#god working off of 2 monitors is hell lol

[go-for-it-kacchan]

The sincerest form of flattery.

kacchan: it's not like i respect you or anything

[sandwitchstories]

Stress Relief

It's time for some more of Witch's smutty brain rot about Kyojuro Regoku! I can't help it lol These are the thoughts that have been going through my mind all week as I drown in meetings that should be emails.

Summary: Stuck in a remote meeting and have to miss your dinner plans? Never fear, Kyojuro knows just what to do to sate his hunger and lift up your spirits.

If you prefer to read on AO3, please click here!

(formerly titled Red String Of Fate)

WC: 2500+

CW: MDNI, Smut, reader is AFAB, AFAB terms used to describe reader's sexy bits, cunnilingus, blow job, it's filthy smut. lol Please click the AO3 link if you would like a more thorough list of CW.

The sound of the front door opening and closing made you glance at the time on the computer for the first time in… all day. 5:27pm. Shit. You and Kyojuro had plans to check out the new revolving sushi restaurant that had just opened down the street. You were supposed to have been off at 5 to be ready to go by 5:30, yet here you were with no end in sight.

You puffed up your cheeks and let out a slow breath, listening to one of the other attendants of the Teams hell you were trapped in drone on and on. Glad you were not on camera because you probably would have gotten fired for how many times you had face palmed during this presentation. 

Kyojuro came into the office and you flashed him an apologetic smile, pointing at your headphones and then the screen. You put a finger gun to your head pretending to pull the trigger and making a funny face at him with your tongue sticking out in mock ‘death.’ He chuckled and moved closer, bending down to cup your cheek and give you a gentle kiss.

“Going to be much longer?” he asked, kissing you one more time before straightening up.

“No clue… there’s still 3 more people presenting for different parts of this project. I don’t wanna be a grown up any more,” you dramatically whined.

“Poor thing,” he said, leaning down to cup the back of your head and kiss your forehead. “I’m going to get changed.”

“Okay,” you nodded, watching him walk away, frowning. You knew he was not mad. Just like you never got mad when he had to put in extra time at the school. You both had demanding jobs and were dedicated to your chosen paths. 

Still, you felt guilty as you knew he had been looking forward to this all day. So much so that he had sent texts throughout the day with screen shots of their menu items and his opinions on which ones you both should try. Trying new restaurants was one of your favorite things to do together. Everything was an adventure and experience when you were together. And you needed that so badly right now. Work was sucking the will to live out of you. 

You turned back to the screen, unmuting your mic to give your input when asked. You explained the benefits and the risks involved with the ideas presented so far. You voiced your concerns and answered questions as well. You put yourself back on mute and slumped back in your chair. 

Number 3 began his part of the spiel and you glanced at the clock again. 6:02pm. 2 more to go. If this mother fucker would start focusing more on work and less on pitiful attempts at humor, you may still be able to make it to the restaurant before it closed! You clasped your hands and said a little prayer to any deity listening that these people had lives they really wanted to get back to as well.

Unfortunately it would seem the Gods had abandoned you. Every. Single. One. It was now 7:03pm, Kyojuro had come in twice to check in, and there was still one more presenter to go. You wanted to punch your monitor and take a hammer to your laptop.  Why was life so cruel? You were hungry, tired, frustrated and just… over it. 

You stared at the ceiling as the last presenter began to speak. You put your head in your ands and groaned. This man… could not possibly speak slower. Was this some cruel cosmic joke? Some… delayed karma for something you couldn’t even remember doing? 

You picked up your phone to message Kyojuro only to have him come through the door, obviously on the same wave length. You gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry. This is the last one now.”

“It is not your fault, I am not mad,” he smiled, giving you a gentle kiss. “How much longer do you think you will be? I will start looking for places still open, I do not feel like cooking and you look like you’ve had enough today.”

“So much so… but… Can we order in and watch tv instead?” you asked, not in the mood to go out anymore but agreeing with him that having to cook sounded like punishment right now.

“That… sounds wonderful, love. Works out better. We can try the sushi place this weekend and find something to do after. I’ll order some pizza and wings,” he said, placing another quick kiss on your lips before heading off to accomplish his task. 

You smiled after him. You had no idea what you had ever gotten right enough in your life to deserve such a wonderful other half. You would forever be grateful to the universe that it was Kyojuro Rengoku at the other end of your red thread of fate.

You turned back to the computer, a little relieved that sustenance would be coming soon and you did not have to leave your house. Maybe you could even convince Kyojuro to eat and watch TV naked in bed. That sounded like heaven. You just had to survive this Teams circle of hell.

A short time later Kyojuro came into your office, leaning against your desk. “About an hour for delivery.”

“Okay, thank you,” you gave him a thumbs up. “Even if this guy is not done in an hour, I’m done.”

He nodded, glancing at the screen. “No cameras today?”

“Nope, no cameras and on mute until spoken to so I am not accidentally heard speaking my mind,” you sat back in your chair, looking up at him. Gods, even in his sweats the man was so fucking hot. 

“Hmmmm, I see,” he rested his head on his hand in a thinking position. He muttered, as if speaking to himself, “Well, then that settles it.”

“What settles what?” you asked, arching an eyebrow up at your husband, curious about what was going through his beautiful mind.

“I am hungry now,” he stated, pushing your chair back a bit farther from your desk.

“Okay, and I need to be further back here because?”

He gave you what could only be described as an absolutely wicked grin. He leaned over you, bracing his hands on the arms of your computer chair. “Because, I am going to have my dessert first.”

“Wh-” 

He cut you off with a kiss. “Pay attention to your meeting. Don’t mind me.”

You jumped as you heard your name called in the meeting, fumbling for a moment with the mute button on your mic before getting it on and giving a generic answer as you gave your husband the stink eye. You had not heard a single word said in the last few minutes.

The Teams window flashing colors caught your attention as the presenter shared his screen. Dammit, you needed to actually pay attention now. 

Kyojuro glanced at the screen before adjusting your chair to be against the cold wood but turned to face away sideways from the desk. You could easily turn your head,  see the screen and reach your mouse. But what was he thinking?

You tried to keep your focus on the screen to the right of you, but in front of you your husband was getting on his knees. He leaned forward, his fingers gripping over the top of both your panties and leggings at the same time. He gave them a little tug and arched a prominent eyebrow at you, the gesture both asking if you wanted to proceed and making it abundantly clear that the dirty thoughts that had begun to form in the back of your mind were indeed the same as his intentions. 

You looked at him and made up your mind in an instant. You bit your lip as you lifted your hips a little off the chair. He grinned and got back to work. 

The second your bare butt was against the seat of the chair your name was called in the meeting. You quickly glanced at what was on the screen and formulated a reply. You said a quick prayer that your voice sounded the same as always.

He pressed your legs together and kissed up the seam between your thighs-  from your knees up your thighs to your hips, placing a tender kiss on your lower stomach before his hand slid up to the low cut collar of your tank top and pulled it under your tits, putting them at the mercy of his calloused fingers. He gave you a cheshire grin before pinching and pulling on your nipples until you covered your mouth with the back of your hand. 

“Good girl,” he whispered against the skin of your belly.

The Teams meeting  might as well be white noise because 5 minutes have passed and you haven’t heard a single word. You are way too transfixed on the sight between your legs. Kyojuro now has both of your legs thrown over his broad shoulders, muscular shoulders and is mouthing at your thigh thisclose  you where you really want his mouth. 

He locks eyes with you. Your jaw hangs open slightly as he gives you a wicked smile before dragging his tongue between your folds. You quickly check that you are muted before you let out a shaky breath. He drags his tongue from the bottom over your slit up to the small bundle of nerves hidden from all eyes but his. He expertly circles your clit lazily, twice making a figure 8. His tongue is teasing your dripping hole when your name is called. 

You swear before you glance at the screen, relieved to see this is the final wrap up. Unfortunately that means a few minutes unmuted. 

“I’m going to be unmuted for a few minutes. We’re almost done,” you say quickly before joining the conversation.

The menace between your legs pauses, his tongue now just teasing your hole, his fingers digging into your hips a little harder. You see the look in his eyes. You feel yourself getting even wetter thinking about how hard he must be right now and that his big fat cock is all for you. 

He wiggles his tongue and arches eyebrow, thankfully pulling you from your ‘loading screen’  and asking if he should continue. 

You bite your lip quickly for a split second and then you’re keeping eye contact with Kyouro as you start to speak to your boss about setting up a meeting and simultaneously thread your hand in his loose locks, pulling his head closer to your cunt, wanting more, needing more.

You say goodbye and exit the meeting and Teams faster than you ever have before, flinging your headphones to the side. You double check you are no longer in the meeting and then let your full focus shift to the love of your life currently tongue fucking you now that he did not need to worry about how riled up he got you. 

You moan and sweat, burying your other hand in his hair as well, spreading your knees as wide as you possibly can, giving him access to anything and everything. One of his hands moves from your hip up your body to your mouth. The second your lips part he puts two fingers in. Your mouth automatically sucks them in. Your tongue weaving swirls around and in between, lathering it up with spit. 

You threw your head back and closed your eyes, crying out in bliss when those two spit slicked fingers moved up and down your slit before plunging inside. You were extra sensitive from how turned on you had gotten by his antics, and it was not going to take much to push you over.

Kyojuro added a third finger and switched to sucking harder at your clit while flicking his tongue back and forth. You fell apart, calling out his name and holding his head close, fluttering around and riding on his hungry mouth and strong hand. Your essence was coating his fingers, mouth and chin as well as the chair beneath you and you couldn't care less about the fabric. 

Kyojuro kisses both of your thighs gently, his fingers moving far slower than before as he worked you through your blissful haze. He smiled when your eyes finally met his gaze again. “There’s my girl. Feeling any better, my love?”

“So much!” you chuckled and ran your fingers through his hair. “May I return the favor, my flame?”

He glanced at his watch. “We have maybe 30 minutes.”

“Well, stand up,” you told him. You moved your legs off his shoulders, wincing briefly at the feeling of your hips unlocking from the position he had had them in. 

He pulled his fingers from your soaked pussy, pressing one more kiss to your mound before standing and sucking his fingers clean as he rose. And that sight only made you hornier. He leaned over you, smiling and kissing you more passionately than he had yet. 

His hands were on the arms of your office chair. “What next, my love?”

You grinned and pressed back on his chest until he was standing. You pressed the lever of your chair and dropped to the lowest setting. Your hands pulled down his pants and boxer briefs down to his midthigh. 

You locked your eyes on him. “Next, I have my share of the appetizers.”

You stroked and sucked on his cock, loving every inch of it and lathering it in spit. His cock was thick and long. You needed extra spit so you didn’t hurt yourself. And it just so happened that Kyojuro liked a sloppy blow job. His hands were threaded in your hair, holding the back of your head and guiding you up and down his cock. Your hands had taken residency on the sides of his, sexy as fuck thick, muscular thighs. Your nails were digging into his skin, leaving red crescents in their wake. 

He praised you with one hand gently brushing hair back out of your face while the other helped you keep rhythm. You looked up at him as you moved your hand to cup and gently squeeze on his sack. 

Kyojuro let out a delicious moan and started thrusting a little hard. Again… same reaction. A third time? You never did learn the easy way and before you knew it you were moaning as he fucking ino your throat. He was being cautious of how hard he was going, never wanting to hurt you, but he damn sure was feeling a bit… well feral, he supposed. 

Then you did something with your tongue on accident and it sent him into his sprint for the orgasm finish line. He called out your name as he held your head against him, cumming deep in your throat. He encouraged you not to waste a drop, and praised you when nothing remained on his cock by the time you released it from your mouth. 

He tucked himself back in his pants while you fixed your clothing. As soon as you stood up he wrapped you in his arms. You turned your face up for his kisses. 

You wrapped your arms around his waist and pulled him as close as you could. “I love you.”

He cupped your face and gave you that smile that melted your very being before kissing you back, slowly. He rested your heads together and replied,  “And I love you.”

[joelsbeard]

haha it’s me again, ur writing is srsly addicting you’re never getting rid of me😝

could u mby write some hcs for joel and reader when they’re parents? let’s say they had sarah and she’s in the energetic kiddie stage so they literally never get to fuck anymore because they have to worry about her all the time, so when they do get some alone time they js go crazy with it?

little specific and i’m sorry about that😭😭 js wanted to see what ur thots on this areeee<333

LMAO the pre-outbreak!joel horny gets to all of us!!! I'm also planning on writing some fluffier stuff too with joel, reader, sarah, and ellie as well :)

Joel would be so understanding with not pushing you to do anything you don't want to, especially after giving birth. He tells you he'll wait as long as he needs to until you're ready ❤️ You also can't keep your hands off your man tho lol so you end up waiting ~ 2 months to have sex (doesn't mean you weren't fooling around before tho hehe)

He loved your body before you were pregnant, while you were pregnant, and after giving birth!! He thinks the extra meat on you (lol) and cute little lightning marks are adorable bc it just means you went through all of carrying and growing his baby and giving birth ❤️🥺

And he's always like "you're so beautiful thank you for growing our babies and protecting them for 9 months 🥺"

Obviously once you have sarah you guys are sleep deprived as hell during the little free time you get, but you also enjoy just spending time together as a family of 3 or just having the time to cuddle when she's asleep or if tommy is helping watch her.

Your first time together after giving birth is probably a little nerve wracking but it ends up all just being in your head since you and joel make sure to go slow, and if anything is sore he always stops to check in with you first 🥺

Once you adjust and it starts feeling good you're like "godd, did you get thicker since last time? You feel so fucking big babe🥺😭" and joel almost cums right there hearing you say how big he is 🥵 meanwhile he just laughs and is like "you're too sweet baby. But god you feel so damn tight, I can feel you squeezing my cock, you feel so damn good baby" and bc its been 2 months he's trying his best not to cum in like 5 seconds lol

Joel Miller is a tits man. I mean tbh he loves your tits and your ass, even your tummy and lil toes lol but if he was held at gunpoint and needed to pick one I would think he's a tits man.

He probably went nuts when you were pregnant watching your tits get huge lol, even when sarah's nursing he'll look over and be like "those were mine first little miss, fyi 😠" LOL or he'll always find excuses to stop what he was doing just so he can watch you and look at your tiddies like 😍 😭 men 🙄

Sarah and ellie probably both prefer eating directly from the boob vs bottles lol and whenever it's joels turn to take care of them he tries to give you alone time so you can rest, so when ellie or sarah are hungry and he has to feed them with the bottle and they wrinkle their noses and push his hand away he's like "i know, i'd prefer the real thing too huh babygirl, but you gotta work with me here so mama can get some rest" LMAO

I'm not gonna lie, once you and joel are fully sexually active again after 2 months, since it can be so hard for you to find time together and you also don't wanna leave sarah with someone else yet, when she's dead to the world you probably get a little handsy with each other 😭 you're like, she's only 3 months and she's asleep, she's not gonna be aware of what we're doing 😭. You guys are just too desperate for each other to let that opportunity slide lol. Or sometimes she'll be in her bassinet, her crib, or in her play pen and you and joel will take the baby monitor and go to some part of the house so he can finally rail you 😭

When she's around 3 or 4 and is more independent, you'll have tommy babysit her for a couple of hours at his house or something so you guys can finally get some alone time (thank god for uncle tommy lol) and he knows you two ask him to babysit to give yourselves a little break from running around after her, but also bc he knows yall need some of that alone time lol.

It was hard the first couple of times you had someone else watch sarah (even if its tommy) bc you and joel are such helicopter parents and you're always worried about your lil babygirl lol, but you guys also missed having that time between just the two of you

Joel probably gets a little more handsy with you at home than usual bc with taking care of sarah it's not like you can fuck when you want to, so he just has to settle for giving you more ass grabs and grinding his bulge against your ass like a perv when he hugs you from behind LMAOO

It's not always him that initiates it though, you'll rub your foot up and down his leg sometimes or wiggle your ass on his crotch lol and he'll be like "you think it's funny to tease me like that knowing i can't do anything huh baby? just wait til i get you back for that" but he can never tease you too bad bc he wants you too much and he feels bad sometimes when he makes you beg too much lol

When your milk ducts are clogged you know damn well who's helping you out with them lol. I mean, what can he do it's not like he wants to see his girl in pain 🥺 it's just a bonus that he enjoys helping lol. He's like I ain't no bitch if my girl's in pain imma help her even if it means i have to drink her damn breastmilk lol (not that he even minds it in the first place tho 😭 he basically gets an excuse to suck on your tiddies)

Or sometimes they get so full and sore and you're just like :( "babe my boobs are so sore :(" and joel of course is like 😈 "oh no my poor baby, you want me to hold them for you?" you always say yes lol, and maybe end up fucking oop

It probably turns him on knowing that not only did you carry and grow his baby for 9 months but that even after birth you continue to nurture her from your own body bc women are just amazing like that lol

When Sarah was around 4-5 you guys were full on fucking in the morning and you made the mistake of not locking your door (you were still getting used to having a child living in your house lol) and she ran in bc she wanted to bug you two to ask for breakfast. thank god she doesn't remember it much afterwards (but you and joel do 😳) and you just told her you were having a really big hug before you sent her to her room saying you'd be there in a minute. Poor joel basically went totally soft after that 😭

Other times you'd just make sure she was really focused on playing with her little dolls or watching a movie and you and joel would go to your room to fuck 😭

[wildglitch]

How What if...Zombies Spidey gets to the DCU

Here's the second part of this post

This is about how Zombie!Peter (And possibly others) got to the DCU. the third part will be the HC on what he is going to be doing overther, but for now wh need to know how he got there

Also,I accidentally uploaded my original draft for this but it wasn't finished so I had to delete it so I lost all of that writing TnT

-Starting this off with more timeline explanations! Let's goooooooo

Ok so anything that happens on Earth has absolutely no effect on the rest of the universe, that means that all of the guardian movies and Thor Ragnarok happens when they originally did in the OG timeline.

"But Thor and Loki met Strange 3 days before Infinity war" SHhhhhhh, trust and listen. Since Loki really didn't want to deal with his dad, Instead of just sending him to Earth, She sends him to a different reality Earth. How? But studying the space stone of course. Not to mention he spent a good while researching and studying the aether when he was king and before they sent it to the collector. With this in mind, Loki taught himself how to access and travel to different realities (Remember this)

That means that Bruce B. gets back on Earth at the same time he did in the original, in 2018. Infinity war takes place in about a day or so and seeing as Thanos is on Earth by the end of the episode, let's say that the episode takes place over a time period of about 24-48 hours. A weekend if you will.

That, adding onto the fact I made the zombie apocalypse 7-8 months long instead of 1 month changes a few things timeline wise. Not only does it push Ant-Man & The Wasp back many months, It also means that there's a high chance Bucky's brainwashing isn't 100% gone, and that the apocalypse started around a year or so after Homecoming.

Do with that info as you please :D

-What is happening without space friends? Well...

Loki wasnt Fucking Stupid and died like and idiot here!

(Your the god of fucking mischief and yet the only thing you can think to do is a knife?!? A fucking Knife? Not even to the back as has been stated you have done in your own goddamn show, But right in the face where he can very clearly see it you short dumbass!)

N E Ways- Loki did something, yk, smart and joined up with Thanos cause like, Dude the guy was winning! Loki was gonna play a long game and work with him again to get his opening. . .Then they killed his fucking brother! Yeah this has not been a good day for him- He is sent to stalk Earth with the other dudes but he decides to stay on the ship and

Loki looking down at Earth though the ship's surveillance systems: WTF did the mortals do!?!?

Alien helper Loki asked for and somehow got: Would you like to go down there sir?

Loki getting comfortable and changing his clothes into something cozy after a very traumatic day: Norse no, Get me a bigger monitor and some food, I wanna see where this goes.

And then Loki just watches like the agent of chaos he is. (Remember this too)

What about Thor? Well Thor doesn't really die, Loki just sees the explosion of the ship and just assumes. He still teams up with half the guardians and everything still happens like the movie for him until he gets to Wakanda.

AND OH BOY LET ME TALK ABOUT WAKANDA

(The Guardians? Canon. Literally the only difference could be that maybe Peter Q. and Co. die immediately on Titan without the space roadtrip trio.)

-Wakanda? Gone

Okoye Was sent to America and everything went to hell lol.

No but Seriously, The King was gone, Okoye went to look for him, and Wakanda was left pretty defenseless. I say that the country was already compromised before she left, but it only started causing trouble after she left, so she has no clue what happened. the important thing isn't Okoye though, no the important thing is Thor. More specifically, Thor, Rocket and Groot when they get there. I can see 2 things happening.

1-they get infected immediately and all of a sudden you get a Zombified God with an axe walking around with a tree and a raccoon. All there while his brother is watching the man, he thought was dead, truly die. ( he gets the feeling that this is Karma) Or,

2- They fight the Zombies thinking they are part of Thanoses army like total badasses, not knowing what they are fighting or getting infected. All while Loki I absolutely shell shocked watching this from a 5th monster mouth agape. (Ones watching visions base with the king and witch, Twos watching the group trying to get to the base, Threes watching some old guy sitting in a park absolutely unbothered, And Forths could be the other dead people from the last post, idk, the separate continuity for the AU gets a mention lol)}

Loki in ver. 1: Absolute depression

Loki in ver. 2: Slacked jawed as he watches his brother be a complete dumbass

-So, How did they he skip dimension?

Well everything from the episode happens the same. Maybe a bit more emotional because they are closer, but every one we see die, Dies. Why? Uhh duh, angst and plot potential, why else?

and its, Everyone one we see die. Let me explain. Anyone we see get turned or killed on screen, It's death. If a character dies off screen but the situation is bad and impossible for said person to get out of, it's death. BUT, if a character is killed off screen but theoretically they could escape, they can live.

Ex For this rule: Happy is hit by a speeding car off screen that implies death= Death, Reason? He's a normal dude T'Challa is hit by a speeding car off screen that implies death= Can Live, Reason? He has the powers of the Black Panther

You Got That? cool. with that in mind, and what I can remember atm, this is the list of people who live

Peter P.- Scott L.- King T'Challa.- Bruce B.- Bucky B.- Rocket R.- Groot-Thor- Loki. Igs, if you want the guys from the more hero’s Idea to be here then you can add them ig. That's the list of survivor a

(Why aren't there more women? Idk, take it up with Disney for killing all of them)

Why these guys? Simple. Cause they all are on Earth

-Loki, being a god, takes a look at Zombie Thanos and thinks "Oh no...Oh Hellas no" And decides to do something about it.

Seriously, You expect me to believe that anything other stone then the space and reality one can send them to another reality? No, I don't think so. And who did I say studied and used these stones before? hmmm? So my proposition for you today is simple. take our god Loki with his obsession with the space stone and have him cast a spell to have every living being on the planet left, come with him to whatever other reality he's taking them to. and thus the crossover commences.

-Peter and the others are now screwed.

They all travel and end up at the same place they were in their original universe. (Omg I just realized Loki could end up at the watchtower lol)

They could be in different realities, but they all are in the same position they were before traveling

Peter: Is on plane before Dimension hopping

Peter: falling to his death after dimension hopping

Peter: Paink!

And then they get split up...hurray!

That's the end for this post. The other will be more focused on Peter But we needed This one as a way to get to the next world. Will I change some stuff? Sure, maybe later, But for now I'm pretty tired and I don't have much else to do at this point.

With that said, I hope you enjoyed this post and let me know what you think

[fangerine]

sharing thoughts on the last of us ep. 2 (spoilers ahead):

if last week’s episode was about establishing the characters and heart of the show, last night’s episode was about establishing the “game” mechanics of this world. and holy shit, were these mechanics just as brutal and inventive as the game, even with the changes made.

once again, this show is doing such a good job of taking what works in the game but wouldn’t work in this medium, and not just doing away with it but IMPROVING upon it. craig and neil are right: spores just wouldn’t work in this version of this world. from personal experience, i can also tell you that filming people in gas masks like that is kind of a pain. “bUt EvAnGeLiNe, WhAt AbOuT mAnDo???!!!”, you might say. and yeah, it’s not impossible to film people in masks, mando uses a helmet, not a clear gas mask that fogs up, and is much more uncomfortable than the mando helmet imo. it’s not about money and seeing actors faces (which is also money lol) as much as it’s about practicality and creating something realistic.

but let me tell you, craig, neil, and co. MAKE UP FOR IT. replacing spores (which is a great in-game mechanic, don’t get me wrong) with tendrils and this concept of the wood wide web is GENIUS, and TERRIFYING. in-game, spores work more as interesting locations because it’s much more plausible in a video game to have isolated locations like that. when you’re playing, you just rationalize that spores only exist in these dark, damp, places and can’t survive elsewhere. but when you’re dealing with live action television??? not so much, in my opinion.

what’s much more believable is that this infection is everywhere. it’s rooted in the ground. it makes you watch your step every second. at the beginning of the episode, i was intrigued as to why the camera was so focused on their feet, because the cameraman sure as hell wasn’t quentin tarantino. yeah, they’re walking but they’re gonna be walking the entire fucking show. that’s right, death stranding, the last of us walked so you could walk some more.

adding this aspect to the world is so much more scary than spores. the fact that you could wake up a hoard of infected m i l e s away because the tip of your foot slightly crunches a piece of the big ol’ cordycep pie. that was a bad joke, sorry.

but we must get to the elephant in the room: tess.

first off, can we get a moment of silence for a bad ass bitch???

...

okay, so i love that this show is taking the time and taking advantage of this medium to expand on her character. nothing about her time in the two episodes felt like filler. anna torv gave it her all knowing that this journey would not last long, and i love her for that. 

but i really want to talk about her death. we (people who played the game) all knew it was coming but i don’t think i expected it to be so utterly disturbing, which brings me to the tendrils.

they are literally the grossest fucking thing to ever grace my monitor screen, and i’ve pulled up the perverse family (fuck you, tiny meat gang and also, i am please begging you to not look it up...or do, i can’t tell you what to do). 

anyways, for tess’ last scene to be like THAT is really saying something. there’s something so haunting about how that clicker looked at her. how it slowly moved towards her, almost giving this “look” of recognition. this “look” of, “you’re one of us now.”. the “kiss” was a forceful invitation of sorts but tess, with every last inch of her humanity, denied that invitation by being the bad ass bitch she is, and blowing up the place.

poetic cinema, ya’ll. poetic. fucking. cinema. the world of tlou is characterized by the fact that humans are so willing to turn on each other. sarah wasn’t taken because she got infected. she got taken by the fear and selfishness of humanity. it’s a bleak picture but god, does naughty dog paint it with beautifully tragic strokes.

on the other side, though, we have the infected. although grotesque, horrific, and deathly, they are now operating under this hive mind. will they rip you to shreds? oh, definitely. but are they doing it together? absolutely. it just creates this really horrible but well-crafted idea that the enemy, is truly each other, and the infected are really just this scary obstacle. but maybe their togetherness will help humanity come together, once again, to create a more hopeful future.

[sinister-faye]

Gamedev Blog #1: Playstation 1 aesthetics and the unreal engine. + Game tease

Unreal engine 5 has been pushing the limits of real-time rendering. But some of us, myself included, have gone WAY back to rendering chunky, blocky PS1(PSX) styled graphics.

The tip of this spear is the Gorgeous Goth Goddess @b0tster with their twofold Bloodborne PSX and Bloodborne Kart projects respectively.

The reasons we choose the style are simple. Firstly those of us who are leaning hard on this aesthetic were in our formative years during the fifth console generation, so we have fond memories of playing games that look CHUNKY. And secondly, perhaps most importantly, it is the easiest (kinda) 3D content pipeline to do as a solo developer.

No need to bake meshes, no polygon budget, no texture streaming budget, Installs that won't even approach 100 gigs(let alone 10g), and guaranteed 60fps is a minimum. Low poly art style has a lot going for it.

-Getting the style

The Unreal engine 5 does have to be modified a little bit. Since it has features that were not even dreamed of in 1998 set as default, We actually have to use a shader to emulate the lower fidelity colors, resolution, and lighting effects. Starting the project means turning off things like: anti aliasing, motion blur, HDR lighting, ETC.

My current post processing effect.

Since most people aren't playing on old Sony CRT tv's and have modern 16:9 monitors, we have to just divide the HELL out of the resolution and color space. This shader (shown above) is very adjustable, and is just the first step on the PSX-esque look.

The next step is modeling and texturing. I'm used to 3d modeling in high resolution, so I had to learn to think like a 90's developer and get as much detail as I can squeeze out of as little polygons as possible.

A WIP of a character in my upcoming project

High polycounts give artists the freedom to make their characters as realistic as possible, BUT making them look exactly right, and more importantly animate in a way that looks real is hard to pull off. Low poly models require much more precise and EXACT modeling and texturing, but allows for a more artistic interpretation of how characters look and move. The human eye is more forgiving of caricatures of people.

Another popular effect for most PSX throwback games is the model "jitter" where models would not place vertices in their EXACT location on the screen(check out the video above!). So it looked like the character was shaky until the camera got right next to the character, to save on memory. I am currently debating using this effect in my game.

The game

So the game I'm working on is: Codename Cardboard Box. (the title is pending some stuff)

As you can probably surmise from the codename it is a metal gear solid homage. I will be taking the Tactical Espionage Action gameplay, and long stylized cutscenes of the serries and putting my own spin on it.

I have been playing through the whole serries recently(again lol), and have noticed so many Queer pieces of subtext than I did as a teen. But it seems like there was a heavy censoring hand on the story creators to push that aside, for example in MGS 2 there was cut dialogue in the script where Otacon would have mistakenly called Snake "David". Implying a much more familiar relationship. MGS4 showcased a lot more "for the male gaze" designs, and camera angles. (I swear to god Naomi's boobs have more screentime than Meryl in total) and the whole serries seemed to have every woman who talked reinforce gender stereotypes, or was just a non stop flirting machine for snake to banter with. The only one who sort of escaped this fate was Emma Emmerich, but even then there were a few lines that made my eyes roll.

Originally I thought of a mod that would change the genders of all the main characters of the MGS serries, to make it way gayer. But then I thought, firstly, Konami is quite litigious, and that I don't think that changing the voices and character models would do much to the overall queer representation and messages of the story.

So Codename Cardboard box (CCB) is going to be an original new story to represent what it is to be queer in the world right now.

The style I am going for is pretty specific, not quite 1:1 PSX or N64 in graphical fidelity. More like a step between Metal gear solid 1 and 2 as a port to the PC in 1999.

Hopefully I can capture the exact aesthetic, I'm still experimenting between MGS 1 style and MGS 2. I don't fully want to commit to one or the other. So I'm toying around between super low textures (64x64-128x128 max) of MGS1, and the medium detail models of MGS2 (with eyes and a single mesh). This is what I have landed on so far, but things may change in the near future.

I also will be using more modern real time lighting solutions, as I think there can be some gameplay choices that can be effected by this (darkness being a great asset).

As far as gameplay goes I'm going for a patchwork of mechanics from across the serries. So here is a small list to represent how it will feel to move and attack with the character:

The over the shoulder / top down view toggling options from MGS3.

The 3 stance options (stand, crouch, prone) of movement from MGS4.

The auto aiming from MGS2, with the over the shoulder toggle aim from MGS4. (no first person view, for now)

The ledge climbing from MGS 2.

No Stamina bar like in MGS1.

And surprisingly enough a hybrid of the MGS 1 item selection (where you just have all of your weapons available to select at any time, rather than using a backpack)

And of course some other cheeky mechanics that I can't spoil just yet.

But of course all of these screenshots, mechanics, and ideas are works in progress. While they fit the game now, they may be changed to fit the vision of the game better in the future.

So that is it for blog post #1! I will tease the next update just below, but after that I am going to continue my personal gamedev history below that!

Next time:

Blog 2- animation, scripts, and themes.

So Personal gamedev journey. The most vivid memory I have of making a choice to be a game developer was in the year 2002. I was playing Diablo 2, after completing a multiplayer halo 1 campaign . My friends and I were just in awe of games as a storytelling medium. We had been playing on a LAN connection and were thinking about making our own diablo 2 mod or even whole separate homage game. We all chose roles of what we could do to make the game. And none of them really did anything beyond a conversation. I was enthralled thought.

I dabbled in halo moding (I never released anything, so don't bother looking it up.) and thought about making games through the rest of high school.

After graduation I kind of dropped it while I just kind of goofed off for like 3 years. So in 2007 I took some 3d modeling classes and learned how to use 3ds max at my local community college.

I made a few cool looking mechs, but I remember just not being able to do much with the software. If you don't know 3ds max is not a very good 3d software.

So from 2008 to about 2014 I was a bit of a mess. I didn't really do much with my life as I was a disassociated mess ( see blog post 0 for more info) I just was kind of drifting from one job and activity to the next. Those friends I mentioned earlier started a video production company, we made a few short videos for youtube, never got over 40 views. And we just kind of fizzled out. I was the 3d artist of the team. But nothing really clicked.

I felt trapped, cuz I lived in a super expensive area and with my parents. So of all things I moved to Utah to strike out on my own, where I tried to kickstart a 3d printed miniatures company. (I beat hero forge by a little bit, but they had the more solid everything)

After that the unreal engine 4 came out. I poured more and more time into it. I had 0 programming knowledge and had seen games like braid, and fez become popular. So I started just making stuff. When I found a dead-end due to a lack of knowledge I would then try to educate myself on that blind spot. Slowly I learned, UV unwrapping, animation, sprite art, rigging, and more!

That took all of 6 years off and on. Then one day I decided that I had not gotten my shit together. So I looked inward (once again read post 0) and found that I had ADHD and other hang ups that were causing me to not commit to any one project. So I got medicated, and therapated, and learned how to properly learn. So After about 50 false starts. I'm throwing my hat into the ring again. This time doing it for myself. I'm not going to use this blog as a method of checking in, I'm using it to document my journey. No matter where it takes me.

The goal is to release a game on itch.io and steam. I don't care how many units it sells. I want to release something to have fun, and to see where I can take myself.

I will do some attempts at the social media game, if it finds an audience, awesome. If not. K. My only hope is that a queer person somewhere plays my gay ass game and has a gay ass time.

-thanks for reading this loooong poooooost!.

[wakanai]

My flaws ✨

(making this because i want to look back on it when im older)

im sure ill be much different in the future 😌

so let's begin discussing my flaws 😌

(tw: eds, body dysmorphia, long post)

overweight

bad sleep schedule (usually 2-4 hrs on weekdays)

bad eating habits (last week, I didn't eat except for dinner and I binged ate those dinners then on the weekends i binged all 3 meals cause i was idle)

being insecure about my faith even tho it's my belief system and is what keeps me going TT

not being open irl

having a hard time breaking the ice (i can do boring conversations like 'hi! how are you?' and am good at listening to other people but me being weird? interesting? making insane jokes and connecting instantly and sharing big laughs with people i just met? no TT TT i can be funny and insane w my close friends but i wish i wasn't so reserved and awkward around new people TT)

caring too much what other people think

not being pushy enough (the other day, I went up to a classmate and asked 'you're the board monitor right? can u put this on the board?' she denied it and stared straight into space without looking back at me. so I left and put it on the board myself. I'm quite sure she was lying though, she just didn't want to do it)

not setting my priorities straight (pls TT i would elaborate if it wasn't for my insecurity issues 😭)

I annoy my brother a lot but sometimes I think I go too far

I don't exercise on my own unless it's something I registered for TT

why the hell am I attracted to people who are good at manipulating others (maybe because i like someone who knows the tricks and doesn't get used by others 😂 and is just real as hell) <<< once had a convo w my popular, confident classmate. told him I used to be in the top 5 hated people in class cause people thought i was a 'show off' or had 'hero complex' cuz i kept suggesting ideas and raising my hand in class. he said "obv. you have to do it for the honors" and shared that even though he gets called a 'kiss up' for being friendly w the teachers, it helps him get good grades and advantages. he's rlly cool even tho i lowkey think he's manipulative lol (but he's kind too and i like him. rlly funny and makes sense why he's got lots of friends. i want to get his confidence so bad TT)

hmm what else? sometimes i cant control my facial expressions.

my mind goes blank during social interactions sometimes. someone will make a joke or comment and idk how to respond TT like my brain just goes ***loading*** - and yet im so witty when im w my close friends ugh

dense

will send a message confronting someone then be hesitant to open their response :)

procrastinator

not responsible enough

i want to get kunikida's discipline and dedication when it comes to working :)

that's all for now. might add more in future idk. but for now all i really want is to get the confidence to show my real self and actually make my priorities straight. *cough cough put God first *cough cough submit all those college applications *cough cough do my things correctly *cough cough interact w my classmates who i think are rlly cool but inferiority complex and stereotyping myself are getting in the way 😄

by stereotyping myself, i mean thinking of myself (sometimes) as the 'boring classmate' like ?? why do humans put themselves into a box? why can't they just do what they want? it's disgusting TT

it reminds me of the time in grade 8 where my friend said

"I'm surprised your friends with En"

"why?"

"I mean..you're so different. you're like the kind classmate and she's the...yk" (En is very loud, extroverted, can be unintentionally mean, 'popular' girl)

bruh i hate high school culture so much 😂 that's a rant for another day tho.

my current class is actually really great. senior culture is quite diff. im just not that confident and have to let myself out there more and stop putting myself in a box because that's not how humans work).

***

btw the pewdiepie picture i used is from this video lol

have a good day ig TT

<3

[alstroemeriadissonance]

NXX: Three Men and a Little Lily (Part 3 - Tower Defense)

Oh god I'm sorry this update came so late. Was distracted by all the smutposting lol

Previous parts at Part 1 | Part 2

"Coming through~" called out Marius as he pushed open the mansion's main door with his ass, his arms full of equipment hauled from Luke's detective agency office. A convenience store baggie also hung from his forearm.

"Can you place those by the sofa? Thanks," Luke said, not sparing Marius even a glance--he was in the middle of setting up a makeshift control center in the middle of Vyn's living room.

His set up involved several PC towers that served as a makeshift server farm, and from the cluster of beeping, whirring boxes out flowed waves of cables upon cables upon cables; everyone including Luke himself almost tripped over the cables and nobody was amused with the exception of Lily, who looked on with rapt fascination from the relative safety of a plush chair as Luke worked on assembling his mini control center on the carpeted floor.

"Luke. Your cable management sucks ass," Marius remarked as he looked over the detective’s shoulder. Luke has been tapping away at his laptop, running server health checks and pinging several addresses to confirm his set up. "You make me want to plug some PAX products--"

"Feel free to bombard me with ads, Marius, AFTER you fortify your firewalls enough that script kiddies can't break into your DBs in a matter of five minutes," muttered Luke, the rhythm of his fingers on keyboard uninterrupted. "Think we have everything hauled in?"

"I think so, unless there was some stuff you might have left in your office,” Marius said with a groan as he flopped onto Vyn’s Victorian sofa. “Ugh. Today’s so much work. Old farts were extra touchy tonight with the financial year end coming up and,” Marius kicked off his shoes and proceeded to lie his full length across the sofa, “I just played cargo mule for you.”

He then reached out for the plastic bag bearing the brand logo of a convenience store chain (PAX-owned) and fished out a box of snacks. “Lil’ Missy, you want some?” He twisted himself on the sofa to lie on his belly, waving the box of chocolate-coated biscuit sticks at Lily.

Lily, still in her plush chair directly across the sofa Marius was lying on, immediately sat up straight and teetered over the edge to hop and join her uncle–

“Nuh-uh Lily,” her uncle Luke said, eyes still glued to his monitor. “You may trip over the wires and hurt yourself.” He then bent over backwards–still without tearing his eyes off the monitor–his hand slipping into the bag of snacks and grabbing a random foil packet; Luke didn’t bother looking at his snack before he ripped it open and put a chip in his mouth.

“Aw, but Uncle Luke…” Lily pouted, one of her frilly sock-clad feet almost on the floor…

Luke was about to tell Marius to just get his ass off Vyn’s sofa and hand Lily her snack, but instead he coughed and almost spat out the potato crisp in his mouth. “What the hell, Marius?!” That was enough to make him turn away from his monitor to take a look at the packet in his hands. “Strawberry flavor?!” What the hell is this?” he exclaimed, yet again.

Marius gently kicked Luke’s head with a sock-clad foot. “Language.”

“I’m not taking that from you, you’re not Vyn!” Luke looked around for tissues; finding a tissue holder placed on the nearby coffee table, he grabbed a few sheets and promptly spat the half-chewed crisp into it. Then he craned his neck, looking around for a trash bin; after spotting one he wadded the paper tissue filled with the potato reject and flawlessly shot the potato spitball into the bin.

“Aaaaaand he scores!” Marius whooped from the sofa.

Lily let out a bell-like chime of laughter, which gave away her position: while her Uncle Luke was distracted with the horrid strawberry potato chip she began to sneak across the floor, crawling quietly over the cables. “Uncle Luke! Teach me!” she cried out in delight, her hand grabbing cables by the fistful and about to crawl towards him…

“Lily! Oh no!” Luke jumped up from his seat on the floor and gently prised Lily’s fingers from the cables. “Don’t crawl over or grab the cables, you might get hurt,” he said as he scooped her up from the floor with his arms, and plopped her onto Marius’s back.

If Luke could voice out an emoticon, it would have been :(

“Um.” Lily fidgeted while seated on Marius’s back–Marius, who was still lying on his belly, and making loud, overdramatic mock groans of pain that went largely ignored–”Daddy said something once. Um.” She screwed her eyes shut, trying to remember the big words he taught her. “Nothing…ven. Venshur?” she murmured in her high-pitched voice.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Artem said from the nearby dining area, a large tray laden with piping hot food in his arms, steam trailing his path. “Whatever is Vyn teaching his young daughter? Does he really tell her that whenever she’s doing mischief?” he muttered as he set the food at the center of the large dining table. “Dinner’s ready. Can someone set the table?”

“On it~” Marius piped up from underneath Lily, who was now swinging her legs happily. “Lil Missy,” he said, pouting. “Your uncle Marius is not a chair. Let me get up?”

“What is the magic word?” Lily said, her tiny voice taking an imperious tone that sounded suspiciously like she had picked it up from her father, her little hands on her hips. “Daddy always asks for that word. I don’t get what I ask for if I don’t say that word. Um.” She pursed her lips. “It’s magic.”

“Pretty pwease?” Marius gave her his best puppy dog-eyed look. “Pretty pretty pwease with cherry on top and sprinkles and with little kisses just for little missy?”

Lily nodded in satisfaction. “Good,” she said, crossing her arms. “You can stand up now.” The girl slid off Marius’s back and landed on the floor. “But Uncle Marius, my snack…”

“You’ll ruin your appetite, so save that for tomorrow,” Artem said as he untied his apron and hung it by its hanger near the stove. And, after seeing Lily’s golden doe-eyed pout as she walked towards him, Artem automatically relented and said, “Fine, you can get two pieces after dinner if you behave.”

“Ha-ha, whipped,” Luke murmured under his breath with a grin as he pulled out a chair by the dining table. “Does Lily have her own chair? The usual ones seem to be a bit too low for her?”

Artem ignored the detective’s snide remark and the fact that Luke somehow used the very same term he called Vyn (in his mind) when it was all-too apparent that the doctor was wrapped around his daughter’s little finger. “She has her own boosted seat here. Lily?” he beckoned towards her. 

The tiny silver-haired girl ran towards him with her arms up in the air, letting her Uncle Artem lift her into her special seat beside the head of the table, much like a princess. 

Their little princess, with all three older men as her devoted retainers.

Marius had been setting a plate, knife, fork and spoon onto the placemats of each occupied seat (Lily gets her own special dinnerware set with small plastic cutlery, fit for her little hands). “Man, I can't wait to chow down,” he said, happily, as he finally pulled out his own chair after doing his part of the dinner preparations.

“I guess you guys can dig in?” Artem said as he started to fill Lily’s plate with food. “Just go ahead and–”

“Um,” Lily piped up, interrupting Artem with her tiny, yet firm voice. “We should say Grace first.”

This left the three men baffled. Vyn? Having his family say Grace before mealtime? Vyn, a well-known atheist who is even strongly at odds against the Church? The way they shared a look with each other confirmed that yes, they had the very same thought.

“Lily, so is it like…praying?” Luke asked her, trying his best to not look skeptical.

The girl merely blinked. “Praying? Um.” She chewed her lip. “I’m not sure,” she finally said, as if she was not familiar with the word.

“Think you can do it and show us how it’s done?” Marius said. Which was a sincere request, coming from him. His family rarely got to eat together, even during his younger years; his faint idea of a pre-meal prayer mostly came from depictions in dramas and movies.

She nodded happily. “Sure! Daddy always makes me go first.” Lily then clasped her hands together, and squeezed her eyes shut. “Um. Thanks for the food that Uncle Artem made. Thanks for Uncle Marius, Uncle Artem, and Uncle Luke here with me. And um.” Lily paused, trying to think of anything else to be thankful for. “The chocolate snack. That Uncle Artem promised,” Lily finally said, with a wide grin on her face. “Done!”

Marius and Luke sniggered, and once again someone muttered “Whipped,” in a voice barely audible in between snorts of laughter–

A loud beeping emanated from Luke’s haphazardly set-up control center.

“Uh. Guys,” Luke whispered, then started to knock onto the surface of the wooden dining table with his knuckles. 

It was morse code, and the other two men immediately understood the message as soon as the rapping of knuckles against wood had finished: <<Can be false alarm. Checking it out. Talk as if you did not notice anything>> 

Luke then stood up. “I forgot the snacks that Marius bought, just gonna grab it,” he said as he strode back to the living room, kneeling by the main console where he typed out certain commands.

“Um. All of you get a turn!” Lily said with a wide grin, pointing towards Marius. “You go first, Uncle Marius!” 

Marius smiled wanly, despite the quickly growing pit in his stomach. Holy hell. If that was a real alarm they sure aren’t wasting time, whoever they are. “Er sure! Uh…” He then imitated Lily, closing his eyes with hands clasped as if in prayer. “Thank you for the beef stir fry–”

Artem tapped his own message onto the table while Marius said his Grace. <<Anyone outside?>>

“--and the delicious dumplings, and being able to see Lily again–”

Luke: <<Yes>>

“And I hope the old farts at the board resign so I can replace them with more reasonable people. There! Your turn, Artem.” Then, in morse code, spoon against his plate: <<Artem, got your gun?>>

Artem tapped quickly: <<Holstered>> He then cleared his throat, and after assuming the closed eyes, clasped hands posture proceeded with his own thanks. “Thank you for the opportunity to cook for Lily, and the well-stocked pantry and fridge that Vyn has kindly provided for us–”

Luke: <>

“Argh, my tummy hurts,” Luke pretended to groan in pain and clutched his stomach. “I uh–I’ll need to go! Potty!” he said, hastily making his way to the backdoor that led to the gardens. “I’ll be right back!”

“Um, Uncle Luke!” Lily called after him, frantically waving and trying to get his attention. “That’s not the where the restroom–”

“You’ll get more choco sticks if you start eating now, Lil Missy~” Marius said to get her attention away from Luke, reaching over towards Lily with a piece of broccoli pierced on his fork. “Say aaaahh,”

Lily threw Luke a final glance, then obediently opened her mouth. “Aaaah.”

“Aaaaand it lands!” Marius said as he fed her the broccoli. He grinned with delight as he saw Lily eat the much maligned vegetable without complaint. “Oh? Does Lil Missy actually like broccoli?”

“I sauteed it with butter and a little bit of brown sugar,” Artem said. “That usually makes it palatable for kids.” And in morse code, <<Take her to her room and keep her occupied. Stay with her>>

Marius: <<Ok>>

“I’m…a little worried about Luke,” Artem said as he pushed himself out of his chair. “Marius, can you two finish your meals in Lily’s room?” He adjusted his blazer and patted the side where his gun is holstered, as if reassuring himself with the presence of his gun.

Lily tipped her head to one side, inquiring, “Um why? Is there anything wrong?”

“Oh, er, there’s really no use eating here with both Luke and Artem out,” Marius hastily explained as he ran to the living room and shouldered his backpack sitting on the sofa. “It’s gonna be reeaaally boring, so let me show you some really cool trick instead!” He said to Lily, winking as he walked back to the dinner table to gather their plates.

“Down you go,” Artem grunted as he helped Lily off her booster chair. Then he gestured to Marius with his fist to go bring Lily to her room as fast as he possibly could.

“Last one to your room gets ALL the choco biscuit snacks!” Marius yelled as he ran up the stairs, arms full with their plates. “Whee!”

It worked. “Hey, no fair!” cried Lily as she ran after his heels, running up the stairs as fast as she could–her silver pigtails swinging behind her–and probably fast enough to make Vyn break out in cold sweat if he somehow witnessed his precious daughter recklessly run up the stairs.

With Lily well out of the way, Artem finally took out his gun from the shoulder holster hidden underneath his blazer, quickly checking its magazine and taking it out of safety. Right. It’s finally time.

===

Ensconced in the relative safety of Lily’s room–Vyn had the foresight to make sure that there would be nothing outside that could be used as foothold that may let malicious agents gain entrance to any of the rooms via the windows–Marius and Lily quickly finished their dinner, after which the art student started setting up a few pieces of equipment for a show he had prepared to keep Lily occupied while countermeasures were being made, outside.

He just did not expect he would be using it so soon. 

“Right,” Marius said as he turned on the light projector aimed at the portion of the wall he temporarily covered a white blanket. “Prepare yourself, Lil Missy,” he said with grand aplomb as he suddenly turned off all the lights in the room, leaving only the projector turned on. “Welcome to the best–” he tapped his fingers against the wooden desk beside him, simulating a drumroll. “--shadow puppet theater ever! And it’s in your very room! How about that?”

Lily, seated comfortably on her bed, clapped her hands excitedly. “Hurray! What’s the story about, Uncle Marius?”

“Don’t worry, I was just getting to that my little impatient Missy,” Marius said, gingerly pulling out a paper cut out of an enormous, majestic-looking creature from the inner depths of his backpack. Bamboo skewers–typically used for barbeque–were taped to either ends of the paper cut out. 

Marius held the large paper cut out by the wooden sticks in front of the light projector, casting a beautiful shadow of a huge dragon onto the improvised puppet theater stage. His fingers waggled one of the sticks, giving the shadow an illusion of flapping dragon’s wings.

“Tonight you will witness the magical tale that I, Marius von Hagen, have written!” Marius announced with great pride, hiding his inner nervousness and worry about his colleague’s safety with his loud posturing. “The Dragon and the Rose Knight!”

“Wow! A new story!” Lily exclaimed, kicking off the blanket from her legs and crawled to the edge of the bed closest to the shadow theater stage.

Marius cleared his throat. “Once upon a time, there was a kingdom in peril. An evil sorcerer prince held the kingdom hostage, as he sought out the hand of the kingdom’s princess most fair…”

===

“Situation?” Artem whispered to Luke as he caught up to him by the entrance to Vyn’s garden, which by itself was a veritable maze at the dead of night. “There were signs of attempted entrance by the side door.”

“I thought I told all of you to stay put inside,” Luke muttered as his eyes scanned their surroundings. Both of them were crouched by one of the trellises that covered the path towards the gazebo, heavy with blood-red bougainvillea flowers hanging from the canopy which, along with the hydrangea shrubs that lined the stone pathway, provided excellent cover from intruders not familiar with the maze-like landscaping of the gardens.

“I can’t just stay put,” Artem muttered as he cocked his gun ready. “Our comms haven’t even been set up yet.”

“Mm. And Lily?”

“With Marius in her room. He’s keeping her occupied.”

“Good. Did Vyn say anything about how to handle…the aftermath?”

“Yes. And he emphasized never to involve the police,” Artem grimaced as he said the words, obviously having misgivings in possibly skirting the right and just purview of the law. 

“I wouldn’t involve them too,” Luke muttered as he fished out a thick pair of goggles from his belt bag. “The police would just end up with new holes and bleed all over Vyn’s flowers. This shit is way above their pay grade.” The agent slid his night vision goggles over his eyes, adjusting the side dials with quick flicks of his fingertips. “I would call in the SWAT instead, but I think what Vyn meant was, to never let this diplomatic crisis wind up in the news.”

“Yeah. I gathered as much.”

“So stay behind me, and just give me cover, alright?” Luke whispered, his attention now focused towards the thick of the garden. “Two of them. Don’t trail too far behind me. Fire at will only when I engage or if they act first.”

“Understood.”

“Good. Follow me, slow and steady.”

Still crouching, both of them slowly approached the intruders, careful to keep their cover behind the shrubbery while taking care not to rustle the foliage. Luke led the way, guided by the enemy positions revealed through his night vision goggles, with Artem trailing close behind, gun at the ready.

Eventually they got close enough to hear the intruders–both donning dark grey clothing and balaclavas–chattering amongst themselves, still hidden from view by the tall shoulder-height hedgerow that served as demarcation lines for the maze-like inner garden pathways. 

None of them were surprised to find out that–from what little they could gather from the rapid fire, glottal speech–they were talking in the Northern European dialect commonly used in Svart.

Fuck, Luke thought to himself as he tapped onto the earpiece of his comms device. Vyn and I were right. He tapped onto the receiver several times–his device was set up to intercept transmissions. His comms could not exactly decrypt the transmission in real time, but he meant to record the transmission, decrypt when things had settled down, and send a copy to Vyn via NXX infra. 

Then he finally managed to hit the jackpot: scrambled, foreign words, cut off by clicking sounds, followed by another voice fragment, yet cut off by another series of clicks. There we go. Luke then sets his comms to Record.

Shit, they’re making their move, Luke yanked off his night vision goggles, dropping it by his feet. He turned to look at Artem over his shoulder, signaling for him to get ready for action. 

The lawyer nodded, his trigger finger now just shy of violating trigger discipline. 

Things were now about to get messy. Hopefully not too messy, as they absolutely could not afford a sustained stand-off and risk discovery by law enforcement and, by extension, the embassy and government, if Vyn was to be believed.

One of the intruders started to sprint towards the direction of the Victorian mansion; Luke immediately sprang out through the hedge; his arms reached out as he lunged out to the man, catching him in a sleeper hold. Both of them rolled a few times on the stone pavement until the foreigner, his carotid artery still compressed by Luke’s now steel-like arms, gradually lost consciousness and lied face down on the ground.

At exactly the same time Artem aimed the business end of his Beretta at the second intruder, who still stood in position, his path suddenly cut off by Luke’s surprise ambush. 

The second masked man shouted what sounded like a string of expletives–or probably threats, from what little Germanic words Artem could recognize–and trained his pistol right back at the lawyer.

Artem did not hesitate and pulled the trigger.

The black-clad man teetered on his feet, and slumped to the ground. A noticeable pool of blood spread from where his head lay.

Goddamnit.

And so went Artem Wing’s very first kill.

===

Bang. The resounding sound of what was unmistakably a gunshot–to Marius, at least–could be heard even through the shuttered glass windows. 

Lily, despite being fully immersed in her Uncle Marius’s story telling, jumped up and looked around. “What was that, Uncle Marius?!” she asked, alarmed.

Oh fucking hell. I hope that’s from Artem’s gun, Marius thought as he inwardly panicked. Cold, damp sweat moistened the palms of his hands holding the puppet cut out figures of the Knight and the Prince, and sweat trickled down his forehead despite the cold. He felt oddly numb, yet valiantly he smiled at Lily. “Oh, I wonder what that could be?” he asked in a stage whisper. “Could that be the dragon?”

Having been made to think that the sudden, sharp sound was still part of the shadow puppet show Lily shook her head. “No!” she said. “Prince Vilhelm is the dragon!” she pointed out with excitement in her voice, knowing she was right. “And he’s there, so–!”

“Aha, but that’s what you think!” Marius slathered on several layers of glee in his voice, desperate to keep the little girl’s full attention while the inner recesses of his mind whirred and churned, running over and over what he should do if Lily’s room was to be breached by intruders. The gun. You have a gun, Marius von Hagen. It’s in your backpack, and it only takes half a second to pull it out and shoot–you practiced it so much you can do it in your sleep, so calm down for fuck’s sake– 

“See, here is how things went down…”

“You still haven’t told me yet about what sort of disposal method Vyn has planned for us,” Luke finally said after they checked the entire immediate perimeter and declared the area All Clear. “We got two bodies, one probably still alive and worth something if they could do something with the hypoxia of the brain,” Luke continued. Then, “You okay man?” after he noticed Artem’s hand slightly shaking.

“Yes. Yes I am,” Artem muttered. “I guess I’m just not over with killing someone.” A pause. “And it’s well outside the legal–”

Luke cut him off with a slight shake on one of his shoulders. “Hey. Stay with me. If you didn’t shoot the guy, then Lily could have been in danger. Marius too, but he’s a big fucking boy and should be able to take care of himself.”

“I know what you’re saying, but–”

“Don’t overthink things!” Luke hissed. “Once you get ahead of yourself and try to think of those several what-ifs and possible legal whatsis that may be used against you,” he took a deep breath, “you’ll just start second-guessing yourself all the damn time and eventually get in our way. So stop it. You did what you had to do. And,” the agent pursed his lips, “If it makes you feel better, you can always drag Vyn down with you, since we’re only acting under his command–no, request–to begin with.”

Artem, finally relenting, sighed. “Fine. I–I’ll take your word for it.” He rubbed his eyes. “Since you’re the one who’s more experienced in these kinds of situations.”

“Heh. Damn straight,” Luke grinned, then went back to business. “You still haven’t told me how to dispose of these guys.”

“Well…”

===

A few minutes before Vyn’s departure.

“Another thing,” Artem heard Vyn say, voice noticeably quieter. “Come, follow me.” 

The doctor led him far away from Rosa and the others, ducking away to a half-hidden corner underneath the stairs. “Listen to me carefully. This may be one of the most important things that should never be neglected.”

“What is it?” Artem asked as he watched Vyn pull out his smartphone, flipping through his contacts.

“Take out your phone. I will be sending you a number that you need to keep with you at all times, and if possible, memorize.” 

“Right.” Artem fished out his phone and saved the phonebook entry sent to him. Once registered and the numbers revealed, Artem silently took note of the string of numbers and committed it into memory. “What is this for?”

Vyn craned his neck, checking to see if anyone is within earshot. Then, “Should you need to dispose of anything in the aftermath of an…encounter, dial that number. That is all.”

“That’s all?” Artem narrowed his eyes. “Literally just dial the number? Who is going to take the call? Who am I calling?”

“Just dial the number. You do not need to speak; they will cut the call once they have confirmed your location.”

“Alright. And by disposal…?” Artem let his voice trail off, wanting the other man to confirm if he indeed understood the point he was trying to make. 

“This includes cadavers. Bodies, Wing. Including evidence of such encounters that may produce such.” Vyn pursed his lips. “Yes.”

“You are talking about illegal handling of bodies and evidence. This is the wiping of crime scenes you are talking about, Richter.”

“Indeed,” came Vyn’s flat admittance. “Everything about this affair is to be buried in secrecy. Until we fully understand the implications, the machinations, the motivations and everything else behind this we need to keep this absolutely under wraps. You know my position, Wing. I do not care if it is only my reputation at stake, but it is a different story if we are talking about affairs of the state, or even diplomatic relations.”

“So, you managed to confirm something with Luke?” Artem slipped his phone back into his pocket. “There’s something that we have to be on guard about?”

“Not yet, nothing specific. Like what I have mentioned last night, it is the suspiciousness of how well things are in order that is making me paranoid. It is as if everything is meticulously planned, every possible question easily and readily answered by something,” Vyn whispered. “It is but a hunch, and I am wishing, hoping that I am wrong.”

“Yes. I hope you are right,” Artem said. “In any case, I will keep this in mind. When–if–things go south, I will dial this number.”

“Thank you. Just trust me on this one, Wing,” Vyn said, looking at him straight in the eye with nothing but seriousness. “The same way I am trusting you with the safety of my daughter.”

“Fine. I will.” Artem replied, not knowing what he would get himself into several hours later.

===

They arrived almost immediately after Artem dialed the number; it did not take more than ten minutes until a black van quietly pulled into the driveway and a crew of five people–four of them carrying various tools–filed out of the vehicle. 

The one who was not carrying anything, a small figure clad in a nondescript suit and his face half-hidden behind tinted round-rimmed glasses, quietly approached Artem and Luke. He spoke with an accent. “Sirs, where should we clean up?” 

Luke took the liberty of giving the seemingly young man, or boy, directions. “Just go left, and you’ll see the entrance to the garden. Just go straight through the path. You’ll see them.”

The short man bowed. “Thank you. Leave everything to us. No need to worry.”

“Uh, okay,” was all Luke could say.

Artem could only look on as the five-man crew worked with silent, clockwork precision as they erased all traces, all evidence of the encounter a few minutes ago.

And after fifteen minutes, everything was done: one body was wrapped in cloth; the other, possibly with life still left in him, strapped onto a stretcher. There were no traces of blood or any struggle left in the garden; the cleaning materials have also dried and there was not a trace of the clean up itself left.

It was as if the garden had been reset to how it was before the entire thing happened.

And, with nary a word exchanged the clean-up crew pulled out of the driveway, and there was nothing else for Artem and Luke to do but to get back inside and tell Marius that everything has settled down. For now, at least.

A loud rumbling interrupted the quiet, balmy evening. 

“I can reheat the food,” Artem said. “Let’s get back inside.”

Luke smiled, thinly. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

Luke: So, um Vyn? Stuff happened.

Vyn: Yes. I am aware. I have been apprised of the situation by the cleaners.

Artem: I still can’t believe such a crew exists.

Vyn: They are only known by those who require them to exist. That is all I can say about them at the moment.

Artem: That is not a good look on you, Richter. Just letting you know.

Vyn: Yes. I am aware. Also, I appreciate you for doing what you did, Wing. You too, Luke.

Marius: Hey what about me

Vyn: Lily could not talk of anything else other than your shadow puppet show. Thank you for shielding her from possible trauma.

Marius: :’>

Rosa: I’m really worried about what’s happening, but before I go spastic here I’ll just say thanks, everyone.

Rosa: Vyn, are they just going to dispose of everything? Or will they perform an autopsy?

Vyn: Autopsy, yes. And possibly interrogation if the second one pulls through. I shall be providing you all with updates here once the results are out.

Luke: I’m also working on decrypting a transmission from their radio. I’ll send it over once I’m done. I don’t speak your language, so.

Vyn: Thank you. I will immediately review the audio once I receive it. In the meantime, I should get ready for something that may prove…interesting.

Artem: Interesting?

Vyn: Nothing but a little court intrigue. However, it may be related to the matter that we are dealing with. 

[imonthinice]

The Criminal Psychology Majors, Jason Todd x Fem!Reader Part 2/?

Word Count: 2k

Author’s Note: Y/N - your name, A/N - any name (your best friend’s name)

Warnings: Swearing, no beta bitch we die like Jason Todd

Welcome Back! I have, once again, written more of Jason Todd because he’s a fucking teddy bear and I love him.

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20)

Y/N and Jason both returned from that date feeling all giddy about each other, but trying their dammed-est to not let their hopes get too high about the other. However, that was extremely, extremely hard for Jason to do with family like Dick in his life. It’s like coming home to a hopeless romantic of a shipper as a nosey bitch. Lovingly, of course. No one’s like Dick.

“So, Y/N?” Dick asked Jason immediately as he entered the Manor.

“Yeah, what about her?”

“So, many questions: Was that a date? If no, will there be a date? Is there going to be a second date? Do you like her? Do you think we’ll like her? Does she know you’re Bruce Wayne’s son?” Dick rambled at his little brother.

“Okay hold on god damn, yes it was a date, yes there will be a second, yeah I think she’s cool and I like her, slow your roll Circus Boy, I don’t know when she’ll meet you lot, I don’t think she knows who I am, she’s from Metropolis, so I don’t think she knows the Waynes well.” Jason answered Dick with confidence.

“So you like her!” Steph mocked as she entered the hallway, probably heard her brothers talking about Y/N, so she wanted in on it. Somehow she had evaded Jason’s gaze though, so she startled him immensely.

“Jeez, how many of you will scare me today? And yeah, dumbass, I like her. But I’m doing this magical thing called ‘Not getting my god damn hopes up about her since it’s only the first date’ you hopeless romantic fucks.” Jason barked at them.

“Yeah, but you love us.” Dick said.

“That might be true, but your meddling is only going to cause chaos, Dick and Steph.”

“What about my meddling, Jay?” Bruce asked. Once again, he had heard the talking about Jason’s new crush and decided he’d parent the boy on his girl. Jason jumped out of his skin, because, he had once again, not seen Bruce enter the hallway despite his best efforts to not get startled again.

“You, are going to give me a heart attack.”

“Looks like this girl let your guard down.”

“Can we just go on patrol and stop badgering me?” Jason muttered under his breath.

“Nope!” Barbara exclaimed. Clearly, there’s a pattern with Waynes escaping Jason’s attempts to not get startled today, “We’re still going to badger you, Jay,” Barbara finished.

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

When Y/N made her way back to A/N, she couldn’t help but turn her radio as loud as she could and try to take the longer journey back home. Pieces of quiet and tranquility always surprised and drew her in. Like a good book on a Sunday morning before the rest of the bustling city of Gotham or Metropolis awoke itself. If New York never sleeps, she thought, then what the hell do Gotham and Metropolis call themselves. She laughed.

There were a few good things about Gotham, like the people you’d meet on the street at 4am were some of the weirdest but kindest people you’d ever know. It’s like the city radiated off of the energy of the people in it, and in spite of the villains constantly hitting the city with their worst, somehow everyone never let it get to them. It was admirable. Metropolis was the same in that avenue, but it didn’t feel like the cold Gotham streets.

Y/N thought Jason was one of the kinder people she had met in her travels and classes. And she never thought that she’d meet someone she liked this much in her criminal psychology class of all places, but hey, the universe had different pen strokes for her.

She went and parked her car in the driveway of the rental house she and A/N shared. Only the two of them shared it, but if either of them lost their jobs, they’d be looking for another roommate immediately. Pulling out her bag which was full of notes written by Jason, the original notes written by her, and binders upon binders of criminal cases she was looking into at the time, she would get out of her car and begin walking to her door.

Of course, like most people, she would kick off her heels the minute she walked through the doors of the house, to which, A/N paused her music and went to go question Y/N about Jason.

“So, you know how this works, babes, lay it on me, how’s hottie? Is he kind?” A/N pondered.

“He’s so kind, he paid the printing fees for my notes and rewrote all of them, I guess it’s a system for us now. I write the notes in class while he tries to take it all in, we meet up, and he rewrites them all and pays the printing fee.”

“He paid the fee?! At that college?” A/N said, completely shocked.

“Is that shocking?”

“Well, the printing fees are so fucking expensive, hun. Mans must have daddy’s money to do that.”

“Really? Well regardless money doesn’t matter, he’s kind and I can make a name for myself if I graduate at the top of my class.” She said, fully believing this. Smart woman. She knew she could do it.

“I believe in you, do you have homework tonight? I can make dinner for you so you can study.” A/N offered.

“Nah, I’m just going to go file my notes and shower, I’ll come join you and help after.”

“Well, don’t drown.” A/N joked.

“Do you know how much effort that would take?” She laughed as she walked towards her room, once she got there she pulled out her papers and began the slow filing process of them into her desk.

About 2 minutes into this, she got a text:

Hey stranger.

If someone had a heart monitor hooked up to her, they could have bet their last penny on her heart skipping a beat. 

Hey Jason. She sent back.

I had a fun time today with you, do you want to do the same thing tomorrow, I could use your fast writing skills to get by in classes. And I just like talking to you. What do you say?

She thought. Maybe something legit is here, hopefully I’m not just used for notes. She worried about that, since she was just a tad insecure about him. He was pretty. She knew she was a looker, sure. But he was something more.

I would love to go on another budget date with you.

Budget? Actually yeah, I guess it is budget lol. Maybe next time I’ll actually take you out to lunch like I said I would.

I, honestly, completely forgot you said you’d take me to lunch, I was just having fun as we were talking.

Me too. You’re a hoot.

A hoot? That’s a book nerd statement if I’ve ever heard one. She joked. She didn’t actually know if he was a book nerd at this time, but they had been joking the entire time when she was filing her notes. She was no where near done filing her notes, Jason was a distraction from that, it wasn’t that important, she would end up finishing it later. She just liked some semblance of organization so she didn’t have to put it off.

I’ll have you know I’ve probably read more books than you.

Well book nerds are cute.

Eventually the messages from Jason and Y/N started slowing, Y/N assumed he was tired or working so she took her chance to file her notes and start running her shower.

Sorry Y/N, this has been fun but I’m going to get really sparse with replies, I got work to do.

That’s fine! Where do you work, by the way?

And she got into the shower. Halfway through her shower her phone pinged, she assumed Jason was texting back, so when she finished her shower, before she even got her towel on, she decided to answer him:

I work at Wayne Enterprises with my dad. It’s quite fun.  He had said.

Oh! I’ve heard the owner of Wayne Enterprises is a lovely man, have you met him? She asked him back.

And within an instant, he answered.

He’s my dad, so yeah.

You’re the Jason Todd? Heir to the Wayne Manor and Wayne Enterprises? She started thinking back on what A/N had said. Yep, she thought, Daddy’s money indeed. She started to slip into her pajamas, which were literally a mess and not put together, because this is the real world, not every girl has matching sets, when he answered:

I hope that doesn’t change much, Y/N.

Explains the camera I saw but didn’t mention, and that’s about it.

You saw the cameras? Damn it. I tried to shield you, they may have pictured us together, sorry.

Worth it for a lovely date. I’ve seen worse, my mum works with Clark Kent, who I guess you probably know since he’s Bruce’s best friend, and the paparazzi loves to take Clark’s picture.

Oh yeah, Uncle Clark. Yeah, the pap love him. You get used to it. I guess you somewhat know my family lol.

Nah, that’s about all I know. Wasn’t really interested in drama about you lot because it’s just not my business. Probably not a shared ideal with the general public.

She finished getting dressed and went to go cook with A/N, and share the news.

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

“Girl! You were right about daddy’s money oh my god,” Y/N said when she entered the kitchen.

“Go on,” A/N urged.

“You know Jason Todd? Guess what. That’s hottie from Crim Psych 101.”

“Are you serious? That’s insane. You’re probably plastered across the internet right now for that date,” A/N laughed, “are you scared to date a famous man?” She asked.

“No, he’s really sweet and if this gets serious, I can just block out the flashes.”

The two of them laughed and started cooking. A/N was Latina, so, of course, she was in charge to cook most nights. But Y/N made killer desserts and pizza. Tonight was fajitas, so Y/N kind of sat bat and let A/N do her thing. Trying to know more so one day A/N wouldn’t have to do all the work, Y/N went onto the internet and the first thing she saw?

Globally Revered Son of a Millionaire, Jason Todd, out on a DATE with a Mystery Girl?

Like clockwork, Jason answered:

I guess I have a lot to teach you, and I hope you haven’t been on the internet recently.

I have. Globally Revered Son of a Millionaire. She texted back.

Fuck those damn tabloids. He said, she couldn’t help but agree, the paparazzi seem like they’re very invested in stories that aren’t theirs to tell.

Can’t agree with you more. We should put on a show for them tomorrow, actually give them something to write about.

I like your thinking.

You’ve opened up a lot today.

Is it your turn now?

What do you want to know? You asked him before turning to A/N.

“Tabloids talk too much,” you sneered at her.

“Cat should get their tongue and choke on it,” she finished, “did you at least look cute in their pics?” she asked.

“Somehow. Wasn’t even posing,” Y/N finished.

“Well, food’s done, are you still hungry?”

“Always.”

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

Jason turned to his brother, Dick, Nightwing, and said, 

“She knows now.”

“That you’re rich?” he asked.

“Yeah, I guess I have to be more wary of her now,” he sighed, “I hope she’s not in it for the Wayne fortune.”

“Doubt she is if she agreed the tabloids can suck it, Red Hood.”

“I pray you’re right.”

He then drew his guns and fired at the ground underneath their laest venture into crime-fighting. This was gonna be one hell of a ride Y/N embarked on, not even knowing what she was getting into.

[rebeccccccaaa]

ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ

_________________________

ʙᴜᴄᴋʏ ʙᴀʀɴᴇs x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ʀᴇǫᴜᴇsᴛᴇᴅ: (ANON) Hi 🤗 would you do a bday imagine for me? I adore your writing so much! A Bucky one where it’s your anniversary but you get called on a mission and it goes slightly wrong as you see a little bomb thrown in bucks direction. You push him aside and take the full impact of the explosion. You barely survive with serious injuries and you end up being revived and later in a coma and Bucky is always by your side. One day you finally wake up again and Bucky takes care of you and it’s all cute?

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs: soft fluffy smut because i can’t help myself lol (OMG IT’S NOT FLUFFY LMAOOOO) (i was finna do fluffy smut for their anniversary but it got filthy real quick ajhfbguhrtg, angst, scared bucky :(

cw: violence and graphic depictions of fighting and bombs and death *sad face*

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ’s ɴᴏᴛᴇs: I'm so sorry I couldn't get this to you sooner love i was having a really hard time with this concept and i just didn’t feel confident in what it was becoming but i really like what i came up with so I hope you had a beautiful birthday and enjoy bug!!

ps: we’re working on anti-valentine part 2 ;)

_____________________

“Y/n!”

Ringing echoed in your ear painfully.

“Please, don’t leave me. I need you,” you heard Bucky’s voice echo as well.

Smoke filled your lungs and you felt like you couldn’t breathe. Your leg burned but you can’t seem to figure out why it did.

“Y/n, keep your eyes open, come on, baby,” Bucky voice sounded warped and you tried your hardest to focus on his voice. Your eyes grew too heavy and soon you blacked out.

“Help!”

“Somebody!”

“She’s fallen into a come; it was all we could do.”

“I’m here, baby.”

“The other day, Steve and I went to the store and I found your favorite flowers. I just had to buy them of course; for you.”

“Peter asked about you today, I didn’t really know what to tell him so I told him about the story of when we first met.”

“Baby, please wake up; I need you, I miss you so fucking much.”

“Wake up.”

“Wake up.”

“WAKE UP!”

Bucky sat next to you by your bed as you laid still and unmoving just as you had been for the past three months. Bucky came everyday to the medical center and talked to you even though he knew you probably couldn’t hear him. He held your hand softly and suddenly the heartbeat monitor that you were hooked up to for the time being began beeping very quickly. Worried, Bucky called for Dr. Cho and Bruce to come to the medical center as soon as possible.  

“What happened?” Bruce asked Buck.

“I don’t know, I was just sitting here and it started beeping really fast,” Bucky said, panicked.

“Ok can you step out please?” Bruce started to lead him out and others arrived at the medical center after hearing the commotion.

“No, I’m not leaving her,” Bucky fought.

“Bucky, please,” Bruce begged.

“No, no!” Bucky thrashed around as Steve grabbed him and pulled him out. 

Hours later felt like an eternity as Bucky waited outside your door. He waited for any news but he was clueless. Nat, Sam, Steve, and Tony waited with him also clueless about the status of your condition. Wanda and Vision had returned from a mission aware of the news and rushed to meet the rest of the team at the medical center. 

“Is she awake?” Wanda asked breathlessly.

“We don’t know,” Nat answered.

“Vis?” Wanda turned to him.

“I’m afraid I’m in a bit of a state of panic, I don’t think I can get an evaluation right now,” he said sadly.

“Don’t stress, you two. Go get some rest. We’ll let you know what happens,” Steve told them.

They waited all night and by morning they all rested on top of each other, heads on each other's shoulders still waiting for any type of news. When the door suddenly opened, everyone who was asleep instantly and simultaneously woke up anxious for what news they’d receive.

“Barnes,” Bruce said softly; Bucky expected the worst, tears brimming his eyes silently preparing himself for the end of his happiness. 

“She asked for you,” he said and Bucky sobbed, thankful you were awake. He took a very deep breath and walked through the door alone.

When his eyes met yours he felt like he couldn't breathe anymore. You looked so beautiful and he couldn’t believe you were awake again. He waited so long to be able to hear your voice, hold you close, tell stories and laugh with you.  

“Bucky,” you whispered.

He lunged at you and hugged you tightly and you hugged him back just as hard. 

“You came back to me,” Bucky sobbed into your shoulder.

“Of course I did; I always come back to you,” your voice croaked.

“I missed you so much, baby,” he cupped your face.

“What happened?”

“You played hero, like you always do,” Bucky chuckled.

You were held up after being ambushed by too many Hydra agents. You had the material you needed and sent it over to Fury and Hill; now you just had to get the hell out of there but that was proving to be an entire challenge in itself.

Hydra had thrown smoke bombs at you two in hopes to distract and lose you but you proved to be stealthier and stronger taking out many agents already. Bucky was busy fighting an agent as were you and you took down your agent before he did. 

You turned to him and to the very side of Bucky a man had detonated a bomb that wasn't a smoke bomb. You didn’t think much before you moved forward and covered the bomb with your body. Bucky snapped the neck of his enemy and grabbed you to pull you away from the bomb but it got stuck to leg and exploded.

Ringing echoed in your ear painfully. 

Smoke filled your lungs and you felt like you couldn’t breathe. 

Bucky grabbed you and knew it was best to not move you considering the state you were in; he couldn’t risk a single thing. More hydra agents flooded in and Bucky grabbed the gun you held and fired perfect headshots to each agent killing every single one easily. 

He held you close and tried to connect to someone but the bomb interfered with both your comms. He yelled and screamed and cried keeping you in his arms looking for anyone who could be a friend nearby. 

Your eyes fluttered and he kept telling you to stay awake, to keep talking, to stay alive. He couldn’t lose you. 

“Hey, you can’t leave me; today’s our anniversary, remember? Four years today. The best four years of my life baby. I can’t lose you,” he cried.

Your body felt limp in his arms and he cried even more. The quinjet came up and medics came and took you away from him. He yelled and shouted and protested but ultimately broke down from feeling helpless. 

Hours later they came and told Bucky that they put in a medically induced coma; it was all your body was willing to negotiate. 

“She’s fallen into a come; it was all we could do.”

Bucky stayed by side all night and everyday until today. Your body reacted to the memories and everything Bucky had told while you were asleep. You fought and man did you fight hard. You needed to wake up and you did just that; reunited with the love of life 3 months later.

“God, I love you so much,” Bucky kissed you. 

“I love you too.”

============

“Bucky have you seen my black shirt? The one with the laces in the back?” you shouted.

“Did you check the clothes on the hangers?”

“Found it!”

Bucky straightened his shirt with a chuckle as he looked at himself in the mirror. Since the two of you originally missed your anniversary date because you almost got yourself killed. Tony gifted you two a reservation for dinner to celebrate. 

Bucky turned around and found staring back at him wearing your black top \you found; you had a small smile on your face.

“You look so beautiful darling,” he whispered holding your hips gently.

“You look very handsome, my love,” you kissed him faintly.

“You ready?” you nodded.

Dinner sucked.

The food was alright, not incredible like you guys had been expecting but that wasn’t even the worst of it. The waiter that was attending to you was constantly flirting with you and Bucky wasn’t having it. When he requested a new one, the waitress that came suddenly lost the top buttons of her shirt and flirted with Bucky. 

So you two left. 

When you got back to your shared room, Bucky pressed you hard against the door as soon as it closed. His lips kissing you hard and his hand already untying the strings that laced your top. Your hands gripped his shirt and soon entangled themselves in his hair. 

“Fucking asshole,” Bucky grunted.

“You think you had a bad time? The bitch suddenly had her tits out when she started waiting us,” you groaned, making Bucky laugh. 

“Yeah that wasn't a great experience. I’m sorry, baby.”

“Don’t be; all I need is you and already have that,” you whispered against his lips.

“I fucking adore you,” he said, picking you up and tossing you in the bed.

You sat up and pulled Bucky close to you as you seductively unbuttoned his shirt. Bucky bit his lip as he stared at you and you suddenly felt very small.

“No, don't get all shy on me. Keep going darling,” he encouraged.

You moved your hands down and unbuckled his belt pulling his pants and boxers down his thick thighs you loved so much. You kissed his chest and let your hands roamed across his stomach and waist pulling him close. 

He pushed you down on the bed and kissed you breasts, tracing his tongue down the center of your chest to your stomach. He slowly curled his fingers over the hem of your pants and underwear and pulled down your legs as you did to him. 

He kissed up your legs before reaching over to the bedside table and pulled a condom from inside the drawer. He pulled it down over his length and pumped a few times before settling perfectly between your hips. 

Your legs wrapped around his own hips, excitedly anticipating what's to come. Bucky cupped your face gently, slowly sliding into you with ease. Since you left the stupid resteraunt, you knew Bucky was pissed off and Bucky was pissed you got absolutely railed into oblivion. You were just waiting, arousal dripping from you, for him to snap.

He gave little time to adjust to enormous size; you were already a jittery and whimpering mess underneath him. Your chest heaved up and down and Bucky sat up on his knees pulling you with him. You held his shoulders tightly and continued to move up and down, riding Bucky. 

“You look so beautiful, baby. Fuck, I love you so much,” Bucky wrapped his hand around your throat, sqyeezing ever so gently, and pulled you against his lips. With his other hand he held both of your hands behind your back tightly; your chest flushed against his. He could feel your hardened nipples pressing into his skin.

“Bucky,” you moaned.

“Feel good? My cock feel good fucking you deep inside?” he grabbed one of your hands and placed it on your lower stomach; you could feel him poking your hand slightly with each vigorous thrust.

“Oh fuck, baby,” you moaned looking down in between your bodies. The obscene sounds of him moving rapidly in and out of you echoed in the large bedroom. The sight was just as filthy but you were basking in every second of it. 

Bucky flipped your body over and pulled your hips up harshly immediately slamming back into you. Your back arch and Bucky’s hands rubbed deliciously up and down your spine. He lifted his hand briefly and striked down smack your ass hard. Your head threw back quickly and you moaned loudly at the tingling sensation left imprinted on you.  

Bucky hips snapped into yours repeatedly, seemingly to be chasing his orgasm. Wanting to meet him, you snaked your hand down your front and circled your clit tightening the coil in your stomach. You heard Bucky grunts get louder as did your moans until finally you felt Bucky hips come to a sudden stop. 

Your body shook violently as you came hard; your head fell into the pillows and you let out a pornographic moan; high-pitched and shaky. You felt Bucky’s lips moving up your spine softly and your body trembled under them. His hands caress your sides as he gently pulled out.

“You did so well for me, my love. You were perfect,” he whispered. You simply breathed heavily trying to steady your heart rate. You could feel Bucky moving behind you and quickly returned to clean your body up and his too. 

“Baby?” he whispered when he was finished cleaning.

“Hm?” you hummed.

“Are you ok?”

“Yes, that was incredible,” you smiled lazily.

“You are so perfect to me. So good to me,” he cuddled you; you squirmed and bit your lip smiling at him of which he returned.

“I love you so much,” he said.

“I love you too, Bucky.”

“Well, uh happy late anniversary, doll,” he said, making you laugh.

“Happy late anniversary.”

[lokilickedme]

Somebody help me chill, this is insane.

(under the cut because long and also pretty traumatic, for me at least)

Crazy neighbor, remember her?  Her son destroyed a piece of equipment we had attached to one of our trees at the fenceline last week, she denied it and called us insane liars - that’s the most recent craziness in the ongoing saga of the neighbor from hell.  I was sitting here reading my dash tonight and happened to glance over at the monitor for the surveillance camera husband got me the other day to watch that exact spot (where the equipment was smashed) and guess who I see bent over looking through the fence peering very closely at that exact spot?  Neighbor’s equally insane son, who we know did the actual dirty work.  And I, stupid like I am, took a screenshot of him and then immediately jumped up and ran outside in the dark in my pajamas (nearly 9pm, pitch black, their porch light is off because obviously they’re doing something they don’t want to be seen doing) and I ask “Excuse me, what are you doing?”

This lunatic immediately starts SCREAMING at me - I mean top of his lungs SCREAMING abusive threats, calling me a stupid psycho whore bitch, yelling at me to get my ass back in my house and generally just acting completely off his rocker unhinged nuts - and then his mother comes out and comes over to the fence and gets in my face while I’m just standing there and tells me to mind my own business.  I say I am minding my business, I saw him looking through the fence at my property right where we had vandalism happen last week so I came out to find out why he’s interested in my property.  She laughed in my face and said “No he wasn’t, he was standing right here looking at his phone like this” and she does this little pantomine of someone looking at their phone, which is funny because she wasn’t out there when he was doing it and there are no windows on that side of her house at all.  I ignored her and asked “What are you looking for?”  He kept screaming incoherent animal noises and insults from behind her so I asked again, “What are you looking for?”  And that crazy woman grinned at me and said “We’re just looking to see what kind of new devices you’ve installed!”

OMG.  She didn’t even take a breath in between lying and then contradicting her own lie.  And she’s grinning smugly at me the entire time, gesturing around pointing at our property cams and mosquito light (it flashes and apparently she thinks it’s watching her) and my bedroom window - which means she’s been snooping.  There is a cam sitting in my windowsill, aimed at the spot where the device was smashed.  Every bit of this equipment is on our property, some of it behind a privacy fence.  I tell her it’s none of her business what kind of devices we’ve got on our property, but she just yammers over me, and of course numbskull is still ranting like a psycho behind her, screaming at me to mind my own business and get back in my house and leave them alone.  At this point he’s pulled out his phone and shoved it over her shoulder toward my face and is recording me, which is just...fucking hilarious...because I’m literally doing nothing but standing there in shock and awe at how nuts these people are, and he’s still screaming abusive curses and names at me while he’s recording.

Anyway, for about 4.5 minutes we stood there with them shouting over me (I know the exact time because it was later discovered that our doorbell cam recorded audio of the entire event) and a little ways into it he screams “I WILL TEAR YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!!”

At this point psycho woman finally turns around and says “Addison Case!” and pushes him back.  He lunges at me and she tells him to go call the police (??what??  I mean...I wish he had...my phone was in my hand frozen solid, locked up because of the glitchy surveillance app I had to install to see the camera, or else I would have called them myself - but my god they really thought I was the one the cops needed to come for??).  Meanwhile I’m just standing there on my own property in the dark in my pajamas, all 5 feet and 120 lbs of me, while this rabid animal - he’s a 21 year old college boy - is lunging at me and screaming nonstop, calling me a fucking whore bitch loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear it while his phone’s camera light is in my face blinding me.  Crazy lady smiles that smug shit eating grin of hers and tells me to get back in my house, leave her alone, and move the hell away so she can live in peace.

Wow.  Just...holy shit.

This is the person who has allowed her dog to attack my very small 8 year old son on our property and send him to the hospital with injuries last year, then attempt to attack him again 2 weeks ago (he is now 9 at the time of the second attack) - again on our own property (in our back yard this time, in our front yard the first time), has allowed her dogs (multiple) to bark all night long and keep us awake (she leaves them outside and then goes away for the weekend and they bark the entire time she’s gone), then she had her crazy violent son destroy the BarkBox we put in our tree on our side of the fence last week (we put it up as a humane way to get the barking to stop without having to listen to her call us insane liars every time we complain about it).  Yet...she kept repeating over and over and over for us to leave her alone and stop harassing her.

All I could even do was stand there shaking my head.  It was surreal.  And frustrating, because they wouldn’t even let me get a word out without screaming over me, and she was doing that infuriating Karen thing where they shove their hand at your face and grin smugly while they’re telling you what you better do or they’ll call someone to make you.

I actually started laughing, it was so ludicrous.  She’s committed all those vile offenses against us and we’re the ones that need to leave her alone.  We’ve had to file four police reports against her and we’re the ones that are making her life miserable.  I just can’t stop thinking about that Liar Liar movie where the repeat offender keeps calling his lawyer to complain that the cops won’t stop arresting him and the lawyer finally yells THEN STOP BREAKING THE LAW ASSHOLE!!

It’s just like that.  My god.

SO -

She tells him to call the police again, and this limp dick shoves that phone light right up to my face and says “You think she’s worth calling the cops over?  Look at her, she don’t look worth it to me.”  And bitch starts laughing.  My god, these people are subhuman, I swear.  I’ve never seen anyone act like this in my life, over a person doing literally nothing to them.

So she finally orders her rabid son (who is just about foaming at the mouth, I swear he’s making these barking animal noises at me, it’s weird as hell) into the house and they walk away, with him still ranting like a madman until the door closes behind them.  I immediately go inside my own house and call my husband, who was way out at the back of our property in our camper (he self quarantines each day after work out there to protect us because there have been a lot of covid cases at his workplace) and he didn’t know anything was happening.  He immediately runs up to the house and I tell him I caught neighbor’s thug son messing around at our fence and that when I went out he threatened to kill me.

Tom grabs something - I don’t even know what it was, I think it was this piece of board that was sitting by the door, we’ve done a shelving project recently and a couple of leftover pieces have been there for a few days - and he stalks outside toward neighbor’s house.  I hear him yell COME OUT HERE BOY!!! and I stg you guys, if I wasn’t on the phone calling 911 I might have thought about getting naked right there and then because damn.

So anyway, let’s not go there.  This is serious by god lol (look for this to show up in a fic soon though because material like this doesn’t get handed to you for free every day).

I call 911 and say the neighbor’s son just threatened my life and for them to come quick because he’s still over there but I know he’s going to leave any second (this is his mom’s M.O, the two times the police have tried to go talk to her she gets in her car and leaves before they can get from my house to hers, and I know he’ll do the same because COWARDS).  Tom comes back and says the little pussywillow wouldn’t come out of the house.  He’s breathing fire, you guys.  Pure fucking fire.  I tell 911 to get somebody out quick before the kid leaves, and just about 2 minutes after I hang up he does just that - we see him blast past our house in his truck and he’s gone, and then the police arrive about 3 minutes after.  I’m so mad I can’t see straight.  If they’d been able to see him in the state he was in, they’d have arrested him on sight.

Two squad cars (big SUV’s) pull up and block her driveway with full lights flashing, which makes me laugh because suddenly we’ve got neighbors coming outside to see what’s going on.  I meet the officers outside, and the crazy bitch next door does the same, yelling “Hello Officer!” and waving to them as they’re coming up to my porch.

They talk to me and Tom for a long time, I tell them everything that happened, they interview Big (he and Little were inside the open door and heard it all), we fill out our statements and talk with them more until one officer goes next door to talk to neighbor.  We can hear her dripping her fake sugar and spice while they’re talking on her porch and my husband loses his shit - he heads toward her house and yells “We got the entire thing on recording, don’t even try to lie!  Your kid, threatening to kill my wife?!?”  (he’s referring to the camera in my bedroom window, which actually only recorded about 2 minutes because I don’t have it set up correctly yet, but they don’t know that). The officer yells at him to get back, which, yeah - he shouldn’t have done that, but for god’s sake the woman’s peckerhead son just literally threatened murder on a member of his family, this is the final fucking straw and he’s mad.  And as he’s coming back across the yard the officer that stayed with me points at our new doorbell camera, just freshly installed as of about two weeks ago, and asks if it’s on.  We haven’t even really figured out how to use it yet, but yes, as far as we know it’s on.  The incident happened around the side of the house, but the doorbell records audio.

God bless technology.

I invite the officer inside the house and Tom gets his phone, pulls up the app for the doorbell, and starts skipping through the recording looking for the right timestamp.  Up till this point all they have is me saying the guy screamed a lot of abusive profanities at me and threatened to tear my head off, and they’re taking me serious but probably not that serious, you know?  Neighbors fight all the time, wars start over barking dogs, things get exaggerated, we’ve all seen the TV dramas.

Until Tom finds the segment on the footage and starts playing it to them on his phone.  It’s kind of quiet because we were a good distance away, but you can hear the guy screaming just like I said he was.  The officer asks if we have a speaker we can play it through so he can hear the words more clearly, because he needs proof of threat and that’s entirely in the words.

You guys, I’m tellin’ ya, sometimes you get a chance to fucking SHINE.  My husband is a musician and this cop is asking him if he’s got a good speaker.  So within minutes Tom’s got this huge venue-style amplifier designed for broadcasting music to the back wall of a freaking stadium pulled out into the livingroom and he’s hooking his phone up to it, and then he hits play and the other officer comes back from next door to join us and I can tell by the annoyed look on his face that neighbor bitch has likely charmed him and shed a plethora of persecuted tears and spewed her lies about how we’ve been harassing her forEVER and I think for a second that it’s a total loss now, he’s made his mind up in her favor.

And then...away we go.  Tom cranks the volume on the speaker and they both lean in to listen closely.

Just about a minute into the recording they have their proof - thugnuts screaming I WILL TEAR YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!!!

Both officers nod, close their notebooks, and the second officer makes a phonecall while the first one turns to me and says “That’s terroristic threatening and it’s a class C felony.  You’re going to need to go to the PA’s office with all the reports you’ve filed against them so far and all your evidence from tonight including that recording and hand it all to them.  They’re likely going to issue a no-contact so that he can’t interact with you ever again.”

This is a victory, but it’s just the first step, and I feel sickeningly disheartened that it’s all in my lap to do everything.  I want them to go demand his whereabouts from his mother and just go get his ass and haul him in.  But no, I have a ton of legwork to do now because these horrible people won’t fucking stop.

After several more minutes of me asking questions about what exactly we need to do and where we need to go, etc etc (I’m competent but I’m also fucking rattled, someone threatened to kill me tonight and I’m blanking hard on the instructions he’s giving me) they finally wrap it up and leave.  They’ve been in my house for a half hour waiting for me to finish filling out the report (I had to ask for more paper because honey I’m getting ALL the details in there) and I can just imagine how freaked out neighbor is when she sees what time they finally move their cars from in front of her driveway.

And now I’m coming down from the weird calm that I had through the entire event, and my heart feels like it’s going to EXPLODE.  I had heart surgery two months ago, do I need this??  The pathetic part is that I know now just how stupid those people are, and I know this won’t be the end from their side by any means.  We’ll start finding more stuff broken, or he’ll start climbing over the fence back at the back of the property to steal stuff from husband’s tool shed, or my tires will get slashed.  These people are that dumb and hateful, they proved it tonight.  He said if we had animals he would kill them, and then he made the same threat against me.  How stupid does a person have to be to stand there with his phone out recording himself ranting and making threats against a woman standing in her own yard in her pajamas?  Big tough man there.  And his mama grinning at me the whole time, telling me I’m crazy and she’s concerned for her own safety because of me, while her son is standing right behind her threatening my life.

I’m just...my god, I don’t even know what to think.  I thought people only acted like this in TV dramas, seriously.  I’ve seen some shit in my life but this particular brand of stupid has up till now evaded me, but now it’s been in my face and I’m sort of in shock.

I don’t like guns.  At ALL.  Tom has always had at least one hidden carefully away, safely locked up away from the house, but now there are two inside my house in immediate grabbing range.  He insisted that I let him show me how to use them.  Rules were laid down for the boys - never touch, never, don’t even get close to them - and now there is a box of shotgun shells on my fireplace mantel and a singleshot rifle by the door.  I hate this so damn much.

Don’t pick it up unless you’re ready to use it, he told me.  Without even thinking, I said back, “If I touch it it’s getting used.”

I HATE THIS SO FUCKING MUCH

My god.  I told the cops that the drug lord that lived over there four years ago was a better neighbor than this woman.  They didn’t even laugh.

I guess they’re right, now that I think about it...it isn’t funny.

[yungbludy]

the hills have eyes

plot ↬ being attracted to one overwhelming person known as yungblud is alresdy too much for you. adding mgk in the mix is even worse.

warnings ↬ there’s tension here yes yes, smut!! threesome!! fingering & handjobs, writing colson is so fun i didn’t realize how hot he was lol 😳, hint at something going on between colson & dom, dom & reader like each other, maybe a pt 2?

a/n ↬ i know y’all have been wanting this for the LONGEST, and it’s easily my most requested fic. enjoy it!

When you left college with a degree in music production, you never would’ve expected to land in the studio of Yungblud, a young but upcoming artist with his own charm to set him apart from the rest. He was easily the most hyperactive artist you’ve worked with, someone with a truly pure heart that cared deeply for his music and his fans. It was a breath of fresh air, because out of all the artists you’ve worked with—big and small, you don’t think you’ve ever come across someone so genuine.

It was almost fate how you went from being in the studio with him every other week to nearly every day. He loved your presence; you made him see things differently, made him hear things he had never heard before. You made him feel smarter, more experienced.

A friendship blossomed. It was nice, because you didn’t have that many friends when you left college. Dominic introduced you to other people too, such as his band mate Adam, and they adored you. You were the calm before the storm of Dominic in their eyes. You balanced each other out, like some rock n’ roll version of a Yin and Yang.

Before you would hang out in groups. You, Dominic, and maybe a few other friends attending concerts or going to a restaurant together. You liked it—these people knew you and liked you, and you felt like you had a place.

You didn’t know when the... shift started. When it started becoming just you, and Dominic. When he texted you if you wanted to hang out at his place, (not a date or anything, just hanging out lol 🖤). When you still saw your friends, but you were seeing Dominic’s face more and more.

But you knew as soon as that started happening, that the feelings you had for Dominic—as a friend and as a partner, started becoming way too deep way too fast.

And honestly? It scared you. Your last relationship was in college and that didn’t go so well because you both had different outlooks on how you wanted to continue your life. You weren’t ever a relationship type of person and barely found yourself developing fucking crushes on people.

But you were crushing on Dominic. Hard.

As cliche as it sounds, being around him gave you literal butterflies. Seeing texts from him made you smile, and when his arms wrapped around you and he looked at you with all his teeth out, his eyes clenched shut—God. You were falling, and you were falling hard.

That was, until, Colson came into the mix.

You liked some of his music. You weren’t a big fan of “MGK”, and only really knew about him because of the whole beef he had with Eminem. You remembered that one song—fucking Wild Boy, being played in a few clubs and parties during college, but you didn’t have any liking towards him.

But... wow. He and Dominic together were a force to be reckoned with.

Colson was a good person. A loving father and a talented individual—not to mention he was also fucking hilarious too. Having him around in the studio guaranteed no bad days, because he could also make you feel better with a corny joke or a funny assortment of curse words.

You liked him, over time. Not to mention he was drop dead gorgeous, tall and tatted and pierced and just... fuck. It would be a lie if you said you weren’t intimidated by his presence.

But in reality, he was a sweetheart. A gentleman.

So why did you start feeling butterflies for him too?

Having a crush on two people just seemed so out of this world to you that you didn’t even understand it. It made no sense. You and Dominic had known each other longer, and you weren’t dumb—you knew he liked you back. But with Colson.. you didn’t know if those butterflies were in your stomach, or if they were somewhere were they definitely, definitely shouldn’t fucking be.

You were good at controlling yourself when it came to these two. It had been a few weeks since you’ve met Colson and two months since you met Dominic. They were working on music together—a song, that they didn’t know what to title yet, and you were right there, helping them with everything.

This also meant that they were together. All. Of. The. Time.

Having two extremely attractive men, men that you were also extremely attracted too together all the time was going to be very bad for your health. But all three of you had a main goal at the end of the day, and that was to make a song together. They wanted to make a song that pertained to them, that took both of their struggles and related them to each other. Being Dominic’s right-hand-man at this point, you were more than happy to oblige in helping.

But you just didn’t know what you were getting yourself into.

“Maybe some shit that’s like, kinda emo, kinda not?”

“Kells, man... you need to /make/ that make sense.”

You can’t help the laugh that leaves you, smiling when both of their heads turn towards you.

“Y’all are just cute when you bicker.”

“Y/NNNNN,” Colson whines a little, his arms stretching to drape over your body. God, he has so many tattoos that you couldn’t possibly count them on your two hands and feet. “Help us. I’ve never been this stuck on a song.”

“Well, a mix of punk and rap, right?” You asked, humming as you scoot up to your monitor, going through a list of sample beats you always stored when songs were being made.

“That sounds ‘bout right,” Dominic spoke, both of his elbows being placed on his knees as he looked up at you. “Think that’s a perfect mix of us two, yeah?”

You picked out some beats—layering some, taking some away. While this process could be therapeutic to you, it could be also quite annoying, and it would’ve been if it wasn’t for the two grown men looming over your shoulder.

“What about this one,” you almost jumped as you heard Colson right near your ear, his voice powered into a whisper. He reached over you, his skin brushing against yours and you had to force yourself to look at the screen. Jesus Christ, you really needed to get laid. “How’s that?”

“‘ts good. I like it fo’ now!” Dominic joked, and a laugh rumbled in you stomach. “If we don’t like it, we could always change it tomoro or somethin’.”

“Okay, well, beats settled... now we need some lyrics.” you spoke, backing up a little—you would’ve backed up farther if Colson’s arm wasn’t on the back of your chair. “Got any?”

Silence. You rolled your eyes—you had told them days prior to come with lyrics. Nothing had to rhyme, but something to make an idea off of.

“Too busy clubbing to write lyrics-great.” you huffed, shaking your head as you stood to leave, but two hands reached out to stop you.

“Sorryyy, that’s our fault, really.” Colson spoke, locking eyes with you when you turned to look at the both of them. “Let’s make some together, yeah? All three of us motherfuckers. You know we couldn’t make up good lyrics without you anyway.”

You caved. Goddammit, he was so good at charming you and so good at fucking /flirting/. You found yourself sitting back down with a notebook out in just a few minutes of playful begging from the two of them.

“Since I watched The Hills Have Eyes for the first time yesterday with you two wankstains, I think that should be incorporated into here~” Dominic giggled, scribbling down the title of the infamous horror movie on a piece of notebook paper. “Where did all that shit happen, by the way? New York, Cali, Las Ve-“

“No, dipshit, Nevada. Did you watch the movie at all?” Colson huffed, reaching over to flick Dominic in the center of his forehead, in which the British male playfully bit down on Colson’s finger. The blonde grinned, and your eyebrows furrowed. What the hell?

“Nevada’s by Cali so we’re using California.” Dominic shrugged, scribbling more words down. “How’s... I wunna hide in the hills of California—but these hills have eyes, and I have paranoia?”

It took you a minute but you eventually nodded at it. “If we revise it a little bit then—yeah, that could work!”

“Awesome! Maybe you should get on your shit, Kells.” Dominic teased him, pink tongue pointing out at Colson, and your lips twitched.

“Fuck off.” Colson continued that grin—that little smirk, like they both knew something you didn’t. The day dragged on—more lyrics, more laughing, more inside jokes. By the time the session ended you were exhausted, your head kinda hurt, and you wanted nothing more than to head home and sleep, but Dominic stopped you before you left completely.

“Are you alright?” he asked, your hand in his as he looked at you with slight worry. His hair was pushed back, so he looked just too adorable with his forehead out and crinkled. He was worried. Worried about you, and that made your heart flutter.

“I think I’m good, just a little tired,” you offered a reassuring smile, lifting your bag up to your shoulder. “Why?”

“You seemed a little out of it,” he remarked, keeping your hand in his as he started to walk next to you. This was normal—Dominic walking you out to your car, then watching you drive to your apartment after he gave you a kiss goodbye, of course; some of them were on your forehead, some cheeks, and most recently, he’s teasingly brushed his lips against yours, only to see you blush and frantically push him away. “Just making sure you’re alright.”

“I’ll be okay, Dom,” you snicker, but you just love the fact that he can see through you. See when you’re uncomfortable or feel weird. “Thanks, though.”

“Of course darlin’,” his voice has dropped in volume and when you look at him, his eyes are boring into yours. You blink. “Drive home safe, yeah?!”

Both of his hands grab your face, squishing your cheeks—and you sputter a laugh as he kisses all over your face. Covering your forehead, your nose, your cheeks—and finally resting at your lips.

It’s like time has stopped. You smile, feeling warm—his hands haven’t left your face and you can feel his warm breath against your mouth. He leans in closer, and you feel that familiar thrum in your chest, his lips brushing against yours one, two, three times, before he only pecks you and pulls away.

You don’t even remember closing your eyes, but when they open, he’s walking back into the building, leaving you feeling lost.

To make it up for you for yesterday, the dynamic duo wanted to spend the entire day getting a good portion of the song done. This meant you had to wake up at nine am to be at the studio, something you were definitely not looking forward to, but you couldn’t complain about it. You three had a pretty good work ethnic, so you knew once you would get there, time would probably fly by.

You came to the studio in some fuzzy Hello Kitty pajama pants and a long sleeved shirt, not bothering to dress up too much since you would possibly be here all day. You didn’t look your best, but by the way Dominic’s eyes scanned you when you walked into the studio, you doubted he really cared.

“Well hello kitty-kat,” you heard Colson’s amused tone from the small couch by the door behind you, his body approaching yours to walk past you. His hand slipped over your waist, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. “Doesn’t Y/N just look the absolute cutest.”

“Shut up, asshole.” You grumbled, your cheeks hot as you ditched your slippers and made your way to your seat. You stretched, hearing some bones crack in your back, a tired yawn leaving your lips before returning to your sitting position and opening up your notebook. “So. Where are we starting today?”

When you looked up, both of them looked a little dazed—but the expressions disappeared in just a few seconds. That was weird.

“Welllll, I think I’ve got a title,” Dominic grinned cheekily, standing up with his hands clasped. “I liked what ya said yesterday... I think I’m good. That sounds pretty—American, doesn’t it?”

“Eh...” you started, but quickly took it back when Dominic’s face fell almost comically. “No! It’s not bad, but, I don’t know... how about another word, other than good?”

“Fine?” Dominic asked, looking at you with a smirk. Confusion racked through you.

“Okay,” Colson spoke up, reading over the page of lyrics with narrowed, concentrated eyes. “I think I’m okay.”

You contemplated it. It reminded you of My Chemical Romance, but there wasn’t anything wrong with that... their fans would probably like that, too.”

“I think I’m okay. Yeah, I like that.” you smiled, moving to your monitor to title the beats you already had. I Think I’m Okay.

“Perfect.” you beamed. “Now let’s get to work.”

The day went by pretty smoothly. Dominic and Colson worked better than you thought, and in your opinion, you were the icing to their cake. Being a producer meant you were there to perfect things—add something to make them sound just a tad bit better, to make the song flow just a little smoother. Perfecting the beats was something you absolutely adored to do, especially when you felt them both staring at the side of your face as you did it.

They admired you. And that sent shivers down your spine.

“Jesus fuck, ‘m hungry.” you grumbled. The clock above your head read two pm, meaning you had been here for six hours total. It wouldn’t have seemed like that if your stomach wasn’t grumbling like crazy.

“We can tell.” Colson joked, his fingers poking at your tummy. “Kitty’s talking to us.”

You knew it didn’t mean to be an innuendo, but you took it that way, and you’re sure Dominic probably did too with the expression that crossed his face.

“I’ll order some pizza.” Dominic sung out, British accent flowing through the air as he stood to grab his phone and leave. You had been alone with Colson once before, but that was before you recognized your attraction towards the male. Now, you were very, very aware of the fact.

“Cmon kitty, you’ve been sitting in that chair for hours and I know that ass hurts,” Colson smirked knowingly, grabbing your hands to lift you out of your seat. “Lemme help you stretch~”

“I don’t need help, you damn skyscraper.” You said stubbornly, but Colson paid no mind to you, grabbing both of your arms and lifting them above your head. It did make you feel much better, and you would’ve stayed in the position if his long fingers didn’t suddenly dig in your sides and under your armpit.

“I-get off of me!” you laughed loudly, squirming in his tight hold as he squeezed you even closer to his body. You could feel his chest press against your back, but you weren’t focused on it, just how much you were laughing from his antics.

“Hell nah! I’ve barely seen you laugh today, kitty~” he purred into your ear, and your thighs clenched. “Keep on fighting, nothing will happen babe.”

“Fuck you!” you shouted, successfully finding your way out of his grasp, but that didn’t stop him at all. He grabbed you again and while he did so, you were moving backwards—eventually landing you both on the small couch in the room. You wiggled your arms through his grip, letting your fingers dig into his sides in a similar manner—and your smile hurt with how loud he started laughing afterwards. You were sure after the short five minutes the tickle attack took that you were all over the place, and so was he—panting on top of you with both arms over your body.

“You’re an asshole.” you murmured against his shoulder, since his body was draped over yours. You wished it would’ve stayed that way, because he lifted himself, and you turned into jelly with how he looked at you—and that stupid fucking grin that spread across his face.

“Got you to laugh, didn’t I?” he asked, rolling off of you. The warmth that left your body—from your stomach, ribs, and a few inches below your bra, told you that the tickle fight was much, much more than that.

A month had passed since that day. It was more then enough time for more tension filled encounters—more of Colson’s hands on you, more of Dominic’s teasing kisses. It had gotten so bad that you needed to excuse yourself in the middle of a session to calm yourself down in the bathroom, because holy hell. Those boys were a lot—and the fact you had the audacity to think about taking both of them at once. You literally could never.

The song wasn’t that hard to make. With a few more helping hands, plus your expertise and their work as well, it was nearly done. Final vocals just needed to be recorded and some cleans up—and then, I Think I’m Okay would be released to the world.

This Friday would be a night that all three of you would go out clubbing, but you decided to visit the studio to listen to the rough draft the two had recorded previously. You were in matching all black outfits which definitely wasn’t planned. The dress you were wearing was a bit out of your comfort zone, but you decided—why not? You wouldn’t be the only girl there and you knew you looked decent, at least.

“Wow,” you murmur, a little speechless as the rough vocals of I Think I’m Okay fill the studio at full volume. The lights are off because it’s dark, so the only source of light in the room is your monitor. “Wow. We fucked this up.”

“What?!” Dominic shouted, eyes wide. You laughed.

“Not in that way! I mean, we fucked this, in a really good way.” you said, excited, bouncing a little in your seat. “Fuuuck, can’t wait to release this shit.”

Colson’s hand is hot and heavy when you feel it against your thigh, playing with the hem of your dress. “Couldn’t do it without you, kitty.”

You swallow. No, not tonight. You were going to have fun tonight. Not be in a state of sexual frustration because of these two.

“Right,” Dominic hummed, and you freeze when his arm wraps around your waist, his chin on your shoulder. “Y/N, I never really thank ya properly for all you do for me, do I?”

“Huh? Of course you do.” you tell him, but you’re a bit distracted by Colson’s wandering hand. It shifts, moving to the inside of your thigh, rubbing softly at your skin. His thumb is close, too close to your pussy, but you don’t push his hand away, because you don’t want to.

You like it. You want his hand to come closer, just a little closer—

“I don’t,” Dominic whispers, those thick lips brushing against your ear, and you almost jump out of your skin. “I should.”

“Dom...” you whisper nervously, eyes widening when his hand slides to the middle of your back and up your spine, fingers locking at the zipper. The slide of your dress being unzipped goes along perfectly o the tempo of the song, and so does Colson’s molding of your thigh, his hand eventually finding way because your closed legs, pressing right up against your underwear.

“Think the kitty wants me,” Colson sighs huskily, and your jaw drops. Holy fuck. “Am I wrong?”

“Is he?” Dominic presses when you don’t answer, his hand somehow making its way inside your dress, finding its way to your sleeves and yanking them down. Oh, fuck. “Ya want us both, don’t ya darlin’?”

“Oh my god.” is all you can whisper, earning chuckles from both of the men who play so deviously with your body. Colson finds your clit with no help at all, pressing against the little bud, right as Dominic takes both of your breasts out of your bra and palms them hungrily. Two sets of hands touching you makes your head roll back, and you can only comply as one of Colson’s hands presses against your left thigh, spreading your legs open.

“Put your legs on the desk for me, pretty,” he whispers and you do so, heels still on your feet. “Mm, yeah, that’s good—damn, look at you. So fucking hot.”

To your surprise, it seems like Colson is doing most of the talking, since Dominic’s mouth finds itself on one your perked nipples. He sucks it into his mouth, making it all pert and wet and your toes curl against the velvet surface of your shoe.

“When I had you on that couch, I wanted to ram the shit out of you, even if you were wearing those stupid ass pants,” Colson tells you, slipping your panties to the side and dragging his fingers up your slit. You’re almost embarrassed from how wet you sound. “Had to remember the British cunt has a little crush on you, though. Didn’t wanna break his heart.”

“Fuck off, ya asshole.” Dominic’s mouth leaves your breast, cheeks red at the fact that he was just exposed like that. “I was gonna tell her that my fookin self!”

“You’re telling me she didn’t know?” Colson chuckled, one of his hands grabbing your chin to roll your head towards him. “Did you?”

“Mmf—I-I knew,” you murmured helplessly, your back aching as two long, thin fingers push inside of you, spreading themselves. “Always knew.”

“But I like you too, kitty, maybe like you even more than him,” Colson smirks, his mouth pressing against yours, and you bite down on his lip when Dominic bites down against your nipple. “Now we’re both gonna make our girl cum.”

Our girl.

You could cum from those words alone.

Colson’s fingers work magic inside of you, pressing further until you feel lightheaded, then easing themselves out and repeating the process. Dominic’s fingers find your clit, rubbing it quicker then the pink vibrator you used before even getting dressed. Your hands are against both of their thighs as your body grinds down against them, both of their mouths meeting yours at different times, kissing you or letting you moan out against their mouths. I Think I’m Okay plays over and over again with no one to stop it, hiding your loud sounds.

You’re close. So, so close, but you don’t want to cum without giving them some type of pleasure—so, to the best of your ability, you start to unzip their pants, bulges very angry underneath the fabric.

“Ooh, fook yeah,” Dominic whispers, taking his jeans off quickly and wrapping your hand around his cock, going cross eyed at the feeling. “Yeah, jerk my fuckin cock.”

Colson isn’t too far behind in revealing himself. You try to stroke them both, but you’re so overwhelmed that sometimes your pace quickens on one and slows on the other. Their bodies are pressed as tightly as they can be against yours, and sometimes wet fingers find their way against your neck, or grabbing at your chests—with wide open mouths against your face.

“I-I think I’m gonna cum,” your pant out, your hips rolling in circles and your grip on their cocks growing even tighter, causing them to make their own sounds of delight. “So close-“

“Cum, kitty kitty,” Colson tells you, his lips wrapping around your earlobe. “Soak this fucking chair, pretty.”

And that’s exactly what you do.

Dominic busts right after you, feeling your clit spasm against his fingers was enough to send him over the edge. Colson isn’t too far behind, getting extra leverage because of both of your cum covered hands jerking him off until he shoots his seed out as far as it can go. It’s a heavenly sight, and for the first time you hear him whimper—a sound that’ll be engraved in your mind for days.

You three sit there, panting, covered in sweat and cum. You lick your lips, your hearing picking up the two shifting to clean you up and dress you, much to your confusion.

“What? You think you were gonna cum once tonight and that would be it?” Colson chuckled, already helping you out of your chair.

“Just wait till we get to this club,” Dominic continues, his hand tightly groping your ass. “You’re gonna have the night of your fucking life.”

And you’re certain that you will.

[neonponders]

I never thought I’d write a court jester!Steve x King!Billy fic, but here we are. I entirely blame @ghostofjellyfishforgotten and @drinkingbeerfroma for this 💋

The original king!Billy and jester!Steve fics are here~ (this is a gift for Ghost and meant to be read in tandem with their fics 🌹)

Drinkingbeerfroma’s fanart is here~​​ (the enabling source, send them some love 🌹)

P.s....you can probably tell how much of The Witcher: Blood and Wine influenced this for me lol Ch. 2 coming soon! Or, you know, some time!

Read on ao3.

• • • • • • •

Billy strolled into his royal chambers with a tune on his lips. Usually the rustle of clothing, the scoot of furniture, reacted to his whistle so that he could meet his jester right at the door. Or by the bed.

Then again, Steve did wander. Perhaps that’s why he worked as a jester: always the desire to move, to fidget, and it had lent into a natural proclivity for acrobatics.

Billy had never much cared for the athleticism of the job. Not that it wasn’t impressive, but the stunts were the bottom of his jester’s abilities. His Steve.

Steve, who was nowhere in the expansive rooms. Billy huffed a sigh through his nose. He began loitering around, investigating what his jester had left behind and what it could mean for where he’d gone.

Except…he’d left everything behind. Billy’s gaze locked on the sapphire and green velvet of the suit he’d gifted Steve himself, now left in a rumbled state on the bed. The gleaming silk fibers moved with the midday light of the window as Billy circled around the bed to touch them, as if to test that they were real. The fool as good as lived in the king’s royal chambers by this point, so he opened the dresser beside the large writing desk and—

Steve’s original suits and garments sat in the drawers, untouched. The yellow shirt Billy had torn—twice—until Steve left it in disrepair, tired of mending it. The red and purple suit which he’d first strolled into court wearing. His blue boots. The red boots. The god-awful yellow boots to go with that shirt apart from how stained they were from daily living.

What the hell is my fool wearing? Billy mused in disbelief, his amusement only checked by worry.

Amusement that snuffed out under the weight of a paper he finally saw on the desk itself. Both of Steve’s jester hats stood on either side of it, crowning the white square to garner Billy’s attention. More than once, Billy had marveled at his jester’s ability to read and write. This was not one of those times.

Majesty,

An emergency called me home. Nothing to worry about. I’ll return soon.

Yours,

Steve.

Billy read those four lines over and over again, worry tussling with indignant rage, and then confusion. He wanted more out of a note from Steve, which ought not be the prior concern in his mind, but there it was.

Why not address me by my name? This note is for me, nobody else. Who did you fear seeing it? In my own chambers? We’re far past courtly manners.

Largest understatement of his entire reign, but whatever. More annoying and concerning details eclipsed Billy’s focus.

He had no idea where ‘home’ meant for Steve. His Steve. Billy’s pride ordained that Billy is his home; what other place—or person—could have the audacity to yank his fool right out from under him?

Billy’s voice roared down the corridors outside his chambers. His staff was certainly used to making haste in their duties, but this was something else. The king had lost something precious to him, and hell would shiver until he had it back.

It is both a blessing and a curse that the lesbians in his court did not fear him.

“Would you shut the hell up?” Heather barked, swinging out of her room fully dressed in robes but hair a disaster. “Some of us like to do our own fucking now and again.”

“Where is Steve?” Billy growled, damned note in hand. “When did you last see him?”

“This morning,” she sighed with a tone that Billy did not understand until she added, “When he left with Robin. He warned me that you might be grouchy—”

“Grouch—” he began to seethe, but Heather took the paper right out of his hand to give it a look.

“He said he left you a note, your majesty,” she purred through a voice he now noticed to be quite raw. Overused. Her eyelids hung low like she was drunk, or three orgasms gone to the wind.

This only abated Billy’s nerves slightly. Steve genuinely left on his own?

“Where is home?”

Heather frowned at the lines. “For a musician, he isn’t great with words.”

“HEATHER.”

“Same home as my lady, Robin’s. They complain about their corner of the kingdom often enough,” she retorted while surrendering the note as if it had caught flame. “Good grief. How many months has it been? You really don’t pay attention. Your majesty.”

He grimaced pointedly at her lackadaisical manners this morning, but snatched the page up. The sour expression did not fade as he asked, “Who are you fucking if Robin’s not here?”

Heather’s groggy eyes rolled. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself many times over. You’re not the only one around here with an abundance of energy.”

Fuming and feeling too hot for his clothes, Billy marched back to his chambers, yelling orders about a horse.

* * *

More than one person urged against this decision. The more people who tried to talk him out of it, the more disheartening the whole point of secrecy became. Then again, roaring for the whole castle to hear, might not have been the wisest start.

So he sent a rider in one direction, on some pointless “errand for the king,” while he road in another.

It had been a long time since Billy wore commoners’ clothes. He also did not usually go clean-shaven, but he was a different person now. A lone rider on the king’s road, journeying his way to the edge of the kingdom. Two advisors had urged him to take an entourage, at most his best guardsman—but Billy is the best guardsman. First knight and crown prince under his father, The Tyrant. Every dawn stolen from him until the late king’s passing, utterly devoted to training hard, practicing consistent, and never, never losing.

Until the old bastard finally croaked from pneumonia. How simple. How mortal. And ironic, considering his playboy—rat of my blood—heir paraded around with open shirts whenever he was off duty. Constantly challenging gods and climate to do away with him whenever they wished.

The gods took a different king, though. Billy is the monarch now, and for a while, he will be nobody. A fool searching for his fool, and it was not lost on him how ironic his own death might become. But traveling alone on his own roads did not deter him. He’d been on these highways many times—hell, he’d even been assigned to designing and monitoring the reconstruction of the kingdom’s infrastructure.

His last steps on these roads occurred during the funeral tour for his father. An obnoxious tradition, but he’d made the journey in his first month as king. He wondered if anyone would recognize him now. He’d grown his hair out, and so often adorned his face with nothing less of stubble; often indulging in his own shaving kit to manage his facial hair himself and styled it differently whenever he wished. He liked the way lovers shivered against him when he touched their skin. When the lion pressed his lips against the lamb’s pulse.

He liked applying creams to Steve’s inflamed, beard-burnt skin.

He sighed over his horse’s even, medium paced trot. He was a fool, indeed.

* * *

The only thing keeping Billy from scolding himself for knowing so little about his jester, was the fascination of where he came from. Lady Robin entered court to jeers and teasing over her humble, bumpkin origins—before she rightly debated and venomously talked her way around every gnat who dared flaunt a lower intelligence over her.

Billy knew she and Steve got along, but not how much they had in common. Originating from one of the farming districts was one thing, but specifically the dairy and vineyard region proved a fascinating piece of information.

As well as a gorgeous journey. It took a day and two nights, but forests soon exhaled into rolling hills for lines of grape trees, pastures for cattle, sheep, and goats. Billy knew he was getting closer to the center of it all because grapevines began to line the road, with signs every couple of miles encouraging travelers to eat their fill, along with a number informing how far they were to more accommodating civilization.

The smell of shit and manure dampened the experience, but Billy could not claim ignorance over how his own city smelt during the summer. Even under royal decree that half the fleabags leave the capital in order to minimize summer fever and pestilence, the place still reeked.

The road began to veer down into a lush valley of hills; below was the bustling city of this region, and above stood a number of large homes. One ought to have appeared bigger than the rest, but such shared opulence suggested a wealthy middle class instead of one lord standing above them all. Economically, this was healthier. Socially, Billy felt utterly foreign to this hierarchal shape. His court was an uneven, pyramid hourglass. With himself standing on its point, a bloated pool of lords and deceit, then a strangled middle class before an even bigger pool of lower class just trying to feed themselves. It is a shape which cannot hold itself up, and yet he tirelessly managed it.

It’s not my fault, he defended to nobody. It’s what I inherited.

He pat his horse’s neck, feeling the silken grey fur that drew passersby’s glances. He had a beautiful mount: a grey so vibrant she looked blue under storm clouds. His saddle and bridle were humble; couldn’t very well walk around with his embossed leather saddle or a bridle glittering with the king’s golden medallions on every buckle.

When a woman gazed a little too long at him instead of his horse, Billy eased to a stop and smiled charmingly. “Excuse me, where might I find the House of Buckley?”

She adjusted the basket in her arms to hold it on her hip while she swayed coyly. “Peach-colored house on the hill, sir. May I ask what business you have there?”

“Visiting a friend.” Unless she’s in disguise too.

“Best to wait until evening time. Everyone’s in the market or out in the fields right now.”

Billy tilted his head at her. “Buckley is a noble house.” Nobody is working in the fields from that family—

Then she laughed. Laughed. “Are you from the capital?”

Billy’s charm faltered on his face, but he picked it back up easily enough. “Thereabouts. Why?”

“Because people from the capital believe everyone’s rich. Rich enough to sit or poor enough to not own a chair. We all work here, and we’re all in the market or the fields. I can tell you which are Sir Buckley’s, though.”

The little twit liked being a know-it-all, but it served Billy a great deal to be given the tour. Here, property decided who reigned, and property came in the form of land, livestock, or both. With that came a handful of useful names: Buckley, Hagan, Harrington, Wheel—

Billy’s eyes widened like a cat’s pupils dilating on prey. “STEVE!”

Because…there he was. His Steve, strolling right up the cobbled road from the hills and into the market with a donkey loaded with grape baskets beside him. He hadn’t heard his name, giving Billy the time to absorb every new detail about the man who vanished from his castle.

The white, puffy shirt held close to his body with a waistcoat. High-waisted trousers made his legs look long and lean over workman’s boots. He shoved up the colorful fabric ties around his biceps, holding up the shirtsleeves but failing due to all of the sweat from a day in the sun. A belt sagged a little diagonally around his hips, on which such things as pliers, shears, a garden knife, and a pair of leather and canvas gloves waited for use.

Steve took off a large sunhat and set it on the donkey’s head, combing both of his hands through his voluminous, brown hair—

“Steve!”

Billy began to walk his horse in that direction, having long since dismounted for the courtesy of his guide, but now the latter gripped his arm in warning. “That’s Lord Harrington to you.”

Billy blew a raspberry right into the air, scoffing, “Excuse me?”

The woman rolled her eyes so hard, she would have been thrown into a stockade for behaving like that to—well, to a king. But she let go of him and went on her way, leaving him to his fate.

So off he went. Billy walked his mount over to where a collection of people were attending to the donkey and the grapes, and Steve nodded in discussion with an older man.

“Lord Harrington, I hear?” he crooned in greeting.

Two heads rotated toward him, and Billy felt rather smacked in the face by the matching eyes and nose. Father. This is Steve’s father.

Lord Harrington. Twice over.

Steve’s features opened with shocked eyes and a dropped jaw. His eyes darted to his father’s frown, and Billy quickly backpedaled, “I apologize. I know the younger, but not the older. My name’s Billy Hargrove.”

He’d bowed his fair share as a knight, though the gesture felt far removed since he was out of practice. Never the less, Steve gaped at his king bowing slightly at the hips and extending a hand for Lord Harrington to shake.

Thing about being king, not many people actually know the monarchy’s family name. They knew William the Second. William of the Grove. Some whispered the Second Tyrant, but only because Billy was still young and new to being king. They were waiting for him to prove them right.

Lord Harrington shook his head with a glance at his son. “You didn’t say anyone was coming with you.”

“I didn’t think anyone was,” Steve answered bluntly, but he picked up the gist of Billy’s disguise easily enough. “Billy’s been a big help to me in the capital.”

“How so?”

Billy’s brows lifted, but before he could provide a veiled innuendo, Steve chirped, “Roommates. Got me a job. Kept me fed.”

“I did my best,” Billy crooned. He watched Steve’s apple bob in his throat.

Lord Harrington, with his similar, albeit shorter and silver, hair and weathered skin opened his arm to gesture Billy up the road. “You’ll be our guest, then. I’ll show you along. Are you staying at the inn?”

“No, my lord. I’ve only just arrived.”

“Very good. This way. Steve, remind Roger about the textiles. We’ve sheared the animals twice already this season. He needs to either wash it or sell it. We can’t hold onto it or else it will mold and be useless to barter.”

Billy peeked at Steve, who similarly veered to go on his separate way. He met Billy’s gaze for the briefest second, and he looked…not entirely happy to see Billy.

The king did not like that at all.

* * *

Billy looked around the Harrington estate, taking in every detail that Lord Harrington granted him. He had yet to see an inkling of whatever this emergency could have been to rush Steve out of the capital. Out of Billy’s bed. It made sense, now, why he had left everything behind, since he had a home and full wardrobe waiting for him here. Billy had not seen a glimpse of Lady Buckley, though.

People are supposed to ask my permission to leave, damn it. Or at the very least, inform him first. Not skip town like bandits.

The Harrington house looked out over the estate’s vast hills of grapes, goats, and sheep. It would have been endearing, the farmers using their canes to nudge the goats along the alleys of vines so they could snack on fallen grapes. Endearing, if Steve had been the one to show him all this. Billy wanted Steve next to him on this veranda—if it could be called that. The house and its balconies overlooking the city and hills were much smaller than his castle’s, of course.

Billy did not stay long in his rooms—room. Just a room. You certainly acclimated to luxury, he reminded himself. One of his first orders in the castle had been a complete renovation to his chambers. He would not live in his father’s rooms. Those were turned into a storage branch of the castle, and Billy had several walls knocked down to make way for the new royal apartments. Let the old bastard haunt the broom cupboards.

Billy trotted down the narrow stairs into what felt like an abrupt arrival at the dining room. Further down in the house would be the kitchen but there was a smaller, stewards’ pantry, of sorts, in which a woman stood and rotated upon hearing him. It took a second, but Billy remembered to bow.

“Am I correct in addressing the lady of the house?”

“You are,” smiled Lady Harrington. It came as no surprise that she looked at least ten years younger than her husband, but the blonde hair did catch Billy off guard. She offered her hand, which he took and kissed its back.

“For some reason, I didn’t think Steve took after his father so much.”

“In looks only. He has all his personality from me.”

Billy rocked a little on his heels, humming an acknowledging sound. He certainly did not voice his amusement that she might’ve just revealed more about her marital bed than she meant to. He simply replied, “I believe it. May I ask: Steve and Lady Buckley rushed out with hardly any explanation. Is everything all right?”

“Oh, everything’s no more out of the ordinary than it usually is,” she began, returning to her task of preparing what looked like a fruit-soaked wine for their dinner. She sliced up apples and peaches with a curved blade and a practiced hand. “However, our ordinary can be quite sudden and busy.”

A different hum came from Billy’s chest at that. “I understand. Is there anything I can do?”

“Well, if you’re offering, you can half those grapes right there.”

Billy sent the wooden bowl of fruit a dubious glance and then laughed breathily, “I meant—”

“I know what you meant,” she smiled. “For now, you can help me prepare the wine.”

A long dead growl moved through Billy’s mind. Woman’s work—

Stay dead, tyrant, Billy hushed with finality. He accepted the spare knife from her and did the task he was given. She couldn’t know that he was who he was, after all. No one in this town apart from Steve knew that Billy could supply the money, machinery, and manpower at a moment’s notice for whatever reason they might need—

Chatter and laughter moved like a reverse echo outside the house, blooming quickly until, of all people, Robin Buckley herself clapped on the stoop of the Harrington’s side door. Open as it is for the breeze to come and go, she waltzed right in, and stopped at the sight of Billy. Her laughter cut off only to be replaced with, “You!”

“Me,” he threw right back. He raised a brow at a woman of the royal court wearing trousers and boots.

Lady Harrington chimed, “Oh, so you are friends.”

Billy peered back at her. “Was there any doubt?”

“Oh, dear, you look like you’ve never worked a field in your life.”

Billy had never heard his jaw hit the floor until that moment. Robin’s chuckle arrived beside him as she ripped off a handful of grapes for a snack. “When did you get here?”

“Not an hour ago.”

“You could’ve stayed put.”

“You’re enjoying this,” he growled, hoping that she heard his meaning through the words. I’m still your king even if no one here knows it.

She smirked, hearing loud and clear. “Steve gave me the heads up.”

He matched her smile, tone dripping with charming venom. “And where is he?”

She shook her head at him, cooing a tone that was both soothing and condescending. “He’ll be around. You’re in…his house, after all. Thanks, Anne.”

“You’re welcome, dear,” came Lady Harrington’s reply, but Billy hardly heard it.

He was in Steve’s house. A lord’s house. Lord Harrington’s house…and Billy was just some nobody.

Robin really was enjoying this too much.

[waumpel]

ADHD STUDY TIPS

I have adhd. I'm taking all online classes this semester for college. Somehow, I'm not failing. Here's what I do that works for me!

1. I have an alarm that makes me do math every morning to turn it off, it's called Alarmy! 📚

2. It also plays a different loud sound every day from random-- I have several hundred(?) ringtones downloaded from Zedge, things like songs from shows I like or Pokemon cries or MBMBAM lines, and this helps me wake up to a different sound I'm bound to like which my brain can't get used to (and then ignore). I highly suggest godzilla roars if you need to be startled awake. 📚

3. This is SUPER HARD but I always try to force myself to sit up in bed when I'm turning off my alarm or checking my phone or whatever, so I'm not tempted to pass out again. I also like to get up and loudly tell my cats "good morning" so I wake us both up 📚

4. PLEASE STOP EATING CEREAL AND BAGELS AND STUFF. You would not BELIEVE the difference it makes when you eat things like fruits and eggs in the morning. NO MORE 10AM NAPS, I'M WATCHING YOU 📚

5. I literally schedule in Duolingo time. If you aren't learning a language you can do some other enriching activity like this, idk. I force myself to do it on my computer, not phone, so I can't lay down in bed when I'm doin it. I have a 101-day streak!! 📚

6. ik this isn't available to everyone but SPACE MATTERS SO MUCH!! I got a gaming desk that we put in our living room and I do ALL of my homework there. I also got a second monitor for my laptop with is SOOOO important if you're multitasking (and we all are, bc we're adhders ibdusvcjkn) 📚

7. HAND WRITE YOUR NOTES!!! I know this is super hard for many people-- I have carpal tunnel so I get it lmao. If you can't, at least type them. YOU THINK YOU CAN MEMORIZE INFO BUT YOU'RE WRONG!! Please write as much as you can i swear it will change ur life 📚

8. COLOURED! PENS!!! These changed the game for me y'all. I take all my notes in at least 2 colours, and I cycle through them a lot. My favs are Pilot Frixions because u can erase them :) (the highlighters are epic too) 📚

9. Make your space fun, but NOT DISTRACTING. I have a plant (his name is Yoshi) and a desk Godzilla (his name is Godzilla) on my desk, but they're out of the way so I can't zone out starin at em. But also, when I'm bored outta my gourd, I can smile at Yoshi and tell him how my day is goin :] 📚

10. SNACKING BAD *BUT*... sometimes i do it anyway... i try to associate certain foods with subjects, like I eat cocoa M&Ms (which are awesome) when I'm reading my Kaqchikel textbook. On the upside, I think it helps me recall Kaqchikel better? but also the language makes me crave mnms adkldigurvn 📚

11. LISTEN TO... CERTAIN MUSIC. I have learned that music with words, even in LANGS I DO NOT KNOW, is HELL for my adhd. Right now I'm listening to stuff like "Pokemon and Chill" (lofi album on YT), Studio Ghibli violin covers, and Night on Bald Mountain 5x on repeat ibjnvc.... I highly suggest songs/videos that are, like, 20+ minutes or else you'll get distracted with the constant change. Also, that No One's Around To Help 1hr vid is REALLY REPETITIVE and therefore PERFECT for when I'm reading textbooks. 📚

12.  EVERY NIGHT... i make a super detailed timetable schedule for the next day, down to the half hour. I don't always follow it but it's a really good reminder of what I gotta do. I write it on a whiteboard but sometimes I also write it on a sticky note and on social media so I don't forget. To do lists are so epic you guys 📚

13. THIS HAS SAVED MY L I F E: at the beginning of the semester I looked at ALL of my syllabi and wrote down EVERY daily task, test, homework, etc BY DATE. this is essentially a premade to do list EVERY DAY for MONTHS and oh my gosh it is the best thing I have ever done. 📚

14. I use the Forest app to track my productivity AND lock me out of apps ndsjv... podomoro timers work well too!!! 📚

15. Ok so for me this is like... a religious thing bc my Patron (my God) is a deity of fire AND working, but I like to light a candle (scented like FALL!!) and do a little prayer on it and I have it next to me when I'm workin on terrible, terrible homework. It helps me feel like my Patron is here with me, but also it’s GREAT for grounding and I can just kinda. Stare blankly at the flame and then get back to tryin to focus. 📚

16. Please drink water lmao, to make sure I drink enough I set little goals like "take a sip after every paragraph you read" 📚

17. Each of my classes has a different coloured notebook which I'm consistent with! Like, all my German notebooks through the years have been green! Also I take notes w green pens a lot in Deutsch 📚

18. HELLA STICKY NOTES... I put em on the bottom of my monitor, on a shelf by my desk, in my books as bookmarks (bad idea lol), on Yoshi. When I wanna go look up something random but I need to focus, I like to write it down on sticky notes to look at later. 📚

19. I'm the most annoying student ever. I like to do a bunch of assignments at once so I don't have to budget my time later, so I'll turn in like 5 things in an hour and then NOTHING for a week. ALSO i email my teachers constantly if I have any questions at all. I work at a pace that works for me!!! 📚

20. I turn off my sound on my phone until I'm done with work bc otherwise I WILL open that notification 📚

22. I make a loooot of chai (and also some overpriced herbal teas). It makes me feel fancy, it's better for me than coffee, and it helps me ground and focus! Plus it's a samefood! 📚

23. Hyperfixating on classic literature would be awesome, except I'm hyperfixating on Gothic and I'm taking a lit class for More Than Just Gothic. But I'm figuring out ways to connect them, which is really helpful, cause I get to enjoy my hyperfixation while learning for school! PLZ TRY TO DO THIS (harder when you're hyperfixating on godzilla :pensivecowboy:) 📚

21. When I have extra time I write my notes like I'm plannin to put em on Tumblr and taggin em as #darkacademia... I never post my notes, but when they look nice it's easier for me to look over em later. Plus it takes me longer to write so I remember it a lil better!! 📚

24. I'm in an awesome academia + studyspo server!! We sometimes study together on call and it's SUCH a good motivator! Here's an invite link if u wanna join, we are nice https://discord.gg/fjuX7TN (this wasn’t meant to be a promo post I just really like this group lol) 📚

OK I hope that helps!!! Feel free to add more if you have any tips that work for you :) Neurotypicals, feel free to RB respectfully!

(pics are: syllabus list, daily schedule, Yoshi the plant, and some fancy notes)

[steve0discusses]

S5 Ep 14: So If You Put a Fraction Into a Duel Disk, the Card Explodes

We left on quite the cliffhanger last episode, so I’ll fill you in:

I did not get the haircut.

Like I seriously considered getting a Zigfried for a cool 3 or 4 minutes there, but then I decided to wait a couple of days and I basically forgot.

But, back to the arc finale, Seto has decided to walk, not run, to the Kaiba lab in order to fix the virus rapidly eating his entire company.

I just want to point out that Zigfried went through a LOT of work to get Seto Kiaba to go “uggggh” turn around, and pretend to calmly walk away. I’m used to Seto losing his nut kind of a lot and blowing things up but this season he’s like “be chill be chill be chill” so that the entire world doesn’t think he’s a spaz on TV.

And little aside about Seto’s design choices here, I fell down a hole of interior design videos, and can I just say: apparently these wood frame things on the wall are back in style? Good on you, 2002(3?) Seto Kaiba. Don’t think that current designers are painting them purple but...we’re halfway there to Yugioh fashion.

Meanwhile, Pharaoh decides to remind everyone that these stakes are hella low. The worst that happens is that Zigfried deletes the plane that Yugi needs to fly home...which would be an impressive virus.

Like it’s hard to tell if Yami even has a solid concept of “capitalism” and whether or not he cares about or understands the makeup of Seto’s company (which up till now has operated like a small country and not a business...which is a little more Pharaoh’s understanding. Either way...hard to tell if Yami would shed two tears for the loss of Kaiba corp.)

And, despite what I say in the caps, I feel like Leon and Zigfried are the first villains we’ve ever had that Yugi and Pharaoh didn’t unintentionally disclose that they are 2 people to. Zigfried and Leon are just...completely oblivious to how effed up Yugi’s bean is. They think that’s just a normal kid and lol no dudes...y’all got distracted by Seto Kabia but you have a literal Egyptian God just hovering around in the background and dating 3 people by accident.

Like when the show shelves the main storyline, it is very funny how it’s all “And we’re gonna put the Pharaoh crisis on hold--just put a pin in it. No one will notice this child is two nervous wrecks stitched together” and then Yugi and Yami just kinda hold it in and watch all patiently until it’s their turn to get off the bench.

(read more under the cut)

In the giant computer tower, Seto Kaiba shouts out a string of orders and numbers, admired the many sonar detector looking windows open on every monitor, and then sat down at his desk to like...check the firewall, I guess?

The virus is past the firewall. It’s um...it’s inside the firewall, pretty sure that was the point, but youknow, it’s a kid’s show so they’re just throwing out computer stuff that has no meaning to the writers of this show.

Mokuba thinks fondly of how Seto Kaiba has never screwed him over (which I mean...maybe not on purpose, ((except for that one time he did screw him over on purpose to get Gozaburo Kaiba to accidentally give Seto Kaiba the company, but you could say that was a grander scheme that he knew Mokuba would see through, which...)) but Seto certainly has screwed Mokuba over accidentally. At least once.)

And meanwhile, Yami fixes everything through card shenanigans.

So here’s the shenanigan this episode: I don’t go over cards here but this one requires a limited amount of explanation.

So every round the golden castle deletes half of Yugi’s cards. So he was like...I’ll just draw down to one card. They can’t delete half a card...so that means the card must delete one of the two cards on the field which means it must delete itself.

...which is like the closest Yugioh will probably ever get to abusing a glitch to do a speedrunning tactic like GDQ.

Anyway, like I stated in the title: there are no fractions allowed in Yugioh. If you do that to your priceless one-of-a-kind card you got from winning one of Pegasus’ murder tournies, it will irreparably bust the card.

I’m sure at least one of you will correct me with the proper way to insert a fraction into your duel disk. Cuz like...as I say multiple times so we never forget, I barely pay attention to this card game and I’m just flying by the seat of my pants.

I want to say Seto and Mokuba were in the hacker chairs for like...3 minutes maybe before they realized “oh...Yugi fixed it...” and walked the half a mile back to the duel arena.

and also, as I’m looking at Seto’s glasses here, I just realized...all of Kaiba’s team wears sunglasses all the time. Inside, outside, night, or day...

They haven’t outright said this...but what if those aren’t sunglasses?

Is Roland and that other Roland wearing fancy cyber glasses? They are, right? Because they wear them indoors?

Damn, they can’t take a piss without being on call with Kaiba Corp, can they?

Now the problem is...Yugi played all of his cards (he has two in front of him face down, but none in his deck) and after milling himself, this means he’s now basically a sitting duck for Leon to take the title of “King of Games.”

Leon insists that he defend whatever scraps are left of his card honor and not duel a person who is carrying no cards and Yugi was like “COME AT ME BRO THIS IS THE ONLY WAY I KNOW I’M ALIVE.”

He didn’t even have to do a horror on Leon, he just...played cards good? I skipped it, I’ll be honest, but overall Leon’s card honor was...saved? Maybe? I mean he also go destroyed when his competitor had not a single card in his duel disk so...

...Leon will have to work on his card honor off screen because he’s pretty well humiliated at this point.

But stumbling onto the playing field like he’s half dazed/daydrunk, Zigfried is like “You forgot I already won, bastards!”

Which is when we find out that Zigfried’s “delete all” virus failed to press “enter” and deleted basically nothing. Just like when my Mom attempts to send something in Gmail but doesn’t press “Send” and tells me that Google is down and broken.

Sorry my bro has informed me that he ALSO has had to help my Mother locate the “Send” button and I just...I know she absolutely did that but I’m in denial that this Riddle of the Sphinx has happened to her multiple times.

Honestly, the pep talk we get from Leon at the end to cheer up his bro was a whole lot of “we will pick ourselves up and we’ll do better next time. Together.” and sure you can translate that as “we’ll be honest next time” or you can translate that as “next time we will be not nearly as obvious about inserting a virus into their computer until it is done doing the job, bro.”

Just like Dartz, we didn’t really get a whole lot of retribution or closure when it comes to Zigfried. But, unlike Dartz, Zigfried didn’t do too much murder, so I guess this is fine. He tried to cheat in a card game...

...and I guess tried to delete Kaiba Corp but youknow...

...people let him have that. The police saw the ticket of “this man tried to delete Kaiba Corp” and they just...didn’t arrest him. The judge saw that ticket and didn’t put out a warrant. They just let Zigfried have this, almost like “better luck next time, ya?”

And then Roland clocked out for the day and went home, thus ending this arc.

Look at all these characters, most of which we never saw duel even one card.

We also got one shot of Mai for some reason although she was not in this arc.

AAAHHHH. Every time I’m like “the show is done screwing geography” we get another freakin geography spook!

But we went back to California in order to get a scene of these guys in an airport to get a flight to Japan...

which means Rex and Weevil just...were they shipped home by the Kaibas? Because way to ditch getting arrested by the American Government, hot damn. They are...literally terrorists who destroyed a Caltrain in a plot to kill everyone in the world so like...really surprised Rex and Weevil are in public...but maybe all the FBI were dead at the time so they just didn’t know?

Meanwhile, Duke has to go back to Death Valley and call a tow truck for his car, RIP.

I sure hope he got PTO during this stunt and isn’t going home to a pink slip.

I’m not sure of Dukes life or anything going on with Duke. I’m sure the thing about Serenity is him joking because we have all forgotten about that girl by this point...but also...is Duke...still living in the Tenderloin? The crime rate is very, very high and the ground isn’t solid, so it will liquefy if there’s an Earthquake, but it is one of the few places in the Bay Area that doesn’t light on fire every year. He has that going for him.

I just really hope Duke moves out of the Tenderloin one of these days, he needs a better life.

Meanwhile, Rebecca does one last crime.

This is like a post-epidemic reaction to a hug, but in 2002(3?).

I don’t think I’ll miss Rebecca too much. Wanted to like her more, but she was under-utilized, like most of the characters on Yugioh. Not even just talking girl characters here--most characters on Yugioh are super under-utilized, just Tristan Wallflowers doing nothing, but also being selectively OP as hell about very specific things they never, ever need to do.

Speaking of the devil:

Yugi...just saved his entire company...

But Mokuba is just has to make sure to make it seem like they owed Mokuba and not the other way around. Just in case.

So off they go on this massive plane. It’s probably more to do with the length of the trip as to why the plane is so big but also...

This plane is overcompensating.

But before we analyze that, lets close the book on Seto Kaiba’s very short therapy arc. Overall, it was a nice distraction, but I can see why people call it a filler arc, as it really doesn’t affect...anything going on in the major plotlines, which makes me think it could have been a movie or a game or something. But overall, it’s not bad, it’s just not what you’d expect if you were a Western audience.

Like I’m preaching to the choir, but typically, Western stories are entirely plot focused, and so our arcs always give or take away from that plot. But in a Eastern story arc, it may instead be character focused, where the climax is a character evolving or coming to some sort of cathartic realization, which this arc was, in a big way. We still had some plot, because this is a Shonen, but overall it was about characters, and specifically whether or not Leon and his bro would reconcile or change--which they did.

We did get to see a little more growth on Seto in that he...didn’t go bonkers and hallucinate during a card game. It’s been a while since we’ve had him not do that. Seto was very chill this arc, which makes sense, it was a very chill slice of life arc for everyone involved.

So, next we move on to the next one, which bro has informed me...is

still not Bakura.

According to Bro, the next arc didn’t even air in the Japanese version of the show? Like he’s got a lot of spicy Yugioh headcanons so he could be wrong (He did tell me that he thought that Zigfried was Seto Kaiba’s ex boyfriend when he saw this as a kid which...that sure is a way to interpret this arc, and it probably wasn’t just my little brother who went down that thought tube there...)

(Bro Note: To be fair, I didn’t watch much of this arc as a kid.)

But he says the next arc was originally a movie. But they released it in the States as episodes to be part of S5, just to put more episodes in there. Which, if he’s correct, makes it seem like we’re getting like the Mulan 2 experience kind of shoved in between this arc and the next

But um..

according to bro it has virtually no card games.

.......

I’m so used to only capping 10 minutes an episode, what?

Anyway, until then, here’s the link to read the rest of these from the start in chrono order:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

I’m kinda itching to do a Season Zero, it’s been a hot minute--so those take a little longer to do, especially since I need to go to a different site I haven’t...checked out yet...I’ll be back...eventually? I just know that at some point in Season Zero they fight it out with yo-yo’s and I want to see it.

[fangirl-everythang]

Happy Fathers Day Part 2

Summary: 2/3 Y/n and Harry make up, kind of. He gets to be a part of their baby's life.

Warnings: Fluff, Kinda Cute

Word Count: 1443

I cannot believe my little miracle is so big now. You can obviously tell I'm pregnant now and the media hasn't been pleasant. The constant harassment, rumors, and to top it off they're already hating on my baby- who is still in utero.

Today is the five-month ultrasound, I've been contemplating on getting the gender, but I think I want to know so I can decorate the nursery in the new apartment or at least add to what I've done. So far it hasn't been bad. I stayed at a hotel for two weeks until I secured a decent place to raise this baby. Meanwhile, Harry keeps trying to contact me, but I ignore him. He cheated and that's that. I do miss him a lot though. It isn't the same and this sure as hell isn't how I imagined being pregnant.

Ding Dong

I make my way to the front door not bothering to look through the peephole. My smile fades when I look at the person standing in front of me. Should have looked through the peep. When I go to shut the door, he presses it open. Allowing him in to not cause a scene he gladly slides past me.

"What do you want?" I ask softly moving to pack my purse.

"I needed to see you," he speaks, his voice low and raspy. Looking at him for the first time in a while, he looks hurt. His eyes have bags, he looks like he hasn't slept in forever.

"Sit. Do you want something, water, tea?"

"Shouldn't I be doing that for you?" He smiles slightly sitting on the couch.

"I'm pregnant, not immobile" He frowns and looks down at my swollen stomach. These stupid hormones are making me feel bad for leaving him. His gaze remains constant on my stomach I as I watch his features carefully. "Do you want to? "

He looks up at me with a confused expression, "Do I want to what?"

Standing in front of him I grab his hands and gently caress them. Placing one on each side of my extended tummy, tears brim at his eyes. He rubs gently trying to feel the little human inside of me. Suddenly a sharp pain is felt, then again where Harry's hands are. He grins up at me.

"Hey there little one," he croaks, more kicks are felt when he speaks "Daddy's here." Between the physical and emotional pain, I want to cry. "Be nice to mummy, she's treating you well" he then begins to place light kisses on the surface of my stomach. "I love you both so much," he says as I wipe under my eye to remove any trace of the silent tears I let fall.

"I miss you y/n" he whispers standing up. He holds me close to his chest. "I fucked up and I won't ever hurt you like that again just please, come back to me. " he rasps.

"Harry, I told you-" my phone interrupts my sentence.

"Hello... yes this is she... oh hi Dr. Walters... that works perfectly I was running late anyway... okay see you at 3:30"

Harry just looks at me questioningly, "What's that about?"

"Ultrasound appointment," I say rubbing my bump.

"What time was it before?"

"8:15 am well and you know traffic and whatnot it would've taken some time" he chuckles at me "So you woke up at 5:30?"

"Well yeah, and I enrolled in Lamaze classes which start at 1, I had stuff to do. Plus, the nursery, and buying baby clo-" his lips gently touch mine. Shocked at first but soon giving into his touch, I wrap my hands around his neck. "I love you so much y/n" he mumbles against my lips.

"I love you too Harry" he smiles. I'm weak for him. I also want my- our child to have two parents involved. He loves children too much to tear his own away from him, but all is not forgiven. Looking at the clock I sigh. He laughs "Me too," He knows me too well.

Grabbing his hand and guiding him upstairs to my bedroom. Lying in bed, fuzzy socks and all, I pat the spot next to me. He pulls shirt over his head and tugs his pants off for a good 10 minutes before they gave in to the constant harassment. I told him to stop wearing skinny jeans. He carefully climbs into bed with me. It hurts to lay on my back, all the weight is shifted towards my spine. Harry notices my discomfort and faces me towards him on my side. "I haven't been able to sleep," he says kissing my temple. I nod silently admiring his beauty. I've missed him, looking at him, he truly is beautiful. I hope our baby looks more like him.

"Me either"

"Do you know what we're having?" I shake my head no. "I was going to find out today, " he touches my belly again, looking as if he wants to say something but his lips just press into a line. "Go with me."

"What?" he grins, placing his hand on my stomach with so much care.

"Go with me Harry, I want you to be there." He smiles at me showing me those dimples I've fallen for countless times. Placing my hand over his. "I'd love to."

I grab his hand and kiss the back of it. Turning so my back faces him, he carefully pulls me into him. My eyes feeling heavy and soon fade to black. "I promise I'm going to take care of you both."

/////

The empty feeling of the bed is what stirs me awake. Feeling around Harry's nowhere to be found, in arms reach at least. The sheets smell like him though, God I've missed this smell. If heaven had a sent it would be Harry in a bottle. Gotta pee. Fucking hell dude. Who put the bathroom 10 feet away? Sighing in relief when I got to the toilet I because my bladder was going to explode.

After washing my hands, I look at the clock, I could've slept for another 40 minutes. Oh well.

"Harry?" I call out padding through the silent hallway. I see the nursery door open and peek inside and see him staring of the maternity photos I put inside of .

"I feel like I've missed so much." He states as he grazes over some of the earlier ultrasounds.

"Not too much," I say rubbing his shoulder, "We can make up the next four months together." he gives me a small smile and brings me around to his front kissing the side of my neck. "Y/n?"

"Yeah Harry?"

"Can I stay here for a while, I want to help and be here for you and for them. I understand if you say no but I really wanna show you how sorry I am, and I just feel like yo-" I stop his blabbering by kissing him passionately. After a few moments, I pull away keeping our foreheads together. "You can stay for a while, Harry. We can work something out." I smile at him softly. He just nods in response.

////

"Y/n so glad to see you again! And you brought a guest." Dr. Walters says reaching out to shake Harry's hand.

"I'm Harry, the father."

"Well, it's mighty fine of you to join us today," he says putting gloves on.

"Here comes the cold," he warns me before placing the jelly on my abdomen. "Have you decided on wanting to know the gender?" he asks looking between Harry and I as he smears the jelly with the ultrasound probe.

"I want to know, no clue about him." I laugh Dr. Walters joins me.

" Well first let's see how we're doing," he says bringing the baby into view. "Alright dad, first time here so you hear the faster beat?" he asks Harry turning the volume up on the monitor. Harry nods in response, "That's your baby's heartbeat, and looks like they're in good shape." I smile as Harry leans down and grabs my hand. The black and white image on the screen is truly breathtaking.

"... and this is the head," Dr. Walters explains while pointing to help Harry find everything he identifies. Harry squeezes my hand gently as he admires our little miracle. "So, mom, we want to know right?"

"Yes!" Harry blurts out excitedly. "It's okay he calls me Daddy." which causes Dr. Walters to laugh. "Alright well let's see." He says pressing some buttons to change the view of my uterus.

"And it's a girl!"

A/n: Some of y'all are not going to like me and that is okay, good luck with part 3. LMAO funny story, I submitted this piece for my creative writing class my freshman year. The second-hand embarrassment I have LOL.