#every event i just fall deeper for this goof

[dreamingofep]

Strangers in the Crowd pt. 11

(Elvis/Austin!Elvis × reader)

Character/Fandom: Elvis - Elvis (2022)

Request: No, just another one of my delusional fantasies.

Prompt: You and your best friend are on your annual girls trip and go to see Elvis at the International.

Little did you know this would be a show you'll never forget. [Fem!Reader]

TW: Cussing, teasing/ tension, SMUTTT, oral sex,outside sex, daddy kink, spanking, the usual really dirty stuff.

Rating: Explicit/Mature (NSFW, 18+, so minors Do NOT Interact)

Word Count: 4.1K

A/N: Hello everyone! Its summer in Graceland and it hot 😏 if you know what I mean😉 Like I said previously, this fic is coming to its end very soon but I have other stories coming soon to that I’m VERY excited about and cannot wait to tell you more.

I'm so glad you've been liking this story so much! I also mentioned earlier that I’m also posting my fics on Ao3 so you can read my stuff there too if you want!☺️

This has been so much fun to write and hear your reactions! Enjoy! Sorry for any spelling mistakes or overall goofs.

Feel free to message me or comment what you think! 🖤

The Memphis sun baked into your skin today and radiated its warmth through your body. You were soon discovering how hot Memphis can get in the summers and you were not prepared for that by any means. The one nice thing about it was how your skin had a nice glowing tan now, one that matched Elvis’.

The first few weeks living at Graceland was something out of a dream. It felt wonderful to be with Elvis every day and get to know each other on a deeper level. He was so catering and his southern hospitality really shined through to make sure you felt like you were right at home. Anything you wanted, he would get you to make you the happiest while you were staying here. You didn’t have time to pack before you and Elvis got on his plane to go straight to Memphis. To be completely honest, you didn’t want to see anyone try and convince you to stay, and after the events that happened with your parents, you definitely didn’t want to hear it.

Elvis bought you an entire new wardrobe that was completely unnecessary, but was so generous of him to do that for you. You could tell a lot of the outfits were hand-picked by him based on how revealing some of them were.

It was an adjustment living with so many people all the time. The house was constantly buzzing until the later parts of the night, where you can hear the crickets sing and the house finally came to a still.

Night falls, and you decide to go for a swim. Elvis isn’t anywhere to be found so you’ll just go in by yourself. He has been a bit high-strung since he is opening in Vegas once again in a few days. He had been rehearsing in Los Angeles the last few weeks, going back and forth from there, and back to Memphis every few days to try to get the show perfect. This was going to be his third time playing in Vegas and wanted to make sure the show was fresh and exciting still. You assured him that it was going to be great, but he’s too much of a perfectionist to relax until it’s actually done. The added pressure of having it professionally filmed also weighed on him. MGM was filming six shows for this new movie so that meant Elvis has to find new songs for such. You wanted him to relax when he was home but he couldn’t fully enjoy the quiet. He was always picking up a guitar and playing or going to the piano.

This meant he was less attentive to you and your needs. Not that you were being selfish, it was just how it was. You respected that he was so dedicated of an artist that his craft was the most important thing to him. You knew this next show was going to be even better than what you experienced, and that’s saying a lot.

He’d show affection always, but the more close, intimate moments were brief, if at all present.

You didn’t take it personally, you understood, but you wanted him desperately. You wanted to find the right time to get him alone, and have him take you right there, no questions asked.

After rummaging through your drawer to find the right swimsuit, you decide to go with the high-waisted two-piece one with the cherry pattern on it. You grab a towel from the bathroom and go back downstairs to the pool.

You place your towel on one of the reclining sun chairs and dip your toes into the dark aqua pool. It was cool and brought a slight shiver to you, but with the blazing sun beating down on it all day made it feel like the perfect temperature to cool off at night. You quickly jump in and get the instant satisfaction of being able to feel so much more comfortable.

The pool isn’t large by any means, but big enough to do laps and get a nice workout in.

As you do your laps, your mind continues to wander to needing Elvis. You knew he wanted you too by just the look in his eye, but his mind was somewhere else and probably didn’t find it right to give you half of his attention when it came to that sort of stuff.

You take a break from swimming and float on your back, getting to stare at the shining stars twinkling in the sky.

“Well what do we have here,” Elvis teases.

You pop your head up to the sound of his voice and see him standing on the other side of the pool, wearing a pink short sleeve button up with black pants. His eyes have this wild child like glint of mischief when he looks at you.

“Nothing that would interest you,” you tease back. He chuckles softly and walks to the side of the pool you’re on.

“It looks like something I’d like,” he says, crouching down to see you closer. You swim closer to him, hanging onto the ledge of the pool by your fingertips, looking up at him between his legs.

“Why don’t you come in here and find out if it’s something you like,” you jest.

A devious smirk arises from him, “I see just fine right here baby.”

You reach out and pull at his shirt, popping off the first button. He looks down at the pearl pink button fall onto the concrete.

You stare pleadingly at him, the light beaming behind him from the back door fixture, cascading a shadow over him making him look like an angel. His golden tan skin gleaming and his black hair dancing in the breeze. Your hand continues to work his shirt buttons, trying to feel his skin touching yours.

“Come in baby, get those pants off,” you coo.

He lets out a exasperated laugh, “woman you know what I’m wearing under here,” he says smugly.

Yep you do… nothing.

“Are you being shy E? You don’t want to let little Elvis free for a swim?” You say cunningly.

His face flushed and he shakes his head at you in disbelief.

“I swear to God woman…” he trails off.

A devious little idea pops in your head and want to tease him further, make him have to get in here and pay attention to you. Your hands reach around to your back and untie the straps around your rib cage. Once they are free, you lift the top off your neck and throw it at his feet, making a splashing noise when it hits the ground.

“What do you think you’re doing?,” his voice full of concern and slight agitation.

“Nothing, I don’t know what you mean,” You say innocently. You bring you hands out to your side, kicking off the wall of the pool and away from him. Your chest elevates as you swim away and your nipples rise above the water, hardened by the cool water. His eyes grow in shock, checking over his shoulder to the back sliding door and the kitchen windows that no one was looking at the scene you were making.

“Y/n you better put this back on right now. I don’t want anyone seeing you like this,” he says firmly, his voice controlled and unplayful.

You shake your head no at him, swimming further away from him, drawing him to follow you to the other side of the pool. Your hands go back under water and pull your bottoms down, bringing them to the surface and ringing them out before throwing them in Elvis’ direction. His jaw drops and his eyes darken.

“Honey, I’m not playing with you, you better put these back on right now,” he growls. You know you should be carful, you’ve seen how his temper can flare when you don’t listen. But you didn’t care. You wanted his attention and this is how you were going to get it.

“Nope. Not until you get in here with me,” you sayin a snarky tone.

Elvis frustratedly throws your swim suit down on the ground and jumps in the pool after you. You quickly swim to the other side as you see him come up for air, wiping his hair out of his face, searching for you with wild eyes.

“Y/n, come here,” He barks. “You want someone to see you like this?!”

You can’t help but giggle at the rise you’re getting out of him.

“You’re going to have to come get me before I put any clothes back on,” you tease.

Staying in the deep end of the pool, you try to dodge him and swim away from him. Both of you are getting out of breath and your legs are getting tired. You can’t help but laugh at how serious he’s being right now. It’s a rare occasion when Elvis is dead serious and not cracking a joke. But the thought of one of the guys seeing you naked makes his blood boil and his temper flare off.

He catches up with you and pins you to the side of the pool wall, fire blazing wildly in his eyes as he grabs your arms stilling you. You’re in the middle of the pool and your feet don’t touch the ground anymore. He still stands up fine and gives him more leverage to pin you here and control your movements.

“I thought you knew how to listen to me after all this time, but instead you’ve just become more of an insolent little brat hmm?”

You push your hips into him and let out a soft sigh out, liking the much needed attention of his body on yours.

“I don’t know what you mean,” you say innocently.

“Oh, don’t you do that with me. I’m not gonna have that. You want someone to see you naked?” He fumes.

You take a second to look at his face, seeing the clear frustration but nonetheless beautiful and very distracting.

“If I were to say yes… is daddy going to punish me?” You say in a hushed whisper, your hand wandering down underwater to his bulge, squeezing it in your hand and watching him jump.

He looks at you in shock, waiting for you to say anything else.

“Yes, I’ll have to show you who you belong to,” he growls. “No other man gets to see you naked but me,” possessiveness dripping off his tongue. He lets go of you and gets out of the pool.

He stands in front of you, his clothes dripping wet and clung to his body, showcasing his best assets right in front of you. He looks so inviting, so handsome, you want to get on your knees for him right now.

“Get out of the pool,” he commands.

“You want to at least grab my towel,” you say snappy.

He makes a snide chuckle, “Since you don’t care if anyone will see you, thought you wouldn’t need one.” He barks.

You bite the inside of your cheek to keep yourself from smirking, knowing your little game is working.

“No you’re right baby. That was a silly thing to ask for,” you say challengingly.

You wade over to the steps to get out of the pool and step out, brushing back your wet hair out of your face and letting it fall on your back.

The look on his face on priceless, the disbelief that you would actually walk around naked out of the pool so confidently shocks him to the core.

You walk by him, flicking your wet hair in his direction and walking to the lounging chairs where you had left your pool towel. His eyes burn holes into your backside watching you walk away. You nonchalantly pat your body dry, ringing your hair out, and taking a seat on the chair. You stretch your arms out above you and let them dangle off the chair. You hear his footsteps coming toward you and he stops right in front of you.

“You think this is a game?” He questions harshly. “I’m not going to ask again,” he cautioned.

You shake your head no at him, reaching to touch his cock again, feeling him tense up.

“Daddy’s going to have to teach you a lesson,” he growls, grabbing your wrist tightly, pulling your hand away from him.

Your core throbs at his words, needing his undivided attention more than anything.

“I’m going to need a long, in-depth lesson before I fully understand, daddy, and then I’ll listen” your words with an icy edge.

You reach for the towel behind your head and stand up, wrapping it around yourself and tucking in the corner at your breast.

Reaching down for his top button of his pants, you push the button through and slide down his zipper. You reach your hand into his pants and wrap your hand around his shaft, moving it up and down slowly.

“Daddy, please forgive me. I promise I’ll listen,” you coo.

You feel him get hard in your hand and watch as he sucks in a sharp breath through his teeth, fighting the urge to succumb to you. The heat radiating off of him felt suffocating and made you want to crumble at his feet even easier than you could imagine.

He spins your body around, making it so his back is facing the back door and windows.

“Get on your knees and show me how sorry you are,” he commands, his fingers tracing the hem of the towel resting on your breasts. He pulls it down off of you, leaving you standing naked in front of you. The darkness of the night didn’t stop his eyes from glimmering with that mischievous glint.

“Mhmm, yes daddy,” you say softly, sinking to your knees at his feet.

He pulls his cock and balls out of his pants and glides his hand over his shaft, stroking it sprightly.

“Open that mouth for me baby,” he quips.

You obey and open your mouth, waiting for his tip to touch your tongue.

He pushes his hips forward, plunging his cock to the back of your throat. You instantly gag, not ready for his long length to be inside you like this. You squeeze onto the back of his thigh with your hands, needing to take some of his length out of you.

His hands reach into your hair, pulling your head back, making you look up at him.

“You’re gonna take this cock like a good girl. Take your punishment for not listening to me,” he growls. You whimper at his instructions, opening your mouth once again for him.

He lets out a pleased groan and puts his cock back inside your mouth, keeping the firm grip he has in your hair.

He fucks your mouth vigorously, making the most vile sounds come out of you and drool spilling from the slides of your mouth.

He changes pace and starts to push your head forward, taking in more of his cock while he keeps his hips still. You flatten your tongue out on the bottom of his shaft and watch as he lets out a breathy moan. You can’t help but smile that you can make such noises come out of him.

You try to suck as much as he would let you, letting out moans as he pulled out of you to let you breathe. Your hand slowly inches for his balls, cupping them softly and massaging them lightly in your hand. He pushes his hips forward as he feels you doing this, having you take his entire length in your mouth. You lick at the base of his cock, hearing his deep groans that fill the otherwise still night. Putting more pressure on his balls, you feel him tense in your mouth.

He groans and moves his hips slower while he’s inside you. You’re almost sure he’s going to cum like this, but he pulls his length out of your mouth and has you just focusing on his head and massaging his balls in your hand.

“Oh fuck mama, yes,” he gasps pulling himself out of you, “use your mouth on my balls now,” he directs as you gasp for air.

You eagerly take his shaft in your hand and start jerking it, placing your mouth near his sac. You give one long lick causing him to gasp. You use your fingertips to push his sac to your mouth, wanting to suck on one of his balls and shower him with attention.

You suck on one and his cock twitches in your hand. You test how much pressure you can put to make him groan the most. You lick and suck on his balls while still slowly jerking him off in your hand. You love the sounds he’s making, sounding like sweet music to your ears.

You had never done this before so it did make you a little nervous, but you would experiment with what he liked. Like the rest of him, his balls were large and heavy making your mouth water for him. He lets out a loud gasp as your tongue swirls around his teste, bringing a new pleasure to him when you have it inside your mouth.

He pulls you away from him, leaving a sucking pop sound with you release his ball from your mouth.

“Fuck mama, you’re killing me,” he says breathlessly. You can’t help but giggle slightly at his reaction to all of it. You could keep going if he would let you but he lets out a frustrated grumble as you look up at him with his cock still in your hand.

He doesn’t like the reaction from you, he doesn’t want to hear you enjoying your punishment for acting out so childishly. “Your punishment isn’t over yet baby. Get up.”

Elvis tucks himself back into his wet slacks and reaches for the towel that’s fallen on the floor to cover you, wrapping his arms around your torso and picking you up. He makes long, quick strides into the cool, air conditioned house, sneaking you down to the basement and into the jungle room.

He placed your body face down over the arm of the couch sitting in the middle of the room, your hands stretched out in front of you holding yourself up.

“You’re such a bad girl, always liking your punishments too much.” He grabs your hair again, pulling your head back and places a hard spank on your ass. The pain of it spreads through you like wildfire making you cry out.

“Elvis!” You say loudly, squirming out of his touch. He stills you putting a firmer grip on your hair and your hip. His hand comes down again and the sound of the spank is the only sound that fills the room. You let out another cry, hearing Elvis make a guttural noise.

“Elvis, Please!” You beg.

His hand comes down again and your eyes fill with water, pleasure seeping through when he gives another spank.

“Ah fuck,” you whimper.

His hands caress the swell of your ass, getting dangerously close to your folds. You feel your wetness pool more, making you want him badly. His fingertips brush your folds and the wetness spilling out of them. You push your hips back into his fingers more, wanting him to plunge them knuckle deep inside you. You hear him start to peel his wet clothes off of himself behind you and throw them to the side.

“Daddy, please,” you cry.

“You just love when daddy gives you attention Hmm?” He asks.

“Mhmmm, yes daddy I’ve missed you,” you groan.

“I know baby, being such a good little slut for me.”

His tip rubs against your folds as he continues to praise you. With a grunt, he plunges his cock inside you, stuffing you to the hilt. Both of you loudly groan and cry for more. You drive your hips back with him, wanting him to take you rough.

“Fuck me daddy,” you gasp, pushing your hips back with his.

Elvis cusses and lets out a pent up groan, making your pussy throb. He keeps one hand on your hip, using it as leverage when he snaps his hips into you, the other slithered down from your hair and wrapped around the front of your neck, keeping a light pressure on it, giving you a delicious tingling sensation.

His thrusts are hitting all the right places and with how sexually needy you’ve been, it’s not going to take very much to make you finish. He knows it too. The sounds you’re making for him tells him how good he’s making you feel and that you can’t take very much.

Suddenly he pulls out of you, leaving you breathless and begging for more.

“Baby, please. Don’t stop,” you pant, looking over your shoulder.

“Have you learned your lesson? Are you going to pull a little stunt like that again?” He questions.

“No daddy, I won’t I promise.” You plead.

He pulls your upper body up and goes to sit on the couch, his long legs spread out and his cock getting lazily tugged on in his hand.

“Then come and ride daddy. I want you to finish like this,” he beckons.

You stare at the man before you and get a chill just looking at him. You nod your head at him in compliance and straddle his frame. You hover over his cock, he lines you up and pushes your hips down onto him, sinking your wet heat all the way down his shaft. He cusses with how tight you feel and you feel the throbbing begin to feel unconsolable.

You glide yourself up again and watch his face this time as you sink back down on him hard. His face forms into pleasure, his eyes looking into yours, then down along your breasts as they begin to bounce as you ride him faster. He groans loudly, sending an electric shock to your core by just the sounds he makes when he’s getting fucked.

Your hands grip tightly in his wet hair as you ride him, not being able to get enough of him.

He leans his head back onto the couch, letting you take most of the control. He still has his hands on your hips, squeezing them tightly.

The coil and heat in your belly feels like it’s going to unravel any second now and he knows it. Your whimpers and moans increase as you swivel your hips back and forth, rubbing your clit on him in the process.

He stills you suddenly, making a shrill cry come out of you. He bores those serious blue eyes into you and bites his lip.

“Do you deserve to cum baby?” He asks.

You gasp and try to move your hips down but he won’t let you until you answer him.

“Yes, daddy, make me cum please. I’ve been a good girl,” you gasp.

He sinks you back down on him and helps you move up and down in his length. His fingers find your bud and rubs it like only he can.

Before you know it, your vision is filled with stars and you scream his name. He groans loudly when he watches you cum all over him, squeezing his cock and gasping for breath.

He finishes deep inside you, his member pulsating quick, thick spurts of his seed. You keep riding him even though your body is becoming exhausted. You don’t really know when the next time you’ll get him like this so you want to selfishly stay on him as long as you can.

Elvis grunts when you continue to grind on him and he sees your pleasure filled face riding him into oblivion.

“Mama, you’re gonna have to slow down you’re killin’ me,” he says gently through gasps.

You try and catch your breath, grabbing into his shoulders and calming yourself down.

“Sorry baby I got excited,” you tease.

“I’m not going anywhere baby. You can get more later if you want it. You don’t have to act out like a little devil to get my attention.” He assures.

You pauses looking away, “I know but you’ve been so busy. I didn’t want to bother you…” you trail off.

The look of realization washes over his face and his eyes grow sorrowful.

“Oh god baby, is that what this was all about? I haven’t been very attentive have I? Oh honey I’m so sorry,” he says pulling you in to embrace.

“It’s okay honey I know you’re under a lot of pressure. I didn’t want to distract.”

He looks at you smugly, “you are my favorite distraction though. Please tell me if you need something you know I’ll do it for you,” he says sweetly.

You nod your head and smile, “okay honey. I will I promise.”

“Good girl. Let’s get you upstairs so I can ruin you some more,” he says devilishly.

“Elvis! You need your rest before opening night. I can’t be the one held responsible for keeping you up all night. I’ll be fine,” you say exasperated.

“We’ll how about this, the show opens in three days, and I promise to get rest and be in top shape for the shows. But,” he pauses and pulls your chest to his, “I’m not going to let you sleep the first night we’re there. I want to ruin that perfect pussy of yours,” he says in a low sensual whisper.

Your heart skips when you hear him talk to you like this, “okay daddy.”

•

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[three-word-count]

The Taste of Home

Chapter Two: Delphinium

read Chapter One on tumblr here

Saeran x reader, post-after-ending domestics

Word count: 1128

Read on Ao3 link with author notes

[ I love even the parts of you I cannot see. Everything related to you is lovely. ]

…

Saeran had no idea. 

The two of you often went thrifting. It was a wonderful way to spend time together in a different place, enraptured by all the curious little items filling up the shelves in droves. It was one of his favorite newly discovered hobbies. There was far more to be seen than inside a retail homestore. 

Often, you found hidden treasures in the forms of random knick knacks that now dotted across your shared dresser at home, or ornate picture frames that held your photos proudly on walls. Sometimes Ray found a garden chair that he just had to take home. Sometimes you didn't have to buy anything at all to have fun. You'd even goof off sometimes, sitting at a worn down dining room set having an idle chat over imaginary tea, or suddenly launching yourself into some puffy old recliner much to his startlement. 

And rarely, you'd find an old, forgotten instrument, hidden among the mess of it all. 

He hadn't expected anything out of the usual from you with it. Just the standard schedule of messing around for kicks. Perhaps a quick quip of, “Look, my love! I’m a star!” which he’d answer with a feigned profession of how much he admired your musical prowess, claiming to own all your vinyl albums (Some encased in frames, too, he may add! A divine complement!) as your absolute number one fan (this part of his fictional claim, however, was true). 

But he didn't know. 

Really. 

He stood with his arm crossed loosely, an amused grin on his face as he expected you to put on a messy show for a cute little memory that he could store away inside his mind. 

Until you sounded your first chord. 

Your face looked like that of home. A softened smile. Shining eyes that hid a shade of sadness for something you'd left behind and missed dearly. 

Your second chord. Slow and tentative as your fingers did exactly what they needed to do, a satisfied emotion adding to the pool within your eyes as you confirmed that you still remembered it after so many years. A single, shy laugh of content. 

You let the so-deeply ingrained muscle memory take control, bliss carrying you through the song you knew like the back of your hand. After years of being buried in your head’s dusty recesses, rust was sure to be expected. But any blemish in the twangs of an off-key strike were lost to Saeran’s ears as all he heard were the celestial chords of nothing less than perfection. It was music to his ears, in more ways than one. 

The notes melted in his ears like the honey in his morning green tea, rejuvenated him like a cool dawn breeze, woke him up like the sun. The taste of your happiness flowed through the air like syrup he poured over his sundaes, sweetening his heart at the sight of you so confidently sharing your art. He was proud. Proud to know someone like you, who felt safe enough to expose your hidden passions to him with no hesitation. Proud to be with someone like you, who allowed him to bask in your light and accept his place by your side. Proud to see you for you. He was also very much in love, as if he couldn't possibly fall any deeper with you already, but you proved him wrong time and time again as he tumbled harder for your every revealed facet even further than before. 

You hadn’t taken notice of his expression until you finished your short song. “Speechless, Ray…? Come on now, I'm not that good,” you laughed.

He stood, mouth agape, his cheeks dusted a shade of pink enough to rival his highlights. “I didn’t know you could play,” he gawked. 

“Ahh, it was just an old hobby. It's nothing special or anyth-”

“Yes it is!”

You were a bit taken aback by his interjection, a rather unusual event coming from Saeran. He was rarely ever vocally worked up, outside of displaying excitement for his latest  fresh-budding flowers, avidly defending “pesky” pollinators and misunderstood animals that were crucial to ecosystems, or of course during your commonly traded info-dump sessions. 

“That was… that was more than special! I didn’t know that you…!” He trailed off and instead gestured at you excitedly. 

“Ahh, well, you know…” you shrugged, “It’s not like I have any instruments here. It just wasn't important to mention before.”

“It’s important to me, now, though. It’s something you enjoy, isn’t it…?”

“Uh… Yeah… I guess. It’s just that I haven't had the access or ability since I’ve moved into Seoul. So I kinda just… left it behind. It’s alright though. It happens.”

Saeran only stared at you, a hurt look on his face. “But you looked so happy, just then,” he lamented. “I’d rather you enjoy yourself than give up something you loved just from moving on to a new way of life. I still enjoy gardening after… after everything. I want you to have something like that, too.” 

“I like gardening with you.”

“No, no, something different. Something just for you. You help me a lot with harvests and care, but you also let me have time just for myself when I need it. I’ve spent some days in the greenhouse alone with my thoughts, watching the clouds pass by above me through the glass. We all need things just for ourselves sometimes. I know you tend to neglect that.”

You thought about that statement. You had hobbies, didn’t you? Were you too lost in forging your new path nowadays and you just hadn’t noticed? You didn’t want to see that as the truth. You know how it hurts to lose parts of yourself. You already lost music when you left it behind for your move to Seoul. 

“I… make things sometimes,” you countered, using your arsenal of crafts and doodles scattered around the house as ammunition. 

“Not as often as you’d like. I know that. I’ve been there. I can see it.” He reached out to hold your hand, lifting it to his lips for a gentle kiss. “I want you to be happy, my love. I want you to take advantage of the freedom you have in our shared home now. Like me.”

You felt a sting in your eyes. “You always know exactly what to say, don't you,” you resigned. 

He hummed. “Not always. It’s something I’ve learned. I only want the best for you.” 

You leaned into him, melting into a hug. “I love you,” you whispered into his ear.

“And I love you. Now,” he said, pulling back to look you in the eyes, “shall we buy it? I know exactly where it would look beautifully back home.” 

[devildom-tyrant]

Hello!! Can I request an angry Mammon? Not at MC, but maybe for them? I'm thinking maybe MC accidentally got into a predicament with a witch or another demon and he just kinda snaps? I'd love to see him actually use his strength and demon form in the game, but for now I just have to scour all the fanfics~~ Love your blog, thank you for all your writing! ♥️

You’ve never actually seen Mammon angry.  

He’s been annoyed or worried, you realize, but there’s never been a time when he’s popped into his demon form and frightened you like most of the others have.  He’s always been comical, over-the-top, calling you a mere human one minute and then crying over TSL in your room and calling you his best pal the next.  You’ve always felt safe with him; he’s been your anchor as you’ve tried to navigate the turbulent world you’ve been unceremoniously deposited in.  You can always count on him to be there when you truly need him.

You’ve been in mortal danger before, sure, but that’s always involved his brothers, and he’s always kept a somewhat level head.  

(An image of him holding your broken body pops into your mind, and you squash it instantly, leaving it as a mere reoccurring nightmare.  No, he hadn’t popped into his demon form, even then. )

But this time, however... 

This time, he’s pissed.

One of the witches cups your cheek, smirking.  She’s beautiful, you think, in an enchanting sort of way, but her smile is cruel.  

“We warned you that there would be consequences if you tried to blow us off, Mammon,” she says, tsking under her breath as if she’s reprimanding a misbehaving child.  “And to think, you’re off spoiling some common human instead.  I thought you enjoyed the finer things.”

You can’t move; your body’s frozen, and it isn’t from fear.  

It’s a magical binding.  They’re powerful.

Another witch pipes up, coming around to face you.  She brushes your hair back and pretends to ponder.  “Hmm, if this human is worth more to you than your debt, we could always just take them to pay it off.”

A third witch speaks from behind you, her tone mocking, meant to get a rise from the demon.  “We could do what Lucifer suggested we did to Mammon -- cut them up into equal pieces for all of us.”

“Don’t fuckin’ touch MY human!”

The words are growled, horns beginning to sprout past the silver hair.  You’ve seen Mammon assume his demon form plenty of times at Diavolo’s social affairs, but this is different. There’s an energy radiating off him in waves, dangerous power that gives even the witches pause.  You swallow, wishing desperately to calm him down, to tell him to keep that cool, level head -- surely they won’t actually cut you up, right? -- but when you try to speak, all that comes out is a strangled sound in the back of your throat.

A sound he takes as one of pain.

That’s enough to send him the rest of the way into his true form, his RAD uniform disappearing in place of tanned abs with pure white markings and tight leather pants.  

“Let the human GO!”

He always seemed so afraid of the witches; whenever they contacted him in the past, he jumped to their beck and call.  He even put aside money for them, and he hated giving away money.  You knew they had to be remarkable to hold so much power over him, but now... now you wonder if he just didn’t want to use force with them.  Maybe if they did something, he didn’t want to fight against them.

The air is heavy, charged with both his power and intent.  It’s more powerful than the others -- the feeling rivals Lucifer’s -- and it leaves the witches frozen in place, gaping over the fact that he would get this angry.  

The first witch clears her throat, attempting to placate him.  “Mammon, darling, we’re nearly negotiating new terms--”

“And that human has NOTHING to do with this!  If you think for one second that I’m gonna let you get away with this shit, you’ve got another thing comin’!”

He lashes out, and you close your eyes, wincing -- you’re in the cross-fire, he’s going to get you in a blind rage just like his brothers would, he --

The magical bindings release you just as the witches vanish, retreating before his hit can strike.  Mammon’s power stops short, pulling back at the very last second, and you open your eyes to see him standing right there.

The anger has drained from his face, even though he’s still in his demon form. Wordlessly, he grabs you, pulling you against his chest and holding you tight.  You can feel his heart hammering in his chest, and his arms tremble as he grips you tighter.

After a moment, you find your voice.  “Mammon?”

“I thought --” 

He breaks off, unable to finish the thought. You feel something hot against your shoulder, but then he shakes his head and takes in a deep, steadying breath.  

(You remember him wailing in the main corridor, begging you to stay, to hold on.)

“Damn witches,” he mutters instead, and when he pulls back, his cheeks are dry.  “Sorry I got ya mixed up in my shit.  I guess I shouldn’t have swiped away their text... Devildom hath no fury like a witch scorned or whatever.”  He shrugs, trying to play it off, but his arms are still loosely around you.  

Your fingertips touch his cheek, your palm against the side of his throat.  His pulse is still jumping.  “It’s okay.  I think they just wanted to get a rise out of you as punishment.  They didn’t hurt me or anything.”

He breathes out a sigh of relief.  “Yeah, maybe, but ‘m not playin’ their game.  If they had done anything, I... Well, it’s MY job to protect ya!  After all, this proves you’re nothin’ but a frail human, and your first man needs to keep a closer eye on ya!”

You smile, nodding, and decide to tease him.  “What would I do without my big strong demon protector?”

A faint pink stains his cheeks, and he puffs out his chest, taking your words as 100% serious.  “Damn right, I’m strong!  I’m the second born, after all!  Everyone seems to forget that!”

You’re certain the witches won’t soon forget that anytime soon.

[blueprint-han]

he’s just like a cat.

♡ pairing: minho x (gender neutral) reader ♡ genre: domestic au; fluff. ♡ warnings: this is just cuddling with minho 🥺 even though this has no suggestive implication, there’s a little making out in this, because I know maxine won’t mind. :3 ♡ word count: 1.4 K ♡ disclaimer: this writing does not aim to represent the activities of the real Lee Minho, nor does it represent JYPE in any form. Events are pure fiction. ♡ ♡ type: drabble. ♡ network tag: @stayverse​ @districtninewriters​ @inkidz​ + @sunoo-luvs​ ♡ part of: the url drabble game; requested by @kittenanonnie​​ rAwR <3333 UwU (requests for this are closed now!)

↯ note: hope you like it kitten !! i have nothing more to say than I love you <33 thank you for making me smile with every ask and rAwR you send me i really appreciate you <33 ⇥ dawn.☀️

The atmosphere's perfectly cozy in your apartment — furry blankets, a warm boyfriend ready to cuddle, and a movie on the screen. Minho's warm, so cozily warm that you melt into him when he slings an arm around your shoulder halfway through the movie, leaning your head into his chest to listen to his heartbeat.

You were more than ready to accept when Minho had suggested a movie date — being more than excited to spend time with him after a while, falling asleep against his firm chest and having him run his hands through your hair and also have him leave small kisses wherever he could when he was feeling extra clingy.

And it seems like he's feeling extra clingy today.

As soon as he’d entered the house, he’d pulled you into a hug, gently nuzzling into your neck before pecking the skin there — humming in content all along. You’d fisted your hands into his sweater, sighing in content into his warm embrace. Winter was cold, but you had Minho to stay warm with.

So, when you feel a hand slide up your shoulder to the side of your chin, gently pushing to make you face him, you already know what’s going to happen.

“Hey.”

“Hey there,” You chortle, leaning into his warm, so warm hand as you turn your head to brush your lips against his palm. When you look back into his eyes, you feel like you’re being pulled closer and closer to gaze into all the stars in his eyes. Momentarily, you tense up when he plays with the hem of your shirt. You feel your skin burn with passion and love as you bring a hand to gently rake through his soft, black hair.

He lets out a soft sigh in return — almost a purr — as he rests his hand just under the fabric, rubbing gentle circles into your skin. From here you can focus on him clearly — his shiny, silky locks of hair that fall over his forehead and the way his top lip engulfs the bottom one when he bites his lip, and the way his heavily lidded eyes peer into you through the dim lighting.

Lee Minho’s lips feel soft — soft when you run your thumb across them, soft when he presses little kisses to your forehead or your cheeks, or the back of your neck when you’re distracted, or like right now — soft when he gently takes hold of your chin and presses his lips to yours.

You’ve also learned over the years that he’s just like his cats — whenever you pet his head, whenever he leans his head against your stomach and gently rubs as a sign for you to lead your hand to his hair. It’s so, so cute that all it can take for a totally bad day for him to go opposite is being in your arms with you petting his head, occasionally pecking his forehead and murmuring a little “I love you,” or “You’re so cute.”

For the same reason, when you gently scratch at his scalp amid the kiss, Minho parts from you for a second, barely out of breath because of how gentle the kiss is. It isn’t fueled by need or want or desire — just the wish to be with each other. “You’re so beautiful,” He whispers before leaning into your chest, pushing you down onto the couch with him on top.

You sigh and grab the edges of his oversized sweater, letting yourself be wrapped in his embrace. Just like a cat, once again, he nuzzles into your chest, heaving a sigh as he guides his hand to your head.

“You’re more beautiful.” You coo, letting a hearty laugh slip as you card your fingers through his hair, brushing away any stray locks that may threaten to get into his eyes. It may all seem to quiet, but this has always been how date nights ended. 

With Minho and you smiling in each other’s arms, in each other’s embrace, completely forgetting about everything else. Just like how you’ve totally forgotten about the movie right now — but you can’t blame yourself, not when Minho kisses you in a way that seems endearingly relaxing, yet passionate enough to steal your breath away.

He’s warm, warm in every place you run your hands on, and he’s warming your heart. It's Lee Minho’s effect, you could say, though you know he’s just as affected, just as soft for you right now. He snuggles into your chest once again, sighing as he feels lulled into a deep slumber.

“What about the movie?” You ask, though there’s little interest in your tone. Which shows that you clearly have no interest to finish the movie, not when you’re in this position currently. You gently slip your hands into his shirt, resting it against his bare back and chuckling when he tenses up, only to sigh and place a tiny kiss to your collarbone. You’ve gotten your reply to that question.

The dim lighting doesn’t highlight his appearance much, but you don’t need that to know that he’s absolutely gorgeous. You almost melt at the whine that leaves his throat, and then you realise that your hand’s resting still in his hair. You giggled, shaking your head before gently combing through his hair.

He lifts his head slightly — he looks sleepy and cozier than ever — before fitting it in the gap between your shoulder and your neck, then proceeding to leave soft kisses all over your shoulder. By this time, a comfortable feeling has spread from your chest to your fingertips and the tips of your toes, almost pulling you into the depths of sleep. 

Before that can happen, however, Minho nuzzles the curve of your neck, just where you’re the most ticklish.

A squeal leaves your lips which soon morphs into a steady, low giggle, now that Minho’s ardent on making you laugh by kissing right over the same spot ever-so-lightly. “M’ ticklish there, stop!” You burst into fits of laughter, filled with nothing but pure love for the man in front of you, in your arms right now.

“Mm, but you’re so soft...” Minho purrs, this time. His voice is muffled from how invested he is in making you laugh until your stomach and lips start hurting — he was always like that. Always finding ways to make you laugh, make you happy and forget about anything even borderline negative, your happiness mattered to him as much as his own, if not more.

“Minhoooo!” You pull him away from where he’s grown comfortable between your neck and shoulder, making him face you as you gently kissed the tip of his nose. 

“What?” He asks, frowning and giving you the most adorable pout you’ve ever seen.

“You’re such a big goof.” You comment lovingly, and he doesn’t reply, opting to lean in and kiss each of your eyelids softly, then your cheeks, then the tip of your nose, and back to rest on your lips. You cup his own cheeks gently, his skin feels smoother than velvet under your palms, only coaxing you to rub your thumbs over his cheekbones. You’re all but drowning, drowning — drowning in his kisses, in his love, in his hold — and you’re taking him with you.

When he pulls away again, you gasp this time, feeling short of breath even though the kiss was equally as gentle as the last one. Minho simply rests his forehead against yours. “I love you.” He says so naturally, it feel so... real. With no hesitation, no pre-thought, just a vocalization of every feeling that you’ve made him feel, all poured into those three days.

You look into his eyes, fluttering them close as you nuzzle your noses together. “You know I love you too.” Minho only nods, leaning in to press his cheek against your chest again. “Pet.” He orders, making you roll your eyes playfully as you pet him once again. He feels every inch of tension relieve of his shoulders when your fingers brush against the back of his ear.

You can’t really deny his order either, because being pressed under Minho’s warmth only seems to bring you to the edge of sleep, to the point where you don’t realise when the movie had ended and when complete silence took over, spare for the sounds of Minho’s calm breathing, along with yours.

“Sleep well, dear.” You kiss his hair lightly, inhaling the citrus scent of his shampoo as you’re pulled into a deeper state of slumber.

*sighs*

↯ note; 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️ please ignore me as i pray to all the gods out there that the tags should work this time ;-; 🕯️ oh tumblr gods if you’re hearing this plea, please please please let the tags work I beg of you ;-; 🕯️ thank you for attending my ted talk 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️ — dawn.☀️

[matthewtkachuk]

feel something pt 5 - jj maybank

On the outside, you’re a kook princess with a seemingly perfect life and a perfect family. The expectations are suffocating you, to the point where the only thing you feel is numb. You’re chasing different coping mechanisms in order to feel something. Until a chance encounter with a certain blond pogue you know you’re supposed to hate gives rise to a different kind of feeling.

Warnings: angst, toxic behaviour, poor coping mechanisms, drug usage, mentions of sex, mentions of suicidal ideations (brief), Rafe being a grade a asshole, shitty parents, abuse

Pairings: JJ x reader (eventually), Rafe x reader (slight)

Words: 3.9k

A/N: I have finally delivered more than three lines of JJ content, yall are welcome. Also a little baby bit of angst, but that’s the name of my fic game. I just love Chick sm, protect my small bean 2k20. 

series masterlist

(gif NOT mine - if its urs pls let me know so i can credit!!! found on the google)

You don’t know how Chick knows, but she does.

That night, she crawls into bed with you, desperately seeking your comfort as her worldview crumbles around her. You can relate, you were about her age the first time you realized that most kid’s parents don’t scream at them like they’re the scum of the earth. The major difference being you were the oldest and you didn’t have anyone to comfort you. With that thought in mind, you make a promise to yourself that you will never let Chick feel a quarter of the shit you went through.

You let her curl into you, arms clutching you tightly, head tucked into your shoulder. One hand of yours smooths her hair, the other holding her just as closely. “Sister day tomorrow?” you ask her quietly. Her only response is a slight nodding of her head against your neck, so you ask, “what do you want to do? The whole day is your choice.”

“Surfing and gumbo.” She mumbles and you can’t help but smile. If your baby sister is one thing, it’s predictable.

“Sure thing bub. Bright and early tomorrow,” you warn her, left hand fumbling to grab your phone from under your pillow before setting an alarm for six am.

She’s out like a light, no response to you. You close your eyes tightly, heart breaking for your little sister. You have trouble sleeping that night, every shifting movement and slight sigh that escaped Chick had you on high alert. Add on to that the guilt of the prior night, the warmth you felt when you thought of having Sarah back and the confusion of what was going on between you and JJ… you didn’t sleep for longer than half an hour at a time.

Six am came early that next morning, predictably right when you thought you might finally be falling asleep. Despite your exhaustion, you were looking forward to spending some quality time with your baby sister. You changed quickly in the dark, letting Chick sleep in an extra ten minutes as you flicked through your bathing suits looking for a bikini top that was a little more secure to withstand some choice waves if you caught any.

“Rise and shine, Chick!” You cheerfully shouted, flicking on the light. She groaned and raised the comforter over head, but you laughed and tore it right off the bed. “C’mon you’re the one who wanted to go surfing and you know the morning is the best.”

She grumbled a bit, but quickly darted to her bedroom to change. You met her in the hallway, smiling to yourself when you spotted her wearing the pink and blue rashguard you had gotten her for her birthday. “Alright, let’s go!” you cheered and raced her down the steps, quickly grabbing your keys from the little bowl that sat on the console table in the entranceway.

“And where are the two of you going?” Your mother sat on the front porch swing, sipping on a large cup of what you assumed to be coffee, raising a single eyebrow at your bikini and jean short combo.

“Sister day,” Chick replied before you could, “Surfing and gumbo.”

Your mothers harsh gaze softened upon gazing at her youngest daughter, smiling before waving the both of you off, telling you to have fun. You grinned at Chick and hopped into your jeep, handing her your phone to queue up a spotify playlist. The two of you goofed off and giggled the whole way to the beach, almost as if the events of the past week hadn’t happened at all.

Upon arriving at the beach, you hopped out of the driver seat and quickly took down your boards from the roof rack, handing Chick hers before setting off onto the beach. You had chosen to drive into pogue territory both for the convenience of hitting up the Wreck after and to avoid a certain kook who had made a certain confession. Plus, it was nice to be judged based on your surfing ability (or lack thereof) rather than how expensive your surfboard was.

Entering the water always felt like coming home. From the first toe dip until you were waist-deep in the ocean, it was like your entire body came alive. There was no feeling like it, when you were a kid your dad had joked that you were a mermaid. You used to spend all day in the water, coming out all pruny and honestly slightly dehydrated, but so, so happy. You and Chick paddled side by side into deeper water, and you sat up on your board to let Chick take the first crack at it. You can’t help but giggle when she wipes out approximately five seconds after popping up. She sputters and throws you an offended glance as she resurfaces.

“Let’s see you do better then,” she yelled at you with as much sass as she could muster so early in the morning.

You grinned at her, eyes watching the rolling water waiting for an appropriate wave. Finally spotting one, you started paddling to try and catch the wave before it breaks. Hopping up on your board by pushing your body up and tucking your feet under you, you stood on your board knees bent and arms relaxed, with your torso leaned forward to help balance. You couldn’t help showing off for Chick; angling your board across the wave, you leant into the turn before shifting your body weight to your front foot, letting your board slide down the face of the wave in a tail slide. You heard Chick whoop, cheering you on, causing your grin to widen.

Returning to her, you both floated on your board side by side for a few minutes, watching the waves crest and break. “Alright little Chick, your turn again, unless you want to ride the white water, I won’t judge.” She gave you a look and you just grinned at her again.

She started paddling towards a smaller wave than the one you rode, and you couldn’t help but cheer when she managed to stand on her board and ride the wave straight in. You hooted and hollered with no care in the world, celebrating your baby sister not eating shit. She was laughing on the shore line as you paddled back towards the shore to meet her.

“Not bad tail spin, y/l/n” you looked up to see JJ Maybank staring at you.

“Oh! Uhm, thank you,” you mumbled, suddenly self-conscious as his gaze traced your body.

“That was a pretty bad wipeout earlier, pretty brave of you to ride that wave after that Little y/l/n” he complimented Chick. At least, you think it was a compliment, it was a little back-handed after all.

Chick being Chick just grinned and said thanks.

“Are you goofy foot naturally, or do you just do it because y/n does?” he asked her seriously.

She looked at him in confusion, “Goofy foot?”

“He means which foot you put forward. I lead with my left,” you explained. A look that was suspiciously close to shock briefly flashed on his face, before he recovered and grinned.

“I don’t know, I guess I just copied y/n,” she admitted, face reddening a little.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Little y/l/n, but why don’t you try putting your right foot forward instead and see if that’s more of a natural stance for you.” He advised her. She looked to you, and you just smiled and shrugged at her.

“Alright, watch this you guys!” She shouted and headed back into the water.

You sat down on your towel, watching Chick take JJ’s corrections seriously as she chased a few waves. “Thank you,” you said a little reluctantly to the blond sitting next to you, his eyes trained on your sister.

He broke his gaze to turn his head to you, “’Course, gotta unteach her your bad habits.” You gasped and shoved him playfully. “Just kidding, your technique is basically perfect.”

It was your turn to turn a little red. You weren’t used to compliments without any ulterior motives. “Thanks, but it’s not that good.”

“What are you talking about? You’re amazing out there.” He complimented you again, causing your cheeks to get redder.

“Oh, look at Chick she’s going for that wave,” You pointed out at your sister, hoping to deflect some attention to her.

“She’s a quick learner,” he commented. You smiled, more than a little proud of your sister.

“She gets that from me,” you bragged, and he laughed, throwing his head back. Your mind briefly wondered what it would be like to run your fingers through his wavy hair before you snapped out of it. “You know, I think this is the longest you’ve gone without calling me princess.”

“I could call you princess if you want, princess,” he smirked at you, but you shook your head quickly.

“Y/n is just fine,” you told him as Chick came running at the two of you.

“Did you see that?” She yelled, “that was awesome!” She stuck her board in the sand before launching herself at you. You laughed, catching her on your lap, listening patiently as she babbled on about how amazing that felt. JJ found himself watching you, thinking this was the most expression he had seen you show, with the exception of your high freak out which he tried not to think about in all honesty. Chick seemed to remember JJ was there, turning to him and thanking him profusely before inviting him to the Wreck with the two of you, “We’re going to get gumbo next, you should come with!”

You sputtered, sure that JJ had better things to do than hang out with you and your little sister, “Oh, I’m sure JJ has other pl-“ you started to tell her but he quickly cut you off.

“Nah, I’ve got no where to be, count me in.” He told Chick, smirking at you causing you to roll your eyes slightly.

“Alright alright,” you sighed before pushing Chick off of you, “dry off a bit first I don’t want you dripping all over my seats.”

JJ had no problem sliding into your backseat, sitting in the middle and leaning forward so that his upper body rested against the center console. You found his closeness a little distracting but you would never admit that, so instead you snapped at him and told him to “put on his seatbelt or you would slam on the breaks so hard he would go through the windshield”. He had grinned like he knew the real reason you wanted him to sit back, which only served to irritate you.

You couldn’t help but think what your parents would say if they knew a pogue was sitting in the back seat of the car they bought you. The more you thought about it, you realized you didn’t really care what they thought. JJ had been kind to Chick and you were just returning the favor. That’s it.

“So what is Chick short for?” JJ asks through a mouthful of french fries, several minutes later sitting across from you and your sister at the Wreck.

“Chicken nugget,” you answer gleefully, stealing a fry. You laugh at JJ’s wide eyes, practically seeing the thought bubble over his head as he considers the stupidity of kook names. 

Chick laughs, throwing a fry at you, before responding to JJ, “No it’s not. It’s not short for anything, and it’s not actually my name”

“I came up with it,” you tell him proudly, “Our parents wanted me to be a part of the name decision and let’s just say I was a really creative four year old.”

JJ laughs loudly at that, tipping his chair back on the back two legs. You’re about to tell him off, when Kiara appears out of nowhere to shove his chair back into a regular position. She looks a little confused at seeing JJ hanging out with you and your sister, but she doesn’t look shocked. “I told you not to do that, JJ. It scuffs the floors,” she huffs impatiently at him, before turning to the other side of the table where you sat by chick.

Before she could say anything, you realized this was probably your best opportunity to try and mend the fence you had smashed through with Sarah. “Hey Kie, do you think we could talk?” You asked her timidly. For a second you were afraid she was going to tell you to fuck off, but her eyes flickered towards Chick and she must have thought swearing in front of a thirteen year old wasn’t a good look.

“What about Chick?” Was all she asked, causing you to pull your bottom lip between your teeth as you looked at JJ. The corner of his mouth upturned a little as he shrugged and said he could handle your sister for a few minutes. She threw a French fry at him for that and shooed you and Kie off.

Kie didn’t bother taking off her apron, leading you out to the back alley before turning to you sharply, “You wanted to talk? So talk.”

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry. For how I’ve acted this week and… how I acted before. I’m so sorry that I just followed Sarah instead of trying to stick up for you. It’s just she’s been my best friend since birth and I was scared to lose her, which is really stupid because I ended up losing her anyway-“

“It was really shitty of you,” Kie admitted, looking you in the eye, “I thought we were friends and you dropped me like I was last year’s Gucci or something.”

“I know, and you don’t know how badly I’ve regretted not sticking up for you. You were just like such a good person and such a good friend and I really did you wrong,” you think she’s starting to break a little, her eyes have softened and she’s almost got a smile on her face. “Seriously, Kie, I’m so so sorry –“

Kie cut off your rambling by throwing her arms around you, surprising you completely. “I really missed you.” She pulled back to look at you in the eyes, “but if you ever do me like that again I won’t be so forgiving next time.” You laugh and hug her back tightly, promising her you won’t hurt her again.

“About that stuff you said about your parents…” she awkwardly trails off, but you just shrug a shoulder at her as if to say ‘what are you gonna do’. “Just, I’m sorry and I hope you know you can always come to me if it gets bad like that again.”

“I will,” you promise, before linking arms with her and leading her back to the table where surprisingly JJ hasn’t done anything too stupid in Chick’s presence. The four of you split the French fries on the table, laughing the afternoon away and it all feels… so normal. The empty feeling in your chest is replaced with a feeling of warmth spreading through your bones.

You’re sitting around a fire with the pogues as a boneyard party rages on around you. Despite their initial misgivings about the Kook Princess, and your initial underlying resentment towards them for being good enough for Sarah when you weren’t, they’re nice to you. Welcoming, even. You wouldn’t call it friendship, despite hashing it out with Sarah and Kie, you’re not naïve enough to think a few conversations make you one of them. But the lack of the term princess being spoken aloud is a start.

As you tip your head back and empty the last few drops of your red solo cup, you see Sarah’s eyes flicker to you. She thinks she’s being subtle, but you’ve never known any Cameron, even one with pogue instincts, to be subtle. Sarah is more bull in the china shop than discrete. You know she hasn’t really been drinking tonight, nursing the same cup for over half an hour at this point. You feel a little bad that she’s not enjoying all that a boneyard party has to offer, but there’s another feeling in your chest that you can only describe as “the warm and fuzzies”. Knowing that Sarah is going to do anything she can to show you that she still cares about you is touching.

“I’m gonna go grab a refill, does anyone want?” You offer the group.

“Do you want anyone to go with you?” Sarah asks, she figures she can’t offer to go with you or you might notice her still full cup. You watch her not so subtly look in JJ’s direction, but he’s got his eyes cast out towards the sea, watching the waves crash onto the shore.

“I’ll be fine, Sarah. The keg is just right there,” you point with your now empty cup. “I’ll be right back.”

Carefully navigating the Boneyard is a little difficult in your current state of inebriation, but you reach the keg just fine without any major issues. The major issue shows up just when you’ve finished filling your cup from the keg and stop to take a long sip.

“Really, y/n? A pogue? A fucking pogue?” Rafe Cameron spits at you and glares, “You chose a dirty pogue over me?”

Rolling your eyes, you reply, “What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t choose anyone?”

“Oh really? Because I saw you y/n. I saw you with him.” He accuses.

“What are you talking about?” You repeat, your annoyance growing with every word that leaves his mouth.

“JJ fucking Maybank. I saw you having lunch with him and Chick.” He all but growls. Oh. That’s what he’s fucking mad about?

“Are you fucking kidding me?” You laugh humourlessly, “I bought him fucking French fries because Chick invited him to lunch after he taught her a few tricks on his surf board. Not that it matters, what I do or don’t do and who I do it with doesn’t fucking concern you!”

He pauses thoughtfully, obviously enjoying the thought that it wasn’t a date, but he can’t stop thinking about the way you were looking at JJ. The way he thought you would look at him. “I thought we had something.” He admits quietly.

“Had something?” You ask incredulously, “What the fuck Rafe, all we had was you giving me fucking cocaine and fucking me a couple of times.” You think you see a flash of guilt, but regular Rafe is back in a second.

“Right, when you let me fuck you the day after you let Topper have you, like the little slut you are.” He answers darkly. Your mouth opens in indignation. Rafe is the fucking worst. His moods are giving you whiplash, yesterday he’s telling you that he cares about you and today he’s calling you a slut? So, yeah fucking your way around Figure Eight – not your proudest moment, but you were fucking spiraling. And you know Rafe isn’t innocent, more hookups than he can probably remember. Fucking hypocrite.

You’re on him in a second, perfectly manicured nail pressed right against his chest as you yell back, “Fuck off Rafe, you have no right to say anything to me, you don’t own me!” You almost can’t control your anger, you’re practically vibrating with it.

“He can’t give you shit, you know that right?” He raises a lone eyebrow at you, taunting you with his smirk.

“I don’t want anything from you or anyone else, got it? Leave me the fuck alone.” You spin on your heel, but he grabs your wrist as you turn to go, and you audibly gasp and wince. He lets go of you immediately, before gently cradling your wrist in his large hand. His face turns red as he takes in the hand sized bruise forming around it, and you can practically feel the anger rolling off him in waves. Rafe’s moods are giving you whiplash – angry to gentle and almost caring and back to angry again.

“Did he do this?” He asks you slowly, dangerously. You resist the urge to snap your wrist back, knowing it will only bring you more pain. You look up at him, confused, so he clarifies, “Did that fucking pogue put his hands on you?” You’re stunned, JJ would never put his hands on you, in anger or otherwise. He’s just being nice to you because he can relate to your struggles with your shitty parents.

“What? No Rafe, calm down JJ didn’t touch me.” You reply, but it’s like he doesn’t hear you.

“I’ll fucking kill him, I swear to God. He put his fucking hands on you?” He lets go of your wrist in order to pull the snapback off his head and run his other hand through his hair.

“JJ. Didn’t. Touch me.” You repeat, slowly and clearly as if you can push the words into his thick, dumb skull. He opens his mouth to retaliate, but you keep going. “The only one who has ever put his hands on me in anger is you Rafe.” You wave your hand over your shoulders that he gripped so tightly they had bruised days ago. His face falls, and he reaches a hand out to you, but you shake your head. “Leave me and my friends alone.”

Maybe friends wasn’t the right word to use, but it rolled off the tongue a lot easier than ‘Sarah, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s friends including your old best friend and the guy he’s jealous of for no reason’. No reason because there’s absolutely nothing going on between you and JJ (although maybe you want it to) and even if there was, it doesn’t have anything to do with Rafe.

You’re holding your wrist to your chest subconsciously as you return to the pogues. Pope notices first, his high level of intelligence also lends itself toward being very observant. He elbows JJ hard, the blond turning his head to give his friend a look that practically screams ‘knock it off’. Pope does it again, before gesturing to you with his eyes.

“What happened?” Sarah asked before anyone else could.

“Nothing, I just had a little run in with your brother,” you murmur, shaking off the pain in your wrist as if to prove that you’re fine.

“What?” JJ asked, quickly standing up but you pushed him back down into a sitting position, wincing at the dull ache that resulted in your wrist.

“I’m fine,” you rolled your eyes, not really sure where this dynamic had come from, “he’s just… persistent.” JJ grumbles something about kicking Rafe’s ass, but you’re pretty sure that’s the default setting for JJ’s thoughts on Rafe.

“He’s a dick,” Pope stated matter of factly. You tapped your red solo cup to his in a cheers motion.

“You won’t hear me disagreeing.”

The rest of the night, you sit there with the pogues mind mulling over a million thoughts at once. Occasionally they try to bring you into the conversation, but you just briefly answer before settling back into your thoughts. You can’t stop thinking about the words your father called you or the feel of his hand striking your face. You also can’t stop thinking about Rafe and his moods and his possessiveness. After his confession, things make a little more sense but you still feel like you’ve got whiplash. Lastly, you think about JJ and how quickly he hopped up off the log to go defend your honour or protect you or whatever. Looking out at the dark horizon, you’re just really, really confused.

You don’t realize that JJ is thinking about you too, watching the way the flame of the fire danced across your face, contemplating the feelings he feels growing towards you.

[dovveling]

Why must you keep giving me opportunities to spam your ask box 😔

❣️ When did your OC first realise they were in love? How did they react to the realisation?

💍 Which one of them would propose? How would it happen? (or write if you feel like it!)

💋 Who is the best kisser? (if you’d like write a short smooch scene!)

BESTIE THANK YOU FOR ENABLING ME I'VE BEEN WANTING TO WRITE A WEDDING SCENE--

❣️ When did your OC first realize they were in love? How did they react to the realization?

- Unfortunately, it was love at first sight-- Even if Iolas would rather drop dead than admit this. He probably saw the incredibly ostentatious portrait of Lucio in his wing and was taken aback by how attracted he was to this man who was supposedly dead. It only got worse after Lucio got attached to Iolas through the ghost binding within canon-- Iolas the whole time thinks Lucio's romantic advances are just for fun and doesn't expect Lucio to love him at all. All the While he's completely in love with Lucio. (even if he acts like a rude little shit to him 50% of the time) It isn't until Lucio asks him to go traveling in the upright ending that's when Iolas realizes that Lucio is serious about him and even if it scares the shit out of him he can't help but believe him. The events of everything come crashing onto him and he realizes that He's 100% in love and cannot escape it.

💍 Which one of them would propose? How would it happen? (or write if you feel like it!)

(THANK YOU-- I will put this under a read more because the next two answers will be LONg but look under if you wanna see two idiots fall in love)

The sun hung low in the sky as Lucio makes his way to the palace gardens. He has asked Iolas to meet him out by their favorite spot in the garden maze. the blonde smiles remembering how the two of them had found the hidden spot while goofing around and shoving each other into the hedges. It wasn't until one hard push sent Lucio through the hedge and where he expected to land on his ass but he found himself on the other side of a portal with Iolas calling for him from the other side. After Lucio had ushered the other man through the portal the two looked over a hidden meadow that seemed to be somewhere close to the center of the maze.

Lucio could picture it perfectly; the stark white gazebo in the center, the perfect sun rays that sprinkled the fluffy grass, and the willow tree with its small leaves that dripped and trickled. He loved when the wind would blow and the tendrils of the willow would tickle up the wooden beams of the gazebo and scare Iolas into laughter every time the leaves would brush against his lover.

As Lucio draws closer to the portal before he stops and stares at the ring he had spent hours picking out. He had never fussed so much over a gift for someone. He never had to worry about gift-giving, because anything he picked out was glamorous and simply perfect. this however wasn't just a gift. It was a question. It was a statement and soon as he would think he was close to picking he would look and see a flaw and wonder if Iolas could see it and if he did then he'd never get to hear the answer he so desperately wants to hear to the question He'd rather not be asking.

So many times Lucio doubled back on himself about the personal. Is this just too much? could he see himself getting married when his last marriage was such a failure? Then He would hear it. Iolas' laugh and the sunlight hitting his lover's coffee skin and every reservation burned away and was replaced with a deep desire to make this person his and only his.

Lucio steels himself as he pockets the ring, almost dropping the bottle of champagne he forgets he was holding. As he pushes through the portal the blonde's heart skips a little at the sight of his lover resting on the side of the white gazebo, wearing a white robe that Lucio had gotten commissioned to match his iconic white suit. His lover seems to be lost in thought, their crimson eyes gazing over the tree line until Lucio steps closer and knocks on the wood with a playful tune. His wolfish smile triggering a similar one on his lover's face.

"Hi, my Darling--" Iolas starts before pulling Lucio over by his collar to meet his lips. With a giggle, Iolas watches Lucio hop over the median of the gazebo instead of using the very close opening that's just a little be over to the side of them. Lucio tries to steady his face. He doesn't want to come off too excited or nervous. He needs to play it cool so Iolas doesn't suspect anything, but it's too late Iolas gives him a curious look. "What are you planning? I know that look."

Lucio however holds his hands up after he places the bottle of champagne down on the railing in front of them. "Why do I always have to be up to something huh? Can't a man just meet his lover in a secret hole in the woods for some late-night drinking and maybe some late-night macking?" the blonde throws the magician a wink, which is met with a playful smack that Lucio is too found of.

"Did you bring glasses, Oh Count of Macking?" Iolas teases with a click of his tongue and to that Lucio's face freezes for a second because he did not think about the glass part of drinking, but his shock lasts for a split second before he nudges his lover with an elbow and a cheeky grin. "Can't you just magic something up for us--" Before Lucio can even finish Iolas throws his head back, his whole body shakes with a genuine laugh, one that Lucio only sees when Iolas reacts to his particular stupidity. "Absolutely not. I cannot manifest glassware, but fret not Lulu I prepared for this." The silver-haired man stands on the railing of the gazebo and reaches up behind one of the posts and brings down two champagne glasses. Lucio helps the shorter man down before taking both glasses and leaning down to give his lover a short kiss on the head.

Snickering to himself Lucio places the glasses down and pops open the champagne. "See? Who needs magic when you have a lover who has the spirit of a squirrel. Why are those even up there?" Iolas can't seem to hold back his laugher and starts into a long dialogue about how the last party they hosted he was tasked with disposing of all the drinks Lucio downed after getting into a drinking match with Julian and at some point, he got too fed up hauling all the empty glass wear to and fro so he eventually gave up and used the portal which was much closer than the garbage. Soon as he finishes that story Lucio makes note that not only does he not remember this drinking contest at all, but he also notices that the whole upper layer of the Gazebo is littered with small drinking glasses of all shapes and sizes.

This brings the two of them to a comfortable speed of talking, to which Lucio adds more flavor by introducing the drinks. The sun finally settles and the garden lights are now on and thanks to all the glass wear in the gazebo there are small reflected lights scattered within their own space. Slowly the stories of their day dwindle and eventually, they huddle close to each other so they can look under the top of their gazebo and point out stars. Lucio watches the small warm lights bounce off his lover's face and his heart races. He can't chicken out now.

"Iolas." Lucio stops the silver-haired man mid-sentence as the other was just going on about his zodiac sign and how it will be visible in the sky until he hears his name.

Iolas pauses fully, not use to hearing his full name exit his lover's lips unless it was during a more intimate and scandalous situation. So he hides his hesitation with a smile and he answers the blonde with the same tone he just used but extracted with a deeper tone to lighten the mood. "Lucio." The count starts to fidget but just laughs when Iolas mocks his serious tone. "No really, uh... Listen for a second." Iolas' face now turns from curious to worried. " Uh oh. that's a real serious tone. What did you do?" Lucio brushes him off, biting his lip and rubs the back of his neck. He feels so lame doing this, but that's the point.

Lucio stands up straight taking Iolas' hands, looking directly into those red eyes. Something in him wants to run away, but the ring sits heavy in his pocket and he opens his mouth only to close it so he can bring Iolas' cold fingers to his lips. Iolas' however is completely taken aback. His lover has been romantic before but he was much more used to their back a forths of one-upping each other and superficial hyping each other up coupled with nightly flings where he ended up in the blonde's bed. So this sudden tenderness was jarring.

The magician could feel that dark feeling creep to his shoulders that say he shouldn't get his hopes up, that he's happy filling the count's time till he finds a real suitor. Even if Lucio was a temporary General at the palace was still a completely different status then Iolas and Royals don't have court magician as suitors. So he was happy to bid his time with Lucio because even with the teasing and snarky remarks that sometimes hurt Iolas' loved the other man's company, but love doesn't change status. Love doesn't guarantee a happy ending. He knew this from experience and learned his lesson the hard way.

So It was the last thing Iolas' expected when the taller man pulls out the biggest ring the magician has ever seen and gets down on one knee. Iolas' first thought is that he wants to shake his head so he can wake up. Then when air fills his lungs he realizes he is awake and this is happening. More than happening he's been silent for too long but all he can hear is the stinging sound of his fears buzzing in his head. The buzz is deafening and He can see that Lucio is speaking but he can't hear him.

You will just disappoint him. Iolas' thoughts curse. Better yet he'll disappoint you somehow. A shaky breath leaves him and all he can do is blink and look at Lucio with watery eyes. "I-- I'm sorry please can you say that again." Iolas stops and closes his eyes just so he doesn't have to look at the ring that's almost blinding with its meaning.

Lucio's normal wolfish grin falters but only returns once he hears Iolas speak. "I said. We should get hitched, ya know?" Lucio sputters, shit. "Look. Like I was saying we're surrounded by losers, Pet. Who else am I gonna get to match me other than you huh? come on, look at me. Then look at you! we're perfect for each other.. ya know?" Lucio now looks nervous as he speaks. Unable to keep eye contact. ...and.. I love your laugh."

This seems to pull Iolas' from his fears a little even enough to get him to let out a weak laugh. "What? what does that have to do with anything?" Lucio pouts and glares at his lover just a tiny bit. "I love your laugh! and I don't want anyone else to have it. I deserve it, I get you to do it most and I think you owe me. So like.." Lucio ushers Iolas' to the ring, his legs are starting to buckle. "I wouldn't admit this to anyone else but my knees aren't what they use to be so can we--" Iolas stops him with a curt turn, his shoulders shaking.

The blonde stands suddenly, his whole body rigid. This was it. the rejection he warned himself about. He's ruined everything, his heart screams to go back. Iolas is probably laughing at the proposal and Lucio's tacky way of offering himself. It isn't until the sound of a stuffy nose echo through the silent night that Lucio realizes his lover is crying and instantly he steps forward a different kind of fear gripping his heart. " W-wait-- wait, why are you crying? You never cry--" He falters and fidgets his hands around his lover unsure if he wants to be held or not.

Iolas turns finally, his red puffy eyes are turned down in a grimace as they glisten in the dim light. "Yeah, you idiot I never cry and look at what you made me do." His tone is harsh but it's followed by a sad shake that ruins any intention of anger. "Lucio I... I don't know how to do this." Lucio's heart slows but he's thrown for a loop and Iolas can sense his confusion and clears his throat as he wipes his leaking eyes. "No one has ever, wanted me like this before. I don't know if I can-- How do you know you want this? What if I disappoint you? What if you get tired of me and regret ever meeting me? At least if we keep things like before you can just get rid of me if I'm too much and I won't have to--" Lucio stops Iolas this time as he brings his lover close by pulling on his crossed arms.

"You won't have to worry about falling in love?" The blonde answers with his own sense of sadness, his eyes looking down at their feet before meeting with Iolas' who only nods in response. Lucio is a bit thankful that his lover didn't outright say no and is at least contemplating the idea of things. "No I had the same thoughts and honestly I don't know how I'm sure. I just... am." Lucio's normal bravado comes back now that he feels more secure in the conversation. "I know that I love seeing you every day. I know that I love sleeping with you every night. I know that I don't want anyone else to hold you the way I hold you and I know that you feel the same way about me." At that the blonde swallows hoping he isn't wrong. "But mostly I know I don't ever want you to leave. If you were to leave, do you know how fucking boring this place would be? I would set the parlor on fire within minutes of you being gone." The cheeky grin is back and Iolas snorts at the idea and manages a smile as he is now fully embraced by his lover.

Lucio rests his head on the shorter man's head and hums, kissing the top of it. Slowly he pulls Iolas back so he can look down at him. "But it's not just about what I want... you kinda need to want those things too." Now it's Iolas turn to nervously look away and slowly as the shorter man's courage builds he tights his grip in Lucio's jacket and more tears fall down his face as the realization comes crashing onto him that he'd do absolutely anything to be with the man in front of him forever. Before He can answer he shoves his face into Lucio's jacket rubbing his head back and forth on the soft fabric. "You moron-- Of course I want all that."

The blonde can't resist the urge to tease the other man however and laughs to himself. "I'm sorry, could you say that again I couldn't hear you from inside my jacket." Iolas hits the taller man's chest with a laugh before he goes to wipe his damp eyes yet again. "You know for a fact that I said YES-- urgh, gods look at what you did to my make searing the hell am I going to fix this now--" Iolas' whining is stopped short by his lover picking him up in a searing kiss that continues as the blonde twirls them both. With a firm grip on Iolas' was it Lucio Looks up at the magician with a smile that could blind the gods. "I wanna hear you say it." Iolas rolls his eyes, a large pout crosses the silver-haired man's lips as he kicks his legs from his newfound lifted position.

"I have zero ideas what you're talking about--" Iolas protests but Lucio shakes his head. "Say it or you are never leaving this gazebo." Iolas is about to rebuttal but the look in Lucio's eyes is that yes he is serious. Iolas' expression softens, even if it's despite himself. "Of course I'll marry you, LuLu." Lucio bounces in his spot and spins the both of them once again but this time continues to spin around the whole gazebo till Iolas can't help but laugh and struggle against the crazy man holding him. "Stop-- Lulu Stop we're gonna--" but it's too late. Lucio's legs trip over themselves and with zero grace they both tumble onto the hardwood floor.

Iolas rolls onto his back and groans, dizzy and sore his eyes dart over to the man beside him who is just as dazed. slowly Iolas entwines their hands with a smile and Lucio is about to kiss his lover's fingers before he remembers the ring. The blonde springs forward, getting up like the fall meant absolutely nothing but Iolas takes his time sitting up as his lover fumbles to find the ring he dropped.

Soon as it's found Lucio slides over, the scraping sound of the fabric of the taller man's pants on the hardwood makes the magician giggle. Iolas has to give the other man sheer points for his enthusiasm. Pompously Iolas sticks his left hand out, to which Lucio plays along and kisses the other man's ring finger dramatically before slipping the large ring onto Iolas' hand.

Carefully Iolas' holds his hand out to the light and observes the sheer size of the ring and can't help but grin. Lucio practically radiates waves of anticipation on his lover's thoughts "Was this the biggest ring they had?" Iolas wiggles his fingers, acting as if he's unimpressed. Lucio simply feeds back into him. "How dare you." Lucio sneers, pulling Iolas into his lap as he sits, unable to be on his knees any longer. "I had this one custom ordered. Not only is it the biggest ring in stores, but it's also the biggest wedding ring, period." He speaks into the shorter man's neck before he kisses it, The count's tone never faltering while he speaks. This sends Iolas into a giggle fit. He knows for a fact that this ring physically cannot be the biggest but another part of him can see Lucio putting up a fight with store owners about the pitful size of their rings to the point where he just orders them to make him a whole new size.

"Of course, I knew my Lulu would only get me the best. He not capable of anything less." Lucio preens in the praise and Iolas strokes the back of his fingers against his lover's face. For a moment they stay like that, both of them processing what exactly just happened and what this means for their future. Iolas is the first to break the silence with a soft hum as he presses against Lucio's chest. "Thank you... Lucio." the taller man responds by nuzzling his nose into the shorter man's hair with a confused hmm. "I never thought I could do this... but for the first time, I'm not scared." Lucio smiles at that. and squeezes his lover in his arms.

"Good. We can both be fearless together."

💋 Who is the best kisser? (if you’d like write a short smooch scene!)

(I WILL TRY MY BEST TO KEEP THIS SHORT SINCE I JUST WROTE YOU A WHOLE FIC ON ACCIDENT ON MY LAST ONE)

The sound of wood creaking fills the otherwise quiet room as Lucio pushes his lover against the doors of his chambers. Lucio places on hand on the hip of the man under him and huffs a breath through his nose that leads to a soft moan as their lips bump against each other awkwardly for a second. Iolas snickers within the brief pause and pulls Lucio down by his collar. Now controlling their embrace the shorter man pushes the blonde backward and with a searing bite, he slams the count onto the disgustingly huge bed placed in the middle of his room. Breathless Lucio stares up at Iolas his bottom lip red and puffy from the bite, which only makes Lucio's slurry grin look even more dangerously attractive.

Iolas steps in between his lover's spread legs and uses one of his hands to tip the taller man's head back with a grunt. Lucio's hands wander over the man before him, knowing his place he doesn't try to switch their positions. He loves when Iolas gets pushy he knew if anyone could match him in greediness it would be his lover. Iolas however preoccupies himself with tracing his thumb over Lucio's red bottom lip till his nail presses a little too hard and draws just a few drops of blood to the surface of his lover's pale skin.

At the sight of this Iolas captures The count's lips once against and shamelessly sucks on the blood he just conjured. the kiss devolves as Iolas holds Lucio's head still with the grip on his hair and once the magician pulls back Lucio's face flushes at the sight of his blood dripping from his lover's lips. Lucio's voice comes out breathy and needy as he pulls against Iolas' grip on his hair. "Do that again."

[paragon-arthur]

Something I find very fascinating about Arknights is how it approaches the character of Doctor, the main character and functionally, our self-insert. With that said, I’ve been having Thoughts about the Doctor themselves, and how it ties into a few things.

Amongst the Arknights community, the scarcity of Sanity (AK equivalent to the AP of FGO), which is used to run various nodes and farming materials for Operators. Many of the higher tier nodes require huge amounts of sanity, which takes many hours to recuperate. 

It’s led to many quirky and funny interpretations of Zero Sanity Doctor, but my thought goes a bit deeper.

Sanity as a mechanic represents the divide between the Doctor pre- and post-amnesia.

It’s noted many times, especially in the Operational Intelligence event, that the Doctor in the past was cold, ruthless, completely and utterly without regard for the Operators they commanded as well as civilian casualties. Essentially kill several to secure the mission.

This is Doctor before their amnesia. A cold headed machine of war forged by the world and people around them into a tactical acumen. A teacher, made into such an unfeeling machine.

Doctor after their amnesia couldn’t be more different. Numerous times it is shown they have a goofy side, splashing Amiya in the summer event and being a groupie of the band of their choice too.

They also, very clearly, hold school lessons for some of the kid Operators like Ifrit, Projekt Red and anothers. That is them in their original capacity as an educator- they have fun with their students, do their best to fulfill their needs, and seek to make them wiser than they were before.

So this is my theory, and a fun thought: every time the Doctor uses more sanity in battle, uses more and more to command their Operators to victory in almost impossible circumstances... they are closer to falling back into their old self.

Which is why it takes Sanity so much time to restore- it is the Doctor’s mind regenerating from the strain, fixing itself so that it doesn’t break apart again. This is somewhat addressed at the start, with wonder being shown at them retaining their tactical genius despite forgetting almost everything. 

That is the Doctor’s struggle for Sanity. Sanity itself fundamentally represents the Doctor as they were and the Doctor as they are now. 

They goof off, the best reward of their recovery being teaching the kids of Rhodes Island and regaining something of who they were before they became cogs in the warmachine of Terra, and in turn the price for their abilities is losing themselves.

Amiya frays and cracks at times in the story, showing she is just beginning this inner conflict. Thus, it isn’t surprising that the Doctor, her parental figure, suffers from the same issues with one caveat.

They have gone through this before. 

Breaking over and over, time and time again until they weren’t anything but a cog. 

Which is why it’s also so heartwarming to see them at their very best. Goofing off, listening to music, helping kids with homework and being there as best as they could. Bit by bit, just as much as they lose their Sanity for victory, they regain it by becoming their old, idealistic and content selves.

Doctor is pretty freaking good for an insert character, guys. 

[cozykozume]

Growing Pains

Slow Burn Tendou x f!reader

Chapter Three - Meeting the Friends

WC: 1628

OC’s below:

Daiki, Ho-sook, Jules, Sofia - Readers high-school friends

Jazmin - Daichi’s girlfriend

Lysette - Ushijima’s girlfriend

Ayanna - Kuroo's girlfriend

I have tried to keep any identifying information out (body type, skin tone, hair color, etc.) but there may be some instances where it alludes to a curvier y/n.

Thank you so so much to all my beta readers so far, especially @hispipsqueak, @lemonadencran and @anime-nymph​

For the month and a half that you had been at school, you were pretty sure you had spent at least some time with Tendou each day. He would meet you after your late morning classes so you guys could eat lunch together on Mondays, Wednesday’s and Fridays. Tuesday’s you didn’t have morning classes so you two would meet in the café to eat and study, which really meant goofing around and watching random videos together. And on Thursday’s you would be waiting with lunch for him as he had a lab that went into the late afternoon.

Although you two were just friends and nothing more than occasional hand holding had happened between you, everyone on campus associated you two with each other. Most of the time you spent together was on campus and usually during school hours, only occasionally meeting up for school events after classes ended. You knew he had volleyball practice most days, and their season would be starting soon. Which meant the time that you two would get to spend together would be cut down significantly since he would have practices and team meetings throughout the day.

“Hey, so me and some of my friends are going to get together off campus this weekend. I think we’re going to go to the fall festival and then probably we’ll probably hit up one of our favorite bars. Would you want to come with me? You can say no and I would get it and I wouldn’t be mad at all. Actually I’m sure you already have plans so it’s okay you can forg-” Before he could finish his rambling thoughts you started laughing, enjoying the rare sight of Tendou Satori all flustered in front of you.

“I mean, if you want me there, I would love to come. But it almost sounds like you changed your mind in the middle of that.” You said, teasing him as you two walked toward the café for lunch. You looked up at him just in time to see the surprised look on his face along with his burning red cheeks. “No! I didn’t change my mind...I just couldn’t read your face to see what you were thinking.” He trailed off, stepping in front of you to hold the door open. You paused as you were walking through, “Well maybe you should let me answer before you go off trying to read my thoughts like some kind of psychic.” It was then his turn to roll his eyes, his hand stretching across your lower back to gently push you inside. “Yeah yeah yeah. So you’ll come with me?” He questioned, digging around in his pockets for his ID. “Yeah I’ll come...but umm...who all will be there?” You asked, your nerves already bleeding through into your voice. Tendou smiled reassuringly as you guys walked into the café, looking around for a table to claim. “Well I could introduce you to some of them now and then you’ll at least know a few before Saturday?”

You looked at him nervously before tentatively nodding your head in agreement. As you two approached the table, you moved to walk closer to him, bumping into him every few steps. He could sense the nerves radiating off you, causing him to smile and make a mental note. When you were with him, you were always full of jokes and witty comebacks to his absurd remarks. Being around others though, you were the complete opposite. You were quiet, observant, only speaking when spoken to. He thought both sides of you were adorable, but he felt lucky to be able to witness the feistier side of you.

You slowed your pace as you approached the table, standing behind Tendou as he stopped at the table where Ushijima, Kuroo, and Daichi were all sitting along with their girlfriends. You had seen them on campus frequently and hanging with Tendou a lot. But you couldn’t remember a time where you had actually stopped and talked to them. It was usually Tendou leaving them to come over to you and hang out or seeing them in passing.

“Hey guys, this is Y/n. Y/n this is Ushijima, he’s been my best friend since middle school, and I met Daichi and Kuroo during high school volleyball. And these are their girlfriends.” One by one, each of them introduced themselves. You and Tendou sat down at the end of the table, Tendou ushering you to sit next to Kuroo and across from Ushijma’s girlfriend. They went on about their conversation, talking about their plans for this weekend and how excited they were. Kuroo's girlfriend, Ayanna, a pretty girl with long braids smiled and offered you some of her fries. You gratefully accepted and returned her smile before she was turning to Ushijima's girlfriend, Lysette, who sat across from you. She was complaining animatedly about a chem paper she had been working on all night and you smiled weakly, trying to keep up with the conversation happening in front of you. Daichi's girlfriend shot you a comforting look, able to see how nervous you were as you took in the conversation around you. Jazmin, Daichi’s girlfriend, was one year ahead of you whereas Lysette and Ayanna were both freshmen like you. Through the conversations they were having, you learned that they all met one way or another due to high school volleyball.

Although everyone was extremely nice, you still felt somewhat out of place. They had all been friends for years and you were this random person that tagged along with Tendou. “So y/n, you’re coming with us on Saturday, right?” Ayanna asked, leaning forward on her elbows as everyone turned their attention to you. “Oh, yeah. Festival and a bar right?” You responded, your smile slightly faltering as your nerves began to bubble up in your stomach again. You jumped as you felt Tendou’s hand on your knee, squeezing lightly. You stared at him, your face quickly dropping to a deer in headlights as your eyes met his. The longer you looked at him and felt his hand squeezing your knee, the more your nerves seemed to calm, your heart rate slowly returning to normal.

“Well we’re really excited that you’re coming with us! The more the merrier, right?” Kuroo chimed in, everyone nodding and agreeing. “Tendou has never invited a girl to hang out with us so it is very exciting.” Ushijima added, much to Tendou’s embarrassment. “Ushijima Wakatoshi!” His girlfriend yelled, hitting him in the chest while scolding him. He looked down at her, somewhat confused as to what he said that was deemed as offensive but also amused. Daichi slapped him on the back as he stood, chuckling and grabbing the dirty plates from in front of him and Jazmin. “Alright Ushijima, try not to embarrass anyone else today.” Daichi said, walking towards the trash can with Jazmin following suit right after.

You looked over at Tendou, trying to hide the smile that was threatening to break out across your face. Your nerves almost seemed to dissipate, knowing that you weren’t just some freshy girl that Tendou decided to bring along. If you were the first to hang out with him and his friends, that had to mean that he thought of you as more than a friend...right? You lost yourself in thought, staring at Tendou’s face as your mind continued to race. Tendou’s hand shifted up slightly to give your thigh a squeeze, causing you to jump. You grabbed his wrist, trying not to laugh at his overly innocent expression. “You looked like you were lost in your head. Figured you might need some help coming back to us.” He whispered, smiling as he moved his hand back to your knee, not saying anything more about it.

You finished your lunch with Tendou and his friends, laughing as Ayanna and Lysette joked around and made fun of Kuroo or Ushijima. You could see that this was a group of friends that had a lot of love between them, Tendou looking at the small group with admiration in his eyes. This time, you caught yourself staring at Tendou, but you weren’t lost in thought. You couldn’t help stare. The more you got to know him, the deeper you fell. The problem with that was that you hadn’t told your friends about him, and for some reason you weren’t sure how they would react to him. You wouldn’t say that your friends were as laid back as you were. You thought about the way he watched people, analyzing the things they said and how they reacted to things happening around them. For some reason, you didn’t think this would sit right with your friends. By no means were you embarrassed by him though. In fact, it was the opposite. Your friends from high school seemed so narrow minded compared to the people in front of you now. And that made you feel guilty. Before graduation, you made a promise to each other not to change. The problem with that now is, you think you’ve changed for the better. That wasn’t a problem because that was the point of college but once again, you knew that your friends would not be okay with it. Change was not something that they appreciated, you knew this from years spent with them. You would be lying if you said this wasn’t a thought that you had often, wondering how you would merge your two worlds together.

You made a promise to yourself then and there. You were going to tell your friends about Tendou on your next discord call. You wanted them to know about your life, and he was quickly becoming a large part of that.

[ikisbookshelf]

Kyoru - Day 1: Stay

Prompt: Stay

Words: 2374

Rating: Teen

Beware, this fic contains major spoilers of the manga series! 

---

He couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be true. It all had to be a very good dream. A miserable one when he’d awaken from it.

Kyo could finally hug her- and his head couldn’t wrap itself around that.

Emotion bubbled out from his chest as he enveloped his strong arms around her petite waist. Tohru felt warm. She felt like- like Tohru. Hugging her for the first time without transforming into a strange orange house pet filled him with an unknown warmth that spread itself like wildfire through every inch of his body.

Tears spilled silently as he yanked that damn bracelet of his wrist, the snapping sound filling the silence as both Tohru and he held their breaths.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

The thunderous sound of the beads crashing on the cement of the park resonated as they rolled off in every direction, finally having broken free of their thread. Kyo was finally free. The cat had managed to escaped his faith.

He was sure it was because of her. She was always the answer for everything good that happened in his life.

Tohru had spent the remaining quarter of the hour of their time at the park picking up each fallen bead, cradling it within her hands all whilst she wept. It had also set part of her free when the animals of the zodiac had said their final goodbyes to God.

The rest of the walk home was quiet. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Neither of them had anything to say. All that mattered was that they could finally be together after all that time, with no strings attached, literally.

Their hands were clasped together, either of them too afraid to let go. They silently feared that if they let go of each other, the curse would somehow revert itself back to being present, the day’s events too good to be true.

---

Arriving home felt surreal. The quietness as they made their way through the entrance was unsettling. Kyo nor Tohru felt ready to break the silence either. What if—what if when they acknowledged the fact that they were together, it would end this unrealistic dream?

Words weren’t necessary in this case, though. A permanent rosy colour painting their cheeks and the occasional soft smile whenever their eyes met was enough communication the two had to make. They simply understood one another.

Both young adults ambled to the living room, Kyo taking a seat facing the kitchen and Tohru continuing towards it to prepare some tea.

Her dainty hands trembled as she descended two mugs from the cabinet above her head. She filled the kettle with enough tap water for two and the familiar clicking sounds of the stove being turned on resonated throughout the main living area.  

It took a few minutes for the kettle to boil, giving Tohru a moment to collect her thoughts. What now? She hadn’t envisioned this far, not after the incident that brought her into the hospital. But that didn’t matter anymore; She and Kyo were finally together, and that’s all she had ever wished for. She shouldn’t be more selfish than that.

The screech of the water having reached its boiling temperature and the clasping of the fluttering cap as it expelled puffs of warm humid air caught her by surprise. She squeaked in response, clutching the side of the kitchen counter she was leaning against.

“Idiot, it’s just the kettle. You started it in the first place,” a gentle male voice replied behind her. She felt his warm and tender hands snake around her waist once more.

Kyo held her tightly, refusing to let go. He pressed his chin to the top of her head, smelling her body’s natural perfume.

Tohru, Tohru, Tohru. The only word that filled his brain.

He couldn’t get enough of her.

“I’m sorry I got scared Kyo-kun. I didn’t expect the water to boil so soon,” she replied, giggling a few times and breathing a sigh of contentment as she felt the kindhearted presence of her now boyfriend directly against her.

His teasing dramatic sigh sent them both in a laughing fit as they captured this precious memory in their minds. One of many they would make as a couple, that was certain.

---

The evening came and went, the pair eating dinner alone without the company of the other inhabitants of the house.

“I wonder what Shigure-san and Yuki-kun are up to. I should prepare them a plate just in case they arrive and haven’t already eaten,” she pondered aloud, mostly to herself.

“Ah, don’t bother with them. They can feed themselves. At this rate, they’re probably all together at the main house weeping about the curse,” Kyo replied nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

“But- but that’s no good! I should call them to see if they’re okay,” Tohru answered, panic lacing her voice as she pushed herself up from her seated position at the living-room table, eyes fixated on the hall where the telephone was located.

“Tohru,” he retorted as his hand reached out to grab her wrist before she got away too far from him, “you’re making too big a deal out of this. They’ll come when they’re ready.”

“You’re probably right,” she mumbled, tears starting to well up in her eyes as she gazed into his feline-shaped ones.

The petite girl slumped back down on the ground, sitting beside Kyo this time.

“That’s my idiot,” he said, gently stroking her hair as he pulled her into a side embrace, resting his head atop of hers.

Tohru snuggled deeper to his side, humming pleasantly as she could finally be close to the one she loved. Never had she envisioned this day truly become a reality. She hated to be pessimistic, but the thought of the curse breaking and hugging the orange haired boy she’d grown so fond of, was only in her furthest fantasies.

---

The two of them had been inseparable throughout the day, joined by the hip. Tohru had insisted they wait for Yuki and Shigure, only for 9 pm to roll around. At that point, Kyo got impatient and decided he’d head up to his room.

“You’re welcome to join me, I’m probably just going to do a bit of reading or training, nothing exciting,” he told her, trying not to sound too hopefully. He’d become soft, that he knew—but he hadn’t become that soft.

“Okay! Let me go get a book too!” she exclaimed, thrilled by the invitation.

Her heart started to race even more when she bounded up the stairs, Kyo trailing behind her at a much slower pace. He’d never invited her in his room to “hang-out” before. Tohru knew that boyfriends and girlfriends became intimate with one another over time, but she was certain that’s not what Kyo had intended. They could finally be at peace and spend time together without the risk of being forcefully torn apart. And that was the greatest feeling of all.

“Slow down or you’ll trip and fall,” his voice resonated down the hall behind her as she had already practically made her way up to her room a few doors down.

She giggled and turned to beam at him, giving one of her signatures smiles before waltzing through her room’s doorway. He chuckled and returned her smile. A true smile.

Tohru hurriedly rummaged through her small collection of belongings. She had a few books that Hana and Uo had lent or given to her over the years, grabbing a few of them she thought could be interesting.

It hadn’t even been a few minutes before Kyo heard a soft rapping noise at his door.

“Come in,” she heard from behind the door.

As she turned the doorknob slowly and stepped inside his room, she tried to memorize each aspect. Kyo had been a fairly secretive person with his personal life and she hadn’t had many opportunities to see his room.

He must have noticed she was staring at her surroundings as he proclaimed, “Boring, I know.”

Tohru wouldn’t call his room boring. It just wasn’t lavish or extravagant, and there was nothing wrong about that. It was very natural, just like him.

“Nu-huh. It’s just like Kyo-kun,” she declared in all certainty.

“Goof.”

It didn’t take her long to join him around the small table in the middle of the room. He offered her a pillow to sit on and the two sat crossed legged, beside one another like the lovey-dovey lovebirds they were. The window was open so the occasional cicada or bird noise could be heard, but apart from that, only the sound of beating hearts filled the room.

Minutes turned into hours before Kyo noticed that the slumped-up figure beside him had fallen asleep. She had said nothing or really moved during the entire time they were reading, and he had been too engrossed in his novel he didn’t even notice her falling asleep.

He tried as best as he could to remove the magazine she had been looking at. It was open at a page of a local zoo not too far from the Sohma residence. Perhaps she’d been wanting to go? He’d have to be certain to ask her about it tomorrow.

Kyo slipped the pages out of her delicate hands and placed it on the table. Now would be the tricky part. How could he reposition her to a futon without waking her up? Luckily for him, his girlfriend was a deep sleeper and despite gently placing her against the floor as he wriggled to get off with as little movement as possible, she hadn’t stirred.

He let out a breath he wasn’t even aware he had been holding as he stood up to set up his futon close to the window. He unrolled the soft bedcovers and placed his two pillows side by side.

As he went to pick up Tohru, she let out a few unintelligible mumbles below her breath. Whatever she was dreaming about, it seemed serious the way her eyebrows were drawn so closely together.

He gently laid her down on his bed and covered her small frame with his large futon cover. Kyo tucked her in before getting back up to get changed. He had been wearing the same sweater since this morning and it was too warm to sleep in it. Browsing in his dresser, he pulled out a plain blue t-shirt and a pair of black sweats with a white stripe running down each leg.

Kyo had two choices. He could either risk waking her up when he exited the room since his door squeaked, or he could pray she wouldn’t wake up and change technically in front of her.

He chose the latter.

Swallowing up his pride, he turned his back to her and faced the wall. He stripped down to his boxers and quickly pulled over his night garments. Peaking over his shoulder, he noticed that  Tohru had turned onto her side, but was still taking deep shallow breaths. Good, she hadn’t woken up.

Deep down, had he wanted her to wake up? Did he want her to see him in that way now that they had confessed each other’s love?

No! There was no way in hell that Kyo was thinking such impure thoughts! He shook his head a few times hoping it would chase that kind of thinking away. There was no way he could think like that yet. Plus, he highly doubted Tohru would even ever think of him like that. Fuck no. What in the world had gotten into him?

He sighed and ran his hands from his face to his hair trying to shake off these feelings that had steadily grown over the past year. Not today, he told himself.

Kyo placed himself on the ground beside the futon and slipped one of his floor cushions under his head. He curled up with his back facing her. Unable to sleep due to his racing heart, he stared at the stars and the moon outside of his window.

An hour passed by before he heard the commotion happening on the floor below. The rest of the household had finally arrived home. He wouldn’t go see them, though, he could deal with them tomorrow morning when he had more energy. For now, he’d enjoy these last few minutes with Tohru before she’d wake up and would realize that she’d fallen asleep in the wrong room.

He heard the knocking down the hall which was presumably the oh-so-perfect rat trying to check if she was awake.

His assumption had been right as the knocking sound was quickly followed by a faint, but still distinguishable, “Miss Honda?”

Obviously, there had been no response.

Don’t you dare come here and embarrass her, you darned rat!

Kyo turned to face her when he heard her stir beside him. Apparently, the commotion of the entryway was enough noise to wake her. Her eyes struggled to open as she let out a soft wince. Her hands came up to her eyes, and she methodically rubbed the sleepiness out of them.

“K-Kyo-kun?” she asked as she was greeted with the sight of him lying on his side, prompting his head up with his hand.

“Mhm?”

“I should probably go to sleep,” she mumbled as she tried to push herself off from her comfortable position.

“Can you please… stay?” Kyo murmured, so softly he doubted she even heard him.

Tohru’s face flushed and even in the room's darkness, it was visible. She gave him a slight nervous nod. Her eyes looked at the floor and a small smile tugged at her lips.

She scooted towards the side of the futon to allow him some room under the blanket. Kyo didn’t have to be told twice. He moved off the floor and onto the soft surface where he could be close to her.

“Turn over,” he whispered.

And she obliged. He cuddled up to her, acting as if he was the bigger spoon and rested his hands around her waist, pulling her in.

It felt so warm. So right.

As they were both drifting to sleep, he was certain he heard her whispering, “don’t tell Shigure.”

But maybe that had just been his imagination.

[davewakeman]

3 Ideas About Live Nation and Metallica...

  I edited the initial piece to reflect that Ticketmaster is a subsidiary of Live Nation and in this case using the two companies names interchangeably would be inaccurate. 

I love a good ticket story and this week I got the news that Live Nation was captured admitting to feeding tickets to the secondary market.

First thought, duh!

That’s been happening for years.

Second thought, of course it has been happening but no one has ever drawn attention to it and what does this really mean because Live Nation/Ticketmaster is often caught participating in the secondary market at the same time they are belittling the secondary market.

Here are 3 things I think I think about this Live Nation/Metallica story:

1. Ticketing is complicated:

Richard Howle wrote a nice piece in the UK that dropped today.

In his piece, Richard talked about producers having the power to fix tickets if they want to.

This is the same thing going on with Metallica.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation do a lot of things to protect the artists that it works with.

This often puts them in a bad light. (Sometimes they step in it as well, but I like to think that this is part of a larger strategy to protect the acts that they work with.)

Whatever.

This just sums up the point that ticketing is complicated.

It is never as easy as a band goes on tour, they want to sell their tickets, and that’s that.

There are multiple players involved…all with different goals, businesses, and agendas.

Managing that is painful and difficult.

This just highlights that through the talk about distribution, guarantees, and finances.

2. The question of transparency is raised yet again:

Many people in ticketing fall back on the argument of “we just need more transparency.”

I’m sympathetic to the argument, but as I’ve been thinking through things…what does transparency really mean?

I have an iPhone.

Do I know where everything came from and how much each part cost?

No way!

Does it impact my buying decision, not in the slightest.

Is ticketing really any different?

Sure, it acts like it is.

But should that be the way things are done?

As I think through the issue, I’m torn.

I think it is bogus to have kids and potential ticket buyers hanging on a string waiting for 6 tickets to be released to a show in 9 months.

At the same time, I also remember that you’d get an on-sale date and time for tickets when I was a kid and that I thought that was the greatest thing ever.

Sometimes I got tickets.

Sometimes I didn’t.

Did I know how many tickets were on-sale?

No.

Did I care?

No.

Sometimes I think that the transparency issue is really a red herring for how bad we’ve become at marketing and selling the whole ticketing experience.

3. The government is struggling to keep up with tickets:

I went to the FTC’s ticketing workshop.

I believe I even called it something of a “show” before the event went on.

I definitely remember snickering and goofing on the entire production as it was going on.

Why?

Because the people that were sent from the FTC weren’t prepared enough to tackle the topic completely.

They didn’t have the requisite knowledge of the ticket industry to do anything more than ask questions that were jumping off points and weren’t deeper dives into substantive issues.

In practice, the whole exercise felt like checking boxes before nothing happened or something happened.

In the end, a bill was rolled out in Congress almost immediately afterwards.

Ho hum!

The reality is that the government doesn’t really have a clue what is going on in tickets. That shouldn’t even be the headline because most of the people that spend a lot of time working in tickets don’t know what’s going on all the time either because things are constantly changing.

I don’t want to jump into a good or bad argument on this.

I’d instead like to point to the idea that because this is such a complicated issue and one where even the professionals grapple with what is going on that ticketing probably needs greater attention and focus before things are rolled out willy nilly.

Not because tickets are different that books, cars, cell phones, or other consumer products, but because tickets is different in a way that there is much more room for abuse.

And, I think that is why tickets maintain our attention…because we always feel like something is just a little off in every situation.

What say you?

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3 Ideas About Live Nation and Metallica… was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group