#close the laptop at the same time every day regardless

[gay-dorito-dust]

hii i just read your kissing the batboys out of the blue and i loved it!! i was thinking that maybe you could one of how they react when they realize they’re in love with the reader? tysm!!

Jason had a feeling that he knew he was in love with you, he had read enough romantic novels to know that what he was feeling was romantic.

He thought of you day and night.

Everything reminded him of you.

He couldn’t wait to be near you, craves it even as his mind raced with all the things that you could do together in his apartment as though you were an already pre-established couple.

He practically ticked off every box imaginable and he knew it but he wasn’t quite sold on this alone until he woke up to you cuddled up into his side, looking as though you belonged there, even tightening your grip on his shirt when he dared to move even in the slightest.

‘Five more minutes.’ You muttered into his neck, causing him to freeze but he was quick to relax and throw his arms over your waist to keep you close.

It was the domesticity of the moment that made Jason realise that he was in love with you, deep unadulterated love. He wanted to spend the rest of his life waking up to you and falling asleep with you in his arms because you fitted together like two missing pieces.

You were what he was missing and he wasn’t going to let you go anytime soon, not when he was brought to realises that he couldn’t live without you, not anymore. Jason swore to himself that he’d protect you no matter what while he finds a way to tell you of his feelings, but until then Jason was more then willing to keep it to himself as to remind himself that he now had someone to fight for.

Dick didn’t know he was in love with you until someone brought it up to him about how often he seemed to bring you up in conversation regardless of its relevancy.

You’ve had a flirty relationship with one another that Dick had lead himself to believe was strictly platonic all the while wanting more at the same time. He wasn’t fond of commitment, it was an issue of his but you made it all the more worth it if it meant he could get the chance to call you his.

‘You sure do talk about them a lot.’ Garth said.

‘Who?’ Dick asked, confused.

‘Them.’ Raven gestures towards you and immeditly sees the way Dick’s eyes practically glowed when they looked at you, she looked over at Gar who saw the exact same thing as she did and was looking at her for confirmation that he wasn’t seeing things. Their wild theory has been proven to not be so wild after all.

‘It’s not my fault they’re an awesome teammate.’ Dick replied as he looked back at Raven and Garth as they looked back at him knowingly.

‘You often talk about them as though you’re in love with them.’ Raven countered.

‘I don’t talk about them like I’m in love,’ Dick laughed before looking over at Garth, ‘do I?’ He asks and Garth hummed. ‘You do. If you like them so much why don’t you ask them out on a date or something?’

Garth’s question stayed with Dick for the rest of the day as he recalled the times where he talked about you nonstop and wanted to smack himself for not seeing it before, he was so hellbent on never committing to something that he didn’t see that he was practically confessing his feelings for you in other ways.

Dick was scared, genuinely scared. So he decided to keep this revelation to himself and hope that one day it would fade away but he knew all too well that he was in too deep for that to be the case. Now he just keeps a tight lip on what he says to certain people in hopes that they don’t go back to you and spill everything.

Dick wanted to tell you himself but he fears that he might bring himself to do it in time.

Tim would be spending time with you when he realised he loved you.

Being with you just felt natural for him as he let you press up against his side as you did your own thing and he did his own on his laptop.

You could both exist in peaceful silence together without it getting awkward and that’s what Tim liked the most about you, he didn’t have to force anything to keep you engaged in anything he liked.

He even liked how you could match his sarcasm at times while also being caring about his well-being and mental health.

‘When was the last time you actually had decent sleep?’ You asked.

‘When did this become an interrogation, and a lacklustre one at that.’ He replied as you raised your brows to look at him. ‘Since you keep thinking it’s fine to neglect your basic human needs, wise ass.’ You told him. ‘keep this up and I’m wouldn’t be surprised to find you passed out on the floor somewhere.’ You add before putting down a glass of water and a plate full of food before leaving the room.

Tim glances over at the water and food and feels a warmth spread throughout him when he saw that you remembered his favourite meal.

Tim could show you anything technical and while you may not understand everything that was being said, it was the fact that you even bothered to continue to listen to him that made him realises that he might be in love with you. Your eyes held intrigue as he went over how his weapons worked, even giving you live demonstrations, but he couldn’t help but feel a little exposed under your gaze, you looked at him as though he was the most interesting person alive and he could feel his cheeks burn.

Tim knew he was in love with you for a long while but it just took that one moment for it to click within him.

[burritosandpeppermint]

WELP

I've been grousing for weeks that our two person team is understaffed and stretched thin and I re-emphasized it today with my manager in our one-to-one after he re-emphasized that the business is really going to try to shore up how the app works and make it better and get more customers to use it.

I told him that if we do get more customers or start accommodating higher volume sends from big customers and we're really not pursuing any kind of simple automation for our work then we'll almost certainly see more compliance issues, meaning we'll have to continue to let things like projects and regular audits fall off the table while we scramble to keep at our core work of abuse reports, delistings, and Spamhaus listings.

He said that if that's how it would be then that's how it would be.

SO

head down do the work what happens, happens

Advancement? Research? Identifying patterns? Industry networking and face time?

nope

head down do the work what happens, happens

[viaoverthemoon]

Neighbors

Leon Kennedy x Fem!Reader

I said I would do requests and requests you all shall get!

This one was suggested by my bsf <3 He messaged me when I complained about having no requests and offered this idea! Shout out to bestie!

Summary: You're new in the neighborhood and Leon takes quite a liking to you <3

Tw: SMUT, p in v sex, unprotected sex, dirty talk, swearing, taunting/mocking, hair pulling (Let me know if I missed anything!)

Omg, if there are any mistakes, pls don't make fun of me. I just got new nails and it's a little hard to type on my laptop ;-;

18+!! NSFW!! MDNI!! Read at your own risk!!

Enjoy! <3

❁´◡`❁❁´◡`❁❁´◡`❁❁´◡`❁❁´◡`❁❁´◡`❁❁´◡`❁❁´◡`❁

You throw the final box into the pile, wiping the sweat off your brow.

The process of moving into your new home has been a long one, but also a necessary one.

The hot sun beams down on your skin, sweat dripping from every crevice. Your muscles are weak and ache for rest. You turn around and look at your new home, a sense of pride coursing through your veins at the fact that you'd managed to complete everything on your own.

You're so deep in your feeling of accomplishment, that your hardly notice the sound of footsteps approaching you.

"Hey!" The sound of a yell catches you off guard, your shoulders jump and you turn around.

You're met with arguably the best eye-candy you've ever laid eyes on. Blonde hair and blue eyes. Perfectly framed face and a soft jaw. Kind eyes with a hint of mystery behind them, and those arms were something out of a mafia film. You wanted to take a bite out of them...

You realize your gaze had been wandering longer than society would deem friendly.

You feel your cheeks heat up and shake your head to rid of your less than neighborly thoughts.

"Hi! Sorry about that. I was really in my head I guess."

He looks at you, sheepishly smiling. "No, it was my bad, sweetheart. I didn't mean to startle you," He steps closer and offers his hand for you to shake while trying not to stare at your tits through the transparent shirt. "You must've just moved in. I live next to you. Names Leon Kennedy."

You shake his hand and tell him your name, trying to ignore the increase of your heart rate at the pet name. His smile remains through your interaction. He asks about your interests, your family, your life. And you do the same. You don't get many answers, but regardless, after a few minutes, you both feel rather close to one another.

Leon offers you dinner over at his place another day, which is an offer you can't and won't refuse.

❁

The day finally came.

You dress in a simple sundress, bringing a bowl of cookies with you as a gift.

Leon answers the door with a bright smile, welcoming you inside of his home.

His home is hardly decorated, but somehow still feels home-y. He explains that his job causes for him to leave on constant business trips, so he never really had time to decorate.

There's a type of tension in the room. It doesn't have a name, or a describable feeling, but it makes the room feel small. Causes the both of you to feel hot. Your conversations are relaxed, but seem to have some kind of unspoken meaning behind each joke.

At one point, you needed a break from the inexplicable heat.

You ask Leon if you can get something to drink from his kitchen. He, of course, says yes and leads you there, pointing to the cabinet that holds the glass cups.

Only, when you stand on your tip-toes to grab a glass, Leon's large physique is suddenly pressed against your back.

Goosebumps rise on your skin, and a small gasp leaves your lips as his lips skim along your ear.

He has you trapped against him, his arms gripping the counter on each side of your waist. You slowly sink back down onto your heels, grabbing the counter as well for support when your legs begin to feel like jelly. "Leon... What are you doing?"

His hands move away from the counter, fingers slowly tracing from your hip to your waist, where it rests as he whispers into your ear.

"I think we can both feel this... feeling between us... So why don't we stop beating around the bush and cut to the chase, sweetheart?"

❁

Everything seems to be a blur after that.

You only remember Leon's lips on yours, hands wandering and fondling anything he could get his hands on. He'd littered you with hickeys and bruises, slipping off your panties and throwing them off to who knows where.

And now, you lay bent over the arm of his couch, sundress shifted upward over your ass and Leon brutally pounding into you.

Your moans are muffled by the soft cushions of his couch, your hands gripping the fabric for dear life. Your legs have completely given up on you, lying limp and only moving to jerk every time Leon's hips hit yours.

Your hands grip the couch tighter and your pussy clenches around him as you whine out muffled praise.

The sound of skin slapping skin is borderline pornographic, the wet squelching sound only making the atmosphere so much hotter.

Leon grabs a fistful of your hair, yanking you up and pressing you back flush against his chest. "What was that, sweetheart? I didn't hear you.."

A loud whimper escapes your lips, your nails scratching the arm of the couch. "Said- Said it feels good! It feels so good, Leon!"

He laughs and you moan when he manages to hit somewhere deep inside of you. "Yeah? Feels really good, huh?" He growls and thrusts into you at a faster pace. You cry out, your legs going numb. And you would've fallen flat on your face if not for Leon's hands that grab your hips.

"Mhm! Yes!" Leon groans as your moans get higher and higher, your toes curling as he try's a new angle, this one causing him to hit that sweet spot that makes you go crazy.

A desperate sob mixed with a cry tears its way out of you. "Right there! Ah! Yes-!"

You writhe in his grip, your orgasm quickly approaching. He runs his hands over the sides of your body, gripping so hard you know you'll have bruises in the morning.

His thrusts get sloppy and erratic as he begins to grunt and growl in effort. "So pretty... You gonna cum baby? You gettin' close?"

He mocks you- actually mocks you. His words come out as though he's cooing at you, taunting you. Even though you feel like you should be offended by his tone, instead you feel even more aroused by it.

Your back arches and short, pitiful gasps leave you. "Fuck- Yes! 'm gonna c-cum, Leon! Gonna cum jus' for you-!"

You hardly finish the sentence before your release forces itself out of you. You cry out, electricity flashing though your veins, as your orgasm seeps all over Leon's dick. He somehow cums at the same time as you, heaving a deep and shameless moan.

The both of you take a moment coming down from the high, mouths hung agape, breathing shallow, and covered in sweat.

Leon finally pulls out of you, watching your body twitch while his seed leaks out of you. He glances at your face, seeing your blissed out expression. An amused smirk sits on his lips when you turn to look at him. You want to say something snappy, but your lungs haven't fully recovered. So, you settle for just flicking him off, muttering a small, 'fuck off'.

I think its safe to say, you would be seeing your new neighbor a lot more often... <3

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Omgg This took forever!! Finishing writing and proofreading at 3:20am aND I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS SINCE 2PM!!!!

Anywaysss, Hope y'all enjoyed!! <3

Requests are open!! <3

[ladyseaforth]

Feline Arch

Vincent Renzi x reader

——

That feline man slinks to the curb, upon which he sweeps his hand into his grey coat pocket and pulls out a pack of expensive cigarettes. He subsequently pulls out a lighter, the movement liquid smooth and self-assured and velvet.

His silver, boyish head of hair flickers gently in the breeze of the street as his cigarette is lit, the smoke waltzing with the patterns of the air. Yet he is pensive, deep in thought. Upon that pavement, he appears completely absorbed in his own thoughts, completely unaware that he is a very watchable figure. Routine must have gotten the better of him, he comes to that curb, outside the Italian cafe, nearly every other day.

You watch until he inhales one last drag from the cigarette, and look away as he comes back into the cafe.

You have seen him before, but it’s difficult to say if he has ever truly seen you. He may have sighted you, but has he really seen you? His gaze comes in such glimpses. That little notebook he pulls from his pocket takes a significant amount of his sweet attentions.

He has a very serious expression. You want to rub the crease between his brow and light his cigarettes for him. Clasp your hand around his slim, narrow shoulders and slide your chin into the crook of his neck. Imagine the smell of smoke and expensive cologne.

He is a man of good taste, you can tell.

Today, he is wearing a jumper. A sweater. Whatever may suit your vocabulary. It is unusual due to his usual pattern of simple suits and tailored coats. He has a black coffee and a glass of wine on the table before him. He is reading this time.

No haphazard scribbling in that notebook. No serious phone calls before he inevitably rushes off into the busy streets.

You sit behind a glass of red, in a booth on the other side of the quiet room, nursing the scarlet liquid slowly. Your laptop is on the table, the screen light dimming from lack of use. Of stimulation. It is simply there for the random bursts of thought, strands of language that may come to mind as your head wanders.

It is the nature of a writer: waiting for the little things.

“Watching him again? You pervert.” Salomé slides into the other side of the booth, causing you to jump out of your meandering thoughts.

“I don’t blame you for it,” she adds, before you can speak, “If I didn’t have places to be, I would probably be doing the same thing.” Her lipstick smile grows wide and mischievous.

“I do have places to be, I’m just not legally contracted to be at them,” you retort, gently closing the lid of your laptop and picking up the glass of wine.

Salomé rolls her eyes playfully, “Yes, well, we’re all slaves to capitalism, mon ami. Dust we begin and dust we shall return. Now, what red is that?”

You hold the glass up to the light and swill the liquid around a touch.

“Today we return to the merits of Merlot. My writing calls for it. Was simply begging for blood.” You grin back at your friend’s arched eyebrow.

“I see, and is it working?” Salomé gestures to your glass, hand held out in request. You acquiesce and gently set the stem of the glass between her open fingers, watching as she smells the fragrance of the drink and takes a sip.

You shrug lightly, “I can feel it kicking in, it would be doing more if I wasn’t so distracted.” You smirk and turn to give a look to that man, the obstacle to your concentration.

Yet you are met with direct eye contact. And a thin, amused quirk to his lips.

You go visibly rigid and blush as Salomé snorts into the wine at your expense. The man smiles regardless, giving a gentle nod before returning to his book. He runs a hand through his hair as he is reabsorbed into the novel.

“Brilliantly done,” Salomé remarks sarcastically, setting the wine glass back down in front of you. “And a very nice Merlot she is, too.”

“Thanks,” you mutter, replacing your hand around the neck of the glass. You are a grown woman with a career in a foreign city and yet you are defeated by the human trait of blushing.

Salomé cocks her head, surveying your expression. “You overthink,” she says, “And at the end of the day, he is just a man.” She clasps your hand and gives it a small squeeze, patting your fingers before drawing herself up.

“Right, I will see you back at the apartment then. Will you be much longer?” she asks, readjusting her scarf around her neck. You shake your head in response, a small smile playing on your lips.

“Just until this glass is finished.”

Salomé nods, throwing her handbag onto her shoulder. “Parfaite, I will start cutting some vegetables. Will find something to make.”

You wave her off as she departs your booth, her coat tails wavering behind her as she strides across the cafe. As she walks past the man, he glances up at her from his book. You quickly look down before he can catch you watching him again.

You don’t see him turn to look back at you now that you are alone.

You sigh into your wine, reopening the laptop to gaze, eyes glazed over, into the bright screen. This was just taking too long. Nothing was happening. Mental constipation.

With resignation, you tip the rest of the wine into your mouth. It is dry, hints of spice undercutting the flavour, causing you to clear your throat at the sensation.

A light chuckle emanates from across the room. You blink and look up.

The man is smiling wryly into his own glass, the book now closed and abandoned upon the tabletop.

“Difficult day?” he prompts, his English spoken with a heavy French accent, the syllables curving and loose. His fingers run up the bulb of the glass, absent-mindedly tracing patterns into the crystal.

You flash a smile, giving a small cough at the same time. You tuck a lock of hair behind your ear in a moment of loss with what to do with your hands.

“Of sorts,” you supply, giving a self-deprecatory exhale. He arches a greying eyebrow, half-lidded eyes resting upon your face.

“Would you like another one?” he asks, nodding to your now-empty glass. “I can get you another one, if you would like.” He speaks gently, his tone almost betraying a sort of uncertainty. A humility perhaps.

You look down at your hands and back up at him again in a flurry.

“Oh, no. You don’t have to do that. It’s ok, I promised I would leave after this drink.” Your words spilled out in a rush, nervous under the attentions of the handsome stranger and his offer.

He laughs at your response, nodding his head. “Understood, do not worry.” His expression is modest and sweet.

You give a small, breathy laugh in response, a ‘thank you’ in a whisper, and shut your laptop screen. Bowing your head, you pack away your things into your bag and begin sorting your coat and scarf. You look up subtly to glance at the man who has returned to his reading, taking a sip of his wine. White, looks like a Sauvignon Blanc.

As you walk to exit the cafe, you see he is watching you out of his peripheral vision. You decide to take a chance.

“What white is that you have? It looks nice,” you softly inquire, surveying his face reproachfully. He looks up at you, eyes taking in the way you stand over him. Becoming such a presence without meaning to.

He smiles to himself, “Just the house Sauvignon, nothing special.”

You nod awkwardly in response, slightly surprised that he settles for the house wine.

“I will try it next time I come,” you reply, smiling as his lips quirk into a slight grin. Both knowing it will be soon. Perhaps even the next day.

“Good,” he answers, “It is good.” His face flushes slightly with his quick response and subsequent clarification.

You take a step towards the door, taking hold of the handle and pulling it open to a rush of cool outdoors air. You hear his voice behind you.

“It was nice to meet you…” his words drift off. You turn and give your name, before waiting expectedly for his response. He blinks as he remembers himself.

“Vincent,” he supplies. You imagine his name in a multitude of different circumstances. Imagine saying it into the crook of his neck. As he smokes.

“Vincent,” you affirm, smiling, nodding then stepping out the door. The cold air is stark upon your blushing face. It will be a long night of placing his name to new fantasies.

Vincent watches you disappear into the buzz of the city, before returning to his book and waiting for the next case to come.

[teaberrii]

Chapter Twenty: The Ex

Alhaitham has the looks and the smarts. He will also be the stand-in CEO for his grandfather's company for a year.

But, he's been mysteriously cursed to turn into a cat every night since his eighteenth birthday… until he meets you, an employee at his grandfather's company, who rescues him as a cat and changes him back with one kiss.

Alhaitham/You

Notes:

Cross-posted on AO3

Female reader

Chapter index at the end of chapter one

Thoma is driving Ayato home from the hospital that night when Ayato's phone goes off. When Thoma glances at his friend in the rearview mirror, Ayato is already talking to the person on the other end. The call is brief, but from the look on Ayato's face, it isn't good news.

When Ayato slips his phone back inside his pocket, Thoma asks, “Is everything okay?”

"...The lead role they offered me went to someone else."

The car slowly rolls to a stop at a red light. “Is that… bad news? I thought you wouldn’t take it.”

Ayato sighs. “I was seriously considering it.” He looks at Thoma in the rearview mirror. “You were right. I am using acting as a lifeline… but even so, I’m not doing a good job.”

“...Ayato.”

“And this call just proved my point. I know who took the role.” When Ayato tells Thoma the actor’s name, Thoma also knows who he’s talking about. A rising, young actor whose career took off when he had a supporting role in a major drama production that became extremely popular.

“Answer me honestly, Ayato,” Thoma says as the car rolls forward. “Do you really want this role? This is your last chance. If you really want it, you need to say something. There's a chance they'll reconsider."

Ayato doesn’t know what comes over him, but it’s as if Thoma’s words are the final push that leads him to make the call.

“...Yes,” Ayato says after a moment. “I’m willing to audition if that’s how they’ll make the final decision.” As soon as Ayato gets off the phone, he glances at Thoma, who has a small smile. Ayato looks out the window. “You asked me if I want to continue acting, and I do. I don’t hate it. I don’t love it. Regardless, I want to do better.”

And, he might find a more meaningful purpose behind it.

◆◆◆

You’re on a small coffee break with your coworkers the next morning when they bring up Alhaitham dropping out of the panel to determine the company’s next big production. One of your coworkers nudges you.

“Do you think you got lucky? You don’t have to make a big presentation in front of the CEO.”

If only they know you’re dating him. Alhaitham never told you he dropped out, but you can already guess why. And, if you're right, it’s a smart move.

“Are you nervous?” your coworker continues to ask. “It’s coming up in a few days!”

“Well, I’ll put my best foot forward. That’s all I can say.” Then, you pick up your coffee mug and walk out of the lounge, leaving your coworkers wondering what kind of interesting idea you’ll present this time.

You’re about to reach your desk when your phone buzzes. Once you take it out of your pocket, you see that it’s a message from your manager.

It’s urgent. Come to my office now.

What is this about?

When you reach his office and close the door behind you, he doesn’t even gesture for you to sit down.

“Is something going on between you and the CEO?”

You’re so caught off guard by the question that you say the first thing that comes to mind. “What?”

Then, he turns his laptop around and plays a short video that shows Alhaitham coming out of a room. Shortly afterward, you come out of the same room. “This was at the Awards Night, was it not?”

There is only one reason you can think of why that video exists. You remember the crazy reporter and his malicious intent of giving people keychains or charms with a small hidden camera. But… even if someone caught you and Alhaitham… who would blackmail you? And why?

Regardless, nothing could’ve prepared you for this, and you’re at a complete loss for what to say until you finally gather your nerves.

“Nothing happened that night,” you say. “Who sent this?"

"It was sent anonymously."

You almost roll your eyes. Right. Of course. 

"Isn't this illegal?" you ask. "Filming someone without their permission?"

As you listen to your manager talk, you start wondering if he’s worried about you or the company’s reputation. You agree that a CEO dating an employee doesn’t sound professional and can lead to a whirlwind of gossip. But that shouldn’t be any reason for you and Alhaitham to break up. 

“Do you know if anyone else has this video?” you ask. "Because I didn't know about this until you told me."

“I don’t, and I hope no one else does."

You want to ask if this is such a big deal. There's nothing scandalous in the video, but perhaps it's about the speculations. The rumours. Even though you're not a public figure, Alhaitham is. At least with his tenure as CEO. If it comes down to it, you or Alhaitham might have to clarify what you two were doing together.

Once you leave your manager’s office, your phone buzzes. It’s a text from Alhaitham, and you quickly enter an empty meeting room to take his call.

“...I saw the video,” he says after listening to you recall what happened with your manager. “It was also sent to me.”

Well, that's just great. Does that mean the rest of the company has seen it, too?

“Did that person want anything from you?” you ask.

“...No, surprisingly.”

That's strange. You’d thought that this person would demand money, at least.

"Let me get this straight," you say. "They just sent you a video and... that's it?"

"I have my speculation. We obviously have more questions than answers, and perhaps this is what they want."

"Playing mind games, huh? That's dirty."

“Regardless, whatever the reason, I won’t let them get away with it.” Alhaitham looks out the window. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise."

As you're heading back to your desk, you go through all of your emails on your phone. Apparently, this person is too cowardly to contact you directly. You're so busy on your phone that you don't notice Ayato and Childe walking toward you.

"Busy, busy, I see."

You look up upon hearing the familiar voice. “Ayato!”

Childe frowns. “Aren't you forgetting someone?"

“And Childe.”

“That’s better.”

You look at Ayato. “What are you doing here? Another shoot?”

"Some last-minute touches," Ayato says. "But… you might see me less often from now on."

You’re about to ask why when Childe spills the beans. “Just between us… he’s going to be busy rehearsing for a lead role.”

“A lead role… that’s huge!”

Ayato smiles. “I guess you can say I’m finally taking a step forward.”

“We’re going to be losing one of The Strays pretty soon,” Childe says. When you smile, he does too. “Well, you finally smiled.”

“Hm?”

“You looked a little down,” Ayato says. “Is everything okay?”

“...Ah. Well, sort of, I guess,” you say quietly. You lower your voice, and after telling them what happened, both of them look baffled. Then, Childe’s expression turns stern and Ayato frowns.

"That's ridiculous," Childe says. 

“As… crazy as that sounds,” Ayato begins, “You’re in good hands if Alhaitham is dealing with it.”

You sigh. “I know. But still… I’m just… a little rattled.”

“Well, it’s not just Alhaitham who has your back,” Childe says. He and Ayato look at each other. “If anything happens, we’ll be there for you. And if it’s any reassurance, I didn’t get that video… which means I doubt anyone else has gotten it, too.”

“...I hope so.”

“My, what a crowd.”

You recognize the voice almost immediately. When you turn around, your guess is right. "Kaeya!" Tighnari is beside him, holding a laptop. “And Nari!”

“Hiya.”

Kaeya’s eyes don’t stay on you for long. He glances at Childe, who’s looking at him with a small frown.

“Today is just full of surprises,” Childe mutters.

Kaeya chuckles. “You’re right. Good surprises, though.” He looks at Ayato. "You must be Kamisato Ayato."

The two men shake hands as Ayato says, "Yes. And you are...?"

"Kaeya. Kaeya Alberich."

“What brings you here?” you ask.

“We had a meeting for Sumeru Geographic,” Tighnari says.

“It couldn’t have been online?” Everyone turns to Childe.

Then, you and Tighnari glance at each other. In an attempt to break the semi-awkward silence, Tighnari says, “In-person meetings are usually better, don't you think? You get to see everyone's faces.” When Childe frowns at him, Tighnari wonders if he said something wrong.

“Lumine told me you aren’t coming to the party,” Kaeya says. “It’s a shame.”

You look at Childe as he says, “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll still be there. Maybe just not in the way you expect.”

“...That doesn’t sound slightly threatening,” you say quietly.

Kaeya smiles. “Well, you’re always welcome.”

“We should get going,” Tighnari says. “We have another meeting.”

As Tighnari and Kaeya walk off, Ayato says, "He's quite charming."

“A fake pretty boy,” Childe mutters.

You and Ayato glance at each other, and Ayato swings an arm around Childe. You pat his back.

“So... about what you said earlier..." Then, you lower your voice. "Does this mean you're infiltrating a party as a cat? What an exciting life.”

“Truly living the dream,” Ayato adds. "It would make a great series. Childe's Catventures. A catchy title if I do say so myself."

Childe frowns. "Oh, I'm sure it'll be a hit until I claw someone's eyes out."

"Hopefully not Kaeya's," you say quietly, and Childe gives you a deadpan look.

As you and Ayato smile at each other, Childe’s phone goes off. You watch him answer it, and his face quickly turns serious.

“What do you mean we lost some of the footage?”

A pause.

“...Uh huh. Yeah.” Childe looks at Ayato. “Yeah, I’m with him right now. Sure. We’ll be right there.” As soon as Childe gets off the phone, he says, “One of the interns accidentally corrupted the audio file for the scene we just shot, and now there’s no sound. They’ve already tried fixing it, but nothing’s working.”

“I suppose this means we have to reshoot,” Ayato says.

Childe sighs. “Yes, but the problem is that the actress has already left. They can’t get in touch with her.” Then, he looks at you and smiles. “Do you happen to have time right now, Mademoiselle?”

“...You aren’t asking me to act, are you?”

“It's just a small scene. You'd be the closest person we have who can pass as the original actress." Childe gives you an innocent, desperate look. “Please?”

Can you really say no?

◆◆◆

It's the first time Signora has been to the CEO's office, but she has mixed emotions. Alhaitham had reached out to her directly, saying that there was a matter he wanted to discuss with her. The only problem is that he never specified what it was.

She knocks on the door. As soon as she hears “come in”, she opens it and sees Alhaitham sitting at his desk with a stern expression.

“...You wanted to see me?” she asks.

“Take a seat.”

When she does, Alhaitham turns his laptop to her and plays the video. “...This video was sent from your laptop.”

Not even five seconds in, Signora looks puzzled. “What is this?”

Alhaitham turns his laptop back. “You tell me. This was in my inbox this morning.”

Signora holds up a hand to stop him. “Hang on. You’re saying that someone sent that video using my computer?”

“...Are you saying you didn’t send it?”

Signora was walking along an empty corridor, looking for her way back to the main hall for the Award ceremony when she heard faint voices. When she looked around the corner, she saw Alhaitham coming out of a room. As soon as he disappeared down a set of stairs, Signora saw you walking out of the same room. S he raised a brow. Well, that wasn’t suspicious at all.

“I saw the news about that reporter hiding cameras in keychains he gave to people that night.”

“You took one from him?” Alhaitham asks.

“I had no idea there was a camera in there. So, when I saw the news, I had a friend look into it. He took the keychain apart and got whatever footage that stupid camera recorded.”

“...A friend?”

"I know he didn't watch any of it. I was with him."

“So, you never saw this video.”

“No," Signora says. "I admit I saw you and her that night. I never knew it was caught on camera.” She looks him in the eyes. “It wasn’t me who sent that video to you.”

“What about your friend?”

“...Dottore?”

When Signora stays quiet, Alhaitham says, “You look a little conflicted.”

“I don’t see why he would do this.”

Her guess is as good as his. Alhaitham hasn't the slightest clue about who this person is, but you must know him… right?

◆◆◆

You sigh out of relief as soon as the shoot is over. It's a small scene, but the mental fatigue is kicking in.

“Was this your first time in front of a camera?"

You turn to Ayato who’s still in costume. “Does posing for normal photos count?” you joke.

Ayato smiles. “You’re a natural.”

“Ah, you’re too kind, Ayato. But thank you. I did my best.”

“Well, I’d say you two are a hit.” Childe walks up to you and Ayato. “The director likes this better than the one that was originally filmed.”

“You also worked hard, Childe,” you say.

“It’s the first time I saw someone do a complete rewrite on the spot,” Ayato adds.

Childe waves his hand dissmisvely. 

Then, your phone starts going off. At first, you think it’s something for work. Well, you aren’t completely wrong.

Oooh, they’re cute!

I’d buy the snack they’re advertising hahah

They look good together

When you finally find the source of the comments from your colleagues, you're getting an influx of messages from people joking about whether you're changing careers or making your "much anticipated" acting debut. Someone had taken a short clip of you and Ayato together on set and shared it internally, getting tons of reactions.

Well, you guess it’s better than the other video going viral.

When you get an incoming call from Alhaitham, you quickly step aside to take it.

“...Do you know someone named Dottore?”

You stiffen at the name. “Why do you ask?”

After he tells you what he learned from Signora, your jaw almost drops. It sounds like something that only happens in fiction. You should know. After writing so much of it, after all.

Alhaitham says your name which makes you say, “I… yeah, I do know someone named Dottore.” You sigh. “...He’s my ex.”

Alhaitham unconsciously grips his phone tighter.

◆◆◆

You're heading to your school reunion after work, but your mind is on other things. Perhaps Dottore heard about you from Signora. You were also on TV. There was also the photo incident with Ayato. In other words, it feels like you're a public figure now with everything that's happened.

The thought of Dottore possibly stalking you is enough to give you goosebumps. Thinking back to when you first got together... he might've already shown some questionable behaviour.

It was like a scene out of a movie. Dottore had you caged against a locker in an empty hallway. Both of you had arrived earlier than usual for school. You were here to study at the library for your first-period test. Dottore was here to work out.

“I couldn’t hear you,” he said, leaning closer to you. “Could you say it again?”

You were a blushing, nervous mess. It only took about half a year for the guy you’ve been crushing on to notice you.

“...I… I like you.”

Dottore smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes.  “I like you, too, kitten.”

Once the bus doors open, you quickly get off and head toward Lambad’s Tavern. You bump into Dehya on your way there, and you let her rant a little about what's been going on at work before she picks up that you seem a little off. After telling her what happened, Dehya is at a loss for words.

“Good God. That's like... borderline threatening."

"It definitely messes with your mind," you mutter.

“I agree he could've easily heard about you, but how would he know who your manager is? That's stalker behaviour."

You push open the doors to Lambad’s Tavern when you hear, “Oh, c’mon, Collei. Don’t be like that. We’re all old friends, aren’t we? Besides, he’s in town just this week!”

You face forward and you freeze upon seeing the red eyes that once made your heart race.

“Long time no see, kitten.”

◆◆◆

Back at the office, Alhaitham has just finished a meeting. He closes his laptop and rubs his tired eyes. Is there a possibility Dottore will show up at your reunion tonight? Just as Alhaitham mulls this over, he gets a notification that the semi-viral video of you and Ayato got taken down. 

You’d told him about it, including the story behind it. While Alhaitham is proud of you for stepping out of your comfort zone, he's bothered by the comments. You and Ayato look good together? Alhaitham takes that as you and Ayato are professionals. Still, Alhaitham sighs. Maybe it won't bother him as much if people know about your relationship.

How long will this secret relationship continue?

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Kaveh: Hey junior. Up for a drink tonight?

A drink, huh? That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

Where?

Kaveh: Lambad’s Tavern 😀

Chapter Twenty-One

Tag list: @suoshiii @lordbugs @seirenspinel @lxry-chxn @sakiimeo @ash-in-lavender @ceylestia @deathkat657 @forsh4dow @kalpie @elernity @sentieence @chichibleeps @sunsethw4 @hjjks @nqctre @just-simping-over-genshin @tanspostsblog @uchihaeirin @vynbin @ayanokomu @dksfl920 @alatus1808 @itztaki @thetwinkims @imkaaayy @angeilix @starlighttotheleft @letthewindlead @thelonelyarchon @certaindreampost @winterpein @theprinceofkhaos @vvyeislazzy

[narrators-journal]

Also day 5 for illumi with fem reader plz if that’s ok

I’m so sorry if this is garbage, I’ve rewritten this whole thing or large swaths so much in the week I’ve been waiting for this new laptop...I tried to keep this a dialogue-less work, rely on sensations and description, y’know? As well as, once again, lean into the monster fucking vibes like the lovecraft ask lol. But, I couldn’t pick a monster to make Illumi, so I kinda just ended up picking one at semi-random and going forward with it. I hope you enjoy regardless of any of that jank!

CW: Monsterfucking, somnophilia, noncon by extension, breeding kink, breaking and entering, please be very careful if you read this, lovelies, I don’t want to trigger anyone with the set up.

The moon sat, a cat scratch in the dark blue sea of stars. In a way, it felt as if the moon had closed her eyes to plead ignorant of the tall, slim man with a waterfall of silky, tar-colored hair and dark, bottomless pits for eyes that slipped into the window of a woman he’d observed for weeks before. Not that Illumi Zoldyck particularly cared, his focus was on the subtle sounds of the home shifting and the residents of the night.

Once he was certain of the stillness, his tail softly slid the window shut behind him. From there, the demon took a deep breath of the air inside of the house, Good, she’s alone tonight. That means her waking up doesn’t matter.He thought at the only fresh scent in the air was that of the woman he pursued. Any partners or room mates had surely been gone for that day.

So, with the skills of a honed predator, Illumi crept through the quiet home. Weaving around furniture, making his way to her room with no hesitation. After all, he’d done his research. He’d studied his prey, admired the way she lived, and noting her habits. That was how Illumi had decided that this particular woman would be the next human to carry his young.

A process the demon had gone through many times before. After all, as a demon of his status, he was expected to secure his next generation. Yet, as he silently inched open the door of this woman, bringing into sight the body laying bonelessly in her bed, something warmer simmered in his gut. Something...softer than the cold, calculated emptiness he always had when breeding a woman. Something he shoved back down into the dark pits of his stomach with a swish of his tail before he climbed onto the bed to loom over the sleeping form of the woman he’d been stalking for those long weeks. His bottomless eyes drinking in every detail of her figure as if the room wasn’t merely lit by the meager streams of watery light from the curtained window.

That advantage allowed Illumi to note how the woman beneath him wasn’t dressed in the most modest of manners. Only a large, baggy shirt hiding the top part of her body from the eyes of any potential intruders, her legs completely bare save for the comforter tangled around her legs. So, what type of demon would Illumi be if he passed up the obvious invitation? So, he let his clawed hand slide over the soft skin of her belly, feeling her breathing against his palm until his fingertips reached the elastic edge of her panties.

The warmth of a human body always made the long-haired demon hum, despite the number of women he’d slept with in his many years haunting the human race. Yet, the allure of such a warm body was curbed each time by how long on the feeding chain humans were. A demon like me can’t afford to court such a fragile being. He reminded himself, I’m solely here to breed, that’s all she’s worth. But, at the same time, the sight of this woman laying on her back, so vulnerable, her hair a mess on her pillow, her face so peaceful...The inky-haired man couldn’t deny that something about her figure, or maybe the soft scent of her perfume stirred up a darker sensation within his chest.

Not that the man acknowledged it. He simply focused back in on his fingers as they ran along her clothed slit to tease out the slick arousal he needed for an easy penetration. Only for a soft whimper to slip from the woman’s lips.

A simple noise, Illumi had heard humans make plenty of lustful noises in their sleep before. However, this one, while quiet, hit him differently. Something about it had struck some deep, primitive part of Illumi’s brain and stirred up a slew of frivolous feelings in his gut. Feelings that got swiftly shoved back down into the depths of his soul. All he granted such stupid musings was a shake of his head before he forced himself to, once again, focus on the body beneath him. After all, the only emotion he allowed for such a fragile, mortal being was the arousal he felt trickle into his groin.

The human woman hadn’t woken up, though, she simply laid there, so helplessly. A hand laid limply beside her face, her breathing slow and deep. So, Illumi let out a slow breath, his tail coming forward to gently slice the sides of her underwear so the demon could gently pull them off to toss aside into the darkness of her room before adjusting himself over her. And, once he was lined up with her lightly drooling cunt, he pushed into her.

And, despite all of his experience deflowering humans, the warmth that constricted around him this time drew out a groan from the ravenette. His tail flicked as he froze, Illumi’s bottomless eyes back on the woman who sat caged in by his arms to study her peaceful face for any sign of disturbance.

Thankfully, the beautiful woman still hadn’t woken up, only resituated on the bed beneath Illumi. So, he slowly began to move. His initial thrusts gentle and shallow, his only goal, so far, slipping his cock further into the twitching warmth of her body. Yet, when soft moans began to trickle out of those soft lips, those gentle noises stirred up a fresh wave of animalistic desires. And this time, they weren’t as easy for Illumi to squash down.

Breed her, claim her. Breed her, claim her. A small, feral voice in his head chanted, gasoline to the fire of desire that licked at him from the inside. All mine, I need to make her mine. And, as if the mortal had somehow read the demon’s mind, her muscles squeezed his cock. A silent invitation, a dare, to simply plow into her. She’s mine, who cares if she wakes up? That voice continued, all the while, Illumi’s thrusts sped up from a cautious pace, to a deeper, quicker one that focused more on sating that lustful itch under the demon’s skin, than avoiding his partner waking.

Not that Illumi could be blamed, right? He had stumbled across some succubus, or temptress in his search for another mother of his children. After all, that was the only explanation for how dizzy the tight friction of her pussy left him. Illumi had snuck into the bed of countless human women, so for a woman’s sleepy moans to worm into his head and fill his brain with a fog of such a lewd nature, she couldn’t be human.

Yet, even those thoughts became a struggle for the inky-haired demon to grasp. With each schlick and slap of his cock diving back into his lover’s eager warmth and his hips meeting hers, his thoughts became fuzzier, Until, all that was left in his head was that primal chant of breed her, claim her. Breed her, claim her. Breed her, claim her. To slowly increase the all-encompassing need that pulsed through him and tighten the coil in his belly. And, when that spring finally snapped, all he could do was clench his jaws and wrap his tail around her plump thigh to squeeze and anchor him to her to ride out the onslaught of dizzying feelings.

Again, Illumi Zoldyck was no stranger to the thrill of orgasm, whether or not his human lovers climaxed was never a focus, but pumping them full of his own sperm was always the goal. After all, it was his duty as the eldest of his siblings to ensure he spread his seed as far as he could. Yet, again, there was something different about the monsoon that swept him up this time.

It simply felt stronger. The waves of bliss didn’t simply rock him, they all but tore him to bits. Dragging him into the depths of pleasure so deeply that his vision turned white. And, for the first time in...possibly ever, Illumi had to take a long few moments to recompose himself before he could finally pull out of the sleeping woman and get to his feet.

[nanowrimo]

Pro Tips from a NaNo Coach: How to Keep Writing When it Feels Impossible

NaNoWriMo can seem like a daunting task sometimes, for NaNo newbies and veterans alike. Fortunately, our NaNo Coaches are here to help guide you through November! Today, author Shameez Patel Papathanasiou is here to share her advice on how to set yourself up for noveling success:

National Novel Writing Month is almost over. Some authors managed 50K In A Day (my wrists scream at the mere thought), some are steadily hitting that 1667 daily word goal, and others have fallen behind—and that’s when writing starts to feel impossible. 

Don’t. Give. Up! 

Even if you’re under 50,000 words by the end of November, you’ll come out with something: perhaps 20 000 words, exciting characters, or at the very least, a new idea. 

Keeping at it when you’re juggling a full-time job, parenting, and surviving a pandemic is tough, but you can do it. Here’s how: 

1. Sprints

This concept is not foreign to any seasoned WriMo. My personal favorite is a 10-minute sprint because regardless of how busy I am, I can find 10 minutes, be that after I inhale my lunch or the 10 minutes I usually spend creating stories in my head before falling asleep. 

With some practice, you can write between 250 and 500 words in a 10-minute sprint, and if that is all you’re doing every day, that’s okay. Consistency is key. 

2. Writing-On-The-Go

For years I thought I had to set up my space and get in the zone, but one night, after years of being stuck in bed beside a sleeping toddler, I stopped doom-scrolling and opened a Google Doc on my phone instead. Within months, I had an 80,000-word first draft. 

While I realize that some of you use Word or Scrivener to draft, it would help to keep a Google Doc handy for those days you find yourself waiting at the bank, outside your kid’s school, or even for when you’re lying in bed a little bit too cozy to get up and fetch your laptop. 

Trust me, you won’t remember the idea you’re promising yourself you’ll remember. Write it down or send it to yourself in a voice note. Your phone is a powerful tool, use it!

3. Writing Buddies

This is another thing that NaNoWriMo has blessed me with. While writing is often seen as solitary, it doesn’t have to be. Having a close group of friends who write not only means they’re there to encourage you and keep you company, but they’re also there to critique your work and to cheer for you on the days you doubt yourself. 

4. Don’t Compare

Don’t compare word counts, don’t compare the time taken to get published, don’t compare the number of awards, don’t compare anything. Your writing journey is your own for more reasons than even you know. It will happen when it happens in the way that it is meant to happen. If your writing buddies are succeeding before you, remember that there are also others behind you. 

A line from one of my favorite poems comes to mind: If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Which leads me to another line from the same poem: 

5. Be Gentle with Yourself (And Your Work)

First drafts are supposed to be messy. They’re your first attempt at a project, which makes it your worst attempt too. And in every revision, you will create something better and more beautiful. Acknowledge this and allow yourself to play around with characters and worlds, to feel joy in the story you’re writing, to vomit out the roughest form of the story you’ll one day share with the world.

We’re almost there, and no one else can write it the way that you do. Do your best!

Shameez Patel Papathanasiou is from Cape Town, South Africa. She is a civil engineer by day and an author by night. Her literary adventures take her to worlds filled with magic, monsters and someone to fall in love with. Shameez fell in love with fiction at a young age. Her parents fondly recall her first handwritten story completed before the age of ten, titled The Treasures of Zombie Island, which surprisingly featured no zombies at all. She has been writing ever since. Her debut fantasy novel, The Last Feather, is out now—it, at the very least, features a feather.

[onsunnyside]

COWBOY ARI THOTS INCOMING !!!

the idea of this huge, imposing figure well-known within the town for his business and steely demeanor going all soft for this sweet lil thing HAS ME SWOONING !! i’m imagining that he’s kind of cold and guarded and has the THICKEST thighs. 

is this a period piece or modern ? i need to know if i should start watching yellowstone to feed my fantasies.

REGARDLESS, I WANNA GET FUCKED IN A HAYLOFT !!!

i was thinking a mash up of different times like FK, is it the 80s ?? is it the early 2000s ?? i don't know but it's modern enough for cell phones and laptops. someone said it’s like beauty and the beast hehe, let’s just sprinkle in some western vibes

Ari is very cool, collected and guarded, staying in his own bubble on his ranch on the outskirts of town. sure, he wouldn't bite your head off if you spoke to him, but catch him on a bad day and there's a chance you'll get on his bad side. he doesn't fuck around—he's grown up in this town and knows the ins and outs, all the gossip mouths and people who are just in it for quick cash. he could make it big in the city, they say about his steely attitude and resilience, but he refuses to abandon his family's ranch and all those animals.

he grew up misunderstood and the town bad boy™️ with his fellow rebellious friends™️ (it's a wonder how one of them ended up the sheriff). he wanted to skip town but stayed for the sake of his family's ranch, so he's a little bitter about seeing the same damn faces every day.

reader is a good girl: you volunteer at fundraisers and daycares, all while managing a farmers-market-esque business with your best friend (baked goods ?? bouquets ?? honey ?? i don't know what they'd sell).

you've heard the rumours and whispers, the scary stories about him being responsible for the missing hitchhikers (people are so mean sometimes 🥺 no wonder he's as grumpy and closed off as he is). but none of that, not even witnessing him throw a guy across a bar, is enough for your stupid heart to understand he's bad news—at least, that's what everyone has made you believe anyway, but you know there's more to the story, there's more to him.

very much grumpy x sunshine/grumpy to everyone else but you

[melancholysway]

Serendipity (2007!Raphael x Fem!Reader 5

CHAPTER V: Revelation

——— = a flashback is happening or ending ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ or ====

= perspective change

~ = small time skip

Raph kept his promise. He came by about three days after he said that. A few more weeks passed by, and it’s been around 3 months and change since you and Raphael had become friends. 

You still didn’t know about his identity. 

Despite this, it didn’t prevent you and Raph from getting close. You thought of it like an online friend, you never saw their face but were close with them regardless. 

it became routine for Raphael to visit you. Every three or so days, he would come by during the nighttime, knocking on your window. You of course would open it up happily, and exchange a sweet hello while you conversed over dinner. You knew to keep your best-tasting foods for the nights Raphael would visit, and you would learn new recipes on the nights he didn’t. He stayed longer on nights you didn’t have class the next day, since you were able to stay up longer. 

You didn’t exchange numbers the last time, and you cursed at yourself for not doing so. He probably would’ve come back earlier. 

Raphael brought it up the next time he came because he had no way of knowing if you were home or not beforehand. So, he wrote his number on a blank page in your Physics notebook while you were passed out sleeping from staying up with him before he left. 

As the months went on, you learned about Raphael. You learned small things, like what music he enjoyed.

“Classic rock, always.”  He said as you surfed through Spotify on your laptop for songs to play through your speaker. 

He talked about his brothers, and it became hard to put a personality to a name, so he told you.

He spoke about Michelangelo or Mikey, who was his loud and crazy brother. 

Donatello or Donnie, his extremely smart and talented brother. 

And Leonardo or Leo, his reserved and frankly annoying brother. 

He later revealed during the conversation that Donatello was the one who brought your camera back to life, and you thought back to that very first time you met Raphael. 

Leonardo was currently abroad in South America for reasons unknown. You had a feeling it might have something to do with ninjutsu. 

You still kept your promise to Casey of not telling anyone you knew Raphael or that he exists, but it became hard at times when certain things reminded you of him. 

— — —

“I love this song!” Jade pops an earbud in your ear as you sit beside her on the train to Times Square. 

“I know this song!” You listen as the familiar classic rock song plays in your left ear. It reminded you of your good friend Raph.

“How do you know it? Never took you for the rock type, ya know? Seems that’s all you’ve been into lately!” Jade smiles and looks at you curiously, as you think of an excuse. 

You twirl the ends of your hair, “Ah, it popped up in my recommendations once, since then I’ve been into the genre.” 

— — — 

Raphael had the same issues, too. He realized he hung around you too much when he picked up your lingo and used it around his brothers. But, he didn’t mind it at all. 

However, he felt a difference in his mood. He seemed…happier than usual. 

And boy, did Mikey notice. 

---

“He’s gotta be getting some, dude!” Mikey wiggles his eyebrows to Donnie, who rolls his eyes in response.

Donatello sighs, “Thank you for painting that picture for me, Mikey.” he says sarcastically. 

“I like nice Raph, do ya think Splinter’ll find out?” Gathering his small invention from the work table beside Mikey, Donnie ponders his question. 

“Not unless you or I say anything. If it makes him less miserable and moody than he usually is, I won’t say a word.” And with that, Donnie heads upstairs to his lab to start his I.T shift.

---

So, Mikey said nothing. As did Donnie. 

You had begun to get extremely close to Raph, emotionally speaking. 

You longed for him to come over, sometimes you’d spend your nights together on the couch watching a movie until it was time for him to go. 

Other times, Raphael would finish saving the city from crime that all he’d want to do was tell you about his night, which was always so interesting that you couldn’t help but be fully invested into what he always said. Depending on Raphael’s mood, you found yourself talking a lot more in depth with him when he was pissed or upset; and vice versa. Other times, he would convince you to hang out outside the apartment and take a spin on his bike to find a nice place in the city to stargaze. 

One time, he took you on your first bike ride when you were having a particularly rough evening.

———

“Raph, I don’t get it.” You place your large Calculus textbook on the coffee table in front of you and bury your head in your hands and deep sigh. The big exam for Calculus was tomorrow, and you wanted to get some last-minute studying in by taking a practice exam on the same content. However, when checking it over, the questions you brushed past and quickly answered had been incorrect, and it added up. You wound up getting a 70 on the practice exam, and that wasn’t acceptable to you OR your GPA. 

“Ya’ve been at it for an houa,” Raphael cursed at the fact that he didn’t have Donnie’s smarts, otherwise, he would’ve gladly helped you. 

You tried to write and redo the problems out, but nothing seemed to be working at this moment. With the stress of the exam, and now that you aren’t getting the problems correct or how to fix it, you were on the brink of a Calc breakdown. 

You felt a tear roll down your cheek, and you quickly wiped it away. Soon, your vision clouded and you felt your eyes watering. 

“Don’t cry Y/n,” Raphael snaked a supportive arm around your shoulder, and you tried to hide your distress. 

“I-I’m not!” Raphael stared at you through his visor, thinking up something to do for you. 

You stayed like this for a moment, until he got up. 

“Come on, we gotta get ya out of hea’ for a few.” You look at him confused, sniffling and shutting your notebook. 

Raphael motions to the fire escape that leads down to the street, “Meet me by that bike there.” Was all he said before disappearing from your sight. 

Confused yet curious, you decided you could use a break, and whatever Raph had in store for you had a strong chance of getting your mind off of schoolwork. 

You grabbed your sweater and put it on, ready to take on the chilly New York City weather. You shut and locked the door behind you, and made your way quickly downstairs, so Raph wouldn’t wait too long for you. 

Once you got outside and we’re greeted with the cool crisp air, you walked toward the bike Raphael said to, and saw him there as well standing by it. 

Raph grabs a helmet hanging from the side of his bike. “How about a ride around tha city ta get ya mind off things, yeah?” You could almost feel the grin he was wearing right now, and you smiled at his gesture; yet nervous at the same time. 

“I’ve never ridden a bike before, are we really…?” 

“Here.” You watched as Raphael stood in front of you and lowered the helmet on your head. It was a perfect fit. 

He looks at you for a moment before stifling a laugh. “Ya look ready to rumble,” He took a seat on his bike and revved it up, patting the spot behind him. 

You comply and smile faintly as you plopped behind Raphael, automatically putting your arms around his waist for support. You listen as Raph starts his bike, and you tighten your grip slightly in anticipation. 

“Do you have a name for it?” You ask before Raph takes off. He looks back at you, confused. 

“Name for what?”

You laugh. “Your bike. Like, is it a male, female, in between, no gender?” Raphael takes a moment to think, considering the thought of characterizing his bike never came to mind. 

“She rides smoothly yet wild when I want, I love it. I don’t know what I’d name her.” 

“How about…Roxanne!” Raphael nods slightly, and you pat the bike now named Roxanne, admiring how clean and scratch free she was. 

“Why Roxanne?” He asks. Raph actually really liked the name you chose, he just didn’t know where you got it from.

“Or Roxy. I don’t know; Roxy or Roxanne sounds rebellious and strong, like you. So, poof! Roxanne appears.” Raphael unknowingly smiles at your compliment on his nature, and he thinks of you in the same light. After agreeing on the name, Raph speeds off onto the street, and then starts taking sharp turns to an unknown place, a glint of hope in his eyes. . 

“This is so fun, Raph!” You yell over the loud wind blowing against your helmet, your friend laughs in response and takes this as a sign to go even faster. You can tell bike riding is a passion of Raphael’s. Long gone is the stress about an exam, right now, you’re enjoying a night time ride around the city!

You notice the scenery change from busy New York City streets, to back roads and darkness, the view only lightened by the lights on Raphs bike. The many hills he’s driven up never ending. Feeling Raphael slow down, your grip on his waist falters, and he stops the bike by a bare tree. 

Raphael helps you off the bike and takes the helmet off of you, revealing your face to him again. “Like what ya see?” He asks. You stare at him, slightly confused. 

“You?”

“No.” He laughs. He always liked when you made jokes like this. “Look,” he points to the sky, and as you follow his gloved finger to the direction he was pointing, you let out a slight gasp of awe. 

Despite the amount of pollution in New York City, let alone the state, the sight was undeniably beautiful. 

Being at the top of a hill gave you the ability to see all of New York City. You, your small body, staring down at a city larger than anything you’ve seen. It looks small to you, but you know the many loops, alleys, streets, twists and turns intertwined together reminds you of how large the city really is. Street lights, building lights, and the faint view of the Empire State Building makes you step slightly closer to the edge, enough to see the bottomless pit in the event you fall. Taking a step back after that thought, you look up at the sky. 

The moon seems to look back at you; lighting up your face to amplify your beauty, and you think the same of the moon, too. It’s a gorgeous full moon, the craters prominent on the imperfect sphere that brings the Earth its defining qualities during the nighttime. 

You don’t notice Raphael staring at you. 

He’s staring at the way the light shines on your face, and your eyes seem to glow with it. You have a look of pure serenity on your face, and that was the whole point of this thing. 

Raphael wished he was normal sometimes. He wished he could simply take off his suit and run off into the sunset or something with you after revealing who he really was. To experience different things with you. But, sadly, he wasn’t blessed with a human body, only a mutated turtle one. It was laughable, how peculiar life can be. 

His eyes landed on your mouth; your moist lips amplified by the moonlight, shining gracefully. Your mouth is slightly open from the sight, and he couldn’t help but sigh to himself. Raphael was caught up in his world of observing your facial features, he didn’t even realize you had turned to him, only to see he had been staring this whole time. Could you blame him, though? You just look so…

“Beautiful.”

Shit. 

Raphael wanted to slap himself. He wasn’t exactly the most confident, and you in particular had made him nervous at times. What if he just said he didn’t mean it like that? Oh, but he did. Or that he meant the sky and not you? No, you just caught him staring. Not only that, but he couldn’t exactly take something like that back, now can he? 

“I-…” You massaged your cheeks to try and get rid of the new heat that formed on your cheeks from his compliment. “Thank you, Raph. That means a lot coming from you.” You say softly. You’re unable to see Raphael's face still, and this was the downfall of waiting on the day he’ll reveal himself to you. But you knew deep down he was smiling back at you. 

———

You realized you had gotten more invested into this friendship when you started to miss him. 

His presence, his voice, his laugh. 

It didn’t take much to make Raphael laugh, his laughter was something you enjoyed.

What you both didn’t know, however, was that he’d be less frequent in visiting you in the days and months that followed. 

It wasn’t his fault, nor was it yours. It was someone else. 

Leonardo. 

---

“I think you should give him a warm welcome. He’s been gone for so long, you know?” You sat face to helmet with Raphael on the roof of your apartment building, staring up at the full moon present in the New York City sky. Raph scoffs, and gets up from his spot. 

“If he did come back, I wouldn’t know what ta do.” 

April had informed Casey she saw Leonardo on her business trip in South America, who then told Raph, who told you. Raphael was pissed that Leonardo didn’t show regret of his lengthy absence from his family. 

As you and Raphael spoke to each other, the more you realized he needed someone to spill his worries and problems to. Especially when it came to his home life. 

You sighed and stared at Raph. “Well, how do you think Donnie and Mikey would feel if he comes back?” 

The amber-eyed vigilante stares back at you through his visor and ponders your question. 

“Those two are so caught up in their work lives that if Leo came back, it’d reset everythin’. I hate ta admit it, but I miss…us. Tha way shit used ta be.” 

Raphael would never admit it out loud, but he does miss his brother, you realized that much. He had a hard time admitting certain feelings he had, because he always had a wall up around his brothers, an emotional wall. The only person who could break it down before you was his father and Sabrina. 

“I think Leo coming back would be better for you. If it means that things will be like they used to be.” You bask in the moon's light for a moment before continuing. 

“You’re used to how life is without him, but him coming back I think would help bring Donnie and Mikey out of their stressful work lives. You with your vigilante hustle, too. You constantly put yourself in danger every time you put on that suit, all for the sake of people's safety. You carry the world's problems on your shoulders, Raphael, you shouldn’t have to deal with it alone.” 

“How do you always do dat?”

“Do what?” Raph sits beside you and puts an arm around your shoulder. You feel the familiar rush of heat go to your cheeks from his touch, and you savor it. 

“Ya always find the right words. What ta say. What I need ta hear. Ya sound like my fatha sometimes, old and wise.”

“I am NOT old Raph!” You push his side playfully and giggle, as he pulls you closer and laughs. 

It’s moments like these that you really wish Raph would show you who he was. It was also moments like these that you came to the conclusion you developed some type of feelings for the mystery man. 

You’d fallen.

You’d fallen for a person who you didn’t even know what they looked like. 

You realized it when butterflies invaded your midsection everytime Raph texted you that he was stopping by, or when he would talk; his deep accent putting you in a trance. When he would touch you in a friendly way, and you had hoped it would turn into more than just companionship. 

Despite the terrible things you experienced that night you met Raphael, it brought you to this point in your life with him in it. Someone who would randomly text you wondering if you were home so he could stop by. Someone who would stay up and watch movies with you or who would take you on night rides through the city on his motorcycle. Someone who would listen to you, because you did the same. 

And sometimes, all you both needed was someone to listen, when it seemed like nobody else would. 

So, you deemed that fateful night as luck. A lucky accident. 

A happy accident.

Serendipity, if you will.

———

Back to Raphael’s family dilemma: Leonardo was back. 

The oldest brother was so caught up in his own little world, that he forgot about everybody else. 

So when he returned home without a heads up, Raphael didn’t know what to feel. Who did Leo think he was to just leave then show up when it suits him?

Not only that, it was Leo’s job to whip the team back into shape before they can fight as a team again. 

“Leo’s back, say hello before he leaves again.” Raph wakes up Donnie and Mikey by shaking them lightly. He skipped the happy family reunion with his brothers, and went up to his room. 

He had so many emotions going through him, that he didn’t know what to do without talking to you about it. 

~

“He’s back, Y/n.” Raphael typed quickly and sent it to you, to which you reacted by sending a picture of Surprised Pikachu as your reply moments later. 

“Wellll??? How is it?” You texted back.

Raphael couldn’t stand texting, so he called you instead. The usual one or two rings before you quickly picked up was routine. 

“Hey, Big Red, how you feeling?” You greeted him with the usual nickname, hoping to lighten the mood for him.

“Not sure, Damsel.” Ever since you had started calling him Big Red, Raphael realized he needed to find a nickname for you, too. 

You came to using Big Red since Raphael’s frame was much bigger compared to yours, and when you asked him an ice breaker question one night regarding his favorite color, he said red. Thus the name: Big Red. 

You and Raphael had become accustomed to calling each other by your nicknames, as it was just another way of you both teasing each other. 

“I'm not a damsel, Big Red. It was one time!” You earned a soft laugh from Raphael on the other end. 

“I don’t know…it’s…weird. It’s definitely gonna be hardah’ ta sneak around here and be tha Nightwatcha.” Raphael’s whisper almost sounded like he went mute at the last part, as a precaution just in case someone wouldn’t hear him admit he was the famous vigilante if they passed by his room. 

“I can’t imagine how Leo would react if he found out, ya know?”  Raphael huffs and lays down on his hammock, wondering what you’d say. 

“Eh, you’re pretty good at keeping secrets from what I know, Raph.” You hint at his hidden identity, to which his scoffs. 

“Yeah, yeah, whateva Y/n. Listen, it’s gonna be much harda for me to see ya, I don’ want ya thinkin’ I’m doin’ it on purpose. Ya know I like spendin’ my nights with ya.” He says regrettably. It hurts that Raph has to keep you a secret from his family, but at the same time, it’s better this way. It’s bad enough Leo’s come back, and he’s going to be doing everything in his mutant turtle body to keep the team together and focused. 

You blushed at the last part. Raphael made it beautifully obvious he liked seeing you and being in your presence. He had an obvious flirtatious side to him. You loved that you had someone there who made you feel special, and you did the same. 

“I’ll miss you coming over here almost every night.” You sigh as you reminisce about all the times your vigilante friend came over to your small apartment. You learned a lot about Raphael during that time. From the music you listened to together, to the food you ate (you found out he likes Japanese and Chinese food the most,) to sitting with each other for God knows how long to talk to each other about anything either of you are dealing with. 

“I…hold on.”  You hear what sounds like Raphael getting up on the other end, and a door open, followed by a thud. 

“What tha…Mikey!” Raphael’s voice boomed on the other end, with groans from someone that wasn’t him. 

“Uh…hi?” After hearing an audible slap, you hear Raph sign on the other end, “Give me a sec,” And with that, the line was cut.

===

“You were spyin’ on me weren’t cha?!” The red clad turtle stopped his little brother from escaping his room after being caught listening in on the conversation, and Michelangelo was stuck. 

The orange clad turtle recovered from falling face first on the floor. “Maybe? Dude! You’ve been different lately, I had to find out why!” 

“Have ya eva heard that curiosity killed tha cat, numb nuts!?”

“Yeah but, satisfaction brought it back,” Mikey smirked, earning a glare from his brother. “and I’m a turtle…ow!” 

“What tha hell were ya spyin’ on me for!?” 

“I won’t tell Splinter! I swear it!” Mikey puts his hand on his heart, sweating an oath to not tell his master of Raphael defying his orders. 

The baby blue eyed turtle and his brother stand in silence for a moment, before he breaks it. Wiggling his eyebrows, he grins, “So…Y/n, huh?” 

“Get out!” With that, Mikey’s attempt at diving deep into Raphs personal life has failed, and he’s now kicked out of his brother's room. 

‘Shit.’  Raphael huffed. Great. Just great. Now, Mikey knows about his little friend. Michelangelo was notorious for having a loud mouth, and it’s only a matter of time before he accidentally blurts out his secret. 

He knew he would be walking on thin ice for the next few weeks. 

===

You waited for Raph to call you back, but he never did. Instead, he shot you a quick text saying he wouldn’t be able to for a while, to which you frowned at. You didn’t know his living arrangements, but you concluded that he just needed some time. Leo was back after all. 

Engulfing yourself in your bed sheets, you drifted off to sleep; hoping to hear from Raphael soon. 

~~~~

“What’s wrong, Y/n?” Jade flops beside you on the couch and flips on the TV. Sighing one last time, you turn your phone over and put it on Do Not Disturb. 

“Nothing.” 

A whole 5 weeks had gone by, and you heard nothing from Raphael. 

Not only that, but you haven’t seen him either. 

You winded up texting him randomly one night, but received nothing. 

“Hey! Just wondering if you’re able to swing by tonight? We can order from that sushi place, Big Red.”

The day after, you tried calling him, but he didn’t pick up. It seemed as if Raphael fell off the face of the earth, and you were determined to find out why. 

Saying goodbye to Jade and walking her to the elevator, you made your way toward Casey and April's apartment. 

====

Raphael hated this. 

Leonardo being back was one thing, but now he’d have to walk on eggshells around him to keep up his vigilante antics? Not only that, but it’d be risky to even pay you a visit. 

Unbeknownst to you, he was closer than you thought. Literally. 

Here he was, the same night, lying in the middle of Casey and April's apartment after passing out from a poisonous dart. He took the hit for Casey’s sake, although it was Casey’s fault they were caught. 

———

“And now we got walking statues?! You got a plan for those?!” Casey whispers beside Raphael from the rooftop. They watch as a group of people who seem to be stone capture a gigantic bat.

 Looking down, Raphael chuckles. “Hey, those are a first for me too. Who knows, they might be friendly.” 

Suddenly, the largest stone man flattens the bat with his hammer, putting him to sleep. 

Casey steps back. “Haha. Friendly.”

Squinting his eyes, Casey Jones seemed to recognize the stone men and one female below him. He took a step closer to the edge of the rooftop. 

“Hmm.” Casey thought to himself. 

They looked just like…

“Woops.” 

“Way ta go, Jones.”

The statues noticed the debris falling from above them, and stared right at Casey and Raphael, who’d seen everything they were doing. 

“Witnesses!” One of them snarled. Foot soldiers shot darts directly at them, and seeing one was aiming straight at Casey, Raphael thought quickly and stepped in front of his bud. 

“I don’t feel so good.” Raph felt his eyelids become heavy, but remembered the situation him and Casey were in. Throwing a smoke pellet on the ground, Raphael disappeared. Casey followed behind, and was pulled into a nearby closet on top of the roof. 

One of the statues had been following, and forcefully banged on the door to the room they were in. Luckily, Raphael and Casey were strong enough to fend it off before the police helicopter light shined on the unknown figure, before it fled the scene. 

As soon as the adrenaline came, it quickly left Raphael’s body as he fell to the ground unconscious. 

———

Finally being able to walk, Raphael sits beside Casey on the couch along with the three brothers. He avoids looking at Leo, and sighs. 

Now they have to deal with some random immortal guy and his stone generals? Really? Although it’s a weird situation, Raphael is still somewhat excited to get back into fighting someone other than low life criminals. 

Oh, how he’d wish to see you right now. He was so close to you he could almost sense your presence.

“Well, now I know who to thank for tha shot in the arm, so where do we find Winters and his stone assholes?”

“We’re not going anywhere until we get Splinter's blessing.” Leo scowls at his younger brother. Shooting Leo a cold stare, Raph stands up to his brother. 

“What tha hell?! You’ve been gone for damn near two years, and ya expect us ta sit on our asses while shit like this is happenin?! Tha hell is that, Leo?!”

“Listen, Raph-“

Just as quickly as the argument between the two brothers started, it was shut down in an instant. A sudden knock at the door had turned everyone mute. 

“Hey…Casey? I heard April's back!”

Oh. Fuck. 

Immediately recognizing the sound of your muffled voice, Raphael’s eyes widened. Going up to the door, Casey sighed quietly. 

“Hey, Y/n. Listen, now’s not really a good time…” Trailing off, Casey listens intently through the door to hear your response. 

“Oh, sorry, Casey. One more thing I had to ask though, have you seen Raphael?”

Leonardo’s confused face soon turned into disappointment as he looked at his brother. Donatello had the same look as well, and Michaelangelo couldn’t help but snicker. 

“Busted!” He whispered and nudged the red-banded turtle, who put him in a headlock to shut him up. 

“I haven’t spoken to him today, I’ll let you know if I see him soon, okay?” 

And with that, Casey heard the familiar footsteps recede across the hall followed by the sound of a door shutting close. 

~

Something was especially fishy. 

That was definitely the sound of Raphael’s voice. There’s no way it wasn’t. It also sounded like there were more people in the apartment than just him, being as though you seemed to knock at a particularly heated moment. 

He said Leo, was he there?

Although it may be one of the reasons why he hasn’t shown up to your apartment, it doesn’t excuse the fact that he hasn’t texted or called you in almost a month.

Heading back to your apartment and closing your door shut, you plopped down on the couch upset. 

Have you done something wrong? Raphael completely left you in the dark with only a thought that you had done something to him. But, what was it?

Casey seemed to play off the fact that Raphael was in his apartment instead of confessing that he was. 

All of this got you upset, what did Casey gain from lying? And what was Raphs deal of ghosting you completely?

So, you had decided to get out more. Spend some time with Jade and even Teddy to get your mind off of the memories you had made with Raph in your home. Everything reminded you of him; the couch, the songs you played, your Calc textbook for god's sake. Everything!

The more you got out of your tiny apartment, the more the memories of Raph seemed to fade away. 

You didn’t want them to, but he wasn’t putting forth much effort to see you, now was he?

So, when you saw him nearly a month after he had ghosted you, it caught you by surprise. 

It had been totally uncalled for, he wasn’t expecting to see you like this. 

Especially because once again, an occasion of pure serendipity had revealed him to you. 

The real him. 

~

“Yeah, I can come in today. See you then.” Hanging up the phone, you make your way to your closet that holds your waitress uniform for Jimmy's Diner. Just your luck, the only other waitress for this Friday evening shift had called out, and you were asked to come in. Seeing as though you weren’t doing anything- finals week was over, the semester ended, and onto a prolonged break until the next one was ahead of you, why not take the shift? Besides, you could always use the extra money. 

Following the weeks and soon months from when you’ve last seen or heard from Raphael, you decided to just drop it. You had thought of some crazy conspiracy in your head as to why he hadn’t spoken or texted you, but still was able to continue (very subtly) his Nightwatcher persona. Although it was much less than it was in the past, the Nightwatcher continued to stop crimes whenever he could. 

Later on, you’ll realize that taking this shift would be the best decision you’ve ever made since being in NYC. 

Quickly taking a shower and getting dressed in your uniform, you pat Stella on the head as a goodbye and head out of your apartment building. Completely oblivious to the odd aura in the air tonight.

~

“Another coffee?” You ask the man sitting on the barstool in front of you. He smiles and puts out his empty coffee mug, getting lost in his newspaper with the Nightwatcher headlining.

It’s pretty dead for a Friday night. Usually, groups of friends would come and hangout during this time, but it seems the only people here today are the man reading in front of you, and the cook. 

Bored out of your mind, you grab your phone out of your pocket and text Jade. Knowing her, she’s probably passed out on her bed, catching up on the sleep she missed during the past semester. Putting your phone back in your pocket, you do mundane tasks: wiping the tables, clearing tables of past groups that came in before you clocked in, and chatting it up with the chef, Judd. He’s a pretty cool dude, he boasts about how he has kids in college; community college. 

Huffing, you stare at the clock realizing it's only been an hour and a half. Working from 7pm to 12am seemed it’ll be the slowest of the slow. After chatting it up with Judd, you decide to get a breath of fresh air from the outside. . You take a breath of the polluted February atmosphere, and watch as the moonlight shines upon the many cars driving to God knows where in the street. The sounds of police sirens, cars honking, and overlapped chatter of passersby fill your ears, and it's all you can hear.

You look up at the crescent moon above, then glance at the rooftops. You can faintly see a figure standing above the building but can’t make out who or what it is. You never knew the reason people chose the rooftops to look down on the city, but after meeting Raphael, you finally knew why. It’s the perfect view of everyone and everything. The beautiful skylight, how tiny everyone below you look, and the serene feeling of looking at the vast land you’re inhabiting. Raphael was always fond of the city he lived in, and you grew to love it just the same. 

As you took one last look and went back inside the diner, you noticed that Judd was gone from the Front of House. The man was still reading his newspaper and sipping his coffee idly. The soft music continued to play, before it was interrupted by a roaring scream coming from the Back of House. 

You jolted up, anxious to see what had happened. Suddenly, Judd slammed open the revolving kitchen doors and sank under the counter, pressing the panic button underneath viciously.

“Uh, are you okay?” You ask, staring down at the middle aged cook. He shakes his head and continues spamming the panic button to notify the cops.

“No! There’s a monster in there! We need the cops! Where are the cops!? Why haven’t the cops come yet?!” He yells hyperventilating. You were suspicious of this so-called “Monster” but honestly, you weren’t buying it. 

Instead of waiting under the table for the cops, you decide to investigate. This boring night had the potential to become the slightest bit interesting.

You walked through the kitchen, and stopped in front of the walk-in freezer. There was an obvious rustling noise coming from the opposite size of the door, and curiosity seared through your body. You turn the handle to open the door, and the cold frosty wind immediately tickles your face as you try to see through the frost. As your vision clears, you can clearly see a small, red...thing. You’re not sure what it is, but it has its back facing you. He seems to be chittering and munching on a piece of frozen meat from the bottom shelf. He looks like a little devil, actually. He has a little tail, and if this wasn’t abnormal to you he would seem like a cute creature. Shocked, you slowly back away, careful not to trip or make any noise to alert him. 

Closing the door softly, you’re greeted with the warm sensation of the air outside the freezer. You speed walk back over to Judd, who pulls you under the counter with him. 

It seemed as though a whole hour went by, when realistically it was only 20 minutes. The cops still weren’t here, and Judd was freaking the hell out. You thought about Raphael. Maybe he would be able to handle it? But, if you gave him a call would he even answer?

Unlocking your phone, you flip through your contacts, landing on Raphs name. Your finger seemed to hover above the call button, there was a big chance he wouldn’t pick up, but a tiny chance he might.

You mustered the courage to press it, but the entrance door swung open just before you were. 

Judd was much bigger and taller than you were, so whoever did come inside would only see him, as you were basically hiding behind him. 

Heavy footsteps seemed to get closer and closer with each step, the slight creaking from the wooden floor accompanying them. They sounded so familiar to you that it took everything for you not to leave your spot.

“Don’t get up, I’ll serve myself.”

‘No way.’ You thought to yourself. 

A sudden twist of fate had led up to this moment. 

The Nightwatcher was here,

Raphael was here. 

He walked right past you both, and didn’t seem to notice you. The short glimpse you got of Raphael before he disappeared into the kitchen brought back so many memories. 

While seeing him gave you nostalgia, it also pissed you off.

So, why not confront him?

Months worth of not seeing or hearing from him until now by pure chance was an extreme twist of fate. This was an opportunity, and you weren’t going to let it out of reach. 

You had decided to wait a bit, because there IS an actual monster in the freezer, and you didn’t want your small reunion to get ruined by it.

Sneaking into the kitchen, The Nightwatcher was nowhere to be found. It was quiet for a bit, and you tiptoed around for any sign of him. 

That was, until, a large figure was thrown onto the floor, a loud crash following after. Surprised, you duck into a corner where you can’t be seen, behind the large sink. You watch in shock as Raphael gets up and dusts himself off, groaning in pain. You decide to watch the show, I mean, seeing Raph get tossed around like a rag doll was funny to see, especially because he deserved it. 

You watch his large figure get back up, and the small monster latch onto Raphs back, silently giggling as he tries to peel the creature off of him. 

He was thrown onto floors, hit against the fridge, pushed onto counters, and even smacked on the head by this tiny, innocent being. 

It seemed like forever, watching Raphael get his ass kicked by something so little, it was almost comical that you just so happen to be witnessing it all in 4K. 

======

Raphael tried to think quickly of a solution to get him out the kitchen. He wasn’t concerned with killing the damn thing, just steering him away. This monster had a direct correlation with Winters, and it's best if nobody knew about the current situation. Not only that, but monsters were still running around Manhattan. He remembered a few weeks ago when Leo tried to whip the team back into shape one night, and they winded up getting their asses kicked by one big fuzzy blue beast. Splinter had found out, and gave Leo a stern lecture about leadership. 

It looked as though Raphael was out of the clear, until you knocked on Caseys door in the middle of a family feud between him and Leonardo. He felt the feeling of guilt wash over him. He really left you, huh? 

That was the worst thing he could do. It was selfish of him, he knew that. He couldn’t imagine how you were feeling. The nights you guys spent together talking, flirting, opening up. It was the period of something special.

So, this beating he’s getting by this tiny monster? 100% deserved. 

Especially after the small argument with his brother before coming here. 

---

“Raph, who the hell is Y/n?” Leonardo asks sternly. He stands, arms crossed and eyebrows ridged in confusion. Raphael had just finished working out in the dojo, and was on his way to take a shower before attempting to sneak out for his vigilante work. 

“She’s nuthin’ ta worry about, Fearless.” He simply states. 

“Well Raph,” Raphaels brother starts, “She is my concern, if it means someone knows about our family. My god, has Splinter's words taught you nothing?!” Leonardo took the cake for the most skeptical and untrusting member of the group. Raphael was a more benefit-of-the-doubt guy, Mikey was always open to new people, and Donnie seemed to read people well to tell what their intentions were. 

“Aren’t ya sick and tired of tha same old shit!? There’s nuthin’ wrong with goin’ out and talkin’ ta people otha than April and Casey!”

“That may be true,” Leo remembered Sabrina and sighed, “Except you’re risking the safety of our family Raph! What were you thinking?! You know we’re not normal, and we never will be!”

“Don't start ya shit Leo, I haven't risked anythin’. She doesn't even know what I look like.” Leo steps back, confused. How the hell doesn't this girl know what Raphael looks like?

“What is she? Blind? or something?” 

“Whateva’ helps ya sleep at night.” And with that, Raphael heads to his room to grab his duffle bag to begin his night as The Nightwatcher. 

---

Already heated, Raphael was taking all his anger out on this tiny monster, but it seemed to backfire. He had to think quickly of what to do before the monster caused more damage than he already has. 

He frantically looked around the kitchen, completely oblivious to the fact that someone was watching him, before hearing the monster's stomach grumble faintly. Groaning, he clutches his empty stomach in pain, which sets off a bulb in Raphaels brain. Diving in his pocket, he fishes out a few smoke pellets and clutches them in his left hand.

“Are ya hungry, lil fella?” Waving the pellets in front of him like it was a pet, the monster growls in response and charges after Raphael, only stopping suddenly when the pellets are thrown into his mouth. 

The creature stops for a moment, before feeling a heat built up inside him, as smoke begins to come out of him from every part of his body, and he cries out in pain. He bounces everywhere in panic, trying to alleviate the heat of the smoke, and powerfully knocks down Raph in the process of running away. 

“Ugh…that was different.” Raphaels vision is slightly cloudy, and he looks around for his helmet that the small monster just knocked off, getting a breath of clear air in the process. He notices the helmet has slid into a corner of the kitchen and walks over to it. He bends over to pick it up, but freezes after hearing a slight gasp coming from behind the sink. 

“Shit.” 

=====

It’s hard to see Raphael at first, as you heard the sound of his helmet fall to the floor. You’re still not moving from your spot, especially now as the helmet is right in front of your hiding spot. 

You hold your breath, and watch from behind the sink as Raphaels footsteps get closer, and all you can see is his waist down. 

That is, until he bends down. 

He bends down to pick up his helmet, and you finally get to see what he looks like. 

Gasping, you take in his features. 

He wears a red bandana around his amber colored eyes, and his skin is an emerald color, which seems to fit really well. He’s a…turtle. 

He's a turtle. 

A walking, talking, turtle. But, a mutated, able-bodied turtle. 

The same turtle that’s been in your apartment. The same one that fights crime and practices the art of ninjutsu. 

The same one you felt a deep connection with. He’s here. And although seeing his face was by pure chance, you were relieved that he wasn’t some serial killer or 40 year old that was lying about their age. 

So, this is what Raphael has been hiding from you this whole time?

The brothers he talks about must all look like this too, then. 

It explains a lot, really. Why Casey and April never mention them during conversation, and why Casey was so adamant about not telling anybody you knew. 

The pieces of a confusing puzzle you were determined to figure out finally put themselves into place, and it was a relief. 

This small victory of yours was short lived, as your hiding spot had been found, and you became face to face with Raphael. 

His shocked, confused, and nervous golden eyes met your e/c ones, you were face to face with the real Raphael.

If you were being honest, Raphael made his appearance seem much more daunting than what he really was. Maybe it’s because you got to know the person he was, but he was just a mutant turtle with the capability to feel human emotions and struggled dealing with them. His appearance wasn’t nauseating, disgusting, or ugly. He wasn’t normal, but he wasn’t ugly. He never could be, not to you or anyone who got to know him. He absolutely was not ugly.  

“Y-Y/n?” He managed to choke out, his breathing became erratic, and he was practically shaking from you seeing his real self. His breath waved over you, and you enjoyed the cold, minty waft of air. 

“Y…yeah…hey, Raph….” You noticed how his eyes never steered away from yours, almost as if he was trying to see your reaction. 

“Hey…” You weren’t sure how to feel. He definitely wasn’t human, but he was still Raphael. He kept a big secret for a long time, and then left you hanging. 

You smiled at him, signifying that you accepted what he was, and that it didn’t change a thing. 

“I-...I missed you.” 

“I…” Raphael looked for the words to say, but it was interrupted when sirens could be heard. Quickly putting his helmet back on, he stepped away from you and ran out of the kitchen. 

As quickly as you saw him, he was gone. 

Getting up from your hiding spot, you kick a nearby box in anger. Months and months after not seeing Raph, you only get a ‘hey’?! What the fuck? Had you not seen him tonight, who knows when you would've seen him eventually. 

Now, you were desperate. 

Desperate for some kind of closure, you knew just the person to see. 

Dialing that familiar number, you hear your good friend pick up. 

“Casey? Hey, I know it's late but I have a lot I need to tell and ask you.”

====

“Please don't hurt me, big guy, I got kids…in college. Community college.” Raphael rolls his eyes at the chef cowering under the bar table and tries to hand the cash register that was damaged by the monster back to him. 

“Why does everyone think I’m tha bad guy!? I just saved ya life!” Raph argues, before being interrupted by a dagger flying into the register. He looks around, confused, before seeing a silhouette on a nearby rooftop. 

Sighing, he drops the money holder, “This night just keeps gettin’ betta and betta.” 

=====

~

“So, you saw him?” Casey sits beside April on the couch after handing you a glass of water. After hanging up earlier, Judd was talking with the cops, and told you that you could go home. 

You take a sip and frown, “Yes, but…the real him.” April’s eyes widen, and Casey does the same. 

“You saw…Raph…?” The jet black haired male asks, shocked. 

“Yep…turtle and all. He saw me see him, then just…left,” You curl up on the couch and bury your face in your hands, “Without a word. All I wanted was to see him, Jones.”

“It’s a little more complicated than that, Y/n. Especially with his brother, Leo.”

“Why couldn't he just tell me that? Why did he keep himself a secret?! He knew I would’ve accepted him, we had that conversation before!”

THAT conversation. You remember it really well, and so did Raphael.

---

“I know you hide your identity from me for a reason, but you know I wouldn’t judge you based on looks, right?” You sit up on the rooftop and continue staring at the stars with Raphael, who laughs. 

“If ya only knew, sweetcheeks.”

“I’ll see you eventually, you know. I just want you to know that I’m not a shallow person. I’m not gonna suddenly stop talking to you just because of what you look like, Raphael.” You smile up at him, and he scoffs.

“I know ya aren’t shallow, Y/n. You’ve made me feel pretty comfortable, even though ya don’t know what I look like under all dis.”

---

Yeah, you directly told Raph that you wouldn’t judge him for whatever he was hiding underneath.

“It wasn’t just him he was keeping a secret, it was his family, too.” April says, “They don’t know anyone else but me and Casey, and that’s because they trust us.”

“Trust?” You thought that was stupid. Did Raphael not trust you after all this time? He probably thought you were shallow, then.

But why? You had slowly made your way into his tiny friendship space, spent time together, and opened up. If he didn’t trust you, he wouldn’t have opened up, would he?

“Did Raphael not trust me, then?” You frowned, feeling a heat rise in your cheeks, and your vision blur, tears forming and begging to be let out.

You cried, but for good reason. 

Spending as much time as you did with the red-banded turtle, and he didn't trust you after all this time? It was funny, actually. Because you grew to trust him with your life if it came down to it. You made sure he was comfortable and didn’t overstep boundaries, and he didn’t trust you? After all this time, he didn’t trust you?

What a piece of shit. 

You wondered what type of life he’s lived, though. The things he went through, the things he wasn’t able to experience. He vaguely described his pastimes and life, but after seeing his true face tonight, there was definitely more to Raphael than you originally got to know. 

Time seemed to go by in your neighbor's apartment. April and Casey weren’t sure how much they should tell you and only limited it to what they knew when they first discovered the mutant family. 

They spoke of the different brothers, leaving out where they lived, and how they had a rat sensei. They spoke about Leo and Raphs feud, Leo’s absence, and how much it affected Raphael. How upset he was when Leonardo left, and how he hated seeing crime go on and nobody do anything about it. 

So it made sense why Raph didn’t want Leonardo to find out about you. Leonardo wanted no secrets in the family, and another human in their lives would complicate things. 

Not just for them, but for you, too. 

The people who would be after you to get to the turtles. April could tell you how the Foot would kidnap her and use her as a pawn to get to them. 

You took all of this in, everything being completely new to you, until April’s cell phone rang. 

You couldn’t hear who it was on the other line, but judging by April’s expression, it wasn’t good. 

“We’ll be there shortly.” Ending the call, she takes a deep breath, “It’s about Leo…Winter's group took him…the guys need our help.” April quickly gathers her things and Casey does the same, looking at you sympathetically. 

“I’ll talk to Raph. He’s probably more mad with himself.” You shoot a confused look toward Casey, “He’s kept a big secret from you knowing you would find out, and he probably doesn’t know how to handle talking to you after you saw who he really is and after ignoring you for months.”

“You think that’d help?” You ask, hopeful. What you needed was to tell Raphael how much you accepted him no matter what species he was. Not only that, but you were somebody he could trust, and he along with Leonardo could be the most skeptical members on the team at times, but he had nothing to worry about when it came to you. 

His secret was safe with you.

His family’s secret was safe with you. 

And what you wanted the most was Raphael to feel safe with you, as you felt with him.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER: HERE

NEXT CHAPTER: HERE

[sleepingdeath-bboys]

girls on film ; 18+

pairing ; ariel conroy x female!reader

word count ; 1203

warnings ; non consensual voyeurism, porn without plot, mutual masturbation, implied stalker!ariel, dead dove don’t read

read also on ; ao3 | wattpad

It wasn't particularly rare for Ariel to find himself in this position; awake at an ungodly hour of the evening, hunched over a laptop screen whose artificial light was the only thing illuminating the dark and mostly empty makeshift office he'd claimed during their most recent heist. Every surface, every cushion and table, was thoroughly covered in a plastic coating that was easily to clean — as was his preference — and even his hands were wrapped in sanitised latex gloves as he typed away on the keyboard.

After several years of being the head of Deus Ex, he'd begun to find the work rather repetitive and drab. Of course he'd never voice such concerns to anyone (not that he had anyone to vent to anymore regardless), for he had a reputation and image to upkeep as their leader — and it wasn't as if he was planning on retiring or slowing down. No, he had every intention of continuing on as usual.

Rather he just really needed a break, a distraction, so he opened up another window and began searching for unprotected webcams. He didn't usually find anything particularly valuable there, but the occasional dopey pet or domestic squabble was interesting enough to keep him entertained for however long he needed it to (and Jamie had already retired to bed hours ago, so that revenue of entertainment had been sadly shut off for the day).

However his near-endless scrolling was cut short when he stumbled across a particularly interesting feed, one that had him leaning forward to get a better look: a young woman laying alone in her bed, with the webcam (seemingly from a laptop she’d forgotten to close) facing her side — and it was painfully obvious from her movements what she was doing. She was absolutely stunning, completely Ariel’s type, and uncaring for the vulnerable moment he’d interrupted, he made quick work of hacking into her device and forcing the microphone on.

If she didn’t want anyone to see her, to hear her, to join her, Ariel reasoned as he reached down to unbutton his jeans, then she’d have shut it off already. She was practically inviting an audience with such a set up — an audience that he was more than willing to be a part of.

————

The last week had been a complete nightmare of endless work that only seemed to grow and grow the more of it you did — a sisyphus-esque task that was both utterly pointless and completely exhausting. You barely had a spare moment to breathe, let alone relax, so now that you finally had an evening to yourself you decided to take full advantage of that alone time by performing some much needed self care.

So now you found yourself in the comfortable dimness of your bedroom, one hand sliding between your legs to tease yourself through your panties whilst the other groped at your bare breasts (having ridden your top up and over them minutes before). It was so slow and sensual, with gentle touches and intentional movements as you kept the image of that certain someone at the front of your mind.

It wasn’t your hand groping your chest; it was theirs. Their fingers were spreading your lower lips and toying with your clit; their hands and mouth were exploring your body and adoring you so completely in your mind’s eye that it almost felt real.

And in that same vein, your admirer was imagining himself with you: long, dextrous fingers sliding in and out of that dripping cunt; his mouth on your chest, sucking and biting you as you keened and arched into him, whining at his roughness; his thumb circling your clit and overstimulating you through repetition and denial until you sobbed for mercy; his hand wrapped around your throat and squeezing it tighter and tighter until you relented. Not letting you take what you needed until you gave him what he wanted: obedience, ownership, politeness.

Good behaviour; good girl. His good girl.

Oh how he’d toy with you for hours, making you scream his name until the syllables were practically tattooed onto your tongue and him (his body, his touch) were burned into your brain. Until you couldn’t even think of anyone but him; until you were completely and utterly his.

————

Ariel tugged the glove off and discarded it to one side, wrapping his hand around the base of his cock and starting to pump along the length from root to tip. His motions were smooth and certain, teasing his throbbing sex upwards and working with the curve it had — paying particular mind to the sensitive vein on his underside — enough to send waves of sharp pleasure coursing hotly through his blood like liquor.

Widened brown eyes were trained on your body, trailing over your partially obscured form several times over — as if committing it to memory (as if he wasn't actively recording it on his screen) — and he made sure to match his pace to yours. The flicking of your wrist on camera dictated the speed at which he pumped his heavy dick, and each moan and groan and sigh you let out had him bucking up into his fist and letting out his own string of moans and groans — which he muffled by biting down on his other hand.

The last thing he wanted (needed, even) was to catch the attention of his colleagues and have them interrupt this private moment. No; this moment, you, were his to see — to own — even if you didn't quite realise it yet.

As more time passed he found himself rutting up into his fist with every stroke, pre-cum spilling from the head with each thrust, which he massaged away with his thumb before sliding back down to the thick root once again. A mouthwatering routine that matched the severity of your movements and was pushed to a stuttering crescendo when you let out a particularly pornographic moan that rattled through his speakers and settled in his core (and sent another wave of pure ecstasy through his body).

Then he finally came, spilling his cum onto his fist and trousers as he continued to lazily jerk himself through his climax. His head was thrown back and his mouth parted wide in a silent scream as your name and likeness seeped into his very being — infecting his mind and nestling in his bones. Your own cries of pleasure rang out and into his ears and, in the darkness of his office, he almost felt as if you were there beside him.

As if he was buried to the hilt in your dripping wet cunt and you were making those beautifully erotic sounds for (and because of) him; that you were clinging to him and calling out for him to take you again and again. Perhaps you’d like that — no, he knew you would.

And with that thought in mind, as he took a moment to catch his breath, Ariel Conroy found himself smirking at the live camera feed and making a mental note of what information about you he could see. You would be his girl soon, of that much he was certain.

In fact, you already were; he just needed to go and get you.

[batman-obsession-by-secret]

Decided to upload the one fanfic that I actually managed to finish so far on here as long as ao3 is being attacked.

It‘s a Fake relationship AU between Stephanie Brown and Tim Drake (Batman all Media types) that DOES NOT end in a real relationship as Tim is together with Conner. Roughly 8.500 words. Deals with asexuality and aromanticism and includes conversations about sexuality etc.

Read here ⬇️

Wanna be my beard? Is a work of fiction that is based on works in the DC universe.

Originally published on Archive of our own, under the alias brunedoutstudentwithaloveforfoundfamily

Note to Reader

This work was written by me and is riddled with grammatical and orthographic errors as I did not have a beta-reader. Also, regardless of weather you know about asexuality and aromanticism, I want you to understand, that some of the conversations depicted are loosely based on conversations I myself had with friends. Just because I feel represented in my sexuality and romantic attraction in this work, it does not mean that every person on the asexual and/or aromantic spectrum will feel the same. That is because it is a SPECTRUM. My experiences do not have to be like those of other asexual aromantics for me to be part of this spectrum and the other way around. It can help to compare yourself to others to figure out your identity, but it can also be harmful to focus on the differences rather than the similarities.

Start:

One of the many abilities he had gained as a bat was feeling it when somebody was watching him. Given that he was slumped over in his seat in the middle of the night, with only the blue light of his laptop illuminating the room, it was probably Alfred or, less likely, Bruce who had come to tell him to go to sleep. But both of them would have said something by now rather than standing in the door and just watching. Dick was in Blüdhaven, Jason wouldn’t enter the manor unless he was convinced into joining them for dinner by Alfred, and the demon spawn had no reason to visit him at four in the morning. Even if he did, he would have just thrown a shoe or something at Tim’s head and leave again.

Slowly Tim turned around and looked at the door.

Stephanie was standing there, T-posing and staring at the wall in front of her, wearing a weird mixture of pyjamas and her costume.

“What the hell do you want, Steph?” Tim asked exasperated.

“Ooooh, he has senses! Honestly, I thought your brain had morphed with your computer by now. Or did the camera tell you that you weren’t alone anymore?”

“Come on, Steph, it’s like four in the morning. Why are you here?”

Stephanie let her arms fall to her sides and quickly moved over to his bed, making herself at home. It was clear that whatever she wanted would take some time, so Tim sighed and turned off his laptop before turning around with his chair and moving his legs until he was sitting criss-cross applesauce.

“I just came home after patrol” Stephanie started, “and I had a very shitty day at the office and had some questions for you.”

“If you want me to give you pointers on how to survive in a company, I cannot help you. Half of my survival skills come from being the CEO and literally being allowed to fire people if they are assholes” Tim replied dryly, “If you really want help ask Uncle Clark.”

“Actually, this is something you can help me with better than anybody else I know.”

Tim raised his eyebrow doubtfully.

“Soooooo, Tim, you’re gay, right?”

“I mean, queer, but close enough.” Tim was getting really distrustful now.

“Yeah, but you are into men and in a relationship with a guy and happy in that relationship, right?”

“Obviously”

“And your dad can never find out, right?”

“Yes?”

“And I’m asexual aromantic...”

“….yeah?”

“And we both know than men ain’t shit and don’t take no for an answer unless the girl has a boyfriend...”

“Just-” Tim sighed and raised his hand to his brows, kneading the skin between them “What are you trying to say, Steph?”

“Wanna be my beard?” Stephanie grinned and wriggled her eyebrows at him with a huge grin on her face.

“Wha- like a fake relationship?”

“Yeah! I mean, think about it! You get to prove to your dad that you are definitely not gay, and I don’t have to deal with idiots who ask me out on dates at work, even if I say no literally every time somebody asks,” she shrugs.

“I thought you gave your cat a human name just to get out of these kinds of situations?”

“Yeeeeaaah, but people started getting suspicious because I couldn’t show them any pictures of me with my boyfriend, and everybody else has pictures of their partners on their desk or at the very least as their phone background. So, are you interested?” She leaned forwards on the bed, still with a shit eating grin on her face.

“I mean... I would have to ask Kon first. What exactly would this entail anyways?”

“For me it would just be a few leading pictures and maybe you could join me on the office-Christmas party or some shit. And I guess I could accompany you to some family dinners or whatever you do with your dad?”

“You know what? Deal!”

…

The thing about Stephanie was that she didn’t do things half assed. When she had talked about “a few leading pictures” Tim had imagined some uncomfortable pictures with him hugging her from the back like couples always did. He did not expect her to take pictures of him sleeping, or to book an actual photographer for a couple-session in the park.

Admittedly, it was a lot of fun, though.

Kon had decided to join them on all their little fake-relationship adventures. Not because he didn’t trust Tim but because he wanted to laugh at them while they embarrassed themselves.

At first it had been embarrassing too, but the longer they were taking pictures, the more relaxed Tim became and as such he actually started to have fun.

Stephanie was wearing a beautiful long purple dress and had forced Tim into a suit in the exact same colour. They had started out with the typical “staring deeply into each other eyes” stuff and “hold hands while hugging a tree”, but now they had reached the “throw leaves at each other” and “pretend you`re drunk while walking” part of the shoot.

Instead of throwing the leaves into the air so they would artfully fall down around them, Tim had full on launched them at Stephanies face. They had found random bugs in her hair and dress for about ten minutes after that and Con had laughed so much, he had started to cry.

Then Stephanie had pretended to be drunk not by slightly staggering and laughing like intended, but instead by leaning her entire body weight onto Tim who unfortunately was still smaller than her. When he had shoved her away, she had tumbled down half the hill before eventually letting herself fall and roll down the rest of the way. The photographer had been very concerned while Tim and Conner were nearly choking of laughter. Bruce of course had taught all the Batkids how to properly fall before he had started teaching anything else, so there really wasn’t a reason to worry.

In the end, they had a very exasperated photographer who had a lot fewer good pictures than planned, two very dirty, and three very happy clients. Tim ended up giving the photographer an enormous tip as an apology. It would still take about a week until they would see the results, because the photographer was going to photoshop them first to adjust the lightning and such. By now Tim and Steph couldn’t wait for the pics.

After spending half of the day in the park (miraculously without Ivy interrupting them) the three decided to go to a restaurant for a “fake date”. That had been Conner’s idea and Tim was pretty sure he had only said that because he was truly hungry, but they decided that they hadn’t gone to a proper restaurant together in such a long time, that it only suited to do so now.

“Jesus fuck, Stephanie, don’t you know how to use a knife?” Tim laughed as Stephanie bit of another piece of steak that she had simply punctured with her fork and was now holding up in a single piece.

Stephanie said... something. Tim really couldn’t understand her with her mouth full.

Instead, he turned around to his boyfriend. Conner had ordered some type of steamed buns that were served with a hot pear-custard. Tim had originally thought that it was more suited as dessert, but when the dish arrived, they soon realised that the so-called buns were a lot bigger than expected. They were, however, very fluffy and Tim was dying for a taste.

Luckily, he knew his boyfriend well enough to not even have to ask.

“Ah” he said and opened his mouth suggestively. Con grinned and dipped his fork with a piece of bun into the custard again, before feeding it to Tim.

“Eeew, love” Stephanie commented loudly enough for the people a table over to turn their heads.

“Shhhh!” Tim hissed angrily at her despite his full mouth and ducked his head as he caught the eyes of the man next to them. Quickly he kicked her leg beneath the table, and she started swearing at him (luckily considerably quieter than before), but when Tim caught Conner only laughing at the situation, he couldn’t help but stare at him and smile. Soon enough Conner stopped laughing. He leaned forward and put his tilted face in his hand before reaching over with the other one and stroking over Tim’s lower lip where he had apparently spilled some of the gravy during their little dispute.

“God, you guys are disgusting” Stephanie said, but when Tim threw her an angry look, he saw that she as well was smiling.

“Must be horrible to be confronted with the exact same thing you are trying to get away from, huh?” he teased.

“Meh, it’s easier when I know that I’m not involved in it, you know? Like if somebody was staring at me the way Conner was just staring at you, I’d probably go find the next toilet to escape through the window” she laughed. “But when I see him looking at you like that, I’m honestly just happy for the two of you.”

“Awww, that’s so nice of you” Tim responded.

“Wait, I’m a little confused” commented Conner “I thought the two of you used to be a thing? Was the relationship with him so bad that you just decided to never try that again?” he laughed, though clearly in an uncomfortable way, as if he was a little scared of the answer or rather of offending someone.

“Nah, don’t worry. Our relationship was great! I mean we didn’t go very far, but the things we did do were nice... in a way. I think both of us only started that relationship because we didn’t really understand our sexualities yet but were became such good friends so quickly that we both though “huh, guess this is that love-thing everybody keeps talking about”, you know?” she explained.

“Yeah,” Tim added “I think the main reason we both were happy in that relationship was because both of us were actually so uninterested in anything truly sexual or romantic with the other one that neither of us felt as if we were being pressured into anything. Honestly, apart from you of course, Steph was the partner I felt the most comfortable around-”

“Awwww”

“Shut up! But yes, we broke up, because I had my first ever real crush and realised that maybe what Steph and I had simply wasn’t love. And I guess both of us were stupid enough to think that breaking up meant having to hate each other and avoid each other for ever, cause that’s what they show in the TV and stuff, so we pretty much cut off contact after the breakup. And then when we met again, we realised that we actually still acted the exact same way around each other as we did before, just without the weird attempts at making out, so we became friends again, and here we are” he shrugged.

“Oh, so you’re not just a lesbian?” asked Connery and put an arm around Tim’s shoulders while stuffing another piece of bun into his mouth.

“What? No! What made you think that?”

“Well, when Tim told me about your fake relationship, he told me there was no way you could try to make this into something more serious and I guess I just assumed...”

“No, no, I’m asexual aromantic.”

“Oh, asexuals are those who don’t have sex, right? So aromantics don’t fall in love?”

“Well, not quite. Asexuals can have sex if they want to, but many don’t want to or are even sex-repulsed but most of the time asexuality is defined as not feeling sexual attraction at all. Like not looking at someone and thinking “oh, they look hot” and stuff like that. But yeah, aromantics don’t feel romantic attraction. But you know both of these terms are umbrella terms so there are a lot of people that define themselves as aromantic or asexual but don’t fully fit the description I just gave you.”

“So, what about you?”

“Yeah, I don’t feel any sexual or romantic attraction and I also absolutely do not want to have sex. I mean everything about that just kind of freaks me out? I’m pretty sure if somebody sent me a dickpic I would just immediately throw up and if I had to touch one... god, I can’t even imagine. I mean they are just so disgusting? And vulvas are weird too? But I have one, so they are kinda okay, but like I don’t even like to masturbate and if I do masturbate, I don’t touch it with my fingers, cause yuck, so I just use toys. But yeah, my sex-drive is pretty small anyways, so I just masturbate like every few weeks?”

“Okay, that might be a bit too much information, Steph!” Tim interrupted while throwing a look around the restaurant. There was a young couple nearby who had stopped talking to listen as soon as Stephanie had started her rant and a server had approached their table, assumably to pour them more water, but had immediately left when she had heard their topic.

“No, actually, it’s really interesting to hear this!” Conner commented “I mean, I never really get the chance to hear about the opposite of my attraction you know? After all education is the most important weapon and I think we all know, that no sex-education teacher would ever get into such depth” he laughed.

“Oh please, as if this would get mentioned in sex-ed at all! I didn’t even learn about anal sex being a possibility until Bruce decided that school sex ed was shit and that he had to teach us about the real world.”

“True, in my first sex-ed class the teacher taught us, that every decision we did was subconsciously because of our sexuality and as an example she said that whenever we got dressed we subconsciously tried to look good to out crushes, which confused the FUCK out of me, because back then, the only person I actually wanted to impress was my mother, and I was actually trying to look like a good daughter whenever I got dressed. Seriously thought I had like an Oedipus complex because of that!”

Tim burst into laughter at that and didn’t manage to stay quiet, causing even more people to start staring at them.

“What’s an Oedipus complex?” asked Conner and Tim’s head whipped around to him with a face full of disbelieve before he started laughing even more.

“It’s when you wanna fuck your mom”.

“Ew, what the fuck? Who would even think about that?!?!”

“Well certainly not you, unless you decide to classify Lex Luthor as your mom”.

“Oh my god” exclaimed Conner and gagged while Tim laughed so hard, he had to hold onto the table and Steph’s grin became even more devious.

“Anyways, back to the masturbation thing...”

“No, please I don’t want to hear it if it involves your mom!”

“It does NOT! I said I only THOUGHT I had an Oedipus complex because that useless-ass teacher decided to generalize an experience that only y’all allosexual-hypersexual-perverted-horny-ass-dumbasses have!!!!”

“Please!” Tim managed to get out between his gasps “No more, Steph. I can’t breathe” and he wiped away tears of laughter from under his eyes.

“Shut up, I’m educating Mr. Kent here!” Steph turned back to Connor and put on an unexpectedly serious face “So basically porn doesn’t do it for me and hentai used to do it for me, but now I only find stuff that is like extremely unrealistic and often super rapey so most of the time I just listen to people having sex because auditive stimulation gets me going-”

“Errr...”

“And I can’t even imagine myself in sexual situations. Like my phantasies always surround other people-”

“Real people?”

“No like book characters and stuff.”

“Huh”

“Like 50 shades of grey”

“Excuse me?”

“Sure, the book was unrealistic as fuck and not particularity well written – in my personal opinion- but it was good if you wanted to read some smutty porn, you know?”

“No, I don’t. I don’t read porn... or watch it, to be honest.”

Tim stopped laughing and looked at Conner in surprise. “Really? You don’t watch porn?”

Connor shrugged a little uncomfortably. “Am I supposed to? I don’t know it never really did something for me...”

“No, you don’t have to. I just kind of saw you as.... I mean you have a pretty high sex drive” Tim commented with a face as red as a tomato and threw another quick glance around, suddenly caring about the other people in the restaurant again.

“I mean yeah, I do, but porn just doesn’t do it for me? Like it is so different from any sexual experience I ever had... it’s kind of like watching a very bad actor?”

“Mh, yeah, I guess I get that....”

“By the way, Tim. When I started this whole fake-dating thing you said that you were queer rather than gay, but when you broke up with me you said you were gay.... just.. I guess I’m a little confused. Can you explain that a little more? If you want to, I mean. No pressure and all that, you don’t owe me an explanation or anything, I just thought, since we’re already talking about it and stuff....”

“Yeah! Sure! I mean, a lot about my understanding about myself has changed since we broke up. When we broke up I truly though I was gay, but since then I had a few minor crushes on girls that made me rethink that, you know? It’s just that when you say “I’m bisexual” most people think that you like boys and girls the same amount, but I kind of prefer boys? Like every time I had a crush on a girl it went away quicker, but it also took a lot longer for me to develop one and it was always on a girl that I was already friends with."

He stroked his chin “I kind of thought that I might be a bit like demi-romantic when it comes to girls but a full-blown allosexual when it comes to boys? I don’t think there is an extra label for it, but I also feel the most comfortable with “queer” just because most of the realizations I had about my sexuality were years apart and I’m kinda scared to come out as something and realizing later on, that a different label fist better...”

“Well, sexuality is fluid. I think it is totally normal to find out later on that a label that used to be perfect feels different now.”

“Yeah, I know. The thing is coming out is already hard, but coming out a second time because you were wrong the first time? I would probably be too scared that people say “see I knew you lied” or “see it WAS a phase” to even come up with the courage for that. Apart from that...” he reached over and took Conners hand in his, smiling shily at him “as long as the two of us are together, any possible changes regarding my sexual identity won’t make a difference anyway.”

“Awww” Conner said and leaned down to press a tender kiss on Tim’s lips.

“I’m pansexual by the way” he said when he sat back again.

“HA! So, you ARE my complete opposite!” exclaimed Steph and Connor laughed again.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

…

The pictures came in less than a week later and they were amazing. The lighting was perfect, and the photographer had given himself the trouble to photoshop every single stray hair and pimple until the pictures looked crispy clean.

Most importantly they were cringy as fuck.

Tim loved them so much, that he went to find Alfred’s stock of picture frames and put the ones that were the worst onto the bedside table not only in the manor, but also his nest and some of his most frequently used safehouses. When Connor found out about that he decided to do the same just to fuck with everybody who ever visited him.

Stephanie on the other hand decided to take the most realistic looking ones and framed them for her office. Additionally, she forced Tim to take some selfies that she used as her phone background.

Technically they were now done from her side of the deal. The only reason why she could need Tim’s assistance again was if there were any company dinners or somebody still decided that she wasn’t if the table yet. Apparently, there was one very insistent co-worker Tim might have to scare off by actually showing up at her workplace though they both hoped that they would be able to avoid that.

But Stephanie still had to show up for her part of the deal which meant a dinner with Tim’s father and his new girlfriend Dana.

Tim was a very particular planner, and he had a backup plan for every possible situation which led to Stephanie staying at the manor with him for nearly a week prior to the dinner just going through all the possibilities.

The idea was pretty simple: Tim had already requested to be allowed to bring a +1 to the dinner and he would bring Stephanie over and driver her home (which of course meant the manor). Stephanie would wear on of the formal dresses she normally only wore to Bruce’s balls or charity events, and she would only speak about “proper” topics in a “proper” language to ensure that Jack Drake was pleased.

Jason had walked in on the two going through the pronunciation of certain archaeology terms that Jack was sure to bring up and had joked about them being the real-life version of Pygmalion and asked if they needed help from a professional.

Neither of them had gotten the joke which led to Jason walking away and muttering about “the uneducated youth”.

When the day came, both of them got dressed at the manor and decided to take Tim’s car to drive the admittedly very short drive over to Drake-manor. It didn’t occur to Stephanie that they hadn’t actually told anyone what exactly they were doing until the two were standing at the front door and Alfred came over to fix Tim’s hair and tie.

He had a weir look on his face. An unnatural state of nearly fully hidden confusion and pride. The confusion seemed to win over though.

Damian didn’t seemto have any interest in hiding his emotions. He was standing on top of the stairs with disgust clearly written all over his face. Next to him was Bruce who looked as if he was trying to solve a particularly tricky trap by the Riddler.

Stephanie was kind of sad that Dick, Jason, and Duke weren’t there. Cass would have either looked through their intentions within a second or at the very least hid her emotions well enough for Steph not to get it.

Tim seemed to be blissfully unaware of the tumult he had caused in his family’s minds.

“Thanks, Alf. We should be back in around 4-5 hours. I doubt it’ll take longer than that... at the very least you won’t have to plan for us for dinner. See ya!” He said and waved at all the people in the room before literally taking Steph’s hand to lead her out of the door.

As soon as the door shut behind them Steph snorted.

“What?” Tim asked.

“You didn’t tell them, did you?” She didn’t have to wait for an answer. His confused face told her more than enough. “Oh my god, Timmy. They all think we’re an actual couple now!” she laughed.

“What? No, they don’t.”

“Well, if they didn’t think so when we went out, clearly overdressed and claiming that we’re going out for dinner than they certainly thought so when you took my hand just then.”

Tim quickly let go of her hand as if he had burned himself and stared at her in shock.

“I only did that to get into the role!”

“Yeah, I know that, but they don’t.”

“Oh my god, that’s horrible” Tim swore and held his head in his hands “No, wait!” he looked up, clearly having had an epiphany “This is great! Oh, I can totally use that against them!”.

…

The dinner seemed to go well as far as Stephanie could tell.

They had decided to stay as close to the truth as possible, which meant that they admitted having had a relationship before, when Jack asked how long they had known each other, though they lied and claimed that they broke up, because Stephanie moved away for some while.

She had also admitted to her office job, which had been the absolute low of the entire dinner, as Jack had managed to subtly hint what he thought about office workers. Fucking rich people and their obsessions with good paying jobs- HA! I’m kidding. Their obsession with pretending their inherited money way showed their own hard work and achievements. Yeah, sure. Who are we kidding?

Still, Stephanie thought everything was going well.

Dana was very interested and attentive, leading the conversation away from work and over to hobbies. She generally showed good abilities to settle or even avoid any disputes.

So, Stephanie was certainly surprised, when she went for the bathroom and immediately walked into Tim when she exited.

“What the hell, Tim?”

“Plan F, we have to kiss.”

“What? What the fuck, Tim?”

“You agreed to all my plans!”

“Yeah, but only because I thought there was no way we would get further than C!”

“Come on, Steph. My dad does not believe us! We have to step up our game.”

“Can’t we start with like holding hands and stuff?”

“We did that the entire evening! I’m telling you, he does not believe us! I’m just talking about like a short peck, nothing more. We used to fully make out!”

“Okay, thanks, please don’t remind me of that. Fine, I’m okay with a short peck. Is Connor okay with that?”

“Yeah, don’t worry I asked him.”

“Okay, when?”

“Just at the end, when we leave. Jack is going to watch us get into the car and drive away, I promise. As suspicious as he is, he definitely will. I’ll hold the door open for you and we can give each other a short kiss before we enter the car and then drive of immediately.”

“Alright, let’s do it.”

…

It still took about an hour more until they were even able to leave. Jack had hired a cook just for the day and apparently that meant that 3 courses was not enough.

Eventually they managed to convince Jack and Dana that Stephanie had to be home early enough to get some proper sleep before she had to head to work (a lie, she didn’t work tomorrow). When Jack asked Tim where he was going to stay the night, he told him that he was going to stay with Steph, and there was a short moment of uncomfortable silence before Jack nodded but not without suspicion.

Finally, they managed to get their goats and just as Tim had predicted Jack went outside to see them of.

Tim led Stephanie to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. Just before she went to sit down, the two turned towards each other and Tim gave her a short smile, before she leaned down to give him a short kiss on the lips.

For a second, she could taste the sweat on his upper lip, but then the kiss was over and Tim soon closed the door after her.

In the mirror she saw him walk around the car and waving at his father, who looked a lot more convinced than before. Tim entered the car and started driving before he even put on the seatbelt. The two of them managed to wait until they were out of sight before Tim abruptly stopped the car.

“Eww, this used to be better back when I was straight!” Tim exclaimed and violently rubbed his sleeve over his lips. Steph quickly got a water bottle from the back of the car and started gurgling with it before opening the door and spitting the water onto the street.

“What are you doing? It’s not like it was a French kiss!”

“No, but I still got your taste on my tongue. God, why was your lip so sweaty? This was like kissing my brother!” she complained.

“I was nervous!”

“About kissing me?”

“Oh, please, been there, done that! I was nervous about my dad obviously!”

…

When they arrived at Wayne manor minutes later, Tim parked the car outside and once again went to open Stephanies door.

“Oh, thank you, my love” Steph mocked, and Tim grinned.

As they reached the entrance door, he held her back again.

“Hey, I just wanted to thank you for this. I know it wasn’t easy to let yourself be mocked by my father like that and to listen to his rambles for hours. So, yeah.... thank you.”

Stephanie smiled at him and eventually opened her arms in an invitation. It had been quite a while since the two had shared such an honest hug. The last few years had been filled with hardships and deceptions. It was good to know that the two had finally managed to get to a point where they could truly leave all of that behind them.

It also wasn’t often that either of them had the chance to enjoy a hug as long as this one without being interrup....

Somebody cleared their throat beside them, and Stephanie and Tim immediately separated.

“You two had a good time?” Jason asked from where he was standing in the door. He was holding his motorcycle helmet under his arm, clearly on his way to leave, and had one brow lifted in amusement and surprise.

Instead of explaining the situation, like Stephanie was just about to do, Tim gave him a blinding grin.

“Yes, thanks, anyways, goodbye!” he said and grabbed Stephanies hand, guiding her past Jason and into the manor.

…

Tim and Connor were cuddling in Tim’s bed in his nest, when Stephanie barged in through the window. Connor had Tim secured in his arms, playing the part of the big spoon for a change, while Tim was holding onto his arm with one hand and scrolling through his phone with the other. They had spent the day together and had decided to make the best of the little time they had before Tim had to leave for patrol. Unfortunately, due to the level of caffeine in Tim’s system, sleeping was off the table, so cuddling it was.

“Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim” Stephanie whined and threw herself on top of the two, causing Connor to laugh.

“Ugh, what do you want Steph?”

“They don’t believe me.”

“Mh? Who doesn’t believe what?”

“Elijah, that dude from work doesn’t believe me. Or maybe he just doesn’t care. But he’s still insisting to go out with me!”

“I don’t understand,” Con chimed in “Why don’t you just tell him no?”

“Wha.. Seriously Con? I did!!! He just doesn’t fucking care and doesn’t know how to take no for an answer!”

“So? You have the combined power of Robin, Batgirl, and Spoiler in your fists. Just make him understand.” Connor answered coldly.

“God, I wish I could, but B would kill me for that.”

“Doesn’t he have a no-kill-policy?”

“I meant figuratively.”

“Ooooh, Stephanie, pulling out the big words!”

“Oh, fuck off.”

“What exactly do you want me to do, though? I already posed for pictures with you.” Tim asked. He now had his eyes closed, clearly trying to mentally escape from the situation. The entire day had been so nice, just him and Connor, all on their own, in either silence or calm conversations.... why did Stephanie have such a loud voice?

“Come to the company Christmas party with me?”

“Pretty sure Bruce will throw some type of event that I’ll have to attend so no thanks, I’ll pass.”

“Ugh, fine, can you like pick me up from work or something?”

“That sounds.... doable.”

Stephanie grinned. “Great! I’ll see you tomorrow then!”

“Wait, no, I don’t have time tomor...” but Stephanie had already left through the window again.

Tim sighed defeated.

“Not that I mind, honey, but how long are the two of you planning to continue with this?” Connor asked.

“I don’t know. I mean I think my father is convinced. Tomorrow will probably be the last time...” he sighed once more, “Hey, Con, what are you doing tomorrow?”

…

He wasn’t entirely sure, why he was so nervous, but here he was, in nice but comfortable clothes and a bouquet of flowers in his hand, standing in front of the building Steph was working in.

It was an ugly looking office complex that had some visible cracks in its foundation, but considering that this was Gotham, it looked pretty good.

There was no receptionist or security, so Tim simply walked in and after a short look at the elevator decided to take the stairs up to the fourth floor.

To say that Stephanies workplace was chaotic would have been an understatement. There seemed to be a couple of private offices at the edge of the giant room he entered immediately after leaving the stairs. Within the room however there were no separating walls but only thin plywood that barely gave anybody the privacy of not being seen when the sat. It only reached up to Tim’s chest when he was standing, and he was man enough to admit that he wasn’t exactly the tallest of people.

It was loud. Hundreds of people seemed to be talking at the same time and several phones were ringing from different directions. That paired with the constant clicking of keyboards and the whirring of the coffee machines and the lights created an unbearable mixture of sounds.

He saw several people wearing headphones, and absolutely everybody had an absolutely dead expression of their face.

Tim would have never found Stephanie if he hadn’t seen Elijah. At least he assumed that it was Elijah from the description Stephanie had given him. A washed-out blue button down, sleeked back blonde hair, and a devilish grin. He was slumped over one of the plywood walls which made him very visible as he was the only head Tim could fully see over the borders.

He was apparently talking to somebody, and his grin quickly changed to a badly executed puppy look and pout as Tim came closer.

“Aww, come on honey, I’m just asking for a single date, mh? Couple of drinks, maybe a little fun, that’s all.”

“And once again, no, I’m not interested.” Tim heard Stephanie answer. Her voice sounded resigned as if she had had the same conversation on a daily basis.

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that. I’m a great guy, really! I bet I could make you feel better than your boyfriend.” Elijah went on.

“Better than me? I doubt that.” Tim decided to interrupt and gave Elijah a blinding smile when he whipped his head around to him. Stephanie quickly stood up, clearly not having expected Tim to show up at this moment.

“Tim! Hey! I didn’t think you... aww are those flowers?”

“Of course, babe, I wouldn’t want to show up empty handed.” Right then and there, Tim decided to play his part as a loving boyfriend as overbearingly as possible, immediately leaning over the plywood and pressing a kiss on Stephanies cheek. “I missed you honey,”

Stephanie laughed, “we saw each other yesterday.”

“An eternity without you” answered Tim, and yeah, he may have overdone it a little bit just now.

“You are Timothy Jackson Drake!” Elijah exclaimed in disbelieve from the side. When Tim looked over, he saw with satisfaction, that his face had gone white, clearly seeing that he couldn’t compete with Tim.

“And you are?” Tim asked back, sending a disapproving and obvious look down Elijah’s body.

“I.. Uhm... Elijah.”

“A-ha,” Tim said, attempting to show his disinterest in Elijah’s person before turning back to Stephanie “I got a date planned, honey, care to join me?”

“I.. Still have to work though?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Tim grinned, “I’m sure somebody in my position can convince your boss for a few hours off.”

He walked around her and started to gather her things, noticing, that the room had become decidedly quieter as many workers were peeking over their workstations to see what was happening.

He went ahead and grabbed Stephanies coat, holding it up to help her put it on, before putting some of her stuff in her bag. It was then, that he saw the array of pictures she had on her workspace. While Tim himself had put up their fake dating pictures in basic frames, Stephanie had apparently opted to decorate her frames with an array of rhinestones and bows and alike. It looked like she had given them to a group of five-year-olds and let them do with it whatever they wanted.

She had however chosen some of the more realistic looking pictures.

Tim pointed at a random one of them. “That one is my favourite,” he commented, before taking Stephanies hand and leading her away from her desk.

Dozens of eyes seemed to follow them as they made their way to the exit.

As soon as they were out of sight, Tim wound his hand out of hers and snatched the flowers again.

“Hey! Those were mine!”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. Why would I get you flowers? They are for Connor.”

He had barely finished his sentence when Connor was suddenly standing next to him.

“Flowers?” he asked excitedly, and Tim couldn’t help but smile at him. This time it was a real one and not faked, as he handed the flowers over to Con.

“Sure! Do you like them?” he asked. He hadn’t been exactly sure what kind of flowers Connor would like. All those stereotypical-date flowers had seemed unfitting.

“I love chamomiles!” Connor exclaimed, “grandma always makes sure not to cut them when she tends to her garden, just because I think they are so pretty!”

“You two are adorable.” Steph commented.

“Yeah, we are also on a date,” Tim answered, “So scatter, we need some alone time.”

“Aww, come on. What am I supposed to do? You just took me out of work like 4 hours early!”

“There is no way, you can tell me, that you are enjoying that job.”

“Of course not, but it is better than boredom. Can’t I join you two?”

“Absolutely not!” Tim said at the same time as Connor answered “Sure, why not?”

The two stared at each other. Finally, Tim gave in.

“Fine, but if you destroy my date time, I’ll finish you.”

Minutes later, the three were strolling down some of the nicer streets of Gotham. Connor was holding the flowers in one hand and Tim’s hand in his other, as they were heading towards one of Tim’s favourite coffeeshops.

…

“We might have a problem.” Steph said before even greeting Tim and Connor.

“Why, what’s up?”

Alfred had convinced all of them to come to the manor. Over the last couple of years, the relationships within the family had gotten better. Only slightly so, but enough to go from weekly Saturday dinners to at least on movie or game night a month. There were only very few reasons that were seen as good enough to skip one and most of those included being of planet on a mission.

Lately most of them brought friends or lovers as well, so it wasn’t a surprise to anyone when Tim had invited Connor. He blended in just as well as Roy and Starfire.

It was still an hour or so until they would even start. Alfred was busy in the kitchen cooking up some snacks that went beyond popcorn and as long as he was in there only Jason was allowed to even enter the lower levels.

Tim was pretty sure that they were going to watch some kind of Disney movie – partly because Dick loved them so much and partly because Bruce still believed that Damian was the most innocent child to ever exist, and he didn’t want to ruin that. What a hypocrite.

Right now, that meant that almost everybody was still in their rooms and Stephanie had decided to join Tim and Connor in Tim’s.

Tim was already dressed in comfortable sleep clothes as he always did for movie nights, while Connor was still wearing his leather jacket and Tim was absently playing with one of the jacket spikes. Stephanie was sitting on the other side of the room at the laptop and had been browsing through the internet.

Now she put the laptop on her lap and turned around in the swivel chair.

“Look.”

Tim bowed forwards trying to see what she was looking at. It was a newspaper article from some kind of celebrity magazine.

Timothy Drake, CEO of Wayne-company, reportedly dating commoner Stephanie Brown.

“Huh?” Tim asked dumbfounded.

“Somebody at the company must have told on us.”

“Oh yeah, I didn’t even think about that being a possibility. Fuck we should have thought about that before we started this whole thing.” Tim mused out loud.

“What kind of wording is that?” asked Connor “`commoner` makes it sound like you are some kind of prince or king!”

“Who says I’m not?”

“Aww, you’re definitely my prince.” Connor said and kissed Tim.

“That’s disgusting” Stephanie commented drily, and Tim flipped her off.

“Are you not concerned about this?” she asked next.

“Not really. I mean, isn’t this kind of what we wanted to archive?”

“Yeah!” laughed Connor “I’m just glad our conversation in the restaurant didn’t manage to get into the papers!”

“God, that would have been terrible.”

“I bet people told the press and the press just didn’t believe them” joked Connor.

“Truuuueee” Tim and Steph answered in unison.

After a moment of silence, Steph spoke up again.

“So, we’re not going to do anything about this?”

“Not unless it becomes a real problem” Tim shrugged.

…

When the time came for the movie to start, the three of them decided to sit on the same couch, with Tim sitting in the middle. They had a dark-red comforter thrown over their laps and Tim was holding a tray of snacks on his lap.

Apart from popcorn and chips, which Dick demanded to be served for a movie night, Alfred had made some bacon wrapped dates, some typical finger-food, alcohol free cocktails.... all in all it was basically a buffet of snacks and drinks.

Tim wasn’t really paying attention to the movie. He was too distracted by Conners hand that was gently petting his thigh. Not yet in an inappropriate way, but just high enough to demand Tim’s full attention. Stephanie on his other side had sat sideways and had buried her unusually cold feet underneath his other leg. Apparently, his butt-warmth was better than the comforter and Tim was too comfortable right now to shoo her off.

Unfortunately, Stephanie had a thing for sugary drinks, and she was downing one after the other. It hadn’t been a problem until about 30 minutes into the movie when she started to get restless. Soon she was fidgeting, and it made Tim uncomfortable.

“What is wrong?” he whispered over the sounds of the movie.

“I need to pee”

“Then go pee!”

“But we’re about to get to the best part!”

“Jesus Christ...” muttered Tim, before finally speaking up loud enough to alert B who was holding the remote, “Stephanie has to take a piss.”

“Don’t say it like that!”

“Seriously, Steph?”

“We’re not even halfway through the movie, how can you already have to go?”

“Why didn’t you go beforehand?” a chorus of voices questioned annoyed. But Bruce had already stopped the movie and motioned her to go quickly.

Stephanie jumped up and disappeared through the door.

Tim sighed as he settled back into the couch. He felt as if his relationship with Stephanie had improved a lot over the past few weeks. They had finally managed to get back to their sibling-like bickering but at the same time she seemed to have been around everytime he went on a date with Conner, partly because of their little fake relationship, partly just due to coincidence.

Nonetheless, Tim missed his private time with Conner.

As Stephanie was gone and her fidgeting feet weren’t distracting him anymore, he realized that Conners hand had stopped moving under the blanket and was now nothing but a comforting and warm handprint on his thigh. Tim leaned his head on Conners shoulder.

He should probably apologize to Conner about the missed-out time. Maybe he could come up with a proper date idea just between the two of them. Something a bit more extravagant, like a trip to Hawaii or France... They wouldn’t even have to buy a plane ticket; Connor could just fly them. He smiled to himself. Maybe he could take off some time from the company and ask somebody to take over his cases for a week or so.

Tim turned his head to stare at Connor and smile at him. Con was still staring at the screen even though the movie wasn’t rolling at the moment. Sometimes Tim truly forgot how handsome he was. All sharp chin and wicked smile, but kind eyes and a cute nose. How did he manage to catch a man like this again?

Conner seemed to notice his staring because he too turned his head to look at Tim and his features softened when he saw his gaze.

Before Tim could even think about what they were doing, Connor leaned down and pressed a soft, tender kiss to his lips, while affectionately squeezing his thigh.

“TIMOTHY JACKSON DRAKE!” Bruce screamed so suddenly, that Connor flinched back with his eyes wide open, and Tim immediately jumped up with his fist raised, ready to defend himself from whatever threat was coming towards him. Hastily he looked around, covering any and every entrance, jerking his head into every direction, when he couldn’t find a threat.

“What? What happened? Who’s attacking?” he exclaimed in panic.

“How dare you?” Dick screamed at him with such hurt in his voice that he managed to pull Tim’s entire attention on him, despite his active fight or flight instinct. “How could you hurt Stephanie like that?”

After a moment of shocked silence, Conner burst into laughter next to him, but Tim still didn’t understand what was happening.

“Hurt her like what?” he questioned full of confusion.

“You’re cheating on her right in front of our eyes? Did you think we would not tell her about this?” Accused Jason, who had jumped up as well, but unlike Tim who was ready to defend himself, Jason looked moments away from jumping and attacking Tim.

“I’m not... what?”

Conner was no help as he only got lost in his laughter. He was leaning forward on the couch and holding unto the table in front of them as he was laughing hard enough to have tears escape from his eyes.

“What, you thought we wouldn’t find out about your relationship with Stephanie? It’s all over the newspaper!” Jason added angrily.

“Oh!” Tim exclaimed as finally he understood what was going on. “No, you misunderstand....”

“What is happening?” Stephanie interrupted as she walked back into the room and saw half of the Batfamily standing with fury in their eyes and Connor now practically laying on the floor.

Surprisingly it was Roy who decided to fill her in, and he bluntly stated that Tim was cheating on her. For a second Tim thought that the situation was going to be resolved, but then he saw Stephanies face change from confusion to hurt – a hurt he could clearly tell was fake and before he had the chance to stop her, she erupted, as Connor, who clearly realized what was about to happened howled in laughter.

“Babe!”

“Stephanie, no.”

“How could you?!”

“Seriously Steph, they are going to kill me-”

“After everything we’ve gone through together?!?!”

“For the love of god, Stephanie”

“After everything I’ve sacrificed?”

“Please lord, take me now.”

[gothamlonelyhearts]

LISTEN listen

"when the bus makes a sharp turn they suddenly find themself on the lap of a stranger" FROM THE MEETCUTE PROMPTS W ED MAYHAPS 👀

YES ABSOLUTELY >:3

♡ ------------------ ♡

it's been one hell of a day. you got up at 5 in the morning to get ready for an early class, and all day has been running back and forth to different lectures for you. at this point, you're just glad to be on your way home.

the driver suddenly takes a sharp right - another one of many - and a man walking the aisle of the bus loses his balance and tumbles right over you, hitting against the wall and landing in your lap. the sudden heavy weight in your lap startles you right out of your thoughts.

"oh my god, i'm - i'm so sorry, that was so stupid of me, i am so so sorry," the man whimpers over and over, clumsily trying to pull himself out of his sudden new seat on your lap.

"hey, wait, hold on, you didn't do anything wrong, it's fine..." you try to console him. he looks at you like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming train. "yeah, hey, just sit here if you want. I'll move my bag for you, okay? don't worry about it." he seems to relax a little, but he still can't quite meet your gaze.

"okay..." he mumbles, scooting to the end of the seat beside you to let you pull your laptop bag out of the way for him. "uhm, thank you."

"yeah, no problem." you think about it for a second and realize why this guy looks a bit familiar; you've seen him wandering around your campus a few times. he's got the same demeanor as he usually does - looking perpetually lost and gloomy, like a waterlogged stray cat. he looks a lot less intimidating up close (not that you ever bought into the gossip of him being scary or unhinged. you knew what it was like to be the subject of such rumors.) you decide not to bring it up with him, though - the last thing you want to do is make him more nervous.

"are you okay?"

"wh - huh?" he stammers, seeming caught off guard by the question.

"you fell pretty hard, didn't you?" you look at his face and he seems a bit flustered by the sudden attention. "here, let me see." you lean in a bit closer and look at his cheek where he hit against the wall. it doesn't seem to have any visible wounds, but it's a bit red from where his glasses pushed on his face.

"oh! yeah, it's fine. i'm okay." he goes silent for a minute and you go back to looking out the window. he breaks the silence after a long pause. "um... sorry, can - can i get your name?" he asks sheepishly.

"huh? oh, yeah. my name's valentine, but you can call me val. what's yours?" you glance back at him.

"oh, um. edward. my names edward."

"oh, okay. it suits you." you smile at him and he nervously smiles back. "so, like, do you usually fall into girls' laps?" you tease. he sits up straighter and tenses, visibly embarrassed by the question. he stammers but can't seem to get anything out. you just laugh a little. "i'm kidding, don't worry. seriously, it's no big deal. it's probably the best part of my day, honestly."

"oh. you must've had a bad day, then." he chuckles dryly.

"no, not really. pretty average day. well, until now." you idly twirl your phone cord around your earbud wire. "it's not every day some cute stranger falls for me."

your stupid, corny line obviously works quite well on edward; he doesn't know what to say and just glances between the floor and your face. regardless, he's got a goofy smile on his face.

"hey, eddie, look, this is my stop coming up. i'll give you my number if you want and we can talk more. sound good?"

"i don't have any paper, but, um, I could try to remember it."

well, lucky for him, you're good at improvising. "gimme your hand."

"wh... um, alright?" he squeaks out and complies. you dig in your bag and manage to get out one of your gel pens and bite the lid off. holding the cap in your mouth, you hold his hand and write your phone number on it. he squirms a little bit, obviously unused to so much touching, but he does his best to hold still. you doodle a little heart beside it and flash him another smile.

"good meeting you. i'll text you later, alright?" and with that, you head off. maybe getting out of bed today was worth it after all.

[rescuefield-a]

19)  one muse fingers the other while they’re having an important discussion. 

in claire's humble opinion, things have been improving a lot since she suggested a meeting involving all the existing organisation that sworn to keep the world safe from the threat of bioterrorism; cooperation and communication are slowly getting better every time all three forces are involved. but with the aftermath of a fight comes the dread of writing reports, which continues to be an hassle regardless of how peaceful the work environment might be. as a senior member, claire had offered to let all the younger volunteers and agents go home to their families and she would have written the joint report for terrasave and BSAA - leon offering to write the one for the DSO hadn't particularly surprised, he's got his ways and wordings and claire respects it despite having a reputation for her own meticulously written reports.

"alright, let me go get the laptop charger from my office real quick and then i'm ready." she tells him once they're alone in the conference room, last light in the hallway switched off signaling that there wasn't anyone left on the floor but them. arm wraps around claire's waist before she even has the chance to reach for the door, leon's face buried against her neck as they share a hug - their first since earlier in the morning when they woke up. laugh is huffed out as she stands still, not wanting to be the first to part but also knowing that the quicker they finish, sooner will head back home. "you really waited all day for this, uh?" whispered words are meant to tease, but considering how unplanned their assignments has been, there's no denying that claire was also waiting for this embrace for way too long. her lips find leon's easily - hand cupping side of his face as she pulls him close, back of her legs hitting against leg of the table before being pulled up to sit on the corner of its surface.

"we really should get back to work..." dread in her suggestion is clear as day, not actually interested in the report but knowing better than to not attend to her duty since she was the one who offered in the first place. one hand sneaks underneath fitted tank top, cupping her breast and pulling a moan from her lips. "chris expects that report on his desk in the same day." not that he would come yell at her anyway, but she can understand there are deadlines to follow regardless of bonds. leon's hand finds its way to the zip of her jeans instead, tugging it down with a certain urgency that makes claire want him even more than she already does - the idea of being desired this much making a good job at giving him a view of what it does to her body. low moan vibrates in her throat when digits touch her over slightly wet fabric of her underwear, forehead resting on the crook of leon's shoulder as he slowly draws circles.

"if we write the same stuff it'll be faster." trying to shift the topic back to work seems useless now, especially since leon is making a point to keep her distracted. one hand moves to cup her jaw so that she's looking up at him, teeth biting on lower lip when eyes meet - finger of other hand hooking around fabric while another pushes between folds, expertly knowing where to stroke because of all the times they've found themselves in this predicament before. another kiss is shared, hungry and passionate that leaves claire in a haze along with the quickening pace of his fingers. "should have figured we wouldn't have done much from this little piece you're wearing." she teases, fingers pulling at the fabric of the turtleneck leon is wearing, clothing item of his she expressed her interest about many times before.

stream of curses is muttered when he pulls her close to the edge of table to keep her balanced, thoughts of their paperwork still unfinished long gone the more leon's fingers explore her, every nerve and wall carefully taken care of when muscles begin to tremble once again, head falling back and lifted back up so that the fingers on her jaw can push in her mouth. eyes remain on his as tongue swirls, hips slowly thrusting to meet his fingers halfway. "think i'm gonna need you to fuck me now," she breathes out when fingers move away from her mouth, plead in her eyes hidden by the smug expression on features. "can't leave things unfinished now, can we?"

[oubaahouru]

"Karasu-kun~!" Mitsuri chimes excitedly as the door to the bakery clinks against the bell as its opened. The oddly masked man has become somewhat of a regular, ordering the same drink at the same time for the last two weeks every day like clockwork. She waves, his drink already prepared at the register this time. "Can I get you a pastry this time? Ooohh, maybe a doughnut! I just put out some pumpkin ones!" // bnha!mitsuri

@kyousei / mitsuri || unprompted. 

' karasu-kun '? that's a new one.

frankly, overhaul enjoys the atmosphere of this little shop. it's so different from his normal surroundings and, while he finds comfort in the familiar, there is also a certain growth that can only come from change. granted, the masked man's ideals towards ' change ' are nigh impossible to grasp for the average individual, but this girl is not that - rather than revel in some vague idea of ' heroism ' or ' villainism ' , it would seem she prefers a simple life. to make various drinks or pastries, confections of all kinds, the sort of purity his Boss often spoke about when referring to ' the old days '.

this is the kind of person the Boss would have liked.

if she has a quirk, it's not one overhaul has deciphered himself. it may be something basic, or maybe even something grand ; regardless of the truth, mitsuri chose to either ignore it, deny it, or live with it as the abstract idea of whatever a ' quirk ' is. he imagines it to be something gentle, something that would inspire someone to own a bakery like this, where a human would find the energy to offer him treats. there are many bakeries like it, and many people like her, but none quite the same - it's difficult to place it.                                ( perhaps it's the particular blend of the chai tea. )

" i'd hate to impose, " the masked man chuckles, lashes closing with a broad smile beneath the crow beak.                                         ( lids shut, of course, because no smile                                           of overhaul's would reach the eyes ) " i'm fairly picky with my health.    but, if you're suggesting it, " overhaul hums thoughtfully, glancing over the selection. " then it would be terrible not to try it.    i'll take your recommendation, mitsuri-san. " the dark-haired man gives a short bow, offering payment in the form of a few bills - change is refused in the effort to extend a tip, regardless of the amount.

to go to such an extent to falsify a personality - ah, but is it purposeful? observation and mimicry ; is that not what all humans do? learned behavior. oh-so typical of overhaul, in his way to show graciousness by dragging the mangled body of a dead animal -                                    ' I GOT THIS FOR YOU! DON'T YOU LIKE IT ? ' they never did, but that, too, is merely a symptom of illness. once he's cured them all, overhaul would be able to show everyone, every single person, what it's like to exist without wool over the eyes.

" you had this ready for me, as well, " golden iris flicker to the latte mug, filled with the aforementioned chai tea. it's his favorite, not something sold on the shelf, nor at a store - certainly, she makes this blend herself, or she has a certain touch. ----             maybe it's her quirk? a natural in some way, he imagines. " i apologize ;    i didn't think you would do something so thoughtful.    i'm in your debt, truly. " he takes the drink to his familiar spot ; a booth far from the windows, towards the back of the bakery. often, he would bring a laptop. other times, he simply scrolls through the news on his phone, people-watching in passing.                                                                   ( today is a day of the latter. ) upon making himself comfortable, adjusting the purple-fur collar on his shoulders, overhaul considers - is this the kind of place he could plausibly bring a client? someone like her would not want to be involved in the roughhousing of those on either side of the extreme, correct? possibly. it’s a good thing overhaul is not on either side, or at least, he has plausible deniability against the notion.                         ( the shie hassaikai are out for themselves ; period. )  he's yet to identify if this is a ' qualifying space ', but overhaul is definitely ( cautiously! ) considering it.

" actually, mitsuri-san, " overhaul hums, lightly groggy tone rolling in his throat. his head tilts, soft tufts of raven hair rustling against his forehead. " if you would be so kind as to join me,    i would enjoy your company.    perhaps you'd tell me about the blend of this tea?    though, if it’s a company secret. .    you can consider me quiet as a mouse. "

[purplepiratefaerywitchthing]

I Clean Houses and Write Stuff (sometimes)

Blog Post #2 1/9/2023

I'm not writing right now, and I'm not okay with it.

Technically you could argue that I haven't written regularly in a long time. It wouldn't be much of an argument, given that it's absolutely true.

Sometime in that 2018-2019 pre-pandemic era I wrote what would be the final draft of the book I've been working on since I was 12 years old. And when I say final I don't mean "complete;" I mean final as in it would finally leave my head so that something new could take its place.

Because 15 years is a long-ass time to be working on a book. Especially when it isn't very good.

And something new did take its place, once my those guys were free of the gothic feary world my angsty teen brain concocted. The Something New would be drafted three times, many hours spent pouring over laptop and notebooks, doing the thing I'd loved doing for so long it was beyond a hobby, it was part of who I was, like being right-handed or strawberry blonde. The third draft of this Somethibf was even something that would be one step closer to "finished," maybe even publishable...

But then, it was March of 2020. The weird "Chinese virus" we'd kept hearing rumbles about in the news would reach the shores of the US. Suddenly you could die by breathing the air outside your front door, and every media outlet had a field day with headlines listing death tolls, hospitalozation numbers, and repeating the phrase "nothing will ever be the same again" over and over and over.

I didn't sleep for three months.

I cried -sobbed- and screamed for several weeks straight.

I suffered a back spasm that was so painful I physically couldn't lay flat on the floor, my spine seemingly permanently arched. I was able to get that to let go after hours of yoga videos, but then it moved to my foot and I could barely walk. I stopped being able to eat real food because everything made me sick, and would in turn get dangerously close to becoming pre-diabetic because you aren't actually supposed to live off of cheap protein bars.

And during it all, all I could do was read the news.

And read the news.

And read the news.

That story that I spent so much time with was gone, dead and buried with the first 100,000 people in the US to die of COVID-19 no thanks to our screaming lunatic of a 45th president who was elected into office the year I graduated from college. (Talk about a slap to the face to those looking to enter the world and make something of themselves, especially if you were a woman, queer, Black, an immigrant, trans, pretty much anyone not a straight white male.)

I could barely focus on the books in front of me - I read entire novels that I'd forget the second I closed the back cover. Soon I stopped reading books all together.

A small bright spot emerged when a story idea came me, one that had been rolling about the back of my head for some time. I hammered out a draft in record time in the Fall of 2020 and then... That was gone, too, regardless of how I tried to go back to it, how I tried to work on it, edit it, turn it into something for the world.

"Maybe making more money will help," I thought as I picked up more hours at my then-job.

"Maybe having my own space will help," I thought as we emptied our savings account and liquidated every asset we had so we could buy the house of a dreams in September of 2021, big enough for all our animals and for me and my husband Tim to have our own office spaces. Mine was even painted a delightful shade of purple, complete with overflowing bookshelves and a massive window overlooking the street below behind which my mint green sauder desk sits, waiting.

I don't think I've spent more than 24 hours in here, my office, this space that we purchased with everything we had so it could be mine. We've been here for 16 months now.

Mind you, buying the house was not the plan. At least not yet. Ever since the credit cards got taken care of from pandemic aid (the one good thing that came out of those dark months of death, tears, fear and grief), we'd been planning to move out west, somewhere in Colorado where we could see the mountains and be in a not-red state (news flash: Ohio sucks). But then we found our now house, a beautiful thing that's a hundred-and-some years old with real wood trim, badly finished rooms and generations of stories right in what's become our favorite, artsy district of Cleveland. Lots of mental creative energy has been spent planning: how do we make this ancient place that's been through so much ours? How do we heal it, fix it, honor it's history while bringing it to our modern era?

It's stressful as all hell, not to mention expensive and time consuming, but I've loved it. We have it all planned out; wooden countertops in the kitchen, black tile in the bathrooms, an attic library, a basement game room, a second shower.

I try to tell myself that I haven't been writing because that part of my brain that longs to make things has been making our house our house. Constantly working, picking, problem solving the way it does when I'm drafting.

Part of me believes me.

Part of me wonders if I will ever write again.

After all, writing up until the pandemic was such a part of who I am, it was hard to call it a hobby.

But, is it still?

I don't know.

I don't like not knowing.

***

Flash forward to now, 2023. I've stepped away from the ever demanding customer service desk I've been chained to since I was 17 and am now working for myself, quietly cleaning houses, alone with my music, my thoughts, and the home owner's pets.

It's good work; I'm making more money, and have a lot more time now.

But do I have Grass is Always Greener Syndrome, too?

Am I just thinking, "maybe this atmospheric change will fix my internal problems, because I don't even know where to begin on those?"

It makes me sigh heavily. Perhaps that's why I spend my free time sitting in the living room under a blanket watching true crime docs on Hulu.

[onlineeducation-india]

How Covid-19 has Impacted Admission to Online MBA programs

During the Covid 19 outbreak, all of the top online MBA program providers worldwide noticed a noticeable spike in the number of students applying to an online MBA program.

No matter their age, gender, or line of work, everyone had to adhere to stringent travel restrictions because of the Covid 19 pandemic.

In varying degrees, the lockdown rules required people to stay at home, which hampered traditional study methods. Every brick-and-mortar school was required to close for an undetermined amount of time.

The pandemic scenario did, however, revive the online education market, especially the online MBA in India.

The leading online MBA providers in India have seen a significant percentage increase in the number of online MBA admissions compared to the prior year, according to the online MBA-focused website SimpliDistance. According to estimates, admissions to the best online MBA programs have increased by 64%. According to the website, the top 10 institutes are even more concerned about the percentage increase in admissions.

Here are some of the contributing factors.

The huge benefit of flexibility –

An online MBA is ideal for working individuals because it centers on the idea of "learning at your pace." The online MBA is very flexible and supports students in effectively balancing their career and personal lives. Regardless of the location, the student can complete the curriculum whenever it is most convenient for them. Students in online MBA courses can choose to take synchronous, asynchronous, or both types of classes to further their education. The Covid 19 lockdown travel restrictions won't have an impact on the research schedule. A laptop or other suitable device, as well as broadband internet, are the two most crucial requirements for doing an online MBA.

Online MBA education was once stigmatized as "ineffective" for a variety of reasons, but that stigma is slowly fading away. Due to the lack of actual experience, some people didn't think it was useful or worth the money. The Covid epidemic served as a catalyst to remove the stigma associated with earning an online MBA. Due to the popularity of these initiatives, several online universities are now investing substantial sums of money in online courses and related resources. During the lockdown months, any concerns or reservations about the practicalities were put to the test.

Effective networking opportunities –

In the previous ten years, MBA aspirants thought that networking opportunities were lacking in online MBA programs. And to some extent, it was accurate because there was little technological support. And as a result, many students shied away from choosing online education. But over the past four to six years, the situation had drastically shifted. Online MBA programs gained an entirely new perspective because of the enormous networking chances with other students, teachers, and professionals from various countries and cultures. The student gains access to the many alumni networks that contain skilled and seasoned professionals. Enhancing student networking chances were made possible by completely functional and effective tools, effective student support systems, and technical advancements. This has enhanced the reputation and dependability of an online MBA program.

Students who complete an online MBA are completely prepared to tackle the demands of remote employment. Due to the epidemic, more than 80% of firms advised their staff to work every day hours from home. The pursuit of an online MBA requires networking. Working professionals can communicate efficiently with worldwide clients during the pandemic thanks to this networking experience.

Accredited universities –

With their online programs, an increasing number of highly regarded, authorized universities are prepared to take advantage of the pandemic's limitations. The course format at these authorized universities is the same as that of the standard, normal MBA program. The only distinction is whether the study method is online-only or hybrid.

Affordable online MBA in India –

With more affordable learning options, online MBA programs assisted working professionals as salary reductions during the pandemic became the new standard. The cost of the online MBA programs available in India varies depending on the university. The top online MBA programs have expensive program fees, but there are also numerous less expensive options. It is worthwhile to spend the money to pursue an online MBA from an accredited business school in order to enhance your current abilities and industry exposure.