all it is.

But even knowing that doesn't make it any easier of a pill for you to swallow. There's only so much that late night calls from private numbers can do or so many pretty gifts in the post that can fill the void Simon leaves whenever he's not around. He's there for you as much as he can be, you know that he is, but you just can't help that you still want more.

It's one night, about five weeks since you've last seen your boyfriend, that you decide to treat yourself to a little pick-me-up. You're at a store that's a bit out of the way compared to where you normally shop, but they have that cheese spread you really like, so it's worth the drive.

As you're mindlessly perusing the shelves, looking at everything and nothing in particular, a noise coming from the aisle over has your ears instantly perking up. That sound. You know that sound. The deep, rumbling timbre that almost has your knees buckling in the middle of the shop.

You follow the noise, sure your ears are mistaking you, but pause mid-step the moment you round the corner. There he is. Your boyfriend. In all his tall, strapping glory. You'd thought that was his voice seeping through the cracks between the shelves, but couldn't quite believe it since you didn't think he'd returned home yet.

You grin, overjoyed to see him, and take a step forward to approach. But just as soon as you move, you stop dead in your tracks, suddenly confused as you take in the scene ahead.

Simon's standing directly beside an overflowing trolley. But not just any trolley. One that holds two little boys, both looking not even old enough to attend school yet.

The sight has you stunned, the smile on your face faltering. Who are these children? And why is your boyfriend watching so closely over them? 

You're trying to decipher the situation from afar when another figure quickly grabs your attention. A woman, a few years older than yourself, walks up beside the trolley your boyfriend guards. Simon turns to look at the woman as she places something in the cart, a warm smile curving her mouth when he notices her. The children seem happy to see her return, and upon inspection, they appear to be her sons – the same hair, same eyes, same smile as they gaze up at her.

But the boys’ reaction is not what concerns you, what has your stomach twisting itself in tight knots. It's the way Simon reacts that leaves you stunned, that has you dumbstruck beyond all hope for redemption.

Simon, your boyfriend, smiles just as happily back at this woman. Simon, your boyfriend, gives her that look you’d only ever seen reserved for you. Simon, your boyfriend, reaches out to softly caress her cheek. And Simon, your boyfriend, leans forward, closing his eyes, until he's connecting his lips with hers.

A second passes, maybe five or six, where you just stand there, watching, unable to comprehend what you're seeing. Your mind feels like it’s firing at a million miles an hour, but it has nothing on how fast your heart is beating, threatening to bruise against your ribcage. 

After a moment, the two of them pull back, looking like a picture ripped right out of a catalog. The woman reaches up to brush some hair off Simon's forehead, a ring glinting on her fourth finger catching your eye with the movement. The oval cut diamond is especially blinding as she then drops her hand down to her middle. Your pupils pinpoint as she rubs her swollen belly, which can't be more than four months along, you'd wager.

As you look between them – the woman, the children, the man you've been with for months – slowly, so slowly you think your brain is made of wet cement, the pieces of the puzzle finally click together in your mind.

The realization makes you feel instantly lightheaded, thinking you're seconds away from emptying your stomach all over the shop’s freshly swept floor. Your throat slowly constricts, your hands beginning to shake, and before you can register what's happening, your basket of groceries falls to the ground with a clatter. 

The resounding noise draws the attention of all the nearby shoppers, including a pair of familiar brown eyes that immediately snap to yours. You lock eyes with Simon for just a second, before you're turning on your heel, abandoning your supplies in a scattered mess. 

Tears flood your vision as you flee the store, your body on autopilot as all you can think about is getting out of there. You're trembling as you fumble with your keys, dropping them twice as you bolt through the car park. When you finally reverse out of the lot, you don't even notice how a car or two honks their horn in warning. You hear nothing but the blood rushing through your ears, the static buzzing loudly around your skull. The voice in your head is shouting, absolutely screaming at the top of its lungs.

My God. My God. What have you done?

__________

A/N: Just so we’re clear, Simon Riley would never ever cheat. But for angsty fanfiction purposes, let’s pretend like he would, okay? Okay, cool. Anyway, I’d love to know what you thought! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

[thesassypadawan]

Repair Kit (Hayden x FemReader)

Summary: You’re the on-set medic for the new Obi-Wan series. A verily simple, straight forward job…except when it comes to a pair of dumbasses. Who have no problem texting you in the middle of the night when they overdo it practicing…or when your new boyfriend accidentally gets out drunk. And tells you some things.

Warnings: 18+ (mdni), because there’s a slight hint of smuttiness. Some drunk dumbasses and a booty grabbing Hayden.

Notes: Happy Hayden's (And Mine) Birthday Event! In honor of the man, the myth, the legend; I will be posting nothing but Anakin, Vader, and Hay stories all April long!

A little something for @ittybitty-rt ! It was truly a pleasure to write this! I had a lot of fun with it!  Hope you like it! ❤️

- It was 2am when your phone goes off. You only know this because it was glaring at you from the lock screen. Along with an interesting message from a certain ‘hello there’ saying gentleman… ‘Vader Repair Kit’. Bring. Hayden’s trailer. Now.’

- “Oh, what the hell now,” you grumble. Begrudgingly rolling out of your nice, cozy bed; you hurriedly throw on the first thing you can find. Grabbing the requested ‘kit’ on your way out.

- This was your job; well, to a certain degree. You’re the on-set medic for the new Obi-Wan series. Normally, during the DAY, you can be found fixing up beaten knuckles…soothing minor burns…maybe even stitching up a wound or two. Pretty much you just keep everyone happy and healthy.

- Simple enough. Except when it comes to a particular pair of grown ass men who act like stupid teens the moment they’re together. Who see absolutely no problem with texting you in the middle of the night. About the most moronic things…aka usually practicing after hours and completely overdoing it.

- However though, that wasn’t the case tonight…

- Before you can even knock, the door flies open. Revealing ‘Dumbass #1’ in all his grinning glory. “D-Darling, you look stunning.”

- Stunning…they must have fucked up good. “Shove the sweet talk, Ewan. Who did what this time?”

- Rubbing the back of his neck, the ‘jedi master’ laughs nervously. The smell of alcohol VERY noticeable on his breath. “Well, y-you see-”

- “Meee, I did!” A familiar voice calls out drunkenly.

- Shooting Ewan a look, you push your way inside. To find…

- ‘Dumbass #2’ sitting on the bed; big, goofy smile on his face. Arms flung wide open. “There’s my angel!”

- Staring blankly, you let out a heavy sigh. “Seriously? Don’t make me regret agreeing to date you.”

- Not paying any mind to the whines of ‘how mean’…or the ungodly adorable pout…you immediately get to work. Pulling out various rehydration items and whatever can possibly lessen the inevitable hangover from your ‘kit’. “All right, dark lord, you know the drill. Just like when you overheat in the Vader suit. Drink and take what I give you. And you’ll be sort of good as new.”

- Right as you’re about to hand him a bottle of what you both so affectionately call ‘blue milk’ and some aspirin. Those arms you’ve been avoiding wind around your hips and… “Heh-heh, booty.” …unceremoniously pull you down onto their owner’s lap.

- “Hay, what the…stop!” You squeak, face all flushed while trying to wiggle out of his hold.

- “No!” He giggles excitedly, squeezing your plush posterior like crazy. “Booty!”

- You hear the sound of Ewan clearing his throat behind you, a slight smirk in his voice. “You h-have this under control. I’ll l-leave you two love birds b-be.” Followed by the trailer door closing. Bastard…so much for being your only hope.

- Barely a second afterwards, Hayden has his face buried in the side of your neck. Nipping and sucking your sensitive skin. Hands still kneading greedily. “He right, ya know. We that…because I loves you.”

- Did he really just say that? You haven’t…he hasn’t… “You’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re saying,” you mutter. Scratching the back of his head, doing your best to ignore the awakening beast pressing into your stomach.

- Pulling away, not before giving your collarbone a gentle bite, Hay looks up at you with puppy dog eyes. Whining a bit while not so subtly grinding. “Maaaybe, but don’t mean it not true. I loves my angel. Wanna shows her.”

- Forcing back a soft moan, it takes everything you have to not cave. Sure, you’d love nothing more than to do so; to just tear it up like nobody’s business. But right now…right now he needed you in a whole different way.

- Despite his protests, you untangle yourself and slide out of his lap. “How about this?” You coo, sitting besides him and wrapping an arm around his waist. “You drink your ‘blue milk’ and get some rest. And…you can show me as much as you want in the morning. Okay?”

- “Fine,” he huffs, resting his head on your shoulder. “You numb me?”

- Although this isn’t exactly how you pictured the two of you saying it, you can’t help but smile. “Yeah,” you whisper, kissing the top of his head. “I love you too.”

- “Good, because I no give up booty,” Hayden mumbles. Giving aforementioned booty one last good pinch before dozing off.

Tag List: @espinathena-17, @myheartwillgoon2022, @wifeofasith, @princessswifie, @kenobiskywalker16, @loverforoldermen

[manykinsmen]

the more i think about how we (as both f1blr/f1 fic writers and the more general understanding of f1 fans/the f1 world) mythologise nico rosberg, the more i think i slowly begin to understand why he's such a divisive figure. it's actually not that much to do with taking sides over brocedes and the popularity of lewis hamilton, or even just that some people really really don't like his personality. it's because he's a living symbol of the trauma that motorsports, particularly f1, inflicts upon its participants and embodies it in an almost entirely new and much more viscerally upsetting way.

think about the other people that have had a similar role. many of them are motor racers who died tragically, mostly in some kind of vehicle or after an on track incident. we can mythologise these people in the ancient ways set out by tragic heroes. they have a few subcategories, the dead champions going out in a blaze of glory (senna, rindt, even schumacher in some ways) like achilles. the dead that should have been champions, taken cruelly early and depriving the entire world with their loss, grieved (gilles villeneuve, francois cevert, didier pironi, ronnie peterson, elio d'angelis) like hector. the minor characters who die, who had yet to make any particular impression on the world of motorsport, but whose deaths motivate their loved ones to achieve on their behalf, or inspire rage against a cruel system (roland ratzenberger, jules bianchi, anthonine hubert) like patroclus.

even those that didn't die like that generally bear some sort of physical mark of trauma, like niki lauda's burns and alex zanardi's amputated legs. these figures are held up as triumphs of endurance and willpower when they go on to succeed in motorsport, or elsewhere in sport. if they cannot succeed in some sporting capacity afterwards, then they are allowed to quietly fade into obscurity, like robert kubica and his damaged arm, clay regazzoni, paralysed from the waist down. the trauma of motorsport is understandable when it is rendered physically.

when we render it instead psychologically, emotionally, it becomes incomprehensible to us, uncomfortable for us to entertain. why does someone retire after winning the world championship? because it's dangerous? because you are hurting yourself? in professional sports, people carry around constant pain until their body breaks enough that they can no longer compete, which typically happens sometime in the mid-late thirties, frighteningly early in the average human lifespan. sports is not man vs man or man vs nature so much as it is man vs his own body. this is not the only way competitors hurt themselves, there is constant restriction: food, habits, time. how do you win? see family less, see friends less, practice hobbies less, spend more time training, focusing, studying, converting yourself into the perfect machine.

and then there's the individual traumas: the bridges burnt, the marriages sacrificed, the children neglected, the rival that becomes a nemesis, the best friend that becomes a mortal enemy, the self that becomes lost to become just another part of the car. richard siken says "how much can you change and get away with it, before you turn into someone else, before it's some kind of murder?". and then there's the losses, the disappointments, the criticisms from the team, from the press, from the fans. the constant battering of yourself against wave after wave of grief. the slow erosion of hope for all but a chosen, golden few. the knowledge that even if you win, there will come a point, inevitably, again, where you lose. you a winner until the next race. you are a champion until the next season.

what do we say to someone who says "i want to go home" and means it? who doesn't have to be dragged out of the race kicking and screaming? if they aren't a winner, we say they were never going to be. they are no one of any worth, they will be quietly forgotten. can you name a single one? if they are a winner, though, then what? what does this mean? we snatch at their winnings, their titles, try to take it away, retract it, somehow. but how do you say to them then that they aren't a winner? it is over. it is done.

they leave because they are hurting somehow, and their leaving leaves us hurting. it's betrayal, abandonment of the highest order. we as spectators are part of the race, the system. for nico to leave voluntarily is to criticise somehow, to point out the suffering and say you have hurt me. and we are included in that you, we know it subconsciously. that is why nico rosberg makes us uncomfortable, because he pulls back the curtain, reveals the trickery of it and all of us are suddenly standing in the light.

[m1d-45]

Alright let me try this again.

What if Reader vented to Birb Xiao, not knowing that it was actually him?

They talk about their fears and frustrations, letting out all the words they've wanted to tell a person, but they have to settle for their pretty bird because no one will listen.

So Xiao is just sitting there, resting in the True Creator's hands, listening as he gets a glimpse of how they truly feel.

They say the milileth is like a raging stampede with their spears and swords. They say how the Qixing all seem so cold and unfeeling. They talk about how Zhongli genuinely terrifies them, because he acted so kind to others but was borderline cruel when hunting them.

They talk about Xiao, too, but they don't seem to have many complaints. They haven't seen him in a while, and the last time they crossed paths with him, he just... let them run. The adeptus had looked angry, but also a bit startled (and perhaps, a bit guilty?) at the sight of them. They even once overheard him leading milileth soldiers astray ("by mistake" says the creator, but Xiao knows the truth) by saying the creator had left a while ago, when really, they were still very nearby. While they say they are still a bit scared of him, they don't fear him as much as they fear the others.

All the while, Xiao sits, still as a stone. He takes in every word, every shaky breath and darting glance. He nuzzles into their hand, hoping to offer even the slightest bit of comfort.

He hopes that they continue to be unafraid of him in the future.

-Sibling Anon

he who is without sin

a/n: decided to make this one a full fic for no reason in particular (i don’t have an actual post shhhh)

word count: 1.1k

-> warnings: imposter sagau things, minor blood mention, spoilers for xiao lore, some spoilers for liyue (like names and titles of people/places)

-> gn!reader (you/yours)

taglist: @samarill || @thenyxsky || @valeriele3 || @shizunxie || @boba-is-a-soup || @yuus3n || @esthelily || @turningfrogsgay

< masterlist > (has context for bird!xiao if you’re lost)

from the moment that xiao was saved, when his new name was bestowed upon him and he signed his contract with morax, xiao had made a promise. another contract, one without physical ink and paper, one bound to his soul.

one to you, his creator.

a pledge to stand by your side, a clause written in by the god that forged his original contract, releasing him from his duties to liyue to serve the one that had granted him life. a permanent extra sweep to his duties, always on the lookout for the highest god above all.

however, he was not the first to find… ‘you.’

‘you’ had landed in sumeru, nested in the large tree surrounding the akademiya. ‘you’ had climbed down, introduced ‘yourself’ to the sages with a smile. everybody was quick to give ‘you’ the glory rightly the creator’s, ushering ‘you’ atop a throne of silver and gold, offerings laid at ‘your’ feet with all the haste of those deprived of the divine.

xiao may have hung back at the beginning, unwilling to allow his karma to infect ‘your’ other worshippers, but he still did his duty. he still kept ‘your’ path clear of enemies, and was the first to pick up his blade when word broke of your imposter.

and yet, when he laid eyes upon the one he was supposed to hate, he was the first to repent.

xiao took a shaking breath, crossing his arms around himself. “morax?”

the elder god turned, amber eyes soft. “what is it, xiao?”

xiao marched through dihua marsh, polearm gripped tightly in his hand. a large hilichurl camp had been reported, which while not an issue normally, was the third in the last four days.

irritation was openly displayed on his face, the anemo around him simmering with his anger. why did the abyss have to act up now, when they were on a hunt? surely even they, as infected and riddled with darkness as they were, worshipped a god? or was that the source of their evil?

he kept marching north, only turning his head at the sound of a soft gasp.

“how will i know when the creator arrives?”

morax smiled, not upset like xiao had anticipated. “don’t worry about such things. when the time comes-“

you stood on the path branching west, eyes wide. you looked nearly exactly like the ’you’ on the throne, the same cool eyes that called for your death now wide and staring at him in fear.

“-you will know.”

you turned on your heel, your armful of sunsettias tumbling to the floor, but… xiao did not chase you.

instead he brought a hand to chest, under his necklace. he pressed, feeling the still-regular beat of his heart.

he pressed, searching for the place where his karma used to be.

from the moment that xiao realized the truth, when his new duty was bestowed upon him, he had made a promise. another contract, one without physical ink and paper, one bound to his soul.

one to you, his creator.

he flew down from the sky, landing in your outstretched hand. he chirped a greeting, body relaxing under your gentle touch.

“hello there, friend,” you cooed, sitting straighter under the tree. your tree, the one you kept coming back to, the one he always directed other adepti away from because it was for you, not them. not him.

you fed him as usual, but stayed strangely silent. no stories of the kindness mitachurls showed you, no update on how close or far the people searching for you had gotten, none of the usual things he looked forward to. you just… sat. watching him in your hand, an emotion he didn’t know the name of drawing your brows close.

maybe you just didn’t want to talk today? but if something was troubling you, he wanted you to share, to allow him some of the weight off your shoulders. then again, he was just a bird to you…

“do you know ganyu, pretty bird?”

xiao froze, thankful he was facing your palm so you couldn’t see his eyes widening.

“i thought i did.”

he looked up, carefully, daring to meet your eyes. this time, he could pin down what you were feeling: betrayal.

his finch heart burned.

your thumb pet over his wings, but he couldn’t bring himself to enjoy it. not now.

“i thought she was kind.”

she was, he knew firsthand. how she worried over the tianquan, fretted over her skills both with a bow and with a pen, how her and the yuheng kept each other afloat in the sea of endless work assigned to the jade chamber.

you smiled. it was bitter. “i guess i should have known better regarding the adepti.”

xiao’s heartbeat raced in his ears, something hot burning a hole in his chest. he was an adeptus, he wanted to say, he could be trusted.

but you didn’t know him as an adeptus. you knew him as your little songbird, your friend, the one you continued to risk your life for, even if you didn’t know it.

he chirped once, somber. he wanted to apologize, to take up his blade against his own king on your behalf, to walk up to the fraud’s throne and watch them bleed red.

but you didn’t need that. so he sat in your hand, leaning into your fingers, and let you speak.

as it turned out, today had been a busy day for you. you had wandered into the path of a millelith patrol, which had happened before, but not with keqing at the head of it. not when she had darted forward in a flash of lighting, electro arcing along her sword. not when she’d pulled out and blew a special whistle even as you ran, one that you couldn’t hear but could feel under your skin, taunting you as you tried to navigate the maze of bishui plain.

when you told him of ganyu’s frostflake arrows, he wanted to cry. when you described the anger in zhongli’s eyes, he started to weep.

you didn’t deserve this pain. you didn’t deserve having to outrun planet befall, you didn’t deserve to fear your life being stolen by those who should protect you at all costs- he should have been there. he was south, too far south to hear the whistle, but he should have been called.

he should have protected you.

under the shifting leaves of a sandbearer tree, your songbird cried. and you, none the wiser, continued to spell out the cause of his torment.

.

[doki-doki-imagines]

Fluff alphabet feat Tomas Vrbada

A ctivities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them? Tomas likes to watch films together with his partner. Usually, he enjoys action movies that aren't too heavy on the gore side, but he will watch sappy movies too; the more cliché there are, the better it is. His kid self would cringe at the film he watches now, but Tomas grew up and embraced that side better. If you sneak a kiss in between the film, he'll gladly accept it (even if he is often the one doing the first step)

B eauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them? Tomas is down bad. When he is in love, he can't find anything bad in his partner. Probably, he admires how you always have the right words to lift his spirit or how supportive you are. Also, Tomas appreciates your hands, for sure softer and smaller than his ones. He often finds himself kissing the palm of your hand.

C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.? Tomas has a steady mind. He isn't born with it, but he had to develop if you wanted to survive the Lin Kuei harsh rules. He isn't really good at supporting you during those times, but he wants you to learn the same tricks that helped him survive, so next time something bad happens, you won't feel that bad.

D reams - How do they picture their future with their s/o? Tomas would love to retire and have a happy family. He doesn't desire fame and glory, but a quiet life with people he cherishes, possibly not too far away from Shirai Ryu tho.

E qual - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive? Tomas is rather passive because he doesn't want to have arguments with his special one, but he can get stubborn on certain points and won't back down easily. In those cases, you can try to show him your view on the matter, but he often doesn't change his mind.

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting? To get Tomas angry, his partner must have done something that hurt him deep. He may forgive, but for sure, he won't forget.

G ratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them? He is! Tomas reaction may be a bit over the top, so there are times when you think he is joking, but he isn't! He is just overjoyed that someone used their time to do something for him.

H onesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything? Yeah, Tomas tries to keep his job as secret as he can. Yeah, you know he is a ninja and all of that, but you'll never know anything about his missions in particular, at maximum where he is going.

I nspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems? Not change. Tomas is just more relaxed and overall happy. His partner probably learnt how to deal with dangerous situations and emotions better.

J ealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it? Tomas has extreme trust in his partner. It's all the other people that worry him! He won't say a word to you, but when the green monster eats him inside and fog his brain, one of his hand always find its place on your lower back, squeezing your hips enough to keep you close to him.

K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like? Good...let's say he has the right spirit! Tomas will gladly improve and mould his skill to his partner preference. That doesn't mean he always has the mind to kiss at his best. The first kiss was unexpected, a mission thay went well and a flurry of little pecks all over your face till his lips found yours; that for sure didn't turn out to be just a little peck.

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o? It's all of a sudden, like when you rip the band-aid off in a single movement, plus it is at an unexpected moment, not romantic at all. Probably he brang something you both like and Tomas go "You know what else I like? You." and then just go on with his day. He is dying inside, tho, so pls tell him about your feelings; as cute as he is when blushing, it's best to avoid an aneurism.

M arriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like? Oh, Tomas would love to marry his special one. He'll totally be soft, proposing in the intimacy of your shared room. The marriage wouldn't be too extravagant, but he'd like to invite as many friends as possible.

N icknames - What do they call their s/o? Honey, darling, baby.

O n Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings? Tomas has a smile plastered on his face every time his crush gets close to him; and with close to him, I mean on the other side of the camp. He always tries to lean towards your body, just feeling the heath of your body makes his heart do triple jumps. Tomas would like to be more sneaky, but honestly, everyone knows about his crush on you; yourselves included. Better to tell him immediately how you feel about him, so he won't embarrass himself too much with his colleagues.

P DA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching? Tomas doesn't like kissing in public, but will for sure brag about his partner with others, even more if he is tipsy; Tomas just won't stop babbling about you. For sure, your relationship isn't a secret.

Q uirk - Some random ability they have that’s beneficial in a relationship. He can tell your feelings just by looking into your eyes. For sure, Tomas will understand you easier, but it also means that it's hard to keep secrets with him.

R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative? He likes cliché, exactly the same kinds that appear in the film you watch together. Don't expect Tomas to be creative, tho! That isn't his strong suit.

S upport - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them? Absolutely yes! Not only Tomas will be really supportive, but he'll gladly give you a hand if you need more than encouraging words to reach your goal.

T hrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine? Tomas prefers routine, it is more comfortable and makes you both overall happy. Doesn't mind if you want to spice up the relationship, but you'll have to make the first step.

U nderstanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic? Extremely good, maybe too good, as I said before. Not too much empathetic, tho. He understands how his partner feels, but doesn't mean he will feel the same way you do.

V alue - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life? Really important, but not more than Shirai Ryu. Tomas has a mission, a goal that won't let go no matter how much he loves his partner

W ild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon. He likes to kiss your fingers, delicate butterfly ones, maybe while you're in bed together cuddling.

X OXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle? Yes, but just behind closed doors. Tomas' hands never leave your body, and his lips always find peace on your skin. Not all cuddles end up in sex, but...he wouldn't be opposed to that.

Y earning - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner? He likes to watch photos of you two together or just yours. It's not unusual for his head to wander in dangerous places.

Z eal - Are they willing to go to great lenghts for the relationship? If so, what kind of? It depends, does it hurt you or him? Then he won't do it. Will it be a danger for Shirai Ryu? Absolutely won't do it. Is it something that doesn't do any damage to his "safe paradise"? Tomas will gladly do that.

[ohmyeyesmyeyes]

cold nights & a sunday morning

nico hischier x f!reader one shot

warnings: swearing, (no specific opposing team), fluff, smuttish themes

You were weary, eyes blinking slowly under the curtain of exhaustion that had seemingly enveloped you – encouraged by the thick duvet you’d pulled up to your chin to keep out the chill; the dull lighting you’d left on on the other side of the bed helped shroud your pocket of the bed in darkness, and the TV was on, a movie playing at the foot of your bed, the volume turned down so you could only just make out the muttering of the characters. 

You’d been half-trying to sleep, half-trying to keep yourself awake, and it seemed the internal conflict waged a battle in your mind and kept your body balancing constantly on the edge of sleep. You’d been yawning for at least half an hour, but for whatever reason, you just couldn’t find it within yourself to go to sleep.

You’d read an article a couple of days ago, about how people tend to fall asleep around people they love. It had something to do with safety and comfortability, and lately you’d been finding that particular theory to be true. Take now, for instance, you didn’t know if it was because you acknowledged that study and were thinking about it that was the reason you couldn’t sleep, or if it was an unconscious and intrinsic need to actually not be alone when you went to sleep.

It had to have been another ten minutes before you gave up on the idea of sleeping entirely, and you’d rolled over onto your back, eyes bleary and dry from attempting to sleep, and tried to focus on the TV screen at the bottom of your bed. You’d seen the film before; once when you were younger and your parents had put it on, not realising exactly how rude or explicit it had been for an impressionable nine year old.

The Rebound. 

It was only around half way through, but it didn’t take much to get back into it – especially considering you’d been half listening to it the entire time, and it made you smile, it really did.

If anything, the bright colours and moving pictures only seemed to lull you into an even deeper exhaustion, so much so that by the time the front door had shut – it was a gentle sound, and you knew that he’d tried to be as quiet about it, but the door on this house always seemed to rattle the walls – you’d nestled back down under the covers, eyes heavy and constantly yawning.

And by the time you heard the telltale padded footsteps traipse up the stairs and head to your bedroom – slowly and carefully, as though he expected you to be asleep and was trying his hardest not to make a sound – you’d perked up a little, anticipation and excitement taking away a hint of exhaustion. You pushed down the covers a little, so you could peek over the duvet and wait for the door handle to turn.

When it did, you knew that it would be virtually impossible for his eyes to adjust to the darkness in time to see if you were asleep, so you took a moment to appreciate him in all his shuited glory.

He must have been wearing a beanie at some point, because his hair looked a little windswept, the ends poking up in an unnatural way – one that made him look effortlessly beautiful, even in the glow of the TV light. He walked through the door on his tiptoes, blinking a little as he adjusted to the darkness, a duffel bag in his hand and a waistcoat draped over his other arm. He’d undone his tie and unbuttoned the first few on his shirt – probably as soon as he’d gotten back into his car, and through your squinted eyes, you could make out his grimace as he knocked his bag against the doorframe, his eyes immediately going to you curled up in the bed.

He waited a few seconds, expecting you to move at the kerfuffle, before continuing his journey, gently placing his bag on the ground and his waistcoat and tie on the back of the chair next to his side of his bed – the opposite side to the one you were on. This time, however, you had to shut your eyes fully because his bedside light meant he’d get a full view of your face, and you were thankful that the duvet covered your smile as he turned around to face you, his fingers working to unbutton his shirt. 

You only opened your eyes hesitantly, one eye at a time, when you heard his footsteps recede towards the en-suite on the other side of the room. He had his back to you, and you didn’t know when it had happened, but he must have picked up his pyjamas from underneath his pillow (did you fall asleep?), because he was wearing his sleeping shirt and a pair of shorts.

Just before he went to shut the bathroom door, however, he sent a glance in your direction and your eyes flew shut – eliciting silent laughs from underneath the duvet on your end – and after a couple of seconds you heard the mumble of the TV cut out and the light diminish entirely – the light behind your eyes blacking out. Then, when you thought he’d make his way to the back of the bathroom, you heard footsteps heading in your direction.

You froze. You held your breath and used all of your willpower to mute said laughing and neutralise your facial expression. You felt him pause at the side of the bed, and your resolve almost crumbled entirely when you felt a warm breath hover over your cheek for a second too long. It briefly crossed your mind that you’d been caught at lying, and that thrill sent a shot of adrenalin through your veins – but it all halted when he dropped a soft kiss on your cheek. 

This time you had to stop yourself from smiling for entirely different reasons.

He honestly and completely melted you everytime he showed you some affection when he thought you weren’t awake – a simple kiss on the cheek or forehead was the most common gesture, but there had also been the occasional hand on your hair when he’d walk past the sofa and you’d fallen asleep.

You had once thought that men like that were only limited to pages of a book or movies, but Nico had quickly demolished that view when he waltzed into your life with nothing but soft touches and sweet nothings.

He was so fucking gentle you had to stop yourself from screaming sometimes. 

You only opened your eyes when you heard the bathroom door click shut, and from then on out you spent the next four and a half minutes hanging off every sound in the bathroom – the whir of the toothbrush, the tap switching on and off.

You had neglected to move from your position, but before he came back into the room, you made sure to let loose on your laughing, a hand securely clamped over your mouth at the hilarity of it all. You never really had the opportunity to get back at Nico with his silly teasing, but now you were kind of excited at the opportunity to get one for yourself.

You heard the light switch off and the door click open, and you shut your eyes, heart thrumming with the inevitable anticipation of knowing he’d climb into the bed and shuffle himself as close to you as he could without trying to wake you.

He did just that; gently lifting up the duvet and sliding under the covers as efficiently as he could so as to not let too much cold air draft inside. And when he’d made himself comfortable, switching off the light at the side of the bed, you felt him shuffle closer. You knew he’d be watching your face, anxious not to wake you, and you took the opportunity to open your eyes.

It was almost instantaneous, the way he reacted. He seemed to pass through multiple stages of grief, his eyes widening as he recoiled, before sighing and rolling onto his back, hands over his eyes as he laughed softly. 

“You should have seen your face.” You whispered, unable to help yourself from smiling as you took his wrist in your hand to peel his own away from his face. 

He let you take his wrist, and his other hand flopped onto his stomach as he twisted his head to look at you, just as you used his wrist to lift his arm over your shoulders as you rested your head against his shoulder.

“You made me jump.” He replied, rolling his eyes but moving impossibly closer to you anyway. You both knew neither of you would end up waking up in this position, but it was always nice to have a quick game debrief in bed when you didn’t go to the odd match.

They’d won tonight, and Nico had played an insane amount of minutes on the ice so you knew tonight’s debrief would be short. 

“It can’t have been that scary.” You defended, lifting the duvet back over both of you. 

“Believe it or not, you’re very good at pretending to be asleep.”

“Thank you for that information–”

“Don’t get any ideas.”

“I’m not promising anything.” You shrugged, unashamed to find that not a single part of you felt guilty for giving him such a fright. If anything, you guessed it probably woke him up a bit.

There was a slight lull to the conversation, and you felt a sudden onslaught of exhaustion hit you, the adrenaline wearing off as the giddiness and anticipation from your previous trick began to dwindle. You yawned just as Nico took a deep breath, a curious leg swiping over to your side of the bed.

You practically felt his confusion and the way he furrowed his brow as he moved slightly underneath you, “Is there a problem?” You muttered, knowing exactly what the issue was. 

You didn’t know if it was a Nico thing, but whenever he climbed into bed and noticed the searing heat coming from the heated blanket, he always had something to say – usually it was a grumble about the warmth contaminating the cold sheets on his side of the mattress, but this time he said nothing against it.

Instead, he tightened his hold on you and somehow manoeuvred the both of you so you were laying completely on your half of the bed, you surprisingly finding yourself almost entirely on top of him, save for one leg that had found its way out of his hold.

You pushed yourself up with your arms caging his head in and tilted your head in an inquisitive manner. Nico copied you, and through the film of darkness you could just make out a sheepish glint in his eyes as he crossed his arms behind his head, seemingly pleased at the position he’d managed to get you in.

You rolled your eyes, unimpressed with his behaviour.

He shrugged, “I was cold, and you’ve been on this thing for hours now, so what better way to warm up than to have one side pressed to the heated blanket and the other to my equally hot girlfriend?”

You arched a brow, half bothering to smother a smile at the double meaning he’d implied, “You’re despicable, honestly.”

“Despicably handsome, no?” He yawned, running a hand through his hair, before smirking at you shaking your head. 

You didn’t have the heart to deny him his good looks, but instead you pressed a kiss on his lips. It was short, and you peeled back almost immediately after – as though you were testing the waters, but Nico seemed to have been expecting you to pull such a move, because a hand on the back of your head prevented you from recoiling too far before you’d practically collided with him in a mess, only just managing to catch yourself on your elbows. It was a searing kiss, one that took you by surprise with his eagerness and sudden burst of energy, and then before you could control yourself, you were laughing against his mouth.

“I mean, I was going to say you’re despicably good at hockey, but I guess that’s also true.” You were a little breathless, and your cheeks were burning under his scrutiny, “That goal you scored was–”

“Sexy?” He asked, and you could feel his chest heaving a little from underneath you, so you slid off him, only keeping one leg draped across his torso after he caught it with his hand. You still propped yourself up on your elbow, but welcomed the heat from the electric blanket.

“Sexy.” You repeated, “It was from a mile out and went through three pairs of legs, an honest miracle.”

You could see him grin excitedly as he squeezed your leg in response, “Always happy for your support.”

“Oh, but let’s not forget that assist, either–” Your fist landed on his chest, and you could tell he was laughing to some extent, thoroughly amused at the spectacle you were making of his performance, “because that was incredible as well.”

“Keep talking dirty to me.” He bit his lip, and you swore you melted when he literally giggled. You couldn’t make out much in the dark, but you swore the light from the shut bathroom door caught the glint of mischief that seemed to have a permanent residence nowadays.

Of course he’d relate hockey talk to more suggestive themes, but if you were being completely honest, it was probably one of the things you loved most about him. He did seem to have a rather talented knack of making you laugh at the cheesiest of lines. 

“You shoulder-barged number seventeen into tomorrow and gave Jack the chance to score, that was impressive – your tackle, I guess the goal was alright, but it wasn’t you–” you stopped, holding up a finger, “let me get my notes.” You pretended to roll over to root through the drawer on your bedside table but a firm hand curled around your waist and pulled you back against a rather solid chest, eliciting a groan from you as the wind was knocked out of your lungs for a brief moment in time.

“You don’t need your notes.” He breathed a laugh, stifling an awkward yawn at the same time.

“No, I don’t.” You admitted, reaching a hand up to brush the strands of hair that had fallen into his face and were tickling his nose uncomfortably. 

“Please can you turn off the electric blanket?” He mumbled, and from the tone of his voice alone you could deduct that his drowsiness was beginning to take effect, so you nodded, twisting over to reach down the side of your bed and flicking the switch off.

“I’ll be cold.” You let the unspoken question lingering behind you words hang in the air for a few moments before readjusting yourself so you had your head back on the pillow, and it barely took a second for the words to register in Nico’s head before he was wrapping an arm around you, tugging your body closer to his.

He draped a leg in between yours and placed his forehead against the back of your shoulder blade.

“I won’t move, promise.” You felt his lips press a delicate kiss on your back.

“Thank you.”

___ 

You woke up earlier than usual. You could tell it was earlier because the light peeking out from behind the blinds was dimmer than it usually was – but it wasn’t that that was your main concern.

Your main concern was that you were uncomfortably hot. The duvet was pulled up over your forehead, and tightly, which meant the air was stiflingly hot, and you could feel the repercussions of it burning your entire body. It also didn’t help matters when you could feel an even warmer body curled around your back – like how a koala hugs a tree. Nico had his chest pressed against you, his head resting on your pillow (because it felt as though neither of you had moved much in the night), but an arm tightly slung across your waist and a leg snaked between yours.

The tangle of limbs and sharing of body heat certainly had added a little more intricate difficulty to the predicament.

He kept his promise, then.

You laid there for a few more minutes, knowing that you’d eventually have to remove yourself before you ended up suffocating – either from the weight of his body on top of yours, or the heat that was putting you on the edge of sweating. 

You were fine until you weren’t – until the desire to get out and until that magnetic force emanating from downstairs compelled you to the point you just couldn’t spend another freaking minute in that pit of…ew.

You were close to the edge of your side of the bed; so close that you could stick a leg out and touch the floor with your feet and slide out. When you’d planted both on the floor, you slowly grabbed Nico’s arm, careful not to disrupt the covers too much or startle him awake. It was no easy feat, trying to wrestle yourself from his grip whilst also trying not to let him roll over onto your side of the bed too quickly; you had to turn awkwardly, a hand going up to catch the shoulder that had been resting on your back and gently lowering him onto the mattress.

You slipped out yourself, turning around momentarily to make sure he didn’t fully wake up: he threw an arm out onto the space you’d previously occupied, and shoved his other arm under your pillow. Apart from that he didn’t stir one bit.

You shrugged on a jumper, and took a pair of socks out of the drawer, putting your slippers on over the top. It was still chilly, but the heating had clicked on a while ago, and you could feel the warmth from the radiators whenever you walked past one on your way to the kitchen.

Quiet Sunday mornings were rare, even more so this particular morning, because Nico didn’t have an early skating session. Sure, he had practice after lunch, but it was only nine.

Breakfast in bed was almost tradition at this point.

By the time you’d made it back upstairs, a tray full of food and drink, Nico was awake. He was sitting up (on his side of the bed this time), an arm dropped across the top of his head and he was lazily flicking through the TV channels.

When he saw you push your way through the bedroom door, however, he threw the covers off himself and took the tray from you, pressing a quick kiss on your cheek.

“Good morning.” He smiled sweetly, moving over to place the tray in the middle of the bed. 

You followed him, careful not to nudge the tray as you climbed back in, kicking your slippers off before doing so.

“Morning.” You replied, taking your half of what was on the tray and placing it on your bedside table, taking an eager gulp of coffee as you did so.

_ _ _ 

It didn’t take long for either of you to scarf down your breakfasts, and for some reason you’d found yourself at the foot of the bed – still under the covers – and leant against the small endboard, a pillow cushioning the sharp edge.

You cradled a miraculously still-hot cup of coffee, but it was Nico your attention was on. He wasn’t doing anything anyone else would deem particularly interesting, simply put, he was just being. You were deep into a conversation about your plans for the next week or so, but he was so deeply ethereal with his morning messed up hair, pyjamas, and that stupid smile on his face when he talked your ear off that it practically took your breath away.

Three years of this gig and you never once weren’t insanely head over heels for him. Sometimes it scared you, but times like this cancelled out any fears you’d ever had.

You had to duck your face into your hoodie to hide the dopey grin that had made its way onto your face because you couldn’t keep the adoration off your face. And the more you thought about it, the less control you had over how absolutely crazy you looked trying to hide it from him.

He stopped talking, a secretive smile curling at his lips when he caught your eye. He raised a brow, and you felt your cheeks redden at getting caught – what for, you didn’t exactly know, because it wasn’t like you had any reason to hide from him. You rolled your eyes, feeling your cheeks redden as he nudged your leg with his.

“How long have you not been listening?” He asked, tilting his head in amusement.

He wasn’t annoyed by any means, not if the smirk now gracing his features had anything to say, if anything he was teasing you. There was a sparkle of cheek in his eyes, and you could tell he was a little confused at your staring.

Your heart was pounding a little in your chest, and you swallowed somewhat anxiously, “I was listening, you were just talking about the game on Tuesday.”

He blinked, the smirk dipping a little, “Then why were you looking at me like that?”

You shrugged, tucking your hoodie back down so he could see your face. You were tempted to deny his accusation – that you weren’t looking at him in any particular way, so you negotiated with yourself. 

“And what did it look like?”

He paused, “Like you were thinking really hard about something, but you looked almost happy about it – and it was a soft kind of look.”

You nodded, “I guess that’s accurate.”

“What were you thinking about?” His voice was gentle, and you could feel the piercing weight of his brown eyes boring into you when you looked down at your mug, unable to look him straight in the eye.

You were thinking about him, truthfully. It was a topic you’d both discussed multiple times before, and one that both of you felt easy and comfortable approaching, but there was something about this specific train of thought that had you getting suddenly flustered. You felt heat crawl up your neck, and you tapped your fingers against the mug.

“Don’t get shy on me now.” He breathed an awkward laugh, and when you looked up at him you could see the slight red flush on his own cheeks.

Was he afraid of what you were going to say? You’d been silent for a while, and nearly dodged almost every question he’d thrown at you, so it would make sense for him to look a little tenser. Or was it out of anticipation - the way he seemed to push himself further up against the headboard? Did he know what you were thinking about?

“I was thinking about you.” You admitted quietly, knowing you needed to throw something out there before the tension in the room became too awkward to bear. You knew he could tell you were holding back, but you wanted to keep some cards close to your chest for the time being.

Perhaps if he asked the right questions…

You knew the insecurity that had rooted itself in your mind was irrational – you guys had openly talked about it before, and agreed with each other on the matter, but now you were really considering doing it, there was a whole new wave of apprehension you were drowning in when you even thought about spitting the words out.

He seemed to perk up, however, when you spoke. His eyebrows shot up, as though he was surprised, but you had an inkling he was just curious about what exactly you were thinking about him. And judging from the smile on his face and the way his ears burned redder, you could tell he was flattered by the attention and the admission.

“What about me?” He maintained eye contact, but you could see his throat bob and hear the tightness in his voice.

He was fidgeting – you could see him playing with his fingers on top of the covers.

You shrugged, trying to play it off as more casual. The last thing you wanted was to put him on edge.

“Just…the future, I guess. Us.” 

Something flickered across his face, and you could tell immediately that saying that was the wrong thing to do. It sent warning signals blaring in his mind, and his smile faltered momentarily.

“Nothing bad.” You corrected, eyes flicking to his chest when he took a shaky breath.

“What constitutes as ‘nothing bad’?” 

You shrugged, hesitating, “Like, where would we be in a year's time?”

The question caught him off guard. He turned his eyes away from you, and you watched as his gaze danced around the room for a brief moment. His brows pulled together and his lips parted before he returned back to you again, “Together, for sure. Maybe not in this house, though.”

You swallowed, unable to help feeling a hint of disappointment in his answer. Moving house wasn’t the issue, it was more of the fact that he didn’t talk about what you wanted him to talk about.

Still, you were curious as to what he meant; this house was amazing. It was big enough for the both of you, and maybe even a dog or something, there was a spare room and you guys had an ensuite. It was also slap bang in the middle of a nice enough neighbourhood. In other words, you didn’t see how it could get much better than this – it was almost perfect, and you knew even if you stayed here you’d be happy. So, understandably, you couldn’t help but be a little confused at his words.

“What’s wrong with this house?” You asked.

He was the one that chose it – you just moved in with him, so you couldn’t really see the issue.

He shrugged nonchalantly, “Nothing really. It was just an idea that’s been in the back of my mind for a while now.”

You were even more confused now.

“Why?” You couldn’t help yourself, but by not giving you a reason, you were even more intrigued that you had been initially, and judging from the way Nico stuttered in spitting out his words, you gathered that maybe he wasn’t telling you something either.

“Just that it’s quite small. I mean, we could only ever have one person sleep in the spare room at a time, and we’ve got a fair amount of friends and family members that might want to stay at the same time as each other. I thought we might just need to upgrade a little.” 

Fair enough.

“So, in a year’s time, you might want to have moved out of here?” You clarified, and he nodded.

You took a gulp of coffee to buy yourself time.

“And what do you see us as?” You worded the question a little differently, hoping that he’d somehow catch onto the insinuation. You’d figured you probably wouldn’t get very far into what you wanted to actually talk about if you kept dancing around the subject and getting distracted with his wordings of things.

Nico gulped, the colour reappearing in his cheeks as he once again resumed fidgeting with his fingers. You wanted to sit next to him and pull his hands apart, get him to mess around with yours instead, but the anticipation of what he’d say next had you on the edge of your seat; frozen into place at the end of the bed as the potential weight of your future relationship hung in the balance.

You knew if he didn’t give you the answer you wanted to hear that you’d just have to take matters into your own hands (and it wouldn’t be for the first time, either), but from the way he’d seemingly blanched and turned nervous on you made you think maybe you’d hit the nail on the head and finally gotten through to him.

“Don’t be getting all shy on me now.” You echoed his earlier words, and he shook his head, pushing himself back up against the headboard with an anxious laugh. 

Even the fact that he couldn’t look at you gave something away. Nico usually never shied away from eye contact – even in the worst of times, like when you’d be at some sort of conference and he’d catch your eye and you’d spend the rest of the night trying to ignore him for fear of making a fool of yourself – he was incredibly good at breaking you with a simple glance. He was wicked like that.

But now, he seemed to be the complete opposite.

He looked as nervous as you felt.

“Honestly, I kind of hope that in a year from now we’d be engaged – at the very least.” He admitted, and almost instantaneously his eyes shot to yours – seeking reassurance that you felt the same, that there might be some form of an answer written in the contours of your face.

He attempted a smile, but you were so stuck in your own head – because that was exactly what you’d wanted to hear – that you’d been struck dumb and completely speechless, your face a frozen picture of subdued shock.

Your mouth had parted slightly and your brows had furrowed, not in a way that suggested disapproval, but one that had your eyes widening.

You were only shaken out of your reverie when you let his words really sink in.

At the very least.

This time it was your turn to move – still clasping the lukewarm cup of coffee you sat up and moved across the mattress to sit by his side, still ensuring you were facing him. At your flurry of movement, the nervousness on his face melted away, and in its place was a rather relieved smile. The tension had dropped from his shoulders – this time it was his turn to suffer the anticipation of getting an answer.

“When you said ‘the very least’, did you mean–”

“–That I’d also like to be married in a year's time?” He interrupted, an eyebrow quirking up in amusement.

“Yes.”

“I did mean that, yes.” He nodded.

Your heart damn well fell out of your chest at that confession. So you had been on the same page.

That Tiffany’s box you’d found hidden at the back of his bedside table was intended for what you’d initially assumed.

“Okay, that’s good.” You sighed in relief, this time giving into your urges and tearing his hands apart from where he was tapping. You took one of his hands in his, not meeting his eyes despite every single morsel of will in your body compelling you to.

“Is it?” He lowered his head, trying to encourage you to look at him as he squeezed your hand.

You met his eyes, a spark of confidence shooting through you. You knew it would be momentary – a passing feeling, but you grasped the opportunity anyway, “It is. I was actually wondering if today would be an appropriate day to ask if you wanted to get engaged?”

Silence.

His expression didn’t waver in the slightest, and you gave him the benefit of the doubt in that he was just taking his time processing what you’d just asked him. The only sign you knew he’d heard you was the widening of his eyes and tighter grip on your hand.

“Did you just ask me to marry–”

“Yes.”

Your heart was hammering so hard against your sternum you wouldn’t be surprised if it jumped through your ribs and landed on the bed between you both. It was almost painful. Asking him to marry you wasn’t exactly on the agenda when you’d woken up this morning, and by putting the question out there, you’d practically bared your entire heart to him anyway. To you, this was as intimate as it got, and somehow you felt even more vulnerable knowing he had the power to break your heart with a simple syllable.

He seemed to jump into action before you could ask him if he needed some time to actually consider your proposal, because he was suddenly digging a hand in the pocket of his pyjama bottoms, until he took your other free hand and opened the palm.

You felt something drop into your hand, and you didn’t even need to look at it to know what it was.

“No fucking way.” You breathed, incredulous at the timing, “You had that in your pocket? So you–”

“I was gonna propose when I made you breakfast, but you woke up before me, so I couldn’t.” He grinned, excitement thrumming through his entire body. 

“I ruined your proposal?” You asked meekly, feeling a little bit of guilt at the realisation. 

Nico laughed, “No. If anything, I prefer this proposal to what I was gonna do.”

You swallowed, too stunned to really say or do anything but to turn your attention to the magnificent ring in your hand. It had a divine weight to it. It was silver, and even before you’d held it up to the light you could see the diamonds sparkling; they were dotted along the entire band, and the main diamond was encased in a delicate halo of them. 

Emerald cut.

You’d only mentioned that kind of cut once in your entire three years of being together, but he’d listened, and most importantly, he’d remembered.

“Fuck, this is stunning.” You breathed, not even thinking twice about it before sliding it onto your left finger and holding it up to the light.

It was gorgeous, and even then you didn’t think the beauty of it lived up to simply just being ‘gorgeous’. You couldn’t find the words to even begin describing it, and the only way you could even express anything was to kiss Nico with absolutely everything you had. 

It was messy, so messy. Teeth clashed, hands seemed to be everywhere and nowhere, and when you both pulled away, your hair was a complete mess, and you were almost heaving to recover some oxygen. Nico’s cheeks were flushed and his lips were red; his chest was also moving up and down at a rapid rate – even to say he was a professional athlete – and his pupils were blown so wide you almost had to do a double take. 

“Was that a yes?” He breathed, gulping and trying to smooth some of your hair down from where he’d raked his fingers through it in a mad haze.

“Definitely.” You nodded, rolling over to your side of the bed.

A body followed your movements, and you were plastered to the bed, your front pressed into the mattress as Nico took your hair in his hands, leaving hot, open-mouthed kisses on the back of your neck and succeeding in distracting you immensely from the task at hand.

“What are you doing?” He mumbled, goosebumps rising on your skin as he continued his path, hands sneaking under your jumper. 

You sighed contentedly, pleasant shivers rolling down your spine as he squeezed your waist and used his newfound grip to flip you over. Your hand remained fixed in its goal to open the small cupboard door underneath your drawer in your bedside table, and you purposefully turned your cheek and pressed it into the pillow. You knew you’d be completely fucked if you even so much as looked at him right now.

Out of the corner of your eye you could see his hair fall into curtains in front of his face, and you had to restrain yourself from fixing it yourself, trying to ignore the burning desire that seemed to drip slowly from your head right to your toes. Your nerves were on fire, as though they’d been exposed to something, and that delicious warmth of craving only seemed to accumulate – made even worse when Nico used one of his hands to lift his shirt over his head.

You pressed your cheek further into the pillow and turned your eyes to your bedside table, trying your absolute best to ignore the trails of desire his touch left in its wake.

“I’m trying to get you your ring.” You whispered, and he froze, arms stabilising him as he secured his fists against your pillow.

You looked at him, eyes briefly flickering down to his exposed torso; broad, toned and nothing short of delicious. Your gaze trailed down, and before you let yourself get carried away, you turned your attention back to the cupboard.

“My ring?” He echoed, ripping his focus away from your face to your hand, of which was doing an incredibly poor job at trying to locate a simple box.

“Yes, your ring.” You replied, sighing in frustration of more than one type, and twisting your torso out from his cage of arms so you were half dangling off the bed, looking at the cupboard upside down.

“Careful.” Nico exclaimed, his hands reaching out to grab your torso to prevent you from falling to the ground. His concern was short lived, however, because after only a few seconds, you could feel him get distracted at the exposed skin bared to him. It started with soft touches that had your muscles jerking away from him, and upon seeing how you unconsciously reacted to his touch, you felt him adjust himself. Before you knew it, his hair was tickling your exposed skin, and the exact same hot, open-mouthed kisses that had previously been decorated against the skin of your neck were being dutifully pressed to your navel – in an even more distracting area.

You groaned, reaching one hand from the back of the cupboard to try and shove his head away, but he must have predicted your movements because a warm hand clamped down on your wrist before you could even touch him.

“Do you want me to find that ring or what?” You muttered, and you felt his breath halt against your skin.

“Yes.” Was his answer, and before he could even continue speaking, your fingers made contact with the soft surface of exactly what you were looking for.

You took it in your hand, and without even needing to say anything to Nico, he helped pull you back onto the bed.

You flicked the latch, and spun the box around to face him. He was sitting back on his heels, legs straddling yours, but as soon as his eyes landed on the silver ring with a strip of diamonds in the centre he pushed himself up slightly.

“Holy shit.” Was his reaction.

You smirked, feeling a little smug. “See, I actually put it somewhere you wouldn’t have accidentally found it, say, if you were looking for the TV remote.”

He took the ring out of the box, and wasted no time in slipping it onto his finger, “What do you mean?”

“I mean you took a while working up the courage to propose, didn’t you? You’ve had this ring,” you lifted your hand, placing it next to his and admired them both as a pair. You’d gone out of your way to pick one for him that was similar to the one you’d found in his drawer a few months ago, and quite frankly, you were beginning to lose some patience, “for at least a couple of months.”

Nico turned his head, raising his brows, “How did you know that?”

“I found it when I was looking for the TV remote a while ago.”

“So you knew I was planning to propose this entire time?” 

You nodded, this time your eyes unashamedly raking his torso. 

God, you were so lucky.

Then, “Can we get married in Switzerland?”

His eyes shot to yours, a hopeful grin on his face – excitement practically oozing from his pores, “Really?”

“Yeah. I just figured it’s about time we went to your folks instead of them coming to us.” 

It was a partial truth, and Nico seemed to light up from the inside, sunshine emanating from his features. 

“I knew I wanted to marry you for a reason.” He joked, and you rolled your eyes, scoffing lightly.

“Switzerland is way prettier than New Jersey anyway–”

“Not from where I’m sitting.” 

Your jaw dropped, and before you could say something about how smooth and how quickly he’d responded with that comment, Nico had shut you up by winding his hands in your hair and pressing his mouth to yours in a frenzy of desire.

[thankssteveditko]

Sony's PlayStation 5 Presents Insomniac's Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (the third game in the series)

I beat the main story and have enjoyed my time with the game overall! I want to talk about spoilers and things that I liked and disliked in the story, so here's a post with some scattered thoughts.

(Hello! I haven't forgotten that this blog exists! Like I said, no update schedule, I will read more of the Lee/Ditko comics whenever I make time for it. I've actually been sitting on a mostly-complete version of this post since I beat the game in October, thinking that I'd finish the rest of the side quests so I could throw in thoughts on those. But... eh, I'll do that whenever the inevitable DLC rolls around. I just wanna get these thoughts posted.)

Spider-Cop No More

First off: they downplayed the cop shit!!! This was the first thing that really struck me about the game, and I'm stunned that they actually listened to criticism on this. I thought we'd just be stuck with it forever.

It'll never be completely gone, of course. Spider-Man is always going to leave criminals webbed up for the police to take to prison, hoping that they'll do their time and come out the other side as Productive Members of Society. That's just a thing I begrudgingly accept as part of the genre that will probably never go away. But Spider-Man is no longer repairing police surveillance networks. You're no longer beating the shit out of random drug dealers. Gangs of escaped convicts still wearing their orange jumpsuits are no longer terrorizing the streets of New York.

Instead, Peter and Miles are played more as firefighters. Sometimes very literally! They work with firefighters, they rescue people from collapsing buildings, they rush injured people to the hospital. In general there's a huge increase in the number of random onlookers present during the big action setpieces, and the Spider-Men frequently have to save them from harm. One of the major side quest lines is even literally about a cult of arsonists, and you'll routinely find burning fuel tanker trucks you have to extinguish with your webs. It's great! Love this for them.

I also generally liked the side missions in this. There's a lot of good stuff with the Spider-Men being neighborhood heroes willing to help out anyone in need, no matter the problem. Some of them can get corny, sure, but that street level stuff has always been the real heart of Spider-Man to me.

Gameplay

The gameplay's as fun as ever. That probably goes without saying. I will not be spending a thousand words explaining that swinging is fun.

In particular, I really liked the changes to the Focus mechanic. I never loved the way Miles' game made you choose between healing and doing your special attacks, but here your four specials have their own cooldowns, and the Focus meter is spent on either healing or finishers. It still offers that risk/reward element, but those vicious cycles where you can't do any real damage because you keep needing to heal aren't nearly as bad as they were before.

Personally I didn't turn off the swing assist or turn on fall damage, because the streamlined swinging never bothered me in these games, but I'm glad the options are there for people who want them.

Kraven

I liked Kraven in this! I liked the way they leaned into his Hunters being this weird death cult, and him wanting to go down in a blaze of glory against a worthy foe, to the point that he's actually disappointed anytime a foe can't kill him. It riffs on things people liked in Kraven's Last Hunt without being the exact same story. I like that Kraven's gang is renting out this manor or whatever and just being a complete terror to the wait staff. I liked the way Kraven hunting Peter's rogues' gallery clashed with Peter's belief in giving his villains second chances. I liked that they were willing to have Kraven kill off a couple of the minor villains from the first game to sell how dangerous he is. (I know some people hated this, but like, come on. We already fought the Sinister Six. They don't need to do that again.) I like the way Kraven pushed Peter to the absolute brink, turning him more and more aggressive with the Black Suit. Good stuff all around, even if the Hunter enemy types did wear out their welcome a little bit by the end.

The Black Suit arc

I think I liked the way Insomniac handled Peter's Black Suit arc overall, but there's a tradeoff here.

They REALLY lean into the body horror tentacle stuff, with Black Suit Peter basically just being a skinny Venom by the end. The sequence where you play as Mary Jane while the symbiote puppets an unconscious Peter's body around and goes on a rampage against the Hunters was REALLY great at selling how scary Peter is becoming, and it made me completely change my tune on the inclusion of the MJ stealth missions in the sequel. Having to beat an out-of-control Peter as Miles immediately after Peter beats Kraven was also really good. This is all cool!

BUT, the thing is... with the symbiote powers being so freaky from the start, it really pushes my suspension of disbelief when Peter and co. take so long to become wary of it. I guess when you've been bitten by a radioactive spider and given superpowers, and when you live in the same universe as the Avengers and the X-Men, your perception of what's "normal" is going to be pretty warped. But they buy the whole "organic exosuit created to treat Harry's illness" story WAY too easily lmao. How do the self-aware slime tentacles help with his illness, exactly?

And I'm not sure how I feel about giving Peter Anti-Venom powers in the last act. It feels like it's primarily a concession so that they can give players that branch of their skill tree back, but honestly, the designer in me thinks it would be really cool (if risky) to just permanently lock players out of Peter's most powerful skills past a certain point. Yeah, it'd definitely piss people off, but it drives home the idea that Peter's given up greater power because it's the right thing to do. It'd put you in his shoes! Instead he just gets the symbiote powers back, but it's fine because the Venom voice in his head is gone and also the slime tendrils that explode out of his body are white now, which means they're good.

I have to say it. I'm sorry. The glistening white goo... they turned Peter into the Amazing Cum-Man. I changed back to the Classic Suit after rolling the credits and forgot I still had the Anti-Venom skills equipped, so I just saw regular old Spider-Man exploding his white goo everywhere. Terrible.

Assuming Peter is just stepping into more of a supporting role to Miles and not fully retiring after the events of this game, I really hope the Anti-Venom stuff is gone. I get that he needed it to counter Venom, but that's not what I want for Peter Parker.

Miles

Miles is good in this, and I really like his arc where he struggles with whether or not he should avenge his dad by killing Martin Li. I like how all that plays out. Unfortunately, they don't quite stick the landing when it comes to making him and Peter feel like equals in terms of narrative focus. His arc is definitely the B-plot to Peter's for the middle chunk of the story, which I guess was kind of inevitable since they decided to do the Black Suit arc. But Miles does at least get a lot of moments to shine, and by the end he's very much taking the lead as the main Spider-Man.

Becoming the main Spider-Man also gets Miles a new, wholly original suit that ended up being super controversial, and honestly... I kinda like it? Or at least I like what it's going for, even if the actual design could still use some work. It's something totally unique for Miles, and I like spandex/streetwear combo suits like what the Spider-Verse movies have popularized. But showing his hair is really pushing the limits of his secret identity. He hangs around Brooklyn Visions WAY too much for his classmates to not recognize his voice and haircut. And I understand why people would be wary about it becoming his "canon" look moving forward. But I think it's got potential.

On the subject of Miles, though, I will say that while I liked Miles' side missions, it feels like he's often saddled with the game's broad, kinda touristy, kinda token attempts at Showcasing The Diversity Of New York, in a way that Peter isn't.

I like that Miles has a deaf graffiti artist girlfriend that he and Ganke sign with, and I like that there's a series of side missions that explore some local jazz history, and I like that there's a mission where Miles helps a gay classmate ask his crush to prom. I like all these things! I like Spider-Man being involved with his community, and that said community includes such a wide variety of people! I like that this game slows down to savor these types of moments instead of just being all action all the time! But when I step back, I notice some patterns.

Hailey doesn't have a big role in the main plot, especially when compared to MJ, but Miles gets a side mission where you briefly play as her with muffled audio to teach you what being deaf is like. There are no major queer characters in the story - unless you count Felicia showing up for exactly one mission to mention she has an unseen, unnamed girlfriend in Paris now - but you get a side mission where Miles helps out a gay couple at his school, who then never come up again. To put it very uncharitably, they can feel like Very Special Episode missions. It's like the devs going: we're going to give Miles a Gay Mission, and an Impaired Hearing Mission, and a Cultural History Mission, so that we can say we touched on these things, but we're gonna make them all optional and keep them far away from the full-blown Superhero Stuff like fighting costumed villains. Those flavors cannot mix. Meanwhile, Peter gets to have a whole elaborate subplot about teaming up with Wraith to track down fucking Cletus Kasady. There's an imbalance here, and I think it's part of the reason why Peter still feels like the "main" Spider-Man for so much of the story.

I think this was all written with admirable intentions, but as others have pointed out, you can kinda tell that this game was mainly written by some white guys based in California. These attempts at depicting various marginalized groups can feel kind of detached in the same way that Insomniac's map of New York doesn't quite line up with the real thing. But I dunno. I'm not really the one to dig deep into some of this stuff as a white woman from Florida. I would be curious to read others' takes on this.

Maybe I'm just being overly cynical about the writers' well-meaning but corny and kinda out of touch liberal politics because of the podcasts.

The podcasters

I wish Jameson was in this more! They psyched us out by giving him a full character model for, like, two scenes. I like him being MJ's boss, but I wish we saw inside the Daily Bugle offices to get more Jameson.

At least his podcasts are better than the ones in the Miles game, though. Him completely trusting in Roxxon was just too much for me. Here he condemns Oscorp for the symbiote shit, and he also gets some moments where he takes the ongoing crises seriously and isn't just ranting about the Spider-Men. He isn't just a conspiracy theorist crackpot here. Shit like his "fuck Spider-Man, we have a justice system for a reason" speech makes him feel more like a human being with a point of view, rather than just a caricature. Definitely an improvement.

Unfortunately, I still find The Danikast grating. I'm sorry, Ashly Burch. It's not your fault. The quirky heckin' wholesome millennial podcaster lady who catches you up on current events and then reminds you to drink 64 ounces of water a day in the same breath is just too much for me. At least she doesn't have any lines as bad as her throwing in a "damn" and then going (direct quote here) "That's right - no censoring! That's how REAL I'm being right now!" like in Miles' game. Instead they give her this, like, almost psychic insight into the main plot to try and make her the angel on Peter's shoulder. The second Peter gets the symbiote she's like "Wow, y'all. Have you seen Spider-Man's new black suit? Something's different about him. He's been giving me such bad vibes lately. #NotMySpiderMan" Also she's supposed to be this, like, underdog independent podcaster who started her show on a whim and has become the voice of the people... but she's got billboards plastered all over the fucking city. Which makes her feel like an industry plant lmao

Again, there's a detachment with the writing. This is, like, some middle aged white liberal game dev guys' idea of what a modern leftist teenager would think is a Cool Activism Podcast. Unfortunately, because Insomniac thinks Danika's a hero, Mary Jane's triumphant ending is that she quits her job at the Bugle to become a podcaster, too, delivering a thinly veiled monologue about the pandemic to kick off her new podcast literally titled "The New Normal." She's going to save the world with podcasting, because that's the highest form of activism, I guess.

Venom

So! Venom! Venom was... okay.

Surprising no one, Harry Osborn is Venom. Harry's okay both as himself and as Venom, but I'm not sure his arc is a smooth one. He starts out as Peter's comically perfect best friend who returns to reminisce about the good ol' days and hand him his dream job on a silver platter, and then later he becomes a little ball of rage over the fact that Peter gets his symbiote and can't/won't give it back. I'm not sure that pivot is handled the most convincingly. You kind of have to write it off as the symbiote messing with their heads, I guess.

When he actually becomes Venom, I'm... mixed on the execution. On the one hand, the cool factor is absolutely there. He's a very cool big monster, and Tony Todd is great in the role. But he also wants to take over the world and make everyone a symbiote, and aside from any lingering resentment towards Peter, that's really all there is to him. It makes for a good video game to have a bunch of symbiote enemies and creepy symbiote nests and symbiote tentacles climbing up the sides of buildings in the last act... but is that really what I want out of Venom? Probably not. But he sure does look cool as a big monster guy to fight, and I was happy he was briefly playable.

Suits

Part of me feels like there's something lacking about the suit selection here, but almost every suit I liked in the previous games is back, and also I'm the type of person to give Peter the Classic Suit the second I unlock it and use that for most of the game. So does it really matter for me?

Peter's selection feels dominated by the various live action movie suits, but I get that those are going to be some of the suits people want to wear the most. I wish he had the Peter B. Parker skin to go with Miles' Spider-Verse alts, though. No idea why it's missing. Really I think I mainly just want more of the Spider-Verse designs.

Also I've complained about how most of the original suits designed for these games make Peter and Miles look like they were bitten by radioactive Alienware products, but I can just, you know. Wear other suits.

Misc thoughts

Everyone's already made this joke, but it's extremely funny that the Avengers didn't help with the symbiote invasion. Took one look at that and decided it wasn't their problem

On the subject of other superheroes, I do wish these games would acknowledge the Fantastic Four more. Peter's close relationship with that team feels woefully underutilized in his various adaptations

I like the trope of a boss fight that's a heightened version of a personal conflict between two people who are close, where throughout the fight the boss is airing out their grievances while the hero tries to get through to them emotionally. That especially works for Spider-Man! But WOW has Insomniac played that card a lot of times by the end of Spider-Man 2 lol

They're teasing the addition of Silk, I guess? I'm gonna be honest, I don't know shit about Silk, but I guess it was inevitable that they'd give us some form of Spider-Woman at some point. Gotta work all those costumes in somehow, and they're not brave enough to let one of the boys cosplay as Spider-Gwen.

They WERE, however, brave enough to let Harry say he loves Peter. I liked that little moment. They presumably meant it platonically, but clearly ol' Yaoi Lowenthal knows what's up

Post-leak addendum

So, obviously, by the time I got around to finishing this post the big Insomniac leak happened. I wish the game industry wasn't so secretive that it took a massive, dangerous data breach just to get our hands on some very basic info that would be public knowledge if Insomniac was a film studio, but here we are.

We now know that Insomniac spent somewhere around $315 million making Spider-Man 2 - triple what the first Spider-Man game cost to make. A quote about this from a leaked presentation has been stuck in my head ever since I first saw it on Twitter. “Is 3x the investment in [Spider-Man 2] evident to anyone who plays the game?”

To be honest, I'm not sure it is.

I liked Spider-Man 2, but I'd probably say that overall I liked it about as much as the first game. It's certainly a somewhat bigger game, with marginally more realistic looking graphics thanks to the power of the PS5. But I think I could do without ray tracing and more realistic hair rendering and whatnot if it meant that these games didn't take like five years and hundreds of millions of dollars to make. I could not give less of a shit if the swinging animations were recycled between games. I'd be fine with them being shorter, too.

I like these games, but as we look at that leaked project lineup and realize that Insomniac is turning into The Marvel Game Studio, I think about how many smaller, more original games that those resources could go towards if they scaled back the Marvel stuff just a bit. How many Ape Escapes or Patapons or Gravity Rushes could get made for the budget of just one of these massive AAA tentpole games of Sony's, which are apparently barely even breaking even? How many could be made for the budget of the "smaller, cheaper" Miles Morales game, which somehow cost $156 million to make despite using an updated version of the same Manhattan map from the first game? Hell, how many smaller games could have been made with the $39 million that went into remastering the first Spider-Man game for PS5 a mere two years after launch? How many people will lose their jobs if any one of Insomniac's upcoming Marvel games underperforms - which, in this case, could mean selling "only" 5 million copies? And would hardcore PlayStation fans even accept those smaller games at this point, now that they've been trained to only appreciate mega-budget Prestige Games with cutting edge graphics and treat everything else with disdain? How much worse will this get as the graphical arms race continues?

I think I just miss Japan Studio. Fuck Sony. Uhh but anyway the Spider-Man game this post was supposed to be about was good, some writing complaints aside. 8/10

[sjw-publishings]

Lit Gud Streamin

With much encouragement from @dumb-and-jocked

>First Time Streamin’ bro?

The house husband blushed at the first comment coming to respond to him.

Carson Green was anxious…he’d heard of streaming but never tried it until some pestering from his Gaymer group as of late.

The stay at home husband wanted to help with the finances, hence why he even considered it in the first place. Sure it was nice being a homemaker, and definitely had a flair in cooking, but he wanted to do something different.

“Y…Yeah, it’s my first time.”

>LOL K

He was relatively unsure of this, but he had known and spoken to several of the guys a week ago, and though he could have sworn they talked about a different topic entirely, he recalled about many of them bragging about ‘raking in the dough’ for gaming.

True enough, many of them are not only being paid handsomely in royalties for streaming, but they have a surprisingly large fanbase!

Admittedly, he was sort of shocked…and sort of jealousy that many of them are quite popular online, almost like they reached stardom within a week or less.

But regardless, his group also promised that they will help out with ‘assimilating’ him into the platform and moderate his stream. So surely he would reach a certain level of success with their guidance.

Though he’s still unsure how exactly will do they so.

“W…What games will we be playing?”

>Dis the game dude

>Ur in it, brought in da Boiz to watch the stream.

With that, the number count rose exponentially, from single digits, to doubles.

The house husband blushed, twiddling his thumbs at being watched by wide audience. Is it like a reality show game? Or is it something different entirely?

Granted, there weren’t any instructions or briefings given about it. Maybe it is a more on the spot, spontaneous kind of thing?

“D…Do I need to do anything in particular?”

>Just be yourself , LOL

>You gotta impress us Noob.

He…kind of doesn’t like being called a noob, but he is new to streaming after all. So he ought to listen to them, no matter how they are like.

>Dude, ur Tagline?

Tagline…?

Oh yeah! All the cool streamers he watched had one.

Wait? Since when did he watch…well he is a gamer after all, so it’s only natural that he DID watch streams, at least some of em by proxy. He is rather connected to the other guys.

“Ummm…ok LOL, what kind of tagline. Do you all have any suggestions, dudes?”

>Just Lit Gud man.

>Yeah RAT

He thought maybe it’s tough love or something…though it really feels extremely rude. Almost draining even, like yeah it was exhausting trying to keep up with his group’s gaming shenanigans, but even in their streamin’ advice?

C’mon Man!

Plus he’s just got married not a while ago! They could’ve at least be NICE to him since he’s now tied down! Like don’t get me wrong, he loves his husbro, but when all is said and done, he does miss the glory days of being with the rest of the guys.

“Look, I-D-K if Lit Gud Noobs is such a nice tagline?”

Desperate for a win here. Yeah, he may be getting quite aggro. But it’s justified! Bro.

“And who you callin’ Rat, RATZ!”

His mouth slurred at that remark, a very sleazy…immature slur as he quickly covered his mouth in that regard.

Though admittedly, he kinda liked that.

After all, if he was the rat, then these noobs are his goons. And while he usually isn’t the dominant one in his relationships, admittedly he kinda liked roleplaying as one of the typical bros, even if he wasn’t THAT asian compared to them.

>RAT BOD

>You lift Bro?

“My body…its not that well off-“

>Get lit or get Shyt on

He’s gotta get LIT.

Watching as his weight sizzle away down, melting away the bubbling tummy fat into a faint trail of a six pack, straining loosely on the shirt being his college grad pectorals.

Gotta show off after all. Specially during the bachelor’s party!

His diet consisted of pizza, soda and chips. And so ducking what? Body trim as DUCK, that’s how he lived and how his rats loved it. Some people said it was his GENE-tics or some shit that he had this bod, but you know what he says to em’?

Get lit or get Shyt on!

But even so, da shyt? Why did these bastards gotta treat him like that? Weren’t they all buds or somethin’?

“You RATZ are always so rude.”

>We rude? KAPPA

>Haha Noob!

With every interaction and vocabulary pollution, hunching lazily towards the screen, eyes entranced by the masses of comments.

LIGHTING and EMPHASIZIN’ random words, like an obnoxious mixture tainting his patience. Persistent name calling and being on the receiving end of the relationship kinda pisses him off.

>LOL K, How’s the stream?

But admittedly, a growing part of him is really getting pumped, while irritated, a small part of him liked broadcasting to these gamers.

If only they had some MAN-NERS, sheesh!

“How the streamin’ goin? Dude IDK, just a Jerkin’ stream today, nothin but insults.”

> Git Gud

> Just Git Gud

> Noob

Chat, filled with your run of the mill, cloned responses. Your typical mocks and insults, passive threading onto aggressive, a fine balance of being slightly very aggro but chill, producing RUDE DUCKIN’ INSULTS.

Each one after another, a shytposting blend that makes the stupid obnoxiousness rise higher and higher. Calves toning out from jumping upwards in sports as his body shrunk downward, making sure he sees eye to eye with dem BOIZ.

One liner aggressiveness alongside swarms of memes and complete nonsense. Idiotic behaviour, fitting a ‘RatChat’. Blending in with the other dudes, speakin’ their language, participating campus exercises and roughing around with the other bros!

Like a game, course, they are gamers after all. They know the COMBO, dissecting their streamer bud like it’s nothin’! Insults kicking right from the beginning!

He wanted to beat them at their own game!

Be hetter-BETTER! Calson Greo wanted to be a PRO.

“Alright RATZ, What’ll make me less of a noob and g-”

>Git Gud Noob

“GIT GUD?”

His voice slurred, eyebrows raised as he slumped back in his gaming chair. Like a simple command burning into his skull.

He just gotta GIT GUD! No instructions needed, except you gotta be IN DA LOOP. At TOP! As his buttocks clenched at the refusal of being BOT! Cheeks meant for exercise and gamin’.

He had to GIT GUD! And that’s being on top of his game always!

>You gotta be LIT Fam

“LIT?”

A delicious fuming rage erupted from his screen, as a multitude of laughing frogs and emojis filled his entire chat.

Igniting a fire within, his skin tanning till its just RIGHT. Made for a BOI who spends time gamin’ both online and in sports. Just like every other of his classmates back on campus.

>Stop being such a QUEER

“QUEER? Da SHYT?”

SHYT, these men tryin’ to get under his skin. Really making him all pent and rock solid. NO HOMO!

Wait WUT?

DUDE! LIEK…man he’s really even sounding immature in his thoughts? Wasn’t he some sort of QUEER? DA FK? He was g…a…guy, A GUY! YEAH! He was a guy like em!

“Thought you all stand for GUY RIGHTS?”

HE ALWAYS TOPS! Yeah so maybe he had a PHAG, but it was clear they are ‘sabotaging’ his GAY STREAM and tryin’ makin’ it the way it ought to be!

Full of SHYT-talkin’, assholes are dragging him down to THEIR level. A more rodent, nastier bunch instead of friendly GHEYS! But alright! If these idiots want to game, then they gonna-

>Look PHAG, if you want to WIN you gotta stop sucking

“SUK DEEZ NUTS!”

GOTTEM

An obnoxious Tenor bursted out from the man, retaliating like an immature douchebag as he finally sunk to their level. Height stooping at an average 5ft 9, GPA scores barely scrapping by the median. A fellow backslider like the crowd.

And HE was going to let these DOUCHEBOIS get it HARD!

>Just Chillax Gay Boi

“I AM CHILLAX!”

He sneered, as his voice rose into a stupidly obnoxious loud tenor, allowing that youthful tone engulf him in an asian tan like his peers, makin’ sure he is part of the Hivemind that is Snitch culture.

“No Sweats allowed…Just CHILLAX man…”

Feeling his mind sinking into the mass rebellious conformity that is his gamin’ community, his voice cooled slightly, gifted the flexibility to yell when he WANTS to BOIIII!

His buttoned down fused, as the simple white tee clung over his frame with slackened glee, bluntly accentuating his pectorals, as a typical print was plastered over like another typical meshed up shirt that the zoomers would wear.

He was NO SWEAT, Trousers shortening up to his thighs, lightening up into a more mesh, flexible material. Hanging loose L-sized on his waist are his flaming red basketball shorts, stickin’ out like a sore thumb whenever the dude stands up or goes for a bathroom breaks.

>Yo streamer, you a player?

“Am I a play-yer?”

The young man slurred, smirking as he acknowledged that remark, teasing those thirsty PHAGS and RATZ like he always does.

ResidentSnorer and various funny frogs spammed the chat box like no other, skyrocketing his view count to the thousands.

The young Boi loved every minute of it. He was getting the fame, boi.

“Course I am, ain’t easy being this good…”

>u dating someone?

“DAY-TING?”

Slippers took a hit in their quality, soft material becoming a pair of stretchable basketball shoes. Made for the kind of guy who keeps his options open.

Both in da basketball court, and in da bed. And yeah, it was technically his home. Well, he and his GAY fiancé’s. But it’s mostly a BRO thing! Roommates with benefits!

“Boiz, I have a fiancé , but..”

>Sounds Sus

>you gay or what?

His eyes widened, SHYT, he wasn’t supposed to say that. Not that he minded the older man…except when he was being GHEY-but weren’t they a couple…of MEN.

But aren’t they together? Da SHYT! He was a playah! BUT what about that time when they cuddled-BRUH that’s GHEY! BUT WHAT ABOUT-YOU GHEY BROSKI? BRO? B-

“BUTT-FK! I mean…I MEAN my BOI-FRIEND!”

>MEGAFAG

Fiddling the ring, the band stretched beyond the size of his palm, turning into pure eleastic as it slid down his right wrist, loosely fitting like its part of some showoffy trend.

As the chat continues to spam various emotes, including a distinct rainbow head, don’t these douchebags know he’s single and ready to mingle? Why are they thinkin’ he’s gonna be bangin’ it with some dude?

“Who you noobs calling GAY? It’s just ONE night!”

> QUEER ALERT!

> GAY GAY GAY

One hand palming below, the other one flippin the stream. Colson Groh’s darkened hair flicked down the side, his new asian ethnicity fully taking hold without remorse, blending in with the group of bullies pickin’ on him and his-FAG!

“One night of PRANKIN FAGS!”

Picking on em hard, he wasn’t one of em, but man is it HOT setting them STRAIGHT! The twenty two year college dude smirked, as PHAGS couldn’t resist starin’ at his clean-shaven slack-jaw and risen cheekbones till they get completely RAT PRANKED.

GGEZ

>Ayyy LIT

>Lets go BOI

>AFKin’ RAT!

“Bet you all can’t get ladies to your doorstep.”

>Check GayPay

GayPay my arse, StraightCoin’s the deal bro.

Though speakin’ of ladies. Hot damn…is he THAT dry? Cause he’s having that fantasy every straight, gamin’ charged college guy’s has.

Surrounded by hot ladies.

Then again, he’s always THIRSTIN’. Course, a guy like him can get a bunch of women in a flash. But he totally can jerk like a maiden-less douchebag like a bunch of the idiots watchin’ him.

Makes him relatable to his RATZ, yeah? Sides, nothin’ wrong with a lil jerkin’ on cam, nothing GHEY bout it!

>Yo RAT, check out your numbers

>BRO past 7k

>NO CAP

LIT_GUD: +7k subs

“Nggh!”

Rapidly vibrating his 7 inch joystick, brows raised as they thinned out. The last bit of hesitation melting away, making way for youthful gamin’ bravado as a seedy wide grin beamed in the stream.

“How to LIT GUD getting chicks?”

>PRO-DUCTION BRO!

>GIT LIT STREAM!

>YEEEEAAAAH BOI!

Comments flooding all over his stream, a mass mindset and mentality calling all to pump. PUMP! Pumping his POG-O STICK to the MAX! The Go-To-Game for men of his kind.

The HIGH score, as his eyes narrowed in utmost dumb simplicity, tilting his head upward to the ceiling as he grinned wildly as he thought bout’ that simple fantasy!

All da LADIES comin’ at him. YAAA BOIII!

“JUST LIT GUD BOIIIIIIIIIIIIII!”

Colton Goh no scoped all over his boxers, slumping back as drops of youthful rebellion spluttered all over, mucking it with obnoxious bully testosterone like he always does.

Feels so LIT! Being able to climax whenever the heck he wants, why abstain when he can just LIT GUD MAN! All those goody two shoe brethren back at campus grounds are really missin’ out.

But of course, he’ll scoop the remaining wads of mayo to his jerk off bottle later. He may be a backslider, but he gotta be up in his production game, beat his last record and all that shiz.

Speakin’ of which.

“E….Z….”

7k’s still just rookie numbers for a guy like him, but considering he got it all in a bunch of hours, he’s as good as the pros like the rest of em’!

“Yo…and that’s how you dudes get the ladies, man.”

>AYYYOOOO

>MY STREAMER!

>YA BOIIIIII

“Boiz, if you see any gays going all homo on ya. You gotta give em the LIT GUD!”

Normally he would collab with his streaming buds, but he really oughta help his Bromies out by teachin em.

Especially ratting out GHEYS until they turn into a couple of rats like he is. And what better way than to create his own Streamin’ channel? All he got to do was be himself bro.

Brings in the subs, and sides, hot chicks dig him, and fags thirstin’ over him get weeded out until they are a bunch of rats like he and his gamer crew.

‘[TOP] Gay Dude Joined the stream’

Speaking of fags…

“Ayy, a new fag joined the stream, sweet.”

Not sure how did ‘Gay Dude’ squirmed into his ‘TOP’ friends list, but he must’ve added him during that stupid RNG game he tried last night while he drank Heteroade with the bois.

But honestly, heh, he doesn’t give a Rats arse bout em’. After all, he needed someone to dunk on to celebrate his 7k Subs, so why not make sure the fag gets the whole RatChat streamin’ experience?

Heh, this will be hot.

“Give em a couple of Lit Guds in the chat, noobs.”

[zagreuses-toast]

Ok so I loved this line during the regeneration

I was wondering if it was a poetry reference, because 13 has had a few of those before. It turns out it's from an interview of the writer Dennis Potter, while he was dying of cancer, describing how much more strongly he felt connected to the present

"and looking at it, instead of saying "Oh that's nice blossom" ... last week looking at it through the window when I'm writing, I see it is the whitest, frothiest, blossomest blossom that there ever could be, and I can see it."

I just read the whole interview and god, what a thing to connect to thirteen in her last moments, what a thing for her to think of. It really ties into her desire to live in the now and not the past or future, her request to yaz, "can't we just live in the present" . It is just making me bawl my eyes out now thinking about the doctor thinking about this particular interview when regenerating, because she doesn't get a future, or really a past, she only has her now as herself, her past and future belong to someone else. Here's another bit from the interview that is making me go insane

"And we forget or tend to forget that life can only be defined in the present tense; it is is, and it is now only. I mean, as much as we would like to call back yesterday and indeed yearn to, and ache to sometimes, we can't. It's in us, but we can't actually; it's not there in front of us. However predictable tomorrow is, and unfortunately for most people, most of the time, it's too predictable, they're locked into whatever situation they're locked into ... Even so, no matter how predictable it is, there's the element of the unpredictable, of the you don't know. The only thing you know for sure is the present tense, and that nowness becomes so vivid that, almost in a perverse sort of way, I'm almost serene. You know, I can celebrate life."

Of course she went into it smiling and joking, it's now!! Her life!! She's celebrating!!

"But the nowness of everything is absolutely wondrous, and if people could see that, you know. There's no way of telling you; you have to experience it, but the glory of it, if you like, the comfort of it, the reassurance ... not that I'm interested in reassuring people - bugger that. The fact is, if you see the present tense, boy do you see it! And boy can you celebrate it"

You can read the interview here

[trinityiswired]

I'll show you how to fuck. (18+)

Virgin! Choso Kamo X Roommate!AFAB!Reader

CW: Dubcon, PiV, Unprotected sex, creampie, overstimulation, cunnilingus, Virginity taken, Dacryphilia if you squint, word "slut" used once.

WC: 1476

Omg, I've been wanting to write about Virgin! Choso for so looongg!!

“F-Fuck, right there Daddy..!” Your ears perked up when erotic noise erupted from your roommate’s bedroom.

Hand over your mouth you stifle a chuckle, there's no way he's actually watching porn this openly. You get up from the living room couch and knock on his door, “Cho? You okay in there?”

A brief shuffle. “Yes yes, I'm alright.” His voice was weak and quiet, his door opened slowly when he walked out with a small stumble and a light dust of red on his cheeks. You couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at how boyish he looked despite his mature nature.

“What were you watching just now, hm?” The hue rose upon hearing the question, “Nothing in particular..” His baby hairs sticking onto his forehead as if he ran a marathon.

“That's odd because it was pretty loud. I could hear it from the couch.” His hand covered your mouth quickly. “Stop..” He looked anywhere but your eyes, “It's private.” You put your hands up, “I'm not attacking you or anything, I just didn't think you were into that kind of thing.” He interrupted you, “I'm not, I was just curious!”

That was so cute.

“I've never..” He draws off. “Don't tell me you're a virgin or something.” You tease, but it seems like you were right when his hands clenched into a fist. “Oh, Cho. Don't be embarrassed about that kind of stuff.” I reassured him with a smile, “Have you ever gotten close to having sex with anyone?” You couldn't lie about how curious you were about how far the half-curse man went his whole life in that area.

“N-No, I've always been too busy to indulge in—those activities.” He grimaces.

“If you're curious, I could always help you out, Cho.” His eyes snap up from the ground into yours, “Really? You would?” If he were a dog his tail would be wagging like crazy.

You nod slowly, wondering what helping him out would entail…

“That's nice, Cho..” Your lip quivers as he kisses up your thighs. Lapping dangerously close to your soaking heat, you hear him breathe in deeply.

“Fuck, you smell so sweet.” He groans, kissing you through your panties. You flinch, bucking your hips against his lips.

“Ah..Okay, just take them off Choso. Then, just start to lick a little—Be gentle, slowly now.” You warn.

His calloused fingers tangle into your panties, pulling them down anxiously. You can feel his breath against you when he looks hungrily at your pussy, it's shiny, coated with your arousal.

“All f’me?” He asks so sweetly. “Mhm..All yours, Cho.” You cooed at him. He licks a wet stripe up your cunt, savoring in its taste. Thighs threatening to shut on him, his eyes flickered towards them and his fingers dug into them to pry them further apart. His mouth licked at every crevice, drinking up all he could.

Little grunts came from him as you squirmed into his mouth, “T-That's enough..!” You gasp when his tongue digs into your sweet entrance. He doesn't relent but starts to hum in delight, working earnestly towards your release.

Your hands flew to his head, trying to push him back but he persisted. “Cho, m’gonna..” You warned as your legs began to tremble. You squeezed around his tongue, his thumb found your clit as he rubbed gentle circles into you. You cried out as your first orgasm shook you to your core. “Cho-Fuck!” You gasped, breathing quickly.

He lapped up the wetness dripping from you with a smile, he pulled away wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Was that okay?” He breathed out, looking down at your cunt, still craving to be buried inside it. “That was…really good. Good job.” He lit up at your praise. Your eyes half lidded as you gave him a tired kiss, sloppy in all its glory.

He bit his lip, “Can we…?” He asked quietly, his cock painfully pressing against his pants as if a seam could rip at any point.

“I'll give you a reward for making me cum.” You smiled, looking at his shape with a new found urge. You push him to sit down on the edge of his bed, his eyes never leaving you. Crawling in between his thighs you pulled his cock free from his pants, lightly slapping your cheek.

He groans, “Ah, fuck- seeing you so close to it.” His hand flew to his mouth, he had a pretty cock. It was long and thick. Pale, strong veins, and a mauve tip that began to throb at the sight of you.

“Please, don't just stare at it…” He asked so politely as his cheeks began to turn red, “Haha, sorry. I was just admiring it.” He looks away with a nod, you pressed a kiss to his tip. Watching his reactions carefully. Licking gently at it, his hands dug into the sheets while his eyes screwed closed.

You couldn't help but melt at the sight, settling him deeper into his mouth, he let out a deep whine.

“Oh, (Y/n)..” You swore you could feel your heartbeat from your cunt. Letting yourself gag on his length, he deserved to feel everything you could offer to him. Drool dripped messily from your face, his eyes rolled back into skull. “Please..!” he gasped, his hips started thrusting to meet with your mouth. Your nails digging into his thigh as you fight back your reflex, you pulled back when you felt him twitch.

His eyes were tear bound, threatening to fall at any time. “Why'd you stop?” He asks in a daze. “I want you to cum inside.” you whisper into his hips, jerking him off gently with your hand. Your knees settled on either side of his hips, his wide eyes watching you line his tip up to your vice.

You've had sex before, but you haven't had someone as big as Choso was, it made you a little nervous. Swallowing deeply when his tip kissed against your pussy, “Are you ready?” You ask before you let yourself sink down on him. “Yeah..yeah.” Watching himself disappear in you with his hand gripping your thighs, your cunt hugged him so tightly. It was much better than his hand.

His head tipped back as he let out a groan, “So fucking tight.” He curses through his teeth. “Are you sure I'm the only virgin here? I swear you might break me.” He strains.

You brace yourself on his shoulders, “You're just—Fuck—big.” Taking in his length to the hilt. You start to bounce up and down, feeling a bulge in your stomach every time you lower yourself. God, his cock reached so deep, you started to let out small moans when you fucked yourself onto him. Using him like a toy, his deep breathing quickened.

“It's so—this pussy is so fucking perfect.” His lips lock around the bud of your nipple, nibbling gently. His hands massaged your thighs, he couldn't help but be so affectionate to the girl who so generously offered to fuck him.

His high was quickly coming, “(Y/n), I can't last any longer.” Your arms wrap around his neck, “It's alright, you can fill me up.” Oh how it makes him go feral at your words, when he plants his feet on the ground and grabs your waist painfully tight. “Cho—” You gasp when he suddenly fucks his cock up into you. Using his grip on you to work you up and down on his cock.

Your loud cries echo through your apartment. “Fuck. That's it, Choso, right there..!” You moaned into his skin, “Right here?” Hitting that spot over and over.

His moans grew into guttural growls as his cock painfully twitched inside you, pumping himself you once, twice, filling you up to the brim with his hot cum.

His voice weak as he fucks his cum into your sensitive cunt, not letting a single drop escape.

“Gonna cum soon!” He chases to satisfy you too, starting to whimper when his cock starts to feel so sensitive. He wouldn't dare deprive you from your own orgasm, fucking into you sloppily as his cum began to gush from your hole as you came around him with a loud scream of his name.

He fell back letting you lay his chest, it was quiet. The only sound was the two of you breathing loudly.

“I can't believe I've lived this long without having this pussy.” He mumbles, his cock softening as it slipped out of you.

You shifted to look at him, “That's an awfully nice ego boost.” Giggling like a little girl.

His hand combs through your hair, “Should be, you're amazing.” He smiles at you.

“Haha, as if. You fuck like a slut, Choso. Think those videos taught you more than you think.” You grin, giving him a sweet kiss.

Hope you guys enjoyed this one, I know I did :)