#could be reader conspiracy theorist

[lay-z]

THERE'S A LOT THAT HAPPENED BEFORE THIS SCENE ACTUALLY 😭 READER WENT THROUGH HER PREGNANCY ALONE AND NAMED THE BABY AFTER TOMMY FOR SIMON EVEN THOUGH HE'D ALREADY CHEATED ON HER ONCE AND THEY WERE SEPARATED 😔💔 SHOULD I WRITE AND POST IT ALL ?

Simon Riley signs his death sentence.

cw: cheating/infidelity; angst/hurt; cussing; open ending

Simon glances up when he hears the shrill doorbell, frowning a bit. He knows he’s not expecting anyone, never is. It’s a Monday evening, and he’s spent the day working on the broken bike in his garage, trying to drown his thoughts and feelings with working on machines.

His eyes travel to the clock on the wall, noting the late hour, and he sighs. It better not be some bloody salesman selling something. He makes his way to the front door, pulling it open unceremoniously. What he sees makes his blood run cold.

“What are you doing here?” he asks brusquely, his gaze hard, expression closed off.

“I need to talk to you,” you answer curtly, yet there’s a hint of mystery to your words. “It’s important.”

You’re dead to me. To Tommy. Your words from months ago ring in his ears again.

He eyes you suspiciously for a moment, and then steps aside to make space, gesturing you inside with a wordless invitation. “Olright. Come in,” he mutters, closing the door behind you.

Clutching the black folder to your chest, you give a small nod of thanks as you walk past him, further inside his small flat—surroundings that used to be so warm and familiar to you.

Simon glances at you in passing, noting the tight grip you have on the folder in your arms. He motions to the sofa in the middle of the living room, gesturing for you to take a seat while he drops into the armchair across from you with a rough exhale.

He drums his calloused fingers restlessly on the armrest, tawny eyes drinking you in vigilantly as he waits for you to speak.

Taking a seat on the couch reluctantly, you force yourself not to let your eyes roam around his flat nor let it linger on him for too long. It took everything in you to find the courage to come here in the first place; to bottle up your emotions enough to keep a level head. Clearing your throat, you take out a pen from the inside pocket of your coat and open the folder before sliding the documents over to him on the coffee table.

“I’m getting married,” you announce eventually, right when the light catches on the delicate diamond ring on your finger.

The words hit him like a punch to the gut.

There’s a ringing sound in his ears, and the room seems to spin for a second, like he’s been thrown off an edge and is falling fast. He almost can’t breathe, and his knuckles go white as he clenches his grip on the armchair, trying to keep control of his body as he glares at the expensive looking engagement ring on your finger, the reality slowly sinking in. It’s mocking him.

“You’re getting’ married,” he repeats hoarsely, his voice betraying the pain that’s churning inside him. He snorts humourlessly. “Congratulations.”

“Yes,” you answer slowly, ignoring the biting sarcasm in his words as you avoid his gaze; keeping your focus on the documents, on my future—rather than your painful past with him.

The room feels tense all of a sudden, and you force yourself to stay calm, to stay seated.

“So... these are–” You clear your throat again. “These are adoption papers for Tommy, but I need approval from his biological father before my–my future husband can adopt him officially.”

Simon looks at you for a long time, his expression hidden behind a stone-cold façade. He’s trying to hold it together, but every word you speak feels like a jab, hitting his gut and stabbing deep into his heart.

“You’re–” he repeats again, his voice almost a whisper, “you’re getting married.” His mind is racing, trying to wrap his head around the idea of you marrying another man, of another man being a father to his son.

You inhale a slow breath when he repeats it for a second time, and you can read the shock and desperation in his eyes despite him trying to hide it behind his cold façade. “Yes, Simon,” you repeat once more, feeling like you’re explaining something to your toddler son, who happens to be the spitting image of his father at nearly two years old. “I’m getting married.”

His jaw clenches like he’s preventing himself from saying something—anything—and his body goes tense. He looks at the documents spread across the old coffee table, his eyes scanning the information on the pages. He understands what and why you’re asking, and he knows he has no right to refuse. He’s lost that right months ago, and now he's facing the cost of his own actions. Choices have consequences—his own bloody words that he foolishly refused to live by.

“And... and the bloke, the bloke you’re marrying. He’s... He wants to adopt Tommy?” he asks through gritted teeth.

You nod slowly but firmly, blinking slowly as you hold his gaze bravely.

“He’s been a great step dad to him for –” You stop yourself, kissing your teeth as if you almost spilled a secret before speaking up again: “He wants to marry me and he wants to adopt Tommy officially.”

The words hit him harder than he expected. The thought of another man, a bloody stranger, being a father to his son, taking his place in his family, is like a sledgehammer to his already shattered heart.

It feels like he can’t breathe as the reality of the situation fully sinks in, and the weight of it threatens to swallow him whole. His knuckles turn white as he clenches his hands, the effort of holding back the words—these feelings—almost physically hurts. He can feel the familiar anger rising up in his chest, blending effortlessly with all the pain and desperation and regret.

His eyes are glued to the diamond ring on your finger, the symbol glaring back at him, adding insult to injury. His emotions are like a storm raging inside him, tearing him apart, but he grits his crooked teeth and forces himself to look away, tearing his gaze from your hand.

“And... he’s a good lad, aye? Treats you right?” The words taste like acid on his tongue.

“He is a good man, Simon,” you answer truthfully, heaving a sigh as you bite back the harsher words on the tip of your tongue; telling him that it’s none of his business anymore. “He’s good, and kind, and generous, and above all... he’s loyal.”

Simon goes quiet at that, the stinging comment hitting him hard. He knows he has no right to feel hurt, to feel betrayed. He has no right to feel anything at all. He was the one who screwed up, the one who caused this entire mess. He cheated on you, destroyed your trust, ripped your relationship apart, broke your heart, and left you alone when you’d sent him away instead of fighting to pick up the pieces. He messed up.

But knowing that you found someone better now, someone who’s going to take his place—it feels like someone is tearing his wretched heart out.

When he goes silent again, you push the documents towards him with more urgency.

“Please... don’t make this harder than it already is,” you whisper eventually, feeling your chest tighten as the bottled up emotions threaten to break free. “I just want Tommy to have a chance at a normal life... to have a father and for me to finally have some safety.”

He can sense the suppressed emotions radiating from you, and it breaks his heart even more. Simon picks up the documents slowly, his hands betraying the turmoil inside, the tremors he can’t control no matter how much he tries. His voice is barely a rough whisper when he speaks again, thick with emotion: “I... I know I don’t have a right to even say this, but–

Can I ask a favour?” he presses out, trying to keep up the mask of numbness but failing miserably. He’s crumbling.

“No, you can’t,” you reply gently yet firmly. It hurts. God, it hurts so much, but he did this. It’s his fault. He’s a bloody cheater.

The sharp, flat answer hits him like a bucket of ice water. It doesn’t surprise him though, but it still stings. He clenches his jaw, forces himself to keep his expression under control, knows he has no right to expect anything from you after what he did.

He stares at the documents in his hands for a moment longer, before nodding slowly. “Olright,” he says eventually, his voice rough and strained. “I’ll... I’ll sign the bloody papers.”

You expected him to rip the papers to shreds, but now you’re watching with bated breath as he puts his signature right above the necessary line with an uncharacteristic unsteady hand and your heart clenches suddenly, your vision going blurry.

He’s signing away his son’s life, and it’s tearing him apart on the spot while his face betrays nothing. He’s signing away the right to be Tommy’s father, the right to be in his life, to hold him, to watch him grow up, to be there for him. He’s signing away the future he’d secretly dreamed of, of a family with you, the only thing that ever really mattered to him.

It feels like he’s signing his own bloody death sentence.

He feels like he’s drowning in guilt and shame. All the while, his eyes stay trained on you, taking in every small movement, every blink, and every shaky breath.

“So... uhm... How’s–” You swallow thickly, bile rising in your throat as you wipe at your glossy eyes frantically to try and keep your composure. “How’s Emma?” you manage to ask, trying to change the subject, to remind yourself why this happened in the first place.

Just when he thought the knife couldn’t dig any deeper, you ask about her, and he’s hit with an even more intense wave of shame.

The memory of her—the way she looked, the way she felt, the way she tasted—flashes through his mind, and he has to swallow to keep himself from gagging.

He looks away, avoiding eye contact as he shifts awkwardly in his seat. “Fine.” He croaks, his voice betraying his discomfort.

“Oh.”  You nod slowly, processing his curt answer as you kiss your teeth again. “Good... that’s... good.” He's lying. You can tell that he’s lying, and yet you can’t stop. You’re too bitter.

“I’m glad to know that you–you found happiness with her. That you’re–” You exhale through your nose. “That you can–” You feel another wave of nauseous overcome you, and you’re forced to take another deep breath. “That you’re faithful to her.”

Your words hit him like a kick to the gut, and he’s left gasping as his heart constricts painfully. He can hear the pain in your voice, the bitterness in your tone, the pain that still runs deep.

The truth.

The truth is, he’s not happy. He’s not faithful.

If there’s one person he belongs with, it’s you—you, with your quiet bravery, your stubborn determination, your endless loyalty.

You, with the eyes he could lose himself in.

“I’m not,” he finally rasps, voice hoarse with emotion as he finally finds the courage to look you in the eye again. “I’m not happy.”

He takes a shaky breath, his voice cracking with raw honesty. “I’m not happy, and I’m not faithful. Not to her, because I–I think about you and I think about Tommy... every fuckin' day for the past seven months.”

His words are like a confession, a desperate plea for your understanding.

“I made a mistake,” he continues, “I made the wrong choice, and every day... every god damn day I’ve regretted it, baby.” He’s tearing up again, the guilt and shame and pain overcoming him, and his vision swims before he pushes his palms against his eyes harshly, exhaling a ragged breath.

“Simon,” you say firmly, hoping he truly listens this time. Your spine goes rigid with tension and restraint. You want to yell, to lash out, to curse him, but you won’t. Not again.

“You cheated on me twice... and I was stupid enough to give you another chance after the first time. We have a son together, but that didn’t stop you from fucking Emma. This is your own goddamn fault, so–”

“I know it’s my own goddamn fault!” he snaps, his emotions getting the better of him. “You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t see that every day?” His eyes are burning with unshed tears, his chest heaving with barely controlled fury.

“I know I screwed up, I know I... I destroyed us! I destroyed our family! I destroyed you! But–But you have no fuckin’ idea what I’d give to take it back, you have no bloody idea!”

“That may be, but there is no taking back,” you reply coolly, not even flinching at his outburst as you keep a level head.

Finally, you take the signed adoption papers from him and put them back into the black folder; snapping it shut with finality. “Just know that–” You let out another deep, shaky sigh, fighting tears. “Know that Tommy will be fine. He’ll be happy and very loved, and he’ll be a decent man someday–” Your voice cracks at the end, and you stand up from the couch at once, still trying your best not to fall apart in front of him.

His heart breaks all over again, and it’s like a combat knife twisting in his chest as he watches you put the documents back into the folder.

Simon stands up too; his body tense as he fights the urge to reach for you, to pull you close and hold you tightly. He doesn’t deserve to hold you. He doesn’t deserve to touch you. He should’ve never touched you in the first place.

He takes a step towards you, a last attempt, his gravelly voice barely a whisper: “I don’t know how to live without you.” The words spill out of him, raw and unfiltered, his voice shaking with emotion.

And he takes another slow, heavy step closer. “I tried, fuckin’ hell, I tried to forget you, but I can’t. I can’t move on. I can’t let go. You’re under my skin, you’re in my bloody head, you’re in my heart, you’re in every goddamn dream I have. And the idea of losing you, of not having you and Tommy in my life... it’s killing me–”

“Then why did you cheat on me?”

The question comes out involuntarily, spilling over your lips for the first time in nearly three years since it happened the first time.

“If you love me and Tommy so bloody much, then why the fuck did you cheat on me, Simon?” you ask, voice rising in volume and pitch, taking on an edge of desperation as you glare at him with the protective strength and fury only a mother can muster.

“Why?!”

He’s reeling, the memories of his betrayal slapping him with brutal force. His broad shoulders sag, defeated, as the weight of his actions crashes down on him. He can’t look at you, tawny eyes filled with shame like a little boy who’s been scolded, his gaze fixated on the floor as he tries to put his thoughts into words.

When he finally speaks, his voice sounds hollow, devoid of any emotion: “I can’t explain it,” he whispers, the words barely leaving his lips. “I wish I could, but I don’t even know my damn self.”

You allow yourself to look at him for another moment; deep down expecting more, expecting a better explanation, but nothing comes and your face twists into a pained grimace as you glance down at the folder in your hands. At a brighter future for you and your son.

“That’s not good enough, Simon,” you rasp out before forcing yourself to gather the last shred of strength you have left, straightening your shoulders.

“Take care.”

“You too.” He feels hollow, empty.

All the fight and anger drain out of him in a split second, leaving him feeling cold and lifeless.

He should grab you, hold you, and plead for forgiveness, but he stands rooted to the spot in his living room, unable to move, too damn scared to reach out for you.

As the door of his flat falls shut behind you, you clutch the folder to your chest with one hand as you rush down the staircase, slowly falling apart at the seams as you stumble forward.

Outside the apartment building, you swiftly seek out your fiancées sleek black Mercedes car in the parking lot, swallowing down a sob as you pull open the passenger seat before slipping inside and closing the door—mindful of your toddler son still napping in his car seat in the back.

“Everything okay, darling?” John glances over at you from the driver's seat as you clench your teeth, trying to keep it together. He can tell that it’s not okay, that something went wrong. The look on your face telling him all he needs to know.

“Are you... alright?” He asks as gently as his gruff voice allows, looking at you once again, concern filling his steel blue eyes.

“I–I think so,” you answer shakily, clutching the folder to your chest like a lifeline as you tremble in the leather seat. Then, you feel the heavy, warm weight of his hand come to rest on your thigh.

John Price.

Simon's captain and superior, who has been there for you even through your pregnancy after your first breakup with Simon.

John Price, who's swept you off your feet with ease, when you’d sent Simon away for cheating again barely seven months ago.

Glancing over at him, you cup your own icy hand over his on your thigh while your heart thuds painfully against your ribcage.

“Can you–Can you please take me home?”

Hiii and sorry about this :) Anyway—

[mrsclrakey]

Hey! Please could you write something about George and reader in ‘inside’ together where she is a bit quieter than everyone else and tends to sit back and watch all the chaos? Maybe George could go and sit with her and talk and they become fan favourites smth? Thank you x

Hey I hope u like it I really live the show so far George looks so hot I can’t wait for tonight’s episode I wonder if we will found out why he was crying hopefully

STORY NAME-The Quiet One

The Inside the Sidemen set was as chaotic as ever. The guys were already deep into some ridiculous debate—something about whether cereal was a soup or not. It had escalated way too quickly, with JJ loudly arguing his case while Ethan nearly fell off his chair laughing.

You sat at the edge of the group, quietly observing the madness. You liked being on the show, but you weren’t the type to fight for attention. You’d rather sit back, enjoy the chaos, and chime in when needed.

Apparently, George had other plans.

“Mad how you’re the only normal one here,” his voice cut through the noise as he slid into the seat next to you. His shoulder brushed against yours—whether intentional or not, you weren’t sure.

You let out a small laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Nah, you would,” he said, smirking as he leaned in slightly. “You’re just sitting here all mysterious, watching everyone lose their minds. Bit intimidating, actually.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Me? Intimidating?”

“Yeah,” George grinned. “You’re like the cool, quiet girl in school that all the lads secretly fancy but are too scared to talk to.”

Heat crept up your face, but you rolled your eyes. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?” He tilted his head, clearly enjoying himself. “Bet the comments are already clocking it. ‘George and Y/N sitting together again? Interesting.’ ‘Why does he always gravitate towards her?’” He mimicked the voice of a conspiracy-theorist fan, making you stifle a laugh.

As if on cue, the conversation at the table took an even wilder turn, and suddenly JJ and Simon were yelling about whether a hotdog was a sandwich. George barely glanced at them—his focus stayed on you.

“So,” he said, tapping his fingers against the table. “What’s your take? Hotdog, sandwich, or third-party entity?”

You smirked. “I feel like you just want an excuse to keep talking to me.”

He placed a hand on his chest, feigning offense. “Wow. You think I need an excuse? I’m wounded, truly.”

“Right.” You shook your head, trying (and failing) to hide your smile.

Throughout the rest of the discussion, George stayed close, throwing in little remarks to you, nudging your knee under the table when something funny happened, making sure you stayed engaged even if you weren’t the loudest in the room.

And just as he predicted, when the episode aired, the fans did notice.

“George and Y/N’s chemistry is INSANE.”

“George was literally ignoring the whole conversation just to flirt with her, I can’t.”

“The way he keeps singling her out??? They are SO a thing.”

You scrolled through the comments, shaking your head. Next to you, George peeked over your shoulder, grinning.

“Told you,” he murmured.

You playfully shoved him, but he just laughed.

[wordsofwhimsy]

┗⊱ 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒙 𝑮𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 ⊰┛

Pairing: Mohawk!Mark Grayson x f!Reader

Warnings: None

Tags: Jealousy, post-break up warfare, really just comedic bullshit

Word Count: 2,786

Synopsis: An AU where the Invincible Wars didn’t go down the way we know it (I talked about this in a anon message I got earlier). Angstrom’s dimensional rift powers have been harnessed to allow for the variants to freely travel between universes, resulting in a friend group of Mohawk, Shiesty, Lensless, and You. Only, you & Mohawk (referred to in this fic simply as Mark for better reading) used to be a couple. Now you’re not. And being the petty little shits you both are, it’s become your mission to make the other as jealous as possible.

Inspiration: Y’all seen that episode of Friends? “The One With Joey's New Girlfriend”? Yeah, 100% inspired by that

a/n: nobody talk to me about the southern belle series – i tried for the better half of the day to work on the next chapter and it just aint coming to me right now. so i did this instead lmao

The conversation had derailed fast—typical for these three.

“I’m just saying,” Shiesty was arguing, waving his hands like a conspiracy theorist with bad posture, “if someone offered me a billion dollars to live in a house with 100 raccoons for a year, I’d do it. Easy.”

“Only if I get to train them,” Lensless said, picking apart a coaster with surgical focus. “Like little soldiers. Giv e ‘em knives.”

Mark sipped his drink, unbothered. “You’re both idiots.”

“I’d teach mine to steal identities,” Lensless continued, eyes unblinking. “Fake passports. Crypto scams. Maybe throw a coup.”

“Okay, what the fuck,” Mark muttered.

Shiesty cackled. “You see this, right? He’s unwell. Bro’s one bad day from mailing fingers to politicians.”

Lensless leaned in slowly. “You think I haven’t?”

Mark opened his mouth to retort—but the bar’s door opened, and he could smell you before he even heard you.

Laughter. Loud. Practically choreographed. You walked in, clinging to the arm of a guy who looked like he’d been carved from marble and then dropped on his head as a child.

He had the kind of jawline sculpted by Instagram filters and the emotional depth of a kiddie pool. His shirt was too tight, his smile too wide, and your laugh? It was weapon-grade.

You leaned into him, tossing your head back like Brad the Beefcake had just delivered a stand-up special. He hadn’t. He’d probably just pointed to a stool and called it a “sittin’ thing.”

Shiesty nearly spit out his drink. “Yo.”

Lensless didn’t blink, eyes wide and glowing with what looked like excitement. “Ohhh shit.”

Mark squinted. “What?”

Lensless didn’t even look away. “Not your ex using a human thirst trap to turn your soul into confetti.”

Mark stared, scoffing. “No she’s not.”

Shiesty leaned in. “Bro. That laugh had syllables.”

“She hasn’t laughed like that since before the breakup. She’s putting extra air in it,” added Lensless.

Shiesty continued, grin widening. “This is so obviously for you. You’re the target. She’s a sniper. And Meat Slab’s the bullet.”

Mark clenched his jaw. “I don’t care.”

Lensless turned to him slowly. “Your pupils dilated. Classic rage-lust. You’re about three seconds away from violence or poetry.”

Mark looked away sharply. “Shut up.”

And then you saw them.

Your eyes locked on Mark’s for a fraction of a second before you smile, dangerously so. You tugged Brad along like an accessory, walking straight up to the booth like this was all completely unplanned.

“Heyyy, guys!” you said brightly, voice syrupy-sweet. “Didn’t expect to see everyone here tonight.”

Shiesty bit his lip, trying not to laugh. “Wow. Look who it is.”

Lensless sat perfectly still, eyes like voids. “Hiii [y/n],” he said with the kind of calm that came right before the Joker set a hospital on fire.

Mark’s tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth. “You brought... someone.”

You grinned up at Brad. “This is Brad. Isn’t he so cute?”

Brad, bless his golden-retriever heart, beamed like he’d just been handed a trophy. “Yo, what’s up, dudes.”

Lensless leaned forward. “Do you know what a war crime is, Brad?”

Brad blinked. “Huh?”

Mark cleared his throat loudly. “So. This is what you’re into now?”

You blinked innocently. “What, muscles? Positivity? Unwavering support?”

Shiesty whispered, “This is incredible.”

Lensless added, “Her energy is diabolical. I respect it.”

Mark’s nostrils flared. “Must be a real deep connection you two got.”

“Oh, it is,” you said, clinging tighter to Brad’s arm. “We talk about everything. Like, the other day? We had this whole conversation about—what was it, babe?”

“If sharks have bones, dude.”

You smiled at Mark like you��d just been handed a win.

He stared.

Lensless took a sip of his drink. “This is art.”

You could feel it—Mark was already on edge. His jaw was tight, his hands clenched under the table, and that signature cocky tilt in his mouth was a little too strained to be real. Victory? Within reach.

So you did what any emotionally stable, totally mature person would do.

You ramped it up.

You leaned into Brad like he was the most fascinating man on Earth, giggling as he told some story about arm day and protein timing like it was high philosophy. He didn’t notice that no one was laughing with him—no one except you.

“—and then I said, bro, you can’t max out on incline if you’re skipping legs. That’s, like, disrespectful to the grind, y’know?”

You placed a hand on his bicep, practically swooning. “Oh my god, you’re so smart.”

Lensless slowly turned his head to look at Mark. “That's craaazy.”

“Fuckin' insane...” Mark grumbled.

Shiesty was practically vibrating with joy. Mark made the grave mistake of glancing at you again.

You were now feeding Brad a fry, with a little “open wide!” and everything.

Mark blinked. Once. Twice.

That was it.

You were halfway through feeding Brad another fry—dramatically, of course—when Mark suddenly sat up straighter, like a terrible idea had just hatched in real time.

“You know what?” he said, voice loud, casual, and so clearly forced you should’ve known better. “I’ve actually got somewhere to be.”

You blinked, half-laughing. “Since when do you make plans?”

Mark shrugged like the smug bastard he was. “Since I started seeing someone who actually respects my time.”

That got the table quiet.

Shiesty’s brow arched high. “Wait—hold up. You’re seeing someone?”

Lensless blinked. “Are you legally allowed to?”

Mark didn’t flinch. “Yup. Real grown woman. Hot. Smart. Mature.”

Your laugh was sharp. “What, like someone your mom’s age?”

He shrugged, sipping his drink with exaggerated calm. “Not quite. But she has real furniture. Leather-bound books. A decanter, even.”

Shiesty leaned in with undisguised eagerness. “Yo... are you dating a cougar?”

Lensless, eyes gleaming with intrigue, pipped in, “This is so much better than the sad Mark spiral I was expecting.”

You tried to play it cool—but your expression faltered. “Oh? What’s her name?”

Mark hesitated for half a second. Too long. “...Cassandra.”

Shiesty let out a low whistle. “Cassandra? Damn. That sounds rich.”

Mark nodded solemnly. “She’s very... cultured. Taught me about wine pairings. And... zoning permits.”

Lensless was weirdly impressed. “That’s the sexiest sentence you’ve ever said.”

You raised an eyebrow, but your heart was already racing. Mark? With a wine-knowing, real-furniture-owning, Cassandra?

“She sounds... older,” you said, trying to laugh. “What, she pick you up in a town car?”

Mark didn’t even blink. “She drives a vintage Jaguar.”

Shiesty slammed his palm on the table. “OH HE’S UP. HE’S WINNING.”

Lensless narrowed his eyes. “I feel like he's lying... yet I believe him.”

You chewed your lip, trying not to frown. “So what is this, like... a thing?”

Mark smirked. “Maybe. She likes my... edge. Says I remind her of her ex-husband in his ‘dangerous phase.’”

Lensless clapped. “I am so invested in this relationship.”

Shiesty laughed until he wheezed. “Bro I wanna meet her. Like tonight. Bring her here.”

Mark stood up smoothly, grabbing his jacket with just enough flair. “Sorry, boys. And lady,” he added with a cocky glance your way. “Tonight’s private. Grown folks only.”

He walked off with an air of confidence that definitely left your stinging.

The moment he was gone, the booth exploded.

Lensless leaned in like a gossip gremlin. “Yo. Is it just me or did he just level up?”

“He hit us with mature Mark energy. I didn’t think that existed,” Shiesty said.

You didn’t respond right away.

Because you were still sitting there, your brain reeling at the idea of Mark—with all his sarcasm, his recklessness, his “I’ve got issues but I look good doing it” energy—suddenly being wined and dined by some refined older woman named Cassandra. Someone with class. Elegance. Taste.

And worst of all... she sounded real.

—

The tiny bell over the door jingled as Mark stepped inside, immediately hit with the warm scent of lavender and mothballs. The shop looked like it hadn’t changed since the Reagan administration—dusty lace curtains, cracked linoleum floor, a half-knitted sweater draped over the counter next to a sewing machine that looked like it had survived several wars.

“Marky, sweetheart!” Cassandra called from the back, bustling in with pins clutched between her teeth and a thimble still on one finger. “I just finished reinforcing the midsection. You must’ve taken a real beating last week!”

Mark rubbed the back of his neck. “Nothing crazy... alien invasion. Usual shit."

“Well you didn’t die, so I’d say that’s a win,” she said brightly, waddling over to hand him a neatly folded navy and black suit.

He muttered a thanks, ready to leave, pride semi-intact, then—

JINGLE.

The door opened again.

Mark turned. Froze.

Lensless stood in the doorway, half-silhouetted by the outside light. Motionless. Eyes wide.

“...No,” Lensless said softly.

Mark’s grip tightened on the suit.

Lensless stepped inside slowly, blinking like he was hallucinating. “When you said Cassandra... when you said older woman, refined, leather-bound books, hot wine aunt energy—”

Cassandra popped up behind the counter, fluffing her knitting. “Hi, honey!”

Lensless howled.

Like, doubled over. Cackling. He actually staggered back into a rack of retired capes and slid down it like a man being exorcised.

“THIS is Cassandra?!” he gasped between bursts of laughter. “The sophisticated mystery woman?! The one with the Jaguar?!”

“She’s cool,” Mark growled, voice taut with humiliation. “And she’s helped me more than anyone in my life—”

“DID SHE FEED YOU PEPPERMINTS IN HER BUICK?!”

“YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH.”

Lensless was crying now, full breakdown mode. “I thought she was gonna be in, like, stilettos. Maybe a dangerous past. A tragic accent.”

“She’s got arthritis and a cat named Marvin,” Cassandra added cheerfully, not understanding the situation in the slightest.

Mark slammed his suit down on the counter. “Lensless, if you breathe a word of this—”

“Or what? You’ll threaten me with Cassandra’s knitting needles?” Lensless squealed, clutching his stomach. “What are you gonna do, stitch me a strongly-worded letter?”

Mark stepped forward, radiating actual murder. “I will break your jaw, unhinge it, and feed you your own boot.”

Lensless was wheezing. “You gonna cry into one of her little embroidered doilies first?”

Mark’s eye twitched. He turned to Cassandra, who was just humming and bagging the suit in a plastic wrap like none of this was happening.

“I’m leaving,” he muttered. “I’m not doing this with him.”

“Don’t forget your mints, kiddo!” she called sweetly as he stormed past.

“I’M NOT TAKING THE MINTS.”

Lensless called after him, still cracking up, “Aww take your peppermints kiddo!”

The door slammed behind Mark like the punchline of a cosmic joke.

Lensless wiped his face, still chuckling as he stepped up to the counter. Cassandra held out his suit.

“You boys have so much fun,” she said, eyes twinkling.

He took it, still smirking. “Oh Cassandra. I’m gonna ruin his life.”

Back at the bar…

You were still sat at the booth, swirling your drink with a straw that was starting to look suspiciously chewed on, trying really hard not to think about the words "vintage Jaguar."

Brad—the human tank you were proudly draped over not ten minutes ago—was suddenly glancing at the clock on his phone with intense confusion.

“Yo babe, I gotta dip,” he said, standing up abruptly.

You blinked. “What? Why?”

He adjusted his watch (which may or may not have been fake). “Gym closes in thirty-five and I still gotta blend my creatine.”

You blinked again. “You… brought protein powder to the bar?”

He looked at you like you were the dumb one. “It’s in the car.”

Then—with no kiss, no goodbye—he fist-bumped the waitress and strolled out the door, calling “later dudes” over his shoulder like you weren’t even there.

You sat in stunned silence for a second.

Finally you turned slowly to Shiesty, who was just sipping his drink with a kind of giddy concern.

You started rifling through your purse. Lip gloss. Compact. A key you didn’t recognize.

“Ugh,” you muttered. “I think he’s stealing from me.”

Shiesty blinked. “Why would you—”

You pulled out your wallet, flung it open—and held it out dramatically. It was empty.

“BECAUSE HE’S STEALING FROM ME.”

Shiesty lost it.

“YO—WHAT?!”

You held up the limp little wallet like it was Exhibit A in a trial you were about to win with righteous fury. “I literally had a twenty in here before he ordered that third vodka cranberry! He said he had Apple Pay!”

Shiesty wheezed, leaning back in the booth. “Yooo, this man’s robbing you in real time.”

“I BROUGHT HIM HERE TO MAKE MY EX JEALOUS, NOT TO FUND HIS PRE-WORKOUT HABIT!”

Shiesty was crying, dabbing his eyes with a napkin. “Oh my god, he didn’t even pretend to be a good guy.”

You tossed your wallet back in your purse, seething. “I’m so mad and I can’t even say anything or it looks like I lost.”

Shiesty grinned. “You did lose. You lost a boyfriend and twenty bucks.”

You narrowed your eyes. “No. I just need to pivot.”

“Pivot into what? Dating someone who uses full sentences?”

“Exactly. I need someone hotter. Smarter. Not a financial risk.”

Shiesty leaned back, real cool-like, ran a hand through his hair, and gave you the worst smolder you’d ever seen.

“Well then, babe,” he said, dropping his voice into a low, dramatic purr, “look no further. I’ve got everything you need—” he gave a little finger-gun flourish, “—right here.”

You blinked at him. Held the stare for a beat. And then burst out laughing.

You reached out, pulled him into a warm, full-bodied hug like he’d just delivered the joke of the century. “God, you’re stupid,” you giggled into his shoulder. “Thanks. I needed that.”

He blinked. “Wait—”

You pulled back, already slinging your bag over your shoulder.

“I gotta go,” you sighed, digging around for your keys. “My dog’s been alone all day, she’s probably emotionally damaged by now.”

Shiesty stood there, hands still half-raised from the hug.

“…You have a dog?”

You gave him a cheery wave. “Bye, love you!”

The door swung shut behind you with a jingle.

Shiesty just stood there, staring at your empty seat. “…I was being serious.” He picked up your abandoned straw wrapper. Stared at it. Sighed. “Man. I got friend-hugged mid-rizz.”

Not 10 minutes later the door swung open again, bell jingling overhead.

Mark walked in, doing his best impression of someone not spiraling.

Strip of hair slightly windswept. Jacket crooked. Wrinkles in his shirt that definitely weren’t there before.

He spotted Shiesty alone in the booth.

“…Where’d everyone go?” Mark asked, trying to sound casual.

Shiesty didn’t look up from his drink. “Brad robbed her.”

Mark blinked. “I—what?”

Shiesty finally looked up. “The himbo? Turns out he’s not just brainless—he’s a petty thief too.”

Mark leaned back, smug satisfaction creeping in. “Wow. Sad. Tragic. Who could’ve guessed that dipshit was a bad investment?”

Shiesty finally looked at him. “I know right? I even tried to offer her an upgrade.”

Mark blinked. “...What?”

Shiesty shrugged, real casual. “Y’know. Threw my hat in the ring. Told her I had everything she needed. Right here.” He gestured to himself.

Mark stared.

A vein in his temple twitched.

“Are you—are you serious right now?” he snapped. “You hit on her?”

“Relax,” Shiesty drawled, unbothered. “It wasn’t like I proposed. I just—y’know—presented the option.”

“You presented the option?” Mark repeated, incredulous. “She’s not ordering cable packages—”

“Bro—chill.”

“Chill? I swear I will rip your spine—”

Shiesty held up a hand. “Bro, calm down. She laughed. Like, hard. Pulled me into a hug and hit me with ‘thanks! needed that.’ Like the very idea of me was a damn joke to her.”

Mark stopped. Paused. Shoulders visibly relaxed. “Oh,” he breathed, blinking slowly. “She laughed, huh?”

Shiesty nodded. “Immediate friend-zone. Real efficient.”

Mark sat back, smugness returning like a tide. “Yeah. Well. Of course she did.”

Shiesty sipped again. “She called me stupid.”

Mark’s smirk widened. “She’s always had good judgment.” There was a beat of silence before Shiesty started up again.

“…But like, is it just me,” he said, slowly tilting his head, “or did her ass go dumb in those jeans?”

Mark didn’t even hesitate. Smirked. “Her ass always goes retarded."

They clinked their glasses in solemn agreement.

“Truly criminal,” Shiesty muttered.

Mark shook his head. “It’s a blessing and a curse.”

[cryptotheism]

was kabbalah 100% biblical analysis with some neoplatonism thrown in for the woo factor, or was stuff like gematria used for purposes outside of being a 13th-century conspiracy theorist?

Really good question!

People have been doing Isopsephy for as long as we've had language. Using math to mess around with written text is done by pretty much any religious tradition with a textual corpus. Once you've assigned special importance to written text, manipulation of that text also acquires special meaning.

By the 1200s, late Platonism wasn't "thrown in" to anything, it was practically baked in to all monotheism. This is especially true for Judaism, which had a very close relationship to greco-roman pagan philosophy. The two influenced each other all the time.

This is especially especially true for Moshe de Leon, who was an avid reader of the Islamic scholarly works coming out of north Africa in the 13th century. Medieval Muslim scholars couldn't get enough Plotinus by way of Al-Farabi and Avicenna, and de Leon couldn't get enough of them.

I know you don't actually think De Leon was literally a conspiracy theorist, but you raise a good question. What exactly he was trying to do by writing the Zohar? According to Gershom Scholem, the text itself pulls from dozens of midrashim (rabbinical commentaries), books of outright mysticism, and jewish esoterica. De Leon was trying to build something that could unite a lot of disparate Jewish theology, esoteric and otherwise.

No small feat! You can't just say "all these things should be unified" you need some glue to hold it all together, and that glue needs Textual Authority. That's where the wacky Isopsephy like the gematria and notarikon come in. By fucking around with the Torah, de Leon could say "I'm not just making this up, its in the Torah. Also I didn't write this, Simeon bar Yochai did. We all love Yochai don't we?" Imo this is the real "woo factor" of the Zohar, but its also a necessary move to give the text authority. It is tactically and expertly applied woo which -let's be honest here- is the essence of good esoterica.

The funniest thing about the Zohar is that when it was published, it was roundly criticized by other rabbis for being full of nonsense grammatical mistakes, ahistorical claims, and even misquoting the bible, but people still liked it. The general response was something along the lines of "Moshe we know you made this up and its mostly bullshit...but its pretty cool."

TLDR; its late platonism all the way down, and yeah gematria is woo but de Leon was using it for a specific and non-woo purpose

[carn4g3]

hear me out:

Yandere Toby being given a target who's in college and ends up fronting as a students

Meets reader, who's actually patient with Toby and doesn't fault him or make fun of his tics

Decides to prolong his "stay" and then finding out Reader had a partner

But he's just got to have them

(⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

Journalistic Intent | Yandere Ticci Toby x GN Reader

Summary: A school reporting gone sideways. Toby is simply tasked to collect an impromptu Slenderman candid. Instead, he finds himself more interested in the photographer, you. Surely, it wouldn't hurt to take you with him instead, would it?

TWs: Descriptions of yandere behavior (manipulation and obsession), delusional thinking (by no means an accurate representation of real mental illness), explicit violence, verbal arguments, some details of gore and blood, & reader is a bit of a people pleaser

Word Count: 7.5k

A/N: I tend to write things from the reader's perspective a bit more, but I tried to go from Toby's instead. So, theres a little bit (who am I kidding, a lot bit) of unreliable narration here hehe.

The large sets of double doors at the back of the room screeched and groaned at infuriating intervals as students trickled into the echoing lecture hall. The seats creaked in an equally shrill manner as each of those students inevitably found a seat in the room. Though the people themselves were mostly silent, a few quiet conversations peaked out here and there and only further grated on Toby's ears.

"Fuckin' stupid..." He muttered under his breath.

This wasn't even supposed to be his assignment. Hoodie was usually the one who headed missions that went into the city like this given he had a little bit more charisma than any of the other proxies. But, apparently even that wouldn't be enough for him to pass under the radar as a generic college student. Inexplicably, in his opinion, that managed to fall on Toby. Adorned in a university branded pullover and a generic disposable mask, he found himself seated in the middle rows of some 100-person lecture.

Seated in the row before him was the target. Having gone on an adventure to the woods just a handful of miles away, you had managed to snag a photo of Slender. It wasn't the most damning evidence of the creature Toby had ever seen; its featureless white face peeking out between the branches of some background foliage, only a keen observer would be able to notice the dark shape that resembled the rest of its body. Nevertheless, you had stupidly chosen to hand the photo off to be published in some sort of school magazine. The article seemed to be hardly noteworthy beyond the handful of conspiracy theorists who managed to get their hands on it, but Slender was a creature of principle. It needed the original photo in order to properly wipe it from existence, so that was Toby's goal-- acquire that photo by any means.

Toby despised missions like these. The lack of clear parameters set his thoughts ablaze, and he was even worse at remaining below the radar. He could already feel the judgmental glares of the people beginning to crowd the room as his body jerked against his will. Tapping his nail against the desk space in front of him, his eyes wandered to those prying eyes. Heads turning to acknowledge the freak in the room, he swore he saw two girls begin to laugh about him from the front row. God, why couldn't he just gouge out their eyes-

"Alright folks, looks like it's 12 o'clock, so I'll go ahead and get started." A man spoke from the front of the room.

His voice abruptly cut through all the chatter and silenced it almost instantly. Given that the man was standing confidently at the front of the room, Toby could only guess that this was the teacher. He hardly cared to listen to what the man was droning on about as he clicked through the slides of some sort of introductory presentation. Casting his focus downwards, Toby took note of you once more. He could only see the back of your head from the seat he had chosen, but he had already studied your appearance carefully beforehand. You looked like what Toby imagined a college student would-- not to mention, you were undeniably attractive.

Toby's first task was to find a way into your apartment where the photo (likely) was hiding. Living in some sort of high-rise, he couldn't simply break in through the window. Your building also appeared to have slightly more security than average: cameras, alarm systems, and even actual security personnel at night. Without the usual means of easy escape, he would need to execute a break-in relatively undetected. Hoodie suggested he simply try to steal your keys and slip into your apartment while you're still away at class. It was certainly the easiest way, but Toby hated that he was even considering following the other man's suggestion.

"Why don't you all turn to someone around you and introduce yourself. Name, major, why you're taking this class, all the usual stuff," The teacher's voice surfaced once more, "Try to talk to someone you don't know, preferably."

With the instructions cutting through Toby’s pensive thoughts, he finally managed to look around the space he was occupying. No one had sat near him, though he wasn’t surprised. The closest student was about three seats away and already had their attention turned towards the person next to them. He scoffed, the situation reminding him too much of high school. Shifting towards you, he wondered who had managed to catch your interest, maybe even curious about gaining some additional information on you. Instead, your features were pointed at him, a gentle smile falling over your face as you said your name.

"My major is journalism, and I guess I'm really only taking this class for the university requirement." You went through the introduction pointers the teacher had given, "What about you?"

Toby's eyes widened as you kept speaking. Your gaze was soft and laced with curiosity, and you were talking to him. Unsure if the moment was even real, Toby had to blink a few times before he finally produced a response.

"I'm T-Toby-- shit!" Of course, reality came crashing back to him as his fist unwillingly pounded against his chest and an equally involuntary swear followed after.

The chatter around the two of you seemed to quiet at that. Soon enough, the hush conversation returned like a swarm. The words weren't clear, but Toby knew they must be talking about him. It was just like when he was a kid. People constantly laughed and pointed at him like they were subtle, but they weren't-- not in the slightest. Catching the sideways glance of someone else in the room, Toby had to clench his fists tight to stop himself from rushing over and punching that stupid look of superiority off their face.

"Hey, you're all good, take your time if you need to." Your words cut through his spiraling senses almost instantly.

Looking down at you, Toby expected to see the look of disgusted judgement or pity he always received. Instead, you looked just as you had before. Smile reaching your eyes, you seemed so understanding, so welcoming. He barely noticed the way his fists grew slack until he was speaking again.

"I um... don't h-have a major," He tried to echo the response you had given him, keeping details vague as he was taught to, "and I'm he-here for the same-- fuck-- same reason."

You nodded along to his words, "Is this your first year here or are you still just trying to figure all the major stuff out?"

"Uh... first year." He answered with uncertainty.

"Oh nice! I've been here for a few years now, so I'm almost at the end of my degree. I just have to get these annoying gen requirements out of the way," You replied, "Believe me, don't do what I did. Just get all of these your way your first few years."

Nodding as you gave your piece of advice, Toby's focus strayed to your lips as you spoke. Watching the way they moved as you spoke, you seemed very knowledgeable. Admittedly, he knew next to nothing about college and would never need to, but the way you talked to him and gave him advice regardless. Why wasn't everyone just like you?

To his disappointment, your attention was quickly drawn back to the professor as he called the class together once more. He wasn't all too happy that his only sight of you was the back of your head, but the quieting chatter around him finally let the thoughts flow through his brain evenly. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to linger around a bit longer.

The days Toby got to see you next were too few and far between. Only three days a week for 90 minutes, that was hardly enough time to spend with you. Especially as the teacher droned on and on at the front of the room, Toby could only wait anxiously in the seat behind you for the next time you would turn to him-- the room fading around you two fading into obscurity.

He was never the most punctual when he was last in a school setting: frequently showing up late or outright skipping classes he didn't want to be in. But here, he was always the first through those creaky double doors. Waiting anxiously, he could feel his heart pound against his chest as each new person entered the room. Some nights, Toby could hardly sleep with the way the anticipation killed him.

"How did you do on the quiz?" Your voice swelled melodically to his ears.

"Quiz..." Toby echoed.

He vaguely remembered the professor mentioning something about an online quiz. It had practically gone in one ear and out the other since he wasn't actually a student.

"Not g-great." He muttered, almost sadly.

A sympathetic look crossed your features at that response, "Aw, I'm sorry. It was definitely a bit of a rougher one."

Toby knew those words were just a lie to make him feel better about his supposed failure. You seemed to pay steadfast attention to the content of the class. He would watch as you took delicate notes on each concept-- keeping up with the teacher's fast talking pace far better than he could. You probably aced the test without a second thought about it.

"Do you have any good study strategies or anything like that?" You asked next.

Toby shrugged, "Just... not g-good at i-it."

You sighed once more, a look of pity crossing your features. Toby would have despised it from anyone else, but he almost felt a swell of pride seeing you direct such a feeling at him.

"It took me a while to get into some good study habits too," You added, "Hey, why don't we study together for the next quiz?"

The man perked up at the offer. Were you offering to spend time with him? You watched him expectantly, waiting for an answer to your question. He couldn't possibly say no.

"Ye- shit! Yeah, th-that'd be great." He hated the way he struggled out the response, but it hardly mattered when you appeared so unbothered by it.

You beamed at him, "Great! Here, let's exchange numbers so we can plan it when it gets closer."

Without another word, you turned around to grab your phone. Your thumbs moving swiftly across the pop-up keyboard, Toby had half a mind to remember that he didn't even know his own phone number.

"Can y-you just-- fuck-- write it?" Toby asked.

Your motions halted quickly at the request, "Oh yeah, sure."

Turning around once more, he had to lean forward slightly to watch as your pencil scrawled across the paper in the form of your phone number. Tearing off the small scrap, you swiveled back around and held it out towards Toby. He was almost nervous to reach out for it, hand jittery as he slowly extended it from his body. Trying to reign in his nerves, he did his best to repress any of the bubbling sensations of a tic looking to seize his arm. Finally grasping the small slip of paper, he simply couldn't stop himself from letting his fingers graze against your own slightly just to see what it was like.

"Just let me know it's you whenever you text." You chuckled.

"Yeah..." He trailed off, attention turned entirely to the tiny piece of paper.

Thumbs smoothing out the curling corners, Toby's eyes followed the soft trail your pencil had left, swooping and curling around each number. You had written down your name as well. He wanted to run his fingers over the graphite, as though he could feel your touch through it, but he knew the sweat beading at his hands would smear your perfect writing. Turning his gaze back to you, his words caught in his throat as he noticed your attention had turned back to the front of the room. The teacher had been talking for who knows how long now, completely stealing your attention.

The words of the man at the front of room had become a dull droning to his ears quickly. He could barely sit still as he waited for the teacher to finally shut up. Eyes darting between you, your number on the paper, and the clock, his leg bounced almost furiously as the seconds ticked closer and closer to the usual end time. It took far too long before the shuffling of backpacks hit his ears, other students beginning to stand and exit the room just as hastily as he would have if it weren't for you.

Standing abruptly, Toby took the opportunity to talk to you, "D-do you study a.. a lot?"

It took you a moment to turn to him as you gathered your things, "Oh um... I guess. Maybe not as much as I should."

"It pro-probably does-- doesn't matter for you-- shit! Anyways," He muttered, picking at his fingers absentmindedly, "You're real- really smart."

A smile spread over your face at the compliment, "You're sweet, Toby. Thank you."

Heat rushed to his ears like a wildfire, heart hammering against the inside of his chest once more. God, he could hear you say his name like a mantra, over and over and over...

"You should give yourself more credit, though," You continued speaking, "You're smart as well."

Toby's eyes widened as he quickly shook his head, "N-no-- fuck! I'm not... really."

"You are!" You insisted, "Doing good or bad on a test in just one subject-- hell, even several-- hardly says anything about what you actually know."

The words didn't particularly ring too important to Toby, his brain still lingering on the way you called him smart. If you said it to him, it must be true. It conjured memories of the things his fellow proxies would call him. How Hoodie spoke to him like he was an idiotic child, or the way Masky outright called him a dumbass. Everything he had called Toby over the years, he wondered what the other man would think if he heard the way you talked about him. He wished he could take you with him, present you to that bastard himself and show him how wrong he is.

"Tha-anks." Toby muttered bashfully.

"Of course." You smiled at him once more, the look sending shocks straight to his heart.

Toby hadn't even realized the two of you had left the classroom, too enraptured by your words. As a sudden cool air seeped through the fabric of his sweater, he took note that he was outside now. He normally didn't feel much about such changes in temperature, but the breeze felt pleasantly cool against his skin. That usually meant he was overheating without having noticed it. A bit of panic edged its way into his consciousness, he hoped you hadn't noticed.

"It's getting so cold out lately." You stuffed your hands into your pockets.

"Yeah, i-it's..." The words fizzled out in his throat as his eyes fell on a familiar figure.

Tan jacket and a coil of smoke, why was he here? He rarely ever saw Tim without a mask, but this was most obviously a situation that called for it. Eyes raising from the ground, they met Toby's. Tossing the cigarette on the pavement, he stubbed it out under his work boot and shoved his hands into his pockets. The gesture was clear, he wanted to talk.

"Everything alright?" Your voice piped up.

"I'm fine." He answered sharply.

"Ok..." You trailed off, "I'll see you next class."

Casting him an almost pitiful look, you walked away. Toby's gut twisted unpleasantly as he recognized that look. You were better than that. You didn't think of him like that, not until Masky showed up, at least. He just had to ruin everything for Toby, didn't he? Moving briskly towards the older man, his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides.

"What do yo-you want." Toby practically growled the words

"You're taking your time." Tim matched the other man's tone.

"It's not my j-j... job, I can take however-- shit-- long I'd like." Toby countered

"No, you can't," His words were stern, the no-nonsense tone that Toby hated, "You have your own assignments you need to take care of."

"Maybe you sh-- shouldn't have handed this... shit off to-- fuck! Me," He hissed, "Start d-doing your own sh... shit for once."

"I didn't ask for your opinion." Masky's face twisted in contempt.

He didn't give Toby a chance to reply before continuing, "Get your mind out of your dick and finish the job. I'm not gonna fuckin ask again."

"Is that all you ca-came to do?" Toby spat, "Bi-bitch about the job you-- fuck! couldn't fig-figu... figure out for yourself?"

"Shut the hell up," Tim muttered with barely concealed rage, "I'll kill that bitch myself if you don't get to it."

"Fuck you!" Toby's raised tone caught the gaze of some passing students.

He shot a glare of his own at the few eyes that accidentally met his. He had no patience for their judgmental stares, not when Masky grated on his nerves so much. Much to his further irritation, the older man simply shook his head at the threat, leaving after wordlessly having deemed the conversation complete. It took all of Toby's restraint to not follow after him, even if it would have been so easy to just cave his skull in from the back. He could do it with his own fists if he really wanted to. Eventually, he found himself calming down. Releasing the pressure from his hands, he had left crescent indents in his palms, but it wasn't like he could feel the sting of them anyways.

He would show Tim. You would show Tim.

Toby's eyes lingered over the text bubble on the screen, "Hey, this is Toby." The greeting was simplistic, but, after mulling over it for about 10 minutes, he finally gathered the courage to let his thumb fall onto the send button. He was almost getting impatient staring at the cracked screen, tapping it periodically so it wouldn't go dark. As expected, though, you pulled through-- those three dots popping up from the other side of the screen.

"Hey, Toby," Your text read, "How was your day?"

His heart fluttered at the question, "good," he resisted the urge to type that he missed you, "how was yours?"

"Not too bad, I wish all my classes were as easy as the one we have." You answered.

Toby read over the message a few times, lingering on one word repeatedly: we. He wished everything of yours could be shared. Too busy thinking, he must have taken long enough that you decided to send another text.

"Were you still interested in studying together?" The message asked.

"Yes." He wasted no time in typing and sending the response.

"I was looking at the next quiz and it's coming up way sooner than I thought," It took a moment for you to type the sentence, "I'm free after 10 next Thursday if that works?"

"I am." Toby remained just as eager.

"Ok great! Would the library work for you?" You asked

Toby's thumbs had readied another frantic response of approval, wishing nothing more than to just get to see you already, but they soon stopped short of the screen. He was willing to meet you anywhere for anything, but should he? Masky's words echoed in his head and sent another course of pure anger through his veins. The tree across from him had still yet to recover, wood spent and splintered from the way he had slammed his hatchet into it so viciously. As much as he hated it, the man didn't make his threats meaningless. He would intervene if Toby took too long, and the thought of Masky's disgusting hands on you made his own skin crawl.

"Not the library," He answered instead, "Too many people."

He worried his bottom lip as you took longer to respond than previous, but your message eventually appeared, "That's all good. How about we meet at my apartment instead."

"That's perfect." Toby hardly thought it through before sending the agreement.

You had to have known exactly what he wanted, giving him an answer so perfect like that. Not only would he get to spend time with you, (alone, at that) but he could also acquire that damn photo that brought him here in the first place.

"Ok great! How about we meet at 11, I'll send you the address when it gets closer." Your final text read.

He poured over your texts repeatedly, your address becoming a fixture in his memory once you sent it to him. Toby hardly noticed the way the time passed until he was there, sitting in the lobby space of your apartment building. Not really checking the time before he arrived here, he was undoubtedly early. People passed in and out quite frequently, entering through the door, exiting through the elevators, some checking their mailbox, others wandering to areas out of Toby's sight. It seemed like a nice place, probably expensive, but you had probably worked hard to acquire it.

Scrolling through your texts once more, Toby's eyes flitted upwards as he noticed someone new approach the exterior door. Pushing into the building's glass door, he immediately recognized you. Seeming focused on heading towards the elevators, Toby shot up out of his seat before you could miss him.

"Oh, Toby," You greeted, a bit of surprise in your voice, "You're early."

"Yeah..." He trailed off, sensing you didn't seem quite as thrilled to see him as he was you, "I ca-can wait if you-- shit! Need."

"No, no, it's fine, no point in going all the way up just to come back down, right?" You shook your head.

Continuing your previous path, you led Toby with you this time, "Here, I live on the 4th floor, so we'll take one of the elevators up."

"I-it's really nice," Toby commented, "The building."

"Compared to some of the other places around here, yeah," You nodded in agreement, "It's not cheap at all, though, but it's a lot better than the university apartments. What about you? Are you living in the dorms right now or somewhere else?"

"Somewhere e-else." He kept his reply short, hoping you would keep talking.

"Nice, like with your parents or are you renting around here?" You pressed.

Toby shifted uncomfortably at the mention of parents, your questions getting on his nerves a little more than he would like, "Just somewhere else."

"Oh ok," You trailed off, "Sorry for prying."

Just as the words of apology left your lips, the bell of the arriving elevator cut through the tense atmosphere. Doors sliding open, you stepped in wordlessly, pressed the button marked for floor 4, and settled into a spot in the small space. With no one else entering, Toby was left with you as the door slid shut. He felt unsettled for a moment in the small, enclosed space, but it quickly faded as his spiraling mind took note of you. Has he ever been able to linger this close to you before? The air felt warmed from your breaths, the pleasant smell of your clothes intermixing as he shifted closer to you. You looked too dejected standing there silently, watching the numbers count up on the screen above the door.

"It's f-fine," Toby responded to your earlier apology, "How l-l... long have you lived he-here?"

"This is only my 2nd year here, but I'll probably move out once I graduate." You answered, perking up once more.

"Where are you moving?" He asked quickly.

"We're still planning it a bit. I'm hoping to get into this internship program my mentor works with, so it would be a bit far from here and in a way bigger city." You continued to ramble on about the internship opportunity until the elevator reached your floor.

Doors sliding open, Toby was greeted by a long, carpeted hallways. Various doors staggered across each side with unit numbers fixated around the upper middle. He wasn't too focused on it all, following after you as he let his thoughts linger on your words. This town was already pretty far out of his usual scope, but it wasn't impossible to reach if he really wanted to see you again. If you left, though, he certainly wouldn't be able to locate you there. Especially with Masky's micromanaging, he would hardly make it to finding your new address before the other man stopped him.

"Toby?" His name on your lips catching his interest once more.

"Y-yeah?" He looked at you expectantly.

"I just asked if you brought anything to study with. You didn't leave anything in the lobby, right?" You asked.

"I didn't..." He trailed off, realizing his mistake, "I do bet- better without them."

"Ok, that's fine! We can just use my textbook and stuff," You nodded, "Anyways, welcome in! Sorry for the mess, I was hoping to clean a little bit beforehand, but it's alright."

A variety of decorations and other personal effects were strewn about the place in what seemed to be an intentional manner. It looked lived in, much cozier than anywhere Toby stayed. Only retiring to his allotted cabin in the woods to crash for a few hours, he never really thought of making it look nice. Toby wondered how you might decorate his cabin, where you would put your things. What would you do with the few items he did have? He felt a rise of anticipation thinking about your possessions intermixed.

"Why don't you just wait on the couch while I get a few things, ok?" You offered, tossing your bag onto the aforementioned couch.

"Can I see?" He asked.

"Like the rest of the apartment?" He nodded in confirmation, "Um... yeah, it's a bit messy as well, but as long as you don't mind."

"It's a lot-- shit! Cleaner than my pl-lace." Toby attempted to ease your apprehension.

You chuckled, "Yeah, well... we try our best."

Walking expertly through the apartment, you headed down a short hallway-- ending up in what looked to be an office space. As expected, it wasn't as messy as you claimed it to be. Decorations seemed to be in designated places with important work in the others. The last time Toby had any type of desk must have been in his childhood. Even though much time had passed, he hardly knew what the desk looked like then, using its surface as a glorified junk drawer. Looking over the items you chose to place in the space, he took note of a few photos. There were some with you as the focus, but they were mostly a mix of people that Toby didn't recognize-- those must be your friends. He wasn't surprised to see you had several. Trailing up further, he saw it: a digital camera.

"Do you t-take photos?" He snatched the device off the desk to observe it.

"Oh... Yeah, I do. Just um... be careful with that." You approached him as he powered it on.

Seeing the logo flash on the screen, it didn't take long for the screen to turn from a dark void to a recognizable interface. He managed to pick up on it quickly, despite the many years it had been since he so much as glanced at a modern digital camera. The photos weren't anything too interesting, none of them were of you. Depicting mostly the school buildings or the city outside it, he flicked through them quickly until he hit the important ones. Changing starkly from the prior pictures of outdoor art pieces, Toby recognized the trees instantly. He practically grew up in those woods you had merely visited for a few chance photos, yet you managed to capture it perfectly.

"Wh-what were-- fuck! These for?" Toby looked at you briefly.

"It's just some nature shots of the woods a few miles North," You answered, hovering close to him, "for a journalistic photography class. Why don't we head back to the living room now?"

Toby disregarded your words, briefly scanning photo after photo until he found the one. He didn't look at the target photo all too much when Hoodie had shown him initially. Looking at it from your view, he noted the way the light shone through the dew-covered leaves so beautifully that even he almost missed the stark white face of his boss peaking through them. Toby really had to wonder why he presented himself to you. No obsessions with the morbid aspects of life, you seemed a bit more normal than even the tamest individuals who received the privilege of spotting Slender. Not to mention, you hadn't even cemented yourself as worrisome enough to be deemed a target. As far as Toby was concerned, Slenderman didn't make mistakes. He didn't just let some random human snag a picture for the hell of it. Your ability to capture this photo alone was proof enough that you were special in some way, even Slender had to agree.

"Wh-what's this?" He asked, placing a finger on the screen just underneath Slender's face.

"Oh, it was probably a weird camera glitch or something. This thing is getting old." Slipping your hand around Toby's, he let you take the camera out of his hands.

Turning it off, you placed it back where he had found it, "Come on, let's try to get some studying done."

He didn't like your dismissal of his question, eager to pry you on it further. What if you did know about Slender's existence? If you were just a normal person, he wouldn't want you to get wrapped in the cruelty of his fellow proxies or the less restrained violence of the other members. But, you clearly knew something was going on. Were you trying to shield Toby from it? Did you care for him? With those thoughts swirling around his mind, he followed you silently to the living room.

Once he could focus on actually studying, it turned out to be a bit more satisfying than Toby last remembered it. It was frustrating at first as you asked question after question that he didn't know the answer to. He didn't actually care to listen to the professor, as you called the man at the front of the room. However, it was made up for by the way you gently explained each topic, the words sticking in his mind better than they ever had before. An almost euphoric joy would fill him every time you smiled at his correct answers and explanations-- no matter how much he stuttered through them.

"I think we've covered a lot today, right?" You asked.

Toby nodded eagerly, "Is there any...more?"

"Well, we've gone over pretty much all the content now for the upcoming quiz and the last one too," You answered, "I'm not sure there's anything else to work on."

"Can we g-go over it-- shit-- one more time?" Toby asked.

"You're doing pretty good, Toby. I think you'll do well on the quiz based on what we've done so far." You replied.

Toby felt a bit disappointed by your rejection, but he wasn't going to let it sour him too much, "Just a lit-- little bit more?"

Your lips pursed together as you thought over the request for a moment, but you eventually gave a desirable response, "Ok, we'll just go over the newest things a bit more. That sound good?'

"Yes," He answered, "That's perfect."

"Just a heads up, my--" You began to speak, but your words lost Toby's attention as he heard a sound from the front door behind him.

Shooting up from his seat, he stared at the barrier as a muffled clicking sound reverberated through it. Someone was unlocking the door, but who? Was it Masky? Toby's gut twisted at the thought. It had been about a week since he last saw the man. More importantly, since he had threatened to kill you. The time difference was a bit longer than the punctual bastard would usually like, but it wasn't like he had nothing to show for it. Was he here to follow through on that threat? Could the asshole really not handle someone liking-- no, loving-- Toby for once? As the door opened, he waited with bated breath for that black and white mask and the shimmer of a handgun.

However, none of that happened.

"Oh, hey there. You must be Toby, right?" The person greeted him.

"Sorry Toby, I didn't think we would still be working this late, but I was just about to let you know," You spoke up after them, "This is my partner..."

Toby didn't listen to the rest of the introduction, the words "partner" ringing through his head like a bout of tinnitus. The stranger standing before him was your partner. He couldn't help but critique them from just their stance alone. You hadn't even mentioned a partner before now, and you and Toby were close too. Did you not actually care about this person? Surely, if you did, you would be jumping to talk about them.

"Yeah... I'm just going to get out of your guys' way. It's nice to meet you, Toby." Your partner nodded at him before heading off.

"I'm just going to go plug my phone in real quick, so just wait here for a moment." You followed suit, leaving him alone in the living room.

He didn't like how quickly you had left him. You were fine sitting mere feet away from him just minutes ago. Now, you were practically running to keep your distance. Something had to be wrong. Still stunned, it took him a minute before he finally decided to creep down the hallway. The sound of hushed voices was clear, despite the clear attempts to keep the conversations hidden behind a closed door. Creeping closer, Toby managed to find a position where he could best make out the words.

"I can tell him to leave if you want." Your partner's words were first.

"No, you don't have to. I'm just worried about coming off as mean." Your response followed.

"Well you two were supposed to be done like hours ago. It's not unreasonable to kick this creep out of your own home." Those words caused a prickle of anger to hit Toby.

He had no doubt this supposed partner of yours was referring to himself. It was far from the first time he had been called a creep; he hardly flinched at the "insult" anymore. But to think you felt the same? He waited almost anxiously for your response.

"Don't call him that. He's just... a bit awkward" You sighed, "Look, it's partially my fault for not setting a clear time we needed to be done."

Of course, you wouldn't believe such things about him. You were perfect, a saint even, he doubted you even thought of him so negatively until this stranger suggested it.

"I can handle it myself, ok? You don't need to worry about it." You added after a moment.

"I trust you," They replied "but if you need my help, I'll be right here."

Silence fell over the room for a few moments. He listened closely, hoping to gather something-- the shuffle of clothes, the press of lips-- but he was hopeless to discern anything. With the way his blood was practically pounding in his ears, he couldn't even think. You liked him, didn't you? You didn't want to kick him out, right? It must have been your partner who convinced you that it was the right decision. The thought of that stranger being so close to you right now, touching you, grated his nerves further. You deserved better than that. You deserved him.

"Oh Toby! Is everything alright?" Your voice appeared much louder than before.

In fact, you were standing right in front of him. Eyes wide, you looked shocked-- maybe even scared to be looking at him. Realizing he was a bit too close to justify a casual run in, he thought quick on his feet.

"The bathroom," He answered, "Couldn't fi-find it."

"I'm sorry, I meant to show you earlier. It's just that room, right there." You pointed in it's direction.

"Thanks." He muttered.

Shuffling past you, he let his shoulder brush against your own. Would you like his touch more than that awful partner of yours? He might not be as warm or soft. His tics got in the way sometimes, but you clearly didn't mind. Entering the bathroom, he shut and locked the door behind him. Toby considered snooping around the room for a moment but quickly discovered it lacked any of the personal flair the other rooms did. This must be a guest bathroom of sorts, disappointingly.

Turning on the faucet to believably pass the time, he couldn't help but think of the look you had given him just moments ago. You were scared. He usually enjoyed that expression when it was directed at him, but he didn't like it on you. It wasn't possible you were scared of him. Toby was hardly covered in any of the intimidating accessories he normally wore to elicit such a response-- not even a speck of blood. Could you be scared of your partner? That had to be it. You were a strong and smart person as far as Toby had gathered, so they must have hit you somewhere weak to agree to drive him away. You wouldn't need to worry for long, Toby thought, he would save you.

Deciding he had spent enough time here, he shut the faucet off. Returning to the living room, he found you sitting almost rigidly on the couch. Your partner was nowhere to be seen, probably a norm for you. Looking towards him sharply, you gave him a false smile-- the joy not quite reaching your eyes like he normally preferred.

"Hey Toby, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot my partner and I have dinner reservations not too long from now," You said, "Is it alright if we call it today? I can totally study with you some other time if you need."

He knew it was a lie, but Toby wouldn't fault you for that. He knew it wasn't your decision.

"Yeah it's--fuck! Fine." He nodded, "I'll s-see you."

You stood from the couch, a real smile lighting up your features this time, "Yeah, let me know how the test goes for you to! Do you need me to walk you out or do you remember the way back?"

"I got it." Toby replied plainly, fists curling in his pockets.

Temperature didn't usually mean much to Toby, but the almost cold chill he felt when greeted with the exterior hallway was the closest he had come to it. Stepping out the door-- no-- Leaving you felt uninviting, like he would be entering a world he had never navigated before. As much as it pained him, he would have to wait to see you again. Letting his hand fall from his pocket, his fingers tips brushed against the back of your hand as he passed by the door. He relished in smoothness against his rough fingertips, the warmth of your hands. Toby would have you soon. He knew it.

"Goodbye." He spoke as he stepped out.

"Bye." The door was shut quick after your short response, leaving him alone.

Turning in the direction you two had come from not so long ago, Toby's hand returned to his pocket. Curling comfortably once more, he felt the cool, jagged metal press into the palm of his hand. He's sure you'd hardly notice the absence of your house keys.

It must have been a loud sound you weren't used to, despite your usually noisy neighbors. But, with your brain too wrapped in sleep, you could hardly remember what it was that had woken you up now. Rolling over, you were greeted with the freezing hug of the sheets your body heat hadn't touched in hours. Checking the clock, it was 3AM to your dismay. Far too early to be up, you wondered if you would even be able to go back to sleep before your classes tomorrow or if you would just toss and turn restlessly. Turning to see if your partner had been startled by the noise as well, you found the bedside to be empty-- sheets thrown back.

Your eyes begged to pull shut once more, but you resisted the urge in favor of locating your partner. Sitting up revealed that the bathroom connected to your shared bedroom was dark, they weren't in there. Turning to the bedroom door instead, you found it left slightly ajar. That must have been the way they went.

Waiting for a few moments, you failed to hear any of the usual sounds of the building: the shuffling of steps in your apartment, creaking of your upstairs neighbors, or especially loud traffic from the road. It was almost eerily quiet. Unsettled enough, you decided to investigate for yourself. Embracing the cold air, you tossed your blankets off of your form. Shifting to stand, it took you a moment longer than usual to adjust to the sensation of the floor under the soles of your feet. Nevertheless, you moved forward, gently pushing the door open to reveal your hallway.

It was dark, but never too dark as the city lights shined through the exterior windows in your living room. Following the path they illuminated, you headed towards your kitchen-- hoping to find your partner there. With a cursory glance of the open-concept space, they were nowhere to be found. Maybe they had chosen to go to your shared office for some reason? While the thought popped into your mind, you weren't quite done in the kitchen.

Stepping a bit further in, you noticed an out of place dark mark on the counter. Leaning close to it, you tried to discern the weird mess of thick lines that had befallen the granite's edge. It was too dark for you to properly tell the color, but you guessed it was just a small spot you had missed when cleaning up after dinner. Maybe your partner had accidentally left it when getting a midnight snack, or they were intending to return to clean it. Not too worried by it, you straightened up and readied to head to the office.

That was when you saw it.

Not just a mark of color, but a puddle of it like vomit on the sidewalk. It splattered on the fridge, some specks peaking onto the wall from behind the center island. In between it all sat a severed forearm, your partner's darkened and sticky hair splayed out not far behind it. The rest of their body was hidden from you, and the gore you could see was hardly something your brain could comprehend. You had seen human innards in biology and anatomy diagrams, not tangibly in front of you on your kitchen floor. Your blood ran cold, a sweat breaking out across your skin, and a guttural scream bubbled in your diaphragm. Before it could be released, something cupped your mouth harshly, pulling your body back into another clothed being.

"I'm s-sorry," The pressure of their hold tightened as they stuttered, "I di-didn't want... you to see that."

Your scream fell into a strangled sort of sound at the appearance of an unknown assailant. Hands darting up to fight the force restraining you, you wanted to scream louder and thrash like there was no tomorrow. You could feel your heart beating out of your chest as reality finally presented itself to you. You were going to die.

"Sh- sh... shut up!" They hissed.

The words cut through your thoughts like a hot knife. Despite your intuition, you managed to keep quiet with the exception of your muffled, gasping breaths. Seeming satisfied with that, the assailant easily turned your body so that you were no longer facing the bloody kitchen scene.

"I di-did what you-- fuck! Wanted." They spoke once more.

Even through the fog of disassociation, you didn't miss the striking details of the currently faceless murderer behind you. The swearing, the twitches, the tone of voice, it all pointed to one person.

"Toby..." The name on your mouth was muffled under his hold, but he recognized it regardless.

"Yes!" He exclaimed, "You kn-knew I was coming f-- fuck! For you, didn't you? That I was go-going to save you?"

The moment of clarity was quickly lost as he continued to speak. He must be delusional. His words certainly suggested as much, but it was something beyond that. Your partner was dead in the kitchen. No one with any standard mental illness would just do that. This was something beyond a socially awkward freshman taking a strange interest in you. The realization of it all crashing down upon you brought attention to the tears beginning to fall down your face.

"No, no, no, no, don't cr-cry." He cooed, his other hand coming up to sloppily wipe at your cheek.

"I kn-know you're-- shit! Happy, but w-we still got to get... get out of here." Toby continued, "Y-you'll be e-even happier where... where we're going."

Maybe you wouldn't die. But, you could only sob harder at what you were presented with instead.

[alphajocklover]

The following story was a commission from a reader who would prefer to remain anonymous. They have given me permission to share this story. Quick thank you to them.

Made For This Town

Maxwell Ford was moving.

Specifically, Maxwell Ford was moving to a small town called Maxford.

Max Ford was moving… to Maxford.

It was almost funny, or at least it would have been funny if Maxwell wasn’t absolutely miserable about this entire thing.

Maxwell hated that they were moving again. His family moved quite a bit, his mothers job as a software engineer bringing them all around the country. Usually Maxwell was fine with moving. It was annoying but he was used to it. He was a fairly social guy and made friends easily. This time Maxwell doubted he’d make any friends at all, mainly because Maxwell was basically moving to the middle of nowhere.

When he had first heard they were moving to a town that shared his name he thought it was actually kind of cool. Even when he learned it wasn’t a city he had still been kind of excited. He had lived in cities his entire life, and had actually been curious about what it might be like to live in a small town. Then he had learned about what Maxford was actually like. There wasn’t a lot of information about it on the internet, which was a little strange since everything was on the internet these days, but what he had learned had soured him on the town completely. Maxford was… well it was weirdly normal. There was no other way to put it. The town was weirdly normal. Maxwell knew that a lot of small towns were conservative and focused on athletics, but Maxford seemed to take it to a whole new level. Everyone was conservative and athlete obsessed. Absolutely everyone! It didn’t sound possible, but try as he might Maxwell couldn’t find any semblance of any sort of counter culture. There were no nerds, no goths, no punks and no LGBTQ people of any kind. The only mention of LGBTQ people and Maxford were some quack conspiracy theorists online raving about some kind of reality changing forcefield. Maxwell was convinced that even if he found other nerdy or gay people like him in Maxford, they’d be absolutely crazy. It wasn’t like Maxwell could do anything about it though. He was just 18 and hadn’t finished highschool yet. He didn’t have the means to live on his own. So he resigned himself to spend his senior year surrounded by jocks. Though that didn’t stop him from pouting about it the whole ride there.

“God it’s like there's no cell service out here.” Maxwell groaned from the passenger seat of his family's subaru. Maxwell could hear his dad, Samuel Ford, sigh from the driver's seat, and could tell his dad was rolling his eyes without even looking. Maxwell knew it was all in good fun though. He and his dad actually got along great, which made sense considering they were both very similar. Both were skinny men who appeared younger than they were and had a love for sci-fi and video games. The only real difference was that Samuel was far more mature and less emotional then Maxwell. His emotional maturity and kindness was probably the only reason Samuel was able to get Maxwell’s mother, Rose, to go out with him. Rose was both attractive and ambitious, and Samuel absolutely adored her. She had driven ahead in the family's other car with a bit more of their stuff, so currently the car was just father and son.

“Son, I know you’re not really excited about this move…” Sam said sympathetically, a kind smile on his face “But I swear it won’t be as bad as you think. I know this town is different from the places we’ve lived before, but I know you’ll make friends.” Sam said. Maxwell doubted it, but said nothing and smiled slightly at his fathers attempts to cheer him up as they approached the city limits of Maxford. “You’ll see, son. As soon as we get in there…”

“You’ll be pulling pussy like fucking crazy.” Sam Ford said, a cocky grin on his manly face as he gave his son a knowing smile.

Max Ford puffed his chest slightly with pride as he smirked at his Dad. He wasn’t really worried about getting a new girl to go out with him, since chicks were basically putty in his hands. Why wouldn’t they be? He was a fucking stud. Over 6 feet tall with roaring, beefy muscles. He was so big he already had a place on the Maxford High football team without even having to try out. He had sent some pictures of himself to the football coach and got a starting place on the football team just like that. But Max liked it when his dad complimented him, since he had looked up to the man his entire life, so he pretended to be nervous about finding a girl for homecoming so his dad would try and cheer him up. His dad was fully aware his son was just playing, but studs like them had to build eachother up. As they drove through Maxford, Max thought about the upcoming school year with a cocky grin. He knew being the new kid in senior year might be a little weird, but a guy like him could make friends anywhere. Plus, a guy named Max Ford in a town called Maxford? It was like fate. Max was sure he’d be the king of his highschool in no time.

Sam pulled up at their new house, parking their SUV next to the family pickup. He got out of the car and sauntered over to his wife Rose, who was waiting for them. She had come earlier to get the house set up. Being a stay at home mom, Rose wanted to make sure everything was perfect for her man. Max rolled his eyes as his parents kissed sloppily, almost gagging as his dad groped his Moms ass. Turning away from them, Max saw a busty girl across the street, staring at him with unhidden interest. With a seductive smirk, Max stripped off his shirt, threw it to the floor, and flexed for the bimbo, who he couldn’t hear giggle and blush as he showed off.

Max laughed. A town full of hot girls and cool bros. It was like the town of Maxford was made for him. Or… maybe he was made for the town of Maxford.

**Hope you guys enjoyed another little trip to Maxford! I don’t know how the fact that the random town name I made up would also make a good jock name didn’t occur to me till now, but I’m grateful it did! If you like this, stay tuned for more or maybe even commission me. I already got another commission for a much longer Maxford themed story on the books! See you later!**

[thanosscross]

Doodles - Hwang HyunJin X Reader - Soulmate AU

Summary: After you turn 17, you can see whatever your soulmate writes on their body. whatever they write appearing in the same place on your body, so what happens after your 21st birthday whenever you start getting suspicious if your soulmate is an idol or not?

Warnings: SMUT! Smut smut smut at the end! <3

Word count: 5.7K 👀 longest story yet lovelies!

Nothing was more frustrating and rewarding than having a soulmate, especially whenever whatever was written on your soulmate's body, would also appear on yours in the same spot. It'd all start as soon as somebody turned seventeen-years-old, nobody could explain it, no scientist, conspiracy theorist, religion follower could figure it out. As soon as it would hit the exact time you were born on your seventeenth birthday, it would happen though.

For Hwang HyunJin, it would take a few weeks for anything to appear on his body, but the first time it would, he'd be on the couch with one of his friends, and bandmates, Felix. They'd be hanging out together, going through different funny videos that fans had made, whenever Felix would notice the words starting to form on his friend's wrist, almost like it was a permanent ink pen '2,301,676 + 72,063 + 170,068'. "Hyunjin! Look! I think your soulmate is doing something!" He smiled excitedly, HyunJin glanced down, smiling slightly "They're doing math" He chuckled, picking up a pen as he started to write below the words that sat permanently on his wrist until yours faded, or you washed it off. '2,543,807' he wrote, setting the pen and his phone down with a smile, feeling proud that he could help his soulmate with something.

You wouldn't be able to see anything from HyunJin for another three years, whenever your seventeenth birthday would hit, you'd hide in your room, waiting excitedly for any interaction with your soulmate. You'd wait for about a week before you'd try and reach out first, writing a small 'hi :)' on the top of your hand, but nothing would ever appear for you. You'd start to think maybe you just didn't have a soulmate, never getting any type of response until one night, whenever you were staying over at your friends, waiting for the new StrayKids album to release. Laying on her couch, almost asleep until you spotted the faint markings at the bottom of your arm.

'Boom Vamos, I know that you want it

Boom Lobos, we cannot stop hunting

Boom Ratatata I'mma make it'

You'd stare in confusion, trying desperately to figure out what the phrase meant until you'd hear the newest Stray Kids song 'Chk Chk Boom'. That would cause you to become very, very suspicious over who your soulmate was, and how the hell they got ahold of Straykids lyrics before the official release. You'd spend a few weeks going back and forth with your soulmate, sure you hadn't had an actual conversation, but you'd go back and forth with your writing. If HyunJin wrote down song lyrics, you'd try your best to finish the song, if they were lyrics from a song, you hadn't heard yet, you'd always leave a small note of 'Sounds amazing :)' After those few weeks, you'd be convinced, your soulmate had to be someone in StrayKids, or someone who works with them, how else would they be getting song lyrics before the song's release?

Only a few hours away, in their studio, HyunJin would be lectured by his manager and Bangchan "It's not that we don't want you talking to them, but you're leaking song lyrics when you write them on yourself" Bangchan tried to reason, Hyunjin just raised his eyebrows, not really liking the way he felt like a child in trouble. "How else am I going to remember them?" He protested, their manager just sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose "I don't know, Just- Bangchan, figure it out" He sighed before rushing out of the recording studio, beyond stressed, leaving the boy group to sit alone awkwardly. "How about this, we just write the lyrics on the glass window of the booth, and then just clean it when we're done?" Han asked, causing Bangchan to smile brightly "Yea! Yea, that'd be perfect!" He replied, rushing to the desk to grab a dry-erase marker.

You wouldn't get anymore song lyrics after that, instead HyunJin would draw small little doodles on his arms, blushing brightly whenever he'd notice an addition to his doodle, done by his soulmate. You'd take pictures of each drawing that would be on your arm, not wanting to ever forget how adorable they were. "Y/n! Y/n L/n! Open the door!!" Your best friend shouted pounding harshly on the door, as you opened it, your friend quickly barreled into your apartment, practically exploding with excitement. "Slow down! What's wrong with you?" You giggled loudly, watching as she turned around squealing "How much do you love me!?" She squealed, holding her phone close to her chest "Uhhh, I don't know? More than anything" You smiled playfully, watching as she squealed again "Well! Your best friend in the whole world! Got us pit tickets to StrayKids next month!! With a signing the day before!" She screamed, not being able to hold back her excitement any longer, you stared at her in shock before squealing loudly as you hugged her tightly. Celebrating for the rest of the night with shots and blasting your favorite songs until you both ended up passing out.

One Month Later..~

As you paced the lobby of the signing, you felt your nerves starting to rise, why were you doing this? Why didn't you decide to wear a jacket or a long sleeve shirt? You had woken up that morning with your arm littered with the same signature over and over again, from your hand all the way to your shoulder. If you hadn't been such a fan of the boy group, you'd never have recognized it as quickly, but almost immediately, you and your friend recognized the signature of Hwang HyunJin. After that, you felt sure you knew who your soulmate was, you just needed to see if his arm matched. Now as you stood in the lobby though, you were regretting not bring some type of jacket, what if Hyunjin's arm wasn't the same? What if it was just some coincidence and all you looked like was a weird fan? As your friend rushed you inside, your anxiety began to multiply for a different reason. A few feet ahead of you sat all eight members of Stray Kids, as your eyes landed on HyunJin, your heart started hammering in your chest.

HyunJin had been nervous that day, he wasn't exactly sure why, nor would he show it, but he'd go to extreme lengths to make sure his outfit, hair, and signature was perfect. He wasn't sure why he was going to such lengths; he just had a voice in his head and a feeling telling him to make sure everything was perfect today. Even spending the entire car ride to the venue practicing his signature on his arm, despite his friends teasing. Whenever Jeongin's eyes landed on two girls who walked in, he started nudging one of his best friends excitedly "Look! Look! that one right there, with the h/c hair, she's got Hyunjin's writing all over!" He whispers yelled to Han who was sat between him and HyunJin. The loud whispers caught the young man's attention, HyunJin turning to look towards where his bandmates were motioning and looking, his eyes landing on you. More specifically your arm that had the exact handwriting his did, as you got closer to the front of the line, HyunJin felt himself growing more confident, if you were his soulmate and a fan, surely he wouldn't be rejected..right?

As you nervously stood at the front of the line, you hesitated, keeping your eyes trained on the black table ahead of you. Your friend gave you a gentle push forward towards the table, indicating it was your turn now. As you sat down in front of the first member, BangChan, you could feel your hands shaking violently, knowing you’d have to have a very awkward conversation very soon. “Hi!- are you okay?” His tone quickly changed from upbeat to concerned as he gently grabbed your hands, to try and stop them from shaking as bad. “Y-yea! I-I’m sorry” you stuttered out nervously, squeezing his hands gently in return, as you went to hand him your newest Stray Kids album along with one of his photo-cards to sign, BangChan took notice to your arm.

“Woah, HyunJin did that too ya know?” He asked before realizing what exactly what was going on, he had his best friend’s soulmate sitting in front of him currently. “That’s why you’re so nervous” he smiled nodding a bit as he quickly signed your things, watching as the staff motioned for you to move on to the next member. “Thank you” you smiled bowing slightly, he just gave you a supportive smile as he leaned over to Felix “that’s HyunJin’s soulmate look” he whispered before you sat down. Felix gasped loudly, leaned over the table to get a better look at your arm and you, you were extremely beautiful, maybe not his exact type, but definitely HyunJin’s type, and that’s all that mattered. “Hi! It’s so good to see you!” Felix greeted, almost like you two were old friends catching up rather than an idol and fan. “I-it’s good to see you too! I really love your g-guys music” you replied, smiling a bit as you tried to shove down your anxiety as you made your way to Hyunjin.

Whenever you finally sat down in front of HyunJin, there was a hint of tension, both of you could see clearly that you were soulmates, but neither of you said anything, you weren’t even sure what to say. “What’s all that about?” He asked teasingly, motioning towards your arm as he started to sign your things “Soulmate, decided to give me a tattoo sleeve of his name when I woke up” you explained nervously, giggling whenever you saw the idol smirk slightly as he laughed. Sitting in front of him calmed your nerves slightly, especially seeing that he wasn’t jumping to maybe you were just a crazy fan. “Seems like your soulmate knew you were coming to meet different guys” he teased, not yet noticing that it was actually his own signature, not just some random one. As HyunJin handed you the album case, and photo-card back, he took in the matching signature on your arm. As you were forced to move again, HyunJin felt a pull towards you, like he wanted to just get up and follow you out, but he knew he couldn’t do that, not without getting to know you first.

As the fan sign started wrapping up, the boys rushed to HyunJin “seriously! She was right there! Your soulmate was literally right in front of you! Why didn’t you say anything?!” They all shouted in chorus, not understanding his actions, or the fact that he never said anything to you indicating you were soulmates. “I reached out! I’m playing it cool!” He defended himself, smirking to himself as they all got ready to leave.

Whenever you got back home, you’d start setting up your new signed merch, only to notice the phone number scribbled underneath HyunJin’s name on his photo-card. “Holy shit holy shit…b/f/n!!!” You screamed, waiting until your friend got to your bedroom before starting to freak out. “I think I got HyunJin’s number!! Look!” You screamed, holding out the photo card as you nervously started to pace the floor. “Oh my god!! You have to text it! What if it is him!? What if you two are soulmates and get married and give me little idol niece and nephews!!” She squealed in reply, shoving the photo-card back to you as she started to jump up and down with excitement. “I-I don’t know” you whispered nervously, grabbing your phone, hovering your fingers over the numbers on the keypad, contemplating on if you really wanted to reach out.

HyunJin spent the rest of his night after the Fan sign, eating dinner with his friends and then going back home to wait by the phone. He wasn’t about to make a whole scene in front of over a thousand fans, because he found his soulmate, he'd prefer if that was private, at least for now. Whenever his phone finally would buzz, he'd practically throw himself over the couch to see who the message was from.

Unknown: Hello? I got this number on a photo card 🫣

HyunJin: I noticed we matched today..

HyunJin could feel his leg start to bounce slightly as it took slightly longer for a reply from you, but almost as soon as he added your number as a contact, a new message came through from you.

Beautiful: You just had to cover my entire arm in your name today, didn't you? 😂

HyunJin: Maybe I just had a feeling my soulmate was meeting my flirty bandmates 😉

You immediately felt your cheeks run hot with a blush whenever you read over his message, him basically quoting himself from earlier. He knew it was you the moment he saw you, the words kept running through your head, causing you to become flustered over the entire interaction from before. Taking a moment to recollect yourself before replying back to him.

Beautiful: Was truly rude, I'm not sure if I'll ever forgive you now

HyunJin smirked to himself, already falling in love with you just by the few messages you had sent. As he pressed the small call button by your name, it wasn't long before he heard a soft, shy voice answer. "Yes?.." You whispered, your cockiness quickly fading as you were put on the spot, being on the phone and actually hearing his voice made it all real, which made you extremely shy over the fact you had a famous idol flirting with you. "Where'd all the flirtiness go, Gonjunim?" He asked smirking, moving to go to his bedroom rather than the living room, where the rest of the seven members sat. You blushed brightly as you shoved your face in your pillows for a moment to try and calm your racing heart from being flustered. "I'm just not forgiving you right now" You squeaked out, taking a deep breath as you finally sat up "I'm so sorry, Gonjunim, I'll make sure next time I leave my name on you, it's a little more private" He replied, having to cover his mouth afterwards, not believing he just said that out right. "Hwang HyunJin!" You gasped in shock, staring at the phone before taking a breath, trying to recollect your thoughts as you heard his chuckles through the speaker on your phone. "Yea! It'll sound just like that whenever it happens! and you know, I can't even gasp your name, you haven't told me" He chuckled, leaning back against his pillows that sat on his bed, you blushed brightly, rolling onto your stomach, setting your phone down on your bed as you smiled. "Y/n, Y/n L/n" You replied softly, blushing whenever you heard him whisper it quietly to himself.

You two would both end up falling asleep on the phone with each other a little past midnight, spending that entire night, flirting, joking, and just getting to know each other, you were soulmates after all. The next day would be hectic for the both of you, HyunJin being rushed to rehearsals, makeup and hair, and then dressing rooms to change into his preforming outfit. You and your friend were rushing to make sure you got to the venue in time to get good pit spots, you were determined, wanting to see the boys preform up close, especially the member you were falling in love with. Once you'd get inside, thankfully, you and your friends would both get straight to the barricades. As you stood against the metal fence like structure, you'd pull your phone out to text HyunJin quickly

Beautiful: I'm right at the barricade, I'm excited to see you again 😉

You wouldn't be expecting a reply, instead, you noticed writing starting to appear on your thigh, a little below the ends of your shorts. 'HyunJin's Gonjunim' sat proudly on your skin, causing you to blush brightly and try your best to hide it. The show would start shortly after that, and for almost the entire two and a half hours of it, HyunJin's gaze was always on you, especially during his verses and lines while singing. Whenever the show ended, your phone would buzz with a text message, which you wouldn't see until after you and your friend made it out of the actual arena of the venue.

HyunJin: Stay with me tonight

You'd be slightly confused at first, until you'd spot him peeking out of a door with a giant sign that had 'Employees Only' taped to it, he had been serious. After you convinced your friend to go ahead and go home, you made your way over to him, smiling with a bright blush as he smirked at you. "Absolutely breathtaking" HyunJin whispered, taking your hand in his gently to spin you around, getting a full view of your outfit. Your entire body felt hot as you became flustered under the idol's gaze, as you turned to face him again, you smiled softly "Hmm, looks like that soulmate of yours knew you'd be seeing those guys again" HyunJin teased, motioning towards your thigh before smiling innocently "Oh I saw, I swear to every god there is, I'm gonna get you back" You giggled, clinging to him slightly as he led through the door, through the backstage area until he ended up back at his dressing room. "Woah, this is..insane" You whispered looking around in awe at the incredibly expensive dressing room, HyunJin only smiled, wrapping his arms around your waist to pull you closer to him. As your back pressed against his chest, you blushed slightly "Excuse me sir, that's not how you greet a lady" You teased, feeling him squeeze his arms around you as he chuckled "Sorry, Gonjunim" He replied in the same teasing tone that you had used, you giggled reply, placing your hands on his arms as you leaned into his touch.

Whenever you'd get back to his shared dorm with ChangBin, HyunJin would give you a quick tour before leading you to his room with a smile "This is my room" He whispered nervously, he wasn't exactly sure why he was suddenly so anxious, but seeing you in his bedroom and not just hearing your voice through the phone, made his heart race. "Aein...Are you okay?" You asked after you turned to face him, noticing his nervous behavior, HyunJin glanced up slightly, raising his eyebrows as you wrapped your arms around him tight in a hug "I-I'm okay" He assured as he wrapped his arms back around you in return, feeling like his eyes were drawn to your eyes and then your lips, back and forth before you eventually spoke. "Kiss me" You demanded, HyunJin wasted no time in pressing his lips against yours, cupping your cheek as you moved your lips together. You rested your hands on his sides gently, blushing whenever you felt one of his hands move to your lower back, pulling you closer to his body as he nipped at your bottom lip.

HyunJin could feel himself growing confident as you gasped and whimpered under his touch, as you both moved over to the bed, HyunJin let you fall onto the mattress, giving you that damn smirk that made you flustered every time. "Is this okay, Jagiya?" HyunJin asked, his tone growing serious for a moment as he ghosted his hands over the waistband of your shorts. You took a deep breath as you nodded, placing your hands on the back of his neck, pulling him closer to press your lips against his jaw. As he let out a quiet grunt, you whimpered, feeling his hands working at undoing your shorts and shoving them down your legs. As HyunJin finally managed to get your jean shorts off he felt his jeans getting tighter, the dark black underwear hugging your body almost like they were made for you specifically. As he helped pull off your shirt, he was left speechless, taking in every bit of beauty that laid in front of him, you started to grow nervous under his gaze now. What if he was staring over something that was gross or ugly to him? "What did I do to deserve you?" HyunJin whispered to nobody as he leaned forward pressing his lips against your skin, moving from your neck, collarbone, then the top of your breasts. Reaching behind you, you quickly undid the clasp of your bra, letting it slide off of you before moving your hands to his shoulders, digging your nails into his skin as he moved his lips to your nipples.

"You're okay, Gonjunim, Changbin isn't here, let me hear you" He whispered against your skin, moving his lips from your nipple down your stomach until he got to the hemline of your underwear. "Uhm Excuse me" You huffed dramatically, motioning towards him and the fact he was still fully clothed compared to you being practically naked on his bed, he gave you a knee-weakening smile before rolling his eyes playfully. As he pulled off his shirt and shrugged his jeans off, you noticed how big he actually was inside of his boxers. "Gonjunim, you're staring" He smirked, pushing your underwear to the side, causing you to bite your lip quickly, keeping eye contact with him as he slowly pushed your legs further apart, allowing him access to ghost his ring and middle finger over your pussy. "You're the one who looks like that, you're literally a walking definition of perfect" You argued, your voice wavering as you felt his lightly tapping his fingers against you, a smirk playing on his lips as he watched you in amusement. You got no reply from HyunJin who just sat next to you, his fingers still ghosting over you while occasionally tapping one of his fingers against your pussy, his eyes going over your body repeatedly as he took in every bit of your body. You were like a goddess, and the fact you were his soulmate? Made his emotions and adrenaline run crazy, you huffed slightly leaning up to place a hand on his bare chest "Please, do whatever, just do something, please" You whimpered, gasping and grabbing ahold of his shoulders as he pushed two of his fingers inside of you.

As he curled his fingers inside of you, you could feel the knot in your stomach building, HyunJin seemed to notice, choosing to move his position to sit in between your legs. He kept his eyes trained on yours as he placed his mouth on your clit, pressing his tongue against it, causing you to moan loudly, running your hands over his buzzed head before grabbing onto the sheets. "There you go, Gunjunim, you sound so pretty whenever you moan" He stated against your skin, you just whimpered at the loss of contact against your clit, HyunJin chuckled shaking his head "Needy gunjunim" He stated before placing his mouth back on your clit, moving his fingers and tongue at the same pace, his tongue moving in different shapes across your clit as you moaned loudly. "F-Fuck! HyunJin please!" You moaned out, arching your back as he pushed his fingers as far as he could inside of you before pushing his pointer finger inside you with the other two.

HyunJin felt like if he got any harder, he'd end up dying or needing a hospital, the sounds you were making, the reactions your body was having, and the way your pussy kept squeezing around his fingers weren't helping either. With every movement of his fingers, you squeezed around him, causing his mind to wander on how tight you'd squeeze his cock if he fucked you. You pulled HyunJin out of his thoughts by calling out his name loudly, causing him to come back to reality right as you came around his fingers. A mixture of moans and whimpers leaving your lips as HyunJin felt your cum coating his fingers that slowed their movements inside of you. Your soulmate smirked as he watched you calm down from your high before pulling his fingers out of you.

You bit your lip as you watched HyunJin slipped a condom over his hard-on that stood stiff as he shrugged his boxers off. He was a lot bigger than you would have guessed, which made you slightly nervous, but also made you turned on all over again. You attempted to sit up and cup HyunJin's cheeks, but he stopped you, lifting you with ease as he helped you straddle his lap "Come on, Gunjunim, I have you one, you can work for the other" He whispered in a teasing tone as you gave him a confused expression, understanding his point, you nervously reached to grab his cock, positioning it at your entrance before slowly lowering your hips down. As his cock pushed deeper inside of you, you both moaned loudly, your arms immediately wrapping around him as he bottomed out inside of you, you swore you could feel his tip poking against your cervix. HyunJin panted against your neck, trying his best not to just flip you over and fuck you until you couldn't walk anymore, he couldn't do that, not yet at least. "Y/n, Gunjunim, Jagiya, I need you to move" He grunted, gripping onto the sheets so tight that his knuckles were turning white. "F-Fuck I-I can't" You whimpered, moaning softly as he repositioned himself to hold your waist tightly in his hands, guiding your movements. Your nails dug into his back, scratching down as he moved your hips against his, causing his cock to start moving in and out of you. "H-Hyun-" You moaned loudly, feeling him thrust his hips up, causing him to go further into you than before, HyunJin grunted, growing frustrated before he finally flipped you both.

As you laid on your back, HyunJin pushed his cock back inside of you, moving your legs to rest on his hips as he started to fuck you quickly. You moaned loudly tightening your legs around his waist causing his cock to go deeper inside of you, Hyunjin let his head fall against the pillows next to yours as he grunted lowly. He could feel himself slamming his cock into you as your pussy squeezed him even tighter, causing him to take a moment, not wanting to cum just yet. You whimpered in protest, desperately trying to grind your hips against his. Your actions caused him to growl in annoyance, one of his hands moving to rest on your stomach to keep you from trying to grind against him anymore, while to other found a tight grip in your hand "Such a brat" he huffed before continuing his thrusts, this time with a little more force and speed, you only moaned at his statement, squeezing around him, giving him the message that you 100% liked the new nickname. You were a moaning mess underneath your soulmate, feeling the knot in your stomach grow tighter with every thrust, HyunJin seemed determined, chasing after your orgasm rather than his own. As he let go of grip he had on your hair, he moved his hand between your legs, rubbing shapes into your clit as he thrusted into you. You whimpered loudly feeling like you were on the edge of cumming as HyunJin leaned closer to your lips, ghosting his over yours as he slammed his hips into you, pushing his cock as far as it would go before smirking "Come on, brat, get yourself off" He smirked, chuckling at your whines of protest, noticing him not backing down, you shyly replaced his hand with your own on your clit. As you grinded your hips against his, you quickly shut your eyes, feeling nervous and flustered under his gaze as he watched you basically fuck yourself on his cock. "Ah Ah, If you're going to be a brat, Gunjunim, you can at least look me in the eyes while you do it" He tsked, causing your cheeks to heat up with a blush as you opened your eyes, immediately making eye contact with him, you could feel yourself growing wetter and squeezing around him as you bit your lip.

"Here I'll make it easier" He whispered, moving you both back to your original position where you were straddling him, this time he pulled a few pillows down for him to lean against, almost like he was watching one of his favorite shows. You bit your lip as you grinded your hips against his, trying to hold back your moans as you slowed your movements, HyunJin guided your hips again, getting you to a good pace before moving his hands back to rest under his head. As you got closer to your climax, you got a rush of confidence, moaning loudly as you moved your fingers back to your clit, massaging it quickly as you rolled and bounced your hips against HyunJin's. He had his head thrown back against the pillows, trying to hold back his own grunts and moans as he felt his cock twitch inside of you, precum leaking into the condom as he felt himself getting closer to cumming. "C-Come on, Gunjunim, you've got it, fuck- just like that. F-Fuck!" His words quickly turned to moans as you squeezed around him "H-Hyun! I-I'm gonna cum, P-Please just fuck me!" You begged loudly, trying to match his thrusts from earlier, only to fail as your thighs twitched. "Does the brat need my help now? I thought she could do it by herself" He teased, watching as you whimpered loudly, tears starting to build in your eyes from frustration, HyunJin chuckled softly at how desperate you were to finally cum, choosing to hold your hips as he quickly thrusted his hips up inside of you. You gasped loudly, holding onto his arms tightly as you felt yourself extremely close to cumming, HyunJin slowed his movements as he gave you a slight glare "Keep working that clit, Gunjunim, you can be a pillow princess next time" He demanded and teased, smirking as he watched your fingers shyly make their way back to your clit, rubbing quick sloppy circles, watching you caused HyunJin's cock to twitch even more before finally spilling over, shooting cum into the condom as he moaned loudly, letting his head fall back. You weren't sure what exactly caused you to cum, HyunJin's moans, or the way it felt having him cum while inside of you, but you weren't complaining. As you grinded your hips against his, his moans grew more frequent and louder, moaning your name softly whenever you pushed your hips down. As his cock pushed all of the way inside of you, you felt yourself cumming around him, his moans growing louder as you moaned his name loudly. He panted, holding your hips down as he grinded his hips against yours, causing whimpers of his name to fall from your lips "Think you can make it even, make me cum one more time?" He panted, feeling himself growing hard inside of you again, the feeling caused you to moan loudly, your thighs twitching from overstimulation, even then you nodded softly, not wanting the night to end.

As HyunJin hovered over you now, he slowly thrusted his hips, moving his cock in and out of you slowly, his fingers intertwined with yours as you whimpered softly, your legs trying to close around his waist. "I've got you" He whispered against your neck, pushing his hips completely against yours, causing your legs to spread completely open. As he pressed soft kisses against your jawline and neck, he started to quicken his thrusts, feeling himself already leaking precum again. "I-It feels too good" You whimpered, squeezing his hands tightly as he quickened his pace "F-Feels good for me too, I'm so close, Gunjunim- fuck, you're so tight around me, I could fuck you all night if you'd let me" He grunted, feeling his stomach tighten as his pace quickened but also became sloppy, your back arched from his movements, whimpering loudly whenever HyunJin pressed his lips against yours "I-I'm gonna cum, HyunJin!" You whimpered loudly against his lips, digging your nails into his back as he just thrusted into you harder "I-I know, baby, Me too, go ahead and cum for me, I know you can" He panted, pressing on your stomach right where you felt that knot tightening again, the new pressure causing you to feel everything on a whole different. "Feel that, Gunjunim? I know you're going to cum" He teased, feeling you tense under his hand's pressure, you whimpered loudly, moaning his name against his lips. The feeling of you cumming around him was enough to send HyunJin over the edge again, his cum starting to spill out of the condom as he slowly his movement, pushing his cock as deep as he could as he moaned against your lips.

After a few moments, You'd both lay on the bed still trying to catch your breath as you both contemplated a shower. "Come on, you can wear some of my clothes" He smiled softly, moving to throw his boxers back on, as you stood up slowly, HyunJin quickly wrapped a sheet around you, knowing you probably wouldn't want to put on your underwear again after being that turned on. As you stepped into the bathroom, HyunJin was quick to get the water warm and ready for you to step in, even holding onto your hand and helping you into the shower before standing with his back to the shower. He'd stay outside of the shower, waiting, until you ended up reaching out and pulling him in by his hand "No reason we can't save some water, right?" You smiled, cupping his cheeks before tilting his head back to get his hair wet before tilting it back so he was looking at you "I'm really happy I've got such a good guy as a soulmate" You whispered after a moment, causing HyunJin to blush this time, shaking his head slightly "I'm happy I've got you" He replied before pressing his lips to yours gently, you kissed him back, resting your hands on his shoulders as you giggled "You're adorable" You smiled, pulling away gently as you took in his adorable smile, never in a hundred years would you think that you'd be soulmates with Hwang HyunJin, but you wouldn't want any other soulmate than him.

--

What do we think lovelies!? Ji-Yong Soulmate AU is next lovelies! So keep your eyes out! 🫶🫶 Also let me know any specific people and soulmate AUs you’d like to see paired together in future stories!

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Stray Kids Taglist!! (This one is different from my Bigbang taglist! So please let me know if you’d like to be added lovelies!! 🫶)

@onyxmango

@ag02212023

[luveline]

Hiiii I’m new to ur page but such a huge fan of ur writing already, ur so talented. Could u maybe do one with Spencer where he thinks reader doesn’t fully understand how much he loves them so he goes on a rant about how deeply connected he feels to them, and how he pictures life with them etc??

Pls forgive me if this is a weird ask, I’m slightly new to fanfic culture lmao

thank you! ♡

"It's not a small thing," Spencer's saying. 

Honestly, you've been half catatonic against his side for an hour watching Ancient City reruns while he fact checks the conspiracy theorists —nothing feels big now besides the urge to nap on him. You already knew that the pyramid wasn't built by aliens, and Spencer has the facts to prove it. 

He's quite passionate about it, apparently. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you?" he asks. 

"Yeah," you mumble, digging your face further into his arm. Comfiest boyfriend ever. Spencer's arm tugs up and over your shoulders to hug you closer, your eyes shutting of their own accord at the increase in cosiness. "I do. Promise" 

"Good! Because I worry sometimes that you don't get it." 

"Of course I get it, angel," you say, wrapping your arm across his stomach. Exhausted, you lift yourself up to press a quick kiss to his chin before giving in to fatigue and squishing your face against his shoulder. "It's the Egyptians, we did this in middle school." 

He doesn't hear your mumbling, far too wrapped up in his rant. "Everyone says that nothing else compares, and you believe them, but you don't really get it until you're there. Until you're actually feeling it." 

"You've been to the pyramids?" you ask, more to yourself than him.

"Beauty's just one fraction of it, too. It's a nicely sized fraction, I promise, but when you compare it to everything else… there's just so much there. I feel it in my chest sometimes when I'm talking to you, it honestly makes me feel a little sick, but in a good way?" 

You hum appreciatively, murmuring, "It's a beautiful place. So much culture and history." 

"It's like we're connected, like we're magnets. It's a pull." Spencer rubs the place between your shoulders exactly the way you like. You'd fall asleep from his loving ministrations, but he's starting to sound super intense, almost too intense, a hair's width from stressed. 

You had no idea Spencer was this passionate about Egyptian landmarks. 

"That's nice, honey," you say, trying to mask your apprehension.

Spencer cups the back of your head, the scratch of his stubble catching your softer skin as he talks, "I think about you and me and it feels right. I picture our life together automatically, there's no other possibilities for me. I love you so much and I know you said you get it, but I don't think you do. It doesn't feel real to me how much I care about you." 

There's a subtle roughness to his voice as he hugs you. 

You weasel yourself backward in the circle of his arms to look him up at his pretty face, perplexed. "Are you talking about me?" 

"Yeah. Of course I am. Who else would I be talking about?" he asks, mirroring your frown. 

You glance at the TV. It's on mute. "I thought you were still talking about the pyramids, Spence," you say, turning back to him. "You were really talking about me?" 

"You'd hope," he says, twisting his finger into your shirt sleeve. Spencer laughs, a belly of a sound with shaking shoulders and bouncing curls. "Can you imagine if I felt that deeply about the pyramids? I mean, they're really interesting. They're still uncovering secret tunnels inside Giza with no clear openings or exits, believed to lead to hidden rooms." He squeezes your arm. "That would be a really cool place to vacation." 

You take a moment to stare at him. You don't really get it until you're there. Until you're actually feeling it. It's like we're connected, like we're magnets. It's a pull. Spencer's been penning a love letter to you for the last five minutes and you were too dozy to get it the first time.

You cup his face in both hands, your fingers perched against high cheekbones, threading into soft curls as you brush them from his face. "I love you that much, too," you say softly. 

"I know that. I was making sure that you knew it was mutual. I'd build pyramids for you." He pulls your hands from his face to hold. "You're way more tired than I thought." 

"'M not that tired," you lie, settling back into his chest. Your voice is imbued with a sickly, almost smug type of love. "You're just comfortable."

[thestarsaboveme]

Lads men x Reader who's really into horror movies

masterlist

this was a request from a kind anon.

summary: reader who really likes horror movies.

xavier | rafayel | zayne | sylus

caleb x reader | fluff

You hit pause mid-scream.

The actress's mouth is frozen in terror on the screen, and blood is mid-flight. Caleb's halfway through a handful of popcorn, hand still hovering near his mouth.

''Okay, hang on,'' you say, already flipping open your poor, battle-worn notebook. A scrap of storyboard falls out of the overstuffed binding, along with three sticky notes.

Caleb glances over. ''Pause? In the middle of a kill? Pips, that was a solid throat rip.''

You barely hear him. ''No, no, this scene, it's not just gore. See how it's in slow motion, and she turns around to her right side with her right arm missing? That's throwback to Tenebare. Argento used the same exact shot!''

Caleb stares at you. Then the screen. Then your notebook, which looks more like the coded diary of a conspiracy theorist than anything resembling film notes.

''I feel like you could write a thesis and solve a cold case at the same time with that thing.''

You nudge it toward him. ''Page 42. Cross-reference it with 67 for lighting parallels.''

He opens it. A post-it labeled BLOOD VOLUME IN SCENE vs. TENSION PAYOFF peels off and floats into his lap. He tilts his head, eyes scanning your tightly packed writing and manic arrows.

''…You're terrifying.''

You grin. ''Flattered.''

He sets the notebook down, carefully, like it might explode. ''Okay, so let me get this straight. You don't love horror because of the scares. You love it because it's a system?'

''Exactly.'' You tuck your legs up on the couch, eyes bright. ''It's architecture. Build tension, tip the balance, snap the rubber band. It's visual language, rhythm, misdirection.''

Caleb's expression flickers, equal parts impressed and delighted. ''You talk about murder like an engineer.''

''And you love it.''

He throws an arm around your shoulders with a grin. ''I do. I also love that your brain is doing all this while I'm still processing the part where the guy got his head split open with garden shears.''

You snort and rewind the scene for emphasis. ''It's a great scene. Practical effects. See how they hide the cut with the camera jolt?''

He watches silently, eyes now more focused on the frame than the gore.

After a moment, he murmurs, ''You know…with your sense of pattern recognition and obsession with visual language, you'd make a scary good detective.''

You look up at him.

He's watching you now, not the film. A playful little smirk tugs at his mouth, but there's something softer behind it too.

You raise a brow. ''Trying to recruit me into the fleet?''

He laughs. ''Nah. Just saying, if we ever get haunted or framed for murder, I'm putting you in charge of the investigation.''

You lean your head against his shoulder. ''Only if you promise to do the soundtrack.''

''With synths and dramatic bass drops,'' he says solemnly. ''Obviously.''

[danadiadea]

Okay, so I was rereading the famous "I see no difference" episode, and remind me, why do we so unanimously connect Snape's comment to Hermione's teeth at all? I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, and I have no problems with loving a character who made a mean lookist comment on their student in Snape's conditions, really, but I analyzed it, and it appears.... at least not as straightforward as it's most often described. Let's remember how the scene goes first:

"For a split second, they looked into each other’s eyes, then, at exactly the same time, both acted. ‘Furnunculus!’ Harry yelled. ‘Densaugeo!’ screamed Malfoy. Jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in mid-air, and ricocheted off at angles – Harry’s hit Goyle in the face, and Malfoy’s hit Hermione. Goyle bellowed and put his hands to his nose, where great ugly boils were springing up – Hermione, whimpering in panic, was clutching her mouth. ‘Hermione!’ Ron had hurried forwards to see what was wrong with her. Harry turned and saw Ron dragging Hermione’s hand away from her face. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Hermione’s front teeth – already larger than average – were now growing at an alarming rate; she was looking more and more like a beaver as her teeth elongated, past her bottom lip, towards her chin – panic-stricken, she felt them, and let out a terrified cry. ‘And what is all this noise about?’ said a soft, deadly voice. Snape had arrived. The Slytherins clamoured to give their explanations. Snape pointed a long yellow finger at Malfoy and said, ‘Explain.’ ‘Potter attacked me, sir –’ ‘We attacked each other at the same time!’ Harry shouted. ‘– and he hit Goyle – look –’ Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi. ‘Hospital wing, Goyle,’ Snape said calmly. ‘Malfoy got Hermione!’ Ron said. ‘Look!’ He forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth – she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape’s back. Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, ‘I see no difference.’ Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight."

First of all, was the spell intended as a comment on Hermione's teeth, or bullying of her? No. It was directed at Harry. It was just a coincidence that Hermione's front teeth were naturally prominent. Did any slytherins or Snape directly connect the effect of the spell to Hermione's teeth? Also no. The girls giggle silently behind Snape's back, but whether that's because they make fun of Hermione's own teeth, or they just think she looks funny with the spell taking effect right now, is unclear. No-one laughs after "I see no difference", too, even tho Slytherins often giggle at Snape's comments, and previously mentioned girls could've stopped hiding if Snape supported their fun – but it hadn't happened. The only person who connects the effects of the spell with how Hermione normally looks is Harry in his head, imposing that view on a reader with that notion: "already larger than average". But that is never voiced anywhere during the scene but in Harry's private thoughts.

Now let's look at what was said out loud:

'Explain.’ ‘Potter attacked me, sir –’ ‘We attacked each other at the same time!’  ‘– and he hit Goyle – look –’ 'Hospital wing, Goyle,’  ‘Malfoy got Hermione! Look!' 'I see no difference.’

When we see the dialogue itself, the fact that "I see no difference" is connected to Hermione personally is more than unclear. It literally can mean "I see no difference between what happened to her and to Goyle". It can mean “I see no difference between what Goyle and Granger should do”. He could say "she looks the same" or "I don't see what's wrong" if jkr wanted to make it clear it's a comment on Hermione's appearance.

Okay, but how it was said? Was Snape smirking or speaking in a sarcastic, snide voice? No. He gave Hermione a cold look – well, sorry, I do not see such a difference between descriptions "examined" and "looked coldly". It's not like he kissed Goyle's forehead – he also just looked at his traumas, with his eyes that we know generally look "cold and empty" according to Harry. His tone isn't described here – we can assume it was also cold, and considering that Snape previously spoke in a "deadly" and "calm" voice, that's not a drastic difference as well.

Did Snape punish anyone unreasonably? No. He didn't punish Harry for attacking Goyle, which is what happened according to Draco (Snape is so prejudiced though, right?), and he didn't punish Hermione for leaving the class without permission. If Snape insulted her, then she ran away without him letting her go, yet no points were taken from Gryffindor for that – except if he wanted Hermione to do exactly what he told Goyle to do, that is go to the Hospital Wing, and that's why he didn't have problems with it. Snape only took points and gave Harry and Ron detention for publically cursing and screaming at the teacher, which is more than fair, if you ask me.

Would Snape even notice Hermione's unusual teeth at all? Harry, Hermione's best friend, didn't notice that they became shorter for a couple of months, nor did Ron. We don't ever have Snape's POV, so we don't know if he tends to notice details like that about people, but we know that his own teeth were uneven as well, and he didn't care enough to change them, or anything else about himself; and we know that he didn’t insult anyone's appearance in the books on any other occasions, making mean comments on skills or moral qualities instead. I personally quite often am perplexed when a person shares that they are insecure about some part of their body, because I don't pay much attention to that, so I wouldn't even know it's "unconventional" if they didn't tell me. What for Hermione was a feature she saw in the mirror every day and was well aware of, for Snape was a minor detail in the appearance of one of the hundreds of students he teaches. We know that Draco did notice Hermione's teeth, but Draco also makes comments on Lupin's old robes, for example, it's not unusual for him. Even if Snape noticed that Hermione's teeth looked unconventional before, "I see no difference" still totally could apply to the parallel between Hermione and Goyle, because without Harry’s commentary, the ISND connection to teeth is not only vague – it's almost non-existent.

"But Harry got mad at him! Harry and Ron cursed and screamed at him, they clearly thought he insulted her!" Well, Harry and Ron also thought that Snape was trying to kill Harry, or poison Lupin, or that him giving Neville a detention where he worked with ingredients for melting 6 cauldrons in a very short period of time was somehow unreasonable. Like I literally do not care what those boys assume about Snape, they are incorrect 90% of the time.

"But Hermione cried and ran away and was upset!". She was already "whimpering in panic" and "letting out a terrified cry" before that. Whether Hermione had taken it as a comment on her natural teeth or not, it doesn't necessarily mean that's what Snape was saying. She also got over it, and kept telling Harry he's unfair to Snape.

The only other times when Snape voiced his problems with Hermione in unprofessional ways was when he called her an "insufferable know-it-all" for speaking out of turn for the third time, and called her a "stupid girl" in a middle of a mental breakdown, reliving his near-death expierience and trying to save her. That's it.

So that's my take on it. You can agree or disagree, but frankly, I think this interpretation is at least as valid as that he made a comment on her teeth, if not making more actual sence.

[welostheplot]

── 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 ᨒ↟☾.࿔*:･ 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐢 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: vampire!ellie williams / werewolf!abby anderson / reader

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: the truth about ellie finally comes to light—and with secrets out of the way, you and her begin to grow closer. but with desire comes danger: not everyone in her world (or yours) is thrilled you’re part of it.

𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓: blink-and-you-miss-it underage drinking (abby enjoys a beer—god forbid a girl wants to let loose!), suggestive content at the end!

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 5.2k

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: my longest chapter yet! there's a lot of important stuff happening in this chapter but one of the details i find most important is the inclusion of the "hold on tight, spidermonkey" quote from the first twilight movie. thank you to my friend, cam, for her adamancy that it be included lol. also, i made a tag list! yippee! and, as always, thank you for all the kind words and encouragement so far!

𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 | 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐄 𝐈 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑: "i trust you"

YOU SAT CROSS-LEGGED ON YOUR BED.

your laptop was balanced on a pillow in front of you, the screen casting a cold, flickering light across your face. you hadn't even bothered turning on the lamp. it was well past your usual bedtime, but sleep wasn't even a distant possibility.

not after what happened outside the library.

not after what ellie had told you on the car ride back.

you scrolled, eyes flicking between open tabs—symptoms of hypothermia, mind-reading cryptids, "how fast can someone run when experiencing an adrenaline rush?"

the pieces were all there, you just couldn't quite make sense of them:

how cold her hands always were when they brushed with yours while you worked together on a bio lab assignment.

they way she (nor any of the millers, for that matter) never came to school when it was sunny out.

how she got to you so fast—too fast—when she saved you from marcus's car.

and what she said to you an hour before. how she could hear everyone's thoughts. everyone's... except yours.

you leaned back against your pillows, exhaling slowly as your eyes settled on the blinking cursor in your search bar. then, with almost embarrassing hesitation, you typed the word:

vampire.

you didn't click the search button immediately. instead, stared at it. felt the weight of the accusation settle over your chest.

it sounded ridiculous. you didn't believe in supernatural shit like that.

and yet, after about 30 seconds passed, you hit enter.

the results loaded in a blur of bold headers, links, and pixelated images. you clicked through each entry with increased urgency, taking in all the information that only further confirmed your suspicion. read up on super strength. sunlight sensitivity. immortality. mind reading. blood drinking.

you weren't sure how long you sat like that, combing through ancient lore, side-by-side comparisons, and disjointed blog posts written by conspiracy theorists with usernames like "truthseeker1989." gathering more information for the question you clearly already had an answer to.

when you finally did close your laptop, the room felt colder and your breath came a little slower.

your fingers hovered at your collarbone, where your pulse beat steady. you wondered if she could hear it from wherever she was.

YOU FOUND HER EXACTLY WHERE YOU THOUGHT SHE'D BE.

when you showed up to school that next morning, you immediately walked to the edge of the campus's grounds where it bordered the woods. ellie was stood there, back to you, arms crossed and hood up. she'd been waiting for you.

you stopped a few feet behind her, heart pounding against your ribs so hard you were sure she could hear it.

"ellie."

she didn't turn around, but you saw her stiffen slightly. like she was bracing herself for whatever you were going to say next.

you stepped closer.

"i know what you are."

you squared you shoulders, mustering up the strength to finally utter the words:

"you're a vampire."

it was silent as the word hung in the air between you both. you half expected her to laugh. to roll her eyes. to deny it with that dry sarcasm you had gotten accustomed to.

she didn't.

instead, she turned around, jaw tight and eyes piercing.

"say it again."

your throat felt dry. "you're a vampire."

still no denial.

she looked up, and something in her had changed. she wasn't holding herself like a regular (albeit awkward) teenage girl anymore. she was holding herself like she was a threat to your safety.

"are you afraid?" she asked.

you weren't sure. you probably should've been. but instead of fear, all you felt was piquing curiosity and a stirring of heat that pulsed beneath your skin like static.

you shook your head. "no."

she studied you like she didn't quite believe it.

"come with me," she said, and grabbed your hand to lead you deeper into the woods. sunlight filtered down in broken beams through the canopy—just enough to catch her when she stopped and pulled her hood down.

she stepped into the light—

—and her skin lit up.

every inch of her face shimmered like diamonds, refracted light catching on the freckles dusting her cheekbones, her neck and collarbones, the curve of her wrists where she'd pushed her sleeve up for you to see further.

you stared, lips parted. "holy shit."

she didn't smile. she didn't even blink.

"this is why we stay out of the sun," she said flatly. "not because it hurts. because it gives us away."

you looked at her like you were seeing her for the first time.

she took a step closer, watching you like she expected you to flinch. you didn't.

"i'm a monster," she said, voice low. "you should be running. screaming. something."

you shook your head again, slower this time. "i'm not."

she laughed once, bitter and sharp. "of course you're not. of course you'd do the exact fucking opposite of what you're supposed to."

her hands curled into fists at her sides.

"i've never wanted blood more than i did when i met you. i could barely think straight. you walked into the room and it was like—i don't even fucking know. and your smell. i hated you for it. hated that you made me want something i'd buried so deep i forgot it was even there."

you swallowed hard.

"but you didn't hurt me."

"doesn't mean i won't."

you approached her slowly.

"i trust you."

her eyes searched yours, desperate. "you shouldn't."

"i know."

YOU DIDN’T KNOW WHAT YOU EXPECTED AFTER TELLING HER.

maybe that she'd vanish. or close off and push you away again.

instead, you found her waiting outside your house to drive you to school the next morning. casual, like she'd been doing it forever.

you'd never even given her your address.

she raised an eyebrow at you when you stepped out your front door and started walking toward her. “took you long enough.”

you blinked. "to wake up for school?"

“to figure it out.” she grinned. “i mean, i literally flew across the parking lot to save you from that car.”

“i’m sorry that wrapping my head around the fact that dracula could actually be real took a bit of time,” you said, exasperated.

"well, yeah, that's my uncle d! great guy, by the way."

you stopped in the middle of sliding into the passenger seat of her suv, ellie having opened the door for you. “you’re actually related to dracula?”

she snorted.

"fuck no."

despite the newness of her driving you, you hadn’t thought much about how showing up to school carpooling with ellie might look until you pulled into the lot.

and saw them. staring.

first in glances. then in full-on double-takes.

there were whispers that turned into murmurs that turned into full-on chatter, your name tossed in between the hum of the crowd.

nat, halfway out of her own car, nearly tripped on the curb. leah interrupted devin’s interview for the school paper to grab his camcorder out of his hand in favor of recording you and ellie instead.

with hot cheeks, you rolled your window up to silence them while ellie parked in her usual spot, tucked in the far corner of the lot where no one ever parked besides the millers.

she rounded the car and opened your door for you again before you could even unbuckle.

and then, like a cherry on top of the mess you’d already made before the school day even started, when you fell in step with her, she slung her arm around your shoulder like it was nothing.

you looked over at her, half expecting her to drop it, but she just gave you the laziest, most smug little half smirk.

she knew exactly what she was doing. she wanted them to talk.

you crossed the lot tucked into her embrace, glancing around and catching cassie's jaw practically hitting the pavement.

you bit back a tiny smile. ellie, however, let out a full, unapologetic laugh.

YOU WEREN'T EXPECTING THE SHIFT IN YOUR DYNAMIC TO BE SO IMMEDIATE.

ellie had been extremely hot and cold since you'd met her, so when she paused before starting the car engine and taking you home after school that day to ask if you wanted to hang out, you were shocked, to say the least.

"what, like a date?"

"yeah," she said, cool and casual, like the word didn't even register.

then, a beat later: "...is that okay?"

you tried to act unbothered. "um. yeah. i'll allow it, i guess."

you ended up in an empty meadow on the west edge of town, tucked into the trees and littered with tall grass and wildflowers. the sun had begun to peak through the day’s stubborn overcast. ellie seemed unbothered, stretched out on the ground with her arms behind her head and her eyes closed.

“i like this,” you murmured, eyes flicking over her face, which had started to shimmer just slightly. you wanted to reach out, to touch, but you refrained.

"what? lying in the dirt with a bloodsucking freak?"

you nodded, forgetting she couldn’t see you, then replied, “yeah.”

she smiled, crooked and a bit shy. then sat up, brushing grass off her sleeves.

"you should come over sometime."

your heart stuttered. "to your house?"

she nodded. "meet the whole crew. rip the band-aid off."

like it was that easy.

"what if they... don't like me?"

ellie raised both brows. "you're worried they'll judge you? i've just invited you into a den of vampires and the first thing on your mind is making a bad impression?"

you shrugged, cheeks flaming. "it's different."

"joel's on the town council so he's, like, legally obligated to be at least cordial with everyone. dina already loves you, and you barely know her," ellie explained, bumping your knee with hers. "and jesse will like you too if dina tells him to. you'll be fine."

you were still hesitant. "what about the rest?"

she tilted her head. "the rest are... complicated."

that was an understatement. you could tell.

but then she added, "doesn't matter. i want you there."

and that made something in your chest go soft and sharp at the same time.

you nodded. "okay."

she smiled at you like she'd won the lottery.

IT HAD BEEN A REALLY GOOD DAY.

it was pizza friday, which meant you had one of the only school lunches you actually decently enjoyed. the theme for prom had finally been announced, and although you weren’t exactly thrilled to go to the event, you could appreciate that the excitement around it had the school in lighter spirits. and ellie had played with your hands under the table all throughout biology, her icy fingers repeatedly lacing and unlacing with yours as you pretended to be interested in a lecture about punnett squares.

now, your... maybe-girlfriend? was driving you home again. it had become your usual thing after you got tired of her rants about 'ensuring your safety' and decided it would be better to not put any more miles than necessary on your old pickup anyway.

you were riding in comfortable silence, feeling at ease, until you turned the corner onto your street and both saw it at the same time.

the mud-dusted, red volkswagen parked in your driveway. abby's red volkswagen.

you sat up a little. ellie’s physical reaction gave nothing away, but you could feel the shift in the air.

"that's abby's car," you said, like she wouldn't recognize it.

"i know."

her tone was clipped. cold, even.

you blinked. “my dad mentioned she might come by. something about watching some baseball game? i didn’t even know there was an mlb team in wyoming.”

"there isn't," she said frostily.

she pulled up in front of your house but didn't shut off the engine. didn't even look at you.

you twisted to face her, confused. "are you okay?"

"yeah," she said too quickly.

you waited. she didn't elaborate.

"...are you sure? because you're doing the thing where you stare at nothing and get all tense and shit."

that got a twitch of her lip. almost a smile.

she finally turned to you. "i'll pick you up tomorrow."

that was it. no lingering flirty glance or parting kiss to your cheek like she usually did. just a sharp nod and her eyes fixed on abby's truck like it personally offended her.

you hesitated, then opened the door. glanced back at ellie.

she was already putting the truck in reverse.

the second you stepped inside, you heard it: the familiar hum of the tv, the crack of a bat, the roar of a stadium crowd piped through your living room speakers.

you rounded the corner to see your dad kicked back in his recliner with a bowl of popcorn resting on his stomach, and abby seated comfortably on the couch, one arm draped across the back, nursing a beer.

she turned her head when you entered, and you immediately felt like you were being picked apart under her sharp gaze, her nostrils flaring.

"there you are," your dad said. "that the miller kid who dropped you off again?"

"yeah," you replied, toeing off your shoes and stepping into the room.

"she seems quiet," he added, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"she's... intense," you said.

abby let out a soft scoff at that, barely audible over the play-by-play. "that's one word for it."

you hovered awkwardly near the side table, not knowing what to say to that. "hey, why don't you ever let me drink any of the beer in the fridge, but abby gets away scot free?"

“maybe if you would actually sit and enjoy a game with me, you’d get beer drinking privileges,” your dad said, laughing, with abby joining in.

you rolled your eyes. "ellie said there isn't even a baseball team in wyoming. what's the point if there's nobody to cheer for?"

"we root for the colorado rockies," abby replied. "they're close enough."

"and abby brought over this fancy outdoor antenna, so i can actually get the game without the signal cutting out every time the wind blows," your dad added cheerily. "girl's a lifesaver."

abby's lips twitched into a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

something was off. tense. buzzing just beneath the surface.

"i'm gonna head up," you said, backing away.

your dad waved you off without looking. "don't forget to grab your laundry basket. i'm not the maid."

"got it."

you turned to leave, but abby's quiet voice stopped you.

"so... you're hanging out with ellie?"

you glanced toward your dad, who was conveniently distracted by a “grand slam,” according to the tinny voice of the announcer, then back at her.

"yeah... why?"

a pause. her eyes narrowed, just a fraction. "no reason. just didn't expect it, is all."

you stared at her, trying to read between the lines.

then nodded, and kept walking up the stairs.

THE MILLER'S MUST BE FILTHY RICH.

the daunting sight of their estate momentarily distracted you from your nerves as you and ellie pulled up to the property. you were definitely going to google 'how much does a town councilman make on average' when you got home.

the house was big and modern—weathered wood siding, huge windows, hidden behind trees so tall it was clear it was deliberately isolated.

ellie walked you up the porch steps, cold hand gripping your sweaty one.

"they're not gonna eat you," she said, noting your anxiety. "probably."

you shot her a look.

"joking!" she added quickly, giving your hand a light squeeze.

you were only slightly reassured.

you reached up with your vacant hand to knock at the door, but before you could, it swung open.

joel stood there like he’d been waiting. flannel shirt, sleeves rolled, eyes sharp but not unfriendly.

"so here's the girl my kid's all head over boots for, huh?" he said with a slow, amused smile.

ellie groaned behind you. “oh my god, joel—”

“don't even start,” he warned her. “c’mon in.”

you stepped inside and immediately noted the rich aroma of a homecooked meal being prepared. the interior of the house was beautiful and you took it all in as you were walked toward the kitchen. there was something playing from a tiny television on the counter—a tutorial on how to prepare carbonara—and the lights were soft and warm. cozy, even.

which was odd considering every single person in the residence could snap your neck like a twig.

“hi!” dina popped up from where she was crouched by the oven as you entered the kitchen. “you’re here! oh my god—finally.”

before you could respond, she was hugging you—too enthusiastic and impossibly fast.

“she’s been bouncing off the walls since ellie left to pick you up,” jesse said, leaning against the wall, an apron hanging over his t-shirt.

you smiled hesitantly, a little dazed. "hi. yeah, i'm.. er—i'm here!"

ellie snorted.

jesse nodded like that was a sufficient introduction. "cool. welcome to the fang gang."

you blinked. "sorry, the what?"

ellie grabbed a stray kitchen rag, throwing it at jesse's face, which he batted away easily. "ignore him. he's annoying."

"thank god we finally have an excuse to use the kitchen for the first time." dina was sliding pieces of garlic bread, fresh out of the oven, onto a serving plate. "we're making italian just for you!"

"oh. well.. grazie," you stuttered out, ignoring ellie's stifled laughter at your awkward behavior. "but isn't garlic like..." you trailed off, not knowing exactly how to finish the sentence.

"that's obviously just a myth," a new voice came from the doorway of the kitchen. she was tall with braids down to her waist, staring at you in disdain with her arms crossed. "you brought her here?"

ellie tensed beside you. “riley—”

“she’s human.”

“yeah, and she knows. it’s fine.”

riley scoffed. “so we're just going to keep pretending this isn't dangerous for all of us?"

joel cleared his throat loudly, and that was enough to shut her up.

"she's ellie's guest joining us for a meal," he said evenly. "and you ought to be a little more hospitable."

you rushed to clear your name: "just so you guys know, i would never say anything. to anyone. i swear."

"and riley knows that," said ellie, glaring at the girl.

"that doesn't really matter when whatever little fling you guys have going for you is already public. the entire family will be implicated if this ends badly."

you nodded, feeling a stab of shame in your chest. the silence that hung in the air was sobering.

looking to somehow repair the poor first impression you were seemingly leaving, you attempted to crack a joke and lighten the mood. "badly as in... i would become the meal, huh?"

everyone in the room—sans riley—laughed at that. "good one, kid," joel praised, turning back to the pasta dish he was mixing sauce into.

riley shot you one last pointed look before storming out of the kitchen, disappearing upstairs.

you stood there, still gripping ellie's hand like a lifeline.

“she’s not usually like that,” dina hummed.

“she’s exactly like that,” jesse said. "but don't take it personally."

YOU HELPED THEM SET THE TABLE.

despite ellie's fierce protests about you being the guest of honor, you were determined and managed to get your hands on some silverware to set out without any of the millers stopping you.

you were in the middle of arranging the forks and knives at the fourth table setting—entirely unnecessary, given you'd be the only one actually eating—when the final miller you had yet to meet walked in.

you looked up at the sound of the front door opening, watching her walk in, slow, like she was trying really hard to keep a normal, human pace. her expression was stony, unreadable, and her eyes locked onto you instantly.

"hello," she said, sounding strained.

you gave her a hesitant wave, unsure. "hi."

she approached you in a way that tinged on predatory, but you tried not to let it bother you, wanting to be polite. "you're the human."

you nodded, scratching the back of your neck awkwardly and wishing ellie was beside you and not somewhere in the kitchen with the rest of her family, busy fetching something for you to drink with your meal.

then—shockingly—the girl pulled you into a hug.

it wasn’t friendly like dina’s. it was stiff. cold. slightly too long.

and then—

"...you smell good," she muttered, her nose brushing your hair.

your stomach plunged.

ellie was by your side in an instant, pulling you from the embrace. "back the fuck off, cat, you're scaring her."

"cat," dina said gently, also emerging from the kitchen and stepping forward like someone approaching a spooked animal. "hey, you're good, okay? she's not food."

cat blinked, hard, like she’d just snapped out of a trance. she took a solid step back.

“sorry,” she muttered, jaw tightening. “still… working on it.”

you nodded at her, trying to convey your understanding while still getting your heartrate under control, as joel stepped forward to mitigate. "apologies, cat's our newest… vegetarian. it's a little difficult for her right now, but she won’t hurt you. right, cat?"

cat at least had the decency to look remorseful. "yeah. right. it's a pleasure to meet you."

ellie exhaled hard through her nose. "alright, well. to spare us anymore awkwardness, i’m gonna take her on a tour of the rest of the house while you guys finish up dinner."

you let her pull you down the hallway, grateful for the excuse to escape from everyone's worried eyes. she made some offhand comments about the decor and which doors led to what, but you couldn't really focus, your mind still analyzing what had just gone down.

so when she slowed to a stop to open a huge glass door that led to a balcony overlooking the forested backyard, you nearly ran into her.

she turned to you and smirked. "wanna go for a ride?"

you blinked. "uhh... like—with your car? isn't dinner soon?"

"we can be fast."

before you could ask what the hell that meant, she was grabbing you by the arm to flip you onto her back and taking a running leap off the balcony's edge.

you landed perched on the thick trunk of a towering tree, the wind knocked out of you from the shock and your limbs locked, clutching her in fear. she reached a tattooed arm back to hoist you up further onto her back, holding the both of you up with effortless strength on one arm. "i'm gonna need you to hold on tight, spidermonkey."

and in the next second, the world blurred.

she launched you from tree to tree, jumping and climbing with supernatural speed. tree branches whipped past, your hair flying and face tucked into her shoulder.

it was terrifying and exhilarating and the most alive you’d ever felt.

you couldn't stop your breathless laughter, giggling in between startled yelps with each sudden motion. she was showing off—vaulting over branches, scaling a steep incline just because she could, dragging you higher and higher until she finally skidded to a stop on a cliff edge overlooking jackson. the lights below sparkled like a constellation.

she set you down gently and you turned to her, still catching your breath. "you're fucking insane."

she grinned. "awww, pet names so soon, babe?"

you shoved hard at her shoulder, knowing she'd barely even feel it. then registered the word babe and looked at her, grinning bashfully.

she leaned in, eyes soft. "you still not scared of me?"

you shook your head.

"good."

THE MILKSHAKES AT THE DINER HAD ALWAYS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE.

you were already halfway through your usual cold vanilla shake when your dad muttered from across the table, "they found another one."

your stomach sank. "another what?"

he didn't say it out loud, but you knew.

"worse than the others," he murmured. "the guy was ripped to shreds. team's pretty shaken up about it."

your appetite vanished.

outside the diner windows, the sun was quickly setting. friday night in jackson meant every booth was full, every table crowded. the place buzzed with that warm and cozy small-town hum. but at your table, you felt nothing but cold.

you twirled your straw in your milkshake glass. "and these are animal attacks, right?"

"our best bet is coyotes. maybe a bear," he said with a shrug. "but your guess is as good as mine."

you nodded, eyes drifting past him to the booth in the corner where your classmates were gathered for a friday night outing. you'd been invited, but had politely declined: you and your dad had been getting closer, and you'd actually started to genuinely look forward to your routine hangouts at the diner.

devin had a curly fry shoved in each nostril, crossing his eyes as leah snapped a picture and cassie grimaced in disgust. nat threw her head back, guffawing. then caught your eye. smiled at you.

you looked away fast.

your dad glanced over his shoulder. "you know, it's okay if you wanna go join them. i'm just gonna turn in early anyway."

you shook your head. "me too," you mumbled.

he gave you a stern look at that. "it's a friday night. you should go out."

you sighed, already opening your mouth to protest, but he continued on. "looks like that natalie girl wishes you were over there anyway. it’s important to have those female bonds, you know. you're gonna need another girl to talk to about, like, boys and stuff with." it looked like it pained him to even think about you so much as having a love life.

you just nodded and said nothing.

"have there been any interested? boys, i mean."

you froze, then sighed. figured now was as good a time as any to say something. especially if it meant stopping his rambling on about female bonds.

"dad, i... i—um... i don't really... like boys like that. uh, i'm... gay."

there was a beat of silence. not heavy, just... still.

your dad glanced around the diner, then back at you. he sniffed. "yeah. i figured."

your eyes widened in shock. "you—wait, what?"

“i mean, c’mon, kiddo,” he said with a small smile. “you had a straaange obsession with watching charlie's angels. i can do the math. it wasn't just cause those women were 'badass' or whatever.”

you laughed, a little stunned.

“i’m glad you told me,” he said sincerely. “but you didn’t have to be scared to.”

“i wasn’t scared,” you lied. badly.

he reached over and squeezed your arm. “you’re my kid and i love you. that’s all there is to it.”

you swallowed a lump in your throat.

“thanks,” you murmured.

then, he narrowed his eyes. "now about that miller girl..."

you groaned, hiding your face in your hands. "please don’t make me have this conversation."

YOUR PHONE BUZZED AGAINST YOUR COMFORTER.

you’d been getting ready to turn in for the night, having finally finished your annoying english assignment that was due tomorrow.

"mom" flashed across the screen. you hesitated. then answered.

"hey," you said, sitting on your bed with your back propped up against your pillows.

"hi sweetheart!" you could hear her boyfriend laughing in the background, music playing faintly over the car stereo.

“where are you now?”

“somewhere outside taos. the mountains are beautiful. you’d looove it. anyway—i wanted to check in! how’s my favorite girl surviving up there in the valley?"

"it's... actually not so bad. i'm starting to kinda like it here?" you admitted, surprised at the words yourself.

"what?" she laughed in disbelief. then, her voice softened. "oh, i see. and could a girl have anything to do with that?"

you covered your face with your hand. "jesus, mom."

"i'm just asking!"

"...i came out to dad."

the line was silent on her end. you could heard the car stereo's volume being lowered.

then: "you what?"

you smiled a little. "yup. over milkshakes in the diner, just like we used to do when i was little."

"oh my god, baby, i'm so proud of you! what did he say? did he cry? did he—?”

“he said he already knew. something about charlie's angels being a dead giveaway.”

your mom howled at that. “oh my god, of course he would." she laughed even harder and you couldn't help but join in.

"and yeah," you said, when your giggles died down. "there kinda is someone."

"i knew it! alright, come on! give me all the details. you didn't even talk about your crushes growing up, so i don't even know your type! what does she look like? is she—oh, what's that word the gay girls use? butch, right? is that it?"

you opened your mouth to respond, immediately wanting her to stop discussing her apparent knowledge of gay slang, but the words got caught in your throat as you jumped so hard you nearly dropped your phone.

ellie was there, suddenly in your room, sitting on your windowsill and smirking like she knew exactly what kind of conversation she was interrupting.

"mom, i— can we talk later?"

"what?! come on, i need the gossip! are you being safe? is that even a thing with two girls—"

you hung up before you could be embarrassed any further. then shuffled toward ellie, her meeting you at the edge of your bed.

"how did you get in here?"

she nodded to the open window behind her, your curtains blowing slightly with the breeze. "i think that's kinda obvious."

"...do you do that a lot?"

she tilted her head. "well, just the past... couple of months." her eye-contact was unwavering. "i like watching you sleep. it's... kinda cute."

you stared at each other in silence, the faint sound of crickets chirping outside in the background. she looked like she wanted to say more.

"what is it?"

"can i try something?" she asked quietly. her eyes were on your lips.

you nodded, silent.

“i just… i need you to trust me.”

“i do,” you said, without thinking.

she swallowed, eyes hooded, and licked her lips. “then hold very still.”

your heart practically stopped.

you didn’t move.

couldn’t move.

ellie reached out, her fingers barely grazing your skin at first. her hand trembled as she let it linger against your cheek. your breath came out shaky, puffing against her lips that were centimeters away from yours.

and then—finally—she leaned in.

her lips brushed yours delicately at first. barely there.

but then you kissed back.

and something shifted.

her mouth pressed harder, hand cupping your jaw. yours slid up into her hair without thinking, gripping the short auburn strands. the kiss deepened, messy now. hungry.

and every time you parted, you panted into each other's mouths and rushed back in like you couldn't get enough.

the hand you had in her hair tugged as you rolled your body into hers, propped up on your knees and leaning back, encouraging her to follow. she did, bracing herself over you as your back hit the duvet, legs naturally sliding to wrap around her waist.

the kiss never broke, her tongue peaking out to swipe at your bottom lip. you whimpered into her mouth, her hands sliding greedily up your sides over your thin pajama shirt, then down to grip your thighs, left bare due to your flannel shorts. your head was spinning. it was like you could feel her everywhere until—

—you felt nothing at all.

ellie tore herself away from you, slamming back into the far wall of your room.

you sat up fast, breathless, blinking in confusion. "...i'm sorry."

she was panting, her fists clenched at her sides, eyes wide with something like panic.

“no, i’m sorry,” she rasped. “i can’t— i... fuck.”

you moved to approach her, but she held her arm out, rapidly shaking her head.

"don't come closer. not yet."

"ellie—"

she shut her eyes, leaning her head back against the wall. her next sentence came out strained. "you don’t know what you do to me."

then, calmer: "at least i'm stronger than i thought."

you scoffed. if it was up to you, the night would be going a whole lot differently. "i wish i could say the same."

she turned away, muttering almost more to herself than to you, “i can never lose control with you.”

“then don’t lose control.”

she looked back at you, lips parted as if she wanted to say something but nothing came out.

you reached out again, but she flinched.

“i trust you,” you said softly. “even if you don’t trust yourself yet.”

her expression cracked.

“i should go,” she whispered.

and before you could say anything else, she slipped through the window and disappeared into the night.

this work is mine. please don’t repost, copy, or publish elsewhere without permission. thank you!

𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @oneinameliann @taronyuhunter @tenebrisirae

[cherrygirlfriend]

the obx fandom just full of airheads bruh 😭😭😭😭😭😭 it hurts that most of us are women too. Don't get me wrong i love the show and a lot of the writers here are really talented but the way a lot of y'all refuse to just *think* 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 omfg god im crying we should be better than this bruh... literature has always been political in some way that's unavoidable bc our existence itself as humans in this society is inherently political. fanfiction might not be intentionally about politics but the concepts and ideas we use—our very own perception of love and the way human relationships work in itself are always somehow influenced by politics and social structures. the show itself, obx is literally about class struggle (kook vs pogue) and when writers write about kook!reader or pogue!reader, their dynamic with rafe is almost always heavily dependent on their class/social status.

hell, literature and art itself has always been used as political propaganda. fanfiction isn't immune to this bc fanfiction is literally a part of mainstream culture 😭 most of yall who romanticize misogyny have been exposed through so much propaganda through the sudden influx of tradwife and redpill content on social media, books, and movies the past years and it's slipping through the fanfiction you write and consume to the point that you're also subconsciously churning out even more propaganda. the govt machinery infiltrates through our media, art, film, and literature to sell a romanticized/glorified/fetishized idea of sexism, homophobia, racism, etc —> influencers and creators spread and dumb these ideas down to more subtle, relatable, and almost innocent content to thousands of audiences—> these ideas become popularized and are successfully assimilated by the public to the point that the government doesn't even have to put effort on propaganda bc it's become so ingrained to the people's beliefs that they're now regurgitating the same propaganda subconsciously —> these ideas become so normalized to an extent that it has become a part of our culture again —> mindless consumption is in, critical thinking is out (e.g. "it's just fanfiction, it's not that deep!") to prevent people from questioning culture and challenging ideas and beliefs —> the cycle repeats.

i know this long-ass rant is making me sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist rn but i fear, this is literally just a product of critical thinking and attending highschool history lessons. nazi germany didn't become what it was bc the entire country suddenly decided "ah, yes, killing jews is perfectly right and necessary" no, it took years of propaganda dehumanizing jews through science, education, media, art, film, and literature that people has accepted as their culture because THEY WERE RESTRICTED FROM THINKING CRITICALLY. ik it's crazy to compare nazism with some sexist fanfiction but do y'all not see the same pattern happening again??? "omg being used as a breeding machine is so lana del rey coquette 1950s babydoll old hollywood divine feminine aesthetic <333 sexism so kawaii bows and ribbons, hearts and glitter !!!" DO YALL HEAR HOW FUCKING INSANE SOME OF YALL SOUND?????? 😭😭😭😭😭 you're regurgitating the same shit bigots like charlie kirk, ben shapiro, and andrew tate are saying but make it pink.

now, i'm not saying we should make fanfiction "political" or make it about politics all the time but god just fucking think, people !!! 😭😭😭😭😭 you cannot incorporate something as political as "sexist!rafe" into your work and just turn your brain off and go "not everything is political!" bc news flash sexism IS political.

disclaimer: i have nothing against the housewife trope as long as the character was treated with respect and love or if not, her struggles are at least not written to be something "romantic" or "hot." i'm not at all against depictions of sexism or bigotry in art, media, or fanfiction. i think it could be a great concept to explore how gender norms, like i said, influence power dynamics within our relationships and our general perception of love, when done WITH SENSITIVITY AND NUANCE. but when it's straight up romanticization and fetishization, then i'm sorry but it's just conservative propaganda slop.

i feel like this pretty much encapsulates my thoughts 😭

[wordsofwhimsy]

【Ｏｐｐｏｓｉｔｅｓ　

Ａｔｔｒａｃｔ】 - Part Ten

Pairing: Mohawk!Mark Grayson x f!Reader

Warnings: None

Tags: Fluff, slice of life

Word Count: 1,593

Chapter Synopsis: You talk with Emily about the game, and would you believe it? None of other than Invincible himself shows up at your dorm

a/n: i know this part is short, but i actually had it combined with the next chapter and it got way too long so i decided to break it up – might just drop the other chapter tho cause i am IN LOVE with it. my fav part so far by farrr

Part Nine

You didn’t hear from him for the rest of the night. No follow-up texts. No voice memos. No dramatic rooftop monologues.

Just Mark: chaotic, all-powerful, utterly ridiculous—and then gone, like he hadn’t just hijacked a Major League Baseball game to show off for reasons you still didn’t understand.

You sat on your bed, now back into an old, comfortable hoodie as your eyes continuously flicked back to your phone. Emily was lying upside-down across her mattress, scrolling through her For You Page with the energy of someone who hadn’t watched the Earth briefly tilt off its axis but definitely heard all about it.

“Okay, but seriously,” she said around a mouthful of Twizzlers, “Invincible showing up to a baseball game like that? Completely unhinged behavior. Who throws a pitch and then leaves the atmosphere?”

You swallowed. “Yeah. Super weird.”

“Weirder still,” she continued, flipping her phone around to show you a TikTok, “he totally winked at someone in the crowd. Look, someone zoomed in. You can’t tell who it was, but—definitely a wink. At someone. I swear to God, if this turns into another ‘who is Invincible secretly dating’ conspiracy, I’m going to throw my phone.”

You tried very hard not to choke on your own breath. “Maybe he was just being friendly.”

“Friendly? Babe, that wink had agenda.”

You gave her a look. “You sound like a conspiracy theorist.”

Emily sat up, serious now. “No, no—this is important. This is gossip history in the making. Be so for real, that little power stunt was literally insane? Like, I’m sorry, but imagine being the poor dude on a date and suddenly God’s favorite war machine crash-lands in center field? The way I would simply evaporate.”

Your smile was tight. “Yeah. Super embarrassing for that guy.”

Emily nodded. “Poor Kyle. I hope he’s not crying about it.” You pressed your lips together, gaze dropping to your phone again. And then something clicked.

“Wait.” You looked up. “Why are we talking about Kyle?”

Emily blinked. “Um… because you were on a date with him?”

Your brow furrowed. “That wasn’t a date.”

Emily stared at you like you’d grown a second head. “You got dressed up, went to a stadium with a guy who likes you, ate overpriced nachos, and undoubtedly laughed at all his really dumb jokes.”

You blinked. “Okay, but—he was kind of funny.”

Emily threw a Twizzler at your head. “Oh my God. You cannot be this dense.”

You swatted it away, flustered. “What?! We were just hanging out.”

She stared. “Did you kiss?”

“Wha—no! What?! Ew—no!” You buried your face in your hands. “Why would we—oh my god, stop asking me that!”

Emily gasped. “Wait. Wait-wait-wait. You seriously didn’t even give him a kiss?”

You peeked at her through your fingers, face burning. “Not everyone’s out here kissing people all the time, Emily.”

She launched herself forward like you’d just confessed to a crime. “You mean to tell me you went on an actual date—”

“It wasn’t a date!”

“—with a real boy, who was cute and funny, and you didn’t even give him a little smooch? Babe, that’s so cute I might cry.”

You groaned, tugging your hoodie over your head like it might swallow you whole. “I hate this conversation.”

Emily flopped back onto the bed dramatically. “You are a rom-com protagonist. This is classic awkward first love behavior. We are in act two right now.”

Before you could argue that, yes, actually, this was real life and not a Netflix original movie, there was a knock at the window.

Both of you froze.

“…Was that the wind?” you asked, way too hopeful.

Another knock.

Emily bolted upright. “Okay, no. That was a knock. Are you expecting someone? Is that Kyle, like throwing rocks or something? Is this a dramatic second date? Oh my god, is this your rom-com moment?!”

You stumbled to your feet and crossed the room like you were about to open the gates of hell. You yanked the curtains back—

—and nearly screamed.

Mark was hovering just outside, one hand braced casually on the window frame, expression unreadable under his wind-tousled hair.

You cracked the window open an inch. “Are you insane?!”

Mark raised an eyebrow. “Hi to you too.”

Emily squinted behind you, trying to get a glimpse past the curtain. “Wait—is that—is that Invincible?!”

Panic. Pure, full-body panic. “I—uh. Maybe?”

You tried to shut the curtain again. Mark shoved the window open wider with one hand and stepped inside like he did this all the time.

Emily gasped. “OH MY GOD IT IS. It’s literally Invincible. In our dorm room. Right now. I am losing my actual mind—”

She stopped mid-rant. Went very still. Then tilted her head, slowly. You felt the energy shift like a tectonic plate. “...Wait a second,” she said, voice dangerously calm. “Why does he have Mark’s hair.”

You froze.

Mark—traitor that he was—didn’t even flinch. Just smirked a little and crossed his arms, like he thought this was funny.

Emily’s gaze whipped to you. “No. No. Don’t you dare—”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you said way too fast.

Emily took a threatening step forward. “Do not play dumb with me. He has the same mohawk. The same stupid jawline. The same weird little frown he makes when he’s trying not to look impressed. That is Mark in spandex.”

Mark, very unhelpfully: “Technically it’s a polyfiber-carbon weave.”

Emily lost it.

“YOU!!” she pointed dramatically. “YOU HAVE BEEN EATING CUP NOODLES WITH US FOR WEEKS. And you’re out here catching satellites and ruining baseball games?!”

“It was one game,” Mark muttered.

“This. Is. INSANE. You’ve been sitting on the tea of the century, and you didn’t spill??” Her chaos was pointed at you again.

You threw your arms up. “It wasn’t my tea to spill!”

Emily paused, squinting. “Wait. Wait. Was that why he crash-landed at the stadium?” You opened your mouth. Closed it again. “OH MY GOD,” Emily shrieked. “He was showing off for you. THAT’S why he winked. THAT WASN’T A PUBLICITY STUNT. THAT WAS FOREPLAY.”

You shrieked right back. “PLEASE STOP TALKING.”

Mark was in the corner of your room looking far too pleased with the whole situation.

Emily whirled on him again. “You winked. At my best friend. In a stadium. On a date.”

Mark just grinned. “What can I say? I’m dramatic.”

“You are deranged.”

You looked at her, pleading. “Emily, I swear, it wasn’t even a real date—”

Emily gasped again. “OH MY GOD WAIT DID YOU KISS INVINICIBLE??”

“WHAT?! NO!!”

“Don’t you dare lie to me again!!”

You groaned and tried to disappear into your hoodie for the second time that night. “Can we not have this conversation while he’s literally in the room?”

Mark, very softly: “…Wait, but, do you want to?” Your stare shot onto him, absolutely floored and wildly confused.

The whole room felt like it was vibrating from pure, unfiltered mortification. And then—

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

You froze. Emily froze. Even Mark had the decency to look mildly concerned. A voice came from the hallway. Flat. Sharp. Brutally unamused.

“Girls? Is everything okay in there?”

You stared at the door like it had just grown teeth. “Oh my god. That’s Harper.”

Emily hissed. “RA Harper?”

“RA Harper,” you confirmed, already spiraling.

Mark whispered, “Who’s Harper?”

Emily whispered back, “The RA who caught us trying to microwave soup with a candle during the blackout. We’re on her list.”

You scrambled off the bed and tried to fix your hair, even though this was so far beyond hair.

“Yeah!” you called, way too loud. “Everything’s fine! Totally normal! Just… girl stuff!”

A pause.

“...Are there men in your room?”

You could practically hear the clipboard in her voice.

Emily slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. Mark moved like he was about to jump out the window again.

You grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare.”

Emily cleared her throat. “No men here! Just one very aggressively voiced girl doing a dramatic reading of... Call Me by Your Name!”

There was a long pause.

Then Harper sighed. “Lights out is in ten. And if I hear one more thud, I’m coming in with backup.” You waited until her footsteps faded down the hall. Then, very slowly, you turned to Mark.

“You owe me a new RA-friendly reputation.” Mark, completely unfazed, sat on your desk like he belonged there.

“I knocked politely.”

“You crashed a baseball game and then crawled through my window like a—a—a burglar or something!”

Emily raised her hand. “Counterpoint: he did catch a ball that literally orbited the planet. That’s kinda hot.”

You glared at her. “Whose side are you on?”

Emily grinned, eyes gleaming. “Whichever side gets me more TikTok content.”

Mark leaned back, arms crossed. “So… are we gonna talk? Or should I come back when you’re done death-staring me into the floor?”

You groaned, flopping dramatically onto the bed. “I hate college.”

From outside, someone shouted “SHUT UP, KAREN!” through the wall.

You yelled back, “MY NAME’S NOT KAREN.” Then you whispered, to absolutely no one: “I’m gonna die in this dorm…”

Mark grinned. “Cool. So. You free tomorrow?”

———————

Part Eleven

———————

Taglist! @maddyb-rapps | @sweet-3-whispers | @moradogreen | @rayaaa4444 | @luvvcharxo | @byteme05 | @rivalriotrenegade | @1abi | @onlybatsyy | @heiankyonoeiyuukun | @dillybuggg | @am-3-thyst | @mikevi | @sadest-bookshelf

[astonmartinii]

signed up for life | lewis hamilton social media au

pairing: lewis hamilton x signlanguageinterpretator!reader

f1 finally introduces a sign language interpretor to their media team

yourusername

liked by lewishamilton, danielricciardo and 110,951 others

yourusername: ahhhh such a dream come true, my first f1 weekend was an absolute dream and to be able to represent the deaf community on such a big platform was such a pleasure - here's to many more and to normalising sign language on major sports broadcasts !!

view all comments

user1: f1 may be going backwards in terms of fia tomfoolery but i'm super happy to see some good progress

user2: why isn't sign language compulsory in schools? seeing y/n has defo inspired me to start learning

lewishamilton: you're such an inspiration and a great addition to the paddock

yourusername: thank you lewis and thank you for the warm welcome <3

user3: f1 finally stepping up the representation game

user4: i was living for the sass in her signing i can't wait to watch her sign the inevitable domestic between toto and christian

charles_leclerc: welcome to the paddock y/n!

yourusername: thank you charles :)

user5: i ship it already

user6: take a day off already lord she's been there one weekend and you're already minimising her to a driver she could date

f1

liked by lewishamilton, yourusername and 1,204,871 others

tagged: yourusername

f1: how did you guys enjoy y/n y/ln's sky sports debut this weekend? y/n will be on the broadcast team this season as their sign language interpreter!

view all comments

user10: she killed it i love her already

user11: the signing was a slay but can we also talk about how she's slaying the fashion game?

user12: finally lewis has some good competition

lewishamilton liked this comment

alexalbon: welcome y/n !! thank you for the extra help with the hard of hearing fans on friday

user13: huh?

user14: oh a girl on twitter has a thread about this, she's hard of hearing and y/n stopped and acted as translator for her with all of the drivers going into the paddock

user15: omg i love her even more

lewishamilton: can't wait to start my signing lessons

yourusername: you're lucky you've got the best teacher around

user16: uh HELLO?

yourusername

liked by lewishamilton, lilymunhe and 149,086 others

yourusername: taking advantage of the mini break

view all comments

user17: who told her she could serve this hard?

lilymunhe: gosh i have a crush on you

alexalbon: do i mean nothing to you?

lilymunhe: not compared to her

yourusername: well i am flattered but unfortunately not up for grabs :(

user18: she's not up for grabs ??? we already lost her ???

user19: it's only been like five races who ever it is wasn't messing around

user20: not to be one of those crazy wag conspiracy theorists but the guy in the last slide is defo lewis

lewishamilton: pastries on a boat?

yourusername: idk the guy i was with thought it was a great idea

user21: chatting like it wasn't him they're so shameless

lewishamilton

liked by yourusername, georgerussell63 and 1,023,677 others

lewishamilton: perks to living in monaco

view all comments

user22: oh to be rich...

yourusername: hmmm a baguette on a boat

lewishamilton: idk the girl i was with thought it was a great idea

user23: please stop playing with us

georgerussell63: i see my invite was lost in the post yet again

lewishamilton: i wasn't prepared to hear you complain about thirdwheeling the whole time

georgerussell63: clear solution here... invite carmen and it's a double date?

user24: so they're just gonna be like this and just never confirm whether they're together or not?

charles_leclerc: so this is what my boat was used for ?

lewishamilton: i think i'll keep everything that happened on that boat to myself

charles_leclerc: based on that i don't think i want to know

user25: poor guy, getting fucked by ferrari and lewis fucked y/n on his boat

pierregasly: most action he's seen in a while

user26: charles is just catching so many strays 😭

f1wagupdates

liked by user38, user29 and 2,340 others

tagged: yourusername, lewishamilton

f1wagupdates: y/n y/ln and lewis hamilton have all but confirmed their relationship after they spent the entire summer break together and arrived to the first race back at spa together. lewis even showed how much time they've been spending together by signing during a tiktok filmed for mercedes' account. what do you think of the couple?

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user39: they're so so cute that's my PADDOCK POWER COUPLE

user40: they are too sexy it should be illegal for them to be so sexy

user41: can't wait for some bitter old men to say that she can't be on the broadcast team cause of "bias"

user42: i need them to stand on me

user43: i think they might actually be the best f1 couple ever soz

yourusername

liked by alexalbon, lewishamilton and 309,778 others

tagged: lewishamilton

yourusername: yeah i guess he won yet another race but we all know his biggest win is off the track

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user44: mama knows her worth i love her

lewishamilton: never doubt that you're my biggest prize

yourusername: i love youuuuuuuuuu

lewishamilton: leave your meeting and come home please

user45: move over roscoe i'm their dog now anything to be with them

roscoelovescoco: ????

lilymunhe: give me a chance i swear

alexalbon: i regret ever introducing you two

yourusername: oh please albono you love any excuse to hang out with us

lewishamilton: yea i don't hear you complaining on our double dates

user46: lily, y/n, lewis and alex all double date ???? kill me.

lewishamilton

liked by georgerussell63, yourusername and 1,340,887 others

tagged: yourusername

lewishamilton: getting to the end of the season and the hard work is paying off. we keep pushing until the end but always remember to take time to be with the ones you love

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user47: only this man could make a race win post so sappy

yourusername: proud of you baby

lewishamilton: i love you

user48: the fact that lewis is so good at signing now he could do most of his post race interview in bsl (though he still needs y/n there for reassurance)

user49: i was there and interlagos had a mainstage activity of y/n teaching basic sign language I LOVED IT

mercedesamgf1: let's go lewis 💪

roscoelovescoco: lets goooooooo dads

user50: guys i worked out that sign we always see lewis and y/n do to each other that's not on any of dictionaries i've looked at - it's their sign names and saying they love each other

user51: they're so fucking cheesy but i love them

mercedesamgf1

liked by yourusername, f1 and 1,679,045 others

tagged: lewishamilton

mercedesamgf1: LEWIS HAMILTON IS FINALLY AN EIGHT TIME CHAMPION OF THE WORLD 🏆

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user52: OMFG IT FINALLY HAPPENED I NEEDED THIS SO MCUH

yourusername: speechless honestly

lewishamilton: really? cause all i heard was screaming on the broadcast

yourusername: FALSE I WAS PROFESSIONAL

user53: the way i knew he would win but i don't know what to do with myself now it has happened?

roscoelovescoco: congrats dad !!!!

georgerussell63: mega season from lewis 🏆 we go again next season 💪

lewishamilton: thank you george, your time will come

user54: the kiss... parents for real

yourusername

liked by georgerussell63, lewishamilton and 901,347 others

tagged: lewishamilton

yourusername: this season has been a rollercoaster but two things have stood out to me. 1. i met the love of my life and the man i will be with for the rest of my life and was able to watch the man i love make history and i couldn't be prouder. 2. i got to represent my community on one of the biggest platforms ever and inspire people to pick up the beautiful language of sign language which is the most rewarding part of my job!! thank you so much for this opportunity, the love and for taking the journey into sign language, we welcome you xx

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user53: no i love you so much and your addition to f1 is invaluable

user54: you guys are so cute and so inspiring, really god's favourites

lewishamilton: i love you so much, thank you for your love and support and for introducing me to this beautiful language

yourusername: you're such an inspiration to me baby, you're a record holder and the holder of my heart

landonorris: lord i might throw up

yourusernme: if you're not here to congratulate STFU

landonorris: my bad, congrats (you guys are so grossly in love)

user55: they're so parents it's now illegal for them to divorce

f1: thank you for educating us, we'll see you next season !

note: hope y'all enjoy, i'm partially deaf in both ears and am currently learning BSL to feel closer to my community and had this idea. i wish this was an actual position in f1 but hopefully in the future xx

[nothoughtsjustfic]

Wild Goose Chase - W.JH

🛸Who: Wen Junhui (Seventeen) x reader 🛸What: Sci-fi. Humour/low-key crack. Established relationship. Alien Junhui! 🛸Wordcount: 2k 🛸Warnings: One mention of intentionally hurting someone, but it doesn’t happen. I think that’s it! 🛸Summary:“ During an overnight campout with your friends, Soonyoung admits to his true reason for gathering you all tonight; to hunt down the alien spaceship he somehow just knows is in the woods.  

All you can do is follow along and hope that your boyfriend succeeds in his plan to mislead your friends so they don’t find out that it’s his ship they’re looking for. ”

Masterlist

It seemed like a good idea at first, but you should’ve known better than to trust an idea suggested by Kwon Soonyoung and backed by Lee Seokmin.

You adore the pair, you truly do, but they have about two braincells to rub together between them and frequently forget to put them to use, resulting in all sorts of chaos; which, unfortunately, you often find yourself a part of.

And tonight is no different.

You truly thought it was just an overnight sleep out in the woods with your friend group, and it definitely did start that way. Setting up tents, building a firepit and cooking dinner over the flames to share with a few drinks and lots of laughter.

Until, when the sun was truly down and moon was high in the sky, Soonyoung got up and declared he had gathered you all to search for an alien spaceship.

Which, in of itself wasn’t surprising; Soonyoung is a huge alien conspiracy theorist and consumes any and all media portraying aliens, insisting that they have to be at least a little accurate in their depictions. Though you only need to look at your boyfriend of the past year to know that the movies are utter bullshit.

Sure, Wen Junhui looks otherworldly, but that’s just because he’s endlessly beautiful, gorgeous, a piece of natural artwork you could spend forever and a day admiring and never grow tired of his pretty lips and cute moles and silly expressions and…well you get it.

Your boyfriend is utterly divine, a real treat for the eyes, but he looks like any other unfairly attractive human man. Except he’s not, because he’s an alien from a planet you can’t even pronounce the name of, who crash landed over a year ago in the very same woods you’re in tonight with your friends.

Which is where the problem comes in.

For the first time in perhaps his entire life, Kwon Soonyoung is actually in the right place to get the proof he so desperately wants and somehow, you and Junhui have to stop him.

“Do you think some really big branches will do the trick?” Junhui suggests to you in a whisper as the pair of you trail at the back of the group with your hands swinging between you contently as you walk.

“Like cover your ship in branches?” You question, giving your boyfriend a look as if perhaps he’s the idiot here and not Soonyoung. Oh how the tables turn.

“Yeah, like in movies where they need to hide their car from bad guys in the jungle and they use pieces of trees and plants to do it!”

“Oh, my sweet, innocent, darling,” you coo and lift his hand connected with yours up to press a kiss to his smooth, warm skin. “Even Soonyoung wouldn’t fall for that; he’s not that absent to miss a spaceship because of some leaves, baby.”

“He hasn’t noticed me for a year and he’s literally seen me almost skinshift,” he points out, reminding you of the first time Junhui went drinking with you all.

It was before Junhui was used to human alcohol; his skin had shimmered and wobbled at his first taste of vodka. Luckily, only Soonyoung had seen it, other than you, and he was too drunk to think it anything but his eyes playing tricks on him.

You never thought you’d say it, and it’s the only instance you have so far, but thank fuck for Soonyoung’s low alcohol tolerance.

“He was drunk,” you remind, and Junhui makes a noise to show his acceptance of your words.

“Okay, no to trying to camouflage the ship,” Junhui agrees. “What do I do then? It’s not like I can move it; someone will definitely notice that.”

“I have no idea,” you admit, pulling a face at your own uncertain words.

“Trip Soonyoung so he hurts his leg and can’t walk around all night? If he’s out, then the hunt is over; he’s the one making us all do this.”

Although you should probably not encourage your boyfriend to hurt your childhood friend, you don’t dismiss the idea. It could definitely work.

“Okay,” Junhui takes your silence as approval and uses his free hand to rummage around in his pockets until he pulls out a bundle of knotted yarn. “I just need to get these knots out then I can titty trap him.”

“Booby trap.”

“That’s what I said.”

You think you should probably say more, explain to Junhui that this is not a time when you can interchange terms for breasts, but honestly, you think “titty trap” is too funny and you really want him to keep using it, so you move on.

“Why do you have knotted yarn in your pocket?” You wonder, curious as ever about how the alien’s mind works. You’re not sure he even knows, which is very understandable.

“So I’m always prepared!”

“For what?”

“Anything! This is so versatile, you know, as I will prove when I trip Soonie and end this hunt, just as soon as I get these knots out.”

You leave Junhui alone for a few moments as he focuses hard on trying to remove the endless amount of stubborn knots in the yarn, but when he almost trips for the fourth time, you reach out to grab the bundle and put it in your own pocket.

“Hey, I almost had that one,” he pouts at you, far too cutely for a grown man/alien/beautiful bastard of a boyfriend.

“It was more danger to you than him, baby.”

“Oh…yeah, you’re right. Maybe I should give it to him and ask him to unknot it for me.”

“That…could actually maybe work, but later; he’s too focused on looking right now to care about anything else. He’s not even begging for snacks.” You motion to the front of the group where you can just about make out Soonyoung leading the way with Seokmin and Chan just behind him and sharing a bag of giant marshmallows.

For the pair’s sake, you hope Mingyu doesn’t notice because you’re positive those are the fancy marshmallows the tall man bought specifically to cook over the fire and you all know how sensitive and pouty the man gets about his food being used “incorrectly”.

“Oh,” Junhui exhales with widened eyes as he takes in the way Soonyoung isn’t hovering around the snacks and silently asking for some with rounded eyes. “He really is focused.” You hum in agreement. “So, next idea; diversions.”

“Diversions?”

“Yep. Whenever we start getting close to my ship, I’ll run off and create something to block the way.”

You truly have no idea what exactly Junhui intends to do, but you don’t have a better idea yourself so you just nod and hope that things will go to plan, whatever that plan is.

For hours, you trudge along with your friends through the woods, guided by Soonyoung with your boyfriend intermittently rushing off when no-one is looking to take up his apparent new job as a cartoon specialist, based on the increasingly ridiculous ways he diverts Soonyoung and your group away from where his spaceship his hidden in the woods.

From hiding behind trees where he makes menacing sounds like a wild beast, to creepy little figurines made of twigs and random items he has in his pockets placed ominously in paths, which thoroughly freaks out enough of the group when they realise that the little voodoo doll looking items appear eerily like some of them.

Honestly, you’re very impressed that your boyfriend manages to do such a good job with the figures considering his limited time and items and tell him as much when he slides back into place at your side while the others are convincing Soonyoung that you all need to leave before you collectively get cursed by whatever, or whoever, prowls these woods.

“I think you should take up making stick figures,” you comment in a whisper to your boyfriend while leaning into his side comfortably and wrapping your arms around his waist as his arms go around your shoulders.

“What?” He looks at you bewildered, sweat dappling his hairline from all of his running around tonight. “What are you talking about, babe?”

“Those voodoo doll looking things you set up to scare the guys.”

“I didn’t do that,” he declares seriously, though the second your eyes widen a little, he breaks and starts to laugh. “I’m joking! I definitely did.” You swat at him and try to move away but he laughs harder and reaches out to pull you back to encircle you in his arms. “Noo, come back my favourite being to have ever existed in the known universe.”

“What about the unknown universe?” You hum, glancing at him from the corner of your eye, where he’s now pressed against your back and swaying you both from side to side.

“That’s a real big ask, babe. I don’t know what kind of hot piece of ass is in the unknown universe.”

“Okay, good point,” you concede and nod in understanding while turning to look over at the group standing a little away with a few talking heatedly, still trying to convince Soonyoung to give up on his search and let them go home where there isn’t someone stalking them through the woods and making creepy dolls of them.

“I’m going to make them all life sized ones for their birthdays and leave them in their homes for them to wake up to,” Junhui decides, plopping his chin on your shoulder.

You cackle at the thought. “I’ll help you break in and leave them.”

“Forget the hot piece of ass in the unknown universe, you are the best being I could ever be blessed with the attention and affection of.”

“I am. I’m glad you’re aware of that.”

“I definitely am very aware.” He plants a kiss on your jaw. “Now tell me how great I am too.”

Just as you’re about to comply and start waxing poetic about your boyfriend in a way that you know will lead to him taking you off somewhere to do wildly inappropriate things in between a couple of trees, there’s a cheer.

“What’s going on?” You call, speaking up loud enough that your friends can hear you, which draws their attention.

“He’s agreed to give up the alien hunt!” Seungkwan enthuses, clapping happily and already trying to urge the group to turn and head back in the direction you came to get here.

“For tonight,” Soonyoung reiterates, pouting in disappointment as he reluctantly trudges across the dirt when Jeonghan takes his hand to pull him along with you all. “We’ll come back another day; when you’ve all forgotten about the creepy dolls.”

“Another night of pointlessly walking around in the woods?” Seungkwan complains. “No way!”

“There is an alien spaceship here, I just know it!” Soonyoung replies. “And I’ll prove it.”

“At least pick one area to look, not the whole woods; this place is huge!”

“I don’t know which area the ship is in though; I just know it’s here.”

“Why don’t we just ask Jun?” Hansol pipes in casually, making everyone stop to look at him puzzled. “What?”

“Why would we ask Jun?” Jeonghan questions while you and Junhui exchange a quick, panicked look.

“Because he’s an alien?” Hansol replies, while looking around the group as if they’re all idiots. “You seriously never noticed? The dude’s way too weird to be human.”

All at once, the group turn to look at you and Junhui where you stand hand in hand with matching wide eyes, too dumbstruck by the knowledge that it seems that Hansol has known your secret for some time yet never said a word because he assumed everyone knew already. Funny how things work out.

“Well?” Seungkwan prompts when the pair of you just stare dumbly in shock.

Once again, you and Junhui exchange a look, silently communicating before turning to look back at the group as Junhui grins sheepishly. “Surprise?” He offers with a cute shrug.

There’s a moment of stunned silence before Soonyoung’s betrayed yell fills the night air. “What the fuck?!”

Don’t forget to reblog if you liked to help spread the story and let others read it too! And don't be shy to leave comments or send an ask so I can see your thoughts 🥺 💖

Permanent taglist: @okiedokrie, @tusswrites, @svtiddiess

[dreamingunderacloudysky]

hiiiihiihi :-) could you write some Jimmy x reader relationship hcs? ^_^ if you do, thanks!

NON-TULPAR JIMMY AU HCs

A/N: I will only write for Jimmy in a non Tulpar au, given exploring his character outside of that whole mess will give me a fun challenge in terms of characterization. So thank you for the intriguing request.

Warnings: Smoking and that Jimmy is in this.

Failed guitarist (can still play decently but is a way better drummer), successful drummer and decent singer.

I feel like he would be part of Midwestern emo band or punk.

Smells of cigarettes and incense

How you'd meet would be at a concert where his small band would open for a bigger band.

He's not a drinker but you meet him at a smoke break.

Slow to open up, but if you start asking questions about his drumming technique, he opens up fairly fast.

Down the line, you two start to become friends. He's a bit rough, a smoking drummer that drives a 2004 GMC Envoy, but his charm lies in his passions for world music and the outdoors.

Can also play the Arabic Oud and the Armenian Daduk. And he'll play them for you under stars if you give him the opportunity.

Very big conspiracy theorist and will share all if his theories with you. Has a tin foil hat in the back of his Envoy.

Used to roughing it a good chunk of his life and really doesn't have a real place to call home aside from his car and his studio apartment.

OK now on to the relationships HC

He confesses through a song, though you had to catch him after it given he had a fight or flight moment after.

Has a lot of issues but is a pure passion project underneath the layers of grundge, insecurities, and defense mechanisms.

Talk about his passions and he'll go off about music theory and history and he'll go off. It's the reason he owns a couple thrifted exotic instruments in his apartment.

It takes a long time for him to get used to physical affection, but it gets better, and on cold nights, he'll have you tucked into his side with some weirdly comfortable psychedelic blanket.

He loves you more when you start giving him better soaps rather than the 4 in one men's bodywash he's been using because good god are you tired if smelling Irish spring.

He cooks basic comfort food though not a lot of meat given that meat is pricey and his income isn't the best but he can work magic with veggies and beans

He will cook for you. But he's very stubborn and if you call him out on his good deeds he'll just shut up and not talk for a while.

Slowly introduces you to his band as time goes on.

Hope you don't like smoky kisses because he will not give up cigarette unless you two really reach to a healthy living point in both yours and his life together.

Though gift him a nice pipe and tobacco and it doesn't smell as bad, he'll actually be in a better mood with a good pipe.

Will share it with you.

Likes having you against his side and stargazing.

Talks about mythologies of different ancient civilizations.

A/N: sorry this didn't go much into relationship stuff i ended up using this ti characterize Jimmy outside the tulpar. Also I know people want toxic jimmy but I can't write that. No toxicity hcs on this blog.