#gonna have to make a dedicated tag for him; I'm in too deep

[puppycheesecake]

i really wish lian♡ can become one of important sims to you and not just a pretty character to have fun dressing up, he's so interesting and deserves a whole story! and by the way, can you tell us more about his personality and background please?

(do i enjoy writing his name with a heart? who knows)

Oop, OC lore drop incoming... 👀

Oh, once I start giving them a personality/backstory it's all over; they become permanent residents in the game. The only reason I haven't put together a house for him yet is I've still got my western vampire save open and my build-focus is still on Chestnut Ridge, but I'm thinking he'll live in San Myshuno. Definitely one of the bigger apartments. (On top of being very good at his job he learned to be good with money from growing up struggling, so his finances are sound. 👌 He may be in magazines now but he never outgrew being a budget shopper.)

It's rare that I don't have potential love interests in mind for an OC, but there's just so many good options for him, and honestly he'd have too much fun playing the field to settle down anytime soon. He's a serial dater and a menace to the local singles population. (Let's be honest, he's a menace wherever he goes.)

I do think he'd have an extra interest in occult partners if only for the added ~excitement~ of it. He's weakest to vampires but they've historically been the worst for him. Always on the lookout for an alien in part because he just really wants someone to take him to Sixam for vacations.

Random Trivia: He started going to conventions and competing in costume contests as a teenager; learned how to sew/fabricate so people would take him more seriously when he won. (He got tired of hearing "UGH you only won because you're PRETTY. That's not a skill. 🙄") He still goes now as an adult (and absolutely still dresses up; he's a big nerd at heart), but he mostly only competes with masked costumes because he's too widely recognizable now and doesn't want it influencing a win.

[fairysluna]

hiii i saw that you've opened your requests, could i have “Go on, one more time. I know you can do it.” with Cregan? <3 or if you're already doing this, can you tag me in iiiiiit? (it is doing things to me)

MASTERLIST

hi, baby!! this is not so long, but i hope you like it either way! this is fully dedicated to you, ofc. Please enjoy it, ily🤍

PAIRING — Modern!Cregan Stark x Fem!Reader.

TW — porn w/o plot, husband!cregan, smut —breeding kink, p in v, praising, overstimulation, dirty talk, creampie, pregnancy talk—, established relationship, cursing. If something is missing let me know!

WORD COUNT — 831.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤenglish is not my first language.

You should've expected this when you told Cregan that you were ready to have a baby. The way his eyes lightened with illusion before they turned dark with raw desire should've given you a sign that this would happen.

“Come on, baby, keep those legs open for me…” he murmured against your ear. His hips would snap against yours over and over again, eager to fill you up once more. He had come at least three times, yet it wasn't enough, he had to make sure you were filled with him, that your womb would receive every single drop of his seed. He was too pussy drunk to even think about anything else besides breeding you; he was feral.

“S’too much… G-gods… I can't!” Whines left your lips, expressing the overstimulation you were receiving from him. You had lost count of the times you had fallen apart in his arms, spilling tears of pleasure and slight discomfort as his cock would touch the deepest part of you.

Both of your bodies were sweating and burning with desire. Your husband had lost his mind, fucking you restlessly and roughly against the matress, longing to feel your pussy clamping around him. His brain would create images of you round with his child, proudly carrying a part of him inside of you; it would drive him insane.

He was tired too. His pelvis was soaking with your many releases and his cheeks would be burning with a rouge tone. His hair was messy and wet with sweat, his lips swollen and parted - letting groans and gasps escape from them each time he would feel your walls squeezing him tight. Both of his hands were holding the back of your knees, your legs bent against your chest - your cunt fully exposed to him.

“Mmh… fuck- Baby, let me fill your pussy one more time…” He breathed out, heavily panting, almost whining. "Please."

“I- I can't…”

“Go on, one more time. I know you can do it,” he pleaded, fastening his pace.

Your nails would dig in the skin of his back, scratching it and making him hiss with the slight pinching pain. As a response, one of his hands let go of your thigh to travel down your body and play with your swollen clit. You almost screamed, feeling so sensitive and delicate.

“Can't wait to see you all nice and full of my cum…” He started, leaning towards your neck and hiding his face there. “I'm gonna brag that it was me the one that got you knocked up.”

“Cregan…” you cried out his name, and his hips twitched for a second. Gods, he was so needy for you.

“Fuck, baby… Everyone will know you're fucking mine.” His words were punctuated with his thrusts, and each time he went deeper and deeper. “You’re gonna look so perfect, so fucking beautiful…”

The idea was getting to your head, making your soft walls clench around his cock. Cregan whimpered some muffled words, feeling how your cunt would squeeze him so good - he knew you were almost there. He closed his eyes, fastening the movements of his fingers in your clit while his thrusts became sloppy and more desperate.

“Cum for me…” he whined, feeling how he was getting closer to the edge too. “Let me feel this pretty pussy milking my cock. Please, cum for me… p-please…”

The sudden heat that ran through your veins took you by surprise, and before you could know, his name escaped from your lips in a cry as a creamy ring formed in the base of his cock. Cregan followed you soon, his seed spilling deep inside of you while his hips moved, giving you every single drop of his spent. Your body quivered while he moaned, legs twitching while your pussy was fluttering around his leaking cock. Sobs and hiccups would leave your lips, and Cregan was quick to pepper kisses all over your face, whispering soft praises at you.

“Good job, baby, you were so good for me…” His nose was brushing against your cheeks, feeling the tears of pleasure that soaked your hot skin. “Taking all of my cum, so ready to be a mommy, huh?”

You felt his length twitch inside your walls when he uttered those words, followed by a husky curse that made you feel butterflies.

He slowly started to pull away, loving the way your stretched hole seemed to not want to let him go; you hissed for the discomfort that his absence brought. He looked down at your spreaded legs, noticing how drops of his seed leaked out of you. He hummed delightedly.

“Seven hells…” he breathed out before he glanced at you - his hand brushing your hair away from your face. “You're gonna be the best mommy, I know it…”

A tired smile was drawn on your lips. “I love you,” you murmured. Your eyes began to close as the exhaustion became evident in your body.

“I love you too, princess.”

follow @by-fairysluna for updates!

[terras-domain]

(Thanks)Giving Season

Characters: Kang Seul-gi (Seulgi), Male Husband (Reader), Husband's Brother

Tags: Cheating, Cuckold, Kitchen Sex, Blowjob, Watching, Caught, Condom, Rough Sex, Forced Submission, Thanksgiving, Cum in Pussy, Abs, Cum Eating

Words: 2941

Author's Note: Hi Hiiiii terra here!!! Been a while since I posted, sorry for that. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Personally I don't celebrate it but I hope to those who did, you guys enjoy it <33 As the tags show it's gonna be a cuckold smut so if it's not your thing, oh well. Enjoy <33

Reader's POV

Thanksgiving. Not the best holiday to be honest, never understood the hype behind it but at least now I have a day off from work to spend some time with my wife, Seulgi. Work has been brutal for me so our time together is precious to me. Opening the front door with a smile to greet her that I'm home, only for me that smile to slowly fade away. "Oh hi, honey!" Seulgi smiled, waving at me as I see her talking to a guest. "Oh hey lil' bro, long time no see hm?" My brother, a person who I haven't seen in years actually. I actually don't bond well with my family in general, which is why my personal time is mostly dedicated to my wife Seulgi. "Hey...what're you doing here?" I asked, an eyebrow lifted as I start to make myself at ease, putting my stuff down and joining my wife and my brother around the living room.

"Awww don't be too cold, lil' bro. Just wanted to see my family for Thanksgiving you know." He gave a big grin, a face that makes me feel so annoyed for some reason, always been all my life. "Now now boys. Let's not be like that, okay? We need to get things done for Thanksgiving" My breath got stuck through my throat. She's right, it's not like I have much time to spend with Seulgi, and I'm not gonna waste the time I get now by arguing with this dumbass. She had planned to cook something special for tonight, so she brought us both to the kitchen, showing the turkey she planned on roasting, only to find it rotten. "Oh fuck! Nooo that fucking butcher lied to me." Now with no turkey, we can't have the so called Thanksgiving spirit. My big brother can't drive, which means there's only one thing I can do now. "I'll go buy you a new one hun. Don't worry about it" Seulgi's eyes sparkled and hugged me tight, euphoric as now her problem has a solution. "Awww thank you sweetheart. I love you." A kiss on the lips I received from my loving wife, followed by her warm smile that just melts my heart. I got myself ready, grabbing my keys and look back to my wife and wave. "I love you Seulgi. And take care of my wife okay?" I looked to my big brother, I don't really like him but I'm sure family still care for each other. "Oh no worries lil bro. Your wife's safe with me."

Seulgi's POV

I'm glad my husband is around to help me with the turkey. It was silly of me to not realize it was rotting. Oh well, I just have to start prepping food for now. My husband is a big fan of Italian food so I thought making him some fettuccine alfredo might make him happy. Dropping the pasta to boil them while I prepare the sauce was pretty much light work for me, I'm used to working alone in the kitchen since my husband isn't often in the house anyways. I checked around and notice my brother-in-law looking deep into my eyes, sometimes shifting to my cooking elsewhere. "Smells good Seulgi. My brother must be happy to have you." His low voice echoes the kitchen. I didn't know how to respond to that but only smile awkwardly, what a weird thing to say I thought. "Oh come on beautiful. Don't be shy. Live a little we're family right? Nothing wrong with a little compliment, especially if it's for a pretty woman like you~" he kept on going with his praises and weird antics, which start to make me get goosebumps. His footsteps felt heavy but firm, slowly inching closer to me as he started to lean towards me, looking at the pot of fettuccini I'm preparing followed by a sniff, trying to smell the food, or so I thought. His face was closer to my hair than it was to my cooking which made me feel a little uncomfortable and insecure as the thoughts in my head start to turn into a reality. He's groping me!

With his hands reaching under my apron and gripping my chest through shielded by the cloth of my clothes, it was hard to push him away since he's so big and muscular. "W-wait. Please don't do this, your brother won't like this." I mumbled, squirming a bit as I'm overpowered, my whole body held tight as my brother-in-law completely gropes me for his pleasure. "Oh no worries beautiful. Your husband ain't doing shit on me. Now let me see how good you feel." His wide grin send shivers down my spine, but when he started to pull my face for a kiss, I felt unreal. My whole life I've only had intimate relationships with my husband so this felt so bad, but not like my brother-in-law cares about it.

"Mmmh Seulgi. You're quite the curvy babe aren't you?" He chuckled, now biting my lips as he has full control over me. I can't escape and just let him use me, hoping my husband can come just in time to save me from this creep. His hard bulge is pressing on my ass cheeks and it's disgusting, having another man than my own husband using me for pleasure. After a few minutes of making out, he pulled out and gave a big grin. "Well time for the real thing bitch. Get down there." My in law now guides me to be on my knees, facing his stifling bulge before he pulled his pants off, showing his erection pointing straight at me. It's huge. Bigger than anything I've ever seen, it made me nervous since I know what's next.

"Well what're you waiting for hoe? Get to it." His thick length started slapping on my face, making me whimper in inferiority. My husband did tell me how much of an asshole he is, and how violent he can be, so I have no other choice. My mouth slowly opened up as I slowly accepted his cock, taking it in inch by inch. It felt so wrong, the way is thick meat makes me choke just by putting the tip in, the way his hands rub on my cheeks and how I'm actually cheating on my husband right now. "Good girl Seulgi. Just need a little bit of...enthusiasm." As he kept his dominant persona going, his wishes are all coming to a reality as he uses me as he please. His hands are on the back of my head, plunging his cock inside as he thrust his hips back and forth. It hurts. My husband isn't as big nor as rough as his brother so this is all new to me. "ghhhh GAAAAK-!" My mouth just kept on making weird noises and choking sounds as he continues his barrages of mouth fucking on my throat, drilling my mouth and using me as a sex object.

Reader's POV

Phew! That took a while. turkey secured, and it's fresh from the oven. Too bad traffic isn't really on my side today, man why does life hate me so much. But all that complaining will soon end as I reached home, excited to see my wife. Creaking the door open I was greeted by nothing by a strange noise, a woman who sounded like she was choking over something. I went to explore my own home, looking for the source of the odd sound as I reached the kitchen. Just like the turkey, my heart fell. Seeing my wife sucking on my brother's cock, bobbing her head back and forth just made me feel sick. "Oh, you're finally here lil bro. Gimme a sec!" He grunted as he pulled out, stroking his 8-inch length while looking down at Seulgi. "Open your mouth, beauty, I wanna cum on that face." He ordered, which my wife seems to obey despite taking a few seconds to follow. I can hear a few sobs coming from her. is it shame, is it resent, or is it just the aftereffect from a rough face fucking she just went through. Regardless, it seems my brother enjoyed my wife a lot when he unloaded his load all on her face, splattering everywhere from her forehead to her chin.

Seulgi's face turned away, looking very shy and scared. "Honey..." I tried to approach her, wanting to know what's going on when my she stopped me in my tracks. "I'm sorry baby. He...he made me do this." She sobbed, looking down to the floor as cum dripped down her face. I had a dead stare to my brother, my face inclining so our eyes exchange eye contact. In those few seconds, memories of how much my brother overpower me in any way came back. How he's physically, mentally and even academically superior to me, which makes him so much better than me. I want to confront, I want him to pay. But with what has happened my whole life, it may be best to just give in, I don't have a choice. I could only walk towards Seulgi, holding her tight and give her a gentle soft kiss. "I love you, Seulgi." the kiss ended, interrupted by the after taste of my brother's semen on my lips. After that I just wiped my wife's face with a clean cloth before walking away cowardly. I need to take my mind off of this, and staying in the kitchen won't help me. I took one last look at my brother, sighing. "She's yours." A defeated frown sticked to my face face as the words flew out of my mouth, and my feet drags across the room.

My words seem to influence my brother for some reason. As soon as I sat on the couch, I couldn't distract myself no matter what is on the TV. My mind still wanders in the kitchen where my brother shreds my wife's clothes off, completely taking advantage of the situation where both me and Seulgi are mentally lost. I could hear banging noises coming from the sink, making my lewd mind imagine how Seulgi looked getting fucked by another man, it made me hard. My penis pitching a tent from my imaginations running wild from the voices that both Seulgi and my brother make aroused me and made me touch myself while fully clothed. A pathetic loser touching himself through his pants while his wife gets fucked rough that is me. Soon I can see the pair walking out of the kitchen both half naked. Seulgi seems to have less resistance towards my brother and just embraces him now. "I'm sorry honey." i stared at the floor, ashamed of my incompetence. Seulgi didn't reply with a single word, instead her facial expression is more than enough to show the disgust she had towards me for giving in too easily.

Seems like they weren't done. No, seems like they were just getting started. My brother sat next to me on the couch, butt-naked while Seulgi climbed up on him, riding his bigger cock as her tight pussy gapes open for her. "Nghhhh ahhh~! Yeah daddy, fuck me, fuck my tight little pussy!" Seulgi's moans and words were like a knife to me, humiliating me as I just looked at my unintended tent, with nobody but myself to please it. I could only resist so much. The bounces Seulgi made, the sheer size of my brother destroying my wife's vagina, the way I was completely ignored. It was degrading me, but at the same time turning me on more, I eventually gave in to my urges and started jacking off, stroking at the site of live porn acted by my wife and my brother. And they both seem to ignore me, it's as if I'm not even there and they just fucked like they've been doing it together for years. "Nghhh fuck Seulgi you little bitch! You love this cock huh? You love it more than you love your husband's? My cock is better than my brother's isn't it?" The questions he asked showed how they both can see me, I'm not invisible, at least not literally. "Nghhh~ yes daddy. Daddy's cock is just too good. My husband feels like a shrimp compared to yours daddy." That single line from my own wife broke me, made me lose myself as I screamed while rubbing my shaft so fast and uncontrollably. It made me cum, splashing drops of dilute cum on my pants. It made me huff and puff for some reason. I've had sex quite some time with Seulgi, but none of them drained me as much as this. I felt like I could pass out, so I retreated and moved to my bedroom to find clarity.

When I thought being alone in the bedroom was enough, it wasn't. My brother crashed in with Seulgi, holding her in his arms carrying like newly weds. They were making out which made me slightly irritated. Again they ignored my existence and just jump on the bed, forcing me to lay on just a small fraction of the mattress. Their make out session broke up and Seulgi now traced back to my brother's long hard shaft. I could've sworn he came a few times already and yet he's still rock solid and raring for more. Seulgi's pretty mouth enveloped his cock, slowly lowering her head before moving back up, and a slow cycle continues as she sucked my brother's cock. What's worse is how I can see our wedding rind on Seulgi's hand, shining to me while her fingers wrap around my brother's shaft. My wife's head game kept on as she went faster after a while, only for my brother to stop her and lift her face up. They made out, making me feel uncomfortable yet so turned on before changed positions, Seulgi's pussy directly above my face.

"I'll fill you up, bitch-" My brother grunted as a tight smack echoes the room, leaving a red handprint on Seulgi's ass. It made Seulgi scream out a submissive moan too and a drop of cum dripped down her pussy and onto my face. It seems like they didn't want to waste any time and went straight to business, with their two bodies connecting, my brother's cock penetrating my wife's pussy and I got the best, or worst view to see it happening. "Ngaaah~! Aaaaah aahhh yessss~!" Seulgi's moans became vocal, the opposite of her behaviour a while back. She's just lost in lust, just like me it seems. "Harder daddy pleaseeee~" She plead, her head twisting back to face my brother acting like it's only them in the room and I'm nowhere in the scene. "Fuucckkk shut the fuck up slut. I didn't tell you can order me around." With a rough yank on her her, Seulgi's moans became only louder. With precum from both of their private parts leaking on me, I couldn't have felt more humiliated, but somehow I'm happy. It made me feel content to listen to my wife's sweet and loud moans, even if it's not from me.

"Mmmh~ Daddy's cock is getting bigger in me oh god!" Her pussy bulges as she finished her sentence. He's about to cum, isn't he, I thought. "Nghhh yeaahhh...fuck I'm gonna fucking fill you up Seulgi!" He grunted, digging his nails into her hips as my brother starts to buckle his hips harder until eventually he came, bursting inside my wife. There's so much cum inside it was up to a point where the cum from the pair drips down on me, covering my face with cum. It was embarassing, having them cum on me in my bed in this manner and cuck me. After all that, Seulgi finally looked at me. "Do you want to cum baby?" Her words are still as sweet as ever, but her expressions sure seemed cold, of course I'd say yes. I was so eager to put my cock in her until she stopped me, handing me over an S size condom.

Of course, it was a bit too tight for me but I don't feel much physical pain. I ended up finally getting to fuck my wife, despite only by wearing a small condom. My thrusts were clear to be ineffective, as Seulgi's fake moans just makes me so humiliated and degraded. "Fuuuck hunny! It feels so good!" I screamed, getting closer to my climax despite only being a few thrusts in. "Mhm, okay sure. Cum then baby" Her replies seem to be short and uninteresting. It just fuels up my self-degradation which made me cum so much sperm in the condom, filling it up. "Aaaaah, nghhhh~" My whimpers were so weak, it sounded like I could faint any moment. But my wife wouldn't let me yet, not after being a coward and not standing up for his wife. She pulled off the condom from my cock and spilt it on her stomach, making her abs more defined. "Eat it" She ordered, and I had no choice but to oblige. Licking and cleaning my wife's fit body, cleaning her abs from my worthless cum felt both horrible and amazing at the same time, most probably because of how fucked my mind is at this point. I felt defeated and lay on my back beside Seulgi, before hearing her whisper. "I love you honey~" followed by a sweet giggle before my brother joins back in bed with her. Sure she still says she loves me, but for some reason I believe she loves his cock more.

[sotwk]

I would absolutely love to hear literally any random thought you have about Eomer or Boromir.

Hee! What a wonderful Ask! But oh my goodness, this is a little tricky because just thinking of either of those two kind of torches what few brain cells I have left because they're just so... you know. ;)

I do have timeline notes for these two wonderful Men because I'm finally starting my multi-chapter fics for them. However, I don't want to spoil anything, so lemme check what headcanon is spoiler free....

Quick Headcanon: EOMER

Eomer's military career can be summarized as follows:

Ages 12-15 - Served as squire to King Theoden

Age 16 - Accepted as Rider in the Eored of his cousin, Theodred

Age 20 - Given command of his own Eored

Age 26 - Becomes the Third Marshal of the Mark

Eomer is a prodigious soldier, often deemed the greatest Rohirrim since the days of Eorl himself. This is the result of natural (almost supernatural) talents and a fierce dedication to his country. He envisioned himself as serving as a soldier his whole life and never had any political aspirations.

Quick Headcanon: BOROMIR

Book canon states that Boromir had little interest in taking a wife because he was too preoccupied with learning the ways of warfare so he could protect his beloved City. This certainly was true when he was younger, because settling down wasn't a priority in his mind.

But I also headcanon that young Boromir was a "good soldier" a.k.a. good at taking orders. This was part of why Denethor loved him so much; he didn't deviate from "The Plan". Basically The Plan was to inherit the Stewardship and rule Gondor after his father. Oh, and he was going to marry and have kids and continue the prestigious bloodline.

Denethor assigns his sister-in-law, Ivriniel, to find a good match for his son for whenever the right time came.

Good Soldier Boromir says, mindlessly: "Yeah, okay, sure. Whatever, Auntie." He was ready to do as he was told and just let them pick his "perfect" wife for him.

But then he did the unthinkable and fell in love. With a commoner. A commoner with a far-less-than-ideal background.

That's not THE PLAN, Boromir! You're not supposed to have opinions!

And you can bet Lady Ivriniel is gonna make a damn good impression of Lady Catherine de Bourgh when she finds out and it's gonna make for some Austen-ian drama.

(All this coming in the Boromir fic I have in the works.)

Tagging just a few fans who might be interested: @scyllas-revenge @ass-deep-in-demons @hippodameia @hobbitwrangler @konartiste @emmanuellececchi @thetempleofthemasaigoddess @heilith @absentmindeduniverse and I'm sure I've missed people but like I said my brain cells are probably fried from thinking about these two. XD

Other useful links:

Introduction to SotWK

Fanfiction Masterlist

Fanfiction Request Guidelines

[beyondspaceandstars]

Ivy

Relationship: Steve Rogers x Reader Warnings: Cheating/implied cheating, slight angst Summary: Although you're already happily married, you and your apartment neighbor Steve have started a bit of an affair. And it's growing. Rapidly. (Inspired by: "Ivy" by Taylor Swift) A/N: oh hello everyone :) this is an older fic I wrote right after evermore dropped (hence the title and lyrics) but I'm going through and publishing some of my old writing I've been holding onto (I think I published this one under a different account but I spruced it up a bit). Hopefully newer stuff will come soon :)

Masterlist

"Oh, I can't Stop you putting roots in my dreamland My house of stone, your ivy grows And now I'm covered in you"

It happened fast. It happened so fast that you didn’t know where the breaks were until it was too late. He was just… there. Always there. Standing in the hallway, walking on the sidewalk, shopping at the freaking grocery store. It was a kaleidoscope of instances with him from the bumping into and the lingering gazes to the knowing smiles. It was fast and… spreading.

It was spreading, yes.

He was spreading, from your heart to your brain. Every second of every dream was filled with the what ifs. What if you held his hand when he asked to walk with you to the store? What if he happened to fall asleep in your bed after you asked him for his help with something? What if, in the end, your marital hand was his to take instead? The scenarios played out time and time through the night, forcing you to wake up with a fluttering heart and a guilty conscience.

Your husband—the man you were actually involved with and supposed to be dedicated to—kindly made you coffee every morning, having no idea about your infidelity-filled dreamland. He could barely even remember Steve’s name while his entire being lived in your soul, day in and day out. It felt like a cruel punishment.

"Good morning," your husband greeted you as you padded into the living room. As expected, two mugs in hand, one outstretched towards your sleepy form. You hugged the coffee carefully, giving a smile back in greeting, but the action twisted your stomach. You couldn’t recall last night’s dream yet the feeling of it all lingered.

"I know today was supposed to be my day off but I gotta run to the office real quick," your husband explained as he sipped his coffee and collected his files. "You’ll be okay here, right?"

Your heart skipped. Nodding, you said, "Yeah, I think I’ll go to the coffee shop and catch up on reports."

"You have coffee right there, silly," your husband chuckled, motioning his mug towards yours. You looked down at the steaming, dark beverage. You could just make yourself out in the reflection, coming face-to-face with your tired eyes and frowning lips.

"Yeah," you shrugged. "I want one of those fancy blended drinks. They’re practically milkshakes."

Steve liked those drinks, you subconsciously noted, even though he pretended he didn’t. He was carrying one when you bumped into him on the street a few weeks after moving into the apartment building. When you asked what it was, he acted like he had no clue and claimed he was just holding it for a friend. You remember giggling at his frantic explanation but eventually, he confessed his deep, dark coffee secret. You were sworn to secrecy on the manner.

Maybe Steve would like to tag along with you today. The idea hit you like a train. You didn’t know where it came from. Well, you did but… Oh.

"Honey?" Your husband’s voice shook you out of your thoughts. "Are you okay?"

You coughed, "Yeah, I’m alright. Just a little sleepy."

"Hmm, okay," he nodded, still eyeing you suspiciously. "I’m gonna get ready and head out."

You nodded in acknowledgment as he gave you a quick peck and departed for your bedroom. Suddenly feeling sick, you dumped the mug’s contents in the sink and slammed the cup on the counter.

Running your hands through your hair, you stood in the kitchen. Mind screaming, heart-burning.

****

Your head was fuzzy as you got dressed for the day. You waited until your husband had left for the office as you had plans with your appearance. It came easily, you found, to put in a little effort. After getting married, both you and your husband found comfort in the natural and casual but now there was something shiny and new. There was maybe someone who appreciated you trying and it filled you with that schoolgirl anxiousness. It was wrong, though, so wildly wrong.

You could suppress it all, though. So easy, you thought. Nothing wrong with a married woman getting herself together to feel good. It was about you, of course. At least that was what you managed to convince your head to recite as you applied the lipgloss and curled your hair. It was partially true—you did like how you looked—but that background voice, that voice you heard in your dreamlands, reminded you of where your heart was.

Sighing, you forced yourself to step away from the mirror and collect your work. You actually did have plans to work on reports for your job but you wouldn’t mind a certain next-door soldier keeping you company.

You hadn’t exactly done this before, you realized as you stood at Steve’s apartment door. Your time spent with one another was always just…coincidental. At least, that’s what you perceived it as. You two happened to go to the grocery at the same time or walked up the stairs after work at similar hours. Fate was laying it out and you were stupidly taking the dive.

Swallowing your doubts, you knocked on the door.

For a few seconds, you thought about turning away and running. Purse gripped tightly, that felt like the only move, and just when your feet started inching towards the stairs, the door swung open.

He appeared in the doorway like a golden dream come true. Eyes bright and smile as big as the sky, Steve looked pleased to see who was on the other side of his door. He was fully dressed for the day. Shoes on and everything as if he was almost on his way out. You felt even more stupid now realizing of course the most important man in the city had somewhere to be.

"Good morning," Steve greeted you. "What a surprise."

"H-Hello," You let out a humorless laugh with your stupid response and looked down at your nail polished nails, picking away at the nude paint. Anxiety was bubbling up, forcing your words out straight to the point. "I was just… I don’t know. This is probably so stupid or whatever but I was gonna go to the coffee shop down the street to do some work. Do you want…some coffee?"

Gosh, your face must have been beet red as you felt the temperature in the hallway rise drastically. Steve, however, didn’t even flinch at your suggestion. He folded his arms and leaned against the door frame, his smile turning into a hinting smirk. He eyed your nervous stance carefully and you could feel it. Your feet started itching to flee, again.

Steve shrugged, "Are you asking me to come with you to the coffee shop?"

"Well, I mean-,"

"A coffee date, perhaps?"

You gasped, your heart plummeted. This wasn’t— You couldn’t— He was getting in your brain, putting thoughts there now. Everything felt so suggestive suddenly. You were insane for this. Your husband and the rings you still adored… What was becoming of you? No, what was becoming of him? It was his work, wasn’t it? But you were here? Brain on fire, you wanted to scream.

"Steve—,"

He chuckled, nearly completely unaware of the races in your mind. "I’m just joking. I think I would enjoy some coffee right now."

You gulped and reeled yourself back in. "Wonderful."

Steve was right by your side the entire walk. Your elbows brushed so casually yet flamingly. Your skin ignited with every step and God forbid if someone was coming up the sidewalk from the opposite direction. The way Steve pushed into you to make room felt like at any second he was going to pin you against one of the brick buildings lining the sidewalk.

There was the issue with his hand, too. His pockets were free to use yet he let his hands stay at his sides, brushing over yours ever so gingerly. Every time it did, his fingers hit your wedding band, operating as your not-so-subtle reminder.

It felt like a bad game. A bad, teasing game. The tension was rising and what originally started as light banter or silly laughs here and threatened to turn into stiff beats around the elephant in the room. But gosh, he was so kind and funny and just glowed throughout, so you would deal with it and let today go where it goes.

When you arrived at the coffee shop, Steve held the door open for you, motioning for you to enter. He gave a cheesy bow as if you were some kind of royal. You gave a silly curtsy in response which he lit up at.

See, you told yourself, go with the flow. There was still banter and fun with him.

At the cashier, Steve ordered for both of you and allowed himself to pay as well. While you tried to object, he was already done with the transaction and pushing you into the nearest booth. You frowned at his generosity but he chose to ignore your antics.

He went to retrieve your drinks as you set up your laptop and papers. Steve returned now with a faux frown on his lips as he noted your collection of items.

"So," he said, clearing his throat and sitting across from you. "I get to sit here while you do work?"

You shrugged, "I only asked if you wanted coffee. You invited yourself along."

Chuckling, he responded, "As if I would miss a chance for a day out with you."

Your heart plummeted for what felt like the umpteenth time today. Placing your pen down, you looked up at the smirking Steve. His eyes were staring you down, shamelessly roaming all over you. You could and couldn’t believe his boldness.

"Steve—,"

"Don’t you have work to do?" He pointed his cup at the papers. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. God, it was all starting to get confusing again. He knew where the line was, right? Why was he pushing it? Why were you even allowing it? Because it fed some fantasies? Aided with some brief passings of loneliness? There was just always something in his words to you. A twinkle or so behind those looks and smirks. You don’t even remember feeling this way on dates with your husband. Oh, your husband…

"What are we doing?" You sighed.

"Hmm?" Steve sipped his drink. "I’m drinking coffee and you are supposed to be working. I think that’s what we’re doing."

"You know what I fucking mean."

Steve’s eyes widened at your outburst. You never swore around anyone, not even in your own home, so to do it here and out… Well, there was a new tone approaching the table.

Silently, he moved your drinks out of the way and leaned his elbows on the table. Shifting probably as close as the table would allow, he looked you dead in the eyes and asked, "Why did you knock on my door?"

"I… Well, I’m—,"

Words were tumbling in your brain like crazy as if that was any sort of shock. You couldn’t keep yourself together today. You could feel him all over you yet again.

"You feel it," Steve whispered.

"Steve—,"

"It’s exciting and you like it,"

"Steve, really—,"

"I like it, too,"

God, make his words stop. You wanted to scream. Everything was burning on you. From the words in your ears to his eyes on your figure. You felt the roots from his glances digging deeper and deeper and any hope of hiding it was flying out the window.

You took a deep breath and raised your hands in defeat. "Please."

What? What were you even asking—begging—for? A release? Someone to take your words away? Steve to ask you to run away or keep this in a secret rush?

"You do," He whispered and there was nothing that could confirm it like your hesitant silence. "But your husband—,"

"He can’t know," you shot back. If he ever caught wind there was no telling what could happen. He was a soft soul on the surface but it takes one spark to start a fire and fires can burn down a home.

Steve sighed and leaned back in his seat. "Calm down, we haven’t even done anything."

"But the feelings," you whispered. It was your turn to leave him bewildered. "The feels and falling consume everything. Don’t you think that’s worse than something physical? It’s soul and bones deep."

"I mean that much to you?"

"You’re everywhere."

You could tell that hit him. Heck, the admission even took you by surprise—and it was your admission.

Everything suddenly felt so much dirtier than one-night stands. This man hadn’t even properly touched you and yet, at the same time, he had touched so much.

"You mean this?"

"I wish I didn’t."

Steve scoffed, playing with the rim of his coffee cup. "You don’t know what you’re doing."

Sighing, you closed your laptop and said to hell with these reports. Your day was flowing and you promised to go with it.

Throwing everything back together in your bag, you looked back at him. "But I do, Steve."

At his name falling off your lips, his eyes abruptly met yours. After a beat, his hand reached for yours and you felt the weighted pain slowly drift away. It was as peaceful and forbidden as you had expected. You didn’t think you wanted to be anywhere else.

"You’re everywhere for me, too." You could cry at those words but he continued. "Like ivy growing everywhere, darling. I go out on limbs to see you."

"Ivy," you repeated. "Just like ivy."

Steve gripped your hand tighter, "And, baby, I’m covered in you."

Your jaw dropped. Pulling your hand away, you mumbled, "He’ll burn us to the ground if he ever finds out."

Steve shrugged, a suggestive smirk working on his lips—a wild yet dreamy contrast to the man you saw a few seconds ago. "I’ve been known to keep a few secrets."

[lousirs]

ok more of a debate but I think that the scene where the spy girls find out Lou is a prototype is some what significant.

So from rough memory I'm gonna just briefly explain what happened. Tuesday is still kinda ditsy about the whole thing, her main focus is on whether that's a bad thing. Lydia doesn't seem very fazed but still shocked to an extent. BUT (to me at least) Kitty seems kind of uncomfortable. She's clearly seen kind of backing away.

I think Kitty felt uncomfortable because she felt lied and betrayed to. Well I mean yea obviously all of them would have felt like that but she seemed to be the most loyal to him in a way. Yes, Tuesday and Lydia were too, but Tuesday was mostly distracted by Lou's charms and good looks, Lydia seemed to be kind of meh about it. But Kitty seemed the most dedicated to him? Like this guy she works for turns out to be a fake? everyone's shocked yea, but based on her body language she seemed extremely uncomfortable and disturbed.

Maybe it just clicked in her head faster that Lou literally manipulated all of them to think that the uglydolls were bad. Probably most heavy on the spy girls because they did Lou's dirty work in sabotaging them and all that. Also another piece of evidence I have to support the fact that Kitty was the most loyal to Lou is that she was not easily distracted. Like when they first say Ox, Lydia was about to start talking about how she loved bunnies while Kitty was focused on the main goal.

There's so much other things I have to say but I CANT REMEMBER

This is probably just me digging in too deep lol but this movie has a chokehold on me 💋💋💋

ooh that's interesting... also yay i get to talk about my favourites (kitty and lou)

stuff under the cut, i feel like i'm going to ramble A LOT (we gotta love digging in too deep into some silly kids film WEEEEE)

i just rewatched the scene, and yeah i totally see that. i first thought that kitty was uncomfortable cause lou said he was a prototype (which seems like the dolls consider it a bad thing) and called them all "sycophants", but even before that she's got her eyebrows furrowed and her body language is closed in and kinda on the defensive.

i personally feel like the girls have been working for lou for years, as that would make sense as to why they would feel so betrayed by lou. if they were new dolls, they wouldn't care as much, just like the other prettydolls.

i was thinking that perhaps lou wanted a message man (or rather spy) of sorts. sure, he has the robots, but they were there to assist in training only. he wanted a doll to do more dirty work, like spying and receiving information (e.g. learning about gossip etc) so he could gain more power and influence over the other dolls. so, he hired kitty (perhaps since he noticed how strategic and calculated kitty is through her training etc). and since kitty was friends with lydia and tuesday, and was probably inseparable from them, lou hired the three of them. that would make more sense if lydia and tuesday just tagged along for their friend since, and as you said, kitty normally is the one to take action whilst tuesday and lydia are normally distracted.

...but whilst on this topic, i'd like to bring up another thing. i suppose that, yeah, the moments after the gauntlet do show a turning point in the spy girls' (and especially kitty's) trust towards lou, as well as when lou says something along the lines of "and if you think that you're going to take that away from me, you're just as empty-headed as the rest of them".

but there's another moment when you see kitty's trust waver. when lou breaks mandy's glasses.

mandy is obviously devastated, but look at kitty! the other spy girls seem unbothered, but kitty seems upset. and i don't think it's because of lou breaking mandy's glasses, as she was still smugly grinning as lou took them off and smashed them, but she's rather upset over mandy's devastated expression. it seems like kitty genuinely cares about mandy, and seeing her upset makes kitty upset too.

so i think that lou, kitty and mandy all had a close bond. and in this moment, kitty is probably internally debating which side she's on, because she seems to care about both lou and mandy.

on a side note, another moment where kitty seems to care about mandy is trying to get her to join in with the girls' conversation when they first appear.

it's a small gesture, but it seems like mandy is the outsider of the group, and kitty is trying to get her to be more involved. how sweet <3

back to the recycling scene, kitty expresses regret in this shot too. tuesday is like "uhh what just happened", lydia is like "HE DID NOT JUST DO THAT" and kitty is genuinely rethinking EVERYTHING. it looks like she's almost reaching out, thinking about holding lou back to stop him. i doubt the spy girls have seen lou go to such lengths before, as recycling was only recently opened up again. so seeing this must be such a shock to kitty, and probably made her uncomfortable of lou after that point.

[gremlintooth]

AHHHGH DUDE, IVE FINALLY FOUND YOU ON HERE, YESSSS BRO, YOUR WRITING IS PHENOMENAL, (I'd say I'm the biggest lagwafis enthusiast on the internet, as soon as i read lagwafis, I bought the CD, the collectors edition pill pack white shirt, I have so so so many quotes on my Craig Tucker Shrine from the fic, and if you wanted to know, I've currently managed to read lagwafis 388 times, people believe I know it by heart, get it? "I know you by heart, Tweek" and the agonizing fact I quote lagwafis every day whenever I see a brink of reference infront of me, like let's say yesterday, I was in a store- and I saw a tub of chai latte and I was so close to screaming lagwafis reference inside of the store, I'm also cooking up some fan art (specifically from coming home) so I'll totally tag you when it's out) AHHH I'M GONNA WRITE SO MUCH ON HERE IT MIGHT GO TO THE LIMIT, okay so first, let's talk about the fanfic itself, there are SO many tiny details in this fic that have either made me laugh or cry in agony, which is a good thing, also, the characterization is TOP TIER, a lot of fanfictions tend to fall slightly short on the background characters outside of the pairing that tends to be the main focus. This was a great change, especially in Craig's group and Stan especially, everyone felt so real and totally had obvious quirks from the fandom itself that I LOVED SO MUCH, your writing evokes so much emotion that I somehow managed to feel exactly how everyone felt in a chapter relevant to them.

Let's talk about the character description choices, the way you described Tweek in almost every chapter made my heart ache in the best way possible, you made him sound like a fallen angel, the definition of ethereal, also the fact you decided on giving him that mouth scar with backstory to it is TOP TIER, I have a similar scar on my lip and whenever I see it in the mirror I think of Tweek from this fanfic, let's move on to Craig, the way you wrote his internal monologue and the way his emotions played out made me absolutely soul crushed, this entire fic left a deep pit in my heart, especially how Craig was described, Craig was written so realistically that it actually felt like he was real. He purposely blocked off his emotions to prevent himself from being seen as vulnerable, he struggled with keeping his “I don’t give a shit” personality until it all just exploded and the part that he was so vulnerable with was exposed to the entire school.

Also I see that the lagwafis anniversary is coming up soon!! I usually celebrate it every year when I get the chance to, by doing lagwafis related things and shit, this fanfic deserves way more than just kudos and comments and hits, this fic deserves the damn world and beyond, I even had literal dreams of this fic being one day announced to be an animated movie, and if it ever did I would cry and vomit in the best way ever possible, my life would be so complete if we became moots on here, also, I'm not sure if you have TikTok, but that's where I'm most known to being the lagwafis enthusiast on there, i make a lot of lagwafis related videos, my username is spacecadetcraigz, if you ever see this at some point, just know im so grateful you took your time to read through this.

I literally wish you the best life for now on

Yours truly,

Spacecadetcraig

388 times????? That’s true dedication my friend, you must read it like twice a week? Incredible, I’m so glad you enjoy something I wrote this much. I’m also so glad you love the album by Spiritualised too, it’s such a special album and there’s something so perfect about the title track that I’ve never been able to shake.

I didn’t even realise the anniversary was coming up, thanks for reminding me! It’s so weird to think I started writing that story six years ago. At that time I’d been catching up with South Park and when I first saw the Tweek X Craig episode it was my new favourite thing from the first minute in.

An animated movie would be amazing, Matt and Trey give us the rights pls, free of charge if possible (they’d so try for another billion dollar deal ahahahah)

I’m going to check you out on tiktok and if you do make fanart please tag me! I’d love to see!

[ungrateful-cyborg-moved]

10 fandoms, 10 characters, 10 tags

Basic rules: choose 10 fandoms that you are part of/support, and choose a favorite character from each of those. Then, tag ten folks!

Tagged by: @miqojak! Ty! It didn't even take me half a year to get around it this time XD

In no particular order, except for the first one ever since I'm 16. Also finding 10 fandoms is kinda hard because I'm def not that active, or even a passive participant, in so many fandoms so you'll get a glimpse of my younger self instead :'D

And long post ahead so thank you in advance if you've taken the time to go through this list!

Kanon, from Saint Seiya

Look, this is the blorbo and if you see similarities between his backstory and Kazan's, no you don't. Mentioning either him or the manga is enough to get my friends to sigh and groan as they await the inevitable gushing/rant that'll follow (which reminds me that I haven't, actually, gushed about him or ranted about the manga in quite a while now). Which is to say, I love lonely sad villains/antiheroes and if you've ever seen me mentioning the forbidden blorbo, now you know who I'm talking about.

Emet-Selch, from FFXIV

At this point I feel like I should mention that I do not stand in favor of manipulating or killing people as a form of therapy :'D

A bit more seriously though, I think he's the first character I felt so viscerally about in the game? Like I never agreed with his views but going through ShB I really hoped we'd managed to bring him to our side. My tragedy-loving ass won't complain about how ShB ended for him, mind you, but still.

Honorable mention for Thancred too, whom I feel more and more attached to as times passes, and also Y'shtola but in her case it's perhaps more the fact that she's, in terms of behavior, very much My Type.

Madi, from Black Sails

There are many great characters in that TV show and if you haven't seen it, I can only recommend it to you. But really, Madi is my favourite of the lot and definitely the inspiration for Inge if I had to pick one.

Between her cleverness, her dignity, her integrity, her charisma, her dedication to her people and her cause and her curiosity about others, what's not to love about her?

Varric Tethras, from Dragon Age 2 / DA:I

I was hesitating between Isabela and Cullen, but then I remembered the Best Companion Ever and how could I not put Hawke's most loyal friend on the list? I love him, love his loyalty, how he stays compassionate despite all he goes through, his sense of humor, his honesty... Only wish we could have romanced him in DA:I, but on the other end I like his story with Bianca so I'm not too sad about not being able to.

Byakuya Kuchiki, from Bleach

In the spirit of this dash game I'll respect the rules and make a choice, but if I'd filled this list any other day, I might have put Grimmjow there instead :'D

Anyway. I love a stubborn man with a stick up his ass and too many (conflicting) principles despite a rebellious heart who needs to be almost killed to start thinking that perhaps, just perhaps, he could have handle a Situation better.

And I love this character development past that point.

He wasn't an inspiration for Wolfe, but they're very much alike in several aspect. Byakuya is, however, a lot better at keeping a straight face.

Lois Habiba, from Torchwood S3

I haven't watched Torchwood in a long time but I remember her. In fact I remember Lois better than I remember some of the main cast.

She was just a normal young woman who had managed to get a really good job and risked everything to do the right thing and idk. She was just a really solid character that deserved better recognition.

Dean Winchester. Do I need to say from where?

Look, I loved all five seasons of Supernatural. A shame they didn't add more later!

And with Dean it's a bit personal so I'm not gonna go deep in details about it, but let's just say that there's quite a bit of me that I recognized in him and I just want to give that man a hug.

Donna Noble, from Doctor Who

I'm not up to date with the new seasons/episodes so no spoilers please!

But hm, yeah. I think what I loved the most about how Russel T. Davies was directing the show was how real his everyday people turned companion felt, and while I preferred Rose when I was younger, the older I get, the more appreciation I have for Donna.

She's just so full of life and character, so brave and so unapologetic about being herself despite her self-esteem issues, but I think what I love above all else about her is how she always acted as an equal to the Doctor.

I'm gonna repeat myself but really, the older I get, the more I love her. And I really need to catch up :'D

Cain Hargreaves, from the Cain saga

Honestly I don't expect anyone to remember this manga XD It's an old one I read when I was a teenager and one of the few I kept despite not having re-read it in 10+ years. I don't remember that much from it but I do remember the ending quite well.

Anyways. Cain's a young earl with a tragic past, a strong sense of justice, more money than common sense, a love for poisons and a fear of commitment. Truly, what could go wrong with such a character?

Also:

"Have I ever failed a promise to you? - Yes, all the time." after his sister made him swear he'd come back to her alive is just perfect.

Spike, from BtVS

He's devoted, he's cruel, he's romantic, he's brave, he's pathetic, he's capable of taking responsibility for his actions... I love a multifaceted character and I've had a soft spot for Spike ever since I've watched the series for the first time.

I rewatched it not too long ago and it didn't age that well imo, or maybe I'm just more critical than I used to be, but I still think Spike is an awesome character and I love that it was in spite of Whedon's intentions for him.

---

And I believe that brings me at 10 characters for 10 fandoms! It strangely feels more like undressing in front of strangers than actually undressing in front of strangers :'D So obviously I'm gonna tag a few people to do it too:

@under-the-blood-moonlight @merlwybs-wife @voidtekarc @alannah-corvaine @ashenbun @zhauric @biff-adventurer @tea-and-conspiracy and @confusedtia! And frankly anyone else who wants to!

[sweet-beezus]

I was excited to start working on this prompt for @khoc-week as soon as the prompts dropped, specifically due to an AU RP group called Army of the Roses (started by @/pig-warship, sorry boo didn't want to ping you to death-) I've been involved in since 2019!!

To all my homies that are/were involved I love y'all this fun ditty is dedicated to you!! :)

If you've seen a bunch of my art in the Kingdom Hearts OC tags as of late, about 99% of it tends to be tagged with the name of the group, as to me it is like a brain eating amoeba that's Iliana (And Penna and Mando-) shaped (affectionate).

But before I delve too deep, let's get into the prompt!

Day 4 - Alternative Universes

I'm not gonna go too far into the lore of the AU because we'd be here all day, but I'll give a sprinkling for context!

The AU takes place hundreds of years after the events of Kingdom Hearts in a time where names like Sora and Xehanort have mostly been forgotten, but the events are still at least remembered to some degree. Places best known as hubs have also long since been abandoned and forgotten, turned to rubble under the weight of centuries of dwindling population. Traverse Town, even, is no longer the temporary sanctuary it once was.

Sora's Power of Waking kinda screwed up some fabric of reality stuff to the point where it opened a rift between universes, so there's a new (not very new by this point, anyway, unless you're a native to universe Alpha with no interaction beyond your world) universe with all sorts of places to explore!!

It's in this new universe where most of Iliana's character development is taking place, so buckle in for that.

Iliana's journey into the unknown follows the exact same story beats as her canon-compliant timeline, however she doesn't make ties with any canon characters this go around (because they're all long dead), so she mostly has to face the current state of affairs alone... ish.

Traverse Town is pretty much a ghost town at this point, with her uncle Russell being one of the very few remaining there, so her stay this time around feels a bit isolated. She starts off being a bit more closed off than she already was, which definitely will not have wonderful development later, no siree!

Her spontaneous journey to find her home is the same, but her chase through space ends a bit differently. Igni's Heartless (we didn't know it was her Heartless yet, well "we" being everyone but me) murks her in Traverse Town this time, her uncle manages to fight the beast off by himself, unfortunately paying witness to his niece's demise at the same time (sorry king), and instead of becoming Reixen she actually has her own Nobody named Anilxia, which I will explain why in due time.

[Reusing older doodles because I ran out of steam-]

Anilxia was a grimy, very hostile shadow of her former self, fevered by rage, spite, and insomnia. She was almost a danger to Russell, yet he still treated her with tolerant kindness and respect. Like a rehomed, antisocial feral cat.

Frankly, to him this was much better than having her dead and gone like the rest of his family seemed to be, she was their last hope essentially. He had no idea what to do without her, really. So he started working behind the scenes to figure out how to get her back, while making sure to keep her close and in check. Did he go so far as to ground her from going anywhere without him? Absolutely. You can't trust a moody Nobody-

She stayed for (less than?) a year with Russell in this form, in the meantime piecing things together she had noticed were super suspicious about the few memories she was regaining. It all festered into tons of internal darkness that was feeding her own Heartless, which she eventually found skulking around town wherever she went.

Knowing she might be met with some end soon, and in a desperate attempt to preserve what she found out before it could be taken from her again, she wrote her notes down in a... weirdly magical journal, then persued her Heartless through a rift that led them both to the other universe where she recompleted herself... and immediately got hit by a city bus- Jk jk... unless?

She was taken in briefly by a kind stranger who~ I think I wrote to be this universe's reborn Alto! In an AU-canon-compliant diary, anyway- Then she, not knowing how to get back home from here, and with nothing but the clothes on her back and a few weird misc. items, decided to stay in this new city until she could find her own answers to things that were plaguing her. Memories she couldn't, well, remember and all that.

Her only company for a month was Iris and Irene, who in this timeline were... suspiciously much more hostile, and absent at times. She assumed the memory wipe was affecting them as well, so she thought her best bet was to pick up the pace on her personal research both into her world and her memories. She had to juggle some awful jobs at the same time, so suffice to say she was having an awful time.

An answer came to her in the form of a flyer for a mercenary group named, you guessed it, the Army of the Roses, so she packed up her awful little apartment, sold her lease for pretty cheap, and moved to their home base! With some surprising encouragement from Iris and Irene as well, hmm...

In the jump between universes, and probably even before that with her death, she lost her ability to use her Keyblade. That didn't stop it from reforming as a clunky scythe, however, so no need to worry about that... Wait, it's not her Keyblade why is this thing orange and feathery- She picked up using it pretty well, so what harm does a little cosmetic aesthetic change do?

She seemed to fit in perfectly with all the wackos (affectionate) that live there, however...

She started off as a total shut-in, stayed in her room most of the time, barely spoke to the team unless she almost got caught speaking to Iris and Irene or had to actively contribute to missions, lurked in the kitchen at night to avoid interacting... But eventually after a few months of being there she came out of her shell enough to disclose her ongoing problem with her missing home world to one of the leaders.

Of course, that was a backburner issue. They were dealing with bigger things at the time, so one measly personal problem could wait, right?

At one point, that same leader took her and (her new lil bro) another teammate to search for clues, turning up with at least something. She was just having trouble putting it together, like someone didn't want her to figure it all out... Days of almost getting there but coming up short with her memory out of wack did a number on her confidence, so to her dismay she still needed extra help.

With the, some reluctant some voluntary, assitance of the leaders, they managed to, after some harsh poking, confront the now revealed main concern, Igni, and found the leads they needed to bring it back from the brink of disappearance. (The leads were boobytrapped, obvi, if they weren't then it'd be too easy-) From here on, though, Iris and Irene fall suspiciously silent.

Now, I had the absolute pleasure to be at the forefront of Iliana's Character Chapter, a special event where she could (almost) wrap up her character arc and I could make everyone cry! :)

I mentioned it a bit in my KHOC Week posts about Igni in 2021, as it was in progress at the time when I was making them! I thought it would add some nice flavor to her posts and add context for my reasons to talk about her, but it was all very vague so I wouldn't spoil much about the CC itself, so it may have been a... rough read-

We've long since moved on from it as a whole, but it was really fun to host and is forever one of my favorite things I've ever gotten to contribute!!

So, contrary to the canon-compliant timeline where I'm quite a ways away from ever reaching the grand end of her personal story, here we finally got to experience it in motion, but... good golly gee my pals really bent it beyond repair, thank goodness I am pretty decent at improv-

To summarize: They sure did find the Hills of Progress! Y'know the journal I mentioned earlier? Yeah, it was sealed in that.

Along the way they met some interesting faces, relived some horrendous relationships, immediately adopted a very good frog obsessed boy, and backhanded a twink who deserved it (my favorite part tbh). Things happened early and in the strangest ways possible, someone almost died (3 different people at 3 different times, it was a mess) and one nose was broken (Iliana got punched super hard at supersonic speeds so Igni would get out of the driver's seat, my 2nd fav part tbh).

But the important turning point (aside from a hug and a later interaction before Igni got Galeem'd 2: Electric Boogaloo) I wanted to talk about was when they crossed the threshold into Iliana's heart. They were there specifically to confront Igni and hopefully remove her permanently, but she was making it virtually impossible to find her. She's annoying like that.

They turned to their next best bet: Iliana's "heart parasites," Iris and Irene. They hoped the two would be more than helpful in finding Igni, but to their dismay... they were not. In fact, they refused and stalled for time, arguing with the leaders and outing themselves for what they really were in what was probably the most heart wrenching betrayal the whole CC...

♡♡♡

"They never existed."

"We're just figments of an active imagination here only to mentor where one couldn't succeed on her own."

-

"Igni made us simply to keep an eye on her, making us as real as possible only kept up the illusion she wasn't alone."

"If our purpose was to protect her, perhaps we would have done more to be kind, perhaps even try to defend her."

"But that was never our purpose, so it never happened."

♡♡♡

In turn both of them raised their weapons to [leader], defective copies of a Keyblade long forgotten.

[Quotes taken directly from the event! I went hard on that ngl-]

♡♡♡

They were never real to begin with, just illusions made up by Igni to keep tabs on and steer Iliana in the right direction. Visages she stole from the lifetimes she lived, people that did exist but don't anymore. Mere façades of what she thought a lonely child needed like the countless others she observed before, instead turned to a reminder that she can and will be disposed of eventually, to keep her in line.

Her whole life was revealed to be a lie right then and there, and that crack in her heart is gonna be very hard to repair. Time may not be able to heal all wounds on this one. Her trust? Shattered.

It also charted her course way differently, and with them being fake she was 100% herself when her Nobody stepped into the limited limelight. She was, in fact, truly alone the whole time. Well... Aside from Igni, but she doesn't count.

You can imagine Igni's defeat was bittersweet that day, she ticked off one too many people so it was time to get rid of her for good. She became Igni goo and was Baja/Biden/Flavor blasted to kingdom come, it was GREAT!!! Finally, a deserved win, since they had gone through so much in a span of two days, it was a relief!

Iliana's memories of Iris and Irene in this timeline are forever soiled, and because of it her already existing trust issues are much worse, but (to her dismay) her new found family is there to help work her through it!

The other downside is that she's got some guilt to work through, as well as her personal family problems and her now worsened Igni Disease™ (it has a name, I just think calling it that is funnier-).

And of course her being her you can try to pry these issues out of her and into the open, it may just take a crowbar and a lot of elbow grease. Or a bribe... or perhaps just a moment of vulnerability, of which she has few... Or her brother disclosing her personal life for the nth time. Either way, I wish you luck-

On the bright side of this whole mess, she has her Keyblade back in a more ethical way thanks to her new dad/big bro figure so HA, suck on that Igni-

Ahem.

Anyway-

The Keyblade part is not really a win in her eyes, but perhaps she'll warm up more to the idea when her self esteem repairs itself.

Not gonna lie, that self doubt of hers is strong enough to be a source of weird funky happenings...

But that's a thought for later!

What is a win is that she has her lil' bro back!!! And while she doesn't make it obvious, she has never been happier about an outcome in her entire life, that entire nightmare was WORTH IT-

Now she gets to teach him the magic of self defense, and the two can journey together just like she had promised him forever ago.

And with that~!

This was a long one! If you made it this far, you have earned my gratitude and a dash more of my respect!

I have a lot of passion and love stored in this AU and the people I collaborate with, especially the admins, so it only felt right to go on about it to great length! It's very fun to participate in, so you can see why my brainworms are specifically tailored to this.

Again, thank you to my buds in the server for the amazing opportunity to make this nightmare happen, and allowing me to have something to backread when I want to relive probably one of my favorite things I've gotten to host!! We all hate Igni in this house, yet her ghost still haunts us to this day... In one way or another-

Anyway, I hope y'all had fun!! I'll see y'all again for Day 5!!

[kazewhara]

I’m really glad that you’re doing okay zuzu^^

And thank you for always listening to me rambling lol (even if it’s just about ningguang, my beloved main, lmao).

Another thing, then I swear I’ll leave you alone, I was thinking about you and suddenly the idea of modern au kazuha who works part-time as a florist struck me.

Imagine you barging in his little shop one late afternoon, all frazzled and looking one inch away from madness because you urgently need flowers for a stupid reason such as “I need to insult this person, so how do you say ‘fuck you’ in flower language?” so much that you didn’t even notice the stunned boy holding a vase of lilies half in puzzlement and half in pure amusement. You have the decency to look sheepish, at least, growing more and more embarrassed as the boy (the very attractive boy, but that’s for later notice) gently laughs. He hums in contemplation, a sharp glint in his otherwise kind eyes as he very seriously takes up your request and immediately starts picking colorful flowers and arranging them in a bouquet that’s entirely too pretty for its own purpose. God, you almost wish the pretty boy in front of you dedicated those flowers to you, uncaring of the meaning if it meant receiving flowers from him at all. All too caught up in your own thoughts and in the way his gentle fingers wrap up the bouquet in satin ribbons, you almost fail to notice that he’s done, handing you the fruit of his work (but what you don’t fail to notice, is the tenderness with which he handles those flowers). You thank him profusely, tripping over your own words as you try to look at him in the eyes, he waves you off, mumbling something about how flowers can convey so much more than words ever could and how he’s glad to be of service to you. He proceeds to explain the meaning of every flower he arranged oh so flawlessly: red geraniums for ‘stupidity’, yellow carnations for ‘disappointment’, orange lilies for ‘hatred’, topped by some purple larkspur for ‘haughtiness’, by the end of his explanation, his expression is quilted in amusement and poorly hidden mischief, and you think that he, for once, doesn’t need any flower to say what he wants. But then, before you can leave, he wordlessly hands you one single lavender flower. You look at him expectantly, but he merely raises his eyebrows at you and goes back watering what appear to be petunias. This bitch. And as you leave with your bouquet from the glass door you hear a faint but teasing “you’ll come back, will you?” almost drown out by the sound of the bell attached to the entrance door. As soon as you step out of there, you fumble to get your phone, hastily typing, a google page with the meaning of lavender soon pops up: devotion and distrust. Which one is it? Oh. Guess you’ll really have to come back, won’t you?

Don’t mind me brainrotting lol, all of this cause I wanted to send this lil sketch of florist kazuha lol.

Hope this finds you well zuzu, I really wanted to thank you for your writings, im not really good with thanking with words, so here I am once again in your inbox lol.

-Hecate

i think i should make a tag for ask box pieces because this. this is AMAZING holy fucking shit WAIT BECAUSE HE DID THAT ON PURPOSE TO MAKE US COME BACKSUJSSBJSJDS AND LOOK AT HIS FACE OH MY GOD?? OH MY.GOF

hecate i literally just woke up no more than 15 minuted ago and you have made my entire fucking night, like i'm swooning and itching to write smth like this now ... thank you so so so so much for thinking of me and liking my writings, that's so goddamn sweet and i never know what to say in response, but believe me when i say my gratitude for you runs very VERY deep

now i think i'm gonna stare at this kazuha for a little while and cry because HE'S SO CUTEEKEHJEJSJDSNJDN LOOK AT HIM OH MY GOD

[rogue-durin-16]

AN UNUSUAL YEAR (Part I/V)

Summary: After having little to no interest on girls for five years, Fred suddenly feels the need to nag the shit out of a certain witch, completely oblivious to the reason behind it.

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Slytherin!Reader

Genre: fluff (+ enemies to lovers)

Tags:

Permanent taglist: @elia-the-bibliophile @randomparanoid @karlthecat15722 @thebutchersdaughtersblog

Warnings: none

A/N: I'm currently going through a Harry Potter fever ('tis the damn season), so I thought I'll write something. I might write more of this story, (maybe turn it into a multipart) we'll see. If you'd like to be tagged in this, let me know.

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Rogue-durin-16 masterlist

I had always supposed that reaching the sixth year at Hogwarts meant subjects would get way more demanding and complex, and I to be proven right, only two weeks in were needed.

Added to the usual difficulties, we would be hosting The Triwizard Tournament. Having the castle be almost twice as crowded as the other years, when all you crave is a quiet spot to study, wasn't ideal.

As I said, the first two weeks were already hard enough.

During the third week though, believe it or not, things got even worse —and our guests hadn't even arrived yet.

The Slytherin common room was quieter than the library these days, that's the sole reason why, at 3:35 pm, my best friend and I were already making our way there.

To our luck, we arrived just in time to see the two redheaded troublemakers par excellence high-fiving each other besides my common room's entrance.

"What on Merlin's beard are you two doing here?!" Both of them jumped at the sight of two Slytherins.

"The question is what are YOU doing here?" One of them questioned back, probably attempting to distract us. "You two should be in the library."

"What did you do?" I squinted my eyes at them and, while one raised his hands in surrender, the other just shrugged.

"Nothing." He motioned at our door nonchalantly. "If you don't believe me, check it yourself."

My friend and I shared a reluctant look, and before I could say anything, she was heading to the door.

"Mathilda wait—" I gasped when she sunk into what appeared to be the stone floor.

"Okay now, I wasn't expecting her to actually do it." When I attempted to step forward, a hand on my forearm prevented me from it.

"Don't step further." He warned. "Just in case."

"I'm not stupid." I hissed before grabbing my wand, which made the tall redhead back off. "Revelio." Slowly, a swamp was revealed to be where the entrance hall to the Slytherin common room was supposed to.

Now that it was visible, both twins hurried to get my friend out of their giant prank.

"Get rid of this." I ordered as they pulled her up, her bottom half covered in mud.

"Pffft... no?" One of them scoffed, walking away from Mathilda and stepping closer to me. "It's a masterpiece. It stays."

"If it stays, I will throw you into your masterpiece." I threatened, putting my wand back in my pocket.

"Oh, I'd love to see you try."

I glared at him, partially because I hated that cocky attitude these two —specially him— always exhibited, but also because I had to look up in order to make eye contact.

"Listen Weasley,"

"It's Fred." Oh what would I give to wipe that stupid grin off his face.

"I don't care." Refusing to step back as he clearly wanted to achieve by towering me, I stepped forward, lightly pushing him back with one hand. "You will remove this from here or I will walk right now to the Potions Classroom and split on you."

The twins seemed to have a silent conversation with their eyes only. After a moment of silence, the one with my friend spoke. "We'll get rid of it right now and you won't say anything." I nodded, my eyes still fixed on Fred's. "Just so we're clear, this was not set up for you."

"The next one will be, though." Fred assured me with an almost wicked smile. "I'll make sure you can't use the revelio on it."

"Is that a promise, Weasley?" I asked in an unconsciously defying tone.

"You can be sure of it, Y/l/n."

"It's Y/n." I retorted, mocking him.

"I don't care." I rolled my eyes when he did the same, finally breaking eye contact with him.

"C'mon Thilda," I held out my hand to her "let's see if someone can sneak us into the Ravenclaw common room."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You think Fred meant it?" Mathilda inquired, the worry slipping through her words as she played with her breakfast.

"I doubt so." Angelina, who was sitting in front of us, replied without even looking up from her quidditch history book. "They seem more trouble than they are, really." I scoffed; it was easier for her to say that; she was a Griffindor after all. "Deep down they're nice sort, Y/n. They won't pick up on you for ruining a prank."

"I don't trust them."

"I'm not saying you have to—" Angelina jumped slightly when a wad of paper hit my face.

"You were saying?" I grunted, making eye contact with the red haired boy waving at me from the Griffindor table.

When I opened the wad, it read:

'miss me? —Fred ;)'.

"Look at his smug face." I hissed. "I'm gonna-"

"Ignore him. You're gonna ignore him." Angelina finished, fairly unconcerned. "I assure you he'll get bored in less then two days if he can't get a reaction out of you."

For the sake of having breakfast in peace, I only dedicated him a fake smile and did as my friend said. It seemed to work, until it was time to leave for class.

"We should get moving." Mathilda spoke, putting her plate aside and picking up her things as I did the same.

"I have a free period now." Angelina informed us. "Or as free as it can be. You?"

"Divination. Y/n?"

"Charms— Fuck." I whined as something dawned on me. "Those gits are in my class." I spared them a glare. "If they ruin my favorite subject I'm gonna—" a sudden splash of water on my face left my shirt soaked for at least the next hour. "You got the nerve—!" I yelled at the guy who was already making eye contact with me.

"I do, indeed!" He cut me off, winking at me from across the table, his chin resting on the palm of his hand with a teasing grin dancing on his lips as he asked, "what are you gonna do now, Y/l/n?" His twin brother, though I could only see his back, was clearly not enjoying this behavior.

Mathilda checked my gaze, dreading the worst. "Y/n, don't. You're gonna make Slytherin lose points." She knew the warning wouldn't do much, but at least she had tried.

Angelina, instead of backing our friend and try to calm me down, got up and walked to the table where the Weasleys sat.

FRED'S P.O.V.

"I hope you know you're dead." Angie stood in front of me, before using her book to tap my brother's arm. "George, move."

"What?"

The three of us spared a look at Y/n, who had, ignoring McGonagall yells, stepped over her table to get to us.

"Move. Now."

"Ssshit." My brother moved just in time for Y/n to repeat the same forward move on our table.

It's not as if I didn't have the time to move and run away, she hadn't rushed; on the contrary, she walked calmed and composed, and still I did not move an inch.

I guess a part of me wanted to know what she'd do to me.

"Look at you." I began to wind her up again when she climbed off the table on my side, sitting down on its surface with her shoes over the bench. "Doing the impossible to be near me, how romant—"

My sentence died off abruptly as a handful of scrambled eggs was mashed against my face.

I heard a burst of laughs around me. "Blimey! I'm sorry, Fred," she feigned worry, smearing what I assumed were the remaining rests of my breakfast all over my chest. "I hope you're not late to Charms because of this." She whispered near my ear, making a shiver go down my spine when her breath hit my neck. "See you there, yeah?"

Her hand squeezed my shoulder and her fingers ran over my shoulder blades as she walked away.

I felt a napkin placed in my hand and I was quick to remove as much scrambled eggs as possible from my face, just in time to see Y/n exiting the Great Hall with McGonagall jogging after her.

"You know?" Lee asked, drawing my attention. "Picking up on the girl you fancy is kind of a toddler strategy."

"Yeah, Fred," my brother agreed. "you're not an eighth year-old anymore."

"And you chose the wrong girl to nag" Angie added," if you keep it up, she will surely kill you." She held back a teasing smile. "And you should be careful" she nudged George. "I don't think she can tell you both apart, you can end up as collateral damage."

"But you wouldn't let that happen, would you?" I rolled my eyes when George scooted closer to our quidditch chaser.

"Depends on how annoying you are." She faked indifference as my brother searched for her eyes.

"I don't fancy her." I not-so-randomly stated. "But I can't stop pranking her now that she ruined my breakfast."

"You can and you will, Weasley." I jolted at McGonagall's voice behind me. "Twenty points from Gryffindor." At least I'm not grounded, I thought. "And you're grounded for the rest of the week."

"But Y/n— Ouch!" my brother kicked me under the table so I would shut it.

"Y/l/n has received her fair share of punishment, too, Weasley." The professor gave me a poorly masked, disgusted look. "Go and..." She waved her hand "Clean yourself up, Y/l/n will inform professor Flitwick about this incident. And Weasley," She stared at my brother. "Aren't you supposed to be heading to Charms too?"

"Yes ma'am." He replied, throwing everything into his bag, getting up and rushing out of there, not before grabbing his robe.

"The day's promising." I groaned, handing my things over to Angelina so I could go to the bathroom.

"You made the day promising by messing with a Slytherin, you twit." She pointed out, putting my things over hers. "Now go clean those eggs from your shirt."

"Aye, mother!" I headed off before Angie could add anything else to the conversation, loosening my tie as I moved forward.

As I cleaned off everything I could in the nearest bathroom, a random thought slipped into my mind.

Had Y/n been punished too? And if so, would we fullfil the punishment together? It seemed logical that if one of us got grounded, the other one would get grounded too; consequently, it would only make sense for us to—

Shut it. I mumbled to my own mind.

I didn't care. I did not care if she was punished or not. It was none of my business.

I don't fancy her, I thought to myself once again.

[everyhowlmarksthedead]

big brother to the rescue.

BEN MILLER

TRIPLE FRONTIER. ┃ USEFUL LINKS.

❝ request by @meteora-fc: hello hello! hope you're doing well :) i was thinking about a ben miller fic where when they're in the bar towards the beginning the reader is there with her friends and the boys push benny to talk to her bc he's getting distracted from conversation by her across the place. thanks a ton 💖

❝ words: about 1.6k.

❝ a / n: if you'd like to read a second part, lemme know! don’t forget to comment and reblog if you liked it, i’d really appreciate it!

“C’mon, little brother. She’s been looking at you the whole night”. Will says palming his back, after catching him distracted for the third time.

“Go, before I do”. Frankie challenges him with a petty smile, knowing it’s going to be enough to force the boxer to take the step.

Taking a deep, deep breath, finding in that gesture the encouragement he needs, Benny goes straight to you, waiting for the bartender to serve you another beer.

At first, you don’t notice his presence, until the unknown guy stops by your side leaning too over the bar. You two cross your gazes, sharing a soft smile that makes your knees tremble. The blonde looks really good, but for some reason, you have the feeling that he could be an idiot, so when he throws at you one of those horrible pickup lines, you can’t help but roll your eyes.

“I’m gonna give you advice. Don’t hit a girl like that”. You just reply with a chuckle, referring to his words.

“I’m more into hitting men”.

For a second, where you were about to leave with your drink, you squint at him having a sip and trying to understand the meaning of his affirmation.

“I box, professionally”.

“Oh…” You nod your chin, puckering your lips, showing him that this fact doesn’t impress him at all. “Congrats. Good luck in your next fight”.

Not giving him the chance to continue the talk, you come back to your table under the attentive looks of your friends, who are laughing at the poor guy and the gesture on his face. His brothers, on the other hand, have slapped their faces whilst shaking their heads disappointed. As soon as Benny joins him, Santi slaps the back of his neck, causing him to choke in his beer.

“There must be something wrong with my eyes, ’cause I can’t take them off you? Really, Benny? Really?”

The guys are laughing when Pope repeats his sentence, as Will puts an arm over his shoulders. “You’re lucky to have me… Big brother to the rescue”.

Anna nudges you, making you turn on your stool to watch a second guy walking towards you, very secure of himself. The only thing you wanted tonight was to have fun with your friends and seems it’s not going to be an option. Crossing a leg over the other and nailing an elbow on the table, resting your chin on your palm, you force a smirk when he offers you a kind smile.

“Good nights, ladies, sorry to interrupt. William, a pleasure”.

The man holds your free hand without asking for it to stretch it. Firmly. Like only a soldier would do —as your father does. He turns for a second to his friends, laying his oceanic and hypnotic eyes on you with a charming and funny grimace on his face.

“Sorry ‘bout my brother, you know... too many punches”. He has captivated your friends, who are gasping for him and the honeyed tone he’s using, covered by a raspy voice. “He has watched you looking at him and he was nervous, but he’s not a bad guy. Just a little asshole. But he’s worth it, believe me”.

“Okay”. You reply slowly, raising an eyebrow earning your attention little by little.

“He has begged me to not come, but I think you’re too smart to not have a date with him”.

“Your brother was right, you didn’t have to come. And you’re wrong, more or less. I’m very smart, but having a date with him doesn’t seem a very intelligent idea”.

“Got it. But he’ll be waiting for you at seven in Kaleo’s, tomorrow night”. A negative it’s not an option to the soldier, showing you his perfect white teeth in a huge smile clapping his hands before leaving. “Good night, ladies. Have a good time”.

Since last night, you've been debating with your friends if you should go to the date just to prove both men were wrong. Lucy would call you crying if you text her in case the guy is another idiot.

The first test is to see if he'd wait for you, arriving thirty minutes later than the hour William told you. Your heart can't help but race a little when you find the blonde boxer sitting on the hood of a black Mustang, in front of the restaurant. Wearing a white t-shirt and black jeans, he has both legs crossed and his hands laced over his lap. Head bowed down and a sigh escaping his lips as he checks the clock on his wrist. Poor guy, he's thinking you are not going to come.

You send a picture of him to the chat group where your friends are asking you if he's still there and, in less than a second, you receive a bunch of heart emojis from all of them. Keeping your phone in a pocket, as you tuck in your hands too, you begin to walk towards him. Step by step. Taking your time with a soft smirk curving your lips as you come closer and closer. Watching him texting someone too, you roll your eyes, imagining it's to some random chick to hang out with, due you have stood him up. Until you're almost leaning above his shoulder and you see he's texting his brother —who is very interested in knowing if you're there or not. You melt as he replies: “amma wait another thirty minutes, maybe there's traffic”.

“You can say to your brother I'm here”. You whisper into his ear, taking him by surprise and causing the boxer to jump off from the hood.

“Oh, fuck. You scared the shit outta m— Where you readin' my phone?”

“Nah, I've some witch in me”. You lie terrible, feeling goosebumps on your arms when his gesture changes suddenly.

A grin like a Cheshire cat decorates his face, offering you his phone as he pressed the small microphone in the bottom right corner.

“Hey, big brother, I came. I hope you weren't wrong”.

“I'm Ben, by the way”. He introduces himself as keeping his phone in a pocket, to offer you his right hand.

“(Y/N)”. You stretch it then, feeling a little nervous at his touch.

“So, this is the plan. We have a beer, and if you think I'm a freak, you can run away before dinner. No questions, no explanations. You just… leave”.

God, that's really sweet. He's nervous too and you can see in his blue eyes how scared he is if you really decide to disappear.

“Deal”. You accept, tilting your head to the restaurant.

A couple of minutes later Ben is sitting in front of you and the first thing that captivates your attention is the fact that he doesn't put his phone on the table. Living in the technology era, everybody keeps an eye on their devices. Constantly. But he's not like everybody. He wants to talk. Know about you. What you do in your free time, what you do for a living, what unveils you at night… And you talk for hours.

Ben tells you what pushed him to be in the army, why he decided to dedicate his life to boxing and he also jokes about how you could fix him up after his fighting. Something like a plan of the future. Together. As friends —as he points out to not make you feel uncomfortable, thinking that he is forcing you to have a relationship. You also discover that your taste in music and movies are very similar, just like your hobbies. And that makes you think about the fact that William will tell you “I wasn't wrong”.

The boxer gladly takes you home, not stopping your chat even when one of the two of you doesn't know what to say, Benny has shown you in some way he enjoys too much the sound of your voice though —how it goes a little higher when you're excited about something, how your throat vibrates when you laugh. And he's falling in love with the disgusted tic that wrinkles your nose when you don't like something, in a funny gesture.

You would die for staying together a little more, but you have obligations to attend tomorrow and your friends haven't ceased sending your texts asking you how it's going. As Ben stops his car next to your house, you sigh not knowing what to do —if just say bye, thank you, ask for his number, kiss him? Yes, you'd like to kiss him right now, but what does it say about you? Should you wait until the second date?

“Got a fight tomorrow night if you're free”. His proposition pushes you back to reality, turning at him on your seat while resting a shoulder against it. “You can invite your friends, mine will be there”.

“Your brother too?” You ask giggling, noticing the change on his grimace to somewhat underwhelmed because of your interest.

“Yeah, he will come”. Ben mumbles pressing his lips after nodding briefly.

“Ugh… Is he the kind of person who has fun saying I told you?”

Ben's gesture suddenly changes again. The shine in his blue deep eyes reappears and you provoke him a strong laugh when you furrow your nose like he literally adores.

“You've had a good night then?”

“Yes”. You don't hesitate to respond, leaning towards him to press your lips on his cheek with a loud kiss.

“See? He told you”. Ben can't help but make fun of you, earning a soft punch to his shoulder that makes him laugh one more time. “It's in the Holou gym, at seven”.

“Okay, I'll not forget it”. You reply, taking your phone and setting an alarm an hour before starting to have time to get ready. “Good night, Ben”.

“Good night, (Y/N)”.

GENERAL TAG LIST: @mayans-sauce @peoniarose @destynelseclipsa @band-psycho @myakai13 @petlaufeyson @-im-fantastic- @horsesandwolvesaremyanimals @rocketqueen @rosieposie0624 @ellyseveronica @jessprins13 @diaryofkali @ravenmoore14 @starrynite7114 @kenbechillin @miahelen @monkeyluver4546 @sheeshgivemeabreak @jadesamhart @rawrlittlepanda-95 @megapeacelovemusic-blog @katsav17 @skits90s @wildsould1221

TRIPLE FRONTIER: @phoenixhalliwell @goldielocks2004 @pedritomando @spideysimpossiblegirl @im-an-adult-ish @chibsytelford

[lilyclawthorne]

Keeping Up A-fear-ance's Thoughts

I finished writing this shortly after 3 am after watching the new episode like three times because I simply had too much energy about it and I have so many thoughts because I simply live for clawthornes and also I tried to break it up with more photos this time sorry not sorry if it's a lot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

YOUNG EDA!! let me just say I am quite a fan of opening with a flashback like we've done here and the last episode

"we have never seen a curse like this before" Lilith you had shit luck picking out curses huh

"cut it out if we have to" goddamn Gwen let'a calm the fuck down a bit.

anyways we've only really seen young Eda as a wild and confident and happy little child so I appreciate seeing this side of her with the anxiety and fear she's feeling here. I love seeing what the curse stuff was like for her as a kid

Gwen: I raised a perfectly fine kid

Me: no you didn't look at her she's got anxiety

I'm guessing this is their backyard or just some woods behind their house?? wonder if the portal was placed there by another elder family member.

lmao I can't even begin to imagine what small Eda experiencing the human realm was like for the first time

Gwens giving me "I can't accept that my child is disabled/chronically ill/etc." here. y’know the kinda parent that'll put their kid through hell over something they probably will find a way to learn to live with (which Eda did do)

ok that's it I humbly request to know the story behind the fang now (also the noise she made when she put it in was freaking cute)

new dress! new boots! new dress! new boots!

..yikes that fridge is empty

"calm down the curse acts stronger when you're stressed" Eda do you know who you're talking to here

confirmation losing limbs is in fact a side effect of the curse!! (y'know since Eda originally said it just happens when you get older)

please I love these sisters they're so sweet and make me wanna go 🥺

"suddenly curious about my past" "always. always curious" Luz says exactly what we all think

witchlet?? sweet flea?? she's got pet names for them 🥺 (although idk how much I'd like to be referred to as any kind of flea sorry Lilith)

ok Gwen is very much not close to what I expected and I'm kinda grateful for that

she's more like super caring but still managed to royally fuck up which was my original head canon for clawthorne parents so uh that's cool. but literally, look at their body language, Eda's pissed, Lilith's sad and making herself small. she's clearly messed up with her parenting on both of them along the way.

"who knows what they put in those nasty concoctions?" mama clawthorne would be a fucking anti-vaxxer wouldn't she

ok I side with Eda here more than Luz and Lilith. just because Luz misses her mother, or Lilith hasn’t seen their mom in so long doesn’t mean Eda has to feel all grateful for the presence of Gwen, especially if the woman has caused her a lot of trouble over the years

I feel like the fact that its actually both Lilith and Gwendolyn have spent their whole lives dedicated to trying to find a cure could probably have held some kind of weight on Eda at some point. Even though she shouldn't feel guilty or responsible for that, I still feel like it's gotta suck knowing these people have spent so much time on something you know is likely never gonna happen, all for you.

Lilith 😞 her mother really just didn't pay attention to her all these years

hey if this guy does some next level healing magic then why isn't he more well-known, huh? why’d it take so long to come across him?? Gwen do you know what the fuck you're doing cause I think you don't

Lilith just because you're depressed about your mom doesn't mean you have to bring king down too 😠

SUPER irrelevant but is anyone else just bothered by the way Lilith is holding her spoon?? that doesn't seem like a comfortable way to hold a spoon. also is she left handed??

"knife season came early" EDA WHAT DOES THAT MEAN. is this a boiling isles things or is this a it’s common for people to throw knives at you thing

also I want to be surprised Eda fell for the apple blood signs but I am not 😔 

Luz please trust you're gut on this one and not mama clawthorne

ok now I need to know why the fridge was empty but they had 18 cartons of ice cream this is why you guys don't have food you're wasting it all on ice cream.

wow never thought I'd see the day hooty became the voice of reason

also, night market ice cream?? are they implying this ice cream is like, edibles of some sort?? Lilith does seem kinda high here ngl. idk man but at least she wants to stand up for herself so good for her.

PLEASE kings just offering her ice cream while she transforms

"first in a series" Gwen honey oh no. you've been duped. I think we can see where Lilith got her naïveté from huh.

Also, nice snatch Luz 😊

anyways love how this show is basically making fun of moms who refuse to give their kids proper medical treatment or listen to medical professionals here

EXCUSE ME why do we know Gwen's palisman's name before we know Lilith's?????

"I am a mother who'll do anything for her daughter" you're mom who's suffocating obsession with one daughter has left the other neglected and is currently causing her to turn into a full on beast ya dummy

Eda DOES have a right to be upset. it sucks that her own valid emotions that she should get to feel will cause her while body to betray her.

PLEASE I’M SO GLAD LILITH’S BEAST DESIGN LOOKS LIKE HER AND IS NOT THE THING FROM THE TRAILER THAT IS ACTUALLY IN EDA"S HEAD WHEN SHE’S TRANSFORMED

but also why is she SO massive?? also anyone concerned that this is her first transformation and the light glyph trick wouldn't even work??

Gwen look at what you've done, you've fostered feelings of inferiority in one daughter causing her to feel the need for sibling rivalry that the pure instincts of the raven beast cannot suppress no matter how much their sisterly relationship had improved.

HOW COULD YOUR OTHER DAUGHTER ALSO BEING CURSED BE A PART OF THE PROCESS GWEN??

"after Eda was cursed, I joined the beast keeping coven" woah woah WOAH. you're telling me you only joined because of trying to help Eda. that covens existed, before Eda got cursed, and you very much weren't a part of one. combine that with "some words for belos" she has and do I smell wild witch theory still plausible???

anyways at least mama clawthorne is getting some sense into her head here

Morton c'mon help a girl out, that's some dang good art too what the heck dude

ok fine mama clawthorne to the rescue

no pls not raven beast Lilith crying im crying now

Gwen: I raised a fine and self-sufficient child

Me: no you didn't look at her. she's got, SO MUCH.

GODDAMN THATS SOME POWER. ngl this only adds fuel to the fire in my head that there was some kinda reasoning these sisters were torn apart, that someone felt they'd be too powerful together (and they were probably right)

"I heard you but I couldn't stop myself, I couldn't do anything" may be just because she's not used to the curse but again part of me is concerned that because she couldn't pull herself out of it even a little bit like Eda did that there's something wrong there. but she also could've been stressed beyond reasonably calming herself down too.

ok but this is sweet

NOOO im so sad Lilith's leaving :( I literally cried ok

"you lived here?" fine OKAY king that was hilarious even if im sad about this

"reconnect with dad" excuse me where the fuck has this man been in the middle of all of this. curse shit is going DOWN and he's just chilling at home.

I am curious about people's thoughts regarding the whole Lilith regression thing and the fact that she's literally going to be living with her parents again. I feel like it could help nurture that inner child she's been reverting back to and help her out a LOT. but I could also be concerned about it feeding into the regression and making it worse?? idk and this show probably ain't getting that actually deep into psych anyways

"some day my hair is gonna be big enough to do that too" Luz I cannot wait for the day. also mood, I wish I could do that too.

alright who's holding the fucking pen for hooty we need a volunteer RIGHT NOW so we can remain in contact with Lulu

NOT THE ONLY HUMAN? my bets on the real azura rip never mind she said he

Titan’s Blood?? interesting. If the blood of the titan is around I wonder what that means regarding the titans existence, and how long its been since the titan fell.

AHH BABY LUZ PHOTO

ALSO WHO THE FUCK IS THAT?? They're really gonna spring that on us like this??? Camila's gotta notice somethings wrong right??? Unless any differences she just chalks up to the camp?? oh god :(

well, anyways lumity shippers come get yo juice next weekend

anyways im gonna need to add a NOT canon compliant tag on that one Gwendolyn fic I wrote because it definitely do not comply anymore

[criminalminds4days]

Family Matters | Chapter 3: Trivia

Hello People!

I hope you have had an amazing week and are going to have an ever better weekend. I am so done with this week. It was really crappy and I just can't wait for the beginning of next, hoping it will be better. The only positive side is that I was able to get over my writer's block and have finished about 3 new chapters.

Anyway, enjoy this chapter of Family Matters and let me know what you think!

Warnings: Swearing, sexual references, violence and murder references, public embarrassment, and very bad jokes!

Word Count: 3.6k

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Tag list: @mcntsee @lets-be-gay-for-the-angel @evelyncade @haylaansmi @paulaern @myfandomlife-blog

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(This gif is not mine)

Chapter 3: Trivia

She closed the blinds and made sure for the fifth time the door was locked. Her breath caught in her throat and the fear and adrenaline that had rushed through her body made even Spencer Reid nervous.

"What's going on?"

"This is bad, I didn't realize the consequences of this until it was too late. I am so sorry I got you all tangled up in this mess."

"What are you talking about? What happened?"

"I-" She turned and took a peek through the blinds, ensuring there was no one around. "I did not think things through. I think it's best if you go home, that way you might be spared."

"You are seriously starting to make me nervous, please tell me what's going on, how can I help?"

"There is nothing you can do; I am basically a dead woman."

"Why? Who's after you?"

"Anna Hemingway."

"Your cousin is after you? Did she threaten you or something?"

"No, she didn't have to." She walked towards the bed and sat on the edge, still glancing every now and then, making sure the coast was clear.

After her and Spencer's victory, they had both decided to go to bed, and while the rest of her family insisted on having another dinner dedicated to the couple, they had both decided best to eat and head back to their cabin. He had finished first and decided to head back, and as soon as he was gone, the memory hit her making her mistake obvious. And the main reason she had resorted to a passive competition with the world's worst cousin was clear once again. In a hurry she had returned to their cabin, ensuring she was not being followed, and locked the door, startling the doctor.

"The last time I beat Anna at something was when I twelve. We were both auditioning for the same role in our school musical. They gave me the part." He smiled, truly excited for her accomplishment, as well as happy to learn this new fact about her. "Don't get too peppy. On opening night, at Grandma's celebration for the play, I fell down the stairs."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Because, Dr. Spencer Reid, as hard as it is to believe, me falling down the stairs was not due to my immense clumsiness."

"Wait, your cousin pushed you down the stairs?!" He exclaimed, truly horrified. How are children so cute and so evil at the same time?

"More like, she set her foot for me to trip on, but you get the idea." She glanced back at the door and then at the man in front of her. "I was lucky, I didn't break anything, but I have a feeling that might not be the case the next time. I also would prefer not to drown or anything like that."

"But we're federal agents, doing something to you or me would be unwise."

"You're speaking of the girl that tripped me down the stairs and thought that stealing my boyfriend and marrying him was wise."

"I'm gonna double-check the door is locked."

After hours of attempting to stay vigilant, her body had given in and she had fallen asleep. Although Spencer knew the danger, to him it was as simple as closing his eyes. She knew they were trained to deal with a lot of sick people, but he didn't understand the limits his cousin would go to destroy those who she felt wronged by. Although her main target had always been her, she once had basically ended a girl's life by getting her banned from pretty much any respectable college or job position because this one had made fun of her prom dress. Anna Hemingway was one to be cautious with, and they had both just embarrassed her in front of the people whose attention she had snatched years ago. It was worse than she realized.

"Spencer, Spencer." She spoke as she slightly moved him. He growled and moved away from her, attempting to continue his slumber. "Spencer."

"No, let me sleep." He complained.

"Spence, get up, please." After minutes of silence, she devised a new plan. "Spencer!" she screamed, making him jump, falling off the bed and landing between the edge of this first one and the door of the closet. "Oh good, you're awake."

He didn't say a word, for what seemed like centuries, and she wondered if screaming him awake was not the best decision, especially as her next request would not be something he would be inclined to.

"Sorry for that, I just needed you to wake up."

"Is there a fire I don't know about?"

"No, I just thought we could go for a run." There it was, the look Spencer had only given the unsubs he despised the most. She had earned it, but that didn't mean she liked it. "Sorry, I just, Nicole had to leave, and since I have a target on my back and there's safety in numbers... I also didn't want to leave you here alone, and vulnerable. I just felt like, despite your muscles, I am concerned you haven't yet mastered the use of your body."

"I will have you know that by all accounts I definitely know how to use my body. Quite effectively if I do say so myself, and others."

After his words, her mind went to a thought she never imagined having. She wondered if he meant it that way or she was just losing it. "Good, then you can come with me." That sentence following her thoughts was probably not ideal.

"No thank you, you can do it by yourself." She needed to change the direction her thoughts were going; they were definitely not helpful.

"Spencer, please. I am honestly a little terrified, and you should be too."

"Well, I'm not. She isn't worse than any unidentified subject we've dealt with before."

"Oh but she is. She's the worst type of unsub you could think of, but ten times worse."

"What's the worse she could do?"

"Let's not find out."

After whining from him and pleads by her, they both made their way out of the cabin. The shorts he had avoided yesterday were now covering almost nothing as they jogged. This was not a good reminder of their earlier conversation, so she simply focused on something easier: her cousin's imminent revenge. She thought it would come in the form of her accidentally pushing her into the lake, or a repeat of her falling down the stairs. She was even worried this time Spencer would be the victim since he had been the one to embarrass her. Her thoughts were interrupted by deep breaths and a yelp.

"Are you okay?"

"We've been running for hours, how dare you ask me such a question?"

She looked at her watch, "We've been running for exactly three and a half minutes. Actually, we haven't been running, more like jogging."

"How long do you usually do this for?"

"Depends on the day, but from thirty minutes to two hours."

"You need help."

"It won't be as bad, come on."

"You can go on, I am just gonna sit here and have a heart attack real quick."

"How on earth did you pass your physical?"

"I got it waved."

"Cheater."

"If it isn't it the 'it' couple of the weekend!" Suddenly the one having a heart attack was not Spencer, but her. "I didn't know you guys ran together, that's so cute!"

"Yeah, truly the reason I love her," Spencer said, a pinch of sarcasm in his voice.

"How adorable." It's coming, she could feel it. "Anyway, I was thinking, since love seems to be in the air this weekend, why don't we celebrate it by wrapping up the family retreat with a trivia night!"

"What does trivia have to do with love?" She regretted the words as soon as they came out, as Anna looked at her like she might as well be six feet under.

"Silly, the trivia would be about your significant other, of course!"

"Well, that's just-"

"Wonderful, I know!" The blonde smiled, delighted by her idea. "The family has already been briefed and they are all on board, I have started taking in questions and designed the cards, so we'll all meet around the campfire for dinner, and then we'll have trivia night!" She smiled brightly and began to leave, stopping by to appreciate Spencer's figure and palming his behind as she left.

"Did she just-?"

"Yes, yes she did."

"I need a shower."

After both had showered and changed they made their way to grandmas house, alert as to anyone following them. Most of her family had moved on from spying on them, but she knew Anna and Uncle Ernie were not that normal.

"So, what did your grandma do?"

"No one really knows, I mean it had to be good to make her so rich, but by the time my uncle Ernie was born, the eldest, she was already rich enough to sell whatever business she had and become a full-time parent."

"What about your grandpa?"

"He died before I was born."

"Oh."

They sat at the same table he had been at the day before; the chessboard was still in place. She began messing with the pieces, creating the game that always made her win, courtesy of her grandma.

"I didn't know you played."

"I too began at a very young age. I haven't really played since grandma died; she was my game partner. The only one that treated me like I was a human being." She sat down, remembering the hours she spent here when Nicole wasn't around, and everyone pretty much ignored her. "She was the only one that ever consoled me for losing my dad. Losing her was just one more box to check."

"I am sorry for your loss." He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently, hoping to convey his sympathy.

"Yeah well, by how calm Anna looks right now I guess it won't be long before I join her, so we don't have to worry about that anymore."

He rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. "So, what should we expect during this trivia night?"

"To lose, that's our safest bet."

"I don't really do losing."

"And all I do is lose, so I will be your guide this time."

The family had made their way inside, their excitement overflowing the room. She couldn't help but wish she could simply run for the hills. She knew the chances of them winning were null, because a) she needed to lose and b) Spencer and her hadn't known each other, really known each other long enough to be able to answer these questions. She wondered if that was the plan all along, that Anna somehow had found out about their lie and was using this as a means to expose it.

"Okay everybody, let's get started." Said, uncle Ernie. He wore the same clothes as their first day here. "Let us start with the competition. Since we have the newlyweds as well as the new couple in the family, I think they should make the honors."

She looked at Spencer and he smiled at her, she leaned closed and whispered. "Remember, to ease the monster, we need to lose, which shouldn't be hard, we're not even a real couple, there is no way we know enough about each other, right?"

He nodded and they both moved to the sofa that was designated as their spot, her uncle who now apparently served as the show host, handed Spencer and Tyler a buzzer, explaining whichever sounded first would get to answer the question. She mentally prepared herself, hoping she could answer enough questions to not raise suspicion but not enough to win the game, what a grand world that would be.

"Ready everybody?" everyone cheered in approval and she prepared herself. "This round is for the guys, once we finish you will pass the buzzer to your partner and at the end, we will have one round where either of you can answer. Now, the first question, what is your partner's Starbucks order?"

Spencer's buzzer went off as Tyler attempted to recall the memory. "It depends on the season. During winter and for as long as she can get it, it will be a Grande Peppermint Hot Chocolate, during the summer it will be no-coffee Double chocolate chip cookie crumble Grande Frappuccino with extra whipped cream, and no straw." She looked at him completely taken aback by his answer, how specific it was, and the fact that he knew she was a seasonal drinks person.

"Yeah, that's it." She spoke.

"Point for team FBI!" Her uncle cheered. "Next question, what is your partner's favorite color?"

His buzzer went off and the doctor spoke again, "Blue."

Ten questions later the scoreboard was 8-2, Spencer's lead, and the two questions he hadn't answered were because he decided that would be enough to lose. She didn't understand how he knew these things, or the fact that she knew what her answer for him would be, but what she did know, was that she had to be really bad in order to allow Anna to take the lead back, what she wasn't sure about anymore, was whether she wanted to let her cousin win.

"Ladies, you're up." Spencer handed her the buzzer and she smiled at him. "First question, how does your partner drink his coffee."

"That's easy. He doesn't drink coffee." She said soon after her buzzer went off. "He drinks sugar with a side of coffee, no creamer. Eighty percent sugar, twenty percent coffee."

"That is so mean to say! But it's true." Spencer agreed.

"How are you a doctor and drink so much sugar?"

"Not that kind of doctor." He clarified to the man.

"I have no idea what that means! Next question, what is the thing your partner is most proud of?"

"His job. Spencer loves helping people and using his knowledge to reunite families, he's the bravest guy I know." She smiled at him and he returned the gesture.

It was no surprise Anna was not content with the results, as the end was a 23-4 in favor of Spencer and her. As soon as the game was finished she knew that she had basically carved her own grave.

"That is not fair, they are not even really dating!" Her cousin screamed, "it's all a lie!"

"What?"

"Yeah, I know your little secret, I overheard you and Nicole talking about how Spencer was not really your boyfriend and how he didn't actually have dyslexia!"

"I-" She didn't know what to say, how had she not seen her? How could she let this happen?

"First of all, I think it is very inconsiderate of you to suggest that my dyslexia is not real. I have fought so hard for such a long time to ensure my condition didn't prevent me from succeeding, going as far as getting a Ph.D. in mathematics, for someone to simply come and question my hard work." Spencer said, seemingly very upset. "Second of all, this woman right here is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I will not sit here and tolerate you calling her a liar. We are in love with each other, and you as her cousin should be happy about it. Yet you seem so upset about her finding someone, it seems to me you're jealous, but what do I know, it's not like I can understand human behavior or anything. Oh, wait." He said, he took her hand and pulled her as close to him as she could. "Just leave my girlfriend alone, you took her sloppy second and married him, so what more can you want from her?"

The room fell silent, everyone eyed Spencer and Anna, trying to grasp what had just happened. "You and I both know you're lying, you two are not a real couple, you are just trying to ruin this weekend for me."

"Really, not a real couple? Then how did we end up destroying you at trivia? You made the questions Anna, I had no idea what was on them, you did. And I am not the one wearing a wedding ring. So my question is, how do you marry someone without knowing their proudest moment, or their Starbucks order?"

"Well, how come no one has ever seen you two kiss? You can learn facts about each other but that doesn't really make you a couple."

"You want to see a kiss? Fine." She turned and pulled Spencer's lips to hers. She let herself enjoy the moment, really enjoy Spencer's kissing skills, not because she wanted to or anything, but rather because that is how she should kiss him, there was no way anyone would have any doubt about them if the kiss looked authentic. Which it did, it also might have felt a little more authentic than it should but now was no the time to dwell on that.

Spencer kissed her back, creating an atmosphere in which her cousin's word didn't matter any longer, in which the humiliation her family had put her through was nothing worth thinking of, and the fact that both of them had such deep knowledge about each other only fueled it, melting her a little in her spot, she felt his teeth on her lower lip applying slight pressure and she couldn't help but wish they were by themselves right then and there.

"We get it! You guys want to take your clothes off, now please stop." Tyler's voice echoed, and the two doctors left each other's lips reluctantly, looking at him. "Now, can we please move on?"

"No! Not until they admit they are not really dating, and all this was a plot to humiliate me!" Anna screamed.

"You know what? I am not going to stand here and tolerate this behavior any longer. Bitchy Anna, you can whine all you want, but that will not change that I am with a man I love, and that loves me. I have let this family make me feel like less for long enough and I am done doing so. You can all go fuck yourselves because I am done with each and every single one of you. You allowed this crazy brat to humiliate me and treat me like I was less for long enough. Let's go home, Spencer." She grabbed him by the hand and exited the house, giving her family the middle finger before she banged the door. She walked to their cabin and gathered her stuff, him following suit. As soon as they were in the car and far enough away, she pulled over and sighed, coming down from her adrenaline rush.

"In the wise words of Penelope Garcia, that was hot," Spencer said.

"What was?"

"Everything." They laughed for a couple of minutes, the scene she had just created replaying in her mind. "I am so proud of you."

"Why? Because I gave my uncle Ernie the middle finger?"

"Because you stood up for yourself."

"Yeah, well even if she was right, I tend to get a little too angry when people call me a liar or get in my way."

"Yeah, I know." He chuckled, "How did it go, oh yes, 'Nu-uh bruh, I know you didn't just interrupt me mid-sentence.' And then you commented how a man who wore sweaters in the middle of July was not going to cut you off."

"I am so sorry about that; I was just so used to being cut off I didn't want it to be a thing at work."

"It's okay, I understand. I began cutting people off because that's what most people did to me when I spoke."

"Well, that's dumb. I love hearing your facts, you have all this knowledge, and you chose to share it, people should be grateful for it."

"Thank you, I appreciate that." He smiled, "Speaking of facts, our chances of getting murdered will increase by the minute if we continue to sit on the side of the road."

"Right, forgot about that!" She turned the car back on. "Let's go home, Spencer." As his apartment complex became clear, she slowed down, making a stop right in front of it. "Thank you for coming with me this weekend, I really appreciate it."

"No problem, that's what friends are for." Before he moved to get out of the car, she planted a quick kiss on his cheek. "What was that for?"

"For being the best fake boyfriend and real friend a girl could ask for." She smiled at him, so grateful for his existence. "I will see you tomorrow morning at 5:45 am sharp. Goodnight Spencer."

"Goodnight. See you tomorrow." He opened the door and walked out, waving to her before he entered his building. She sat there for a couple of minutes, taking in the past weekend. She knew her mother wouldn't let her get away with her actions, but right now that didn't matter, Spencer Reid had told her he was proud of her, he had even used the term hot which in itself was hot because she never even imagined he used that type of vocabulary.

Regardless, she stood up for herself, she let Anna have it, and Spencer was proud of her. It seemed like a win-win. She drove home, a smile on her face.

[addictofsupernatural]

Secret Barista

Katsuki Bakugo x reader

Summary: Y/n is too embarrassed to tell anyone about her job, but her crush knows something's up.

Word Count: 3.0k

UA was not cheap. It needed to get extra funds from somewhere, so admissions fees were charged. It was a fancy school, which meant it came with a fancy price tag. Your parents didn't have the kind of money to just pay for it, so they told you that you had to earn your spot if you wanted to be there.

You didn't want to tell anybody about your job, especially not when some of your classmates come from important and rich families. The only one who would most likely understand was Uraraka, but her parents were lucky enough to get a loan. Yours weren't.

So there you were, uniform in your backpack, walking down the common areas. "Oi, loser," Bakugo said, leaning back on one of the couches. "Where the hell are you going?"

Then there was Bakugo. You had a huge crush and was absolutely smitten with him for some time now. Ever since that day he quietly gave you tips on how to improve your fighting stance before silently walking away, you knew he was a nice person deep down.

"Hey Baku," you childishly waved at him, even though you were three feet away from him. "What're you doing here alone?"

"Shitty hair should be coming soon."

"Mm. Study buddy?"

He gave you a tch. "Yeah." He mumbled.

"Well look at you." You teased. You leaned on the couch opposite from him. "Aren't you just the nicest person. Helping out your friends and all."

"Heh, yeah right. Shitty hair's been whining and shit about his grades, and I just want him to shut up for once."

"Hm, I see. Well, remember, nice deeds means you're a hero at heart, so I don't think it's so bad to be secretly sweet." He gave you a blank expression, which you took as a win since there was no longer a scowl there. You then checked your phone. "Oh, gotta go. Bye bye!"

"Hey, you never answered my questions stupid!"

"I'm just going out!" You called out, leaving him there to be annoyed. He could see right through your lie. Why were you lying to him? You were the one who insisted that the two of you were best friends, and yet you also had the nerve to keep something from him?

That night you got some bad news. There was new management, and they wanted people to work longer shifts. Those who didn't were going to gradually just stop getting shifts altogether, since they weren't dedicated enough. That meant you were going to have to go on less sleep from now on.

The next night Bakugo saw you leaving again, and this time decided he was going to question you about it. Except you came back way later than he thought. You were trudging yourself through the doors damn near one in the morning.

Bakugo stood up from the couch and crossed his arms. "Where the hell have you been?!"

"Bakugo? You usually sleep early. Why are you up so late?"

"That's what I'm asking you idiot! Do have any idea how late you are?! There's a curfew!"

"Please don't yell. And don't worry, I have a permission note signed by the principal." You sounded exhausted. You then took a step closer, putting your hands on his shoulders. "Please listen. I've had a really bad night and I just want it to end. When I'm ready to tell you about what's going on, I will. Promise."

He could tell how tired you were, and felt kind of bad about it. He slightly nodded, mumbling, "Okay."

You smiled. "Thanks Bakugo. I knew you were my best friend." You then let him go and began walking to your dorm. "Good night."

"...Night."

Throughout the next week Bakugo could tell that you were getting more and more tired. You didn't smile as much and you began to eat less. Bakugo hated it. It was worrying him. He didn't know how he was supposed to help you without making it obvious to everyone else that he was crushing on you.

That was until the Monday in Aizawa's class. You two were sitting on a bench outside waiting for your turns in the exercises, when he felt you lean on his arm. He looked down to see you sleeping against him. He only stared at you, not daring to move and possibly wake you up. That was until Kirishima and Kaminari began snickering at the sight.

"What the hell is so funny?!"

You then stirred awake, and Bakugo wanted to punch himself for blowing that moment. You brought your head up and gave him a sleepy smile, rubbing his arm. "Oh, I'm sorry Katsuki."

Sometimes you called him by his first name, usually when you weren't really thinking normally. Bakugo felt like it would make sense if he said something about it, but he liked the way it sounded coming from you.

"Whatever. Sleep at night loser."

You playfully hit his shoulder and let out a teasing gasp. "I've been doing it wrong this whole time. See, I told you you're a genius."

He gave you a small smile in return, which was cut short due to Kaminari walking up to you two. "Y/l/n, you look exhausted."

You chuckled. "Wow, are my eye bags that bad?"

He only nervously shook his head in response after seeing Bakugo's death glare. Kirishima, who wasn't afraid of Bakugo, spoke up for his friend. "It's not that bad. Tea is a good way to relieve stress that causes them."

You nodded. "Good to know, thanks."

The next day in class you walked over to your desk in the back to find a cup of tea there. On the cup, it had nice writing on it. Don't sleep on anymore people. Instead of a name being signed, there was just a drawing of a grenade.

You grinned and happily drank it during class. Once class was over you two walked to the cafeteria together. He was dead silent and kept looking straight ahead, which meant it was your duty to start the conversation.

"So, there's this really awesome hero. Total badass and secretly super nice to me. His name is Dynamite, so if you see him can you tell him that he's amazing for me?" He finally looked at you, and you smiled in response. "Hi."

"Hey." He mumbled.

"Thank you."

He had his blank expression on. "Sure." It was almost inaudible.

You went to your spot in the cafeteria and sat next to each other as usual. While you were waiting for Kirishima and Kaminari to come back with their lunch, Bakugo plopped a container full of food in front of you. "What's this?"

"Your lunch. Eat." He stared at his own meal as he said this, already eating it.

You giggled. "What's up with the amazing gifts today?" Instead of answering, he only shot you a glare and kept eating. "No reason I should know about?" You teased, though he looked away from you. You patted his back playfully. "That's okay, you're still the best."

The other two boys showed up and began talking with you about the day, with Bakugo only making a comment here and there. He was about to say something, but fell silent when he saw you put the lid back on the container with half the food still uneaten. He didn't notice as you waved to the two boys leaving for their next class.

"Oi, what the hell?!" You turned to him with a confused look on your face, which only ticked him off even more. "I didn't cook you food for you to just throw it away!"

"Oh, I'm not throwing it away." You nervously laughed. "I, um, actually have a smaller appetite now, but I was gonna save it for dinner. It was really good." You nudged him with your shoulder. "You're a really great cook."

He gave you a tiny smile, though that smile went right away as the bell rang. "Whatever. Move your ass."

You walked in silence and grinned stupidly. "I like your smile—"

"Shut up." You giggled in response.

Over the week Bakugo had brought you lunch everyday, as well as tea twice. Whenever you tried thanking him he would brush you off. He was just glad that you were smiling more. But you were also still exhausted. He scolded you when you asked for his notes, which you never do, but immediately stopped when you shut down and apologized quietly. He couldn't wait for you to tell him what was wrong anymore, he needed to find out himself.

You didn't notice the next night when he followed you, or when he saw you go into the back of a coffee shop. He inspected the place. It was usually busy due to tourists in the area. He went inside and took a seat, not long before you came out with a work uniform on.

You had a job. If you were hiding it from him, then that meant that there was an embarrassing reason for having the job. Was it money problems?

His thoughts were cut off by a guy with the manager name tag yelling at this girl. He was going on about how worthless her working there was and to not waste his time and money anymore. He then pushed his way to the back, bumping you on the way and almost causing you to spill your drink.

He decided not to yell at the manager, though he had a very strong urge to, in order to spare you your pride. He went back to the dorms building and waited for what felt like forever for you to come back. You came in slouching, absolutely drained from the day. That was when you saw Bakugo standing there, arms crossed with a scowl on his face.

"Katsuki, what are you doing up? Can you not sleep? I have some medicine if you're feeling too sick to—"

"You have a job."

That woke you up. You knew he wouldn't make such random statements without evidence. You looked down to your feet. "...You found out."

"That's why you've been always tired lately. Why do you have that job?"

"Can we please talk about this another—"

"No. Why do you have that shitty job?"

You bit your lip. "Can you turn around first?" He just stared at you. Your voice sounded like you were going to cry. "Please?"

He hesitantly turned around. "Okay. Now you have to answer."

You nodded. "Okay. I, um, I have to keep this job. My parents can't afford the admissions fee for UA. If I want to be here, I need to earn it."

He fought the urge not to look back and tell at you for such an absurd comment. "You earned being at this school by being accepted."

You shook your head and took a shaky breath. "That's not what I mean. I need to earn being here to my parents. They don't expect me to just pick a fancy school and not worry about the consequences for them. That's just disrespecting them. Ugh, this is really humiliating for me, especially in front of you! There are other people here with big families that show respect their parents by being here. And here I am feeling like I'm gonna cry because it feels like I'm driving myself crazy and I can't stop going 100% all the time without failing at everything I've been working towards."

He heard your whimper, and sucked up all of his pride when he said, "Close your eyes."

"Huh?"

"Just close them."

You covered your face with your hands. "Okay. They're closed." You suddenly felt hands come and move your arms to take off your backpack. Strong arms then wrapped around you, bringing you into a muscular chest. You felt a chin rest on the top of your head. He was hugging you. You wrapped your own arms around his waist, closing your eyes and whispering, "I'm just so tired Katsuki."

He rubbed your back soothingly, and you calmed your breathing. "I'll fix this." He said after a long silence.

"What?"

You tried to look up at him, but he squeezed you tighter, silently asking you not to. You chose to not press about it. He didn't like showing anyone his softer side, and you didn't want to embarrass him.

"Thank you. I really needed this." You then brought back your hands to cover your eyes. "Don't worry. I'll count to ten so you can leave. Is that okay?"

"Heh." You could only imagine if he was smiling. "Yeah." He paused before saying, "Good night."

"Good night!" You grinned. When you opened your eyes you didn't see him there. You happily picked up your backpack and went to your dorm.

The next day the weekend started. You asked Bakugo if he wanted to hang out, but he told you he had something to do with his family. But he hated hanging around his cousins. You were starting to get worried that you screwed up your friendship. So you were left with only your paranoia to keep you company all day.

On Sunday there was a sudden knock at your door, and when you answered Bakugo was looking at you expectantly. "Get ready. We're going to my house."

"Um, okay?" You hoped he would elaborate, but he just nodded and walked away. You got out of your pajamas and walked to the common area, where he was waiting for you. "So why are we going there?"

"Is there a problem with my house?"

"No, but—"

"Then just trust me idiot!" You only nodded. You both walked in silence, and he bursted through the door. "Oi, we're here!"

You had only been to Bakugo's house twice. The first time was to help him bake sweets for his family's Christmas meal. The second time was for his birthday, and you were with Kaminari and Kirishima. You loved it there, and you loved his parents.

"Your daughter's here!" You grinned as you poked your head into the kitchen.

"Hey! Long time no see!" Mitsuki smiled. You ran into her hug. She ruffled your hair and pinched your cheeks.

"Did you miss me?" You giggled out.

"I missed your cooking. My son's going to burn the house down without you here."

"Shut up you old hag!"

As the two started arguing, Masaru walked into the kitchen. "Hi Mr. Bakugo!"

"Welcome back y/n." He gently patted your head. "Cookies?"

"Cookies!" You made grab hands at the container he took out of a cupboard. He opened it for you as you took one out, taking a bite and nodding in satisfaction. "You're the best at making this stuff Mr. Bakugo."

"Thanks y/n. Could you please come to the living room for me?"

You happily followed him. "Anything for you my father." He chuckled.

Your smile went away as soon as you saw your parents sitting on the couch. You respectfully bowed.

"Did you get tired of working?" Your mother asked. You shook your head. "Then you shouldn't be going around complaining to everyone. It's like you're trying to get other families to pity you, which embarrasses us!"

"But I wasn't—"

"Speak," She silenced you. "When told to."

Mitsuki came from behind you and put a hand on your shoulder. "Take my son to his room for me kiddo."

You nodded and quickly left with Bakugo to his room. Once you closed the door, Bakugo let out a tch. "Your parents get on my nerves."

"Baku, what's going on?"

He plopped on his bed and laid down in a nonchalant-like way. "They're gonna give your annoying ass parents a loan. That way you'll quit your shitty ass job. No more taking crap from that manager."

"But what if they get mad and pull me out of school?!"

"Keh. When has my old hag of a mom ever learned to take no for an answer?"

You grinned and sighed in relief before patting his stomach. "Scoot over." He did so with his unreadable expression. You laid next to him and the two of you faced each other. "Thank you Bakugo. You're my hero."

He smirked. "I know that already dumbass."

"If there's any way I can repay you or if I can do anything for you, just say the word."

His smile faded. "If you really mean it..."

You grinned and nodded. He put his hand over your eyes. "Are we hugging again?"

"No."

Before you could question him he brought his lips to yours. He was hesitant about pressing further, but did so and kissed you a little roughly. It was sloppy and inexperienced, making it all the better. You moved your hand to the back of his neck to press on with the kiss, and his hand went from your eyes to getting tangled in your hair.

You both pulled back for air as you rested your foreheads on one another. "I've been craving Tai food." He suddenly said. "Tommorow, at 11."

You chuckled. "Hm, are you asking or commanding?"

He grinned. "Commanding."

You giggled. "That's not how that works."

"Then, can I ask you something?" He mumbled. You sat up and patted him to get up as well, him doing so. You nodded. "Will you be my girlfriend?" He looked away from you, muttering, "Please?"

You grinned, nodding and kissing him. "That was perfect." You said against his lips. "Thank you Bakugo." You then excitedly gasped and leaned back. "So can I call you Katsuki from now on then?!"

He yanked you into a hug. "You always could idiot."

You hugged back, only separating from him when you heard footsteps. It was your dad. "Quit your job, and don't worry about it."

You kept a straight face. "Thank you sir." He nodded and closed the door.

You looked back to Bakugo and threw yourself into a hug with him. He brought your head up and smirked. "Good, cause I'll be pissed if you fall asleep on our date tomorrow."

---

Author's Note: This is my first MHA fic. I hope I wrote Bakugo good. ╮(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)╭

[xxisxxisxxis]

Gateway Drug | Part Seventy-Seven

So sorry this was so late, guys. Thank you for the sweet messages. For those who don't know my cousin was found by her two little children yesterday morning. She's been a heavy drinker for the last few years and we suspect she was getting into drugs as well through her husband. She was only 26 and way too young to die. I always idolized her when I was little, and wanted to be just like her. I know everyone has demons and are imperfect but it's really opened my eyes that even people we put on pedestals have things they're working through, just like us. Addiction runs in my family (obviously because this is the second cousin we've had to bury this year due to drug/alcohol addiction), I just always thought she would make it out. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers, it isn't going unnoticed.

Words: 5k

Warning(s): explicit language, violence, drug abuse, mentions of sexual assault

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"That's it?" I sneer at Nikki, on his heels after shoving Sparkie aside and leaving him in the dressing room, my hand reaching out to grab Nikki's wrist and snatch him back to me to keep him from walking away. "Not too long ago you beat the shit out of him for doing the exact same thing, Nikki, what the hell is so different now?" I demand, and he pulls away from me, his hazel eyes darkening with a looming sadness as he just looks down at me. 

"He's a fucking pervert, Viv. We know this, alright? Just kick his ass if you want to. I'm not gonna beat a dead horse." He dismisses me. 

What had changed was when he beat Sparkie to a pulp the last time, he didn't know about Duff. After discovering my relationship with one of his friends, it wouldn't have shocked him to find out that Sparkie and I were fooling around, too. I was a slut in his eyes, which was fine, because he was one in my eyes, too.

"Why the hell can't you just try to protect me, for once, Nikki?!" I snap at him, tears in my eyes, and he huffs out a huge breath, glaring at me. 

"Because I don't care, Vivian!" He screams.

"Oh, that's pretty evident, Nikki, that really is!" 

"I haven't protected you? You haven't protected me!" He throws at me, pointing his finger in my face. 

"Protected you from what?! Drugs?! The bullshit of fame?! People that want a piece of you just to say they're friends with Nikki Sixx?! I've tried! I've dedicated my fucking life to you! To making you happy, and making sure you were okay and every time I thought you were, you'd just go off the deep again!" I shout, a lump in my throat...my lost babies...my relationship with Duff..."I've protected you more than you even know, Nikki. And if I haven't, I've tried, and I'm still trying!" I outburst. 

His black-smeared eyes widen at my words, his jaw clenching as his nostrils flare. 

"You're still trying to protect me?" He asks, shaking slightly. "What exactly from, Vivian? Huh?" 

I blow him off, shaking my head slightly, about to walk away when he grabs my neck, making me squeak in pain. 

"You weren't protecting me from shit when you did that Playboy cover just to spite me. You weren't protecting me when you started fights with me over tiny shit, you weren't protecting me when you were hiding our relationship from people to begin with and you sure as fuck weren't protecting me when you hid your friendship with Duff from me!" He hisses out, his nose brushing mine, his hand still around my throat. "You want guys to respect you when you aren't worth a fucking thing which is why you had to get naked in a magazine to get validation in the first place." He adds viciously. "And as for Sparkie, you've made it pretty evident you'll wrap those pretty legs around just about anyone so excuse me for not thinking Sparkie is where you draw the line being that you're just another pussy to unload in and get on to the next attention-humping slut."

A satisfying crack sounds when my fist connects to his eye, making his fingers release my throat as he groans, stumbling back.

I wipe my tears, taking a deep breath as I shakily step past him, my eyes closing slightly as I wince at the unbearable “I hate you!” screaming past his lips, being hurled at me.

“You don’t get the luxury of hating me, Nikki.” I snap at him, continuing to walk away.

“You’re ungrateful and spiteful and selfish. Everything I have done for you--our lifestyle, our house, our--”

“And I never asked for any of it! I never wanted any of it! I just wanted you, Nikki!” I turn around to look at him once more, my voice cracking tiredly because we’ve had this conversation a thousand times before. “You didn’t have to do any of it for me but you did because you were trying to earn my love and respect but you already had it, I already adored you without the other bullshit, and you adored the excess and the groupies and the drugs!” I point out and he looks at me painfully, tears in his own eyes, out of anger, no doubt.

“I fucking failed you, Vivian, how many times are you gonna make sure I hear it?!” He yells back.

“Until you stop victimizing yourself and making me out to be the bad guy when you know damn well you did this to me! You ruined me, just like my fucking mom said you would!”

“I ruined you?!” He questions, his eye beginning to swell up. “I never forced you into a relationship with me, Vivian! You knew exactly what you were getting into when you got with me!”

“If I knew what I was getting into, I wouldn’t have given you a minute of my time, let alone six years of my life because you weren’t worth it!”

“I hate you!” He repeats, this time he really sounds like he means it, and I can’t help but give it right back to him as the words, “I hate you!” fly from my mouth before I can stop them.

He already deemed himself unlovable due to his mother only wanting him when it was convenient for her, and his father never wanting him to begin with...I only reinforced that, without meaning to, somewhere along the way.

“What the hell is goin’ on?!” Doc shouts over us and we look at him. “What the fuck happened to your eye?!” He pipes next, looking at Nikki.

“It’s fine.” He swats Doc away when he tries to take a look at it. “I can still play and make you plenty of money.” He adds in a hiss, shoving past him, shooting me one last death glare before leaving us.

“What the fuck happened?” Doc demands.

“I’m getting a divorce.” I state. “That’s what.”

When I turn around I see Izzy, his eyes hiding behind his shades, cigarette hanging from his lips as he trails behind me when I pass him.

“Ya know, it’d be easier if you didn’t add fuel to the fire, Viv.” Izzy tells me, not meaning any harm by it, but I’ve had enough.

“And my life would be easier if you were just dead.” I snap, slamming the bathroom door behind me.

I wondered what it would feel like if Nikki just knew about Duff and I. I wouldn’t have had that looming, paranoid fear, I wouldn’t have constantly been avoiding certain conversations altogether and I certainly wouldn’t have given Sparkie any ammunition...of course, it would have been the absolute end to our marriage, then and there--same day divorce, no questions asked…

“Nikki, just hear me out, please,” I plead, tears rolling down my cheeks as I tug my shirt on.

“How was it?” He asks me, fuming, and I furrow my brows, slightly.

“W-Wha--”

“--You said you wanted me to hear you out, Vivian, so I wanna know exactly how fucking one of my friends was?” He hisses, and I shake my head.

“You don’t need to patronize me, Nikki, I just made a mistake--just like you made with Vanity.” I tell him.

“Oh, my God.” He scoffs out, making a beeline for the tousled blankets in the living room floor in front of the fireplace.

“Nikki--”

“--When you found out about her you marched into the room, threw things around, called me every disgusting thing you could think of and wouldn’t hear a thing from me about why it happened but you do it, a-and it’s just a ‘mistake’ you made?” He asks me, his voice struggling to maintain it’s stern composure.

“I’m sorry, Nikki, alright? I am sorry, please don’t do thi--Nikki!” I shout as he throws the blankets into the burning fire, heading to our bedroom. “Nikki, stop!”

He starts stripping the sheets from the obviously screwed-in bed, next.

“You destroyed my shit when I cheated, why the fuck does it matter that I do it to you, huh?” He’s not even yelling, he’s surpassed the stage of “yelling” anger.

“Because I didn’t cheat!” I insist.

“Then why are you so upset that I walked in and saw you in bed with him, Vivian?” He asks next, keeping the tears in his eyes from toppling as he speaks.

“Because I didn’t want you to find out this way.” I admit, my voice shaking and hoarse from crying.

He throws the sheets at my feet, before silently going to his closet, grabbing his clothes as fast as he can.

“What are you doing?” I ask him, panic in my voice.

“I’m not sleeping here tonight, Vivian, I-I can’t.” He tells me.

“Nikki, no, we need to talk about this or-or something, please.”

“I can’t be here, right now, I-I look at you and I just…” He can’t finish, clenching his jaw. “...I’m not staying here tonight.”

“Then we can talk about it tomorrow, Nikki, just please--”

“--I don’t know when I’m gonna be back, Vivian, I don’t, so just leave it at that. You stay here as long as you want and he can, too, I don’t care anymore.” He lets out, weakly, grabbing the suitcase he came in with.

“Where are you going?” I hold back a sob and he ignores me. “Nikki, please, talk to me about this, I--”

“--There’s nothing to talk about. I slept with Vanity and you slept with Duff, we’re even now, and should both be done with this shit.” He continues packing quickly.

“Nikki, please don’t go, we can work this out like we’ve always done, please.” I grab his hand, my eyes swelling from crying, my nose running, but I don’t care.

“How do you expect me to feel sorry for what I did with Vanity when you’re trying to make everything better with another guy’s cum in you?” He asks me, calmly. “This marriage was obviously just damned from the start, so just call it what it is and let’s both get on with our lives.” He closes his suitcase, picking it up.

I’m pathetic with tears cascading down my face, giving one last "hail Mary" attempt as I hold to his arm that reaches for the door knob, and sob out:

“Nikki, please, don’t leave me like this, I don’t care about what happened with Vanity, just don’t leave me like this, can we please just talk about it and try to work on it, please, Nikki.”

He looks down at me, his own dam breaking just briefly enough for one of his tears to fall from his face and land on my lips, slithering through my slightly parted lips.

One last taste of him, before he’s shaking me off of him, and leaving me.

Yeah, I guess it’s good he didn’t find out sooner.

“Hey,” Duff’s voice cracks my thoughts, making snap back to reality as I look in the mirror, seeing him tower over me, and Stevie cheerfully bouncing on the balls of his feet, bringing a small smile to my lips, “Doc said you were in here.” Duff adds and I wipe my eyes, trying to avoid messing my makeup up any worse than it is.

“Yeah, I figured.” I reply softly.

“You just have one last night, okay?” Steven reassures me. “Just one more night and you’ll be outta this mess and back home.”

“Right.” I try to give my most convincing performance, grinning as best as I can...Duff clearly sees through it, clearing his throat a little.

“Vivian, if you wanna go back to the hotel, I won’t be mad.” Duff offers.

“What? And miss you guys’ last show on this tour? Are you kidding me?” I brush it off, my chest clenching as he looks down at me and Steven just raises a brow, their sweet faces obviously showing concern.

“You don’t have to act all tough around us, ya know.” Duff tells me, and I rub my lips together.

“I’m not acting.” I insist, shaking my head, turning back around to wipe the smudged mascara from under my eyes. “I’m tough as nails.” I explain, sounding as if I’m trying to convince myself, and them, of it.

“Duff, dude, Axl wants you.” Slash peeps his head in.

“Alright, man, I’m comin’.” Duff says. “See you in a second, k?”

I nod, maintaining my unbothered expression as he kisses my cheek, leaving me with Steven.

“You know, you’ve got a lot of shit on you right now, but...we’re not cats, Viv.” He tells me out of nowhere.

“What?” I ask him, confused.

“My grandma has this fat-ass cat, and he got sick and even though he was at his food bowl, he wouldn’t eat, he’d just make it seem like he was. My grandma’s vet told her cats pretend they aren’t weaker than usual to keep other cats from finishing them off.” He states and I let out a breath, nodding.

“You think I’m bullshitting to keep from making it worse?” I ask him, trying to keep my shaking voice at bay.

“I think when you and Nikki were still together and working on things, and shit was hell behind the scenes but seemed so glamorous on the outside, you didn’t pretend everything was fine to keep Doc off your case...you pretended Nikki wasn’t a heroin addict and your relationship was fine to keep other girls from ganging up on you and trying to steal him away.” He says calmly.

“Well, Vanity can tell you that didn’t work.” I scoff, sniffling.

“You don’t have to keep pretending everything’s fine, anymore, Viv.” Stevie states.

“I’m a woman, Steven. It’s not fine. Everyone is pinning my failed marriage on me as if it’s my fault he was on drugs, and sleeping with another woman, and--” I stop myself before I start crying, not wanting to refix my makeup. “--When it goes public, he’ll be praised for being a rockstar and knowing what he wants, and I’ll be scolded for not being sexy enough or fun enough or pretty enough or nasty enough or whatever enough to keep him happy and entertained to the capacity it requires to keep men happy.” I tell him, my voice rasping through the lump in my throat. “None of this would be a problem if I were just a freaking guy.” I add, laughing humorlessly.

He doesn’t have anything to say, opting to wrap one of his arms around my shoulders while the other wraps around my stomach, hugging me to him, his cheek resting against my hair as a tear rolls down my cheek, my hands find his, welcoming his embrace full-heartedly.

I predicted it.

Once the news of our divorce hit newsstands, it was automatically my fault, and when those “Nikki Sixx Files for Divorce from Estranged Wife” headlines turned into, “Nikki Sixx and Wife Retract Divorce Filing”, and then, “Vivian Sixx Announces Pregnancy Bombshell, Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses) is the Father”, all hell broke loose.

Things like, “Vivian Sixx: You Can Put a Ring on a Groupie, but It’s Still a Groupie,” and “*Insert whatever rockstar’s name I happened to be at the same social gathering as* and Vivian Sixx, Here’s What We Know,” were put on tabloids.

When Los Angeles Daily Times spun a bullshit story about me and my alleged affair with Jani Lane, who was engaged to Bobbie Brown--who was also one of my friends--at the time, and also claimed I didn’t get along with Bret Michaels or Bobby Dall because they were somehow my recent ex-lovers, Izzy and Steven went down to their office with a shotgun and threatened the moron who wrote the article.

An apology was issued publicly, rather quickly, as it should’ve been, but everything everyone said about me, and the situation, whether negative or positive, stuck with me for years, and it took awhile for the negative to be shaken off.

"We go on in, like, twenty minutes, Viv." He tells me softly and I nod. "I love you." He adds. 

"I love you, too, Stevie." I reply. 

His lips give a quick kiss to my exposed shoulder before he's leaving to go join Axl, Izzy, Slash, and Duff.

I fix my makeup once more, going to Mötley's dressing room to grab my purse and reapply my lipstick. 

Emi and Donna quiet down when I come in, they're sprucing their hair up, glancing at me, looking like they've been caught even though I didn't hear what they were talking about.  

"Hey, girls." I tell them, grabbing my lipstick. 

"Hey, Viv." Emi replies.

"Where the guys at?" I ask. 

"Vince and Tommy went to find some girls, Mick's talking to Doc, and Nikki…" they trail off, exchanging a look. 

"...Is in the bathroom shooting up. Got it." I scoff, using their mirror to smear red on my lips. 

There's a tension, as if they want to tell me something else, but don't exactly know how to. 

"What's up?" I ask them, next. 

They look away from me and I furrow my brows. 

"Girls, what's wrong?" I question and Donna sighs. 

"Sparkie just came in here and told us--randomly--that you and Duff have been sleeping together on this leg of the tour." Emi confesses, my nerves bunching up and frying. 

"W-What?" I ask. 

"He told us and then asked where Nikki was and we told him we didn't know because we didn't want him to tell him that because it's not true." Donna adds and my face tells it all. "Oh, my God." 

"Nikkk cannot know, he can't tell him." I insist, heading to the door. 

"We'll find Nikki, you find Sparkie." Emi offers. 

"Thank you." I tell them, opening the door, running into Nikki. 

"The fuck are you doing in here?" He questions me. 

"Um...girl talk." I lie as best as I can and he rolls his eyes, pushing me out of the way, sitting on the couch, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. 

I look at Emi and Donna, mouthing, "keep him in here," and they nod.

I shut the door, on the hunt for Sparkie. 

As I'm walking backstage, I notice how the crew is staring at me more than usual, even more than when my Playboy issue came out. 

I furrow my brows slightly, seeing Nikki's bass tech about to pass by, grabbing his arm and stopping him. 

"What's everyone's deal?" I ask him and he looks at my hand on his arm, and back to me. 

"It seems you've given people reason to talk about you...and Duff...again." he explains, alluding to me using Duff's in Playboy. 

"Did Sparkie--"

"--Yeah." He nods and I feel my blood boil. "Good luck." He gives me a small smile and goes on his way, making me shake my head a little as I look at everyone looking at me, whispering under their breath. 

I make a couple laps around backstage, managing to never find Sparkie, but I do see Tansy by the drink table, and I make a beeline for her. 

"Where's Sparkie?" I ask and she looks at me. 

"Oh, um, I-I think he went to talk to Nikki." She tells me. "He went to check in their dressing room, maybe? I'm not sure, he didn't say but he said he couldn't find him and headed that direction, why?" 

My heart hammers in my chest, and I can't bring myself to answer before I'm rushing back to the dressing room as fast as I can in my heels, opting to just take them off altogether and carry them in my hand. 

"Hey, Vi--" I shove through Vince, Tommy and Mick who're about to enter, opening the door in a burst, feeling tears pool in my eyes as I stare at Sparkie and Nikki sitting together on the couch. 

That's it. I'm done with. I'm fucked. Nikki knows. He knows. That's it. 

"Hey, Viv." Sparkie fauxly grins at me, propping his feet up on the small coffee table scattered with porn magazines, and I feel my stomach turn, my eyes shifting to Nikki, whose expression is too neutral for me to know if he knows or not. "I'm glad you could join us, I was just about to have a very important conversation with Nikki." He tells me. 

"Can I talk to you outside for a moment, Sparkie, please?" I beg, anxiety prickling at my nerves, glancing behind me when I hear feet shuffling, seeing we now have an audience of Tommy, Vince, Mick, Steven and Izzy, along with Emi and Donna who sit quietly in the corner, looking guilty for not keeping Sparkie away. 

"I think whatever you want to say to me, you can say in front of Nikki." Sparkie says, standing up and I roll my jaw. "In fact, why don't you tell him?"

"Sparkie." Tommy speaks up, causing the grease ball to look at him over my shoulder. "Dude, chill out." 

"What exactly do you need to tell me?" Nikki questions loosely, still in the clouds…

"Yeah, Vivian. What exactly do you need to tell him?" Sparkie smiles.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Is all I can come up. 

"I'm sure they do." He adds flatly, and Nikki stands up stepping to us. 

"What the hell's he talking about?" He questions me. 

"He's a lunatic, Nikki, I don't know." I shrug, the palms of my hands sweaty. 

"You don't know?" Sparkie raises his brows, stepping past me and Nikki to walk to the door. 

I know what he's about to do: drop the bombshell and leave me with Nikki to suffer. 

Anger takes over at the thought, how disgusting he's been to Tansy, how repulsive he's treated me, how cruel he's been to Nikki in terms of making him feel like he has to have heroin...I glance down to see the plunger of a syringe in Nikki's black boot. And I snap. 

My hand pulls the capped needled syringe from his shoe, and I get the cap off, the needle slamming into the skin of Sparkie's left shoulder blade, just after he's about to say, "I bet Duff knows," but he only manages to get out, "I bet Du--". 

"Vivian!" Tansy's screaming shriek rips through the room as I get Sparkie on his knees by bearing my weight on him while continuing to shove the needle in and out of him, stabbing him with it as hard as I can each time, arms wrapping around my waist and him, trying to get me off of him. 

When I realize I'm being pried away, I discard the syringe and claw my nails at his eyes, making him scream and holler louder while everyone's yelling at me and Tansy's sobbing. 

I feel the forceful pull of a set of arms around my waist, and two more sets of hands on my arms, finally plucking me from Sparkie. 

Doc, Steven, and Mick are all holding me at bay as Tansy looks Sparkie over, everyone else in shock. Except Nikki. 

Sparkie's a crying, babbling wreck. 

"Tell him now, bitch!" I bark at him, and he only wails louder. 

As sick as it is, hearing him that distraught brought me a joy I'd never known. Sick bastard had finally gotten what he deserved. Maybe it makes me a crazy bitch for doing it, but nobody else had the balls to try to kill him when we all wanted to, so I suppose I took one for the team. And you know what? I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Sick bastard.

"You cannot just start beating the fuck out of people--not even beating, this time, Vivian, he can go and press some serious charges against you and--"

"--Because he's a pussy." I snap and Doc snatches at my wrist, stopping me. 

"Because you stabbed him, repeatedly, with a heroin needle, Vivian." He grits out. 

"So, I'm supposed to care whether the needle I plunge, repeatedly, into a drug-hustling-rapist is dedicated to the use of smack or not?" I furrow my brows. 

"I'm not saying that--"

"--Then don't say anything at all because at this point, everything he's done to Tansy and tried to do to me, is inexcusable and I'll stab him a million more times if I damn well please, and anyone trying to talk me our of it is a Sparkie sympathizer and I assure you, you don't want me to find out you sympathize with him." I promise, turning to walk away. 

"I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it, Viv. I'm just saying that you weren't this violent six years ago." He states and I stop, rolling my jaw, before turning back to him. 

"Because I didn't have much of a backbone six years ago, and I cared about making everyone happy six years ago and I let people run over me if it made them happy six years ago and I was stupid and naive and had this idea that if I'm a good person, people will be good people back. But seeing how drastically my life has changed in a matter of two years in terms of my marriage and personal relationships and all the boozing, drugging and pussy-chasing in between, I don't have the grace or the patience to try to make people happy anymore. And that's not me being a crazy bitch, or a shitty person, that's simply me adapting and reacting to the environment I've been put in. I'm trying. I am doing my best. If my best isn't good enough for you then please walk to the back of the line of people waiting to deep throat my clit." I calmly tell him before going anywhere else to collect myself before the show starts. 

"Hey, Stripey Balboa." Izzy chuckles to me when I get in their dressing room. 

"Izzy." I roll my eyes, plopping down on the couch and he raises a brow.

"Have you gotten your barbarism out of your system yet?" He asks next. 

"I will once I shank you with a needle if you keep talking your shit." 

"I'm not talking shit. In fact, I admire your willingness to completely throw out your moral compass over a shit-smothered asshole like Sparkles and, by doing so, making me afraid and slightly aroused." He replies with a slick, sarcastic grin, before genuinely smiling. "Honestly, though, I'm glad it was you and not me because I would've killed him before drugs ever did." He adds, leaning forward and patting my knee before standing. 

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier." I say before he can leave, turning to look at him. "My life wouldn't be easier if you died. Yeah, I'd have one less person to worry about, but you're one of the people that makes my life good, so...I wouldn't know what to do without you." 

"Nikki didn't have any reason to cheat on you. I just said that to piss you off." He admits with a sigh. 

"So, we're good?"

"I don't even remember why we weren't good to begin with." He shrugs, giving a little wink before leaving me alone. 

After a few more minutes, I decide to go grab a Pepsi, standing up to leave, only to accidentally bump into a woman that seems somewhat recognizable, but also, not, at the same time. 

"H-Hi, um, i-is this where the band hangs out before the show?" She asks me, glancing around. 

"Um, yeah, most times...which band?" I reply and she raises her brows. 

"What?" 

"Which band? There's Guns N' Roses, and Mötley Crüe." I explain. 

"Oh, Mötley Crüe. I got in contact with their manager and he gave me directions and mailed me a backstage pass, so--"

"--Doc did?" I question and she nods.

"Yes, I tried to find him, but I can't seem to find any familiar faces so..." she trails off and I nod. 

"Okay, well, let's go find him, alright?" I suggest kindly, feeling bad at the fact she looks way lost and like a fish out of water as we walk down the hall. 

She glances at me for a moment, before clearing her throat. 

"You look even prettier in person." She says to me and I look at her. 

"Thank you." I reply. "So, are you a reporter or just a die-hard fan?" 

"Oh, neither." She says. "Where's your wedding ring?" She asks next and I'm at a loss for words for a moment. 

"Um, I lost it." I lie. 

"Oh." 

We continue looking for a couple more moments, to no avail. 

"They're probably grabbing some last minute stuff from the bus, but um, you're more than welcome to eat anything or drink anything you want while you wait." I motion to the table of food prepared for the guys and the road crew. 

"I was thinking I'd get to know my daughter-in-law a little better." She says next. 

"Oh, is she here with you?" I question, looking around, but she takes my left hand, looking blankly at my empty ring finger before adding, "at least I think she's still my daughter in law."