#but i sorta stopped watching after a fairly short while

[smokeys-house]

they named a guy panchito pistoles and then took his pistoles away, what's that all about?

[not-really-a-writer]

Lucky Girl

Trying something a little different with this story...This is heavily inspired by all the feelings I got when someone was trying very **very** hard (unsuccessfully) to get with my man 😩😠. I decided that instead of being angry, could reframe that situation, step away from the anger, and realize that there's nothing to be angry about. In fact, I sorta even feel a little bit sorry for her bc the angst in her situation is pretty real. So anyway... I've got a story from it!

Warnings: my usual self-indulgent stuff, angst, jealousy, reader with description, mentions of past sexual activity, unwanted sexual advances, 18+ mature only.

References to past ARC Trooper Fives x OC "Aibree", featuring ARC Trooper Fives x reader

The mess hall aboard the Resolute was alight with laughter and the usual rabble rousing atmosphere that typically preceded planet visits. Fresh off a hard-won victory against Separatists forces on Kamino, the Resolute was due for a short stop planetside on Coruscant as was fairly typical during the war. And the men were anxious for some time away from the ship. And Aibree couldn't wait.

Aibree watches as her friend, newly minted ARC trooper Fives enters the mess hall in his new ARC trooper armor to show it off in front his brothers. Rising from her seated position at a nearby table amongst her civilian-medic colleagues, Aibree joins in with the hoots and hollers praising the clone trooper in his new getup.

"Look at you, big man!" Jesse says, pushing through the little crowd and grabbing Fives by the back of his neck to roughhouse with him. "Yeeahhh.. you know you're jealous," Fives says with his signature smirk. "Eh, I'll be an ARC one day, just you see!" Jesse jabs back.

"Whew! Lookin' good, Fives," Aibree calls out, walking over to admire him. Fives glances over to Aibree, and flashes her a friendly smile. "Well, we gotta earn it first," Echo says nearby. "We're promoted, but not officially trained as ARC Troopers. Not yet."

The crowd throws reassurances toward the twins, Echo and Fives, while also congratulating them on their recent promotions, And wishing them luck in their ARC training which was to commence shortly after the Coruscant visit. The troopers stand around and engage in more excited talk about the upcoming planet visit, and all the things they want to do while planetside. Still smiling at Fives, Aibree gathers her things and heads back toward the med bay to finish her shift. She knows she will catch up with Fives later. Like they always do...or did.

Aibree wasn't quite sure what was going on between them lately. To say that they were friends was a bit of a stretch. Truthfully, the two of them weren't really that close. Sure, they were on the Resolute together. But as such, they were just two of the thousands aboard. They did not work together, but in passing, and through some peripheral interactions in the med bay, the ship's gym, the mess halls and such, Aibree became a regular acquaintance with the outgoing trooper with the "5" tattoo on his face.

There was something about him that made him stand out. Maybe it was his over-competence in everything, his confidence, or his charisma. But Aibree found herself attracted to him, despite the fact that he shared a face with nearly every man on board.

And it wasn't long before she let her attraction be known to him. It was one night in the ship's gym after all the others had left and the Resolute was in transit on another long away mission. All had departed the gym except her and one particular trooper she had her eyes on: Fives. Some sideways glances led to small talk. And that led to some flirting, which ended up with her and Fives sharing a quick fuck in a nearby supply closet.

Since then, it had happened several more times. Not really something that they talked about or planned, but something that happened when the opportunity arose. And then one day, things changed.

"You know, I don't think we should do this anymore.." Fives had said, discarding the condom and pulling on his blacks. "Hmm?" Aibree hummed in question, fumbling around in the dark to straighten out her panties. "Well... ahh, how do I say this?" Fives mused contemplatively, "If we keep doing this, I'm... afraid you're gonna get attached. I've hooked up with a few medic girls in the past, and it was just.... messy," Fives admitted. "Well... would us getting attached be a bad thing?" Aibree had asked, somewhat hopeful for a particular answer. "Yeah, " Fives replied. "Look, this thing we're doing.... It's been fun, but if you're even thinking it's a possibility... it's probably gonna end up hurting you. And it'll hurt you way more than it's gonna ever hurt me. So..." Fives takes a deep breath before continuing. "I'm just looking out for you. You know, a common courtesy, that's all," Fives had said before snapping the last of his armor on and leaving Aibree in the closet to finish dressing on her own. Aibree thanked the maker for the cover of darkness inside the supply closet. She was hoping he would say no, that getting attached wouldn't be a bad thing at all, and maybe it was something he was hoping for. But he didn't say that at all.

Aibree winces at the recollection of their last rendezvous. It had been a few months now since despite running into Fives plenty of times on the Resolute. There had been no lustful glances, 'convenient' meetings in the ship's gym late at night. She would often go and stay a while after her workout just to see if he came by, but he never did. Even during their last visit to Coruscant, he was nowhere to be found in the crowds at 79s. She thought of cornering him to talk to him, but they didn't really talk that much about anything anyway. Despite all this, Fives was partially right: an attachment on her end had grown, but it was now. Not in the future.

Aibree thought she had hid her feelings quite well...so why would Fives even bring up such a thing...... unless... he were the one starting to feel attached? Maybe the big, bad, ARC Trooper was starting to catch feelings so he took a classic move in trying to pretend he didn't have any? Aibree's heart leaps a bit at the possibility. Only one way to find out for sure.

That night, the Resolute arrives at Coruscant and the ship's company depart for a night of shore leave on the town. Aibree decides to dress up a bit: a short, white off-the-shoulder dress with cutouts on the side, and a lace-up back. Sexy and daring. That should catch his eye. And recently promoted to ARC, there's no way Fives would miss a night at 79s during this planetside visit. And all she would have to do is get him to the side, and they'd get to hook up again... like they used to do. Then maybe she could take the opportunity to tell him how she feels.

Aibree arrives at 79s and works her way through the crowd. There is quite an atmosphere tonight as the boys of the famous 501st always had an energy that was unmatched by the other battalions. It doesn't take long to locate Fives, the dashing new ARC Trooper. He is nestled in a booth with Echo, Kix and Jesse, all sharing a few pitchers of cheap beer.

He looks happy, Aibree notices. Genuinely happy. He talks and smiles with his brothers, only looking down at his comm device occasionally. Aibree orders a drink for herself, just a pint of the same cheap beer the clones drink, and perches herself at a table nearby. Nobody seems to take notice of her, as the crowd is quite busy tonight, but she doesn't mind. She wants to catch Fives alone.

And then her opportunity comes: Aibree notices Fives scooting out of the booth to head to the hallway in the back of 79s where the refreshers are. Aibree pops up immediately, abandoning her drink, and quickly enters the hallway just ahead of Fives where she can turn around and finally get him alone to talk.

Fives nearly walks past her but then takes notice at the last minute. He speaks first. "Hey, I know you," he says in a voice indicating that he's buzzed. "Yeah, it's me," Aibree says, nearly breathless as this was the first time she had been alone with him in months. Fives turns to give her a fist bump, which Aibree uses as an opportunity to slip her hand past his fist, and touch his wrist, her finger trailing under his forearm until she can grip the back of his arm, at his tricep, to pull him toward her.

His reactions slowed by the alcohol in his system, Fives takes a step back. "Hey now, heh! Whatcha doin?" he asks, almost rhetorically.

"Oh, come on Fives. It's 79s. We're in the back where no-one can see us, " Aibree says in her most sultry voice. "It's been a while..." she purrs while reaching out to touch him again.

Fives scoffs. "Aibree, we're not doing this anymore. Remember what we talked about? About getting attached and all that?" Fives says firmly, rebuffing her advances.

"Fives, it's too late for that," Aibree admits. "I - "

"I knew it, " Fives says, turning away and shaking his head, palm covering his eyes. "I knew that last time was a mistake. Aibree, I thought we were just having fun honestly. It was never a thing for me."

Ouch. That stung. "Well, what if we just see how it feels tonight. If anythings different?" Aibree asks out of desperation.

"No, " Fives repeats firmly. "It's not gonna be different and you know it. Not for me at least."

"OK, fine. Yeah I'll admit. I'm attached. And I get it. You're not. But I want it anyway. I want you, Fives, " Aibree pleads, showing the full extent of her feelings.

Fives turns to her, and stares at her solemnly, perhaps with a bit of guilt for how attached Aibree was to him. She was a natborn adult, but young still. Though she had many sexual experiences before with other men on the Resolute and other cruisers she was stationed with, she was still naive about the nature of those arrangements. She didn't really understand just how inconsequential those encounters were to the men she hooked up with.

Fives grimaces. Maybe it was partially his fault. He should have picked up on it sooner and cut it off right away. He should have kept it as a one-night thing. "Aibree...You're not listening to what I'm trying to - " As Fives speaks, Aibree continues to grasp at him in an attempt to pull him close, but this causes Fives to lose his patience.

"I don't want you like that! Or any kind of way. That's why I stopped meeting up." Fives says, exasperated, and on the border of being angry at her for her unwanted advances. Aibree drops her arms to her side finally and listens. "A while back I met a girl. Started talking to her. It was just before that mission we went on, where we hooked up that one last time? That's why it was the last time. Me and her started getting together when we got back.

That's why he wasn't at 79's the last time. And why he never showed up after her workouts anymore.

Aibree absorbs every word he says. But her heart tells her to try, still. "Ok, so what? Aibree says evenly, in an attempt to sound more logical. "Fine, so you started seeing another girl. Fives, it's ok if you want to see her too. It's ok to have multiple partners as long as we're being safe."

Fives lets out a frustrated laugh. "Listen... it's not like that with her. It's different than what we had going on."

Aibree begins to feel the beginnings of jealousy and anger grip her insides. "Oh yeah? Who is it? Another medic girl? Is she on the ship? Is she hotter than me? What makes her so special?" The questions slip straight out of her brain into the air around her, and this causes Aibree to feel embarrassed. Too late. The words were spoken. Can't take them back now.

Fives stares at her, mouth agape at the audacity and immaturity of her questions. "Wow.... you don't know her. And none of that is your business anyway." Fives rubs his eyes with both his hands and shakes his head while chuckling to himself at the ridicilous nature of his conversation with Aibree. "But if you really wanna know, she'll be here any minute." With that, Fives begins to walk down the hallway to the refresher, leaving Aibree behind him.

Sensing that she had already crossed a line, Aibree decides to continue fighting dirty. "Oh really? I'll get to meet this special girl of yours? Does she know about us?" she calls down the hallway in Fives' direction.

Fives spins on his heel and lets out a disgusted sound. "Us?" he says, voice laced with contempt. "Yeah, sure! You and any of the dozens of other girls I've hooked up with that I literally never talk to again? Yeah, she knows I have a past. And she doesn't judge me for it, " Fives holds his hands up to shrug. Aibree's mind races from thought to thought. Burning with jealousy, she shakes against the wall. "So feel free to say whatever you want. It'll only make you look bad, " Fives spits before going into the refresher, out of sight.

Aibree enters a different refresher and takes a moment to touch up her makeup and get herself together mentally. She hadn't gotten all dressed up to be insulted and rejected like this. Not when she had him mere months ago standing behind, pushing her up into her, whimpering and cumming into the condom within the warmth of her pussy. Aibree knew that Fives had gotten around. But of all the girls on the Resolute, she was the only one he was hooking up with at that time. So that made her special too, she reasoned. And all she had to do to make him see it was to go back out there, flirt with the men, and then Fives would see what he was missing.

---

You climb out of your cab, toss some credits down for the driver, and then enter 79s with a pep in your step. You're dressed up and got a date tonight with a special someone. Someone who was recently promoted to ARC Trooper.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiives!!" you squeal, as you rush toward each other in the midst of the crowd of dancing troopers and civilians. Fives lifts you up and spins you around, kissing all over your face.

"Ready to meet the boys?" Fives asks you eagerly. You can tell that he has long anticipated this moment since the last time you were together.

You and Fives had been seeing each other for a few months now. You had originally met just before a long mission, but then you started seeing each other regularly once he got back. And since then, you kept in touch regularly, even when he was away.

"Yeah, can't wait," you smile at him, watching his face light up at your response.

Fives proudly takes you to the booth where the others are seated and introduces you formally to the group. You had already heard of them, but now you could meet them in person. You meet Fives' closest brother, Echo. Then Jesse and Kix who are seated across from you.

It is easy to fall into conversation with the friendly troopers. You can see how getting along with Fives meant that you were a seamless fit into their group. You spend some time getting to know them before getting up to dance with Echo.

You and Echo dance for a song or two, and then return to the booth. This time, you notice a girl standing at the edge of the table awkwardly chatting with Kix. None of the other men seem to take interest in her, so you observe quietly while Echo slips back into conversation with the others.

Kix seems only partially engaged in conversation with the girl, frequently drifting to focus on his brother Jesse's antics at the table. You can tell that Kix knows her, but that they weren't close on a personal level as their conversation centered around the medical facilities on the Resolute. She must be one of the GAR civilians that deploys with the troopers on ships.

She seemed to be an awkward girl. Her comments in the conversation were forced and off-beat. She didn't seem to keep up with the witty comments that shot back and forth across the table between the boys, as many jokes seemed to go over her head. Other than that, she seemed quiet, but not in a mysterious way that one finds interesting. Nothing about her personality was particularly alluring. She wasn't particularly attractive either, which makes it hard to get noticed in a crowd, and you began to feel a bit sorry for her standing there as she tried to flirt with Kix.

"Hey, Kix. Move over?" you say, effectively inviting her to sit with you all at the booth. Kix shrugs and scrunches in with Jesse, leaving some room on the outside for the girl to sit across from you. The girl continues to talk to Kix as she takes her seat, but you notice the men trade glances with each other. It only lasts a second, but you catch it. Had you made a mistake asking her to sit at the table?

The evening goes on, and you notice the girl looking across the table at Fives a little more than normal. Even when he wasn't talking, and the boys took turns in conversation, regardless of who was talking, she would face him instead of the speaker. You wondered if she had a secret crush on Fives.

"Can I... help you?" Fives asks, looking in Aibree's direction. You catch a thinly veiled tone of annoyance in his voice. Aibree jumps slightly in her seat, clearly caught in her staring. After a short silence, Kix jumps in. "Didn't think you were the type to come to 79s by yourself. Where are your medic girls tonight?" Kix asks, turning to her and redirecting the conversation.

"I don't know. And I'm not here by myself," she replies meekly.

"Well, you came out by yourself, " Jesse clarifies.

"Well, no. I know you guys, " she says toward Jesse.

The boys trade glances once again, this time an awkward silence ensues.

Then Fives jumps up, breaking the silence. "Wanna dance, love?" he asks you. "Sure, babe!" you say cheerily, glad for an excuse to escape the strange mood at the table.

Once you are outside of earshot of the table, you put your arms around Fives. "Hey, what's up with that girl? Everyone seems a little annoyed by her?"

Fives groans and rolls his eyes, burying his face in your neck. "Ohhh.. yeah. So, uhh.." he stutters, before pulling away slightly to look in your face. "To be honest, I had a little fling with her for a while. It was just a hook up thing back on the ship, but she got all attached. And now she's acting weird about it. I think she doesn't get it. We're not friends or anything. We just hooked up."

"Mmmm," you hum, nodding slowly. "Hate it when that happens. It's always awkward, " you laugh. "I've been in that situation before, where you hook up with a guy and then all of the sudden they're in luuuurve with you, " you add, rolling your eyes.

"Yeah. Heh, it's that exact situation here, " Fives says, hanging his head and shaking it. "I'm sorry about her."

You reach up and place a palm on his cheek, turning him to face you. "It's ok. I understand. It happens when you've been around, " you say. "You're gonna run into old flings here and there. It happens."

"I know you know I have a past..." Fives says. "And I'm thankful you understand. I didn't invite her out tonight or anything. I told her the last time that it wasn't a real thing but..."

"I know. And it's ok, " you reassure him. "We all have a past. Me included. We've talked about it. It doesn't bother me, " you add as you pull him toward you for a kiss.

---

Aibree watches the scene before her with a mix of emotions. She was happy for him. Fives looked so handsome, his ARC trooper armor stripped from the waist up to reveal his muscular torso clothed in the tight black undershirt that they always wore. She had wanted to celebrate with him tonight. She was so proud. But here he was, holding his 'special' girl, swaying to the music, celebrating with her. It was something "different" he had said. She was different to him.

"It's gonna hurt you more than it's ever gonna hurt me." And Fives was right. Stopping their random hookups didn't look like it hurt Fives at all. In fact, he didn't look in pain in the slightest as his face shone under the lights. His look a mix of buzzed and just entranced. Just fixated and totally smitten with the girl in front of him.

The way he held her made a knot of jealousy wind up in Aibree's gut. The way he caressed her sides, how he grazed his lips up and down her neck to place gentle kisses there. He did this in the open, under the flashing lights of 79s in front of his brothers. Not in a dirty supply closet under the cover of darkness and secrecy on the Resolute.

Aibree had watched Fives sit with his brothers in the booth with this girl, where he introduced her by name. She wasn't from the ship. The only reason they would know is because he told it to them. Because he had invited her out with them. Because he wanted her to know his brothers and become closer to him on that level.

Kix, Jesse, and the others knew Aibree from the ship. But they didn't really know her outside of work. They only vaguely knew her name and they knew of her and Fives' thing they had going on... but Fives never invited her to sit with him or meet up anywhere off the ship or anything remotely close to it. Fives never took any interest in her other than their hookup sessions. Aibree never sat around and joked with the boys and shared inside jokes with them and laughed until tears streamed down their faces. She never did those things. But she sat there and watched tonight how Fives and his closest brothers did that with this special girl. The one that is different, he had said.

Aibree's hands unconsciously grab the hem of her dress and she unhappily and tugs the fabric while fighting back her emotions. The girl was devastatingly beautiful. And there was no way in Aibree's mind that she could twist it otherwise. She could tell that the girl had barely worn any makeup, yet her features were striking in the most naturally effortless way. She had a mature look to her, unlike Aibree, in a way that made her age hard to guess. She could be young, or older with that eternally youthful face other women envy. Aibree internally cursed her round, babyish face - One that was youthful in the wrong ways and got her teased well into adulthood, even on the Resolute amongst some of the men onboard. The odd proportions of her face shape and mouth, which seemed too big for her face, gave her a rather ordinary appearance. What an advantage it was to be deployed with the clones sometimes, for it gave her the opportunity to be one of the few females onboard and therefore in more demand than usual. Though it was hard for Aibree to admit, almost all of the interest she got was from the men on the ship while it was deployed.

She watched as Fives led his special girl around the dance floor. Her complexion was similar to Fives and the other clones, which complimented the clothing she wore tonight. She was taller, a somewhat athletic or leaner build. She stood up straight and had visible muscles in her bare shoulder and arms that peeked out of her one-shoulder top. Aibree cringed with jealousy. Aibree was shorter than average, with a hunched posture that accentuated her soft, rounded shoulders. She really didn't have a defined waist or bust line as she was neither fat or curvy, nor thin. Neither flat chested, nor big busted. No part of her body was particularly toned, and all of this, made her appearance rather forgettable in a planetside crowd such as the one at 79s tonight. On the ship while it was deployed, she was noticeable. Tonight, hardly.

It wasn't fair, Aibree decided. But there was nothing she could do about it. There was something special going on between Fives and this girl. She stood out to him. He had picked her out of a crowd of women, wherever it was that they met. They had taken the time to get to know each other over the past months to the point where he had begun to introduce her to his brothers. She wasn't a quick fuck as a result of circumstance and convenience like it was with Aibree on the Resolute.

Aibree finally accepts defeat, and rises to leave.

---

You and Fives finish your dance and saunter arm in arm back to the booth. Fives slides in and you follow, seating yourself on the outside. You see the girl from earlier standing at the edge of the booth again by Kix.

"You leaving?" Kix asks her.

"Yeah," she says.

"Alright... bye!" Kix says, holding his hand up briefly for a quick wave.

With that, the girl turns to leave and you see Kix exhale and share a look with Fives.

"She knows, Kix," Fives says, nodding in your direction.

Kix nods slowly with a smirk, "Well, brother. This is how your past comes to haunt you. Told you that. That's why I don't mess with girls on the ship."

"I know, I know, " he says, waving Kix off. "That's the last time I ever do that shit, " Fives adds, more seriously.

The table shares a few more moments of conversation and a few laughs before everything is stopped abruptly by the return of the girl from earlier. You see her working her way through the crowd, back to your booth. Kix looks at Fives and covers his face, laughing.

"What the fuck..." Fives mutters. The girl approaches the table and stares directly at you. She is no longer staring at Fives like she was earlier in the night. It appears that you are her target now.

Despite her staring, nothing in her posture is threatening, so no-one makes a move. Instead, they all stare back and decide to let her talk.

The girl stands at the edge of the booth on your side. You look back up at her with a curious look on your face, lips slightly parted, but allowing her to talk first. She meets your stare momentarily before looking down at the floor. She licks her lips nervously before returning her eyes to meet yours, and then she finally speaks.

"Just wanted to say... you're a lucky girl," she says, barely audible above the loud music and noise inside the club. As soon as she speaks the words, she breaks eye contact and disappears into the crowd once again.

"Wha'd she say?" Kix asks, leaning over toward you and Fives. "I dunno, is she drunk or something?" Jesse asks, his eyes scrunched up with snickers between words.

"No, " you say. Everyone turns to you at that moment, eager to hear what drama the girl might have been trying to stir up with you.

"She's just... upset. For obvious reasons, " you say, looking at Fives. "We've all been there. She'll get over it, " you add, watching the men relax back into the booth, silently nodding in agreement.

The way she said those words, you knew that she had felt a real attachment to Fives. You couldn't blame her. Perhaps it would have been insulting or even embarrassing under some circumstances for your partner's former hook up to approach and confront you like that but in this case, you felt sorry for her. She was, after all, just a girl. Just a human with emotions and feelings. She couldn't help who she was, her personality, or her looks. She was just born that way. And for whatever reason, Fives didn't see anything there worth keeping around for more than a few quick hookups. He could have kept seeing her. It would have been easy with them there on the Resolute together on those long transits between missions. It would have been far easier than him pursuing you. But he didn't. He chose you instead. This other girl? One of many in Fives' past as you knew. Forgettable.

And that's all that mattered, you decided, brushing the topic out of your mind for good, already refocusing on the present with Fives and the boys. You easily fall back into conversation, the banter, the jokes and laughter from earlier in your night, and celebrate your darling new ARC Trooper and budding relationship the proper way.

[adultswim2021]

Assy McGee #4: “Mexican Rain” | December 24, 2006 – 11:30PM | S01E04

We’re keeping this one short. Not a standout episode, not completely worthless. Sorta…. Uh. You know, sometimes nihilistic humor or misanthropy can be mistaken for straight-up bigotry, and I can see people watching this episode without being acclimated to the humor of Assy McGee and walking away with the wrong idea. In this one, Assy is trying to stop illegal immigration in the way you’d expect him to: by killing a lot of innocent people in the process. The plot is something like: Mexicans are hiding in cheap, touristy Mexican knick-knacks (stereotypically Mexican items like pinatas), and they are trying to stop it.

In one scene, Assy wrongfully assaults a Mariachi band thinking an illegal immigrant may be hiding out in the band’s large guitar. This is basically racial profiling AND a hate crime we are watching, for laughs. But the point of the show is that Assy wrongfully brutalizes everyone. You might not know that if this is your first episode. You might know it and not be able to stomach the ugliness anyway, either. It’s not really worth sticking up for this episode; it’s a bit of a dud and the strongest bits don’t really rise to the occasion. There’s mildly amusing moments, but that’s about it.

I need to tell you this important information right now, or else it will be lost forever: When this episode originally aired, there was red and green overlays done to the opening sequence as well as falling snow and I believe sleigh bells mixed into the opening theme. This was to make it be a Christmas episode, even though the episode itself has nothing to do with Christmas. If this is my Christmas gift… I hope you saved the receipt!!!

EPHEMERA CORNER:

Christmas with DOOM (Dcember 24, 2006)

RIP. MF DOOM. Here’s his fun “Christmas with Doom” segments that aired this night on Adult Swim. I believe the video I’m linking to has the segments zoomed in, cropping out Christmas-colored letterbox bars. It also seems upscaled from a nth generation VHS recording. Here’s what they played this night (info from swimpedia):

10:00PM - Futurama: A Tale of Two Santas

10:30PM - Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future

10:45PM - Aqua Teen Hunger Force: T-Shirt of the Dead

11:00PM - Family Guy: A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas

11:30PM - Assy McGee: Mexican Rain*

11:45PM - Robot Chicken: Robot Chicken Christmas Special

12:00AM - Squidbillies: Rebel with a Claus*

12:15AM - Moral Orel: The Best Christmas Ever!

12:30AM - The Venture Bros.: A Very Venture Christmas

12:45AM - Tom Goes to the Mayor: Rats Off to Ya!

1:00AM - Pee-wee's Playhouse: Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special

MAIL BAG

oh baby i think i love you from head to toe

Wow, I had no idea that was Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. Also, I’m not sure I’ve actually heard that song, but it’s one of those songs that would appear in compilation album commercials so I have that 5-second video clip of her singing that lyric. It’s burned into my brain. I feel like in whatever commercial I’m thinking of “The Look” by Roxette played after it (another song I only knew from the commercial and had to look up the proper title and artist).

Referring to Carl Wash:

you can think it's nice but I don't like it. everything gets screwy with the aqua teen after the movie. i do feel like their interest in the show shorts out after this and while that was not the problem with space ghost, it feels more apparent here. i don't know. sorry.

I agree that Aqua Teen’s quality went down after the movie, but they managed to pull out great episodes, and the drop-off is sorta negligible. Like, a Simpsons season 8 to 9 drop-off that stayed fairly consistent. I’m much less familiar with those episodes though. I think I saw them all at least once.

[ecto-american]

Liar Liar

Phic Phight Oneshot for Ectopal: After an argument with her now grounded son, Maddie wishes that Danny wouldn't lie to her-and Desiree overhears. [TransDanny]

The OG prompt: After an argument with her now grounded son, Maddie wishes that Danny wouldn't lie to her-and Desiree overhears.

Potential TW for trans-related venting and implied violence, but there’s nothing graphic

on FFN and AO3

The front door opened, and Maddie frowned as she glanced at the clock that informed her that yes. It was definitely hours past his curfew.

No lights turned on, but she still could tell from the faint light of the one kitchen light, the light that the family just never turned off so that they could see at night, that it was definitely her son doing his best to remain quiet. And now that she knew he was safe, all of her fears about if he was okay and his safety melted away and allowed for anger to start boiling.

"Daniel James Fenton," she finally called out. The figure froze, and she flipped the light switch on. Before her was her son, looking as guilty as ever. One hand was on the wall, guiding him as he approached the stairs, the other holding onto his binder and shoes. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"...Um...Can I plead the fifth?" he asked weakly. Her frown deepened.

"It's nearly two in the morning, and on a school night!" she scolded. "Let's not even talk about how you snuck out right now." His shoulders slumped. "You could have been dead for all I know!"

"I'm sorry," he replied quietly.

"Where were you?" Maddie asked.

"I was at Tucker's, we got caught up playing video games," he said. Maddie scowled.

"Tell me the truth," she said. Danny scowled back.

"I am!" he insisted.

"Then how come Pamela called me?" Maddie asked. At the name of Mrs. Manson, Danny paled.

"...She called you?" his voice croaked out.

"You bet she called me," Maddie snapped. "What were you thinking?"

"I wi-I just!" Danny cut himself off as he seemed to struggle to find his words. "I'm just wanting more freedom! I'm an adult now! I can legally buy cigarettes!" Maddie couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Well I wish you wouldn't lie to me!" Maddie argued back. Danny flinched at her words. "And maybe if you didn't, I'd let you have more freedom! But you lied about going to your room, you lied to me just now about where you were, and I already know that you're going to lie to me when I ask you what you and Sam have been doing!"

"We weren't doing anything!" Danny half-yelled back. "We fell asleep binge watching one of her true crime shows!"

"Don't lie to me!" Maddie told him.

"I'm not!"

Maddie made an angry grumbling noise, crossing her arms.

"You're ground, all weekend," she informed him. Danny didn't respond; he simply made a face at her. He brushed past her to angrily stomp up the stairs. She didn't bother snapping at him over that too.

"So you have wished it, so shall it be."

Maddie turned around rapidly at the voice. It wasn't Danny's...and Jazz was miles away at college…But what she did hear was Danny slamming his bedroom door shut. She'd get onto him about that in the morning.

A quick inspection, and she found nothing, and she decided to just call it a night. She went upstairs herself, pausing at Danny's door to listen. She could hear Danny shuffle around for a moment, though after a moment, she saw his light go out and heard his bed creak as he rested on it. She just knew he was going to fall asleep in class tomorrow. Maddie sighed, and she went into her room.

Jack was just coming from the bathroom with a light yawn, and she felt guilty.

"Did we wake you up?" she wondered. Jack gave her a small smile and shrugged.

"It's okay," he assured her. Maddie huffed.

"No, it's not," she insisted. "He should have been home. He was over at Sam's house until about ten minutes ago. Pam called to complain about it."

"Ah, he's just doing what teenagers do," Jack replied. Maddie frowned as she got into bed.

"Well that mentality is how we end up grandparents way too early," she reminded him. Jack gave a light sigh as he also slipped back into bed.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed. "I'll talk to him about it soon."

"Thank you. He's pretty mad at me right now," Maddie turned her bedside lamp off. Jack chuckled.

"He'll probably be mad for a bit, but he'll get over it," he reassured her. He switched his own bedside lamp off as he got settled back in. "Night, love you."

"Love you too."

-----------------

Despite the late night, Maddie was up early. She could hear that Danny was already up and getting ready in the bathroom, so she didn't feel the need to say anything to him just yet. They could reserve any conversation for after school.

By the time she came downstairs, Danny was in the kitchen staring at the toaster, backpack on the kitchen table.

"Morning, sweetie," she greeted him warmly.

He gave her a somewhat dirty look, and he mumbled a cranky and short "morning" in response. She opted to ignore his attitude for now, and she went over to the coffee maker. While she was waiting for Danny, she had gone ahead and scheduled the coffee maker to start making coffee, and man was she glad. It was already pouring, and it smelled great.

"Danny, do you want a cup of coffee?" she asked him. He glanced over, and he shook his head no.

"Mm no thanks," he replied.

"Did you sleep okay?"

"I slept like shit."

Maddie glanced at Danny in surprise, and he stared back at her, equally as confused. Danny never cussed at her.

"Cause you stayed out all night, huh?" Maddie lightly accused, leaning her hand on the counter.

"No, cause I slept with my binder on and now my chest hurts," he snapped back. Maddie frowned.

"You're not supposed to do that," she told him.

"Well maybe if I wasn't fucking born like this-," he began but cut himself off. He looked so confused, and Maddie was too. Not at the statement. She had no doubt that it was true, but where did all this cussing come from? He knew better than to talk to her like that, and it was so...weird. Danny glanced back to the toaster, clearing his throat. "Sorry, I...I uh…" Two pop tarts popped out of the toaster, and he quickly snatched them up. "I gotta go. Bye."

"...Have a good day," Maddie called after him, staring as he quickly walked out, and she heard the front door close. She made her cup of coffee, and she got to work.

-----------------

She jumped as their ghost alarm went off, but Jack and Maddie wasted no time quickly collecting their things and rushing out the door and into the RV. It led them right to the scene. A fight against Amity Park's most popular ghost and another fairly familiar ghost, a green skinned woman with flowing black hair dressed exclusively in blue.

Maddie messily pulled into a parking spot off the side of the road, and Jack immediately hopped out. Maddie followed suit, and she hurried towards the action.

"Stop granting every damn wish you hear! I swear, it's ridiculous!" she could hear Phantom yell.

"I'm merely giving people what they ask for," the woman, Desiree Maddie believed she was called, replied smugly.

Phantom looked like he was gonna say something more, but stopped when he seemed to glance over and notice their arrival.

"Let's just finish this," he said instead, and he blasted her, only to miss. The woman smirked, but it was quickly cut off by a secondary blast from Jack.

"Jack!" Maddie gasped in excitement. "Excellent shot!" Jack grinned proudly, firing another. Only to miss, as sorta expected.

"I do not have time for this!" Phantom scowled. Maddie rolled her eyes. What the hell does a ghost have going on? He pulled out the Fenton Thermos and sucked the other ghost in.

"You ever going to return that?" Maddie called out sarcastically.

"It's my thermos! You gave it to me!" Phantom called back, immediately giving her a weird blank look. Maddie narrowed her eyes.

"We didn't give you anything," she replied. She held her hand out expectantly. "Give it back."

Phantom opened his mouth to rebuttal, only to get blasted. It knocked him back and made him drop the thermos. Maddie dove for it as Jack fired more shots, and she was thankfully able to grab it before it hit the ground. However when she looked up, Phantom was gone.

"Mads! Did you see that!?" Jack asked. She looked up at him with a proud smile as he jogged over to her.

"I did!" she replied cheerfully. "You've gotten a lot better!" Jack puffed up proudly. "Where did Phantom go?"

"Dunno," he admitted, and his shoulders immediately fell a bit. "After I got him, he flew off. Musta been scared." He offered his hand out to her, and she accepted it.

"Probably," she agreed. She held the thermos up. "Least we got this back though." Jack nodded. "We'll put her back in the Zone later. Let's get some lunch."

-----------------

Maddie made a point to make sure she was upstairs so that she could make sure Danny came home on time, given his grounding situation. While she waited, she began to make some cupcakes. As she was mixing batter, she heard the front door open and close.

"Hey Danny," she greeted from the kitchen. She glanced at the clock. He was ten minutes later than he normally would have come home, but it wasn't enough for her to say anything.

"...Hey mom," came the reply. He stepped into the kitchen, and Maddie glanced at him, only to do a double take. His right cheek was badly swollen from a bad bruise. Maddie immediately wiped her hands on a dish towel, staring at him.

"What happened?" she asked, stepping towards him. He stared at her in confusion before putting his hand to his face. He pressed his lips tightly together and didn't answer. She asked once more, more firmly. "Danny, what happened?"

He opened his mouth to say something, only to choke on nothing and close his mouth again. Maddie went to the freezer to get an ice pack. She motioned for him to sit down. He sat at the kitchen table, and she pulled a chair up to him. She pressed the ice pack to his face, and he took it from her, leaning his elbow on the table.

"I'll only ask you one more time," she began, only for Danny to angrily cut her off.

"I got beat up today, okay?" he replied, sounding exasperated. Maddie blinked.

"By who?" she asked. Danny gave her a sour look, and he refused to speak. "Danny…"

"I don't wanna talk about it," he finally spoke. He began to stand up. "Look, I'm fine. It's not a big deal."

"It's a huge deal!" Maddie argued. She grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to sit back down. "You're going to tell me what's going on right now. Who hurt you?"

"Just some dudes at school," he tried to keep his answers short. But Maddie was having none of that.

"But why?" she pressed. Danny stayed quiet. "Daniel James-"

"What do you want me to say, Mom?" he snapped. "That I constantly get my ass kicked for being queer? That every day I get reminded that they think I'm some freak that shouldn't be allowed to exist? Let alone in any kind of relative peace? People don't like me. Why do you think I want to get my name changed as soon as possible? Why I've been begging for surgery as a birthday gift? It's so that when I go to college, nobody will know."

"...I had no idea," she said slowly.

"Yeah, I know," he said shortly. He got up, managing to evade her touch again to go for the stairs. Before she could say anything else, he was upstairs, and she could hear his door closing.

What had gotten into him? Maddie had never heard Danny talk about any of those things to her before. How long had these feelings been going on? Why had he never talked to her before about this?

She forced herself to stand and return to her baking. Mindlessly, she began to fill her cupcake tray up with batter, slipping them into the oven when she heard noise in the basement. She frowned, quickly setting her timer before going down.

Phantom was there, looking through her stuff. Snooping around. He was carefully looking around, muttering to himself as he hunted for...something.

"Can I help you, Phantom?"

The ghost jumped, turning on his heel.

"I'm looking for the wishing ghost so I can undo a wish," he replied. She raised an eyebrow at his blunt honesty.

"What wish?" She asked. Phantom scowled, narrowing his eyes as he seemed to think hard.

"That's private," he replied. She glared back at him, but then it hit her.

"Well I wish you wouldn't lie to me!"

Her son couldn't lie to her. Because of the wishing ghost still trapped in the thermos. She hadn't had a chance to empty the thermoses of ghosts she had Jack had caught over the past two weeks.

"I suggest you leave through that portal then before I blast you through it," she said. "The wishing ghost is staying here with me." Phantom narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her.

"Not without that wishing ghost," he replied. Maddie picked a blaster off the table near her, pointing it at him. He held his hands up defensively. "Whoa, take it easy. Why do you want Desiree so bad? Don't you normally throw the ghosts back into the Ghost Zone anyway?"

"I do, and let's start with you," she replied. She pulled the trigger. It hit Phantom square in the chest, pushing him into the open portal. She quickly stormed up, slamming the closed button.

-----------------

It was hours before Danny finally came down from upstairs. She knew that he had stayed upstairs, for once, instead of sneaking out again, from occasional footsteps and the sound of him talking on the phone. Maddie had actually just gotten off the phone with him, having called him to ask what he wanted from their favorite Chinese restaurant before she sent Jack out to pick it up. Soon as Jack was out the door, Danny came out of his room and downstairs. She gave him smile as he came into the living room.

"Hey sweetie, dad will b-"

"I know about the wish."

Maddie instantly felt guilt wash over her as Danny stared at her with a frown, arms crossed. She stayed where she sat on the couch.

"What makes you say that?" she questioned. Danny's lips tightened, and she knew that he wasn't going to answer her. "Danny-"

"And I know that you know about it!" he accused. "I've been through this kind of thing before! Why haven't you undone the wish yet?"

"Because you don't need to be lying to me!" Maddie finally snapped back as she got to her feet. "For once, I'm getting honest answers from you after almost three years of constant lie after lie!"

"And you're okay with this being how you get those answers?" Danny talked back. His fists balled up, though they stayed by his sides. "Instead of making me feel okay and comfortable telling you these things? Or wait for me to be ready to say something?"

Ouch. Maddie flinched, and she just knew that had Jazz been here...she'd be absolutely agreeing with Danny. And she knew in her gut that Danny was right. Maddie's shoulder slumped.

"I know," she said quietly. Danny looked completely taken aback. "...But why haven't you said anything? You know your dad and I love you so much. I had no idea you've been in this much pain."

Danny stared at the ground, shifting to lean against the doorway.

"...I didn't want you guys to feel like you were bad parents," he replied. "Because you're not. It's not your fault everybody else sucks, or that I have to wait for surgery or to get my name changed and everything. And you can't fix it. It's just how it is."

"Dad and I would have started fighting harder for you had we known," Maddie said softly. "All we ever want is for you and Jazz to be happy and healthy."

"Yeah, I know," Danny half-grumbled. "It's just...It's just how it is. And I can't even tell the therapist that, cause she keeps pushing back everything if I hint at being depressed about it."

"If that's the case, we can find a new therapist," Maddie replied. "One that'll take you more seriously." Danny shook his head.

"No, it's okay. I'll be done with school this year, and I'll be seeing a new one anyway when I go to college," he said. Maddie frowned.

"But still-"

"Mom, it's fine," he interrupted. He smiled. "Seriously." She sighed. "Please, just. Undo the wish."

"...Okay," she finally agreed. She began to walk towards the basement, only to pause, turning to him. "But first." Danny raised an eyebrow at her. "What were you and Sam doing up so late?" Danny gave her a sour look, rolling his eyes.

"...Sam's been having a hard time lately. Lots of girls at school bully her for the same reason as me, and it's just been hitting her super hard lately," he explained. "I was up late with her cause she was crying so much, and we fell asleep while I was holding her to make her feel better."

Maddie's heart twisted a bit. She truly wish she had known. And she already made a mental note to march into Casper High first thing Monday morning after having a long phone call with Pam that night. A call to Vlad too, to get in touch to see if he'd help hire a lawyer. She had absolute hell to raise, and a school she was ready to sue.

"But seriously," Danny's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "I'll eventually come and tell you these things when I'm ready. Don't rely on dumb ghost wishes."

"Yeah, I know," Maddie replied somberly. "I'm sorry, Danny." She took a few steps towards him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. After a moment, she felt him return the hug. She let go, cupping his cheeks and making him lean down a bit so she could kiss his forehead. "I just worry about you. I want you to feel like you can always come to me. You're my baby boy."

"I know, Mom," he smiled. "And I will when I need you, but I'm not a little kid. I can handle a lot of things on my own."

"Yeah, but you're still my baby," Maddie sighed. Hell, he and Jazz were both taller than her by now. They definitely got that from Jack. Or in Danny's case, he got nearly everything from him. Almost a mirror image the older he got. Danny's cheeks flushed a bit.

"Mo-om."

Maddie chuckled.

"Come on, let's go undo the wish. I have the wishing ghost still in the basement," she said. She paused. "But once we undo the wish, will you honestly tell me how you knew?"

Danny stared at her for a moment, seemingly thinking. And he nodded.

"Yeah. After dinner, just you and me," he promised. "I'll tell you the whole story. Start to finish."

[stories-about-cheating-women]

Reddit gf leaves dead bedroom

Going to write this while it’s still etched in my mind, just gonna be straight up honest here. I’m writing this for masturbation material so it’s gonna be pretty explicit. Fair warning, this is long.

Small bit of context. Boyfriend has low test levels. Refused for nearly 5 years to change it, I haven’t had an orgasm in two years and after getting desperate I asked if I could see other men. Matched with this guy on bumble and met up with him a few times, got a small crush on him and I wanted him to have sex with me badly so as soon as we swapped STD test results we went for it. In short.

It was incredible. Like it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had and by far my best sexual experience.

Before getting into this I talked to the bumble guy and told him my situation so he’s aware, he told me tonight he knows I’ve only had sex with one man and I’m in a serious relationship etc and if I want to back out or just watch a movie we can do that. I said no, I was determined to follow through. I was actually a little offended that he was talking to me like I was innocent so I began to feel up his crotch and I straddled him.

We went at it for a few minutes before he put his hands on my ass and picked me up, taking me in his arms and walking me to the bedroom. I loved it, I felt like a princess as he held me, it was borderline romantic. He put me down on the bed and began to stroke my thighs as we made out further, it wasn’t long until we were both wearing nothing but our underwear. He ran his fingers gently over my boobs and grinned, I pushed his hands off playfully and told him to take his pants off. He was quick to comply.

Now I’d seen photos of his dick before but seeing it in person was something else, it was very, VERY intimidating to say the least. He said he’s a bit over 8 inches and that’s certainly believable, his thickness was what scared me the most, he was almost as thick as my wrist. He looked at me quizzically so I quickly took my bra off and crawled over the mattress towards him. Hopefully I didn’t appear to be too awkward as I started to jack him off, my boyfriend is about 5 inches so that’s what I’m primarily used to and working with a penis this size was a real process. This guy was also uncut so that was another new toolset I had to work with.

I put my mouth over his dick and slowly began to blow him. I don’t think I did a great job as I was out of practice, nervous and I wasn’t used to deal with one that thick but he seemed to enjoy himself regardless. I couldn’t get it very far down but I kept flicking my tongue on the tip while slowly moving up and down until I had about half of it in my mouth and judging by his moans, it was much appreciated.

After about 5 minutes of that he put his hands on my face, kissed me and moved my body so I was on my back looking up at him. He looked at me questioningly and I nodded as he began to pull my panties down my legs and removed them from my body. He smiled at me reassuringly before gently slipping a finger inside me, by this point I was very wet and knew I could take more so I told him as much. He put two fingers in then three, he started to move his fingers around and I just weakly smiled and closed my eyes as I took in the feeling. He continued with that for a few minutes, stretching me out with his finger to prepare me. After a while I heard him open a plastic container, he began to coat his hands in lube. The aching feeling I had when I felt the coldness of the lube on his fingers enter me was indescribable, my mouth was actually watering as he worked away to coat my insides with it. Once he pulled his hands from me and began to apply lube to himself, that’s when I really started to get nervous, the reality of the situation finally hitting me. I was about to let a man I’d known for a few weeks fuck me. I was honestly pretty tempted to back down but I couldn’t find the words, I stayed quiet and he got back on the bed and positioned himself over me. I brushed my thoughts aside and began to make out with him again.

As we were kissing I began to feel tugging feeling on my clit, his hands were still all over my hips feeling me up so I realised that had to be his dick pressed against my crotch. It felt so wrong but so good too, I felt like I was doing something wrong and it was a huge turn on.

After a few minutes of kissing and groping he pulled away, I smiled and shakily said I was ready. He kissed me softly once more before putting a hand on his penis and pushing it inside me. I don’t know why but I shivered slightly when he entered me, I wasn’t cold at all but it just happened. He started slow, barely putting the tip in to gauge how I’d react, I smiled and he pushed a bit more before stopping, after that I lost patience, wrapped my hands round his neck and pulled his face to mine, driving his dick into me in the process. He pushed a little more and I felt my vagina stretch to accommodate him, he was fully in, as far as he could go. I had a mini panic attack and took several deep breaths as I adjusted. Having him in me was quite the experience. It was... tight, not painful thankfully but very tight. I panicked a little but he pressed a hand gently over my mouth before I could say anything and told me just to be still for a couple of minutes. We did that and it was surprisingly intimate. We didn’t kiss, we just looked each other in the eye as his dick sat motionless inside me.

After what felt like forever but was probably only a few minutes he looked at me with a cute little smile and asked me if I was okay, I sorta nodded and he asked me again more assertively and I told him I was. He called me a “good girl” which drove me nuts for some reasons, he began to slowly move out, the head of his penis stopped right at the entrance to my vagina, we smirked at each other for a moment before he pushed himself back inside me with a sigh.

As he thrusted into me gently I stretched my arm down the length of our bodies and began to softly stroke his balls as he began to pick up the pace, it felt incredible. Before long I lost my focus and just gave into the moment, wrapping my legs around him as I did my best to just hold on. I’m pretty awkward with noises so I usually try and stay quiet beyond some soft moaning but with this I was pretty much panting as he worked on me. It felt incredible. I enjoy sex but I’m usually more of an oral kinda girl but this was just so much better. I don’t know if it was due to his size or the length of time since I’d last gotten laid but I felt everything so much more here. It was quite literally orgasmic.

He also kept deliberately making his dick twitch while it was in me and oh my god it feels so good, it’s only a minor physical sensation but there was something so nice about it that just sets me off and really gets me going.

Now as I said, I’m not much of a moaner but the warmth, sensation and the moment got to me. I wasn’t conscious, not really, I was just there as he was laying into me. I made noises I never knew I could make without trying to make them. I think I even giggled at one point, there wasn’t anything funny going on I was just so high on emotions and lost control of my inhibitions and let loose.

Soon enough I felt a warmth began to fester in my feet before working its way up my legs, I giggled slightly and shivered again as I had my first orgasm of the night. It was lovely, in that moment I felt so close to him and honestly it’s the happiest I’ve felt in a good while, it was very liberating to just be there with another person so close to me and feel that good.

The emotions definitely were there as I actually started to cry after cumming. I think it was a mixture of pleasure and feeling overwhelmed. I’d never kissed another man let alone this and I felt guilty that had just orgasmed to another man thrusting inside me. I kept thinking about my boyfriend and how he would feel if he knew about this, I know I had his permission but still it was a lot to process. I’d always assumed we’d be happily married by now, not him being at home and me being in a strange man’s bed. Life’s weird. The worst part was as guilty as I felt my priority was still what I had in front of me and the event at hand, I’d come here for sex and that’s what I needed.

He told me we could stop if I wanted to but I just shook my head and asked him if we could please continue. He wiped some tears from my cheek and started to kiss me passionately, cuddling me as he pressed his weight onto me, pushing me down into the mattress. I just pressed my face to his neck and closed my eyes as I felt his dick begin to move about inside of me once more. What followed next was the longest orgasm I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know how long it was exactly but it was damn close to 10 minutes of fairly consistent pleasure. It was honestly so good I thought I might faint. It was blissful.

Before long my sighs were met with his, his pace intensified and lost its tempo as he got more wild and he began to pretty much thrash about inside me, he was literally pounding me me so hard he had to hold my shoulders to stop me from hitting my head against the backboard. He growled slightly in my ear as he came inside me, it felt great. His cock kept twitching uncontrollably and I fucking loved it. To me having a guy cum inside you is one of the highest praises you can get.

Afterwards he went out to pick us up some food, when he got back we ate and chatted before deciding to go for another round. This time I rode him on the couch until we both came. I’m no longer intimidated by his size, I definitely couldn’t take it without being warmed up but I now know I can take it and at quite a pace. I’m actually quite proud of myself for taking such a big dick without much struggle, definitely underestimated myself on that front.

It’s been a few hours since our last session and surprisingly, I’m not too sore, there wasn’t any blood and other than a little discomfort early on I was fine. I have quite a deep vagina and I practised with toys around his size beforehand so I was pretty well prepared for it. He’s asleep right now and I’m just in his bed watching Netflix with subtitles on, hopefully we can go another round or two in the morning before I go home.

This has definitely been a fun short term things and I definitely plan on doing this again. Long term I really don’t know what I want, I just know I can’t stay in a sexless relationship anymore. I talked with this guy about all of this and he’s obviously willing to fuck me as much as I want him too so I can at least get laid but the reality is I’m not happy in my relationship. I thought I was but I’m just not. I love my boyfriend so much but just from doing this I developed a connection with this guy that I haven’t had with my boyfriend in literal years. He’s not willing to put in any effort for our sex life so it’s just become my sex life and I have to do what I need to do.

Anyway, that’s my confession I guess Feel free to PM me if you want to chat! Just don’t be too weird please.

[mythicamagic]

Please write the second-to-last prompt!

*cough* I’ll put this one under a ‘read more’ because it’s a tad too long. And involves nakedness- and we all know how tumblr feels about that. M rated with no actual naughty business.

“it’s because i’m so attractive isn’t it?” “i say this. and i cannot stress this enough. i find you completely repulsive.” 

---

Sesshoumaru arched a brow, torn between amusement, befuddlement, indignation, flattery and satisfaction. 

It was a confusing mix. 

Kagome stared up at him, cheeks stained crimson and hands planted on her hips. It was not the appropriate expression for one asking another for a favour. 

Thin lips parted, before his mouth clicked shut. He blinked once, tipping his head to the side. 

“You wish to…”

“Draw you,” she confirmed stiffly. 

“Naked.”

“It’s called ‘Life Drawing’ and I need it for my college class. You’d...really be helping me out, okay?”

Sesshoumaru hummed, gaze sweeping over her critically. He’d never seen one of her pictures, and wondered if her skills could do him justice. “And you chose this one to be your subject?” he arched a brow, confidence radiating off him in waves. “It is because I am so attractive, is it not?”

Kagome made a noise, bursting into a laugh and waving this off. “I say this, and I cannot stress this enough; I find you completely repulsive.” 

The teasing dance of her eyes told him she was joking. He huffed, finding the mere idea ludicious. None could find him repulsive. 

“Look the reason I’m asking you is because it would be awkward with anyone else. I’m not dating anyone- and Inuyasha is out on account of him being my ex. Miroku is married. You’re the only available person who is kinda, sorta my friend. My last resort is asking a random villager if they’ll strip for me,” she sighed. “I’ve sat in on classes, I’ve tried using books for reference poses- but nothing works! My teacher always says they come off as stiff looking and the uh...the…”

Sesshoumaru watched her steadily turn redder, unblinking.

Kagome glanced around the empty hillside with paranoia, whispering the next part; “the penis…” she blushed, seeming to die inside, “always looks...uh...inaccurate, apparently.”

Mirth coloured his blank, guarded expression. He glanced at her waiting bag beside the tree. “Show me.”

“What?! No! No one will ever see those sketches! Ever! I’m gonna burn them!”

The Daiyoukai glanced away, arranging his features into something haughty and disinterested. “Then you will not sketch my body.”

Kagome gaped, groaning and burying her crimson face in her hands. “Urgh!” 

To be fair to her skills; the men in her sketches held fairly accurate physiques. Nice bone structure; and a softness about their faces and dark shading that portrayed a moody tone, longing for something he couldn’t name. She’d even captured hands and feet remarkably well, something he knew most artists struggled with. 

But then, inevitably, golden eyes strayed downward from their torsos. 

“A-are they bad?” Kagome peered over his shoulder as Sesshoumaru sat, perusing her sketchbook. 

He closed the book with a sharp noise of finality. “This is grave indeed.”

“I knew it,” she whined, wallowing in sadness. 

Sesshoumaru’s nose twitched as he stood, passing the sketchbook back to her. “...You may capture my likeness.”

Her breath hitched, and relief immediately swamped her features. “I- thank you,” Kagome breathed, easing closer to him. “Thank you so much!”

“Hn,” inwardly preening and thinking that all beings should thank him for the generous sight of his naked form, Sesshoumaru set the date for their ‘meeting,’ inviting her to the Western Stronghold in two days' time. 

---

They greeted each other easily enough on the actual day, Kagome being let into his private chambers with many a raised brow from his servants. 

Sesshoumaru slid the door shut to conceal their ‘activity’ away from prying eyes, though he had no shame in his bare form. Merely, he sensed the miko’s nervousness and did not wish her concentration to be broken. 

After stripping easily enough, shedding the finery of his clothes, Sesshoumaru stopped before her seated position at a respectable distance. 

“Where do you want me?”

Kagome made a strangled noise, having looked up from her sketchbook. Blue eyes immediately locked onto the area between his thighs. 

“Uh-! I um-” she stammered, attention flitting around the room like she were following a game of ping pong. “Standing is fine!” Kagome squeaked, turning scarlet as she motioned with her hand, “m-maybe just b-backup a little.”

Nodding primly, Sesshoumaru concealed his smirk, stepping away and waiting as her embarrassment slowly abated. Her bright gaze running over lithe, pale muscles couldn’t quite hide her curiosity; her hunger. Kagome pursed full lips and sketched a standing pose, before instructing him to instead sit down upon his bed of furs and busy himself with something. Sesshoumaru decided to read. 

Keen, pointed ears caught every glide and sharp drag of lead on paper- every indrawn breath and hiss through clenched teeth.

After a little while, she sighed. 

“You keep avoiding it,” Sesshoumaru hazarded a guess. 

“I totally do,” Kagome groaned, staring miserably at the sketches, “right now you’re sexless. There’s a blank space where genitals are supposed to go.” 

Golden eyes flitted up to her. “You are too tense. Come here.”

“W-what?”

“The bed is comfortable,” he clarified, tone becoming flat and business-like as he minded some silver hair back over one broad shoulder. “I refuse to be drawn inaccurately.”

Nodding, she swallowed and gathered her things, awkwardly padding over. A plume of repressed desire followed her like a cloud of smog. Clearly she was trying to remain professional and judging by the guilt mingling with it; felt ashamed by any natural reaction to his person. 

Naked bodies were not inherently sexual things. They were just...bodies. But he felt no annoyance with Kagome for her attraction. Quite the contrary. She’d been acting like this for months with a cycle of repression. This ‘study’ had been a golden opportunity. 

Kagome sat before him and took a long breath, forcing herself to look at his lap. 

His cock twitched. 

Making a thin noise, she blushed and directed her gaze firmly to the paper, scribbling away furiously. 

Sesshoumaru’s fangs caressed his bottom lip in a sensual brush, sighing. A spike of his own arousal had more obvious effects on his person. He couldn’t conceal it like her- and Kagome’s intense attention only had him hardening quicker. 

“Ah-” Kagome gaped, losing her voice. She cleared her throat, staring. Unbidden, she wet her lips, blue eyes flitting up to meet dark, golden hues steadily dyeing passionate red. “We- we can stop...until it goes back to normal?” she suggested thinly.

“Did you not require extensive research on this particular part of me, miko?” he purred silkily. “Perhaps sketching it in various states would be to your advantage.”

“I-I guess that’s true,” Kagome swallowed, shyly glancing at it and then meeting his gaze again. “Maybe…”

“Maybe?”

“I could…”

Sesshoumaru leaned closer, the cool air feeling too keen on his heated skin. Her breathy voice made goosebumps rise over pale flesh. “Yes?” he asked in a hushed tone.

Kagome looked at him again, silently seeking consent. Barely imagining it was possible he could reciprocate. But she did not know; had not come to learn the patience that wild, predatory beasts possessed. He’d bided his time so long his waiting looked like indifference on the outside.

Taking a short, quick drawn breath, Kagome bridged the distance between them. She learned the full scope of Sesshoumaru’s anatomy intimately well that night- and continued her studies for many nights after.

---

The feedback Kagome gained back from her life drawing was ‘good use of shading and muscle definition, an impressive level of detail. Improvement on discussed anatomy - but a tad too unrealistic in size.’

[l00katst4rs]

Kiss Me Under The Artificial Lighting

Tom was sitting in his room and decided to open up his email, and saw one new email, from one of his old classmates...? He clicked it open and saw, Benjamin Taveras had invited him to a high school reunion.

"Hello, dear Classmates,

It's been a hot minute since I've seen you guys! So, I have helped to set up our high school reunion! You are allowed to bring your bf/gf/husband/wife But please don't bring any children! There will be alcohol and it will be running very late at night! So, McKenna, I suggest you hire a babysitter 😅

It will be at Bradford High, aka ✨Hell✨ On January 29th, Starting at 4:30 PM, and running until we get shut down 😎  

Anyway, I hope to see you all very soon! And you aren't required to bring a date unless you made a bet, you know who you are *Cough* TOM ! *Cough* See You all very soon🥺🥰

        -Benjamin T"

Tom groaned, he fucking hated Benjamin, and now the dickhead was going to make him stick with a bet he made in high school!? This was just plain dumb. How in the world was Tom, Tom of all people going to find a date to go to a crappy high school reunion with on such short notice, and he doubted he could pass Susan off as his date. He sat on his bed, glaring at the stupid email, from Stupid Benjamin, although he will admit, the part about McKenna did make him laugh a little, but still he had one week to find a date, or else he was in trouble...

Somebody knocked on his door

"Tooooommm!"

Tom laid down, recognizing the accent, of course, it was Tord, today was just not a good day to be Tom.

"Tommmm, I know you're in thereeeeeee," he called out to him in a sing-songy voice.

Tom groaned and glared at the door

"What do you want commie?"

Tord  scoffed "I don't know, I'm bored, annoying you felt like a good option!"

Tom laughed a little, he was good at being annoying, that's for sure

"Can I come in?"

Tom quickly closed his laptop and put it on his nightstand

"Yeah, whatever..."

Tord smiled and flung open the door, before coming in, and plopping down next to Tom on his bed

"I'm bored, what are we doing?"

Tom glared at him " We aren't doing anything."

Tord looked at him with big puppy dog eyes "Please Tom, I'm boreddddddd"

Tom was quiet for a moment as if he was thinking. "Fine, What do you want to do?"

Tord was quiet or a moment

"I don't know...We could watch you lose at a board game!"

"I don't always lose!"

"Of course, whatever you say, Wanna play Settlers of Catan?"

Tom smiled, glad that he had chosen a game that was more based on luck rather than strategy, although it was always a good idea to have some sort of strategy.

"Sure"

Tord smiled, standing up, and left to get the game box

Tom sighed, and grabbed his laptop, and reread the message, before going back into his inbox, Oh, Yay! another message from a classmate

"Hey, Tommee! Remember that bet we made? I know you do! See ya at the school reunion, And your 'special friend'

             -Jared"

He laid back down, and sighed, not sure how he wanted to deal with the situation...

"Tom! What color do you want to be?"

Tord was back, and he was holding a dusty box, smiling at Tom, and walked toward him, setting the box on his nightstand, and glancing at his computer screen

"Who's Jared?"

Tom groaned, and glared at the screen, closing his laptop, annoyed.

"Some dickhead that I used to be friends with, He wants me to go to our high school reunion."

Tord smiled and laughed at him a little "So you're going right?"

Tom glared at him "No. Why would I? And besides, he's holding me to some old bet we made..."

Tord smirked at him "What's the bet?"

Tom crossed his arms, pouting, and didn't say anything

Tord shrugged and yanked his laptop away from him

"Hey! Give that back!" Tom yelped and tried to grab it out of his hands

Tord stood up, and held the laptop above him, using his height to his advantage, and watched as Tom crawled off his bed, jumping trying to get it back.

"Tord! Give it back!" He whined and clawed at his arms, trying to get his laptop back.

Tord laughed and pushed Tom aside, reading the emails, before closing the laptop, and handing it back to Tom, smirking.

"So, Who are you taking with you?"

Tom closed his laptop, and put it away, looking down.

"Nobody. I'm not going."

Tord seemed surprised and sat next to him "Why not?, Aren't those type of things supposed to be fun?"

Tom huffed and glared at him, grumbling "If it seems so exciting, why don't you just go for me" Tom stopped and looked at Tord, realizing what he had just said, and cleared his throat. "Um, Tord..."

Tord Glared at him and shook his head. "Nuh-uh, Don't tell me you want me to go as your date-"

Tom sighed and stood back up. "Please, Tord! It's just one night!"

Tord looked at him one last time, before walking to the door of Tom's room "You have one week to convince me."

Tom groaned, well, at least he had sorta found somebody willing to go with him, now he just had to convince Tord that this was a good idea, that was going to be the hard part. He laid back down, he was most definitely not looking forward to this.

Tom wandered into the kitchen

"Hi, Tom!"

Tom turned his head and frowned at Matt, "Uh, Do you need something?" Matt smiled and nodded "Tord said you're taking him to a school reunion, or something like that"

Tom looked at him, trying to tell if he was being serious or not, although with Matt it was always hard to tell "What exactly did he say...?"

Matt stopped and was quiet for a minute as if he had to think about what Tord had said to him, and started whispering "He said I wasn't supposed to tell you..." he trailed off, playing with a thread hanging off his hoodie. Tom grumbled annoyed that he wasn't getting anywhere "Thanks for all your help Matt" He added sarcastically Matt beamed "Aww! Thanks, Tom!" Tom went into the living room, abandoning Matt, and sat down on the couch, flicking on a random show, not really paying attention to what it was, figuring it would be a good distraction, and he slowly fell asleep.

Tom woke up something messing around with his hair, and he followed his instincts and batted whatever it was away, not bothering to open his eyes. Tord smiled a little and kept messing with his hair. Tom, who was still half asleep, kept batting at Tord's hand, grumbling "Stop doing that."

Tord smirked, and kept doing what he was doing "Nahhh, your hair's fluffy, I think I'll stay like this for a while"

Tom opened his eyes after hearing Tord's voice and saw Tord sitting on the couch next to him, with a hand tangled up in his hair. Tom tried to sit up, but it was hard with Tord's hand holding him down. "Move your hand."

Tord smiled and ruffled his hair, before pulling his hand away, smiling slightly. Tom sat up, glaring at him. "What the hell was that about?!" Tord shrugged, and wiggled his eyebrows at him "Nothing!"  

Tom sighed, annoyed when he realized what Tord was doing, he knew if Tom wanted him to go with him to the school reunion, then he could get away with messing with him like this. Tom muttered annoyed, "You're an asshole"

Tord smiled, and glanced over at him "Yep! Don't you just love me?" he asked playfully.

Tom blushed a little and tried to avoid his gaze, embarrassed

Tord gently shook his shoulder "Tom...? You alright? You were spacing out..."

Tom looked up into Tord's big gray eyes and nodded slowly "Yeah...I'm fine"

Tord nodded but didn't seem like he believed him. "Okay, if you say so" He ruffled Tom's hair before he stood up, and walked upstairs.

Tom glanced at the time and smiled weakly, 9:52 PM It was almost time for him to go to bed, he was fairly tired, and looking for an excuse to get away from everybody, as he was still a little shaken up by how flirty Tord had been acting earlier, but at the same time, he couldn't say he didn't like it either. He just couldn't get Tord off his mind as he walked back to his room, wondering for a second how the day had gone by so quickly as he climbed into his bed.

Tom opened his eyes tiredly, and stared at the ceiling, contemplating if he should stay in bad, or go downstairs and have breakfast, he figured he would go downstairs in a few minutes.

He grabbed his laptop, making sure he didn't have any new emails from his old classmates, thankfully he didn't and he closed the lid of the computer and went downstairs.

Edd smiled at him "G'morning Tom, I made breakfast!"

Tom smiled a little, he wouldn't deny that Edd was a great cook "Thanks Edd" He took a seat at the kitchen table and quickly looked away when Tord started making faces at him. Tord smirked, and leaned in closer to him, whispering "What's wrong Tom? Flustered?"

Tom blushed more, and kicked him under the table, mumbling "Stop that!" Tord smiled "Stop What?" He asked innocently, "I mean You were the one who just kicked me." Tom pouted, still refusing to look at him.  Edd glanced over his shoulder, before turning to look at the two of them "What's going on with you two?" Tord's face reddened, and he sat back down, creeping away from Tom. Edd rolled his eyes smiling, "Whatever, I made waffles!" Matt smiled "Yay! Waffles!" Edd smiled and brought them a plate of waffles before sitting down and glancing between Tom and Tord, before taking a bite of his waffle.

Tord gently nudged Tom's leg under the table, smiling slightly when Tom nudged him back.

They continued their little game for most of breakfast until Tom didn't nudge him back, Tord looked up at him like 'You good man?' Tom squirmed, uncomfortable, he had gotten his for stuck in the bottom of Tord's chair, but he just nodded stiffly. Tord raised an eyebrow, not convinced, and glanced down, before looking back up at him with concern. Edd, who had been watching the two of them sighed, "What's going on?" He asked, a hint of annoyance present in his voice.

Tom looked down and mumbled something, Edd looked at him, "Could you please speak up, Tom?" Tom looked up at Tord, and muttered nervously "I got my foot stuck" both Edd and Matt stared at him, concern mixing on their faces "H-How did you manage that?!" He didn't seem annoyed anymore, mostly just worried. Tom gave a small shrug "I don't know, I was just messing around with Tord and..." He trailed off, embarrassed.

Edd looked between them, and hopped off his chair to see what happened, and couched down close to the floor, and sighed, not even wanting to know how this had happened.  Tord slid off his chair and hugged Tom in an attempt to calm him down, whispering "Don't worry, you'll be fine..." Tom nodded and melted into the hug, grumbling "Of course I'll be fine" Tord laughed a little and smiled down at him.

Edd was still sitting on the floor, trying to figure out how to free Tom's foot.

Tom wrapped his arms around Tord's neck, not wanting to let go of him. Tord laughed at him a little and ruffled his hair "You are such an idiot." Tom stuck his tongue out at Tord.

Edd grabbed his ankle and tried to pull his foot out from between the two slats of wood, grumbling when he couldn't get it out.

Tord sighed, and put his head on  top of Tom's mumbling, "Sorry..." Tom smiled, and laughed a little"At least now I have a valid excuse to not go to the school reunion!"

Edd looked up surprised "You were going to go to that?"

Tom shrugged, and rubbed the back of his neck "Yeah, I guess I was..."

Edd laughed a little "But don't you hate those type of things?"

Tom nodded "Yeah, but one of my old 'friends' is passively-aggressively bullying me into going to it because we made a dumb bet..."

Edd nodded slowly before asking "What was the bet?"

Tom sighed looking down, "That I could get a 'special friend' before him..."

Edd tried not to laugh "Then why bother going? No offense, but your the most single person I've ever met..."

Tom nodded, and glanced at Tord for a moment "I was actually hoping to go with Tord..." He mumbled looking down, blushing, embarrassed.

Edd raised his eyebrows, and smirked, making an "Oooohh" sound.

Tord flipped him off, and muttered, with a hint of sadness in his voice "We'd just be pretending, there's nothing between us..."

Tom sighed quietly and silently wished that they didn't have to pretend, that it could be real, even if it was just for one night...

Edd nodded, not quite convinced as the two of them had been acting rather... differently towards each other the past few days.

The next few days went by rather quickly, and it almost seemed as if they were all just the same day, all blurring into one giant day since not much was changing over the course of those 5 days. Tom and Tord casually flirted with each other, Edd's suspicion grew, and Matt, well Matt really didn't seem to give a shit about Tom and Tord's relationship.

Finally, it was the 29th, the night of the school reunion, and Tom was laying in bed wearing a ratty old blue hoodie and jeans, and he was contemplating sending Jared a "Fuck You." When he heard a knock on his bedroom door, and Tom glanced up, uninterested.

Tord sighed and let himself in, and sat next to Tom. "What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to go to that school thing with me in an hour?"

Tom looked up at him and realized he was serious. "Uh, yeah, J-just give me a minute or two..." He stood up, but he couldn't stop staring at Tord, and then it occurred to him. He had never seen Tord dressed up, huh, weird.

Tord looked at him, and laughed a little, standing up "I'll give you a minute"

Tom nodded and glanced at his closet, frowning. he grabbed a grey shirt, and a checkered tie, calling it good enough, before stepping out of his room to meet Tord.  

Tord smiled and grabbed his hand, "You ready to go, babe?" He asked, playfully, smiling. Tom nodded, and intertwined their fingers, blushing slightly.

Tom looked up at the door of his old school, he wasn't so sure he still wanted to do this, he didn't want to be here, and have to see Jared again, it was bad enough seeing him when he actually went to high school, now he had to spend multiple hours with Jared, and prove Tord to be his 'boyfriend' He took a deep breath and got out of the car, standing next to Tord, and bit his lip, nervously.

Tord noticed the worried look on Tom's face and wrapped his arm around his shoulders "Hey, you wanna go home...? We don't have to be here if you don't want to be" Tom smiled a little, glad that Tord was being so nice to him. "Yeah, I think I'll stay, for a little while at least. I wanna prove Jared wrong."

Tord smiled at him and started walking toward Bradford High, keeping his arm around Tom, and gently drummed his fingers on Tom's shoulder as he used his other hand to pull open the old creaky door.

Tom glanced down the row of lockers, noticing some of his old peers, smiling a little, after all not all of them were assholes.  

Tord smiled down at him, glad that he seemed happy "Recognize any of these weir-" He was cut off by a tall girl with long curly hair

"TOMMEE!!"

Tom glanced up at her, "Hey, Martha!"

Martha rushed over to the two of them, and threw her arms around Tom, smiling "Tom! It's been a *hic* been a while!" Tom smiled and laughed at her "I forgot how much confidence alcohol gives you" Tord laughed a little, and smiled at them, assuming they used to be friends.

Martha giggled and pointed at Tord "W-Who's thisssss?"

Tord pulled Tom closer to him "I'm Tom's boyfriend, I'm assuming you were one of his friends?"

Martha nodded "Yep! P-*hic* Practically almost a-all his other f-friends were du- *hic* dummies"

Tom stared at Martha, muttering "How much have you had to drink...?"

Martha looked up, and shrugged "Oh, I don't k-*hic* know! Somebody sp-*hic* spiked the punch bowl!"

Tom nodded, and glanced at her "Are you going to be able to drive home later?"

Martha nodded, "Yeahhhhhhhh, I'll j-*hic* Just stoOOop drinking for a little, s-*hic* sober up, ya know?"

Tom smiled, nodding slightly "Good luck with that"

Martha nodded, and waved at them, before stumbling over to the bleachers in the gym, needing to sit down.

Tord smiled down at Tom, wrapping both his arms, whispering "Hear that? I'm your boyfriend now!"

Tom blushed and looked down, mumbling into his chest "S-shut up!" Tord laughed, smiling down at him, and ruffled his hair. "I bet all your old friends are going to love me!" Tom laughed a little, "Nope. They're all going to hate you."  

Tord smiled and rolled his eyes, "You wanna go find Jared?"

Tom glanced away, because honestly- He didn't even really want to be in the same room as Jared, but he only replied, "Not right now" and started fidgeting, playing with a loose thread that was hanging off his shirt.

Tord nodded and took his hand, dragging him towards the punch bowl, and grabbed a handful of pretzels, stuffing them into his mouth.

Tom smiled at him a little and grabbed a cookie, happily munching on it, while leaning onto Tord.

Tord gazed down at him, smiling slightly, just enjoying the moment, because, in the back of his mind, he knew it wouldn't last...

Tom heard a deep, rather sinister-sounding laugh, and looked up, already knowing who it was, Jared.

Jared walked toward the two grinning "Hello Tomothy!"

Tord looked up at him, and it took him a minute to realize that 'Tomothy' was a combination of the names Tom and Timothy.

Tom started walking toward Jared, dragging his feet, "Hi Jared..." Jared smiled, "Long time no see Tomothy, Sooooo where's your friend?"

Tom looked down and mumbled something, embarrassed.

Jared laughed, "I couldn't hear that, mind saying it again?"

Tom looked up, glancing at Tord, pointing "That's Tord"

Jared rolled his eyes and laughed, "I meant where's your girlfriend Tomothy"

Tord laughed and walked up behind Tom, wrapping his arms around him, "Who needs a girlfriend when they have me?" Tom blushed with how close Tord was getting, and how his hands were keeping a tight grip on him.

Jared stared at the two "T-That's very funny Tom... Where's your g-girlfriend?"

Tom leaned back into Tord's touch, letting out a small sigh of annoyance "I don't have one, Jared."

Jared laughed, relieved, "Great! That means That you owe me a-" He was cut off by Tord "You said 'special friend', not girlfriend, there is a difference" He said, glaring at Jared.

Tom smiled and stayed quiet, relaxing slightly in Tord's arms

Jared gritted his teeth, "But I meant a girlfriend! Not some weird guy"

Tom looked up at Tord, knowing he was getting mad at Jared "You say that as if I'm undesirable, and I have no idea why."

Jared rolled his eyes "I- I'm just surprised... I mean Tom's gay!" He started laughing "Imagine What your mother would say if she could see you like this Tom!"

Tom's face darkened, and he tried to hide, trying to disappear into Tord's chest, clearly upset.

Tord noticed that he seemed upset and sighed pulling him closer into him, and slowly taking him away from Jared

Tom tried to pull away from him, and swiped at his face, looking down, and mumbled "I'm fine Tord." Tord sighed, but kept his distance, looking down at him. "Alright... If you say so"

Tom abandoned Tord, and headed toward the bathroom, willing himself not to cry. He stared into the mirror, glaring at himself, muttering to himself, realizing that his crush on Tord was, hopeless. He slowly sunk to the floor, burying his head in his knees, tears now rolling down his face. He knew Jared was right, like always. He knew exactly what his mother would've said if she had seen how Tord was holding him, and Jared knew what she would've said too.

The bathroom door creaked, as Tord opened it, and glanced around before sighing, he hated seeing Tom upset. He walked over to where he was, and sat down next to him, wordlessly. Tom peeked his head up from his knees and looked at Tord, not sure what to say, so he scooted closer to him, and wrapped his arms around Tord's neck, as he gently cried into his chest. Tord put his arms around him, hugging him as He mumbled reassurances into Tom's ear, holding him as he cried.

Tom slowly sat up, pulling himself off of Tord, and wiped away the last of his tears. Tord smiled at him weakly but didn't move, not wanting to upset him. Tom was quiet for a moment before reached for Tord's hand, Tord said nothing but gently took Tom's hand in his.

Tom stood up, pulling Tord up with him smiled at him gently, mumbling "Thank you..." Tord nodded, and glanced at the door, waiting to see if Tom was ready to go out, or not. Tom smiled, "I want to beat the shit out of Jared." Tord grinned, "I'll help you with that if you like!" Tom wandered seemed happy and left the bathroom, still holding Tord's hand, not quite sure where he was headed, still dragging Tord behind him.

Tom stopped in the old high school gym and gazed up at Tord, happily, dropping his hand. Tord smiled down at him, a light blush dusting his cheeks. Tom shuffled closer to him, and laid his head on Tord's chest, mumbling "Dance with me."Tord smiled, and laughed a little, thinking he was cute, and wrapped his arms around him, gently swaying across the old gym.

Tom eventually got lost in the music, leaning into Tord, quietly humming along, despite not knowing the song.

I'll be better than I was before

Despite every text of yours ignored

Will you call me still?

Just to hear my voice, I swear

Always, I'll care

Tord gazed down at him, a gentle smile on his face, as he brought his fingers up to Tom's chin, bringing him back to attention "Wh-What are you doing..?" Tom mumbled softly, looking up at him. Tord gave him a lopsided smile as he put a finger to his lips, shushing Tom, as his other hand cupped his cheek, gently mumbling "Just let me try something..." Tom gave a small nod of his head, not sure what Tord was planning to do to him. Tord's thumb gently stroked his cheek, as he shuffled closer to him, and leant down, gently pressing his lips onto Tom's.

Tom was surprised at first, but didn't pull back, for a few seconds he was just letting Tord kiss him before his eyes fluttered shut, and he kissed back, his hands reaching for the back of Tord's neck, letting his fingers play with his long, silky hair.

Tord slowly pulled away from him, and gazed down at Tom, "Who would've thought an old crusty high school gym would be so romantic?" Tom giggled, and shuffled closer to Tord "Can we just go home now?" Tord nodded, and led him out of the gym, stopping by Jared,

"Oh look, it's the freaks" Jared shouted, pointing at the two of them. Tord rolled his eyes, glaring at him, "Where's your special friend anyway, Jared?" Jared froze, staring at them. "Excuse you! My wife was too pregnant to show up." Tom giggled, "If She's your wife, shouldn't you have a ring?" Jared stormed away angrily, glaring at them, as Tom cuddled happily into Tord's arms.

[artificialqueens]

Bitch Fight, Ch.3 (Multi-Ship) - Lita

Welcome to the world of Femme Fatale Wrestling. The future is female, and we're here to prove it. 

A/N: I feel like I'm becoming a bit of a broken record here, but thank you guys so much once again for all the support on this fic; given that I'm writing it purely because it's just something I want to read, I'm so happy that it's been so well-received thus far. This one is fairly short, but it's sweet - more Bianca/Adore bonding as Bianca uncover the maternal instincts she never knew she had, lovely stuff. Hope you enjoy! &lt;3<3

[NOTE FOR V: Idk if this one specifically needs any TWs, there's some vague blood and death chat so please just stick a warning in here if you think it's warranted. Love you mom xoxo] 

CHAPTER 3: THIS IS AWESOME

As was usually the case when trying to explain the situation with wrestling matches gone south to ER receptionists, the whole trip had started to feel like more trouble than it was worth before they’d even seen a doctor. By the time that Bianca had taken ten minutes to explain that yes, the woman who was currently half-conscious and hanging off of her, her barely-clothed body covered from head to toe in blood, had in fact been powerbombed through a sheet of glass - but no, not by her, and no, they didn’t need to call the cops, she was beginning to get mad at herself for giving a fuck in the first place. 

The receptionist looked over her glasses at Adore, not able to hide her obvious concern. “What’s her name?” 

Bianca elbowed Adore in her less-injured arm - the other woman entirely spaced-out, seemingly with no idea what was going on. “What’s your name?” 

“I told you, it’s Adore,” she mumbled, talking like she had a wad of gum in her mouth. “No the fuck it is not - what’s your real name?”

“Shit- it’s Dani.”

“‘Dani’ what?” “Noriega.”

“How the fuck do you spell that?”

“I don’t fucking know.” 

After three hours; nine staples in her arm; about twenty stitches in various locations; and the sum total of Bianca’s remaining patience, they were allowed to leave. Adore’s first move on getting back in the van had been pestering Bianca to take her to get pizza - and so half of the $40 she had just essentially sold a quart of blood for had been spent in Domino’s. The two of them sat in the parked van, Adore with her large Meat Feast in her lap - having promptly inhaled the garlic knots and two orders of wings she’d gotten already. 

“I’m not sharing,” she announces unprompted; shovelling a crust into her mouth. 

“Trust me, I don’t want any.” Bianca says, readjusting her body in her seat - trying her best to stretch her back out a little. She’s also starting to regret sacrificing her shirt in the name of Adore not bleeding out, feeling incredibly naked as she sits wearing little more than her jeans, bra, and Adore’s dried-in blood. 

“Thanks for helping me,” Adore says, her mouth full, making Bianca grimace. Her right arm is bandaged up to her armpit. “Like, I didn’t even expect you to come. You didn’t need to do all this.”

“You didn’t need to do any of the shit that got us here in the first place, but that didn’t stop you,” Bianca laughs a little. “Look, it’s okay. We’ve all gotta be young and stupid once - it just helps to have the old and wise looking out for us while we’re doing it.” 

“You’re not that old,” Adore says. “Like, mom-aged, maybe. But not old-old.” 

“Gee, thanks.” Bianca pulls a face. “Listen, Adore - in the nicest fucking way possible, why bother with that shit?”

“Because it’s fun?” Adore says as if it’s completely normal. 

“I mean it. Like - you did that-“ Bianca gestures to Adore’s battered body, “-with nobody watching you, for practically no money, because it’s fun?” 

“Well…” Adore trails off, closing her pizza box and placing it on the dashboard. She crosses her legs, turning to Bianca. “It’s sorta complicated. Can I get all emotional and shit on you?” 

“I have nowhere better to be,” Bianca says bluntly, turning to face the younger woman. Adore’s face is drawn, and a little distant. 

“It sounds dumb. But my mom was a huge wrestling fan. Like, we are talking huge. And I wasn’t kidding when I said my dad was a luchador - I just don’t really know who, I’ve never met the guy. So, I grew up going to shows, and it was like, all I wanted to do with my life. Fuck a normal job, I saw people like you, and I was like ‘woah, I wanna do that when I grow up’. And then my mom died when I was seventeen, and all of a sudden, here I am - I have nobody left in the world, guess I’m a grown-up now. So, I go out and try to get my dream grown-up job, and hey - whaddya know, wrestling school costs money. Then I met these guys who said they’d train me if I let them sleep in my van when we were on the road - they only showed me how to lose deathmatches, so now my job is losing deathmatches. And I tell myself that I like it - it’s fun, and I’m cool, but like, it kinda…sucks?” She shrugs. Bianca finds herself compelled to reach out for the younger woman’s hand, frowning; Adore takes it, and sighs. “I love what I do. But it’s never felt right. I dropped out of high school, I've never had a real job - this is all I know how to do.” Adore sniffs. “And like, I wanna think that my mom is watching me and that she’s like, proud of me, and that my dad - whoever he is - would be proud of me too. But I feel like they probably aren’t.” 

“Adore, if you want me to be totally, bluntly honest - what you’re doing isn’t wrestling.” Bianca has taken on an oddly stern, maternal tone of voice that feels a little unfamiliar to her, but not at all unwarranted. She might not have seen it with her own eyes, but she’d heard horror stories about the kind of backyard shit that Adore had thrown herself head-first into, and it wasn’t like anybody else was going to shake some sense into her.

"The fuck do you mean?" Adore says indignantly.

"Let me fucking finish. It’s asking to get yourself killed at best. I’ve been wrestling for longer than you've been alive - if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that this shit is fake as long as you’re careful, and in order to keep it fake, you should always be looking out for the person you’re in the ring with above anyone else. That guy clearly only gave a shit about popping the crowd. He didn’t care about whether or not he was hurting you for real - none of these people care, because they’re a bunch of hacks with no idea what they’re doing, and you’re essentially putting your life in their hands every time you step into the ring with them. You’re still young, you’ve got a hell of a lot of potential, you could have years of career ahead of you - don’t waste them on this shit.”

Adore pouts. “I know. But I’m fucking broke - I can’t make money without wrestling, I can’t wrestle without training, and I can’t train without money. So, I’m screwed.” She pouts. “This shit is in my blood - I wanna do this right, but I don’t know how.”

“Adore, I…” Bianca stopped herself, sighing - confirming with herself that she was absolutely sure that she wanted to ask the question, but then realising it was halfway out of her mouth already. “Adore, if you’d be willing to stay here for a while, I could train you. Femme Fatale used to run a school, I used to be one of the coaches. It’s not gonna be fun, but if you’re willing to put the work in, I’m happy to do it for free.” 

Adore’s face lights up. “Seriously?” Bianca nods, her face cracking into a smile. Adore flies at her - pulling her into as tight a hug as she can manage. Bianca pats her on the shoulder. “Oh my god, thank you. I just…wow.” She grins, bouncing up and down excitedly. “When can I start?”

“In a couple of weeks when you don’t look like Frankenstein’s bride,” Bianca says sternly. “Give your body a fucking break.”

Adore blows a raspberry. “Boo, you’re fucking boring.” 

“I know, I care about your well-being, what a fucking monster.” Adore leans in to hug her again, and Bianca recoils. “Jesus, you fucking stink.” 

“I haven’t taken a shower in like…” Adore pauses to think. “I can’t remember when I last took a shower.” 

“That’s gross. You are gross.”

“Look, I fucking live in here - do you see a bathroom anywhere?” Adore gestures around her, to the interior of the van. She takes her pizza off the dashboard, cramming most of a slice into her mouth emphatically. 

“You live in this thing? I figured it was like, a convenience for sleeping while on the road kinda deal.” Bianca isn’t sure how good a job she’s doing at masking the concern on her face. 

“Yeah - dead mom and everything. I was seventeen, I couldn’t pay fucking rent. My mom has had this thing since I was a kid, we used to go camp in it and stuff. When I got evicted from our old place, I just threw my shit in here, and now it’s home.” She shrugs. 

“So, what you’re telling me is that you’ve been homeless since you were seventeen?” Bianca raises an eyebrow. 

“Nah - it’s like, a cool punk thing. You wouldn’t get it.” 

“Sure thing,” Bianca gives a small laugh. “That being said, as a person living in the 21st century, I have a house with running water, and you need to fucking bathe. So, I’m taking you back to my place. Once you’re done with that,” she adds, watching Adore deep-throat another slice of pizza. 

“You’re actually really nice,” Adore smiles. “You’re a dick, but you’re nice-  hey, should I call you Santerìa? Or is that like, weird?”

“My name’s Bianca.” 

“Okay then, Bianca. Y’know, I meant what I said earlier - you do have really nice boobs.” Adore tries to lean her head on Bianca’s shoulder. Bianca pushes her away. 

“Bitch, do you want me to adopt you or fuck you?”

“Uhh…” Adore’s face makes it seem like she’s giving it genuine thought. First time for everything. 

“Choose faster.”

“Sorry, mom.” 

[stealingpotatoes]

Trying to Explain the Desmond (sorta) Lives AU: Part 2

(part one)

(hi I’m back and I was bothered to write more explanation. bla bla sorry for the mess also this bit was acccidentally lengthy and 2.5k words, whoops)

> > > >

Shaun and Rebecca more-or-less knew they were going to find Desmond. They more-or-less knew they were going to see him. They more-or-less knew that he was going to be all glowing like he was in the footage. This being said, they weren’t really prepared for um… any of that to actually happen. 

Desmond is standing here, he is talking. He is moving.  Alive. Shaun and Becs are across from him, silent and dumbfounded at the sight of their long-dead friend. 

(I need you, my darling reader, to think of the most confused and shocked you’ve ever been in your life, and then bap, you’ve more or less got what’s going on in this room tbh.)

“Desmond?” Shaun finally asks in shock. 

“...yeah?” Desmond answers, obviously very confused at Shaun’s tone. 

“Holy shit,” whispers Rebecca. 

“What happened? We were in the Temple and- and then suddenly I’m here and I’ve got… these?” He gestures vaguely to himself-- the Isu markings.

What he said is enough to sort-of snap the duo out of their shock enough. “What?”

“Yeah, what?” Des agrees.  

“No, no. The temple-- 2012… that was six years ago. And you...” Rebecca says (still looking at Des with an expression that can only be described as ‘what in the genuine fuck’). 

Shaun and Rebecca wouldn’t have even noticed Galina coming up behind them if it hadn’t been for Desmond’s slight shift into near ready-to-fight, tho he relaxes after a second (his eagle vision’s still there and says she’s an ally). 

Shaun and Becs manage to take their eyes off Desmond for long enough to glance back at Galina, who’s come to find them. 

“You were not replying on your comms--” Galina stops and takes a proper look at the man behind them. “Oh. He does not look dead.” Then back at Shaun & Becs; “We all need to go.”  

Desmond is somehow even more confused than he was earlier. “Why would I look dead? And-- who are you?” 

Shaun has manners, even in very confusing situations; “This is Galina. She’s an Assassin. And Galina, meet… Desmond Miles.” (audible question marks) 

Shaun and Rebecca share an awkward glance. “We’ll explain everything when we get to safety?” Becs says, though she’s really not sure how they are going to explain, or what they’re even going to explain.  

The two random assassins who don’t have names also came out of the fight fairly unhurt and meet up with the rest of them. They’re pretty weirded out to see a person with glowy lines on his face, and have heard of Desmond Miles’ death. However they’re obviously not as weirded out to see him alive because they just didn’t know him. They’re probably doing the best here lol. 

Galina’s pretty confused but she’s become very good at compartmentalising over the years, so isn’t dwelling on things right now. 

Shaun and Rebecca are-- okay, to say Shaun and Becs are “dealing” with this is definitely the wrong word. They’re moving forward like Assassins should, while trying to comprehend that Desmond is right there… and also trying not to look at him too wide-eyed and shocked.  To them, everything feels like it’s going way too fast and way too slow all at once.

The trio and Galina all get into a van and head out of there, not planning on waiting for more Abstergos. 

//

They reach an old Assassin safehouse outside of the city after a very Odd drive. The two unnamed Assassins stayed in the city to keep investigating and keep up their work before, so now it’s just Shaun, Becs & Desmond in the safehouse with Galina on watch outside. 

They get in, make sure they’re safe -- protocol stuff. But Des really needs some answers. Like right now.

“What happened?” Desmond asks. This time it’s very serious, and you can almost feel the hundreds of years of killers’ lives he’s lived behind his voice. 

Shaun and Becs share yet another look. The disbelief hasn’t worn off at all, but they’re, as I said, moving forward. “What’s the last thing you remember?” Shaun asks. 

It quickly comes to light that Desmond has no memory of what happened after touching the Eye-orb-thing in the Temple. It’s just “a helluva lot of pain” in December 2012 and then boom, waking up in the middle of a city (shut, i know i still haven’t thought where), in October 2018. He also can’t recall bursting out of that Abstergo facility either -- his memory seems to start from where the weird glowing-eyes-and-apple-light thing he had going on stopped. 

“But the Temple was six years ago?” Desmond quietly half-asks, half-states. 

“Yeah...” says Rebecca. 

“Then where have I been for that time.” 

“You died.”

“What?!”

Shaun takes over; “Or at least, we thought you died. In 2012, we got clear from the Temple as you told us to. But then Abstergo, they--” (how on earth do you say this) “They got there before we could. They took your body and...” 

“But obviously you didn’t die because you’re here.” Becs gestures at Des. 

“Right,” Shaun agrees unsurely.

Des nods slowly, trying to take this all in. “But that doesn’t explain… all this.” he gestures to the Isu markings on his face. “Or what I can do.” 

“Do you know what you can do?” Becs asks. She and Shaun don’t really know what was happening w Des’ whole abilities thing at ALL because they only saw a small bit recorded.

Des shrugs, but then unzips the definitely-stolen-hoodie a bit and pulls the opening to the side so his bare collarbone is on show. “I got shot when I… when I woke up.” Rebecca makes yet another confused expression. “There’s nothing there?” She’s right; there’s no wound, no blood there. Not even a scar.

“Exactly.” 

“Oh.” 

“I heal faster, I know that. And--”

“What’s that?” Shaun numbly gestures to his own chest where a scar starts on Desmond’s. It’s not like either of them have seen Des shirtless much at all before, but that wasn’t there in 2012, they’re pretty sure. 

Des looks down then unzips the hoodie a bit more and oh. 

Shaun and Becs didn’t notice that on the security footage. Tbh Desmond barely noticed it, too busy looking at the glowiness. But that’s an autopsy scar. Des has an autopsy scar. That’s...

Desmond zips his hoodie back up, but everyone in the room is Very Confused. 

This is even more question-mark-inducing and raises about a billion questions; Did they do an autopsy on an alive person (for the sake of taunting the assassins)? Shaun and Becs wouldn’t put it past Abstergo; the Templars are messed up like that. 

Or… did Desmond genuinely die? And did Abstergo… bring him back somehow? 

Either way, Shaun’s mentally decided the “weird Isu clone of Desmond” idea is probably wrong because why would they autopsy a clone of a dead man?? makes no sense.  

There’s more long pauses of bewilderment before Rebecca makes the very good suggestion that they all have something to eat. So yeah, they eat, they’re chatting. It’s mostly basic stuff. They should definitely have all had medical checkups first, but they’re all very much too confused and in shock to do like… anything. 

It’s a bit awkward at one point (more awkward than the ENTIRE ordeal of seeing your dead friend again has been) because Shaun catches himself before telling Des a part of a story that involves secret Assassin crap and stops awkwardly. 

Desmond seems to catch on, and he’s like “I get it. Abstergo might have done something to me.” Made him a mole or a sleeper agent like Daniel Cross. 

Shaun and Becs feel really bad, but Desmond’s got this weird air of resignation about him. He understands. He knows he might be all messed up and controlled by Abstergo. That being said, the general resignation might just be pure shock at everything. A Lot Has Happened to him in a Very Short Span of Time (to him). 

They continue on chatting, mostly inane shit. Desmond asks if his parents are… still around. Shaun and Becs assure them they’re fine, though still fighting. Say a little about how William took Des’ death really hard, (no duh), and dropped out of the fight for a year. Only came back after finding out what Abstergo did to Des’ corpse (or… alive body???) -- tho the duo try to avoid saying what Abstergo did for now. 

However there’s another pause when Rebecca is, in very vague terms, explaining what happened in London in 2015. Rebecca starts telling Des what the Shroud is when she pauses and looks like she’s just solved some complicated code.

“I thought you were skipping the secret details?” Des asks.

“This isn’t that-- the Shroud heals people. Like, really fast,” Rebecca says.

Shaun gets where she’s going. “Ah... so say if someone got shot, it would heal almost immediately. And there would be no scar or visible wound afterwards.” 

Desmond takes a moment, and then he’s like “...you think I have the Shroud’s powers?” 

Now this doesn’t really solve any questions, and if anything creates more… but it adds something? Heck, this is all so confusing for everyone involved.

Anyways at some point they decide to actually all go to sleep. Galina’s still here btw, she also goes to sleep lol. Though before they do go to their own beds, Shaun and Becs have a quick chat about how weird this all is. Very Weird. 

Uh yeah so shrugging noises, Galina at some point the next day is assured the trio will be fine on their own and heads back to the city to investigate with unnamed Assassins. 

At some point they do actually do medical checkups lol, and comes up as, overall, Good. Desmond is pretty spritely for a dead guy. 

However they run into an issue: the DNA thingie just Isn’t Cooperating. It won’t sequence it. Probably definitely because they don’t have any tech that can get his wacked-up now-a-lot-more-isu DNA. But it also means they can’t check to see if he’s got the same DNA as he did. So yeah. 

For Rebecca and Shaun, it’s weird how quickly everything starts to feel like old times. As if they might be back in Monteriggioni, or the Temple, hiding out from the Abstergo and the Templars, as if the six year gap never happened. I mean- it’s not quite the same, obviously. Desmond glows now, and there’s always Something to remind them that they thought he was dead, that he was gone -- that something might be Wrong with him. 

Desmond’s, on the other hand, in this very awkward place. Aside from the fact he now has superpowers (which he doesn’t yet know the extent of), he’s also dealing with the fact he was supposedly dead for 6 years. That the world moved on without him and his friends haven’t seen him for six years. 2012 feels like days ago to him, not years. Shaun and Becs are very happy to have him back -- but Desmond didn’t know he was ever gone . So where they’re nostalgic for old times, he can’t help but only notice the differences? 

They need to find out what the heck happened in the 6 years they thought Des was dead. Seeing as the Abstergo facility that Desmond escaped from is -- funnily enough -- crawling with Abstergo agents that would very much like to get the three of them, (and that the trio has been told to lay low and try to go as dark as they can for now, while they all try to figure out what’s happening w Desmond) going back there to find crap out isn’t an option right now. So what Rebecca and Shaun are doing -- with a bit of help from Desmond, though he isn’t a tech guy or necessarily allowed to go into the Assassin database stuff yet -- is trying to scrounge up anything they can on Des and the missing six years.

They’re also slightly trying to work out some of Des’ powers, but they’re wary of him using them too much as Abstergo might pick up on whatever power traces he’s giving off. Shaun thinks Desmond definitely has a second PoE-based ability, and thinks it may be the Apple. 

One of the first nights, Desmond asks Shaun and Rebecca what they are going to do if Des turns out to be a sleeper or something. They can’t actually come up with an answer. 

Tbh, the search for info isn’t going brilliantly, even with two of the Assassin’s best searchers on the case. There are other assassins and PLENTY of Initiates looking for info across the world too -- Desmond just… coming back is a very big thing, and moreso is how he came back (ie all Isu-y). They haven’t heard any word from their mentor, Mr Miles senior, though. 

But then Rebecca has an idea! If Desmond’s conscious memory doesn’t know what happened, maybe his genetic memory does? Small issue: they don’t have an animus with them. So they ask for one ig lol. 

Anyways, they’re all chilling, researching, and trying to get to grips with the INSANE idea of EVERYTHING, ya know? Friendship hours. Catching up -- tho Des doesn’t have much to tell. There’s also emotional times!!! Shaun and Becs getting to say what they never had the chance to say while Des was alive, hugs, talking a little bit about the fact that his death (or “death”, perhaps) hit them Hard (though it’s difficult to talk about for all three). 

The first piece of the puzzle that they get isn’t from somewhere they expect. 

About a week after Desmond showed up (so after about 4-5 days of them being at the safehouse), Layla Hassan gets out of Atlantis. She’s just done the Trials via Kassandra and got the staff of Hermes Trismegistus (...in doing so, losing one teammate and gaining some anger issues. oops). Layla’s not that important yet. What is important right now is when she opened Atlantis.

Layla doesn’t have an exact time as to her opening the gates, but guess what happened very soon after the rough time she opened it? One Desmond Miles burst out of an Abstergo facility, glowing like your overly-dramatic neighbour’s Christmas lights display. 

So then this all just adds more mystery to the uh... Mystery™. Did opening Atlantis resurrect him? Did it give him these powers for some reason? If so, why?? The gang also find out/ the Assassins overall realise that opening Atlantis caused some weird powersurge in every PoE -- but if that caused some kind of surge in Desmond too, does that mean he’s a Piece of Eden now? He has the powers of at least one, PoE now, they know, so…? There are too many questions and nowhere near enough answers. 

The trio is itching to get out there and start investigating themselves -- but they’re told that there’s another assassin coming to join the three of them soon (it’s protocol to not say Who), before they start doing anything, and that they should wait for them. Also said Assassin is bringing one of them mini-animuses (animi? whatever; the one Layla has in ACOd) so they can do the genetic memory thing like Becs suggested. 

So I guess it’s time for more waiting, for whomever the assassin may be...

[ultraintrovertedgryffindor]

Sweet Pandemonium - Gally (The Maze Runner) Part 6 of 16

Kinda OOC Gally at the beginning, but I can do what I want, shuck you!

~~~~~~~~~~

(not my GIF <3)

You groaned as the dawn of a new day hit you directly in the face. You absolutely hated mornings, and the ever increasing ache in your back from sleeping in the dirt didn’t make things any better. But, you just kept telling yourself that you get out of the Slammer this morning.

You sat up to see Thomas already awake, fiddling with some pieces of grass that managed to grow inside the cell. “Hope you slept better than I did.” You yawned, hearing a couple satisfying cracks when you stretched out.

Thomas chuckled softly. “No, not really.”

You hummed in thought. “That can’t be good, not getting a good sleep, especially since you’re a Runner now.”

“Yeah? Tell me about it.” He huffed.

Minho’s slightly silhouetted figure walking towards the cells caught your attention, and you moved closer to the wooden bars that separated the cells. “Be careful today, yeah? Don’t do anything stupid.” You told Thomas with concern etched onto your face.

Thomas looked confused for a moment, but then nodded once. “I’ll try not to.”

“Y’all look cozy in there.” Minho joked. “Sure you don’t wanna sit this one out?”

“Come on man, get us outta here.” Thomas chuckled.

The cool morning mildew on the grass tickled at your ankles as you hopped out of your cell, the chill giving you goosebumps over your arms. “Good luck out there.” You told the boys.

“What are you, our mother?” Minho sassed, making you roll your eyes.

“We’ll be careful.” Thomas reassured, and you gave him a grateful smile and then giving Minho a sharp glare, which only made him grin.

You watched as the maze doors opened yet again, like clockwork, feeling a clench in your gut as Minho and Thomas ran in. You wished you weren’t such a worrier.

You shook your head, he’s gonna be fine. They both are. But first order of business you made for yourself, you wanted to check in on Alby. Maybe whoever was watching over him a break, if the shank needed it.

Second was to find Chuck, give him that hug that you promised him the night before. You weren’t one to like breaking promises, no matter how tedious it may be. But you could see him at lunch, give him the hug and half your slop that Frypan would serve today.

For all the jokes, you actually enjoyed his cooking, not that you had anything else to compare it to.

Third, you really wanted to sleep in your nice hammock. But since you couldn’t, not until it was the time anyway, you just planned to work just like any other day. Go and build whatever the shuck you were building today.

Heading over to the Med-jacks, you saw a few of your fellow Builders heading over to the Homestead, one of the boys giving you a friendly smile as he passed. Odd, you thought, shouldn’t they be on the way to the Builder’s station? Well, it wasn’t like you were at the moment, so you had no reason to judge you supposed.

You greeted Jeff at the door to Alby’s room. “How is he?” You asked.

Jeff sighed. “Still passed out. Clint’s watching over him right now.”

“Does he need a break or anything?”

Jeff smiled a little. “He just switched out, he’s good to go for a couple hours. Thanks though.”

“Oh, okay.” You nodded, turning back to exit the building, heading over to the Builder’s area.

You smiled to yourself when you saw Gally, his brow furrowed that signaled that he was intensely focused on whatever he was doing. You still didn’t see any other Builders around. “Hey, Gal.” You greeted.

Gally quickly snapped his head towards you with a smile, subtly standing in front of the work bench that had a couple blueprints scrawled over it. “Sleep well?” He teased, knowing fully well you didn’t.

“Ha ha, very funny.” You responded sarcastically. “So, where is everyone? Do we not have work today or something?”

“Uh, no, we do. Just fixing up some broken flooring in the Homestead.”

“Oh. Well, let’s head on over there then.” You went to start walking over, but Gally stopped you

“No, wait,” Gally stuttered, making you look back at him in slight shock. He never stuttered. “Uh, not us.”

You furrowed your brows with a nervous chuckle. “Why is that?”

“Uh, well, uh,” Gally stuttered a bit more, it was starting to concern you.

“Gal, are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He said quickly, making you try to stifle another chuckle. He sighed frustratingly.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Should you go see Jeff?”

“Yes, I’m fine, really. I just...ah, shuck it, I’m no good at this.” He took a deep breath. “Remember how you said that you wanted your own place to sleep, away from the Homestead?”

It took a bit of memory retrieval, but you remembered. It was around the first week of being in the Glade. “Yeah, I remember. Especially when you said, ‘Oh, the Homestead not good enough for you, princess?’”

Gally cringed at himself. “Can we just pretend I didn’t say that?”

You giggled and nodded. “Sure thing, Captain. So, why do you ask?”

Gally smirked and moved to the side, allowing you to see the messy blueprint that he was blocking, revealing measurements for a rushed looking drawing of some sort of hut.

You gasped and snapped you head to look at Gally’s slightly flustered face. “Gally.” You said in shock.

Gally scratched the back of his neck and turned his focus to the blueprint. “It’s not much, I know. I sorta made a rough draft of a plan last night when you were in the Pit. Only being here for a short time, I figure you probably aren’t used to sleeping in the same building with a bunch of ugly dudes.” He chuckled nervously.

“Gally...”

“Ah, you hate it, don’t you? I just wanted to make up for getting you punished yesterday. I can do something else if-”

“Gally!” You interrupted with a huge grin on your face.

“W-What?”

You shook your head gleefully. Gally flinched when you threw your arms around his neck, paralyzing him in shock. “I love it, Gally. Thank you.” You grinned into his shoulder.

Gally slowly brought his arms around you and leaned into your embrace, sighing in relief that you didn’t just tear up the blueprints in rage. “Good...that’s good.” He whispered breathlessly.

You pulled away from the hug, still wearing a grin on your face, the muscles starting to ache since it’s been a while since you’ve smiled so much. “Are we gonna get to build it today?” You asked while bouncing on the balls of your feet, causing Gally to smile at your childlike excitement.

“Yeah, at least the foundation. It’s kinda why I wanted it to be just us building it, without those other shanks, you know.” He chuckled. “Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah, of course! Where we building it?”

“I was thinking near the tree line maybe? Near the gardens? It’s quiet there most of the time.”

“Sounds good. Let’s get started then.” You smiled, going over the blueprint to see how the framing would be set up and how long the measurements for how long the planks should be. It was a fairly simple structure, probably only would take a few days to build. Maybe four, if all went well.

You were excited. You’ve always wanted a place for yourself, but always thought yourself selfish for thinking it. It took a lot of self control for you to not do more than just hug Gally however. Just seeing how nervous he was about his plan, since he was usually so confident in everything he does. You’ll be honest, it was super sweet to see.

Gally felt elated after seeing you get so excited about something he made, well, planned to make. If he could’ve made the hut for you overnight, then he would’ve. But he felt so tired after spending a couple hours coming up with a decent blueprint. He was only one guy after all.

Gally didn’t realize he was staring at you sawing a piece of wood until you smiled at him, sweat beading at your forehead. He quickly felt the blood rush to his cheek and tried to focus back on his own task. He hated how flustered only you could make him.

After a couple hours sawing and nailing pieces of boards together to make a wooden foundation, Gally called for a little break just to look it over before moving on.

It was a floorless frame, but you could already imagine what it would be like to sleep alone without a bunch of snoring boys around you.

You looked to Gally to see him already looking at you with a soft smile. “What?” You smiled.

Gally simply shook his head, locking eyes with you before clearing his throat. “Lunch will be soon. We should go wash up.”

You nodded bashfully. “Yeah, Thomas and Minho should be back soon too.”

Gally rolled his eyes at the mention of Thomas, but nodded anyway. “Let’s see what that shank did now.”

You couldn’t help but snort at the comment.

You and Gally stood together at the maze doors with some of the other Gladers, all confused by the loud shifting sounds from inside the Maze. You smiled in relief when you saw the two Runners rounding the corner of the corridor and swiftly entering the Glade. “Well, what the hell’s going on out there?” Newt quickly asked the exhausted boys.

“Yeah, the hell you’ve done now, Thomas?” Gally asked, making you glare at him.

“We found something. A new passage, we think it could be a way out.” Thomas explained.

You quickly jogged to catch up with Thomas. “Are you serious?”

“It’s true.” Minho panted. “We opened a door, something I’ve never seen before. Think it must be where the Grievers go during the day.”

“Whoa, wait.” Chuck said. “What, you’re saying you found the Grievers home? And you want us to go in?”

“Their way in could be our way out, Chuck.” Thomas replied.

“Yeah, or, there could be a dozen Grievers on the other side. The truth is, Thomas doesn’t know what he’s done, as usual.” Gally expressed angrily, causing Thomas to quickly confront him.

“Yeah, well, at least I did something, Gally. I mean, what have you done, huh? Aside from hide behind these walls all the time?” Thomas snapped.

“Thomas...” You spoke up, trying to stop the argument.

“Let me tell you something, Greenie, you’ve been here three days, alright? I’ve been here three years-”

“Yeah, you’ve been here three years and you’re still here, Gally!” Thomas interrupted. “Alright, so what does that tell you, man? Maybe you should start doing things a little differently.”

“Thomas!” You snapped, sighing in frustration when they kept arguing, then noticing Teresa walk up to the crowd that surrounded the arguing pair.

“Hey!” Teresa finally interrupted the pair. “It’s Alby. He’s awake.”

“He is?” You asked. She nodded, turning back to the Med-jacks infirmary.

Thankfully, Gally and Thomas stopped bickering for the sake of being there for Alby. You tried not to glare at both the boys, so you just walked behind with Newt. “You alright?” He asked.

You sighed. “Yeah...” You glanced down to his leg. “How about you?” You tried not to mention how obvious his limp was today, knowing it was a touchy subject, but he knew what you were asking anyway.

“Just a bit more sore than usual. That’s all.” Newt weakly smiled.

Gally kept glancing back at you as you all were walking to the infirmary, but you kept your eyes to the ground.

“Has he said anything yet?” You asked Teresa as you entered Alby’s room.

“No.” She sighed.

“Alby.” Newt called out softly, slowly sitting down beside the stoic boy. “Alby, you alright?”

Alby didn’t respond. He just sat there, looking straight forward with tears in his eyes.

Thomas moved passed you to kneel in front of Alby. “Hey, Alby. We might’ve just found a way out of the Maze. You hear me? We could be getting out of here.”

Alby gently shook his head. “We can’t.” He whispered tearfully. “We can’t leave. They won’t let you.”

Thomas glanced back at the group for a moment. “What’re talking about?”

“I remember.”

“What do you remember?” Thomas asked, his voice wavering slightly.

Alby turned to look at Thomas. “You.” He said, making everyone turn to look at the shocked boy. “You were always their favorite, Thomas. Always.”

A commotion from outside caused you to lose on the conversation. What the hell was going on? When the shouting got louder, you ran outside, everyone else quickly following behind.

It was getting dark outside, a bunch of Gladers lighting up torches and running around in a frenzy. “What the hell is going on?” Thomas asked Winston.

“The doors, they aren’t closing.”

You looked to the doors and he was right, they weren’t closing. You and Gally gave each other worried looks, but you quickly followed after Thomas to stand in front of the doors. “I don’t understand. Why aren’t they closing?” You voiced, mostly to yourself, but you never got a response as an ear splitting clank echoed around the Glade.

You all looked in the direction of the noise, behind you, and what you saw was terrifying. Birds flying away in the distance as you all saw another entrance to the Maze opening up, the lack of use making it squeal and grind against the aligned stone pavement.

You didn’t even know there were other entrances, and by the look of everyone else’s faces...they didn’t either. You only noticed Gally moving you closer to him when another piercing clank echoed.

To the right, another entrance opening. Then one more...all four sides of the Maze were open.

“Okay, Chuck, I want you to go to council hall and start barricading the doors.” Thomas said.

“Winston, you go with him.” Newt said.

“Get the others. Tell them to go to the forest, go hide, now!” Gally ordered.

“Teresa, Y/N,” Thomas voiced, “we’re gonna go get Alby, okay?”

You were about to nod in agreement, but Gally grabbed your arm. “No, she’s staying with me.”

You didn’t have time to protest when all of a sudden, a bunch of Gladers to the left started running away screaming. A shrill howl was heard from where you all were standing. You all looked down the entrance to see a Griever, a real live Griever.

“Alright, everybody hide!” Thomas yelled.

“Come on!” Gally yelled, grabbing your hand and quickly forcing you to run with him.

It was the complete opposite direction of Thomas and Teresa, but you couldn’t hesitate or else you’d be Griever food. You just had to trust that they’d be safe, so you followed Gally.

You weren’t used to running for your life, you never had to, not from horrifying monsters. You probably weren’t the best runner, but you did your best to keep up with Gally and the two other Gladers that followed him.

You heard screams all around you, itching so bad to help whoever needed help. You teared up at the thought of your friends dying in pain, but you had to be selfish. You wiped away tears that were blurring your vision. Looking to the left of you, you saw a Glader, who you couldn’t remember the name of, injured, desperately trying to crawl to safety.

“Fuck...” You whispered to yourself, before turning to help the kid.

“Y/N, no!” Gally yelled, briefly stopping before making it to the Box.

You quickly made it to the boy, quickly seeing lacerations all over his body. “Help me...” He said pitifully, blood seeping out of his mouth. You didn’t hesitate as you helped onto his feet, the weight of him quickly slowing you down as he wasn’t that much help.

Gally looked on in panic as you stupidly played hero. His panic only grew more as he saw a Griever spotted you two. “Y/N, you gotta leave him! Now!”

You looked behind you to see a Griever quickly catching up to you and the nameless Glader. You looked to the boy with panicked eyes, seeing that he was on the verge of unconsciousness.

You let out a sob as you dropped the boy to the ground, the Griever quickly finishing the job and gnashing him up with its jagged razor sharp teeth.

You being able to run full speed gave Gally a smidge of relief, but you were so full of guilt that you couldn’t focus on how fast you were running. “Hurry!” Gally’s voice snapped you out of your your own head and you soon ran at full speed, but it was too late.

You yelped as the Griever wrapped its tail around your ankle, tripping you and making you plummet to the ground.

You rolled over to see one of the Griever’s metal legs open up to reveal a syringe, but just in time, you dodged and rolled away, only to be trapped beside another leg. The Griever looked at you, almost tauntingly, before opening up its disgusting mouth, causing its thick drool to pour out of its mouth heavily onto your face.

You couldn’t believe you were about it die by this ugly thing, with the most disgusting thing you’ve ever tasted in your mouth, besides Frypan’s food.

But death never came.

Before the monstrous creature could tear you to shreds, you heard it screech in pain and you felt yourself being harshly pulled out from underneath the Griever. “Gally?”

“You’re so shucking stupid!” Gally huffed, carrying you to the Box in his arms.

You were quickly placed in the arms of another Glader as Gally hopped in the Box and closed the doors, quickly shushing everyone.

You were gently placed down on the floor, and you suddenly noticed the throbbing pain in your leg. You lifted your pant leg up to see blood seeping out of multiple cuts up your lower leg.

After it was quiet for a few minutes, Gally finally exhaled harshly. The only thing your mind focused on was the distant screams of your fellow Gladers. Please be okay, you thought to yourself. “What the hell were you thinking?” Gally scolded, but still aware to keep his voice at a low volume even when he wanted to scream at you.

Knowing that he definitely wasn’t addressing that to the other Gladers, you lifted your gaze up to Gally’s enraged face. “I thought I could help him...” You whispered, looking back down to the floor in guilt and shame.

Gally quickly kneeled down to your level and placed his hand under your chin, forcing you to look at him.  “You almost died. You almost fucking died. Look at your fucking leg. You’re lucky it was only your leg.”

You harshly pushed Gally’s hand away, making his glare increase if that was even possible. “Well, I’m alive so...”

Gally gave you an incredulous look and stood up to pace around the Box.

Your bottom lip trembled, your face felt sticky. You lifted up the hem of your shirt to get at least some of the Griever’s drool off your face. You cringed when you pulled away the fabric, seeing that it mostly took off the drool. At least it wasn’t on your face anymore. 

Gally sighed when he saw you looking over your wounds, his face softening slightly. He didn’t know what he would’ve done if you had been killed...

“Hey, Gally. It sounds like the Grievers are gone.” One of the Gladers said.

Gally leaned up and slightly peaked out the top of the Box. “I see everyone outside. Let’s go.” Gally said.

The same Glader helped you to your feet, you having a slight limp. You reluctantly took Gally’s hand and he pulled you up, his hand coming to rest on the small of your back. “You okay?” He asked softly.

You nodded, testing out the strength of your wounded leg. “Just a flesh wound.” You said, hissing in pain when you put too much pressure on your leg. 

Gally’s scowl came back when he saw your pained face. “This is all his fault.” He spat.

You immediately knew who he was talking about. “No, Gal-”

“It’s his fucking fault.” He turned to walk to council hall, leaving you to follow after him with your limp.

Gally stormed up to council hall, quickly finding Thomas in the crowd. It was hard to keep up with him, but you managed, and you were close enough to see him ball up fist tightly.

“Gally, no!” You shouted when he pulled is fist back and swiftly collided it with Thomas’ face, him immediately falling to the ground.

A few Gladers quickly started to hold Gally back. “This is all you, Thomas!” He fought. “Look around!”

“Hey, back up, Gally. It’s not Thomas’ fault!” Minho quickly defended.

You felt helpless as you watch the chaos ensure, you didn’t know what to do.

“You heard what Alby said! He’s one of them!”

“One of who?!”

“He’s one of them and they sent him here to destroy everything, and now he has! Look around, Thomas! Look around! This is your fault! Everything has been your fault! You’ve gotten us killed! Y/N almost died because of you!” He ranted.

Thomas quickly looked to you, soon noticing your leg, how your blood was bleeding through your pant leg. Jeff quickly went to you with bandages already out, gently sitting you down on the grass as he tried to help you.

“Maybe he’s right...” You faintly heard Thomas say.

You looked to him in confusion, your eyes widening in panic as he was holding a Griever stringer. “Thomas?”

“Thomas, no!” You screamed as Thomas strung himself. Even if you were injured, you crawled your way to the now convulsing boy, along with everyone else. “Chuck, get the other syringe!” Teresa ordered.

“Thomas, you stupid shank.” You cried.

~~~~~~~~~~

Oof

[razorblade180]

It takes time

Weiss sat comfortably in her bed at home. Who would’ve thought how nice home would be after all the tragedy in it? It was nice to unwind, then Ruby came walking in. The reaper looked like she was caught in the worse state of limbo. As if she saw a ghost. Weiss knew that face. That was the same face she made whenever she accidentally walked in on Nora and Ren.

Weiss:What’s wrong? What’s today’s chapter in “Ruby’s rollercoaster of a life.”

Ruby:I don’t appreciate that name. If anything my life is an extremely long road trip with minimum bathroom breaks and people get left behind whenever the RV finally does stop.

Weiss:You’re avoiding my question.

Ruby:I’m fine.

Weiss:1.....2....

Ruby:....

Weiss:Don’t make me get to three.

Ruby:Fine! Gosh, you’re so aggressive when you wanna help people. You’re just as bad as Whit-

Ruby tried to stop herself but it was too late. Weiss’s eyes became focused on the girl. Of course it was a Whitley problem. The two have been dating a few months though she loved her brother, he could be an idiot. Not that Weiss was any different, or Winter for that matter. All of them were emotional hazards when it came to romance.

Weiss:What happened between you two? You both were doing so well after what happened between him and father.

Ruby:Oh it’s....nah, it’s stupid.

Weiss:2.5.....

Ruby:Stop counting!

Weiss:Then out with it!

Ruby:I told him “I love you!!!”

Ruby turned bright red and put her hood up. The fearless team leader then bellyflopped onto Weiss’s bed, her face landing in a pile of pillows. Of all the things Weiss was expecting, this wasn’t one of them. It’s true that’s it’s been a few months and Ruby was definitely the kind of girl to wear her heart on her sleeve. That knowledge alone told Weiss what most likely happened next.

Weiss:He didn’t say it back, did he?

Ruby:I feel like such an idiot.

Weiss:Let’s take a few steps back. How did this even happen?

Ruby:We were-

Weiss:Get out of the pillows. It’s already hard to understand you when you’re worked up.

Ruby:*flips over* We were watching tv, just talking. Then a stupid commercial came on for that blind date show. The one you like to laugh at even though you clap when the couples work out.

Weiss:Mmmhmm, unnecessary to add but continue.

Ruby:One of the people started talking about love at first sight. It got me thinking if Whitley believed in that kinda stuff, so I asked because of course I did.

Weiss:At least you’re self aware.

Ruby:He told me that sort of thing seemed like a work of fiction. So then I asked him what would he call our first meeting.

Weiss:Oh no...

Ruby:He didn’t say anything at first, then asked me what I thought it was. *red* Th-Then I told him that for me, I wouldn’t know what else to call what happened that day. I ended up kissing him and telling him I loved him. Then....I waited to hear it back. Waited, waited, and I kept waiting as he wasn’t sure what to tell me. I got the hint fairly fast. Gods, I felt so embarrassed and stupid that I tried leaving as fast as I could. He grabbed my hand to try to and stopped me. But then I made things worse by asking him directly if he did love me. Again, nothing but lip flapping. I dashed away after that. Ugh, why did I ask such a stupid thing!? Was it too soon? Am I the only one who-

Weiss:Stop...

Ruby zipped her lips. Weiss looked down at her with concerned yet welcoming eyes. Weiss grabbed her partner’s shoulders and sat her up.

Weiss:My brother stood up to my father in order to date you. Questioning his feelings for you is a thing you should never have to do.

Ruby:Then why-

Weiss:Four months.

Ruby:What?

Weiss:It took me four months to tell Jaune I love him after he told me. One day he sort sprang it on me like you did, and just like Whitley, I couldn’t say it back. And just like you, Jaune was hurt by it. He understood why I said nothing, but of course it didn’t make things feel any better. In fact, the two of us got a little distant for a while. A piece of me honestly thought that I had ruined my first real relationship, just like that.

Ruby:Why...why couldn’t you say it back? You two have been a thing for awhile. Actually I sorta remember when you two seemed to talk less.

Weiss took a deep breath and looked around her old room. How many nights was she in by choice? How many times did it feel like this room, this house, would be the only world she knew? The world built by her father.

Weiss:As much as it angers me to admit this, our father will always be this terrible, looming presence in the back of our mind. Even while I was at Beacon I found myself acting and saying things in a way that wouldn’t get me in trouble. I envy you Ruby. Your house, I’ve never been there but I can tell it was full of love. That’s not this house. That’s not my parents. The love in this place ran dry so long ago and Whitley had the least time to enjoy it. I doubt he actually remembers it for real. When Jaune told me he loved me I should’ve felt so happy in that moment, yet I was so terrified I could barely speak. Was I allowed to love? Would he change his mind one day out of the blue? What was the price to pay for that love; I even thought briefly that he was lying.

Ruby:I...had no idea.

Weiss:When a Schnee loves something, it goes away, or has a catch. Unconditional, genuine love feels like a fairytale. Saying “I love you too” made me feel like Jaune was going to disappear or worse. I couldn’t shake the feeling of his feelings being just another trap. I couldn’t let myself be happy, not like that. However, he was patient with me. He still said it from time to time but didn’t expect to hear it back and never pressured me. I actually did say one time within those four months. He came by really late at night to try and clear the air. Honestly I still feel a little anxious when I do say it, but I can’t help but get this warm feeling when I see the look on his face when he says it back. *red* He means it.

Weiss couldn’t help but smile as she looked in the mirror. Odd, has she ever done that before? Her complexion looked healthier than the last time she looked. Was it the light, or was Weiss glowing for the first time in awhile. This room might be the same, but it finally felt like a room. A place she could belong even. Weiss turned back to Ruby to see the girl in tears.

Weiss:What the!? You’re crying!?

Ruby:How could I not!!! I had no idea how much effort it took for you to feel like love was something you could have.

Weiss:I’m sure if you asked Winter then she can tell you a similar story between her and your uncle. There’s no doubt in mind Whitley wants to say it; he’s just scared.

Ruby:I feel terrible now. I didn’t even give him a chance to really explain himself or his feelings. How selfish can I be?

Weiss:Don’t be such a dunce. Now isn’t the time for a pity party. Give him a little time and then talk to him again. I’m sure he has a lot he wants to say.

Ruby:Thanks Weiss. You’re getting really good at this comforting thing.

Weiss:I learned from the best.

Ruby:Awww

Weiss:...

Ruby:You meant Jaune?

Weiss:It’s a team effort. Don’t sell yourself short. *hugs her* I love you too you know?

Ruby:*gasp* Would you say that-

Weiss:I’m not calling you my BFF, but yes, you would fill that spot.

Ruby:Good enough for me. I love you too.

xxxx

Later that day, Ruby decided to poke her head into the media room again. Unfortunately there was no sign of Whitley. There was however the sound of a smoke alarm going off in the kitchen. Ruby petal bursted all the way there to find a pan of something charred black and Whitley holding a fire extinguishers, baking ingredients covered his face and blue apron. He silently stared at his girlfriend before blasting the pan again for good measure.

Whitley:Hey....

Ruby:Hey. You uhh, you tried cooking by yourself.

Whitley:Emphasis on tried. I forgot to butter the pan. Also I think I needed more milk for the apology cookies.

Ruby:You know I’m positive this house has a cool book for people to- apology cookies?

Whitley:Yeah I uhh, I hurt your feelings, again. Sorry.

The boy put down the extinguisher and looked at his baking failure. He let out a long sigh of defeat and took a seat on a stool. Ruby opened up a window and wet a cloth, walking over to wipe is face. The cookies might’ve turned out well if the ingredients ended up in the bow instead of on his sad, cute face.

Ruby:I should be the one apologizing. I swept you up into my feelings and didn’t take the time see yours.

Whitley:You talk to Weiss? I heard you shout earlier.

Ruby:Oh...can you pretend you didn’t hear that?

Whitley:Only if we pretend I didn’t ruin chocolate chip cookies. I bought those Hershey Kisses for nothing.

Ruby:Those don’t melt properly in an oven or microwave unless it comes in a baking package. They burn and warp things.

Whitley:Who would make chocolate that doesn’t melt normally? Baking is stupid.

Ruby:*smiles* Hehe, it’ll take time but you’ll get it.

Whitley:Maybe in a hundred years.

Ruby:Eh, I’ll wait. I will umm...I will wait for anything you need time with; patiently. S-So don’t worry. About pushing yourself that is. Take your time, okay?

Whitley reached up and took Ruby’s hand. It was so warm compared to the cool rag in it. Their faces became flushed as icy blue met piercing silver. Whitley slowly leaned forward and gently pressed his lips against Ruby’s before seperating again. If it was up to her, Ruby would’ve made it last just a few seconds longer. For someone who’s only kissed one girl in his life, Whitley was surprisingly good at it.

Ruby:That’s a really good way of saying thank you.

Whitley:I care about you. You...mean a lot to me. I’ll try not to make you wait long.

Ruby:Don’t rush it. *leaning in* I’m fine with this....

She couldn’t help but go back in for another kiss. The words could wait. His gestures, the way pressed his lips on her own, it said more than what those three little words could do on their one. No point in rushing them. The love was coming through loud and clear. Weiss couldn’t help but spy on the two with Jaune for a second before leaving them to their moment.

Jaune:You did a good thing.

Weiss:I didn’t do anything that wasn’t going to sort itself out. Just being a good friend and sibling.

Jaune:Caring, another reason I love you.

He bent over and kissed her head. Weiss elbowed him lightly before pulling him down a little further for Jaune to kiss her properly.

Weiss:Yourself, all the reason why I love you.

[plush-rabbit]

Can I Ask You Something?

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |

You were online a week later.

It was a boring day, with a slow start and by night, you were starting to feel restless, your feet bouncing and an empty bag of chips rests on your nightstand. You were itching for something to do, anything to distract but no show or game could hold your attention. You throw your head back and gnaw at your bottom lip.

Your fingers tap against the keyboard, and with a glance at the time, you pull up the calendar for the group time slots and with a fairly positive outlook that that you wouldn’t run into the other team members, you booted up the game, and started a simple mission but even then your attention couldn’t be held. The game had already lost its spark for you.

You admit that you reacted childishly in response to being yelled at. You were always sensitive, you cried too much and took everything personally even if you tried not to but for some reason it just hit different when he had yelled at you.

You were so angry with him at the time. But when you awoke the next day, you were angry with yourself. You made that dumb post and now you had to hold off for a month to show that his words didn’t hurt you- you had a point to prove, you didn’t want to seem as someone who reacted so childishly.

You thought you would miss the game but having not played for a period of time, you were starting to enjoy your time. You slept a bit earlier, your back wasn’t sore from hunching over and you had started to pick up old hobbies that you dropped when you got sucked into this game. Picking it back up, the game no longer felt the same. You remember you could get lost in this game for hours, you liked the customization options, the weapons, and the soundtrack was pretty good, but for now as you wandered around a forest, looking for a crystal that wouldn’t be of any real use to you seeing as you had already decided to quit the game for good, you were grateful for the distraction.

But as the clock ticked on, you had already grown bored, feeling your joints become sore and a headache forming. You were about to exit out of the game and pray that none of the members would see that you were active but then a ‘ding’ startled you awake. You peeked at the corner of the screen, a familiar icon popping up. You frowned, your shoulders slumped and you debated with yourself on whether you should open the message or not but your curiosity won over.

<Tomaraki>

>Are you quitting the game or not?

“Blunt as always,” you thought to yourself, your fingers already typing at the keyboard.

<User_Name>

>Yeah:P

His reply came a second later.

<Tomaraki>

>Why?

You wanted to type, “Why do you care?” You really did. You had the words on screen, the cursor blinking back at you, but you couldn’t force yourself to press the ‘Enter’ key. The corner of your mouth twitched and you backspaced, the message disappearing and replaced by another.

<User_Name>

>I don’t know. I’m kinda sick of it, you know? The user base is p toxic and I know that can be said for most games but I don’t know┐(´～｀)┌

>Plus after taking a break and coming back to it,,, the game doesn’t feel the same anymore

>I’m kind of bored of it

<Tomaraki>

>That’s stupid

You let of a scoff, rolling your eyes at his answer.

<User_Name>

>I have been known to be pretty dumb

>I’m sure you’ve called me stupid before too lol

You watch as the three dots bubble up and down the screen, signifying his reply is being typed out and having no other form of entertainment, you take in a deep breath and with butterflies flapping around in your stomach, you type out more before he can reply to your original message.

>Will you be fine without me?

>You won’t miss your bestest pal uwu

On the other side of the screen, Shigaraki narrows his eyes. His eyes shine dangerously, and he’s positive if you knew who were talking to, you’d be shaking and begging for you life. Or perhaps you’d be dead. He’s not sure.

<Tomaraki>

>I have better ‘friends’ than you

“Ouch.” You cringe inwardly. “Strike one.”

<User_Name>

>Wow, rude much??

>Well if I’m quitting, do you want my stuff? I’ve racked up a decent amount of gold and other stuff:P

“I sound like I’m dying and writing my will, stop being weird about it. You never even meet the dude,” you mumble to yourself, grateful that the voice chat function was off. “Oh my god. He could be like super old or something”

<Tomaraki>

>Does it look like I take handouts?

“Is that a strike two?” You chewed on the idea of your cheek. “If I have to ask, it probably was.”

<User_Name>

Can I ask you something?

<Tomaraki>

You just did

<User_Name>

:////

You were about to type out your question, the four words staring back at you unblinking. It would be weird, right? Of course it would be. And even if you did ask him that, the odds of him accepting would be slim. Plus, if he did reject, that would be strike three and you really didn’t want to strike out so much.

<Tomaraki>

>Well?

<User_Name>

>Um,,,

>How old are you?

You threw your head into your hands and let out an agonized moan. Maybe you should just delete your account now. You don’t even know the guy’s name and he doesn’t know yours. So you could just delete your account and that would be it. You’d never have to speak to him ever again.

<Tomaraki>

>You’re weird

You start laughing.

<User_Name>

>Says the guy who would tell other players to be careful who they’re talking to

>Who are you? Light Yagami?

<Tomaraki>

>That’s a shit reference

<User_Name>

>You got it tho

>(ʃƪ¬‿¬)

<Tomaraki>

>Why do you want to know?

“You have nothing to lose really,” you try to convince yourself as a way to just get to talk to him more.

<User_Name>

>I don’t know

>After a while, I always thought of you as a friend

>The other members sorta liked me, but I think it was more of them putting up with me

>But I thought we were beginning to form a friendship so I don’t know

>I guess a dumb part of me thought we could’ve been friends outside of the game:P

Shigaraki stares at the screen in disbelief. You must not have much or any friends at all if you thought he was being friendly. He’s positive that he would kill you if he knew you in real life. Probably right away if he met you on the street or maybe he’d take you as a hostage. He’s sure that he’d kill you but now he’s not sure when.

<Tomaraki>

>You really are dumb

<User_Name>

>I can’t tell if you mean it or not

>Knowing you, you probably do

>Can I say good-bye to you? Like facecam wise?

He’d kill you on sight.

<User_Name>

>You don’t have to turn your camera on!! I guess, as my last like dumb wish, I wanna say bye?

>Pleaseee（/｡＼)

>I’ll promise to log out afterwards

Shigaraki stares at your messages, trying to gauge at what you’re trying to get at. Do you really want to just say bye? Who the hell gets so emotional in a fucking game? But he would be lying is he said he wasn’t at least a bit curious to see what you look like. Maybe if he’s lucky you’ll be attractive and he could probably jerk at the thought of you before he goes to bed.

<Tomaraki>

>I’m not showing my face

You smile at his answer. It’s the best that you were hoping for and you start to brush your hair out of your face, checking the mirror on your nightstand to see if you look presentable.

<User_Name>

>Fine by me

>It’ll be quick, promise:)

And soon he’s staring at the pop-up screen asking if he’d like to request a video call from you. He’s tempted to click no. He cranes his head behind him and once he’s certain that the door is closed, he accepts your call.

You pop up on screen. You’re cute, that’s as much as he’s willing to admit. You adjusting yourself, putting a strand of hair behind your ear before you realize that the call has been accepted. You look startled, and a shade of pink fills in your cheeks. You giggle nervously, waving a hand at the screen.

“Ahaha, hi!” You giggle nervously and he’s pretty sure you’re already regretting this decision. “So like I promised to keep this short and all, so I will.” You looked determined; you stand a bit straighter and take in a deep breath. You remind him of an anime character, someone with exaggerated movements and he’s positive that you’ve confessed your feelings to someone before in that same action.

“Now, now,” his voice freezes you in place, he reminds me you of snake, slithering towards their unassuming prey and you’re pretty sure that’s what he’s trying to convey, “what’s the rush? I thought we were “bestest friends”.” His voice is sickly sweet, taunting you with words that you’ve spoken. His words make you nervous, your hands clenching together and your stomach forming knots.

And suddenly it’s clicked in your mind that he wants to make you feel uncomfortable. He’s probably getting off at the thought of it. And while he is succeeding at that, you don’t want to lose whatever game he’s playing.

“Ha! You admitted it.” You swallow the lump in your throat and flex your fingers. “Okay bestie,” the way you say the word is like you’re trying to bait him into something, and even you’re not sure what you’re leading him into, “I gotta ask. Are you an old man? You sound kind of creepy. Not like a pervy creepy but like you’re gonna kidnap me and murder me in your basement kind of creepy.”

He laughs and you decide that you want to hear more of it- even if it does sound eerie.

“Do me a favor? If you do end up kidnapping me, can you at least bring me a smoothie from BlueBird’s?” You test out your luck, hoping that he’ll play along so you’re not the only talking and maybe it’ll disrupt whatever ruse he was planning.

“What flavor?” He sneered, playing at this sick roleplay that you made up.

You smiled brightly, as if you had gotten one over him, and surprisingly, he didn’t hate your smile. He’s seen all sorts of smiles directed towards him- crazed, trying to get into his good graces, smiles that held murderous intent but yours just looked happy, happy that you were talking to him. Illuminated by a yellow glow, his sneer looks more twisted, his upper lip curling in a twisted way and crimson eyes narrowed with revulsion.

“Mango, please and thank you.” You nodded your head, your smile wasn’t gentle as it was before, it was now playful, as if you wanted to continue this whole kidnapping scenario. He wanted to see how long this conversation would go before you said goodbye. For good. “Anyways, I said I’d make this quick and I will. I—”

“I’m not an old man.”

You laughed at his answer, covering your smile with your hand, and you looked up at him, your eyes brimming with mischief and excitement.

“Okay. And I’m not some elderly person either.”

“Yeah dumbass, I can see that.”

You crossed your arms and you continued to smile at him. “I get that we’re besties and all, but do you really have to keep insulting me?” You pouted your lips, before they broke out into a toothy smile, it was a bit forced but it was only to show that you were joking around with him.

“Is there any other type of friendship?” He genuinely sounded a bit curious.

“Mm, maybe?” You tilted you head to the side and he had a fleeting thought that you reminded him of a cat. “I mean, when I’m with my friends, we joke a lot but we don’t really insult each other too often.” You frowned a bit, your eyebrows furrowed before returning to the screen, giving out a half smile and shrugging your shoulders. “Thin skin, I guess.” A pause was in the air, too uncomfortable for your liking. “Are your friendships like that? Insulting, I mean.”

He hesitated for a second before replying, his voice drenched in fake nonchalance, “That’s a dumb question.”

You took that as a clue to not dwell on the subject any longer. You nodded to yourself forgetting that you were screen, only to hear him chortle on the other side.

“Are you agreeing that it’s a dumb question?”

You stretched your mouth into a nervous smile, heat lighting your cheeks as you racked your brain for a solid excuse on why you nodded to yourself. “Um, yeah?” You didn’t sound confident in the slightest but Shigaraki was curious on how you would save your own skin this time even if this conversation was rather dull. “Like, I guess it would make sense that you said that.” You brought your hands up, and shrugged them, your fingers curling inwards. “It was you who like really enforced the rule about not talking about your personal life so it makes sense that you wouldn’t want to talk about your IRL friend groups.” You leaned further back, your pillows providing comfort against the hard wood that was your bed frame.

No noise came from him other than that of fabric being moved around and scratching at the microphone. “Did you really just say ‘IRL’ instead of ‘in real life’?” He sounded smug about it, as if he had proof that you were a total dweeb. “I never took you for one of those people.” He said ‘those people’ as if it left a sour taste in his mouth.

You let out a nervous laugh, before it grew into a snicker with your eyes shut. “First of all, ‘IRL” is faster to say compared to ‘in real life’ so jot that down. Second of all,” you tilted your chin upwards, giving you a false sense of superiority, “you’re the only always going on about “eat shit and die” and “suck my dick”,” your voice dropped an octave, a poor imitation of the man who hide behind a black screen. “So if I’m one of those people, then you’re like the poster boy of a gamer gatekeeper.”

“It’s not my fault other players are shit.” He breathed out.

“Oh yeah, the other players are shit; it totally isn’t you acting better than everyone.” You rolled your eyes, shaking your head, your tone teasing.

“I’m glad you agree,” he replied, letting out huffs of air through his nose.

It grew silent once more, and this time you weren’t uncomfortable with it, it had actually felt nice. Comfortable, even. Well at least as comfortable as it could get when you couldn’t see the other game but he could see you and all your mannerisms. You clasped your hands together, intertwining them, your attention focused on the black that took up nearly all of your screen, save for your own square that held you on the left hand corner.

“I think,” you started out, the words heavy on your lips, “I think I’m ready to say goodbye.” Once you started, you couldn’t stop. A part of you wished he would interrupt and maybe ask for your email or phone number so you could continue to keep in contact, but you knew that wouldn’t happen. Whatever this was, this odd one-sided friendship, stayed and died here. “It was fun talking to you. Even if you were a dick.” You gave the man a smile, you hoped that it was seen as happy, teasing one. “I liked this one-sided friendship. Even if it hadn’t lasted for long.” You bite down on your lips, your teeth dragging against your dry, bottom lip and you reached over to your nightstand, grabbing your chapstick, rubbing the tube with your fingers before clenching it in one hand. “It was nice knowing you Tomaraki. Take care, okay?”

You didn’t wait for his reply- you knew that you wouldn’t get one. You scrolled your mouse of to the telephone outline, and as you were about to click it, his voice rasped out, telling you to wait. Startled you pulled back, the mouse jerked downwards, moving past the outline and you stared at him, eyes wide and head cocked to the side, waiting for him to speak further.

He hadn’t known why he shouted for you to wait. He didn’t even want to talk to you in the first place, it was your promise that you would leave him alone that even convinced him to accept your request but here he was, barking at you to wait as you stared at him with owlish eyes and a closed mouth as you gave him the floor to speak. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know why he sounded so frantic at the thought of you leaving and then quitting the game, any form of communication getting erased within minutes.

“I,” he started out, grateful that the screen was black on his end, his hands coming up to pick at his neck, “What’s that?” He was going to kick himself later, he was sure of it.

You tilted your head, your eyes narrowing before landing on the tube in your hand. “This?” You held the tube upright, a confused smile gracing your features. “It’s chapstick. It’s uh-” you turned the tube over, looking for the label where it stated its flavor- “It’s vanilla honey flavored.” You opened the tube and rubbed the chapstick on your lips, smacking them together. “Why? You looking for recommendations?”

He decided to go for a truth, knowing that it wouldn’t give anything away. “I have dry lips.”

“Oh.” You pursed your lips, and you scratched at the area where your jawline meets your neck. “I’m not knowledgeable about the different types of chapsticks, I usually like to get the ones that have a nice flavor. I had this peppermint one but I lost it. Are you drinking enough water? That should help too. You could also try lip scrubs. You don’t have to buy them, you could always make them at home but you’d need brown sugar for a rougher feel.” You rambled on, moving your hands around, and his eyes stayed trained at your moving hands, your voice growing distant. He could only hum in response as you continued to talk and mention stores that sold lip scrubs.

“Uh, Toma? You there?” You asked, your hands clenching and bringing them closer to your chest.

He raised his eyebrows at the sound of a nickname. “Toma?”

“Hah, uh yeah. Tomaraki is too long, I mean unless you want me to call you something else?” You seemed invested with continuing the conversation and he could understand why. You always craved attention- always undermined your skills, all so someone could praise you. But why did he want to continue this conversation? Was it simply because he had someone talk to him about mundane things, things that didn’t carry so much weight? Was it because you treated him as if he were a person first, rather than a villain?

“No. No I don’t mind.” His voice came out softer than he expecting, than you were expecting given that your eyes widen, your mouth pulled into an ‘o’ shape before you smiled gently at him, your lips turning slightly upwards.

“Okay.” You held your breath for a second. “Do you wanna call me by my name?” Your voice was soft, matching his tone from earlier.

He wanted to snap at you, asking why he would even want to but he couldn’t bring himself to. He didn’t know how to answer you without snapping. But you took pity on him, his silence deafening and you told him your name, you voice sweet and heating him up from within, the heat pooling in his stomach before travelling upwards into his chest, a momentary blast of warmth before it faded away. He tested your name on his tongue, the word heavy and foreign on his tongue. He repeated your name, the odd feeling being replaced by familiarity.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” You smiled, your tone playful but still soft, as you sank deeper into your mattress, your legs aching in protest from being in a still position for so long.

He didn’t have a comeback. He remained silent, repeating your name in his head, the tone of your voice when you asked him if he had wanted to know and when you spoke it, invading all of his thoughts.

“You know,” you started out, stifling a yawn behind a hand, “if you had wanted to continue this conversation you could’ve just said so. I don’t mind talking to you.”

“You’re tired.” He opted to avoid confirming or denying your accusation.

“It’s late, of course I’m tired.” He suddenly took notice of the way your eyes were starting to droop, how your eyes would widen, forcing them to stay open.

“You should go to bed.” His voice was stiff, he didn’t want to continue this conversation but he saw you frown, your lips downturned, noticing the difference in tone but you quickly smiled, any features of disappointment being erased.

“But this conversation was just getting good,” You whined, another yawn coming out, tears pricking your eyes. “Hey, I got a dumb idea,” you said.

“All your ideas are dumb,” he muttered underneath his breath, missing the fall of your face that disappeared before he could turn back.

“You want my number?” You ran a hand through your hair, swallowing deeply, your mouth suddenly dry and the chapstick on your lips too heavy. “If you want, of course. You don’t have to exchange yours. But you aren’t obligated to reply to me either. Obviously.”

He hesitated to answer; both to see you squirm in your seat but also because he was unsure. Did he want to continue this friendship that would only end sour, that wouldn’t progress further than what it already was. He reasoned to himself that if the friendship was going to stay stagnated, what was the harm of saying yes? What was the harm of talking to you a bit longer?

He nodded his head, only to realize that you couldn’t see him. The only reason you weren’t reporting him to the police, calling and screaming for heroes was because you couldn’t see him. A hand reached over to grab Father, his other hand tugging at the skin on his neck, feeling the cold air of the room sting at the raw flesh. Your reaction to his answer gave him an odd sense of pride on how you had swelled up, giving him a wide grin, the smile reaching your eyes and you sat up straighter, asking him if he was ready and you began to tell him your phone number, repeating it to make sure he had gotten it down correctly, the grin on your lips never leaving.

Ten minutes later, your account was deleted, all assets transferred over to Toma. Your eyes burned with sleep, the blankets on top of you suddenly weighed a ton, and right before you gave in to sleep, butterflies slowly started to form in your stomach.

In a dark room, only lit up by the screen of his phone, Shigaraki stays up, his eyes burning with the need for sleep as he just stares blankly at the your number. He wonders to himself why he had even agreed to accept your number, but he couldn’t go back in time and reject your offer- the most he could do was not message you. He closed his eyes, his mind drifting back and forth between ignoring you tomorrow or attempt to have a conversation with you.

Tagged:

@rogueofbullshit

[t-lostinworlds]

Blurb #1 (T.H.)

Requested by @nerdy-collector-festival: U basically broke me with 'the choices we make' and u are one of the best writers, I don't know if Ur taking requests or not but could u do something fluffy where during quarantine Tom and the others play the readers songs out loud and they know the lyrics to all of her songs (she is also staying with them)... I guess it could part of the 'extra' universe because I loved that some much, LOVE YOU 💞

~~~

A/N: Omg alsksk I’m sorrrry but gosh, thank you so much love! 🥺 you’re too sweet ❤️ and ily too 🥰 So, I wrote this fairly quick like magic it from thin air, my apologies if it’s not great ahah. Hope you like it! 💕

Pairing: Tom Holland x Fem!Singer!Reader

Warnings: Is ‘Tom sorta twerking’ a warning?

Word Count: 1.1k+

Masterlist in Bio

SONG: Selfish by Talia Mar (give it a listen you guys, it’s such a good song.)

-:-:-:-:-

You're always the last one to wake up in the house.

In your defense, your label was based in LA and you were in London, time difference and such. And this week, you were preparing to release a new single so your nights mostly consist of video calls for promos, interviews and meetings.

Last night—midnight to be specific—said single dropped so you interacted with fans, thanked the people for their support and all that lovely jazz.

You're a busy woman basically and you had every right to sleep in.

None of the boys minded though. They always respected your sleep, even prepares you breakfa—brunch to start your day with a smile, though you didn't expect today to be slightly different.

Groggily, you reached for your phone on the bedside table to see that it was already 11:15 AM. With a proper stretch, you got out of bed, hair a mess as you sported Tom's hoodie and some sleep shorts. You've live with these boys for a while, you could care less about your appearance around them.

The moment you opened the door however, your ears immediately perked up at the strikingly familiar sound. It was when you reached the middle of the staircase when you could put a pin on what it was, given that all you heard was your own voice.

You arrived in the kitchen in the nick of time, eyes landing on four boys dancing to their hearts content, one boy in particular with more energy than the rest.

"What kind of fever dream is this," you mumbled to yourself, amused smile on your face as you watched them jam it out to none other than your latest released single.

"I know I'm hard but that's part of it, you could leave but you are still here," Harry started, dance moves whatever as he passed the wooden spoon to Harrison. "Nowhere to go but you could've gone, should have known I'm the one you really want," Haz continued, chucking the spoon back to Harry once he was done with his line.

"I'm selfish, I'm selfish, I'm selfish, when it comes to you," Tuwaine answered next as he gave Harry a bowl. What they were cooking? You had no idea, but the kitchen does smell great so you take that as a good sign.

You were purely surprised at the fact that they know the words so well already. They haven't heard this before. Well, Tom heard a snippet but that's about it. How long have they had this on repeat?

Speaking of said boy, your eyes then landed on him next, his grin all wide as he shuts his eyes to sell his emotions. "I can't help it, can't help it, crazy things that I do," Tom sang his heart out, arms up in the air as he sways his hips like the dork that he is.

That's when you couldn't hold it in, throwing your head back as you laughed with pure delight, the sound making Tom snap his eyes towards you but he didn't stop singing. He just danced his way towards you, holding the notes of the song pretty well as he does his go-to lasso move with a shit eating grin.

You couldn't help but shake your head in disbelief, covering your face with both hands in feign embarrassment. When you peeked between your fingers, all you see is your boyfriend dancing around you in the goofiest—slightly seductive—way that he can, hips doing number 8's, ass right up at your view as your song came out of his lips like second nature.

"What is going on?" you asked with a laugh as you felt the heat rush to your cheeks due to Tom's little dance. You lowered your hands to look around at the boys for answers, who only shrugged with laughs of their own, Harrison recording the whole thing.

"Thomas!" you shrieked in surprise when he suddenly pulled you to him, spinning you around to the beat of the song.

Tom was absolutely proud because one, his girlfriend had just released a new banger and is just doing so well with her career. And second, well, the song is about him, it does boost his ego a tiny bit. And by tiny, he means through the roof.

"Like the song?" you asked with a giggle, arms now resting over his shoulder while his took home on your hips, both of you swaying side to side.

"Love it," Tom gushed, grin wider and brighter as he guides you to do a twirl before pulling you back close to him, arms now securely wrapped around your waist.

"Hmm, cause it's about you?" you teased, eyes narrowed as you looked at your man suspiciously.

"Of course, duh?" Tom scoffed playfully, earning a pointed eye-roll from you. He chuckled. "Kidding, it's such an amazing song darling, and you sound so fucking incredible oh my God, your voice. So proud of my superstar," he groaned, leaning closer to press his forehead against yours.

"I can't help it, can't help it; crazy things that I do. When I need you, I come back to you; I'm selfish, I'm selfish when it comes to you," you sing the last chorus to him. Tom face's glowed like the sun with a grin, heart melting at the seams as he lets out a low growl, almost like a purr at the sweet sound of your voice.

You bit your bottom lip with a giggle at his reaction, a clear indication that he loves this song way too much.

"Now, don't do that when you're here singing to me like an angel, sweetheart," he warned with a raise of a brow, tip of his nose nudging teasingly with yours, a certain gloss now covering his brown orbs.

"I do want thank you," you sassed, Tom shaking his head at you with a low chuckle. He was about to lean even closer as he wants nothing more than to give you a kiss, to take your bottom lip in his own teeth, but before any of you could even move a muscle you got interrupted.

"Oi! Not in front of my salad!" Harrison exclaimed. Tom jumped in his skin at the loud voice as he slowly turned his head to glare at his best friend, everyone erupting in pure laughter right after.

"I'll deal with you later," Tom whispered in your ear, sending you a suggestive wink and a squeeze on the waist before he lets you go to set the table for lunch.

You could only shake your head with a smile, Tom replaying the song again as the boys sang to it without problem.

It was a guarantee the there's chaos when living with these lads, but despite it, the fun and laughter always transcends it all. And you wouldn't spend your quarantine anywhere else.

-:-:-:-:-

Like, Reblog, and Leave a Comment if you enjoyed and lemme know what you think! x

Tom H. Taglist: @spacebitch2 @hollanddolanfangirl @keepingupwiththehollands @hollandsamor @in-a-lot-of-fandoms-tbh @unbelievableholland @vinylmendes @kittenruby​

send me a message/ask if you want to be added/removed to the tom h. taglist loves!

[novantinuum]

Intake (SUF one-shot)

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: Teen Audiences (TW: brief discussion of mental illness related topics like suicide ideation and intrusive thoughts.)

Words: 2800

Summary: Steven fills out an important form.

This is set multiple months pre The Future, and is a small glimpse into Steven’s journey to find a therapist.

If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3 as well. AO3 link will be provided in the reblogs. Thank you! <3

____

His leg bounces with a restless fervor as he slumps in the waiting room chair, clutching the clipboard and pencil the receptionist gave him with a white knuckled grip. Gaze hardened, he takes a good long look at the other patients spread across the room, a few of them appearing equally as spent and fidgety as him, and hunches over the intake form so his answers will be conclusively obscured from their view.

He grimaces. Ugh. Why would a place like this lay out their chairs so close, anyways? Why even give people the option of being nosey? He may be stuck seeing this therapist Connie’s mom recommended because he’s all messed up in the head, but it’s not like he wants the whole planet to know about it. Goodness knows all of Beach City and Little Homeworld already does thanks to his little ‘incident’ a month back. That’s bad enough.

His chest almost feeling hollow as he sighs, he scrawls in his name, his birthday, his cell number, address, and an emergency contact (Dad, who left for the car to give him privacy after signing a few forms he can’t fill out as a minor) on the lines indicated. He leaves out his many middle names for once, all of them leaving a bitter taste in his mouth at this present moment. Briefly, he wonders if this will be a problem, as these past few weeks Dr. Maheswaran assisted his dad in finally acquiring legal documentation and health insurance for him, and per those records he’s officially ‘Steven Quartz Universe’ in the eyes of the law.

Eventually he shrugs, figuring the likelihood of there being another sixteen-year-old ‘Steven Universe’ here today to confuse him with is nearing zero.

Okay, what’s next?

He briefly skims over the next few passages— a bunch of legalese about the terms of counselor-patient confidentiality and when they might have to breach that for safety reasons— and signs where indicated so they know he looked over it.

Someone sitting two chairs away coughs. He can’t help but flinch at the sudden noise, and folds himself tighter in his own seat as he flips over the first page of the form and continues to read.

In a few words, explain why you’ve chosen to reach out to us today. How can we help you?

Steven frowns, fingers twitching around the shaft of the pencil as he contemplates how to respond. For whatever reason, the question “explain why you’re here” feels very blunt and antagonistic to him in a way he can’t quite ascertain. Like... in a “give the wrong answer, get booted right out the door” sorta way. He lifts his head, peering at all the humans spread across the room, each and every one with their own story, the central character of their own worlds. Some are texting on their phones as they wait for the receptionist to call their names, others are filling out forms as well. What brought these people here, he wonders? Surely there’s plenty of people having a worse time than him right now. Surely there’s people with real problems, people who are literally struggling just to stay alive from day-to-day. He’s not like that, right? Besides that one little wobble a month back, he’s been handling his problems on his own fairly okay. Hasn’t he? So what makes him selfish enough to think that he’s worth anyone’s time?

In his pocket his phone vibrates, knocking him back into reality. He yanks it out and switches it on to look at the new text splashed across the lock screen:

Dad: Hey Schtu-ball, just wanna let you know that I’m proud of you and love you very much. You’ve got this!

He stares at these words for a good minute, the kind sentiment— despite reading as a little hopelessly over-encouraging— filling the hollow space in his chest partway. Even if his dad’s been a bit overbearing in his affections this past month, it’s clear he means well.

So. Why am I here today, he thinks, reading the question over again. He folds his fingers up into a stiff fist, pulling his thumb across his knuckles. After licking his chapped lips and shoving his phone back in his pocket, he scribbles a hasty reply.

I feel really angry and empty and tense and just want to be better.

The teen pauses, allowing those words to echo over and over in his mind, to truly sink in. It’s such a succinct and to-the-point admission that he suddenly wonders why he ever doubted he was less deserving of aid than anyone else in this waiting room.

His countenance a little lighter now and his shoulders growing less stiff, he moves on to the next section.

To aid our counselors in providing you the best possible care, please rate the following statements on a scale from zero to four, zero meaning “not at all like me,” and four meaning “extremely like me.”

Steven’s eyes dart across the length of the massive table below these instructions, his previous anxiety rushing back into his brittle bones as if it’d never left. Each row is host to a short sentence and five blank boxes, numbered zero to four. Read it and rate yourself, right? Should be simple enough. But as his glance flits over these statements and he understands the sort of personal, probing questions they’re asking through them, he begins to mistrust his previous burst of optimism. Dread floods his system, making his cheeks flush bright pink. Heart pounding at the mere thought of people staring, he drops his head lower, successfully hiding most of his face behind the clipboard until he can coax that betraying glow into fading away.

In the end, this goes to prove that it doesn’t matter if everyone says therapy will be ‘helpful’ for him; reflecting on all this junk is still gonna suck.

Quietly, he takes a steadying breath and forces himself to read on, to crack open the hornet’s nest that is the depths of his crap brain.

1. I am shy around others.

He considers this for a moment. Shy. Historically, this has never been a word people would use to describe him. For years he reveled in the thrill of meeting new people, new Gems. His childhood eagerness to engage in fellowship with those around is half the reason Era 3 even exists. And he’s fine around people he knows. Like, on a rare good day he has no problem playing board games or watching cheesy soap operas with his friends. But to be fair... as of late, his eagerness to meet anyone new feels like it’s all but vanished. Is that being shy? Or is that just him failing to care for anyone beyond his inner circle?

With a small shrug he checks the box for one, and moves on.

2. I don’t enjoy being around people as much as I used to.

Hmm. Probably a three. People are unintentionally exhausting these days. He used to be energized by social interaction, and now it just leaves him sucked dry. Most days he’d rather stick to his room.

3. I feel isolated and alone.

The weight of the diamond embedded in his belly— something he normally barely notices— grows ever more apparent as he marks off a four.

4. My heart often races for no good reason.

Uh, yeah. What happened just a minute ago is a pretty good tell. Four.

5. I have spells of terror or panic.

Another four.

6. I am anxious that I might have a panic attack while in public.

Four once more. He holds his pencil tighter, squirming in his seat as he tries (and fails) not to think about the pale scars spread across his back, hidden in his hairline, and on the underside of his arms, indentations that once marked the base of the crystalline spines that jut out from between his scales.

7. I think about food more than I’d like to.

Steven pauses at this one. For once, he’s not sure he can say this statement applies to him. Truth be told, he only started caring about what he put in his mouth earlier this year, when he cut meat and fish out of his diet. And that’s not... a bad thing? It’s not bad to want to consider the impact your food choices have on the environment? He definitely didn’t choose to do so for self-denying reasons, and that’s probably what they’re asking about. He checks zero, and moves on.

8. I feel out of control when I eat.

He almost checks another zero, but then he remembers that day after the proposal... and the week after his incident. And he decides that even if he doesn’t consciously obsess over the food he eats, there’s still a few occasions where once he starts snacking he finds it difficult to stop. A one it is, then.

9. I have sleep difficulties.

This statement nearly makes him laugh. Does he have sleep difficulties. Hah. He doesn’t think he’s gotten a truly restful night of sleep since he sacrificed himself to Homeworld at fourteen.

A solid four. No question.

10. My thoughts are racing.

Four.

11. I feel uncomfortable around people I don’t know.

Hmm. Two.

12. I drink alcohol frequently.

The only alcohol he’s ever had is a tiny sip of his dad’s with permission at Garnet’s wedding reception, and it tasted terrible. He has no interest in drinking again. Zero.

13. When I drink alcohol I can’t remember what happened.

Zero.

14. I drink more than I should.

Zero again.

15. I have done something I have regretted because of drinking.

Another zero. It almost makes him feel better, just knowing there’s a decent number of lines on this paper that aren’t a carbon copy of his lived experience.

16. I feel sad all the time.

Aaaand back to “the story of his life.” Briefly, he wonders if ‘feeling sad’ is the same thing as feeling nothing at all. But then again, does the difference really matter? He checks the box for three.

17. I am concerned that other people don’t like me.

Three. Although honestly, he’s even more concerned that people continue to like him after everything he’s done.

18. I feel worthless.

Steven nibbles at the inside of his cheek as he reads this statement, memories automatically flashing through the pathetic events of the last few weeks, through all the days he barely crawled out from under his covers, all the days he didn’t even manage to brush his teeth or run his fingers through his greasy, knotted hair, all those awful days he couldn’t so much as play one of his video games without growing tired of it in minutes and taking a restless nap for the rest of the afternoon instead.

Four.

19. I feel helpless.

Two. Everyday affairs are a drag, but at the very least he knows he can fight his way out of danger in a pinch. He wouldn’t call that helpless.

20. I have thoughts of ending my life.

He freezes. Goes back, reads this line again. Reads it a third time to make sure he’s not horrendously misconstruing the prompt he’s been given.

(Tries not to think too deeply about the graphic images that flood his imagination some nights. It’s just stray thoughts, though. He’s fine.)

One, he marks, although his muscles can’t help but twitch as he shifts his wrist, as if deep down he knows he’s underplaying his answer.

21. I feel tense.

Steven gives a small snort under his breath. Yeah, he outright admitted as much earlier in this form. Four.

22. I get angry easily.

His grip tightens.

Four.

23. I have difficulty controlling my temper.

He swallows hard, his mouth feeling abnormally dry. He’s not sure he likes how blunt and probing this questionnaire is becoming.

Four...

24. I sometimes feel like breaking or smashing things.

His knuckles go white around his pencil, and he only barely resists the temptation to snap it in half as he feels a rush of hard light flow the distance from his gem through the veins of his arm. Geeze, it’s not like he means to break things! It’s just that all of his stupid powers are linked with his emotions, and whenever he gets even marginally upset now things start to splinter, crack in half, and inevitably end up broken. Just another sign he’s fated to ruin everything around him forever, and that his intent doesn’t matter. Why do they have to pry into this? He already feels terrible enough for thinking these things.

Three, he checks, his eyes damp, but mostly because he’s too scared what their response will be otherwise.

25. I am not able to concentrate as well as usual.

He takes a deep breath, coaxing his body to return to a baseline state. Eh. He’ll give this a two.

26. I feel self-conscious around others.

His glance skirts over the edge of the clipboard to monitor the four others currently spread out across the room. One’s rhythmically swinging their legs, another is still filling out a form like him, but sitting criss-cross on the chair, and the other two are quietly typing on their phones. Thankfully none of them are pressing an ounce of attention his way, (at least, not right now), but that doesn’t stop him from feeling like an exposed nerve. Three.

27. I am afraid I may lose control and act violently.

The raw memories hit like lightning before he can even think to prepare.

Flashes of Pink. Orange fragments, cold and slick in his palms. Thunder splits the skies overhead, each cacophonous sound manifesting in perfect synchronicity with his erratic heartbeat, with each tidal wave of thoughts gushing like a maelstrom through his head: SHATTERER, I’m a shatterer, I’m—

Feeling almost dizzy from the intensity of his heart’s pulse, he knows with full certainty that his cheeks are glowing bright pink again. All he can do is clench his fists, suck down whatever amount of fresh air his lungs will allow, and pray to the very stars themselves that it’ll fade away before it garners the attention of every last human in this place.

He checks the box for four, pencil marking so hard that slivers of graphite splinter off onto the page, and moves on before he can be cowardly enough to change his answer.

28. I have thoughts of hurting others.

His fingernails claw into the thin denim at his knee, limbs outright quivering as he stews in his seat, as he’s forced to reflect upon all the ugly, ugly thoughts that have flit across his awareness over the past weeks. Thoughts about one Gem specifically. He’s... always been angry, always harbored deep resentment... but ever since his most recent trip to visit Her, he hasn’t been able to shake this awful idea: a vision of him standing over the remnants of her gemstone, shattered, fragments spilled across the otherwise pristine floors of Homeworld. He... he didn’t do it when he had the chance. He wouldn’t do it, would he?

(Orange fragments, cold and slick...)

Would he??

And yet nevertheless, the thought tortures him with its frequency, makes him feel downright nauseous at every turn. He doesn’t want it. He doesn’t want to feel this way at all.

Four.

29. I am unable to keep up with my schoolwork.

Stop. Sharp inhale. Staccato, shaky exhale. Repeat, deeper this time. Repeat.

(He can no longer see neon pink reflecting in the smooth metal clasp at the top of his clipboard.)

Okay. Schoolwork.

N/A, he writes in one of the boxes, arm still trembling from the last two questions despite his attempt at cool-down exercises. Not applicable. He hasn’t even been to school, and dreads the inevitability of this therapist asking about that mess.

30. It’s hard to stay motivated for my classes.

N/A.

31. I feel confident that I can succeed academically.

N/A, once more.

And like that, the questionnaire is over. Steven is quick to hide his answers behind the front page, and slides the pencil through the length of the metal clip. He glances around him, drinking in his surroundings with pinpoint precision. Despite his earlier concerns, no one is maliciously staring. No one’s whispering. He internally wrestled with a few challenging subjects and what do you know, it didn’t end in an embarrassingly public meltdown. He— he wipes a stray tear from his eye with the butt of his palm— he took a solid step forward today.

Coercing his body to move, he pulls himself out of the cushioned chair and crosses the room.

“I finished,” he says softly, proudly, as he hands the clipboard and pencil to the receptionist. She smiles and accepts his hard-fought offering.

For the first time in a while, the smile he instinctively flashes back almost feels genuine.

I want to be better, he thinks. I will be better.

____

Notes:

This fic is loosely based on my own experience of the intake process, and the questionnaire I had to fill out. No two intake experiences are the same though, of course. This is merely one possibility. I also take personal liberties on the way I depict Steven’s struggle with mental health, and acknowledge and respect that no two fans’ interpretation will be the same.

Additional notes: -Steven’s still a minor, so he can’t actually sign contracts. I figure Greg signed a handful of forms beforehand as his guardian, and then left to allow his son a bit of privacy with filling out the questionnaire stuff. Since he's a teen, they're still giving him the full confidentiality clauses to look over so he's wholly aware how that works, though.

-To expand on a brief comment made in the midst of this, I headcanon that Steven cut both meat and fish out of his diet, and thus actually slipped up on his vegetarian diet when he was training with Jasper. I interpret this as further showcasing how the poor kid— due to being mentally vulnerable at the time and thus liable to coercion/unwise decisions— began to take actions that went against much of his established morality. He ended up sacrificing his dietary choices during those days, just like he briefly sacrificed his pacifistic views to fight Jasper.

-I also headcanon that the therapist Steven is going in to see after this isn’t the one he eventually sticks with and mentions as “my new therapist” in The Future. It’s totally normal and okay to try a few different people to find someone who you click with, after all.

Thank you for reading!

[hopelikethemoon]

Relax (Javier x Reader) {MTMF} [smut]

Title: Relax Rating: Explicit Length: 3000 Warnings: Smut (female recieving oral, blow job, anal sex)  Notes: You can find everything about Maybe Today, Maybe Forever here. Set in the August 1993. Idea credit belongs with Tiernan, despite her anti-pimento cheese slander.  Summary: Javier has a creative way to help Reader unwind after a stressful day at work. 

@grapemama​ @seawhisperer​ @huliabitch​ @pedropascalito​ @rogrsnbarnes​ @thewallpapergoesorido​ @twomoonstwosuns​ @gooddaykate​ @livasaurasrex @ham4arrow​ @plexflexico​ @readsalot73 @hdlynn​ @lokiaddicted​ @randomness501​ @fioccodineveautunnale​  @roxypeanut​ @snivellusim​ @lukesrighthand​ @historynerd04​ @mrsparknuts​ @synystersilenceinblacknwhite​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @exrebelshocktrooper​ @awesomefandomsunited @ah-callie​ @swhiskeys​ @lady-tano​ @beskar-droids​ @space-floozy @cable-kenobi​ @cool-ultra-nerd @himbopoes​ @findhimfives​ @pedrosdoll​ @frietiemeloen​ @arrowswithwifi @random066​ @uncomicalhumour​ @heather-lynn​ @domino-oh-damn​ @cyarikaaa​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​ @im-still-a-pieceofgarbage @ksgeekgirl  @yabby-girl @xqueenofthecraziesx @punkass-potato​ @coredrive​​ @pascalesque​​ @theduchessofkirkcaldy​​ @queenquazar​​ @sabinemorans​​ @buckstaposition​ @holkaskrosnou​​ @yespolkadotkitty​ @fleetwoodmactshirt​​

“Today was a fucking nightmare,” You fumed, collapsing back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “I wish there was a hole punch big enough to punch a hole through his smug-ass face.”

“My jaw hurts from clenching my teeth,” Javier admitted, sitting down on the bed beside you, resting his hand on your thigh. 

“If I didn’t have Josie — I would’ve killed him.” You leaned up on your elbows. “I still could kill him.”

“Baby.”

“Only partially kidding.” You patted his hand as you sat up. “I need a fucking cigarette.” You scooted up the bed, pulling open the bedside table to grab Javier’s pack.

He’d tried to cut back after Josie was born, but it was hard to stop when you both led such fucking hellish lives. “Or maybe five.”

You fished the lighter out of the drawer as you tucked the cigarette between your lips and lit up. You inhaled deeply, relishing the burn at the back of your throat before you exhaled. 

“Lay back, baby.” Javier urged warmly, rubbing his hand down the top of your thigh. “Relax.”

“I can’t fucking relax.” You grumbled around the cigarette, pulling a spare out and throwing it on the nightstand beside the lighter 

You did as he told you though. You took another drag as you sank back against the pillows, watching the smoke as it wafted from your lips on another exhale. “The team in Atlanta was never this bad.”

“Yeah?” Javier questioned, the bed dipping as he moved to join you. He settled on his side, his head about even with where your stomach was. 

“It was the casual bullshit,” You explained to him. “While you’re up, can you get me a coffee refill, sweetcheeks?” You mimicked the voice of George — one of your co-workers back in Atlanta. “The asshole had grandchildren my age, but he was one bad day away from trying to cop a feel. I’m almost certain of it.” 

“If Chris lays one hand on you—“ Javier’s grip tightened at your thigh briefly, before his hand traveled higher, slipping beneath the hem of your sleep shorts. 

“I’ll break his hand.” You drew in another breath. “And we both know that hand is his best friend. Arrogant fucking asshole.”

“These need to come off.” Javier told you and you shivered a little as you felt his lips against the soft flesh of your leg.

“Alright.” You lifted your ass up off the bed as Javier peeled your shorts down your legs. You dragged a hand over your face as you sighed heavily, before leaning over to tap off the ash on the edge of the ashtray. “I just don’t get it.”

Javier pressed a kiss to the top of your thigh, running his fingers over your hip. “What sorta shit did you deal with in Atlanta?”

You hummed thoughtfully, “Unsurprisingly, I was the only woman in the department. Shocking, right?”

His breath tickled your skin as he chuckled softly, “Who would’ve thought?” 

“What are you doing?” You questioned softly, reaching down and winding your fingers through his hair. 

“Just keep talking baby, I know how to make you feel better.” Javier promised you, settling himself between your thighs and leaning down to press a kiss to your lower stomach just at the line of your underwear. 

You bit down on your bottom lip as you watched him hook his fingers in your underwear and slide them down your thighs, until they were discarded over the side of the bed. His hands traveled over the tops of your legs, thumbs dragging along your inner thighs. 

“You know,” You started, taking another drag from the cigarette as you settled back against the pillows. “The fact that he dared to call into question my work ethics. When I am always on the ball with my work.”

Javier nudged your thighs apart wider, tilting his head to rest his cheek against your leg as he ran his fingers along the inside of your other leg. He trailed them upwards until he reached the apex of your thighs. “You could run circles around him, baby. He’s just pissed he doesn’t have your job.”

You rolled your eyes, “I’m sure he’ll get it soon enough.” You reached over and grabbed the ashtray, sitting it on the bed beside you as you tapped your cigarette against the edge. 

“He’s never going to be my partner, baby.” I Javier assured you as he traced his fingertips over your inner folds, parting the tender lips of your cunt. “No matter what bullshit he tries.”

You exhaled shakily as Javier shifted between your thighs and swept his tongue between your folds. His hands curled around your soft thighs, palming them roughly as he worked his mouth over your sensitive flesh. 

A quiet moan escaped you as his tongue grazed over your clit, but you composed yourself. “I thought I’d be back in the field by now.” You admitted. But you knew that had been wishful thinking. “I miss it.”

He squeezed your leg three short times and you smiled. 

“I would give almost anything to go on a stakeout with you again.” You mused, taking another drag of your cigarette as you relaxed back, enjoying Javier’s efforts. He wasn’t taking you anywhere fast — brief passes over your clit, just enough to make your stomach burn and your arousal peak, but not enough to get you towards the edge. 

Javier lapped at you, tongue dragging between your folds, dipping into your center, only to press kisses to the junction where your legs met your hips. 

“I’m useless at a desk.” You sighed, “I was useless in Atlanta too. They put me in the field once, you know. A big lead came in while the team was already out chasing a ghost. I jumped on the assignment — nailed the asshole.” You inhaled another puff from the cigarette, watching the smoke swirl as Javier kept his mouth on you. “Fuck.” You breathed out as he worked his tongue into you all too briefly. “My boss got all the credit. I thought it was my day. He wasn’t even there!”

You reached down and scraped your fingers through Javier’s hair, watching as he pulled back up to catch a breath. His eyes were dark with his own arousal and his mustache glistened. “It’s in your file, though. I saw it.”

“You looked at my file?” You questioned, blowing out another exhale of smoke.

“I wanted to know who we were getting.” He shrugged as he lazily stroked two fingers over your slick flesh. “You’re not the only one who does their research.

Javier lowered himself back down, lips wrapping around your clit as he teased that little bundle of nerves once more. You squirmed beneath him, lost momentarily in the bliss that came from his mouth. 

“Did you…” You tapped off the ash again, taking another drag. “Did you like what you saw?”

“Your background on any jackass, would’ve had the talking heads eating out of your palm, baby.” He told you as he looked up at you from between your thighs. “I was impressed.”

You grinned down at him and tugged at his hair. “Past tense?” 

“Baby you constantly impress me.” He remarked before he resumed his work, sweeping his tongue through your folds, delving into you. 

Your eyes practically rolled back in your head as his tongue worked in and out of you — it was enough to make you moan again, your breath catching in your throat. But then he pulled back, hot breath dancing over slick flesh. 

“It’s so fucking unfair.” You complained, dragging in another inhale off the cigarette, letting the smoke slip from your lips. “I miss being out in the field. I miss long drives outside of the city with you.”

Javier groaned against your cunt and the reverberation went straight through you, sending a shudder of desire straight through you. He pulled back again, eyes meeting yours. “We could have so much fun on those drives.”

You laughed softly and nodded, threading your fingers through his hair. “Want a smoke?”

“Yeah.” Javier nodded and you passed the cigarette to him, watching the way his lips wrapped around it. He exhaled slowly, smoke fanning out over your stomach. “We both know you’d be a nervous wreck. Thinking someone might see us.”

You shrugged, taking the cigarette back from him. You wrapped your lips around it and tasted the faint essence of your arousal that had been left by his lips. “Touché.”

Javier had — more or less — moved into your apartment, though there was nothing official about it. He spent more nights with you than not. And you were fairly certain most of his clothes already hung in your closet and sat in your drawers. 

But he couldn’t officially vacate his apartment without drawing attention to your relationship — and you weren’t ready to own up to the lies you’d told the DEA. Not yet. 

Not when you might still be able to get back in the field. 

“You wanna come, baby?” Javier questioned, lips brushing against your inner thigh, his moustache tickling your skin. “You’re still so tense.”

You tucked an arm beneath your head, sinking back against the pillow as you took another drag and exhaled. “Yes, please.”

Javier bit lightly at your thigh, making you inhale sharply. “I could do this every day.” He told you, dragging two fingers between your folds, before sinking them into your aching center. “I fucking love this pussy.” He drawled out.

“I’m pretty fond of your mouth.” You quipped, you took one more drag off the cigarette before sitting it aside in the ashtray. You wanted to focus on what Javier was doing. 

He swept his tongue over your clit, circling the little bundle of nerves with just the tip. His fingers curled within you, always knowing just how to reach that sweet spot within you.

Javier reached up and pressed his hand against the center of your lower stomach as you arched up off the bed. The pressure made a new desire coil through you, a shaky breath escaping you. 

You moaned as he kept dragging his fingers over that sweet spot within you, coupled with the way he wrapped his lips around your clit and sucked and swept his tongue over it. 

“Fuck.” You hissed out, your cunt clenching down around his fingers as the first wave of your release took hold. Your toes curled and you dug your heels into the mattress as he kept his mouth right where it was. 

It was pure bliss as your release washed through you, white heat and a blissful tingling sensation that spread through your entire core. 

Javier pulled back, breathing heavily, lips and chin covered in your slick arousal. “I wish you knew just how sexy you look after you come.” He told you. 

You laughed softly, picking up the still-smoldering cigarette and taking a drag before offering it to him. “Bet it’s just as sexy as you look between my thighs.”

Javier snorted, holding the cigarette between his lips as he climbed back up the bed and laid down beside you. “Better?”

You hummed, “Still a little stressed.” 

Javier arched a brow at you as you smoked.

“Think you still have one of those lubricated condoms in a pants pocket somewhere?”

He snuffed out the cigarette, taking it and the ashtray with him as he got off the bed. “Might have one in my wallet.”

You laughed, “Should I be concerned?”

He shot you a look, “I like to be prepared. Never know when you might want me to fuck your ass.” Javier winked at you, before he walked across the bedroom to the dresser where his wallet sat. He picked it up, opening it, and pulling out a condom packet. “Happy?”

You bit down on your bottom lip as you slid down to the foot of the bed, letting your legs hang over the side. “Almost.” You quipped.

Javier stepped in between your thighs, planting a hand on the bed beside you as he leaned down to kiss you. You tasted yourself on his mouth and his tongue and it only fueled the new bloom of need in your belly. 

You curled your fingers around the back of his neck, fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. Your other hand traveled downwards, cupping his rather noticeable bulge in his jeans. He was hard as fucking rock — all because he’d eaten you out. And that made lust spike through you. 

He groaned against your lips as you started working at getting his jeans off, fingers tugging at his belt and drawing his zipper down. Javier broke from the kiss, taking a step back to kick off his jeans and then his boxers. 

“Come here.” You urged, licking your lips as he stepped closer — his cock jutting towards you. You cupped his balls as you leaned forward and wrapped your lips around the head of his cock. 

Javier’s fingers tangled into your hair, a groan escaping him as you took nearly the full length of him into your mouth. You pulled back, giving his cock another stroke before you took the condom from him.

“Fuck, baby.” He breathed out, brushing his fingers over your cheek as he watched you roll the condom onto his cock. He ran his thumb over your bottom lip, “Roll over, baby.”

You smirked up at him, “Make me.”

He caught your jaw, dipping back down to kiss you roughly. “Now.”

This time you obeyed. You pushed your palm to his stomach to get him to back up, before you rolled over. You stretched yourself out on the bed, feet touching the ground as you laid with your ass hanging over the side of the bed. 

Javier palmed at your hips, using his knee to nudge your thighs apart. “You’re still so fucking wet, baby. Did you like coming?”

You pressed back, wiggling your ass. “What do you think?” 

Javier smacked your right ass cheek lightly, making you yelp softly. “Too much?”

“No, it’s perfect.” You told him, rocking back towards him. “Come on, Javi. Don’t tease.”

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the small of your back. “I love you.”

You smiled, turning your head to the side. “I love you too.” You glanced back at him, breath catching in your throat as he dipped his thumb into your cunt, gathering up your slick arousal and smearing it over your puckered hole.

“Is this what you want, baby?” He questioned, dipping his thumb into you — a slow press as your body resisted. 

“Fuck yes.” You told him, trying to relax beneath his attention. 

He used his spit to add to your arousal as he worked his thumb into you. He teased you for a moment, before he replaced his thumb with the head of his cock. 

Your fingers gripped at the sheets beneath you as his cock pressed into you. “That’s it, baby.” He urged. “Fuck, look at you.” His voice was rough with desire, his hand gripping tightly at your thigh as he used the other to guide his cock.

A throaty moan escaped you as Javier worked the full length of his cock into you, his hips pressed into the soft globes of your ass, before drawing back and repeating the action again. 

“So fucking tight, baby.” Javier panted out, rolling his hips slowly in time with the way you rocked back into him.

He tangled his fingers into your hair, pulling on it just enough to make you arch your back. His name slipped past your lips as you moved with him. 

It felt like heaven. The faint edge of being almost too much. The delicious pressure of being filled by him. You wedged your hand between you and the mattress, fingers teasing at your clit in time with his thrusts. 

“Fuck, you feel good.” You told him, clenching your body around him as he bottomed out. He pulled back, nearly pulling out of you completely before slamming back into you. “Holy shit.”

“You like that, baby? Wanna hear you.”

“Yes. Fuck yes. Javi, please.” You groaned out as he started to pick up the pace. 

He released his hold on your hair, using his newly free hand to smack your ass. Once and then twice, making your cunt clench around nothing and your ass tighten around his cock. “Goddammit, baby.” He hissed out. 

Javier slipped his hand around your hip, batting your hand away so he could work his fingers roughly over your clit. 

You came again. You couldn’t hold back — your back bowing towards him as your fingers gripped at the sheets beneath you. Every nerve ending in your body felt alive as you pulsed around him. 

Javier’s cock retreated from your body and you heard him grunt out your name. You looked behind you, watching him as he peeled off the condom and fisted his hand over his cock. 

He spilled out over your ass, his come painting over your skin, dripping down over your cunt. “Holy fuck.” Javier breathed out, giving your hip a squeeze. “Stay here.”

Javier drew in a ragged breath as he steadied himself before vanishing out the bedroom door. He returned a moment later with a damp washcloth, using it to tenderly clean up the mess he’d made of you. 

“I don’t think I’m gonna need that other cigarette.” You remarked, gingerly pulling yourself up off the edge of bed and climbing back to the center. “That took the edge off the day.”

He chuckled, “Thought it might do the trick.” 

“You make the most stressful days worth it,” You told him as he joined you on the bed, a possessive arm wrapped around your waist. 

“Yeah?” Javier kissed your shoulder. 

“Yes.” You ruffled your fingers through his hair. 

[dramaticsnakes]

The Revived - Chapter 7: The Promise

This is chapter 7 of the Dream SMP multichapter fic @rainbowbutterfrosting​ and I wrote together! I hope you’ll enjoy! Discord link here.

AO3

Read in order (on Tumblr)

Characters in this chapter: Wilbur, Ghostbur, Tubbo (briefly), Ranboo (briefly)

Word count: 3184

Cw: lying, guilt, discussion of death, light angst, implied suicidal thoughts, discussions of loneliness, mentions of food

Fic summary: Wilbur was alive, and it was such a magnificent feeling, that made his mind spark with anticipation. It didn’t take long, however, for Wilbur to realize that this new breath of life, was not just his own. An echo-y voice hides in the back of his mind, and before he knows it, the transparent version of him he saw at the endless train station, is a lot more ingrained than he’d expected him to be.

And Wilbur really shouldn’t care. Because he’d be damned, if he spent the life he’d awaited for so long, babysitting a lost cause of a ghost, stuck in the very same limbo Wilbur spent so long in. It was an even exchange, and one Wilbur wasn’t going to mess with. Why exactly he ends up setting out to get the ghost out of his mind, in order to save the both of them, however, is beyond him. And perhaps Wilbur’s past isn’t as easy to leave behind, as he’d hoped it would be.

Wilbur had after this, tried his best to pull himself together. It was one of those things he’d been fairly good at for a while, even if it always left a poor taste in his mouth. He was about to leave, when Ghostbur had added a worried. “What about Tubbo and Ranboo?” which led Wilbur to quietly wander back inside, and mumble an excuse. Though before he left again, he hesitantly added. “How long was I gone?”

“Just now?” Tubbo had asked.

“No no, how long was I dead?” Wilbur said, feeling his own words settling darkly in his throat.

“Oh.” Tubbo said quietly, feeding Michael another fork-full of steak, “About half a year I think.”

The words sent a shiver down Wilbur’s spine, because at least Ghostbur’s grasp on the passage of time was much more unreliable. “Half a year…” Wilbur repeated.

Thirteen and a half years had passed in the train station. He’d been counting the days, so he was certain.

Half a year had passed right here, in the world of the living, because the universe really loved to play cosmic jokes on him.

Right before Wilbur left, Tubbo handed Wilbur some enchanted diamond armor that was battered around the edges. Wilbur absentmindedly accepted without a fuss, because he was a little too frozen to keep any sort of emotional expression. And then he had wandered off once again, despite Tubbo’s protests. That was why he didn’t like telling people when he left. It always provoked protests.

Once Wilbur was finally certain he was alone, standing by a snowbank, he spoke again, “Half a year.” he just said, “I’ve only missed half a year, and yet they’ve missed thirteen and a half of mine.”

“I think it’s been longer, now that I think about it.” Ghostbur pondered.

Wilbur chuckled dryly. “Hm?”

“Yes, I’ve been here for a long time now.” Ghostbur said, “A couple of months I think. Even before you started talking to me.”

Wilbur tasted the bitter words, as he looked as he watched the white snow covering as far as his eyes could see, “Ghostbur…” he near-whispered, “Are my replies ever delayed?”

“Well, it takes you a little while to reply sometimes, but words can be tough! You’ve had problems apologizing, so I figured it was the same for normal words too.” Ghostbur just said.

Wilbur wasn’t sure if what he let out was a sob or intense laughter. It sounded colder than the ice around him, and held only bitter aggravation, and a bit of dry humor. “Time passes differently.” he stated, “Of course time passes fucking differently!” he exclaimed, letting out his arms, gesturing vividly, as he looked down at the ocean. His head was making so much incomprehensible noise that didn’t come from Ghostbur at all. So many thoughts and so many lost causes, that he had no clue how to grasp.

He was Wilbur Soot. Creator and destroyer of L’Manberg. He’d been gone for thirteen and a half years, also known as six months or so, and he had a ghost inside his fucking head. He’d waited so fucking long to get here, and he had so many things to do, and yet all of them appeared to dissolve into incomprehensible nothingness the longer he spent there. 

“Are you okay?” Ghostbur asked, clearly worried. 

Wilbur groaned in frustration, because he didn’t need this. He didn’t need another confrontation, that made him feel his blood pumping uncomfortably through his body. Then, after a moment of silence that must’ve been many more moments to Ghostbur. He laughed again. “I’m fine!” he said, almost unsure if he was sarcastic, “This is grand!”

“Are you sure?” Ghostbur asked, “I-I really don’t mean to doubt you, but when you were on the ground before, and covering your face, I was almost certain something was wrong.”

Wilbur’s laughter ceased. “How did you know that?”

He hadn’t made many sounds. Not too many of them anyhow, but perhaps he’d believe it if Ghostbur had still heard it. What didn’t make sense however, was the specification that Wilbur had been on the ground and had covered his face, because certainly Ghostbur wouldn’t have heard that.

“I… I saw you?” Ghostbur said, as if he was unsure of himself, “Like when you were really cold and Phil gave you that golden apple?”

Pieces began to click together in his mind, and while Wilbur didn’t dislike a good puzzle, this was sort of an unsatisfying kind, “Can you always see me?” Wilbur asked.

“No.” Ghostbur said, “It’s nice when I can, though. I haven’t seen anyone in a long time. People were right when they said you look like me! But, the times I’ve seen you, you didn’t seem very happy.”

“Okay okay okay, let me get this straight...” Wilbur said like a series of huffs, waving his hands vividly to the sides, as if it helped clarify, “So not only can you hear me, and communicate with me… You can also feel what I feel to an extent, and see me sometimes.”

“I think so?” Ghostbur tried, sounding a little more desperate the more Wilbur spoke, “I don’t know why no one else responds when I talk but-”

“Ooh my God, no one can hear you, Ghostbur!” Wilbut exclaimed with more sharpness to the words than he’d intended, “You’re speaking into a void, and somehow I’m picking up on it. Because I guess we’re connected or some shit!” 

Because apparently, Wilbur had to spend more than a decade alone, and Ghostbur was forced to spend an eternity in Wilbur’s head. Both of them drew the short end of the stick. Yet, he didn’t know who’s was shorter. Ghostbur could experience life without having to directly put up with people. Yet, an eternity was much longer than what he went through.

“...oh.” The words were quiet, so quiet that a gust of wind would have covered them easily. “I- Is there a way I can go into their heads? Don’t get me wrong, I love being headbuddies with you! I…” Ghostbur sighed, “I miss them.”

Ghostbur’s loneliness oddly paralleled Wilbur’s. Both couldn’t connect with those that had value to them, and were stuck with each other at the end of the day. Tears managed to come to his eyes, but he wiped them away quickly, “I’ll be there for you.” The words were quick and mumbled to the point where he thought he didn’t even say them, but Ghostbur’s gasp of surprise revealed the contrary. 

“Really?! Oh my gosh we can be experience buddies! Is there an alternative to that, it’s just a bit of a mouthful.” Ghostbur giggled, “It’s sorta like friends, but more right?”

“I suppose so.” Wilbur found a small smile on his face from Ghostbur’s excitement.

“Like friends with benefits! Tommy talked about them once.”

Wilbur almost tripped as he burst out in a laughter that he tried to quiet down, “Gh- Ghostbur-” He could barely get anything out as he laughed. 

“What’s so funny about being friends, Wil?” Ghostbur’s voice was laced with a hint of aggravation that Wilbur found hilarious. The poor ghost really didn’t have his knowledge. 

“No no, it’s a little-” Wilbur tried to calm his laughter and form a straight face, “It’s just a little different than that.” Wilbur was glad Ghostbur couldn’t see his tomato red face.

“Oh, wait, was I supposed to say best friends? Tommy said he used to be that withTubbo! He looked a bit sad afterwards, so maybe best friends aren’t a good thing.” Ghostbur’s discouraged voice hurt Wilbur that it should’ve. 

Wilbur tried to imitate Ghostbur’s usual optimism, “Best friends are really good, but what do you mean that Tommy used to be best friends with him?”

“I don’t remember much of it.” Ghostbur admitted, “It was a bit after he came back from the prison with Dream, I think?” he made a strange noise, “I don’t know, my head is all fuzzy.”

“Oh,” Wilbur said at first, thinking the words through. He tried to look through his own mind, because vague memories of a life that wasn’t truly his, lingered. He thought back to limbo, and those fleeting months, with a familiar face, and tried to connect it with the faded puzzle pieces from Ghostbur’s time among the living. While it made Wilbur’s heart drop, there was a part of him that understood something, and the thought of Tommy returning even after such a short amount of time filled Wilbur with recognition. “After he was revived,” Wilbur stated quietly.

There was a strange silence from Ghostbur, and Wilbur was confused at first, until he heard a small whine from the other, that was covered up quite quickly. “I don’t… I don’t like that word,” Ghostbur said, “I don’t like it anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Wilbur asked, raising an eyebrow, “What’s wrong with it? Isn’t it right? Or-” he stopped himself, but didn’t have time to correct himself before Ghostbur spoke again.

“It’s like death to a ghost.” Ghostbur explained, a hint of melancholy in his tone, “I used to want that! The server needed a strong leader, and you would’ve been perfect for it! But then Tommy returned and…”

“And what?” Wilbur asked after a moment, the words coming out quicker than he’d anticipated.

“I…” Ghostbur tried, the words almost being drowned out by the strained voice, “I don’t remember.” he added, with a little more confidence.

Wilbur’s memories were still hiding from him, yet the implications of Ghostbur’s words left a strange hint of tension in the back of his chest. He tried to shake off the feeling. “Do you forget a lot of things?” Wilbur asked, curiously.

“Oh yes!” Ghostbur said, “I usually… Usually I only remember the happy stuff. Mine and… Mine and yours.”

“Oh?” Wilbur said, even if partially knew that part already. He hadn’t truly considered it much before though. The fact that this ghost was, in fact, made from a part of Wilbur himself, however small. How this was someone that had been shaped by the good alone. That sort of positive outlook wasn't something Wilbur related to at all, and what did that say about him? “Good,” he just said, unsure what else to add, instead just taking note of it for himself.

The two of them remained quiet for a little, or perhaps a lot for Ghostbur, though Wilbur didn’t like thinking about it. He had to, but he didn’t like it. Wilbut Soot, supposedly dead, now back regardless, and with a ghost inside his fucking head. And what was he supposed to do with that?

It was painful in a sense, to have someone there, who he knew was lost. Who he knew he couldn’t save, and who he had told himself he would get rid of somehow. Because Ghostbur wasn’t meant to be there. He was meant to spend eternity alone, just as Wilbur had spent thirteen and a half years. It was the only thing that should’ve been reliable in such a situation, and perhaps Wilbur should stick to it. What choice did he have? “I need to get you out of there.” he said, before realizing he’d said it out loud.

“Huh?” Ghostbur said suddenly, a bit of excitement creeping in, “Do you mean it?”

Wilbur paused, “Well… I…” A million thoughts were creeping through his mind every millisecond of hesitation he went through. All of his past deeds, all of the past betrayals, and all the plans he had for the future, that would happen eventually. The way Wilbur just was, whether he liked it or not. The realization he’d had way back then, that perhaps he was the villain of the story, and perhaps he had no choice in the matter, when his beliefs had settled down where they were. The way Wilbur had promised to be there for Ghostbur, and how he knew that promises were more meaningless than most things in life, but that Ghostbur didn’t have enough experience to know. “I’ll try.” Wilbur said, the words committing to something, though he wasn’t sure what. 

“Do you think I can get out of here?” Ghostbur whispered in awe.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Wilbur said, because a little hope was good, for himself and for the ghost, though too much of it, would only serve to wreck the purpose. “I’ll try to get you out.” he said, hardly believing his own words.

“Does that mean we could talk in person? And I could see everyone again?” Ghostbur asked.

 “Maybe.” Wilbur said non committedly. “We’ll have to look for more information about this whole thing. Who knows? Maybe there is a way.”

“That would be amazing!” Ghostbur exclaimed, and Wilbur could practically hear the smile through the words.

Wilbur didn’t smile much, but simply exhaled slowly. “What would you do, Ghostbur? If you came back?” It was a strange question for him to ask, but one that entered his mind nonetheless. For meaningless smalltalk perhaps, though it was something he genuinely wanted to know, because it was a difficult question to answer, wasn’t it?

“Hmm.” Ghostbur said thoughtfully, “Well I guess I would tell Friend I missed him.”

“No no.” Wilbur said, “I mean like long-term.”

“Oh! Well, I suppose I would tell everyone that I missed them!” he exclaimed with twice as much excitement.

Wilbur rolled his eyes. He realized the ghost only ‘lived’ for six months, his definition of long-term was much different than Wilbur’s. “What did you like doing while you were here- other than having friends.” Wilbur quickly said the last bit to avoid an answer he’s already heard.

“Well… I liked taking care of Friend? I’m not sure if that counts as ‘having friends’ though. Music always seemed neat, but people got sad whenever I did it.” Ghostbur’s melancholic tone transitioned to a hopeful joy that was on the edge of denial, “But I’m sure when I’m back I’ll find lots of fun things to do!”

Wilbur shivered. The armor helped protect against the cold, but it wasn’t an ideal situation nonetheless. “Is Friend someone in particular?”

Ghostbur gasped, “Oh, Friend would love you, he’s nice just like you are, even if the both of you have a little bit of attitude.”

Wilbur faked being offended, “I do not have an attitude.”

“Hmm, I haven’t known you for long, but I’ve got the feeling you have one.”

Wilbur sighed quietly. A moment fell silent in the air. Wilbur’s eyes drooped slightly. He couldn’t tell what time it was, but he was tired. Tired enough where he could fall asleep in the snow, but he knew how dangerous that was. “Well, if I’ve got an attitude then you do too.”

Ghostbur was about to counterclaim his point when he continued, “‘Cause you’re in my head, and therefore you’ve got an attitude as well.”

Ghostbur huffed, “But if you think about it, I’m not really in your head. I’m at this weird train place that you don’t like. Wait- why do you not like it? Is it something in particular or do you just not like anything?”

Wilbur wished his silence could speak for him, but Ghostbur continued, “It would make a bunch of sense if you didn’t like stuff in general. You don’t seem very happy and you leave stuff for no reason. Like this weird place! I mean- it’s a bit… empty in here but it’s not as bad when you’re here.”

Wilbur didn’t know why, but something pulled on his chest when Ghostbur said that. He should have scowled and said he didn’t want Ghostbur’s thoughts anywhere near him, but the ghost… the ghost tricked him somehow. The ghost must’ve whispered into his ear when he wasn’t paying attention since he barely acknowledged what he said, “I’m going to get you out of there.” It was said with a warmness and sincerity that surprised Wilbur.

“That would be nice. Maybe then we can be together and do friend stuff?” Ghostbur’s voice held a deepness to it that Wilbur guessed was from his tiredness rubbing onto the ghost.

Wilbur chuckled, “Yeah, friend stuff.”

Ghostbur hummed happily, “Best friend stuff?”

Wilbur exhaled out of his nose as a laugh and continued walking forward. There wasn’t much in front of him, mostly a barren white landscape. The scenery almost reminded him of when he saw Phil for the first time in thirteen and a half years- well, now six months apparently. The idea was still new to him.

“Wilbur?” Ghostbur’s voice held something Wilbur couldn’t identify. Almost a cloudiness of sorts that made his words slightly transparent and muddled. 

“Yeah, Ghostie?”

“Can we do best friend stuff? It’s okay if you want only friend stuff.”

Wilbur quietly giggled, “Yeah yeah, we’ll do ‘best friend stuff.’” Wilbur felt a strange resistance within himself. The words seemed sharp to him despite his tone being soft. It turned and lingered in him in a way that reminded him of an unpleasant nostalgia- one filled with a sorrow that never left. 

Why was Wilbur even agreeing to such a false promise? He didn’t have a clue how to get Ghostbur out, and yet he was promising what to do when the ghost returned to the overworld. He realized he didn’t even think if the ghost returned. Perhaps Ghostbur’s naïveness was rubbing off of Wilbur. 

But Ghostbur didn’t have anyone else, so he might as well pretend for his sake. Wilbur could hear the enthusiasm from Ghostbur’s voice, “Great! I’m so excited to get out!”

Commensalism symbiosis. One species benefits while the other is unaffected.

False hope. Ghostbur benefitted while Wilbur should’ve been unaffected. There shouldn’t be any guilt that got heavier with every step he took. He should’ve been unaffected for Ghostbur’s sake. He should.

But now, there was at the very least a matter at hand to acknowledge. A temporary plan, that Wilbur could work towards, so he could finally get started on all the things he wanted to do. So, Wilbur took a shaky breath, and let it out as if that was enough to clear his mind. “Alright then…” he said, “Do you remember anything we might be able to use? Any places that could help us?” 

Ghostbur hummed in deep thought. “How about L’Manberg? There used to be books, and- oh, isn’t it the place you woke up when you came back? I think I remember something about that!”

Wilbur nodded and smiled widely. “Yes, of course!” he jumped down from a pile of snow he’d been standing on, and looked towards the nether portal. He paused before he spoke, “To L’Manberg it is.” He swallowed something in his throat, not too fond of the idea of entering the nether once more.

Having a purpose again felt nice however, because Wilbur strived so wonderfully when he had one of those. Perhaps he could ignore the dark thoughts, and the grim inevitability. Because Wilbur knew how to get what he wanted. Whether it was to declare an independent nation or to reduce it to a crater in the ground.