#guys i don't have a tag for the new version

[little-peril-stories]

Ok, I haven’t really been around since like October🙈🙈🙈 and when I saw just now that you are going to publish „The prince of Thieves"…ahhh I was so excited you won’t believe it😊😊😊 and when I then saw that you are going to rewrite it and it will be a complete new story my first thought was ‚why it’s perfect the way it is'😊😉 but then I read about your plans for the big main character aka Jamie change and…got even more excited😆😆😆

Because ahhh, I loved Jamie so much in TPOT which is why I always hoped we get to see more of him or even him acting like the actual gang leader he is!!! I mean delegating tasks is all well and good but at some points it felt like Collette was the actual gang leader and he was just the stand in for the public…sorry Jamie🤷🏻‍♀️

And when he once thought I believe it was during the Hatchett interrogation ‚he tried to channel his gang leader qualities‘ or something like that I was like ‚please do so I would love to see you acting as the gang leader you are and show those qualities you sure have'😊

I'm so looking forward to this new version of Jamie and the whole new story of course!!!! I'm going to be the first one to buy it once you get it published😍😍😍

Ok, just needed this to be said😊 and thought new year would be a good time for that😉 On that account…happy new year!!! I'm going to try to catch up on TQOL in the new year because I really missed Bree and Will😍😍😍

Ahh, hi! It's good to see you! 🥰 And, of course, Happy New Year! I hope 2025 brings some amazing things for you!

Thank you so much for the kind words, encouragement, and validation! I had originally planned for the TPOT book to come out in 2024, but as you can clearly see, that's not what happened. 2025 is a go, though, and this time I ain't lyin'. 😁 I'm genuinely so excited to get it out there, and while I also lovelovelove the online version of TPOT we're all familiar with, I do think the new version will be a) better and b) more *cough* marketable. Bonus: fewer plot holes. 😅

You might be excited to hear that it actually is the same story, with Will and Bree as the main characters still, but there's simply a lot that's changing or went out the window entirely. I guess I better make a few confessions now, haha.

Big Changes (You'll Probably Notice Right Away)

✨ The story follows the same general plot, but the mechanisms and/or details are often different. It's also two books now:

-> The Mark of Thieves, which goes from the beginning of TPOT to a particularly traumatizing pivotal moment.

-> The Patron Saint of Scoundrels, which picks up immediately from that moment and takes us to the end.

✨ Jamie is an almost entirely new character now. For anyone else who's curious, I wrote a blog post about how I'm making him more deserving of the "IA leader" title over here.

(Fun fact that doesn't matter until TPSOS: our buddy Dr. Allan Armstrong Dale also gets a slight level up in badassery, but not to the same degree as Jamie.)

✨ The IA sigil is a different picture now. (This is one I'm still sad about 😭, but I know it ultimately works better and makes more sene.)

✨ Not everyone has a tattoo anymore.

Okay, there are other things that are different but I think those are the ones that might be most jarring to Tumblr/ao3 readers. The rest I'm gonna keep for a surprise.

As for the "whole new story" element . . . Well, I can't say it's entirely new, but I CAN say that a lot is different, so if you do read the published version, you will be getting a fresh version and not just the same thing over again but in book form. 💕

Thank you again, a million times over, for the love and support. It's difficult to describe just how much it means to me. 🥰💕

Oh! Before I go! In that blog post about Jamie, I mused about putting some bruises on his knuckles. I did it!

(Please excuse any typos or weird wording, I literally typed this up, like, two days ago and it hasn't been thoroughly edited.)

I squint, still peeking around the corner, at what Spider is doing in the narrow laneway between buildings, dressed prettily in a modest but fancy black frock that is puzzlingly incongruent to her surroundings. The activity in which she’s engaged is even more puzzling: She’s not just talking to the man. She’s daubing a white cloth against his knuckles—which are bleeding. Profusely.

“Alpha,” Spider says sternly, “why didn’t you just get yourself gone? You heard what he said yesterday. Cops are everywhere these days.” With a huff, she tugs a strip of cotton bandage from her apron and begins to wind it around his swollen hand.

Okay, I think I have rambled enough and taken quite enough of your time. Thanks again. Much love. 💕

[plutonious]

hm. going insane over @teethmongerrr's freaking MTTV on Air au. I'm plagued. can someone put me down. they're objectkins.

[foxgloveinspace]

*slaps a battered old cookie tin you'd think has sewing stuff in it*

And here's all my ships where one or both of them are dead!

[pardonmydelays]

IN THE HEIGHTS countdown: 23 DAYS!

song for today:

i am usnavi and you prob'ly never heard my name reports of my fame are greatly exaggerated exacerbated by the fact that my syntax is highly complicated 'cause i immigrated from the single greatest little place in the caribbean dominican republic, i love it! jesus, i'm jealous of it, and beyond that ever since my folks passed on, i haven't gone back goddamn, i gotta get on that!

[fruitysimsy]

I'm like hey, what's up, hello

We're baaaaaack!✨

In honor of the new pack, hellohopesims and fruitysimsy present: the Struck By Love Legacy💞

ETA 25.JUL.2024: GEN 10 IS HERE! We had a few requests for a version of generation 10 that doesn't include new items from the pack, and while we usually would just say "Use your best judgement," ...We did it for you anyway ;) We hope you guys enjoy!

The general rules are the same as always, (find them here, and the Fruity Legacy here) and don't forget to have fun!

use the tag #struckbylovelegacy to #showusyoursims!

We're around if you have any questions/concerns/comments!! If you need help swapping a trait you don't have out for one you do, feel free to reach out, too!

I hope you have as much fun with this one as you did the fruity legacy <3 xx, Hay + Hope

my playthrough // hope's playthrough

[bitchlessdino]

Good Roommates Don't (m)

for @ddeonghwa-s secret cupid collab i recieved you @haologram! Secret Cupid Masterlist found here!

Pairing: roommate! Minghao x barista!afab!reader Word count: 14.1k rating: R Summary: Xu Minghao had been the most ethereal being you've ever laid your eyes on to the point being unable of functioning like a normal person, but now you're roommates. Only time will tell when you lose your mind keeping your hands to yourself, so there needed to be a list of things you don't do if you wanted to be a good roommate. tags: meet-ugly, strangers to roommates to lovers, college au, barista au, down bad!reader, mentions of band, brief bdsm, mc fell first he fell harder, cum swapping, spitting, oral (giving and receiving), face riding, unprotected sex author note: thank you @lovetaroandtaemin and @gyubakeries beta-reading this with me. after writing towtsyfdtotbycf (holy shit) i was in a little bit of a slump and had several and i mean SEVERAL versions of this and for months racked my brain how i wanted to do this. Alta, i care for you deeply and we've gotten close in the last year or so, so i really wanted to write something that would amuse you and that you'd enjoy. and if you hate it you can use it as leverage to berate me on discord lol. but please, my valentine, enjoy my gift to you. happy Valentines day Alta (and tell me was i really not that slick) <3

When you first met Minghao, you almost killed him trying to save his life. At least, that's what you thought you were doing.

All you had to do was bear a normal shift at the Coffee Shop, attempt a semblance of a smile for the oncoming customers, and clock out at your normal hour, but the universe couldn’t even give you that. Instead, they sent you the hottest guy imaginable, along with the swiftness of a gazelle, the strength of a gorilla, and the intuition of a garden gnome. That day just confirmed that some things were better left alone.

A few things were already going wrong that day. For one, your alarm didn't go off. The alarm being your mom, who usually kicked you out of bed first thing at 9 am, since she had a doctor’s appointment. Fair enough. The strings of fate got you there. All the more reason why moving out seemed like a distant dream rather than a close reality. Were you really capable of being a functioning adult? 

Then there was the bus and having to shell out twenty bucks for a Lyft when the next scheduled bus was reported to have broken down and was no longer an option. That twenty bucks could’ve been your meal for the next week, but no, being fiscally responsible was a circus act, and you were the clown being pied in the face repeatedly. As if you weren’t already putting on a face and juggling multiple things enough on a daily basis, today was no different. 

And then, you were late to work—which again, was nothing new—but you were hoping that Nayeon, who was scheduled as the shift manager, let you off with a warning. Yet, somehow, that went wrong as well, seeing that the shittier manager on your shift, Manager Fi, was present instead. And, by the look in the old man's eyes, he wasn’t happy about it either, especially considering he assigned you bathroom duty for the end of your shift to make up for your tardiness. He never liked you since you started. Then again, he didn’t like anybody, and vice versa.

This morning was bad omen after bad omen.

Leading up to finally meeting Minghao—tall, scorchingly hot Minghao, with lips that looked soft as clouds. You hadn’t seen him around before until today, and perhaps it should’ve stayed that way, because you couldn’t see yourself facing him ever again.

He walked in with his large group of friends, all almost nearly as charming as him with a handful of faces that you’ve seen once or twice, but none that stood quite out like his. He had the kind of face that made you want to paint murals, write ballads, or stare long enough to linger too long over the same spot you were cleaning on the counter, windshield wiping until the wet streaks you wiped off devolved to discoloration and damaged the countertop’s cheap sealant. Eventually, you averted your gaze to conceal your flushed cheeks—turning away in clear embarrassment, thinking about how much of a fucking creep you probably looked overtly gawking at him—but you’d soon realized that was the least of your worries. You’d soon wish it ended with you looking like a creep.

The next moment you lifted your eyes towards him again, you found him in a compromising position, one that had you thinking—and that was your first mistake. His face twisted with discomfort, and he gasped as he covered his mouth. A million thoughts raced through your mind, considering all the possible reasons for his distress, and one screamed the loudest above all, setting off alarm bells. So you—being meddling and troublesome you—acted on instinct.

Hopping over the counter, you raced towards him, pulled him off the booth which he was luckily on the edge of, and immediately attempted the Heimlich. Finally, your CPR certification could be put to use. You embraced him from behind, putting pressure on his ribcage as you launched and thrust yourself against him, forcing whatever was lodged in his throat out of his body.

“I’ve got you!” you exclaimed heroically.

You put in as much strength as you could muster, truly hoping to save a life today, thinking out of all things that have gone wrong today, at least this would be one thing you’ve done right. You could feel your ancestors looking down on you to witness a proud moment in your otherwise boring and mundane life. 

After several rough collisions with his body, he eventually spat something chewed up and unsightly onto the booth’s table, drawing the attention of several onlookers if your boisterous shouting hadn’t already. His friends were quick to look away, wincing in disgust while the cute boy doubled over in pain, holding himself by the ribs as you ran your eyes over at him in concern.

“Are you alright, sir? That must’ve been terrifying to suffocate on something so suddenly.”

He then finally lifted his head. His cheeks were flushed as anguish took over his features. “I wasn’t choking,” He rasped.

“...Come again?”

“Oh my god!” A third-party witness stood up dramatically from their seat. “This barista just saved this young man’s life!”

Suddenly, you were punished with attention, cheers specifically. All except the people who sat at the cute boy’s table clapped for you—or, rather at you now—and gave you standing ovations for your grand heroic act, when in fact, it wasn’t heroic at all. Meanwhile, you attempted to settle them down, flapping your hands dismissively and growing hot all over. You looked over the man you so-called saved as he strained to sit back in his seat, being tended by the friends he came with.

“Dude, you okay?”

“Shit, that looked like it hurt.”

“You probably shouldn't have been drinking it that fast, Minghao.”

It turned out you had severely miscalculated the situation. What appeared to be choking, prompting you to improperly administer a rough but appropriate Heimlich maneuver, was simply a mildly exaggerated reaction to hot coffee followed by a muffin to alleviate his burnt taste buds. You, of course, profusely apologized, as if you weren’t embarrassed enough for staring at him the whole time working your entire shift at the coffee shop because he was the most breathtakingly stunning person you’ve ever seen in your life. You might’ve just about broken his ribs and made his life flash before his eyes by abruptly slamming your body against him repeatedly, and not in the fun way.

Rather than an apartment, you were in desperate need of a hole deep enough to lead you to the core of the Earth to hide you from everyone else on the crust, ideally with cheap rent and good air ventilation. 

You bowed your head in humiliation, unable to meet any of their eyes, especially with the possibility of them remembering your face with a lawsuit waiting to happen. “I can’t believe that happened, I am so sorry. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, please let me know.”

“It’s okay, really, but I think we’ve had enough excitement for today if you don’t mind.” 

The attractive stranger—or Minghao, as you’ve learned from his friends who immediately rushed to him in concern—shook his hand in the air reassuringly. “Just, no more of that, alright? Make sure someone’s actually choking before trying to save them.”

“Right, please have a wonderful rest of your day,” you said, before returning to your station and disappearing behind the breakroom, screaming into your cubby and avoiding human interaction for as long as you could.

That scene replayed in your mind over and over like a recurring nightmare, burning the image of his beautiful face with such disdain for all eternity, while his name etched into your brain in permanent ink, embedded in every wrinkle in your brain. Minghao. A devastatingly beautiful name for a devastatingly beautiful owner.

Ugh. Get a fucking grip.

You just needed to get through the rest of the day. It would just be a couple more hours until your shift ended, and then you’d leave on the dot. It’d be just in time to make your appointment to meet your new potential roommate. Hopefully, it would be the silver lining of today’s catastrophic mess.

You met on electronic class forums while attending the same Cultural Studies course and somehow ended up relying on each other for notes. By your chat history, you seemed to have a lot in common—with the exception of his preference for tea over artisanal coffee—and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t get giddy seeing the green circle next to his username. Recently, he had just talked about moving into town after pondering the idea for so long, and as fate may have it, you’ve been looking for your own place to stay. You figured he seemed nice enough, and he even offered a reasonable quote on rent. It wouldn’t hurt to take a look. You just hoped he was as friendly in real life as he was online—with the day you had, you needed a win.

And, that win started with Chinese food, his choice, and it was a good one. You hadn’t been at this location before, taking note of the old-fashioned aesthetic touched by the harshness of modern neon signs that lit even the darkest of hallways. You were now thinking you ought to come more often as the heavenly notes of soy, ginger, and whatever concoction bled through the kitchen curtains and wafted through your nostrils the moment you passed through the double doors. Immediately, you were greeted by the host, visibly tired and overworked, with dark circles under his eyes, before he led you to a table in the center of the restaurant. You settled your nerves with a glass of water, trying to let the horrific events from today fade to as black as the soy sauce loitering on your table, waiting for a plate of dumplings to accompany them.

Funny how you could still have an appetite after everything that happened.

It wasn’t too long after you heard the same doors you walked through open, setting off the familiar sound of its wind chimes. You peered behind you, catching a glimpse of the new arrival, and immediately spun back in your seat, startled by the face that passed through your eyes. Trepidation brewed within you as the unsolicited visitor had your stomach in knots. 

You couldn’t take another incident tonight. 

You slunk into your seat, burying your chin in your shirt, hoping you’d somehow camouflage into your seat, facing away from the new arrival. Meanwhile, his eyes skimmed the room, walking in with purpose without guidance and greeting the employees as if he were right at home. Fortunately, he had yet to notice your presence as you slinked out of view the moment he passed by you to sit at the bar, while you made way into a booth in the dark corner of the restaurant, cursing the fates for their cruel games once again. You just had hoped that your new roommate would hurry it up already so you could get out of here before you were discovered.

And after about ten minutes, it felt as if all hope was lost. There was no sign of them and you were wondering if you had been stood up. Amid your anticipation, you were forced to pay attention to the person you were avoiding, seeing his patience wear thin with the tap of his foot as he sipped the last of his iced tea. Not a moment too soon, you saw him pluck his phone out from his pocket, fingers skittering over the screen before bringing it to his ear and scanning the restaurant’s floor plan. In the same instant, your phone went off,  blaring your cursed ringtone, ‘Pocketful of Sunshine’, and the realization—along with the panic—quickly set in. 

Alerted by the noise, his head whipped up from his screen. His eyebrows rose in shock, not all expecting the outcome that arose, and he dropped to his feet and quickly darted toward the sound that you—for the life of you—could not turn off fast enough. His footsteps matched the rate of your heart pounding in your chest, growing louder and closer until he found the source and located you cowering in the corner.

You lifted your head to lock eyes for the first time since this morning just as you finally managed to silence the ringtone and gave him an awkward laugh, waving with your phone in hand. Taking a nervous gulp, you awaited his disappointment, expecting him to make his quick exit after evaluating in the two seconds of your meeting that this arrangement would not work out because you were a deranged psycho with a savior complex. To your pleasant surprise, that didn't happen. Instead, you were met with a gentle smile and a glint of curiosity in his eyes. “There you are.”

You forced a sheepish chuckle. “Here I am, ha.”

Minghao softly chuckled before tucking his phone in his back pocket. “And to think just this morning you ‘saved my life.’”

You shut your eyes tightly, hands pressing together as if begging for forgiveness. “Again I am so, so sorry for that. It did look like you were choking.”

He shook his head reassuringly. “So you’ve said. I’m Minghao, or PalE8. Nice to meet you, CafeMixr0.”

“Is it…nice to meet me?” You asked dubiously.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

You blinked incredulously. “Well, for several reasons.”

He shrugged before entering the booth and leaving a healthy distance to sit just across from you. “Can’t think of any. Have you ordered anything yet?”

You shook your head, befuddled by his nonchalance, waiting to see the catch, if there was any.

“Good thing I know everything worth ordering.” His hand shot up before grabbing the attention of a server to get his order taken.

You weren't sure where the night was going. All you knew was the boy that you almost killed this morning was sitting across from you looking as breathtaking as he did this morning, even while slurping up his stir fry that was glossed with a sheen of chilli oil and swelling up his already full lips. Rather than a roommate meetup—if that was still the case—it felt like a date, a date you were exceedingly ill-prepared for.

Suddenly, you could feel the sweat on the back of your knees, feeling the strong urge to sniff the clothes on your back, unsure when the last time you did a fresh load of laundry and if your current attire was included in that load at all. Not to mention that bathroom duty that was forced upon you, which no doubt seeped into your clothes. You were better off naked, but then that would be an entire different kind of meeting, wouldn’t it?

“You’re okay, right?” You asked, trying to distract yourself from your spiraling thoughts as you barely finished your portion of chow mein—which was absolutely heavenly, to put it lightly.

He let out a light chuckle before kindly reassuring you. “How many times are you going to ask me? You and everyone from this morning. I’m fine, able-bodied and everything.” 

“I just felt really bad. You looked really hurt.”

He couldn’t suppress his grin, finding your cautiousness amusing, but it only added to your unease. “I was hurt. You’re really, really strong.”

You winced. “Again. I am so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s a quality of a good roommate.” He finished the last bit of his meal before dropping a couple of bills without asking for the tab. “Come on. I’ve got to show you the apartment.”

You raised an eyebrow while sipping your warm tea before tapping your mouth with a napkin. “You still want to room with me? After this morning?”

“There’s not a lot of good options for roommates in the city, and what are the odds that you’ll try to kill me twice?”

He had a fair point, and it wasn’t like you had options lining up either. You just had to hope he didn’t regret taking this chance on you.

A big reason why you wanted to move out was to learn to be on your own, but in addition to that, the city had pretty much everything to offer. The city had it all, from job opportunities to the right people to meet, and the apartment Minghao led you to was the center of the entirety of it. High above the town square, in a room several floors up, there was a nook that had a view through a large window overlooking everything within about a two-mile radius. If there was anything nice to say about the city, it definitely looked better from where you were standing. The street lights illuminated streets, neon signs brought the local businesses to life, and people that ran the night life lived it to the fullest in the flashiest clothes imaginable. You had never seen your city like this before.

Meanwhile, the apartment itself was gorgeous and already fully furnished with stylish furniture and greenery that touched the kitchen and living room. It was graced with Minghao’s taste in art and an eccentric—but tasteful—color palette of warm browns, olive greens, and rustic oranges. It felt like walking into Minghao’s mind, seeing into his world, and you were given the opportunity of it being yours, being part of his world. He was generous enough to even let you pass through the front door.

“So?” he asked, gauging your interest, watching as you looked down at the city from the large window nook in awe.

You softly scoffed, unable to take your eyes off the beautiful view calling to you like a siren at sea.  “Um, I’m sorry, you had trouble finding a roommate, how?”

He crossed his arms, admiring the sight with you, glancing at you through his peripheral vision and grinning when he saw the childlike sparkle in your eyes. “I’m new to the city, and everyone I know here has their own living arrangements. I didn’t want to go too far in looking for a new roommate. I thought we'd work well together, since we’re based in the same city now and have a lot in common based on our conversations.”

“I almost killed you this morning,” You’ve pointed out to…death.

“Although you’re…impulsive and unpredictable, I’ve seen worse. I think I’ll manage.” He splayed his hand in front of you, gesturing for a shake to officially seal the deal. “What do you say? Do you still want to be roommates?”

Everything about this screamed it was a bad idea. Putting aside the fact that you nearly killed the man, you could barely stand in the presence of him without your mind drifting to dark waters. It didn’t take rocket science to understand that putting you in that same living quarters with Minghao meant you might have to live every day together with your hands tied behind your back and thighs taped shut. You’ve surprised yourself with how you’ve managed to keep your composure sharing the same air—the air you were even thinking of savoring as you contemplated this offer.

You were down-righteously-bad. You weren’t a fit roommate for Minghao in the slightest.

Yet, you took his hand, letting his cool palm clash with your warmth as his digits wrapped around you in a tight squeeze before shaking. “Let’s do it.”

And that marked the start of a new chapter of your life, unraveling the challenge of being Xu Minghao’s roommate. Only, he wasn’t the challenge. He was a breath of fresh autumn air. He was kind beyond words and accommodating in every step of your move. You were already familiar with his gentle and patient nature, as he had frequently taken the time to clarify complex ideas for class, and you’ve learned about the majority of his interests prior from your online discussions, but seeing PalE8’s traits in person—embodied in Minghao—was bizarre. You realized he was still a stranger after all. A stranger that claimed your breath with a single bat of his eyes and turned your stomach inside out worse than a bad case of food poisoning, no less.

Meanwhile, the neighbors knew him by name, were endeared by his presence, and found him to be a delightful conversationalist as well as a helping hand when the situation called for it. He was better than your friendly neighborhood spiderman. He was your kind, considerate, intricately woven, beautifully complex, and knees-bucklingly handsome Minghao. 

You weren’t usually a sexual deviant, at least not to this extent, but Minghao brought something out of you that you hadn’t felt for another person. However, if you were going to live together, that had to change. This crush was going to have to dwindle out of existence if you wanted to live together—emphasis on you—in peace.

So, that’s when you decided to make a list of rules that only you had to follow. Sure, you were an adult, and the thought of giving yourself rules to keep your hands to yourself was juvenile and stupid, but for the sake of your sanity, you were looking for anything that might work. That’s when you decided to make a list of things “good roommates don’t do”, thinking it would be shorter and easier to sum up than a long redundant list of things good roommates would do, and the first thing to top the list was easy.

Good roommates don’t almost kill each other (again).

That seemed easy enough to remember, considering the first time was traumatic enough, and fortunately, it didn’t take too much effort, considering you hardly saw each other despite living together. 

You ended up taking up more shifts at work, desperate enough to even join the catering team, to keep yourself busy and afford the new expense of rent, sacrificing a lot more of your free time. Meanwhile, Minghao’s work schedule was not only demanding, it was inconsistent. Working at a popular art gallery as an artist and attendant with frequent and erratic events to go to until late at night prompted your roommate to be seen home a lot less than expected. By the time either of you got home, there wouldn’t be so much of a hello or goodbye either, just the sounds of bodies falling on beds in either rooms as the day’s fatigue engulfed you until you succumbed to sleep.

You’d be lying if you said that you weren’t a little disappointed by these circumstances, but then again, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. Seeing him as little as you did meant less opportunity for you to screw things up around him, because it seemed to happen quite frequently when he was around. The few times you did cross paths, you still found ways to humiliate yourself.

“That’s mine.”

You held the toothbrush mid-scrub, bubbles foaming at the corners of your mouth, “Eh?”

“I think you’re using my toothbrush.”

Your cheeks immediately grew warm, and you shielded your face with the back of your hand. You spat into the sink and splashed water on your face to rid yourself of toothpaste residue before turning back to respond, his words jumbling in your head and bouncing from corner to corner to process them. “I-I don’t think so, this is the one I always use.”

He snickered, leaning against the door frame and crossing his arms, delectably dressed down in a gray tank top and sweatpants. The tempting taste of domesticity was sweet and permeated your tastebuds. “If that’s the case, we’ve been sharing, because I’ve always kept my brush there in the marble cup. Yours should be behind the medicine cabinet where you first left it.”

“What? You sure?” you pinned the used toothbrush on the sink’s porcelain before cracking open the medicine cabinet. “I’m pretty sure I took it—Ah!”

Startled by your findings, you dropped the toothbrush you gripped in your hand onto the floor when you’ve proven Minghao right as his toothbrush fell to the ground, now defiled with your oral bacteria and whatever was on the floor. The one day you take a shift later than usual because a member begged to take on more shifts, it blew up in your face. Seokmin, you will rue the day. “I-I’ll clean it!” You offered in a panicked tone.

He pushed himself off the threshold, waving his hand dismissively. “Don’t, please. It’s dirty; I can just replace it.”

Filled with guilt, you stepped aside to watch him pick up the dirty brush before disposing of it in the waste bin, “Sorry.”

“You say that a lot.” 

He pulled a fresh toothbrush out of a drawer and ripped it out of its packaging. It was notably identical to his previous and your current abandoned toothbrush, down to the bristles. “No worries. See,” he turned the new hygiene tool for inspection, “Clean.”

“Regret having me as a roommate yet?” you joked anxiously towards his reflection in the mirror.

He chuckled, shaking his head. “Nothing I can’t manage. I lived in a boarding house full of guys that shared things without asking and it didn’t stop at toothbrushes. You’re the first roommate I’ve had that’s apologized. I say that’s an upgrade.”

He went on to brush his teeth with his newly obtained brush, christening the bristles with a squeeze of fluoride toothpaste before scrubbing against his pearly whites. He never ceased to amaze you with his aloof attitude towards the situation, as if he’d become accustomed to your chaos when he didn’t need to be at all. This situation, however, did indicate that you had another thing to be added to the list.

Good roommates don’t use each other’s toothbrush (even by accident)

In your room just before you left for work, you haphazardly added to the list you put on a crumpled piece of paper you kept in your wallet, ensuring you held your list close before setting the pen aside. Your heart pounded against your chest, thinking what that had meant all this time. How you’ve pretty much swapped saliva nearly every day with Minghao since moving in. The fact that it had gone on for so long repulsed you, but not anymore than the tiny part of yourself that maybe had always known and continued to do it. 

You held your digits to your lips, brushing the pads against the slit of your mouth, ragged breaths slowly leaving your lungs as you reached your enamel. Tension pooled in your stomach as the images that infiltrated your dreams were currently being conjured in your consciousness, while arousal chased down your legs as you clenched them together. Jolted back to reality, you wound your eyes shut, remembering how little he cared about the matter, how nonchalant he was when he found out. Meanwhile, here you were: perverse, losing your mind, and letting your imagination run wild like a hormonal teenager with her celebrity crush. 

Fuck. You needed a night out. You had been cooped up in the apartment for too goddamn long. The only other place you went was work, and knowing labor laws, they had to give you a night or two off for all the time you’d been putting in. There was a whole outside world, and you needed to buck up and take advantage of it. You had to do something other than fawn over your very hot roommate. Losing some spare change was worth the sanity. At least, you hoped it was.

“You going out tonight?”

Hearing a familiar tenor voice, your head lifted up from fixing the strap of your shoes to see him remove his coat and store it away in the front entrance closet. “Oh, you’re home,” you stated.

“Yeah. The gallery is closed tonight for a bigger show this weekend, so I have a couple days where I’m off earlier than usual.”

More time for Minghao to be at home. Great. 

You nodded, keeping your cool at the sight of his turtleneck hugging his lean and toned frame, making your heart work overtime in place of you this evening. “I see, but yeah. A couple of my friends and I are trying out that new place that just opened up in midtown.”

“Oh, let me know how that goes. Me and some friends had plans to go there too.”

“Okay.” You hurried your way to the door. “Don’t wait up.”

“Wait.”

Hand on the door knob, you cursed under your breath, squeezing your eyes shut as if bracing for impact before opening them, and turned around with an innocuous expression. “Yes?”

He held out his hand. “Your phone please.”

“Hmm? Why,” you asked, unlocking it before complying.

He smiled accepting it, before swiping his fingers off the screen. “I’m sending myself your location.”

And there your heart when pitter-patter again at thoughtful and kind hot as fuck Minghao. “I just told you where I’d be.”

“That could always change. Here,” he said, handing your phone back, beaming back at you warmly. “Just in case something happens, and you can always call me if you feel unsafe, okay?”

You gave a soft pout, cheeks growing warm at the thought of Minghao’s concern over you. It pleased you more than it should’ve. “Thanks. What are you gonna do tonight?”

He shrugged, taking a quick glance over his shoulder. “Maybe do some light reading and tea, paint if inspiration hits me.”

You gave a small grin, thinking just how Minghao those activities sound. “Sounds enlightening. Okay. I’ll be home soon.”

“Be safe.”

Even long after you’d left, you kept thinking about that interaction. How domestic it felt, how safe it made you feel, how seen you really were. It made you wonder if he was tracking you right now, looking at his phone, staring at the dot indicating where you were located. You wondered if he was thinking about you right now, because you were most certainly thinking about him.

Your mission of trying to forget Minghao by going out definitely was not working, but you took that as a sign to keep drinking. Your friends didn’t get to see you often with how much you worked, so they were just happy to see you were having a good time, not knowing you were trying to drown out the consuming thoughts of a certain man with a peculiar color scheme. 

They wouldn’t have known the way you let yourself get felt up by a stranger near the dance floor, standing so close you could smell the knock off cologne he was practically bathing in as his breath hung in the air against your neck. When it went nowhere, he eventually left, looking for prospects elsewhere, while you stuck to your mission, seeing it work at some point at night. Until it didn’t, but you didn’t remember because eventually it’d all fade to black.

Your eyes ripped open, waking up with the biggest headache, blinded by the natural rays of light bleeding through blinds—only your room didn’t have blinds. You specifically made sure to have blackout curtains because you couldn’t stand waking up to the sun, and that hasn’t ever changed. Grumbling irritatingly along the lines about who turned on the lights, you flipped on the other side of the bed with a half awoken daze, your blurry vision making out a lumpy figure underneath the covers.

You drew closer in confusion, trying to make sense of what you were seeing before taking in the fact the lump had a face as blinding as the sun you turned away from, startling you upon recognition. Your eyes shot open, wide awake now, and you nearly stumbled out of the mattress before his arms grabbed you, latching on you before you could fall off and safely secured you in his tucked embrace. 

“It’s a bit early for your charming antics, isn’t it?” Minghao chucked with closed eyes.

You blinked back at him, licking your lips anxiously. “How am I here right now?”

His eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the light. “You mean alive or in bed with me?”

Your cheeks grew hot. “B-both.”

“I wish I had an answer for the first question, but it seems your creator had more plans for you. As for your second concern, you seemed confused and tired, and I assumed you confused this bed for yours.”

“You should’ve kicked me out.”

He shrugged nonchalantly, rubbing his hands over your shoulders and sending a chill down your spine. “I didn’t want to wake you up.”

You let out a soft sigh, ridden with guilt. “I’d deserve it. I must’ve been annoying to deal with.”

He knitted his brows together, the corner of his lips softly turning down. “You really don’t like yourself.”

“No—well, maybe not lately. Maybe I’m just coming to the realization I’m not a good roommate.”

“No one is good at anything their first time.”

“You’re not denying it!”

“You’re a fine roommate.” Patting you on the back, he threw off the covers and pushed himself out of bed, leaving his room to trod toward the kitchen. You followed after curiously, like a duckling that imprinted on its mother, watching as he pulled out ingredients from the fridge’s shelves. “Anything you’re allergic to?” He asked over his shoulder.

“Nothing comes to mind.” You answered hesitantly.

“Good. The recipe is fairly easy anyway, it shouldn’t kill you.”

Your eyes widened and you quickly stood by his side as he set all the items down, he followed with gathering bowls and cookware. “You’re cooking for me?”

“Mmh-hmm.”

“You don’t have to.”

He turned his head slightly. “You have a headache, don’t you?”

“Yes but—”

“It’s just egg drop soup.” He patted your shoulder nodding his head over at the counter stool either of you would often have breakfast. “Sit. It’ll be done in a few minutes.”

You sat patiently by the counter, watching him chop and throw ingredients into a small pot, which filled your shared residence with a savory aroma. As soon as he was done, he presented the dish in front of you, garnishing it with fresh chopped scallions and parsley. He picked up a serving with a soup spoon and gently blew on the top before taking a quick sample and grinning at the result. Scooping with the same spoon, he held a serving towards you with proud eyes.

“Try it,” he urged.

As you accepted the offering, you tried not to think about how you were about to share yet another household item that would enter both your mouths and let the simple flavors fan out on your tongue, the warmth of soup dispersing throughout your body. You hummed in delight, already feeling it work its magic. “It’s delicious,” you said softly.

He grinned. “Feel better.”

“Thanks, Minghao.”

“No problem at all.” 

As you enjoyed your thoughtful breakfast, your roommate cleaned up his mess. He wiped down whatever residue was left behind before heading to his room and coming out properly dressed in brown slacks and muted green patterned sweater when you were just about done eating. “Heading to work now.”

“You had work?” You asked surprised, “Why did you waste time cooking? You could have left already.”

He softly scoffed heading to the door. “I spent—what, five or ten minutes? It’s fine. See you later.”

In the last 24 hours, Minghao managed to make sure you were safe by tracking your location, gave you a good night's rest by not disrupting your sleep, and made you breakfast right before work. Then there’s you, black out drunk with almost no memory of last night (probably good you didn’t), annoying your overly nice and overly hot roommate, hogging a bed that isn’t yours, and eating a home cooked meal that probably set back his schedule. You were the worst. All the more reason for a new addition to the list.

Good roommates don't sleep in their other roommate’s bed piss drunk (again)

It seemed that this list of “don’ts” was getting longer, probably because you’re an awful roommate, and if there was a reward, yours would already be at the front door. You really, really had to make an effort to do something about this arrangement. Now that some time had passed and these interactions were becoming more frequent, avoiding him seemed to be out of question unless you wanted to give him the wrong impression. You would just have to become a better roommate, and that started with making up for this morning.

In the following months together, to atone for the bed incident and good deeds that followed suit, you shared the occasional breakfast if you had time (that is if you didn’t burn anything), even sometimes grabbing dinner or a late meal in the small gap before or after work. While in the late hours, when both of you should’ve been sleeping, you’d have a cup of your favorite beverages. He’d have his brew of tea for the night while you’d have a mug of coffee, awake under the stars and basking in the night, watching from the nook that you both grew fond of that was in the direction of the moon when it’s at its peak.

Of all people to share these moments with, you couldn’t imagine it with anyone else but Minghao. He was the peace amongst the chaos, the quiet you came home to after dealing with the noisy world that helped you heal like nothing else. You liked that about him, and now you were liking him too much, to the point you thought of him every day. What it’d be like for him to hold you in his arms, letting his warmth envelop your entire being the way his voice naturally does with a simple “it’s okay.” 

You’d imagine how he’d look at you, how lovers do when they ache for one another so desperately they could feel it down to every atom. You’d thought of the words he’d say to you, the words he’d say to someone he’s madly, irrevocably besotted with, and every letter and word and sentence would be spoken poetry. He’d feel like love. You didn’t think it was possible for you to grow more attracted to him, but learning all these wonderful things he does and seeing up close and personal how beautiful inside and out he was, you were developing feelings and growing all these desires that you were ashamed to admit out loud.

And with that, you pulled out your list and a pen, jotting in a new item.

Good roommates don’t live in every waking moment staring at them or thinking about wanting to kiss them (no matter how hard it is)

You’ve lost count of how many times you’ve already broken that rule, but the least you could do was hold yourself accountable.

However, writing the rule didn't prevent future instances. Not from fantasizing, not from wet dreams, not from imagining a life together where you rid all your inhibitions and clothes and succumb to drowning in each other. Unlike every other rule that you’ve managed to avoid, this one was the outlier, flipping your world on its head and preoccupying every second of your thoughts with all things Xu Minghao. And what sucked was you were so guilt ridden, you couldn't even let yourself enjoy it. 

This was your roommate for crying out loud. Your wholesome, nice, forgiving, and tolerant roommate that went beyond what was necessary to make you feel at home and comfortable. Only time will tell when he’ll see through you and finally kick you to the curb.

“Let’s go out.”

Your head lifted up from your phone with eyes large as saucers. “What?”

“We haven't really done anything together,” he suggested, cleaning up the dishes of the dinner you both had just had.

It was one of the few nights that you were both free. The coffee shop had more than enough staff, and you’ve exhausted the hours put in, while the art gallery was planning a grand exhibition, so they needed all hands on deck for the mornings for a few weeks, but evenings would be free until the week of. That left you two a lot more free time than you knew what to do with.

“We see each other all the time,” you pointed out.

“At home. We don’t hang outside the apartment aside from that one dinner the first day we met, so let’s go out.”

You blinked, watching him grab his coat before you could argue as he waved you over, his smile luring you closer and putting you under his spell without you realizing until it was too late. “Uh, where? It’s 9PM.”

“Anywhere.”

For someone who had only arrived in town a couple months ago, Minghao knew a lot of the good spots in the city.  If it wasn’t food, it was book stores. If it wasn’t book stores, it was tea shops. He had a clear plan of the city, and without so much looking at a GPS, he could find his way around better than any native. And considering all the people he came with that day you met the coffee shop and all the staff at the Chinese restaurant, his index didn’t stop at places. He seemed more familiar with the people in your hometown than you were. Between you two, he looked like the real local.

Walking alongside your roommate, you turned to him curiously, “How do you know the city so well when you’ve moved in somewhat recently?”

He gave a soft smile looking into the distance, as if the gust of wind that passed through you both hit him with a wave of nostalgia. “I’ve been visiting for about four years. I only had the guts to become a resident recently.”

“Why’d it take you so long?”

“Student visa processes, paper work, all those things. Also, this city is great, and everyone I've met and have become close with is amazing, but home is just home. It’s all I’ve ever known.” He let out a deep sigh, taking in a deep breath before stretching out his arms and let fall back to his sides, turning slightly to you. “This country and town has become a second, though, some things even my home can’t beat.”

You mused at that, intrigued that he could find something appealing in here, then again you've been here all your life, yet Minghao showed you more you could ever imagine of it. “Like what?”

He simply smiled as their feet stopped at their final destination, a location they both aimlessly walked towards just a little off the center of the town. “I’ll tell you, as soon as we try this place out.” 

Just off the center of town was a bar you had never heard of with a theme you’d never thought to put together on your own and definitely a place you’d never think to walk into with your roommate you were trying to keep platonic feelings for.

“Hey sexy babies, welcome to the Love in Leather BDSM Bar, where all your sexy dreams can come true.”

Oh, my god.

You were petrified. Every wall was decorated with leather or latex, either on display in a box, on a vulgarly displayed mannequin, or on an employee that was dressed in next to nothing, leaving no room for imagination. You weren’t shy about the theme of BDSM—there was always a small part of you curious about it—but it’s not like you’ve talked extensively about it with Minghao. The same person you were trying really hard not to think about sleeping with, which was especially hard in a place that served ‘cum shots’ and with their special for tonight being ‘buttery nipples.’

Glancing back at your roommate to get his reaction, he seemed to be just as startled with his findings as you were, but perhaps not as terrified as he should be, taking you by the wrist and weaving through the crowd with a marveled expression. You were grateful for the loud music playing the explicit versions of songs you wouldn’t otherwise hear on the radio, drowning out the sound of your heavy breathing and the loud thrum of your heart. You just had hoped he couldn’t feel your pulse under his fingertips, unable to untangle from his grasp as you felt the heat of his touch spread out through your whole body. You were trapped in a web you didn’t want to leave and that was the hardest kind to be in.

Suddenly, lights poured on the center stage of the bar. The music then slowed down, transitioning to another song, and a scantily leather clad woman entered that would erupt cheers of all clients seated in the chairs in front of her, to which she sent an air kiss and wink. Following the crowd, both you and Minghao decided to cheer along with them, your sounds of encouragement drowned out in the more enthusiastic and obscenely creative audience members of the establishment. Walking across the stage, she made a show of it, caressing her body in ways that would have a man on his knees howling at the moon (which you swore you heard once or twice in there) as money was thrown strewn stage like confetti, enough to pay for a few nice dinners uptown. After garnering the excitement, she descended down the steps of the stage, walking into her live audience. Her eyes skimmed through the endless crowds of people, landing on and picking one lucky front row member—a young, spry man no older than twenty-five—and brought him on stage, ensuing roars and applause, indicating the start of the real show.

What happened next was something you did not want to get into detail, but in layman’s terms, that audience member was having the time of his life with the use of a flog while everyone watched. You could only make the distinction of excruciating pain and pleasurable pain by the very loud affirmations coming out of his mouth and bouncing off the board he face planted on, and the words that passed through one of your ears and never wanted to come out the other. You were slack jawed from the scene, not at all expecting this scene today, and holy shit, you could not feel more suffocated knowing Minghao was witnessing all of this beside you. 

He stared back at the scene, expression unreadable, but he seemed interested and unable to look away like it was an oncoming train wreck, looking as if he was stuck on the tracks and was making sense of what he was seeing. Suddenly, his eyes locked with yours and you watched as they softened with a glint of something behind them before you swiveled your head, feeling yourself burn from your face to your ears, clenching your free hand. This felt eerily like a date, but unlike the first dinner, this felt like a real one. An immense sexually charged one. 

You were surrounded by sex at all angles, being tested to the most extreme degree. Tonight, you’ve learned dominance wasn’t particularly your thing, but if it were Minghao, perhaps you wouldn’t have minded. 

But this, this was overwhelming. As if sensing your turmoil, Minghao tugged your wrist, making you fix your gaze on him again and read the words that he mouthed from his lips. “Time to run.”

Your fingers interlocked and feet picked up speed as you headed toward the door, running aimlessly for miles out of the bar in fits of smiles and laughter. There was no plan and no destination, you both just wanted out, and you’d only stop running when you reached a bridge, both your bodies collapsing against the metal railing. You both gave out in heavy pants, your breaths mingling as you faced one another. 

“That’s crazy,” you managed to rasp. “Why did we think we could go in there?”

He gave you a tired grin back, looking in the direction from which you came. The light layer of perspiration made his shirt cling to his skin, and you get a sliver of his chest as he aired it out for comfort. “I don’t know. Try something new, but that.” He pointed where he faced. “That’s how I know so many places, I just walk inside.”

You ran your hand over your chest, baring the biggest grin. “Gosh. I feel like dying.”

“Iced coffee?” He kindly suggested.

“And tea?” You cared to offer.

Nodding back at each other, you both decided to walk the rest of the way back around, making a stop at a light night cafe and occupying their second floor balcony to taste the crisp air. As you sipped on your iced coffee and Minghao sipped on his warm tea, you quietly basked in the moonlit sky, as you’d done many times before. The adrenaline of tonight coursed through you still while you leaned against the railings and stared up at the stars, your elbows grazing close enough to spark that electricity that you’d feel whenever he ever got too close. This time, you were too tired to fight it, or you learned it’s about time you stopped trying to.

“I don’t drink coffee.” He abruptly confessed, penetrating the silence.

You softly scoffed, turning your head to him, taking his reminder as a jab for your ‘inferior’ tastes before taking a bigger sip of your delicious fresh roast press. “I know that. You prefer tea.”

“I mean, I don’t drink coffee, but the day you ‘saved me,’ I did.”

You hummed. “Oh. Yeah, you did. Funny. You got a coffee that day instead?”

He shook his head, smiling. “No, ask me why I drank coffee that day.” 

You rolled your eyes, placing your drink on the side table before leaning your elbows over the railing. “Okay. Why did you drink coffee, Minghao?”

“I drank my friend’s mug on accident, thinking it was my tea, then tasted how scaldingly hot and wretched it was—”

You gasped, offended as a barista, “I work really hard on those!”

He waved his hand to calm you down. “Let me finish. I mistook my normal tea for coffee…all because I got distracted, unable to stop thinking about the cute barista who wouldn't quit staring at me from behind the counter.”

“...I apologize for being a creep.”

He shook his head smiling and set his tea cup aside. “Not my point.”

You stared into the contents of your drink, shaking the ice inside as you stirred the straw, trying to find any remains of your beverage and stalling for time to follow up with a response. Lips pressed in a firm line, you glanced at him from the corner of your eye, silence met on the other end as he keenly observed you, mirroring your posture while he sipped his tea. “So…You thought I was cute,” you managed to sum up.

“Thought…think…know.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” You timidly asked.

“We’re roommates,” he reminded you, plain as day. “We should be honest with each other, right?”

“Honest,” you repeated, lethally soft.

“Yes, honest,” he confirmed just as quietly. “Don’t be afraid to tell me whatever is on your mind, just as I’ve told you what was on my mind.”

His honesty was cute, flattering. Your honesty could write up a restraining order. “Is that necessary? We only really live together.”

“It’s necessary because we live together, so yes, be honest about your feelings. Let me in on your thoughts, whatever they may be.”

Good roommates don’t forget to be honest about each other’s feelings.

He stood in front of you dangerously close, the lingering smell of his cologne that reminded you of the ocean wafting into your nose as he drew near. His gaze beckoned you close without so much a word passing through his lips, and you felt his presence close in on the distance as he leaned against the railing. You softly batted your eyes, adjusting to your sense being overtaken by all things Minghao, mind just filled to the brim with Minghao, as if you couldn’t get enough of him.

“You’re really committed to being a good roommate. I respect that,” you stated, harshly gulping. “Honesty. Where can I start?”

“Well, what are you thinking about right now?” He asked, face mere inches away from you, lips so plush you let out a wistful sigh.

“I’m thinking that…it’s really hard to think with your face so close in front of me.”

Despite that, he didn’t move, and instead he pushed a lock of your hair behind your ear, brushing against your helix to feel your flustered warmth bloom between his fingers. “Fair enough. What else?”

You wrapped your hand around the railing, stabling yourself on the floor in hopes of not falling over on your two feet, your breath being stolen in real time by your roommate who was looking more and more inviting by the second.

“And if I knew any better, I’d think you're about to kiss me.”

“Let’s wager that then,” he said as he reeled even closer, his fingertips once in your ears now guiding your chin, letting the surface of your lips feel the ghost of his as your breaths mingled against one another. “You can predict one of two things. One, I kiss you. Or two, I pull away. You get a prize if your answer is correct.”

“How is that a fair wager? You can easily change your response depending on how I answer,” you pointed out, ultimately playing along.

“I won’t,” he reassured in a coaxingly smooth tone. “I’ve made my choice.”

You raised a brow, attempting to look only subtly intrigued when in reality you’ve let him enchant you. “What’s my prize?”

“Loser grants whatever the winner wishes.”

“That’s irresponsible.”

“Knowing you, your request would be far from unreasonable.”

“I’m talking about you.” You narrowed your eyes, swallowing at seeing him come at you so close. “But, okay. I’ll play.”

The corner of his lips lifted mischievously, tilting his head to the side as his eyes narrowed back at you. “So, what’s your answer?” 

Your eyes flickered up to him, rounded up in intrigue as you tried to follow his gaze. “You’ll…pull away. Public displays of affection are cute, but maybe not your cup of tea, at least not grand ones like kissing, unless maybe it’s one the cheek or on the forehead.”

He smiled and gently tilted his head, eyes piercing into yours and taking a sharp breath before pulling away, crossing his arms with a soft pout on his lips. “You’re good.”

You felt the sting of rejection despite your victory, as if you’d hoped you’d be wrong. That he’d take you right there against the railing and give you a fervid kiss that broke you down to your knees and you could even taste in your dreams, but a win was a win. A predicted loss was better than a false victory.

“I guess I won.”

He sighed defeatedly, crossing his arms. “You did. So tell me, what desire would you like for me to fulfill for you?”

You shuddered at his choice of words, clamping your legs together. “Well, what would you have wanted me to do if I got the answer wrong?”

“Is that your wish? For me to answer the question?”

You softly scoffed. “Don’t be so cheap.”

He rolled his eyes before taking a sip of his tea, “Doesn’t matter, you didn’t get it wrong. You get the wish. So go on, tell me your wish.”

“…Fine. Grant me your wish as if you had won.”

“You want me to grant my own wish? That defeats the entire purpose,” he chortled with knitted brows.

“It’s my wish, so come on. What’s your wish?”

“You don’t have to do this.”

“And we didn't have to place bets, but it doesn't seem like there’s any rules against it, so go ahead. Tell me.”

Minghao sucked his teeth before complying. “Fine.” 

He moved toward you, hands settling over your hips and settling you on the floor beneath your feet as he gravitated toward, steadying his gaze on you. His face, inches away from you, and your breath hitched in your throat as he drew his lips near your ear. You heard the subtle squelch of his tongue as they licked his teeth, moments before the wish he dared you to grant poured out from his lush lips. “My wish is for you to…make me tea every morning, afternoon, evening, and every time I ask you to. Like my little tea gremlin.”

“Now that’s just evil, Xu Minghao,” You protested, lightly shoving him off.

He laughed. “No, it’s not! Think of it like pour over coffee.”

“Don’t try romanticizing it like it’s anything like my beautiful beans. Tea is tea. Coffee is coffee.”

“It was your wish to grant my wish.”

“Can I take it back?” You whined.

“It’d be dishonorable.”

You groaned. “Fine.”

He chuckled, “Let’s go home, hmm?”

Heading back home, you were embraced by a warm comfortable silence. There was a kind of silence that sanctioned your amicable living arrangement with Minghao to turn into something warmer, feverish even, something that you can’t even help but notice and your hands would occasionally graze one another on the way back, taking turn exchanging timid glances at you walked your path home.

“That was fun,” You admitted, taking off your shoes at the front door.

“Yeah, I think so. We should do it more often.”

You smiled at each other’s reflections as you stood in front of the bathroom mirror, seeing you take the same tube of toothpaste and started brushing your teeth. You smiled as he purposely bumped into you, raising his eyebrow as you stared pointedly at him in the mirror, not expecting you to retaliate with a light shove. Ensuing a nudging war, you attacked each other’s shoulders, getting caught in fits of giggles before you forced yourselves to split up, knowing nothing would get done if you both let it go on.

“Do you work tomorrow?” You asked through the gaping door of your room as he cleared a glass a water before bedtime, freshly out of a shower and the smell of his clean, light fragrance was beguiling even from a distance.

“Yeah. Do you?”

“Yeah.”

“Mmh.” He stalked over in your direction, a feign innocent smile on his lips. “That's too bad. We only really have nights like these together, it seems at least only for a little while.”

“It is,” You said, lathering up the last bit of lotion up your legs, feeling his eyes on you as they traveled the path of your hands.

The silence engulfed you, as if both of you were waiting for the other to make a sudden move, yet both of you remained still. Like a predator with its prey, unsure who was who, you both stood with uncertainty and palpable tension hanging in the air, waiting for the other to strike when the moment was right. Even the usually confident Minghao stood back as he observed you from a distance, eyes flickering over at you as you strided slowly towards him guarded with crossed arms.

“I guess, I’ll go to sleep now,” You finally said.

His gaze softened, nodding. “Okay,” he smiled, “good night.”

“Good night, Minghao. Sleep well.”

If only you had taken your own words to heart. 

That night, you couldn’t help but stare back at the ceiling, fiddling with the covers as the night’s events replayed in your head like a home movie, your thoughts traveling at a million miles a minute, too fast for you to stop and collect them—let alone process them—and stole your precious slumber. So, as you lay in bed awake at night, squeezing your eyes shut and waiting for the night to take you, waiting for the fatigue and sleep to come, it never arrived. Instead, your eyes ripped open, heart pounding in your chest as you sat up from the mattress and tore the covers off your body. Your legs pushed you off the bed and lifted yourself off, carrying yourself out the room and out the hallway with determined steps until faltering at the threshold of another front door before you softly knocked. 

You turned the knob, the door creaked open and you peeked your head through to see your roommate on the other end in bed, torso visibly bare as he slowly sat up at his late night intrusion. “Hey,” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “You’re up.”

“I think it’s the coffee,” you excused, clutching the edge of the door, “I can’t sleep.”

Wordlessly, he nodded, stretching an arm to beckon you towards him, and you slowly inched closer to him until you were completely under the covers. Occupying the space beside him, you nestled into the contours of his body as his arm cushioned the side of your head before facing one another, silence enveloping you. The only sound that bit into the silence was muted traffic, infinitely alive outside the walls of your confines. While it looked peaceful, and you felt as though you could melt into his arms, neither of you looked as if you were trying to sleep.

Rather, you stared at one another, making sleep even harder to attain as you traced every feature and took them in as if they were brushstrokes on a painting. Minghao may have worked with art every day, but he was a work of art in his own right, and you couldn’t help favor him above all others. You didn’t need a Van Gogh or Picasso, you had an original, a one of a kind Minghao.

And that’s when you saw his eyes begin to drift, lowering to the bottom half of your face, lips parting in intrigue as his breath fanned lightly against your cheeks. Your face flush in response, pushing your bottom lip between your teeth before they were caught, finding yourself doing the same with him and watching his mouth move in anticipation. You felt your pulse in your throat as much as you felt it between your legs, feeling arousal pooling and soaking your shorts.

“Do you want to wager another bet?” Minghao softly offered.

“What kind?” You breathed.

“The same bet, same prize. Do you think I’ll kiss you, or will I pull away?”

You mused at him, fingers extending toward him reluctantly, aiming for a lock of his hair laying stray on his forehead before smoothing it over his head, softly stroking him, feeling him lean into your touch. “Hmm, this time you’ll…kiss me,” you whispered with absolute certainty. “The tension is practically eating you alive.”

A grin stretched wide across his cheeks as a hand softly clasped over your face, thumb swiping across your cheek. “Right again.”

He closed the gap, slotting his lips between yours and languidly moving against you, letting you chase after his pace. You sighed against him, feeling his hand on your hip as he pulled your torso against his, the other rested against the nape of your neck as he reveled in your heat. Hands flying in his hair, you softly moaned as he kneaded your skin, feeling him trace the inside of your mouth with his tongue before he roughly pulled your weight from the mattress to topple you over him, letting your legs card between his.

“Minghao,” you quietly sounded against his lips, crushing your hips against his groin and hearing his sweet moan in response.

His muscles tensed as you pressed against him, while his legs clung to your thighs. His hands ran over the shape of your figure, unearthing an ungodly moan from your lips as he slipped beneath your shorts, etching over the curve of your ass and claiming your raw flesh in his hands, pushing you against him assertively.

You whimpered, grinding against him. “I know my wish.”

“Anything,” He tenderly mumbled.

“Call off work tomorrow.”

He smiled against your lips, bringing one of his knees to pin your bodies closer together. “Means you should too.”

“Oh, definitely,” You confirmed before reconnecting your mouths in a frenzied liplock.

Feeling the grind of your hips as his pelvis crushed against yours, his grunts slipped through every caress as his hand moved up your back. Soon, you started feeling something you had yet to see from Minghao in all your time living with him, the part of him you managed to evade but have envisioned a multitude of times, growing in his sweatpants and rubbing against your thigh the closer your bodies were.

“I have never wanted someone so bad,” He whispered in a soft ache. 

His hands crept underneath your shirt, brushing against your skin, pressing against the small of your back. Pressing his torso towards you, his erection adhered to your thigh, the tension coiling in your stomach burned like wildfire, at an unstoppable rage. “Minghao,” you mewled, impatience singeing on your tongue.

“Somehow, I can still taste coffee on your breath, but I don't really mind it. It tastes really good on you,” He admitted before kissing you deeper, his moans buzzing against your mouth, hungry and alive as his hands dug into your flesh with utter greed.

“You taste really good too.” Your hand body scoured south, cupping his size under your palm and tasting his gasp as you sucked him between your lips. “I wonder what else tastes good.”

“You are something else,” he mumbled, through quiet chuckles. “Just like you to act on impulse.”

You let out a light scoff. “You are so—”

“Don’t start things you can’t finish,” he softly warned with a smirk.

“I’m not the one you have to worry about finishing.”

You moved down, the covers draped over your head as you kept your eyes on him and resting on the hem of his sweats. Minghao’s breath hitched in his throat, gulping while he felt your nails lightly claw against his bare torso, tugging the waistband off the tent he forged, revealing the lack of underwear and restraint he had left, now sprung against your face.

“Shit,” you said grinning, claiming him by the shaft, thumbing over the precum glistening at the tip. “Even your cock looks pretty.”

A soft pink decorated his cheeks and a hand meekly shielded part of his face. “You staring is how I got myself hurt in the first place.”

“Then I’ll be careful not to hurt you this time—that is, unless you want me to.”

You spat on his cock, a translucent ribbon stretching from your tongue to his length. Your saliva lubing your knuckles, you squeezed his girth in your grip as you stroked and felt him pulse in your hands, growing bigger the tighter you clenched. Minghao’s arms propped himself up and behind him as his chest heaved, blood pumping with every drag of your fingers, shallow breaths slipping out of him as he fisted the sheets beneath him.

You kissed the curve of the head, lips pursed to wrap lightly around him, suckling down his shaft, and feeling him twitch against your mouth when you chuckled. He softly whined, his hand extended toward you to tenderly caress the side of your head and tacitly pleading with you as you teased him. Showing him mercy, you took him with an eager mouth, closing your lips around his cock as you steadied your gaze on him. Moans vibrating around his girth, your tongue tucked on the underside of his shaft, hands wrapped tightly around his base.

“Mmmh like that.” He swallowed, exhaling through his teeth the deeper you took him. His abdomen flexing overtly as you moaned around him, vibrated against his skin, your pink muscle tracing over his veins as you worked your jaw to hug a tighter grip. “God, you’re perfect. Don’t stop, please…” he panted.

He palmed at your hair headily, his motor skills not properly functioning as he sucked in his breath, feeling his presence explore deeper. He leveraged his hips to regain some ounce of control, but the sounds of moisture and squelching burned his ears, and the heart in his chest was running like a marathon. His eyes, fluttering in and out of focus, trained his gaze on you while his stomach tensed, grasping the vision of you getting wide-eyed and bold as you gingerly ate him alive. Burning the image into his retinas, it made him want to explode inside you.

Threading through your hair, he pulled them up and off your shoulders, showing off your pretty features, doing everything in his power not to give his climax an early appearance. “I’ve never seen such a pretty mouth take my cock so well. Then again, I’ve never had a pretty roommate like you, or anyone like you.”

Flustered from the flattery, you sucked him like your life depended on it as you grew hot, making Minghao’s task to regain control strenuous to achieve. You hollowed out your cheeks, leaving no room to breathe, and felt him in your throat as your vision rolled to behind your skull to the point your language deduced to the sounds of gagging. You gripped his hips, nails plunged into his flesh as your drool dribbled down his groin, slobbering over his cock in an erratic, hungry mess.

“Yes, like that. My god,” He praised through ragged breaths, hips jerking gently up into you. He lightly threw his head back, the urge to ram himself down your throat getting exceedingly more tempting, but he suppressed it as he dug his nails into his own palms. “I’m so close to cumming, can I–in your mouth or should I…?”

You hummed a confirmation before you swallowed him whole until you met the base, meeting his groin as he vanished inside you, breathing oxygen not even an afterthought. Images in front of you dulled in color, pictures shapeless and unclear, and you pushed past your boundaries to let him find home in your mouth, deeply intent with him finishing inside you one way or the other.

“F…f…fuck...”

Pleasure rippling through him, Minghao pushed himself up from his position, thrusting weakly as he cradled your head, pouring his thick, ivory load into your mouth, which was insistent on receiving every drop. He filled your cheeks, allowing warmth to coat the inside of your mouth as he tenderly stroked your hair in gratitude. Cupping your cheeks as he let his hips falter, he gently pulled himself out of your mouth, amused at how carefully you were trying to not let any of his cum seep past your lips as you sat between his legs.

His fingers danced under your chin. “Are you gonna swallow?” Minghao tiredly chuckled.

With smiling eyes, you tilted your head, as if asking if you should.

He pushed your hair behind you, softly pressing his lips against your tightly shut lips. “Don’t if you don’t want to.”

An idea occurred to you then, and in an instant you pushed yourself up to board him as your knees took either side of him, looming over him. His hands naturally found your waist as you lifted his chin, eyes staring at you curiously as his hands ran up body and gently clawed down, awaiting your next move. You then thumbed over his bottom lip before dipping between the slit of his mouth and saw it naturally part, taking the digit and settling it between his teeth.

Now confidently, you lowered your head, swirling the contents in your mouth before pushing your thumb deeper, prying the entrance wider, and finding no protest as he sanctioned it. He dug the pads of his digits into your flesh in anticipation. His eyes fluttering, he watched as your mouth withdrew the generous gift he gave to you before you gave it right back to him as it gracefully streamed down on his pulsing, eager tongue. And nothing satisfied you more than hearing him sigh wistfully as it landed.

It sent you shivers how beautiful he looked despite how vulgar the act was. Only Xu Minghao could make tasting his own cum look so ethereal, and it only made you wonder what other things a face this beautiful was willing to do. You swiped whatever fell from the corner of his lips with your thumb, sucking the residue like leftovers before you connected your mouths, sharing and tasting his lewd tang in violent swirls, and pulling away to watch it stretch between your tongues.

“I guess toothbrushes aren’t the only things you like to share,” Minghao teased before pushing you on your back, grinding his resurrecting arousal against your clothed heat and lathering the thick, viscous substance flat between your tongues in your mouths as it dribbled down your chins until there was nothing but slobber. It was a mess, and the most unmannerly you’ve ever seen him, and you’ve never been more turned on.

“My turn.”

With a rough hand, he tugged you by your legs towards him, hearing you let out a yelp, and shoved down your shorts to expose your glistening, mouth-watering, arousal soaked entrance. Be still his heart. He felt himself throb seeing you ruin his bed, but hell if he wasn't going to be sucking those juices out of the sheets until he’d tasted every drop.

He kicked off his sweats, leaving him entirely vulnerable while you witnessed his cock slowly twitch back to life before he laid on his stomach between your arched legs. “If we want to talk about pretty things, your pussy is high up on that list.”

Not waiting for a response, he licked a thick stripe up your inner thigh, flickering over your folds before sucking them in his mouth, using the tip of his tongue to tease your entrance. He felt the flutter of your core before spitting, lathering at the juices, coating at entrance but not peeking to see what was inside. “You’re already so wet, fuck.” 

“Hao…” You whined.

“Mmmh, I love how you sound,” he chuckled, running long strokes up your slit, wedged through you with every swipe, looking arm around your leg to hold you in place as his thumb brushed over your clit. “Are your moans always this delicious? Or are they reserved for when you’re thinking about me?” 

Shaking your head, you were too turned on to answer verbally, while his mouth closed around your clit and sucked, utilizing his fingers to assume their previous position. You clenched your stomach, fisting into the sheets as you spread your legs, feeling them already clam up from the tension as his tongue flicked against your sensitive bud in unison with his fingers twisted up into, and you couldn’t help but writhe underneath him.

“Yes, spread those pretty legs for me,” he encouraged with a haughty smile before burying his face, his moans vibrating up your walls as his tongue massaged your walls and tasted your cock pulsing nectar, sending chills up your spine.

You mewled, and feeling reserved, you held your hands up to your face to shield the tears collecting at your eyes threatening to fall, but Minghao grabbed you by the wrists, roughly pinning them to the bed.

His eyes narrowed back at you before softening almost menacingly, “Don’t cover your pretty face, watch me.”

“But—”

“I want you to watch me fuck your pretty pussy with my mouth. Don’t make me say it twice.” He warned before he got you a quiet nod, earning you a kiss against your inner thigh.

His hand flattened against your inner thighs again, pressing them further away from another and delving his tongue deeper as he rubbed your clit, working your insides until he tasted every inch of you possible. He buried his face, but his eyes were clear, staring at you as he worked his jaw, engorging with his mouth that sent you above and beyond and his eyes that saw you at the result of your undoing. You had no choice but to cling on, freeing yourself from his grasp to have your fingers fly in his hair, navigating him as you took him for a joy ride, his tongue shifting gears as it picked up pace.

“S-shit!” You rolled your hips, threading your fingers through his locks and clamping his head between your thighs as you pushed him deeper.

“Yes, ride my face—fuck, use me, please,” he pleaded in a cracked voice, pouring his heart into his feast until he was practically suffocating, worth it to worship you and bring you to the highest peak of your pleasure.

Your legs trembled as his moans infiltrated your heat, the intense flicks of his tongue titillating you to the brink of ecstasy until he used it to fuck you in time with his fingers thrusting inside, clutching you as you held him in place and grinding against him. “My god, Hao!”

Hips shaking, you bucked into his mouth, and even after your release, he made no effort to stop, lifting you to his mouth as he got on his knees, eating you like a meal he’d never have again until he worked his tongue raw, tasting you and only you as your cum coated his mouth. You squirmed, the suction of his lips on your sensitive core in tandem with his tongue viciously swirling inside you overwhelming you beyond words, unable to kick him off as he held both your knees above his head.

“You’re gonna kill me, Hao,” you cried desperately. “Just put it in me.”

He chuckled before setting you down, meeting your lips halfway as he stroked his fully erect cock, massaging the evening’s concoction against your tastebuds, mingling the contrasting flavors as they battled in your mouth while the knowledge of it all pebbled your skin. Meanwhile, he ran his hands over you beneath your shirt, found your nipples, rolling them against his thumbs as his cock rubbed between your folds, ebbing your moans as they buzzed against his lips. “What if I want to play with you first?” He taunted.

You whined, brushing your lips repeatedly over his. “I want you inside me.”

“You’re cute even when you’re needy,” he gushed.

You clasped your hands over his soft, warm cheeks. “Minghao, please…”

He playfully rolled his eyes, kissing into your palm then down your wrist before his teeth playfully started nibbling at your skin. “Fine, because you asked so nicely. Just to let you know, though, I don’t have a condom on me right now, but I’m clean.”

“Then, we don’t need one.”

He grinned, stroking the back of your head. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”

Rubbing his tip down your slit, he savored your whimpers as he drew circles against your clit before sliding his length through your folds and stretching your walls, letting you slowly adjust to his presence. Your jaw slightly dropped as you took a sharp inhale, fingers digging into his shoulders and clinging on to him before you felt him sink deeper inside you, pacing his thrusts in a steady rhythm. Your eyes flit to meet his, feeling the back and forth of his hips as they snapped, while you reveled in each collision.

“Yes please…”

Before losing himself in his pleasure, he was determined to remember how you looked getting lost in yours, taking in your features as they distorted under his care. He first found your eyes–lost in a galaxy with an infinite amount of stars out of the way. Then, his eyes started to follow the slope of your cheeks, flushed to the touch against the back of his hand, saliva leaking out of your swollen lips. And your body with the shirt adhered to you by the sweat on your skin, clinging to your form and proving to him time and time again that you were not only the object of his desires, you were something straight out of his dreams.

“You look, taste, and feel good? Where have you been all my life? Really?” He landed a harsh thrust, pressing down on your nipples and smiling manically at how you whimpered in response, clutching you as you shuddered against him. “You like that?”

You nodded, clawing your hand up his back.

“Mmh, me too,” he drew his lips to your ear. “And I like you. A lot. I wouldn’t let someone go on and use my toothbrush for months if I didn’t.” He slowed down his thrusts, cupping your face to meet your eyes. “You like me too, right?”

Feeling your ears burn, you frantically nodded again, mewling after you felt him nip at them, teeth scraping under your earlobe before an open mouth pressed against the side of your neck. The warmth of his breath sweltering against you as you struggled to carry on with the conversation Minghao was determined to have.

“Yeah, you want me to take you on a real date?” He said into the nape of your neck, moaning into your skin as he dragged his hips, rutting into you like an animal.  He barely made out your soft ‘yes’s in your sharp gasps. He gritted his teeth, taking you by the hips, pushing himself flushed against you. “Fuck, you’re so cute,” he groaned.

His hips took flight while he separated your mouth in a loud moan, feeling you becoming malleable under his touch and growing weaker as you recoiled against him. He lifted your shirt above your chest and neared your stiff peaks, rolling your bud against the base of his tongue as he pinched the other, moving out of pure instinct. You threw your head back, going mad with sexual gratification. Your body spasmed out of your control, yet you craved more.

“Harder,” You gasped.

He scoffed under his breath in disbelief. “You want even more?”

“Yes…I want you to cum inside me. I want to feel everything that’s yours, Minghao.”

Knees buckling at your titillating request, he gripped your ass in both palms, clutching you against him as he rammed himself up inside you, and you’re forced to hold on. “I’ll do you one better,” he offered, “why don’t I just make you mine?”

“I…Oh, god…” Your brain was becoming mush, only processing the sound, taste, smell, sensation of Minghao’s cock as he plunged himself inside you. It fogged up your thoughts, clouded your judgement, and only formed incoherent gibberish that took place of real vocabulary as they passed through your swollen lips.

“Be mine, hmm?” He asked, pleading. “That way I can be yours.”

Captivated by his words, you nodded, feeling him suck the life out of you as your body felt close to giving out, the hilt of his cock bottoming out inside you. You anchored your legs around him, following his pace before you felt something within reach, just seconds away from ripping a scream out of your throat that would surely ensue a noise complaint from one of your neighbors.

“Hao, I’m going to cum, I’m really close,” you meekly warned.

His hand settled against your thigh, nodding. “I can feel it. You’re shaking so hard. Let me have it, I’ll catch you. Every last bit of you.”

Ecstasy was just a word, but Minghao was everything, and you could breathe in that everything. 

Your bodies crushed against each other, lost in heat as you became one. Breaths blended, bodies embraced, only faltering after you long finished the initial orgasms, coming back for more. You embraced  the sheer carnivorous lust that quelled this several month long push and pull, adhering you by the sweat misted on each other's skin before your mouths tenderly met repeatedly.

Sleep felt futile, while the night felt everlasting. Minghao’s company was more than you could ever ask for, and by the time you did sleep, you were too tired to move. You collapsed against each other, bodies drowning in each other’s releases, sheets and pillows stained by the arousal from the evening’s lack of inhibitions. Minghao should’ve been just as tired, but instead he tended to your tired body, leaving kisses in its wake as he cleaned you off and slept alongside you in your clean bed, letting him worry about laundry in the morning.

With your eyes closed, mind in another world, Minghao was brushing the hair away from your face, softly smiling as you gently stirred and nestled closer to him. In response, he pressed a sweet kiss to your temple, warmth blooming in his chest as a grin developed on your face.

“I’ll take you on a proper date. I promise,” he said while you slept. “And If I don’t, pull the bad roommate card on me. You can punish me however you like.”

“…ok, I will.”

[artfulstar]

Woah woah woah. Twitter is shutting down in Brasil? I'm thankful for your mental health but what?

Yep.

TLDR: Elon fired everyone in the Brazilian offices of twitter but legally Twitter can't continue existing in Brazil WITHOUT a legal representative. So now our Federal Supreme Court subpoened him to apoint a new representative or the website is getting shut down in the country

The long version with the context about the fight:

It all started when the supreme court started to shut down in the country profiles of brazilian people who had commited crimes using the website (an example is Monark, a dude who literally used his profile to say we should give n*zis and racists unlimited freedom of speech [he fled to the US to escape prison btw]).

Elon caught wind of this and decided to threaten our constitution and said that he would get the profiles back on because he wouldn't accept a government restricting "freedom of speech" on his platform. The supreme court issued a statement that if he did that, he would face a fee everyday for every account reactivated. It was money so he didn't do that (or maybe turns out he couldn't do it anyway and he was just lying for his lil fanboys).

This was all back at the start of the year but suddenly almost two weeks ago it was reported he fired every single employee in the offices of brazil, including the legal representative.

Then tonight, around two hours ago the official profile of STF replied and tagged elon with the doc of the subpoena because since they didn't have a legal representative, they couldn't do it in the proper way. The subpoena says that Elon has 24 hours to appoint a new guy for the job or the social is getting shut down in brazilian territory.

So we have 3 options for whats gonna happen in the next 24 hours:

Alexandre de Moraes (The guy who Elon started a one-sided beef with) backs down and doesnt shut down the website (highly unlikely)

Elon backs down and appoints a new guy so he doesnt lose the 4th biggest public of his site

Twitter gets shut down until Elon's manchild's ego gives in

thats all <3

Edit:

This was Elon's reply to the tweet. YES he is pathetic like that

Edit 2: it's currently 17:38 brasilia time of 30/08 and Twitter is bound to get disconnected soon, the order has been given by Moraes. People who use a VPN to access Twitter will get fined 50k reais (almost 9k dollars).

Yesterday a note was posted lying about Brazil being a dictatorship and saying that one of the people being censored is a 16yr old girl. The truth is that it's a grown ass man that use his daughters account to promote attacks on delegates, ministers, judges and other politicians. They also call orders to ban n*zi accounts "illegal orders" (WHICH ARE VERY LEGAL UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF BRAZIL). They also say "we don't want every other country to have the freedom of speech laws the US has" meanwhile they've been trying to impose them in a sovereign state.

I would say what I want to say to Elon but unfortunately my mother taught me to keep those kinds of thoughts inside. Just know they're three letters <3

edit 3: twitter was officially unavailable on brazilian territory by the time it struck midnight of the 31st

Edit 4:

Translation: 🚨 NOW: Elon Musk is looking for executives to represent Twitter/X in Brazil, to negotiate the platform's RETURN in the country, reports Correio Braziliense.

he's going to do what cellbit said kkkmk he purposely let them suspend it, then after a few days he'll come out and be the savior of the brazilian people and say he only did it for us

Don't let elon fool you. He doesn't care and is probably only doing it because his investors are threatening him with money

[astonmartinii]

ice, ice baby (literally) | max verstappen social media au

pairing: max verstappen x raikkonen!reader

the ice man may have never spoken, but his daughter never shuts the fuck up

based on the request from @blue-skyandstars

MASTERLIST | TIP JAR

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, sebastianvettel and 783,409 others

yourusername: taking names and kicking asses (and getting all assignments in on time with an appropriate amount of ass licking)

view all comments

user1: i love how she is so clearly kimi's daughter

user2: the only two blondes that don't freak me out

user3: insert that paris hilton clip "can i have two more of these little blonde bitches?"

maxverstappen1: what's an appropriate amount of ass licking and can i demonstrate on you?

maxverstappen1: wait! who said that?

yourusername: in your dreams car boy

maxverstappen1: trust me i see you in my dreams all the time

yourusername: so that's why you're always in the shower when i call you in the morning....

user4: i'm new here, are they together?

yourusername: wouldn't you like to know weather boy

maxverstappen1: she's actually my sleep paralysis demon, sorry to say

user5: they're so unserious

kimiraikkonen: keep those studies up i'm paying the bills

yourusername: i promise to use my status as a nepo baby for good papa 🫡

kimiraikkonen: proud of you.

user6: we love a self aware girly

user7: the raikkonen household really is the best balance, a guy who acts like talking causes him physical pain and a girl who couldn't shut the fuck up if she tried

yourusername: no way i'd rather it be

charles_leclerc: how many versions of that shirt do you have?

yourusername: enough...

charles_leclerc: and i'm the one who is a threat to national security when i go shopping

yourusername: that trouser collection should get you on some sort of list

user8: all these f1 drivers in her likes and comments and she's not cuffed... why is she fumbling so bad

yourusername: am I fumbling or are THEY?

user9: expose the dms please

yourusername: that would not be pg13 soz!

maxverstappen1

liked by kimiraikkonen, landonorris and 1,094,556 others

tagged: yourusername

maxverstappen1: oh look who decided to come back

view all comments

user10: max is so annoyed that she decided to go to school in the us that he makes all american fans lives hell by winning all the races

user11: so true of him

landonorris: matching books? you're such a simp

maxverstappen1: is a man forbidden to be in a book club? who backwards of you lando

yourusername: just because you can't read, don't take it out on us

landonorris: i can read!

yourusername: name the last book you read

yourusername: and that doesn't include searching your name on twitter

landonorris: can you go back already, you're so mean

yourusername: don't come for our two man book club if you can't handle the smoke

maxverstappen1: what she said

user12: i love how spring break starts and y/n doesn't even go to see her dad, straight to max

maxverstappen1: kimi is coming! i am NOT a bad friend who deprives y/n of her dad

user12: you're also scared of kimi

maxverstappen1: i'm also scared of kimi

danielricciardo: you're in my building and i don't get any baked goods... i see how it is

yourusername: as if max is allowed to eat them anyway they're for dad

danielricciardo: i promptly take back anything i've ever said

user13: max has got to be down bad to have that much baking equipment in his house when it's canon he can barely cook eggs

yourusername: if he wanted to he would

user14: is this confirmation?

yourusername: i hope those are paper straws you're grasping at

maxverstappen1: why wouldn't i make sure i have the equipment to get my worker bee to make me sweet treats (don't read that rupert)

user15: i'm on to you two ... there's something shady going on here

sebastianvettel

liked by kimiraikkonen, maxverstappen1 and 1,209,409 others

tagged: yourusername

sebastianvettel: she's too old, i miss when she was a nice and polite child

view all comments

user19: annual god father seb appearance

user20: y/n please work your magic to get him to a race this weekend

yourusername: i'm working on it! watch out for suzuka

user21: the people's princess truly

yourusername: rude! i am a very polite young woman 🙁

sebastianvettel: yes you are, but also when you were ten you didn't bother me with your love life

sebastianvettel: and you weren't so fussy with food

yourusername: I AM NOT FUSSY I JUST HAVE AN ACQUIRED TASTE

sebastianvettel: you asked me to uninvite lewis to our dinner plans because you "hate that quinoa shit, i'm hungry enough to kill a horse with my bare hands"

yourusername: and i'd say it again!

lewishamilton: first of all: rude. second of all: i knew there was a reason you and max get on so well - BLAND

maxverstappen1: just because my food doesn't turn my shit green or couldn't accidentally be sold in the rabbit section of the pet store doesn't make me BLAND

yourusername: i don't trust a man who makes non-alocholic tequila THE FACT IT GETS YOU DRUNK IS THE BEST PART OF THE TEQUILA ONLY WEIRDOS DRINK TEQUILA FOR THE TASTE

lewishamilton: gasp! you said you liked it!

yourusername: i try to be supportive okay :(

user22: well that was something

user23: max always coming to the rescue ... makes you think

charles_leclerc: i am sensing some blatant favouritism here

mickschumacher: i never get invited on baking weekends :(

yourusername: snooze you lose ladies

sebastianvettel: this is exactly what i mean y/n

yourusername: my bad! i'm sorry my god father loves me more than you :p get well soon

sebastianvettel: that's not-

charles_leclerc: consider yourself in beef

yourusername: it's on babe

user24: gosh i'm so confused WHO THE FUCK DO I WANT TO GET WITH HER

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, kimiraikkonen and 809,445 others

yourusername: boy, oh, boy am i ready to finish this semester

view all comments

user26: i see tulips i do deduce that they are from max verstappen 🤓👆

user27: i hate you invasive leeches (i believe this and it is now my personal headcanon)

maxverstappen1: SEAT BELT PLEASE

yourusername: i swear i did 😫

maxverstappen1: you need to protect the precious goods

landonorris: you never tell me that 🙁

maxverstappen1: you're not precious goods, hope this helps x

landonorris: i see how it is

yourusername: don't hate the player, hate the game lando

user28: they've either got the single most flirtatious friendship ever to exist or they're together

user29: if they are just friends and those flowers are from her actual gf - i am not being dramatic but i would take a long walk off a short plank

user30: i feel like they'd be the ultimate cockblocks for each other 😭

kimiraikkonen: proud of you bub

yourusername: i am losing hair from academic stress i hope you're happy papa

kimiraikkonen: i am 👍🏻

yourusername: i am losing hair - LOSING HAIR THIS IS A BIG DEAL YOU PAY FOR MY APPOINTMENTS

kimiraikkonen: you need a college education so you're not wasting all of my money - i also pay your sorority dues so be nice to me

yourusername: i'm tired let me be the low effort nepo baby i am meant to be

user31: can kimi raikkonen pay for my hair appointments too?

jensonbutton: is that MY CAR?

yourusername: you put me on the insurance?

jensonbutton: yeah for when your car was in the shop - i thought shelby was still in my garage?

yourusername: not to victim blame but having so many cars you don't notice one is gone, that's on you

jensonbutton: @KIMIRAIKKONEN YOUR KID STOLE MY CAR

yourusername: britt gave me the keys !!!!!!

kimiraikkonen: you got duped by a 21 year old, that's not my fault

user32: kimi when y/n jokes about dropping out 🤨 kimi when y/n steals one of jenson's cars 🥹

maxverstappen1

liked by kimiraikkonen, landonorris and 2,305,689 others

tagged: yourusername

maxverstappen1: ice, ice baby (except you're smoking hot)

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user35: WHOOP WHOOP LET'S FUCKING GO

user36: max already having the approval of kimi, that's my king

maxverstappen1: make no mistake i went to the raikkonen household with many offerings before i asked for his permission

user37: and if he had said no?

maxverstappen1: i would've asked y/n regardless 🫡

kimiraikkonen: 🤨

maxverstappen1: uh? i'm digging my own grave but i love your daughter so that's all the matters right? RIGHT?

kimiraikkonen: 🙄

maxverstappen1: WOULD IT KILL YOU TO USE THE KEYBOARD I'M HAVING A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN HERE

user38: the way max got given approval on live tv with more words than we've heard from kimi at any point in his career and he's still a shaking mess

user39: anxious girl representation

yourusername: you melted this icicle

maxverstappen1: eh i think you've always been a softy

charles_leclerc: like softserve ice cream? shop @lec now!

maxverstappen1: do you fucking mind?

yourusername: really? on the post of my boyfriend professing his love?

charles_leclerc: god forbid a guy chases the bag (also he called you smoking hot, that's hardly a profession of love)

maxverstappen1: you little rat

yourusername: lifetime supply of lec and a flavour named after us and consider yourself forgiven

charles_leclerc: i don't need your approval that much

yourusername: @kimiraikkonen @sebastianvettel you seeing this shit?

charles_leclerc: fine... weaponising your dad and god father is a low blow

yourusername: also! i love you baby - thank you for putting up with my constant yapping xx

maxverstappen1: i love you even more, i can't wait for you to finish college so i never have to share you ever again

kimiraikkonen: 🤨

maxverstappen1: AND YOUR LOVELY FAMILY

yourusername: they love you really maxy don't worry

yourusername

liked by sebastianvettel, jensonbutton and 1.945,440 others

tagged: maxverstappen1

yourusername: i'm so talented, i brought three more championships to the family without even getting into the car

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user40: okay idk why yall were shipping anyone else, i've seen one picture of them being cute and am sold

user41: i'm so convinced this happened cause max saw people were convinced she was with other people on the grid and he had to mark his territory

maxverstappen1: yes i was jealous but can you blame me? prettiest girl in the world actually wanted me back. i will not fumble this

user42: i need my man to be this down bad for me

kimiraikkonen: cute.

yourusername: thank you papa xxx

maxverstappen1: THANK YOU KIMI, LOVE YOU KIMI

yourusername: i think he gets it babe...

maxverstappen1: first time i've got a non-emoji answer, i will savour it

user43: oh my i love them your honour

sebastianvettel: happy for you guys, see you guys soon

yourusername: love you seb!

maxverstappen1: thanks for the vote of confidence seb

sebastianvettel: you may be a literal nightmare child, but you're our nightmare child now

kimiraikkonen: what he said

maxverstappen1: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (i am ignoring that you called me a nightmare child, i was 17 give me a break)

yourusername: you guys he's crying hahahahahah

maxverstappen1: i just love you guys (y/n more)

yourusername: i love you too xx

user44: so liked now we've got the relationship reveal... when do we get both y/n and kimi in the red bull garage

user45: lets up the stakes and get max, kimi and seb in the 24 hours of le mans

yourusername: oh now you've started it - he's already on the phone to adrian

maxverstappen1: am i the first nepotism boyfriend?

kimiraikkonen: you might be the favourite of the in-laws if you get me a le mans win

maxverstappen1: y/n is an only child? i'm the only in law?

kimiraikkonen: yes?

maxverstappen1: I'M ON THE PHONE TO ADRIAN

yourusername: did i just lose my boyf to my dad?

fin.

note: babe the writer's block is back. but i'm fighting it. hope yall enjoyed this!

[rickybobbydan]

Ocean Eyes

Lando Norris x Fem!Marine Biologist Reader

Synopsis: She's always near fish. He loves her enough to ignore that. Hating fish and having a marine biologist girlfriend was not on anyone's bingo card

Tags: Fluff, fish, minor use of Y/N

Masterlist

Y/NsMarineLife

Liked by lando, lnfour, mclaren, danielricciardo, and 34,986 others

Y/NsMarineLife: Cutting nets and saving shells. New dive, same mission 🐢✅

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lando: You're braver than all of us

user1: she's a literal hero doing hero work

mclaren: We support planet-saving girlfriends! 🧡

Y/NsMarineLife: admin you should join one of our trips! mclaren: summer break is around the corner 👀

user2: How did lando even bag her when he hates fish???

lando: I love her enough to look beyond gills

lando

Liked by Y/NsMarineLife, danielricciardo, oscarpiastri, and 74,837 others

lando: If she says the waves are louder than the grid, I'm going to believe her ❤️🙂‍↕️

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danielricciardo: She's got podium vibes

Y/NsMarineLife: Where's my bottle of champagne Danny? danielricciardo: Where's her bottle of champagne Lando? lando: were literally on the beach??? oscarpiastri: excuses

Y/NsMarineLife: Your hoodie smells like sea salt now sorry not sorry

lando: as long as it smells like you ❤️ georgerussell63: simp lando: Sorry I love my girlfriend???

user3: how did lando managed to bag a genius???

alex_albon: Bro I wish I knew

The photo was an accident.

He’d just lifted his phone to call her back to the towels when he caught it—her arms outstretched, hair damp from the ocean, the hem of his hoodie brushing the backs of her thighs as she spun barefoot across the sand. The waves rolled in behind her, frothy and gold-edged in the last hour of sun. She wasn’t posing. She didn’t even know he was watching. She was just…existing. Joyfully, wildly, entirely hers.

Click.

She turned when she heard the shutter. “Did you just take a picture of me?”

Lando grinned from where he stood, hands tucked into the sleeves of his own hoodie. “Maybe.”

“You’re supposed to ask, you know,” she teased, walking back toward him. The seafoam gathered at her ankles, then rushed away again like it didn’t want to leave her either.

“I didn’t want to ruin it,” he said softly.

She blinked. “Ruin what?”

“That,” he said, tilting the phone in her direction. The screen glowed between them, and for a moment she was quiet, staring at herself suspended mid-step: arms open, face tilted to the sky like she belonged to the horizon.

“That’s not how I see myself,” she whispered.

“It’s how I see you,” he replied.

She looked up at him then, eyes full of something wind-swept and open. The kind of look that made Lando forget every press conference and every podium. The kind of look that made even the ocean feel still.

He didn’t post the photo right away. He just kept it. Something for himself. Something to remember the version of her that belonged to no one but the waves, and maybe, maybe a little bit to him.

Y/NsMarineLife

Liked by lando, lnfour, carlossainz55, and 77,463 others

Y/NsMarineLife: land creature meets reef nerd. 12/10 diving buddy

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lando: I only screamed once

Y/NsMarineLife: You were very brave 🌟

user4: how did you even get lando in a wetsuit, much less under the ocean???

carlossainz55: I thought you hated fish?

lando: eating them and swimming with them are very different things

Y/NsMarineLife

Liked by lando, maxverstappen1, kellypiquet, and 83,673 others

Y/NsMarineLife: Has your lab partner ever been 14 feet long and curious? She's a cool guy 🦈

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lando: Okay, hear me out. What if you just don't swim with sharks??

Y/NsMarineLife: She's my lab partner though 😔

user5: She said apex predator rights!!!

maxverstappen1: You scare me more than turn 1 at Monza

Y/NsMarineLife: Good. lando: good kellypiquet: Good

Y/NsMarineLife

Liked by lando, SafeSeaProject, mclaren, and 62,789 others

Y/NsMarineLife: Rescued my research bestie, who had to be airlifted off the reef (she's okay!). Marine fieldwork isn't always glamorous, but it's real 🙂‍↕️🚁

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lando: Please don't be the one they airlift. Like, ever

SafeSeaProject: Field safety is always our top priority!

Y/NsMarineLife: It was a pleasure to work alongside you guys today!

ResearchBestie: tagged and safe just like the turtles! Thanks for saving the day

Y/NsMarineLife: Rescuing you since our uni days 🤭

The call came in the middle of media day. Lando ducked behind the hospitality unit, phone pressed tight to his ear, heart racing faster than it ever did behind the wheel.

She was fine. She kept saying she was fine. But her voice was hoarse, and there was wind in the background—waves crashing against the side of the boat, radios crackling. He could hear someone giving instructions in clipped tones, and the rotor of a rescue chopper spinning somewhere overhead.

“Everyone’s okay,” she said immediately. “I just wanted you to hear it from me.”

He sat down on the edge of the bed, one hand buried in his hair. “What happened?”

“A shallow reef survey. Mia panicked, got tangled near the anchor line. The current picked up. She couldn’t breathe properly, and her gear started slipping—” Her voice shook once, then steadied. “I pulled her out. Got her stabilized. Called the chopper just in case.”

Lando closed his eyes. “You got her out?”

“She’s okay. The EMT said she would’ve blacked out if we’d waited any longer.”

He didn’t say anything for a long time. Just listened to the open sea behind her, the distant murmur of radio chatter, and the sound of her breathing—frayed at the edges, but still in rhythm.

Lando sat on a stack of spare tires, forehead resting in his hand. “You also swam with a tiger shark two days ago.”

She laughed, weak but real. “She was calm. Curious. I stayed out of her path.”

Lando shook his head, overwhelmed with something between admiration and exasperation. “You save someone from drowning, and you hung out with a tiger shark before the weekend even starts? Do you ever take a normal week at the office?”

She laughed—quiet, exhausted. “I don’t think I remember what normal looks like when my office is the entire ocean.”

“You’re insane,” he murmured, voice softer now. “You’re absolutely bloody insane. And you’re the most badass person I know.”

“I’m not,” she replied. “I was scared.”

“But you didn’t freeze.”

“No,” she admitted. “I didn’t.”

He didn’t answer right away. Just listened to the sound of her breathing—steady, tired, alive.

“Lan?” she asked softly.

“I hate that I’m not there,” he said finally. “I hate that you’re always the one holding it together when shit goes wrong.”

“You’d do the same for me.”

“Yeah, but my version of danger is carbon brakes and bad strategy calls. Yours is shark-infested reefs and emergency extractions.”

There was a pause, then a quieter voice: “You don’t think I’m reckless, do you?”

“No,” he replied, almost instantly. “I think you’re brave. And smart. And you care more than anyone I’ve ever met.”

She exhaled, and he could picture it—her eyes closing, shoulders relaxing against the rail of the boat. The storm in her chest finally easing.

“I just need you to come home,” he added, voice nearly a whisper. “Eventually. In one piece. That’s all.”

“I will,” she promised. “I always do.”

Later, she’d send him the photo: her underwater, camera steady in her hands, a great white shark approaching in slow, silent curiosity. No panic. No fear. Just awe.

And then the other: the bright-orange flash of the rescue suit, the helicopter cable slicing the sky as her colleague was lifted into safety.

Two different sides of her, Lando thought. And he loved both.

lando

Liked by Y/NsMarineLife, lnfour, carlossainz55, and 82,473

lando: Don't let her tell you I'm not romantic. I literally made a heart underwater 🫶🏻

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Y/NsMarineLife: Okay, Fine, You win this one

lnfour: lando under the water? Is that new merch we smell??

user6: okay so is this going on the wedding invites 👀

lando: yes

Y/NsMarineLife

Liked by mclaren, lando, SafeSeaProject, sebastianvettel, and 56,921 others

Y/NsMarineLife: baby corals are finally tagged & thriving. One reef at a time 🪸

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lando: I miss you, but the ocean needs you more ☹️❤️

Y/NsMarineLife: I miss you more 🥹

scienceuser5: textbook technique ✅

Y/NsMarineLife: You know it! Gotta keep up the technique to train the new interns next week!

user6: She's a literal genius???

Y/NsMarineLife: No, I'm just a girl who really loved mermaids growing up 🙂‍↕️🧜🏻‍♀️

lando

Liked by oscarpiastri, Y/NsMarineLife, carlossainz55, and 73,734 others

lando: certified d(r)iver. certified hers (she dared me to get my scuba diving license)

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Y/NsMarineLife: You were holding my hand 95% of the time

lando: certified simp.

carlossainz55: It's giving clingy

lando: It's giving I love my grielfriend very much

oscarpiastri: teach him not to panic near jellyfish pls

user7: ocean-core boyfriend era

The wetsuit still clung to his skin when they surfaced, hair plastered to his forehead, saltwater clinging to his lashes. She pulled her mask off and grinned like the sun had just come up under the waves.

“You didn’t panic this time,” she said, breathless.

“I never panicked,” Lando replied, spitting out the regulator and half-choking on the words. “I just…adjusted quickly to the pressure change.”

She laughed, pulling herself up onto the side of the boat with practiced ease. “You clung to me like a baby sea otter.”

“Because I trust you!” he protested, grabbing the railing behind her and climbing up, voice lighter now, the adrenaline beginning to fade. “Also, you told me the fish might bite.”

“They nibble,” she said, tugging her hood down and wringing the water from her braid. “Gently.”

He flopped down beside her, wetsuit half-unzipped, water pooling around them. “You finger-gunned a GoPro mid-dive.”

“Because you were so serious,” she teased, pulling up the preview on the camera screen. Sure enough, she was grinning behind her mask, pointing dramatically at the lens, while Lando was floating just barely in front of her, trying to look cool.

“Send me that,” he said, already reaching for his phone. “I need the world to see what I put up with. What I do for love.”

She tilted her head toward him. “You sure you’re okay? It was a deeper dive than we planned.”

“I’m better than okay,” he said, quieter now. “It’s the first time I’ve ever felt completely…still. Like the world stopped spinning down there.”

She smiled again, this time softer. “That’s what I love about it.”

He watched her then—not as a driver or just her boyfriend, but as a man sitting next to a woman who understood something deeper than words. Who lived her life beneath the surface, chasing things worth saving.

“Next trip,” he murmured, “don’t make me wait so long.”

She leaned her shoulder against his and whispered, “Next trip, you’re coming with me from day one.”

Y/NsMarineLife

Liked by lando, DeepBlueResearch, jensonbutton, and 75, 582 others

Y/NsMarineLife: today's agenda: whale counts, bad coffee, and missing my boy from 4000 miles away ❤️‍🩹🐋

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lando: tell the whales I say hi

DeepBlueResearch: marine biologist romance core

Y/NsMarineLife: my own crew???

user8: lando's crying, isn't he

Y/NsMarineLife: I definitely am

The ocean was steel gray that morning. Not stormy, not angry, just still and heavy. The kind of quiet that made you feel small in the best way. The kind of cold that bit through the seams of her jacket and left salt on her lips.

She sat cross-legged on the edge of the deck, binoculars balanced in her lap, her boots damp from spray. Somewhere out there, a humpback breached and vanished just as quickly, like a dream dissolving in daylight.

She didn’t snap a picture of the whale.

She took one of her boots instead, muddy, scuffed, braced against the edge of the world — and the binoculars cradled loosely between her gloves. A silent timestamp. Another day of counting things that moved too fast, and missing someone who made the waiting feel less empty.

She sent the photo to Lando with no caption. Just let the image speak for itself.

A few minutes passed. Then her phone buzzed.

Lando: You’re the bravest person I know. Also, you owe me a whale pic. That wasn’t a whale. That was boots and existential dread.

She laughed, breath fogging in the cold air. Typed back:

You: Didn’t want to post the whale. Felt selfish keeping it just for me.

Lando: You always share the good stuff. I miss you. Also you look extremely tiny on that deck.

She paused. Took a breath. The wind lifted a curl of hair across her cheek.

You: I miss you more than the sun out here. And that’s saying something.

Later, Lando reposted her photo with a caption that simply read: “She’s 4,000 miles away and still closer to me than anyone else.”

And somehow, she felt it. Even out there, surrounded by silence and sea.

lando

Liked by Y/NsMarineLife, alex_albon, carlossainz55, and 73,836 others

lando: We played coral together, and that somehow felt more serious than moving in 🪸💍 (She rolled her eyes and smiled)

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Y/NsMarineLife: I smiled because you panicked at a sea cucumber

danielricciardo: How do I become coral and get planted with love? asking for a friend 👀

mclaren: This is the most eco-friendly Lando we've yet to see

alex_albon: Someone tell me how he managed to pull a girl who restores ecosystems

oscarpiastri: Someone tell me how he managed to pull a girl who spends half her time around fish

They didn’t talk much down there. Couldn’t, really, not with being underwater, and the hush of the reef around them. But they felt everything.

The dive was part of her restoration project started by Y/N and her research crew, an effort to rebuild a section of reef decimated by storms, ocean acidification, and bleaching. Small coral fragments were zip-tied gently to artificial structures, the first step in coaxing life back into the skeleton of what once was vibrant and wild.

Lando moved carefully beside her, his buoyancy still a bit inconsistent, but his focus unwavering. He watched as she guided his gloved hands, showed him how to anchor each coral sprig without damaging the delicate tips. Her eyes met his through the mask and gave the softest nod, You’re doing it right.

And for a moment, it wasn’t about diving, or science, or even the reef.

It was about trust.

About planting something together with no guarantee it would survive, and doing it anyway.

When they surfaced, their fingers found each other even before their masks came off.

“You were amazing,” she said, peeling back her hood, cheeks flushed from the cold.

“I was slow,” he laughed. “Pretty sure I got passed by a parrotfish.”

“You didn’t need to be fast,” she said, tugging him toward the boat. “You were present. That’s what matters.”

He looked at her then, windblown, soaked to the bone, radiant in that quiet, undemanding way of hers. Like the reef itself. Steady. Resilient. Full of unseen life.

“Do you ever think,” he murmured, “that maybe we’re not just planting coral?”

She tilted her head, curious.

“Maybe we’re planting something else,” he added. “Something that grows slowly. Quietly. But strong enough to outlive storms.”

She blinked, not in surprise, but in understanding. Her fingers squeezed his. Once. Firm.

“Yeah,” she whispered. “I do.”

Tag list: @rawr-123s-stuff , @torihester , @justasagittarius, @chaoticmessneutralplease , @caren05 , @yukioni02 , @jinx53 , @angelicawasnthere , @sporadicreviewdream , @awkawardcow , @katgirl140898 , @string-of-constellations , @kate-blu33 , @ttuwzi , @holidaysnoopy , @thenightwemet02 , @babyvoidthing, @anedpev , @monsterslivinginadream , @cryingtoteenwolf , @roderickstrong , @likeformula1 , @maddyw-223

[sunnywalnut]

Today I saw my first Starbucks ad that had careful product placement, no words or obvious promos, and just two people having a good time.

And to that I want to say.

Fuck you Starbucks.

I know what you're doing.

Lost enough money due to supporting Israel that you've finally turned to sneakiness? Your brand suddenly isn't enough to sell? How saddening.

Like I know that brands and businesses do product placement. I know they do ads and promos. I know they do things to show their "customers"(actors) having a good time with their products. That's not just a Starbucks thing.

But what IS a Starbucks thing is the sneaky approach to it now. They were so careful to have the only logos showing being on the cups. It's subtle. And it's definitely on purpose. Trying to get you to crave both the drink and the experience.

BUT HEY.

REMEMBER.

STARBUCKS AIN'T SHIT GUYS.

IT'S BITTER, OVERROASTED COFFEE BEANS IN A CUP COVERED UP WITH ENOUGH SUGAR TO KILL A MAN.

There's no fucking way that you're going to be enjoying yourself while choking down a caramel French toast macchiato that tastes like licking a dirty brick y'all.

Also like. They're supporting genocide, so.

Maybe. Don't fall for the new promos. Okay?

Free Palestine.

EDIT: I have since been informed that the Starbucks brand itself is not complicit in genocide and instead, it is the CEO of Starbucks who is a Zionist. I have since made an apology post for accidentally spreading misinformation in the reblogs and have tagged my sources with evidence. If you can, please do repost that version of this post instead.

I will still be leaving this version of the post (the original) up and unedited, because I do not want to appear as if I am trying to change the narrative in any way or pretending as if what I have said doesn't exist or effect people.

While I am more than a little embarrassed about my initial approach to the subject, I have since learned more proper ways of threading together my thoughts as well as vetting my resources thoroughly. Thank you, and I hope you have a good night/day.

Free Palestine.

[manicmanuscription]

Hi there! I have a request for a ff if you’re still taking suggestions. I would love to read a ff of Azriel x Mate!reader and they decide to keep their relationship private from the IC, (Maybe because of the whole Elain situation, I’ll leave it up to you!)and maybe they have a little baby aswell! And the IC end up finding out and want to get to know Azriel’s family. Sorry if this is so bad, feel free to ignore if you hate the request xx

Weight

A/N: Hi Love! I'm so fucking sorry for how long this request took me to get too! I genuinely love it but it took me forever to decide which direction to go in I swear I rewrote it like four times so I hope you like the version I ended up with! Thank you for request <3

Pairing: Azriel x Reader

Word Count: 1584

Warnings/Tags: Angst, IC Fighting, Rhysand lowkey painted as bad guy (but it's only for plot don't come after me that's my husband.) Happy/Hopeful Ending

Summary: Azriel has hidden his daughter and mate from his family but an accidental run in in Velaris ruins it all.

acotar masterlist | main masterlist

The door to my shared bedroom with my mate opened with a soft click. Yet I knew he was coming the second he set foot in our home. The spymaster himself purposefully made his footsteps loud enough for me to not be startled and yet not too loud in case I was resting. 

I had been sleeping a lot during this pregnancy. The physical aspect of carrying our second born is much harder than carrying our first, and I was barely pregnant. I forced my eyes open in the dim room, wanting to lay my sight on the male that had captured my heart entirely no matter how tired I was. 

Azriel smiled softly when his gaze met mine and he quickly and quietly put his coat away before sliding under the massive amount of blankets I was buried under. “Hi.” I murmured my voice raspy from sleep as Azriel adjusted us so that I was halfway laying on his chest, one of my legs thrown around his and the slight baby bump barely poking him in the stomach. His hand's immediately finding my belly and resting there.

“Hi.” He whispered back and I immediately tilted my head to look up at him at the slight shift in his voice.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, concern layering my tone. 

Azriel just huffed a sad laugh under his breath as he gave me a rare smile. He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “My observant little mate, you know me so well. Did I wake you?”

“No you didn’t. Azriel, tell me what’s wrong?” I panicked pushing myself up further so I could look at him properly. Something was…off about him. From the exhausted way he carried himself to bed, the way he had tugged me impossibly close and breathed me in as if it was his last time. 

I knew he had spent the whole day with our daughter before dropping her off at my sister’s for a sleepover so I could have a peaceful night but the way he was acting- especially after the hurt I’d felt from him early in the day only to have him shut me out-

“Nothing’s wrong my love, everyone’s safe and ok.” Azriel assured me, repeating the words over and over again until my breathing evened and he placed a comforting kiss on the inside of my wrist before holding my hands close to his chest and pushing me to lay back down all cozied up next to him. These hormones were going to kill me.

“Ayanna and I ran into my family this evening.” Azriel started and my chest cracked open. No wonder he was so sad. Azriel loved and cared about his family deeply but ever since we’d met he’d taken extra care to make sure I stayed hidden from his family.

Rhysand had used Azriel’s own loyalty and respect towards him to make him leave the middle Acheron sister alone and it had completely broken him. It had only cemented the self doubt running rampant through his mind. Adding another layer to his hardened and yet sensitive heart. 

It had shattered the new couple before it even started and Azriel had vowed to keep his High Lord’s orders to himself despite the devastation it caused to himself and Elain. Elain was almost as good as my mate in hiding her emotions but not nearly enough and Azriel had cursed himself even further. Because in his mind he was the monster that had crushed the innocent girl in his brutally bloody hands. 

I had worked a lot with Azriel over his insecurities and self doubt. The male had barely even touched me when we first met, terrified he would scar another beautiful thing but I had coaxed him out of his shell and his family was something I could never really talk to him about, he shut down and went to a dark space that took days to get him out of. 

In reality Azriel was terrified you’d be taken away from him, ordered halfway across the continent, just one day waking up and you and your beautiful daughter would just be gone? And there was a chance it could’ve been Rhysand’s fault? Or his own?

He loved his family, he loved his brother’s with every fiber of his being. But in the end his terror won, old wounds speaking louder than logic because he couldn’t handle it if there was even the slightest possibility Rhysand made the only good thing disappear from his life, because Gods he wouldn’t survive it and the world around him would shatter under his wrath. 

I traced my fingertips underneath Azriel’s shirt, trailing soothing touches down those muscled abs until he came back to me. Clearly stuck in his own head. “How’d it go?” I asked. 

“Horrible.” His voice cracked and my heart ached at the sound, mating bond screaming at me to do something other than just snuggle in bed. But I knew Azriel just as well as he knew me, instead of pressing him for more information I placed a gentle kiss on the juncture of his throat as he stared at the ceiling. He’d talk when he was ready.

A few minutes passed by until I heard the pain in his deep voice echo around the room again. “They were…angry. At me once they figured out Ayanna was my daughter. They were hurt and asking me why I didn’t tell them-” He paused, swallowing. “The look on Cassian and Rhysand’s faces-” 

A few tears rolled down his cheek. The only other time I’ve seen the Shadowsinger cry was at our mating ceremony and the birth of our daughter. I brushed them away with the pads of my thumbs as he continued. 

“I just couldn’t take it anymore. The betrayal on every single one of their faces. Ayanna was just confused of course, tugging on my shirt and hiding away. The shadows hid her from view and it only worsened the situation. Cassian accused me of not trusting him. I just felt so…ambushed so I let down my shields and threw everything I’d been feeling at Rhysand and Feyre.”

“I didn’t even stick around to hear the aftermath. Just went to the park for a few hours with Aya to cool down.”

“Nesta found you?” I presumed. The Lady of Death having grown quite close to my mate in the House of Wind. He nodded, continuing the rest of the story. Apparently Feyre had shared the information with the family and had promptly yelled at her mate for a few hours. 

They’d all been hurt and angry at Azriel, at each other, and at Rhysand. Cassian and Mor having been the most bent out of shape, stinging even worse with how close they were.

I offered to talk more about it even as my eyelids were unwillingly drooping lower and lower. He just chuckled, wrapping his arms around me and giving me a strong kiss before he ushered me back to sleep once again. 

——————————————

A soft knock echoed throughout the house and I left the tea table,, leaving Azriel to enjoy the outrageously sweet tea my daughter had made, she obviously got her sweet tooth from him. 

“I’m assuming your Cassian and Mor.” I said by way of greeting as soon as I pulled the heavy oak door open. I knew the Inner Circle would come crawling out of the cracks after a few days and it warmed my heart to see and meet some of Azriel’s closest friends. 

“And you’re my brother’s mate.” Cassian breathed out, Mor still finding her words next to him. “The one and only.” I joked with a small hand flourish that did nothing to defuse the tense air suffocating us. Grief etched into the fae’s very faces. “Can we come in?” Morrigan asked clearing her throat. 

“Are you here to fight with him?” I questioned in return. A wince crossed over Cassian’s pained face. “Gods no, we just- we want to talk.”

I smiled softly, it was time for my mate to reunite with his family, to fully be present with them and stop hiding behind his indifferent facade. “He’s playing with Aya in the kitchen.” 

Cassian practically rushed inside as soon as I opened the door wider, the male wearing his heart on his sleeve and I could see how much this entire ordeal affected him. Mor stepped in the threshold with more caution, taking a deep breath as she faced me.

“Rhysand and Feyre would’ve come you know but-”

“But if you bombard Azriel then he’ll shut down and pull away?” she chuckled half-heartedly, sparing a longing glance in the direction Cassian had gone. “Sounds like Az.”

“He didn’t want this to happen, none of us did.” She whispered softly. I knew she was talking about the High Lord and I nodded in understanding even though Rhysand and I would definitely be hashing it out later. “I know.”

Mor took a steadying breath and walked by, allowing me to finally shut the front door. Before she rounded the kitchen she turned to me once again. Pulling a brand new plush teddy bear out of whatever pocket realm she kept it in. “For Ayanna. Whenever you and Azriel are ready for us to meet her.” 

I smiled, taking the gift and following the blonde into the kitchen, I knew without words that Azriel didn’t want to properly introduce our daughter until everything was resolved with his family despite the accidental meeting yesterday and I gave the fae’s their space. He’d already sent the three year old upstairs and I gave Azriel a quick kiss on the cheek before making my way up there as well. 

[tizeline]

(new post cuz the original one didn't show up in the dashboard for some reason ughhh)

Okay so I just hit TEN THOUSAND FOLLOWERS!? HUH!?!? Where the FUCK did you guys come from?? Who are you people!? This is actually insane I love you guys so much I'm asbhfajkjfda 💕💕✨✨😭😭 Anyway, obviously we need to do something to celebrate this special occasion, so here's another DTIYS! (and also a ctiys if you prefer that)

Context for this - remember when I talked about how, after Leo and Donnie start properly hanging out in the Tiz Sep AU, Leo gets into human fashion? Except his taste in human fashion is absolutely atrocious?? Yeeaahh so here we have Donnie and April taking Leo out to get some human clothes and they are both absolutely bamboozled over the clothes that Leo picks out for himself (he's trying okay </3)

Extra info + rules:

No deadline, do this whenever you want to!

Feel free to take artistic liberties, redraw this however you want, and especially-

FEEL FREE TO CHANGE LEO'S OUTFIT!! The only rules here is that it's gotta be ridiculous, ugly, cringefail, or otherwise be a crime against fashion. But I'd love for you guys to come up with your own outfits for Leo :D

Use whatever art-medium you want!

But absolutely NO AI software! If you do I will banish you to the prison dimension for all eternity don't even fucking try bitch I stg 🔪

I don't have a specific tag for this, just @ me so I can see your art!

You don't have to follow me to participate (it's not like I'm gonna check anyway)

CTIYS version (just the lineart) as well as the original drawing but without the text is availible under the cut:

[cheapshrimpysheep]

Dating in a Dream - Epel Felmier

SUMMARY: What would his dream be like, exactly the same as in the original story, but with the small detail that he is dreaming that you two are dating?

CHARACTERS: Epel Felmier x Reader 🍎🦐

TAGS: Fluff; GN Reader; In a Relationship (kinda)

WARNING: Spoilers from Book 7 and Epel’s dream (Eng Server)

WORD COUNT: 1.530 words

COMMENTS: As English is not my first language I asked Gemini for help with Epel's dialect/accent. This was written as a companion piece to the original dream story, so the parts that are the same as the game are just summarized.

I hope you enjoy 🍎

Dating in a Dream: Idia / (Epel) / Rook / Vil / Kalim / Jamil / Floyd / Jade / Azul / Jack / Ruggie / Leona / Deuce / ...

“Aether signal tracking successful.” Ortho says when you land in the new dream, along with Grim, Silver and Sebek. “We have arrived at the designated coordinates.”

You're on Main Street, looking around and trying to figure out whose dream it is. That's when you hear abnormally heavy footsteps running and getting closer. You look and see an Epel's head in a body that looks more like Jack's, which made it all the more strange, uncanny, and almost hilarious.

You hear him saying something about being late and that's why he doesn't see your group. Grim was the one who had to shout to get Epel's attention.

“Ah, Grim! (Y/N)! Good morning! And behind you, Ah see... Ortho and some Diasomnia fellas Ah don't hardly know. Ah don't get why y'all're glowerin'.”

“Cease your incessant mumbling!” Sebek says.

“Huh? Ah was just... Ain't you Sebek from Class D? What's yer problem? Y'wanna start somethin' with me, huh?”

Epel approaches Sebek as if he were ready to start a fight, that's when you put yourself between the two of them to ask Epel to wait and say that there's no need for that.

“Oh, they’re yer friends? Sorry babe.”

“W-what did he call (Y/N)?” Grim asked with wide eyes, the same expression as everyone else.

“Hey, since you're here... Ah was goin’ to ma Spelldrive practice. Don't you have cheerleadin' practice too? You always practice with us.”

“C-cheerleading?” You ask.

“Yeah. You probly forgot ‘cause you're always so busy. If you're free, come with me. Ah always play better with you cheerin’ me on.” He smirks at you. “And Ah know how you love seein’ yer boyfriend win another game.”

“BOYFRIEND?!” Everyone said in unison.

“Oh boy.” Idia's voice says through the tablet. “Dude is dreaming that he's some sports team captain who's dating the head cheerleader. So cliché. What did I tell you about his imagination being weak?”

“Epel Felmier. May I make you a few questions?” Ortho asks and Epel agrees. “From what I understand, you and (Y/N) are dating, correct?”

“Ya bet we are!” Epel confirms with a huge smile. “Ain't they just as kind as can be, and as pretty as a picture?” He grabs you by the waist to pull you against him. “Shoot, Ah must be the luckiest guy aroun’!”

“Aww, so sweet.” Idia says. “If I get diabetes after this I'll be sending this guy the bill for my medication.”

“You two really make a very cute couple.” Ortho says to Epel. You didn't know if he was being sincere or sarcastic just to keep the conversation going. “When did you two start dating?”

“Lesse... When was it again? It was after I gained muscle and get this tall. And that was... Uhh... When WAS it? ... Hrk! Mah head... It hurts!”

The dream begins to distort, but when you think Epel is about to wake up, Vil and Rook appear, darkness versions of them.

“I believe it was near the end of winter break when your height surpassed mine, Eple.” Darkness Vil says.

“Oui. And you two started your love affair in the spring.” Darkness Rook complements. “Tellement romantique!”

“Really?” Idia complained again. “You start dating in the spring? How predictable. Were the birds also singing their hearts out when (Y/N) said 'Of course I want to date you, silly' ?”

“Epel.” Darkness Vil speaks again. “You left the dorm rather early today, so why are you standing around shooting the breeze?”

“Ah was on mah way to mornin’ practice when Ah ran into (Y/N) and these other folks...”

“Conversing with friends is indeed a valuable thing, but are you not the Spelldrive club most promising rookie?” Darkness Rook says. “I hear as much all the time from Leona.”

The two darkness figures with the appearance of Vil and Rook continue talking about how Eple is strong and such a talented player that the students of Savanaclaw would like him to ask to transfer to their dorm, but Vil would never allow it because he doesn't want to lose a student like Epel.

“That’s enough idle chitchat.” Darkness Vil says. “Off with you, now, get to your club.”

“Yessir. You coming with me (Y/N)?”

“NO!” You say. “This is not you Epel! You're not this tall, muscular guy. You are a boy with a cute and delicate appearance but a will of steel. We may have never started dating, but the truth is... I like you too Epel. I really do. But not this you, the real you. The Epel who said in SDC that he was going to maximize his weapon and beat Neige with his charm! Did you forget?”

“Epel. Cease listening to those spudlings.” Darkness Vil warns him.

“Yes, indeed. You will never go wrong by heeding Vil, Epel!” Darkness Rook encourages.

“You were finally accepting yourself.” You continue “Finally seeing yourself the way I see you. You were so cool! I was so proud of you!”

The dream world distorts again until Epel breaks and awakens. His body returned to normal, and he was wearing his dorm uniform.

“How could I have forgotten?” Epel says with tears in the corners of his eyes. “I was going to accept the strength only I had, a strength like that poison apple... I swore it that day!”

You feel so happy to see him return to the Epel you know that you can't contain the urge to hug him. He stays still for a second because of the surprise, but right after you feel him returning the hug with affection.

“Oh dear, Epel...” Darkness Vil says horrified. “You look so frail now.”

“Misérables! Your physique towered as high as the Seven jeweled Hills themselves. Where has it gone?”

“You poor thing. That dirty spud have cursed you with a pitiful form. You certainly deserve someone better than them. Come to me instead. I'll restore your brawny beauty.”

“Yes, Vil, that's a marvelous idea! Come, Epel. Join us.”

Epel is silent for a moment. To then tell them that the Rook and Vil he knows would never say those things. And that he would be lying if he said that he didn't wish he could be big and brawny.

“But the strength I want... The brawn I want... The beauty I want... The love I want... That's for ME to decide, and for ME to claim myself! And one more thing... You insult (Y/N) again, and me punchin' yer fake face'll be the least of yer worries, I guarantee it!”

Darkness Vil and Rook tried to convince Epel to choose the dream over reality, but this only angered him even more and made him and the others attack the darkness figures. Epel finishes the fight by using his signature spell on the fake Vil and Rook.

“Hey, Epel! You finally awake?” Grim asks.

“Yeah, my head's clear now. I must've looked like a real doof to you guys, huh?”

They chit chat a little about Epel showing how strong he is for being able to overcome the darkness. Until Grim speaks again to caught Epel's attention with a serious expression and crossed paws.

“Enough chit chat. Epel, I need to sort somethin’ out with you.” Epel looks at Grim puzzledly and Grim points at him with a cute, threatening finger. “What are your intentions with my hench-human?”

Epel practically jumps in place with a panicked expression and flushed cheeks. He opens his mouth to say something, or at least try, but he can barely say a word without stuttering.

“If you need, I can play the audios of what you said so you remember what you could explain first.” Ortho suggests with a look of someone who smiles mischievously.

“NO! REALLY DON’T DO IT!” Epel begs. “Can we just forget about that for now and focus on the real issue here? I don’t even know what's going on. What was up with the fake Vil and Rook? What’s happening?!”

They show the explanatory video to Epel, explain the plan and that he should go with them to the next dream as they would go to another Pomefiore student's dream. He agrees and Ortho creates a dummy version of tall and brawny Epel to stay in that dream so as not to alert Malleus.

“Eugh! Now that I'm looking at it again... How in tarnation did Ah ever think Ah looked cool?!”

“Indeed.” You say. “The real you is so much better.”

He looks at you surprised and flattered.

“R-really?... Huh... hey... sorry about... huh...”

“I like you too, Epel.” You admit.

“You... WHAT?!”

You tell him that the feeling is mutual and everything you like about him. You also talk about how you prefer the real him, rather than that... weird version of him.

“You know, I could cheer for you in a game or two if you want.” You tease him.

“I’m... not gonna lie, I would love that.” He smiles, cutely and excited. He then gains the courage to hug you and kiss you on the cheek.

“PDA Alert!” Idia's voice is heard through the table.

Epel immediately moves away from you, embarrassed for having done it in front of the others.

If you would like to read more from me, you can find it in my pinned post: INDEX

[sunnie-angel]

Lucky Little Stalker

jason todd x gn!reader tags: offscreen violence, stalkerish behaviour, crack, kind of fluff? a/n: inspired by that one story about robert pattinson taking his stalker to dinner.

"I know who you are."

Jason Todd has heard those words before. Granted, the first time had been from one of his goons. They'd seen his face after a scuffle gone wrong had damaged the Hood, which, in the middle of a firefight (Jason just had to bring a gun to a grenade launcher fight apparently) had been relatively low on his list of priorities to deal with. The words had been whispered in fear over top of the oranges at Jason's former local grocery store when said goon had reached for the same navel orange that Jason had wanted. Jason had glared, prepared to threaten the man with a fate worse than death, when the man's bladder had promptly given out and suddenly Jason had been dealing with piss on his shoes instead of brain matter. Sadly Jason had had to abandon that grocery store with its surprisingly well priced citrus out of a well-placed sense of paranoia. 

The second time had heard those words it had been from a stranger. A stranger who had thought he was Jason Todd. Now, granted, the man hadn't actually thought he was Bruce Wayne's former ward, just that Jason looked close enough to an adult version to pull an Anastasia con. Now, Jason and the rest of his family might not exactly be sitting around a campfire and singing songs (that is if they were even aware of the Red Hood's real identity) but hey. That's crossing a line. If Jason is gonna torture his ex-adoptive father with the ghost of his dead son, he's not gonna do it for the money. The line from the movie, grandmama, it's me, Anastasia, had rung through his head as he shot the con man five times for good measure. 

The person saying it now is not like the others. No, they're brandishing a Gotham library branded totebag, face scrunched up in annoyance, looking like an angry chihuahua. Eyeing them like they might be rabid — look, with what's getting pumped into the sewer system, you never know in Gotham — Jason starts to edge away from them and back towards the library lobby with its welcoming warm-toned lights.

"I think you've got the wrong guy," he says, eyeing the distance between himself and rabid chihuahua person. 

"Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Pride and Prejudice. Confessions of a Mask. Fingersmith. The Brothers Karamazov. Beloved. Ring any bells?!" you nearly shout, a finger pointing accusingly at his chest. 

"I mean that sounds a lot like the last few books I checked out from here—" Jason jabs a thumb at the building behind him, "—but I don't think that's any of your business."

Ooooooh you can basically see red at this point. None of your business? None of your business?! 

"For the last FIVE MONTHS every single time I've gone to check out a book it's been gone. Funny how that works, huh? Out of all the books in the library — which holds nearly 9 million books by the way — the exact book I wanted to read was alway gone. Borrowed. By someone else. Every. Single. Time. Weird, right?" You fold your arms across your chest like you've just made an incredibly devastating point.

Jason just looks at you blankly. Okay so there's a new brand of crazy going around. Great. 

"Okay but those aren't exactly unpopular books," he says slowly, enunciating so there's no doubt you'll misunderstand him. "Your reading plans have jack to do with me."

"Oh you say so, do you?" you say, eyes narrowing, lips pressed into a thin lin. "But I have the proof!" 

From your already bulging totebag, you pull out a bunch of receipts, carefully catalogued in a plastic file. You brandish them in his face and he eyes them like a potential weapon. Which they could be with the way you're waving them around. Jason refuses to become blinded by a random stranger with a plastic folder.

"There's a garbage bin about 20 feet that way," he tells you flatly. 

You seethe. How dare he—

"Of course you'd want me to get rid of the evidence," you snarl. "God, as if you taking out the books I was looking forward to and forcing me to place holds for them wasn't bad enough, you also left bookmarks in all of them. Bookmarks that were receipts."

And okay yeah, now that Jason's actually trying to pay attention to them he can make out a few familiar businesses printed on them. Still, it's not like he's gonna stop gaslighting now. He actually likes this part of not being dead. 

"Still don't see what—"

"So I checked," you tell him, teeth bared. "Some of the receipts had similar time stamps so I showed up to those business and I waited to see who kept showing up to all of them around the same time as on the receipts AND at the library when the books were due to be returned and guess. Who. I. Found."

Shit. Talia would have his head for being this sloppy. A civilian had trailed — no stalked him — for weeks, and he had only found out when they had approached him. Goddamit he's gonna have to look for a new grocery store. Apparently his pants-wetting glare isn't getting you to wet your pants and putting bullet holes in civilians who clearly need mental help is so not his style, it's time for a new strategy.

"I—" he says with Oscar worthy sincerity, cutting of your rant. "—am so sorry. I had no idea anyone was trying to read those books. What was the next one you were going to borrow?"

You narrow your eyes at him. "—The Importance of Being Earnest."

Jason curses internally, keeping an apologetic smily pasted onto his face. That's the book he's got in his hand right now.

"Okay, how about I return it right now and then you can take it right back out?"

"Do you think I'm stupid!" and this time you really do yell. "I won't be able to take it out, it'll have to go back into circulation first and it's almost closing time. That book won't get scanned and entered into the system until. tomorrow." 

Which, fuck. Jason hadn't thought that part through. Okay, time to throw shit at the wall and whatever sticks is gonna have to be his grand plan because the League of Assassins definitely didn't cover dealing with incensed regular people in their Dictatorship 101 class. 

"Okay, how about this?" he says, already starting to feel sweat beading up on his hairline. "I'll give you the book. And to prove how sorry I am, I'll take you to dinner at the end of the week and you can give me the book back then. You'll get to read it. I'll get to read it. It'll get returned under my name. 

Appraisingly, you look him up and down like he's a rather wet piece of cardboard that smells like whatever collected in the gutters that day.

"Fine," you grit out, hand held out in a beckoning gesture. 

Very, very carefully he reaches out and hands over the book. Who knows what else you've got hiding in that totebag? The last thing he wants to explain to a back alley doctor is why he needs all his shots for a human bite on his hand.

"Francesco's on 6th and 123th, you know it?" he asks as you tuck away the book like a crazed squirrel preparing for the winter. Seriously, rabies shot has to get bumped up on his list of priorities.

"I can look it up," you say dismissively.

Jason's lip starts to curl up in a devious smile. Oh this is gonna be fun. Hastily he transforms it into a look of angelic apology as you glance back up. 

"I'll get us a table there for 7:00 on Friday."

See, the word 'table' is kind of stretching it. Yes, technically its a plank of wood balanced on four legs, but nothing is attached and those four legs happen to belong to two broken chairs. The floors haven't been mopped once in the 30 years since the place has been opened and there's a sticky film of grime coating all the windows. Clientele? All shady customers that Jason's probably sent his underlings after at one point or another. See, Jason's been a rabid dog before too. He understands that sometimes kindness doesn't make an impression but fear? Yeah that shit always leaves its mark. 

Jason arrives on time because he isn't the mannerless heathen you seem to think he is and he aims to disarm, discombobulate, and then disappear. He gives it a generous 20 minutes before he gives you up as a no show, already resigning himself to having to pay the book replacement fee, when suddenly you burst through the door. Every single head in that place snaps to look at the intruder. For some unknown reason, you don't even notice. 

"I—" you say, still trying to catch your breath as you pull out your 'seat' and sit down, "—am so sorry."

Jason aims for offputting as he says, "Oh I don't think you've begun to know the meaning of the word." He grins, one that doesn't quite reach his dead shark eyes. Jason's quite proud of this expression. He's tested it out on quite a few of his goons and opponents this week and it's had a 100% success rate in unsettling people.

Somehow, it all just flies straight over your head. With a reverence you don't seem to hold for anything else, you hand over the book. 

"Thank you— oh my god is that blood?!" you squeal, suddenly clutching the book to your chest.

It is blood, thank you very much. Jason had made sure to wear his very best bloodsplattered and torn shirt for this, thank you very much for finally noticing all the effort he's put into this. 

Tucking the book back in your bag, you lean over the table, starting to pull at the stretched out and torn collar of his shirt to try and see where all the blood is coming from. 

"Okay, we need to get this cleaned up because you do not wanna go out by infection. People always die of infection in dystopian books and you're too pretty to have your nose drop off from gangrene." Your head suddenly swivels to the bar where the owner is polishing a glass that hasn't been clean since 1992. The owner looks away first. "I'm gonna go see if the restaurant has a first aide kit—"

Unable to let those go rapidly downhill any longer, Jason jerks at your wrist before you can take more than a step.

"It's not blood," he lies through gritted teeth and a winning smile. "It's uh, artistic. A print. Like distressed jeans but cooler."

Internally Jason cringes. Is this seriously what he's been reduced to? Not even a few months ago he was kicking down doors and collecting heads in duffel bags, now he's lying about wearing pre-distressed clothes to stop a runaway civilian.

"Oh," you say, sitting down again. "Well the fake blood makes your collarbones look very nice."

Makes his collarbones— what. Jason sucks in a lungful of air to avoid bursting out into manic laughter that would surely get him carted away as a suspected Joker gas victim.

"Thanks," he says, using every once of his training to make his eye stop twitching. "So, the book?"

If he isn't going to achieve his main goal for the night, he'd at least like to achieve his secondary goal and stay on the good side of the GPL librarians. 

You start to hand it over and just as Jason's hands are about to close around it, you snatch it back. Eyes narrowed, you question, "Are you actually going to buy me dinner? You're not just gonna take the book and hoof it? Because you said you would and I've already decided what I want to eat based on the reviews."

All of sudden, Jason gets it. You don't have a single goddamn survival instinct in your body. You're one of those little yappy dogs closer to a rat than a canine that thinks it's on the same playing field as a Doberman. Add in an alarming ability to hyperfocus and the unawareness required to trample over every single boundary of social convention, it's a downright suicidal combination of character traits. With a horrifying realization, Jason realizes that he finds it charming. 

"Yeah," he says in a shattered croak. Seriously, what the fuck has his afterlife come to? "I'm buying you dinner."

You smile then, an actual goddamn smile, and Jason thinks it's one of the nicest smiles he's ever seen. 

"Great! You can read while we eat. I've sticky tabbed the parts that I think you'll enjoy the most — remember this time to take them out before you return it — and then we can discuss the book over dessert."

[emptywires]

OOHHHHH!! TO END THIS POST WITH THE FIRST SENTENCE OF "JACKET"!! THATS SO COOL!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THESE PAST TEN YEARS!! PLEASE CONTINUE YOUR YAPPING TO YOUR HEARTS CONTENT!!

HAPPY TEN YEARS TO THIS BLOG AND JACKET

if you've been here as long as this blog's existence then, know i'm finna yap:

sorry but warning for me and my mental health and my journey here...

smiles i am only human after all <:3 without further ado—

i've put off this post for... many reasons (hoildays, stress, perfectionism, anxiety) but maybe i'll keep this rendition and not chicken out or delete it because it's not perfect?

i really still can't believe i missed the anniversary for this! nov 29th huh? (yes i can actually !!! at the time i had just started a new job and that's where all my willpower has been.) but i fondly remember those ten years ago, that nov 29th is just as close to december anyway. so i always lead myself to think it's dec and not nov! details !!!

i don't think it'd make a difference but i do so want to get this in before the new year... (adding unnecessary stressors to myself smh)

it's been quite a ride through addhell. it's weird... to think how much has happened here. it's insane to think about how this one white hair anime boy changed my live in ways i could never fathom

picture it with me, a no one in a group of friends. with nothing but... the ambition of friendship, and the love of writing to fuel him, and a new username ready to take on the world: mymastermine.

that group of friends holds three: me, my would be DIE, and my would be LP. (does... does anyone remember those days of us three causing chaos laughs - tho mostly two, i suppose) we would make our way into the fandom, make tons of things, meet some people, make things with those people and make friends, lose some people, and grow, grow, grow...

there's just been... so much in ten years. ten years guys !!! that's a lot !!! i was a proud senpai and kouhai all at once! i'd found a really cool sensei. i ran into artists who drew things for me and i wrote for them!

i watched the rise AND fall of void els (raise your hand if you're an oger), in real time watched vMM became a cultural phenomenon (you're lying to yourself if you dont think he was - ykb did something irreversible to the add fandom that day i fear 😂 he's still relevant to this day lmFAO thank ykb for ur service), i watched the top LP/bottom LP debates :/, i'd poked my head into the els tag to see yall fighting but then i'd see some cool things too! i've seen so many cool projects and zines -- hell, got to actually take part in one! (cringe as it was - our writing, not the zine but still proud of doing that !!!)

addcest/hellsword (tumblr) isn't what it use to be though. (hell tumblr itself isn't what it use to be, let's be real LMAO) but... i think that i love that hasn't stopped some of us for cherishing and/or still loving add to this day.

i think if you'd told past me i'd be doing this, writing for one (1) singular anime boy, i wouldn't be surprised - couldn't expect it to go any other way i think

i'm not sure how to feel that ten years later i am still writing for him - it's been quite obvious where i felt it wane (but that was more my life and mental health (was in quite few depressive episodes - still am lmao), and joy - or lack thereof at the times - of writing and placing my joy momentarily elsewhere) but... wow i'm still here? LMAO

but i've met so many amazing people because of him... i've made connections, some not quite lasting, but then... there's always someone else there isn't there?

(i met dez and rain-kouhai for the first time recently! i've met more people for add hell between now and maybe 2-3 years ago! can you imagine that??? people still interacting, still wanting to talk about add - i literally can't! i go on twitter kr/jp and go "wow new add fanart" and feel so lucky !!!)

it's just little joys like this that makes me appreciate such things

i guess what i'm trying to say... thank you add for all the connections i've had and made.

thank you to my original trio

thank you to addhell tumblr... ! (literally would have never known some of yall)

thank you to void els (for gay add marriage lmao but also some more cool friends and mutuals)

thanks discord for hosting gay add ramblings and ao3 for letting me put my gay shit there

thank you - to anyone and everyone who has ever read my work and supported me - friends, mutuals, strangers, anons - and to anyone who's drawn/wrote for or with me! (yes, i think about your comments, your kind words, your support! yes your comment, you!) 😭😭😭 it is the simple act of creating and sharing/encouraging that seriously drives me forward in every word i type... and this alone feels like it's not enough!

but mostly, thank you add, for everything, really

where da hell would this bnuuy be without you?

i was going to... add a more emotional spiel but i think this is good enough, don't nya'll think? :')

"i'm so glad you're still here even after all these past ten years"

you know what? i think i might just be too

thanks for the one whole decade everyone wahoo !!!

-

"they shared a bed together." - jacket, nov 29th 2014

[devosin]

" EX'S WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE JUST EXS " ft. neuvillette, arlecchino, kaveh, kaeya, diluc, childe, thoma, albedo, & ningguang . .

tags: modern au, lovers to exs to lovers (?), mentions of alcohol, bars or whatever, gender neutral reader, self indulgent writing, writing is not proofread, crack taken seriously, heavily indulgent, started writing at 3am ended at 6:15am (I still wasn't done) so some parts may be rushed, arlecchino's part the kids are implied to be still in elementary school, implied honkai star rail crossover, experimenting with this.

NINGGUANG — " everything reminds me of her "

You slammed your glass on the counter, for dramatic effect, although the only thing that got you was a couple stares from the people seated near you, an annoyed side glance from the bartender, serving drinks across from you, and a mess you'd have to clean up later, as your drink splattered across the granite countertop, leaving droplets of cheap beer in it's wake.

"I hope you know, your paying for the glass if it breaks", Diluc says in response to your mini outbursts, and you groaned in response to his amusement, "everything reminds me of her", you sounded almost pained—almost.

The breakup was mutual for the most part, Ningguang and you have chosen to remain as friends, although that's clearly not working in your favor, here.

Being friends with your ex is . . weird; to say the least . . It's not exactly a friendship is it? you both don't exactly do things friends would do, but you're not exactly a couple either, I mean it wasn't just friendly when she called you a couple nights ago, at 3am, after a particularly bad shift, just to vent about work and ask about your day, and maybe it was in your best interest, for you to not pickup that call, but of course you did, because you'd rather die before you set up healthy boundaries for yourself.

And not to mention the day you tried to 'man-up' and draw a wedge by returning her things, and the things she gave you, because yea doing lunch dates with your ex was not very normal, very single, very independent of you. You came to the very not-so shocking realization, that around half of your shift was bought on Ningguang's paycheck, which honestly meant stupid shit like going through your closet and finding shit that she gave you, because oh it fit your style, and she just happened to think of you, which is so cute, so writing a love letter and mailing it out via a pigeon carrier of her.

It gets worse when you go through your room after having returned her things, and find something else that belonged to her, and now you suddenly have a new reason to meet up with her again, and your meetups never seem to get cut short, because all of a sudden she has all the time in the world now that your broken up but when you guys were together she was busy with work?

It got particularly bad when you woke up, already on the wrong side of the bed this morning and realized the face wash you were using, mid using it was one she recommended to you, stupid shit right? Well this has been happening since the breakup, stupid nonsensical things that are now permanently tied to her in your brain. Like the other day, "sharpies . . she liked sharpies", yeah no shit sherlock, everyone uses sharpies. You had to switch to the off-brand version of your pens because of her.

"everything", you repeat your words to further stress the intensity of your pain, "maybe you just need to close your eyes", Diluc responded without blinking an eye, setting the cleaned class aside, it was early in the afternoon, three hours before happy hour, so there was barely anyone in Angel's Share right now, except a few regulars who come early and leave early, your just the loud as fuck oddball right now commanding way too much attention right now.

Just then your phone rings, which perfect timing to knock you out of your little self-pity fest, "shit I'm late", you mumble, sitting up and packing your bag in lighting speed, "how much do I owe?", you ask Diluc, reaching in your bag for you wallet—the bag Ningguang gave you—the bag that was currently a mess.

"It's fine, it's on the house, consider this as . . consolation, for whatever your going through right now", he said, sarcastically, before taking your glass from in front of you, probably to clean or whatever, you didn't have time though, to hold his tone over his head, "where are you going anyway, in such a hurry?"

You pause for a moment, before replying, "Lunch date, with Ningguang", you swear you heard him sigh before you ran out that door.

NEUVILLETTE — " nothing will happen "

Maybe you hated the rain, or maybe you hated who it reminded you of even more, every single time it rained in Fontaine or in any place for that matter, you were stuck reminiscing about Neuvillette and if he was okay.

And it really wasn't your place to ask if he was okay—at the very least, not any more—but every single time you heard the pitter patter of raindrops, like clockwork you'd get this pressing urge to call him, check in on him, maybe even ask him about his day.

It's not like you both ended on bad terms, in contrast, it was the opposite, the breakup was mutual, somewhat, you both were busy people and at the very end of the day it was very little time you guys truly could spend with each other, maybe it was your schedules keeping you both apart, or maybe you were on a business trip and he was busy with his official duties as a judge or whatever, you guys were just so busy, it felt logical to go about your separate ways before things got too serious and one of you both got hurt.

But that's the thing about breakup's, it would hurt regardless, mutual breakup's much more so, you mean to tell me you loved someone and now your just supposed to get fucking over it, how does that even work!

And it's not like you could avoid him, your mutual social circles, and work circles are so intertwined your bound to see him in official gatherings, and it's always a little awkward having to talk business or casual or whatever with the person who knows more about you then some of your friends do.

Like oh you know my deepest darkest trauma's and what my mother said to me as a child and how it altered my brain chemistry forever, but lets forget all that and talk about how investing now is the best time ever and the current socio-economic state of our country.

And it's always a little bit worse when your both tipsy and saw something because the other will linger on those words for so long, like the other day he told you "I love you, I think I always will", while tipsy, and now your just supposed to sit down here, and just . . forget that?

You sigh, sitting on the couch, as you get ready for another weekend filled with excitement (zoning out on your couch with a glass of wine in hand), when your phone rings, and a name that shouldn't make your heart race as much as it does appears on your screen.

And you really shouldn't pick up the phone call, and you really shouldn't answer, your friends are practically yelling at you in your mind, and you could already picture their reactions but—

"hello?"

God he missed your voice, "Hi, y/n."

There was a pause, and the silence shouldn't feel as deafening as it does, but it causes your stomach to sink, just slightly, "how are you?", you ask just to erase the silence, you hated how awkward this felt.

"I'm good, actually—"

The two of you talked way longer then you should've, maybe even opened up a lot more then what is socially deemed acceptable for ex's, but who cared about what was socially acceptable right now? (spoiler alert, you did), and maybe you shouldn't be dressed up right now, and maybe you shouldn't be waiting for him to pick you up as you guys go on an impromptu dinner date, because, wow how shocking, you both haven't ate dinner yet, clearly this is a perfectly acceptable excuse to go get dinner together.

And clearly nothing will happen afterwards, right?

ARLECCHINO — " stay over? "

The two of you have been to this rodeo before, which in simple terms means you've broken up before—so it's not an entire shock—that your friends aren't taking this shit seriously at all, because yeah, how long is this breakup going to last, the last time you held out for a month and even that was a shock.

Because just as fast as that self respect comes to you, it leaves even faster—straight out the window—at the speed of light even. One day you'll wake up, pissed off at how busy she is, or upset over something she said, because the little voice in your head will over-read something to filth, or maybe a petty fight, and that would lead to you both cutting things off, and then a week after you're returning her calls, that you . . swore you wouldn't pick up. (and why the hell is she calling you anyways? That never ends well)

And maybe yeah you will comply with her "can we talk?" message, and maybe yeah you are going to meet-up with her, despite knowing what's going to happen, and yeah maybe you want that to happen, because your stupid ass did miss the women your supposed to forget.

And it's not like you can cut her off entirely . . no, because (un)fortunately you love those stupid kids of hers, and they love you too, and sometimes they'll steal her phone just too text you, asking you to come over and hang out, because one of them is grounded or whatever such reasoning and you'd be a perfect excuse to go outside. And very rarely, they might say they miss you on a call, and that just makes your heart melt, so obviously yeah your going over, despite your good judgement.

And maybe—just maybe—after the kids fall asleep, you'll linger in the house for too long, and you both might stay up talking or . . whatever, and maybe you'll find an excuse to stay over, and maybe just maybe she'll let you.

KAVEH — un-erasable

Kaveh leans back against his chair, the furnished wood creaking under his body pressure—the ink stained papers scattered across his desk now ignored, it held design plans, notes, and a bunch of other important shit that was due for his class . . . correction overdue now, he had asked for an extension that was drawing way too near for his liking, considering his progress.

His headache threatened to rip his head apart, who knew you could be hungover on wine . . and on the day he ran out of eggs for his hangover cure too . . and pain killers, today just wasn't his day, but when was. (he's being dramatic)

He saw you the other day, and you said hi . . then just ignored him (the audacity), to be fair, he didn't make a move to communicate with you either. That's how interactions have gone since you've broken up, either you both got way too into it or just didn't talk at all, and he preferred the former over the later.

He knows so much about you, little shit not everyone focused on, like your favorite pastries, how you prefer warm foods over cold, stupid stuff like that, which now holds a corner of his brain under hostage . . and now he's just gonna have to forget about that? Click alt + delete on all of that shit, and for what, for a petty breakup?

. . Maybe he should call you.

He shouldn't, his friends would kill him for his lack of self respect, which he lost a long time ago anyways.

DILUC — ' midnight calls '

The two of you have broken things off for some time, so it's been a while, and things have fallen somewhat back into place, over time that is.

The two of you don't really see each other, and you don't drink out or go to bars enough for it to be an excuse just to see him, and he doesn't frequent the places you like going too, for it to be an excuse to see you.

It's rare the two of you see each other, your friends don't mix. You both didn't mix well either, so isn't this just perfect? He's gone, and so are you, practically nonexistent.

And when the two of you do meet . . . it's never, without reason.

Yet, sometimes, you guys will see each other, or maybe call.

Late at night when something personal happens and there's no one else to confide in, he'll call you. Because he trusts you, and you like some idiot will pick up, because you know how much he thought about it, before he made that call.

And when you call, he'll pick up in the first ring. And the two of you will talk, like things were normal.

The two of you understand each other, having known the other for so long, he knows how to read you the best, and you in turn. Like magic almost, he'll call you when your upset, send you a text when you need a distraction, maybe he knew you felt that way, that shit about soul ties or whatever.

And one day, when your friends think you're over it, (you aren't, you met up with Diluc to return his shit, and you just haven't been able to pick your mood up since then.), they'll drag you too angel's share, and you'll see him again.

It's really not their fault, you never got around to mentioning that he sometimes went out of his way to pick up shifts at his winery whenever people took days off.

And maybe you'll see him again, and it wouldn't just be his voice your hearing, or a quick 15 minute meet up to return stuff because phone calls and seeing each other in person, really seeing each other in person is different.

And when you get a little too wasted because you choose to drown your feelings, rather then feel it, he'll offer to drive you home, and maybe you'll open up a little too much on the drive home.

And maybe he'll do the same.

KAEYA — " stuck with you (literally) "

Getting over an ex is hard, like really hard, all those memories and all those shared intimate moments, being vulnerable and shit . . . even harder when you both are still living together, like under the same literal roof.

Welcome to the brilliant shit show of a life that is yours, Kaeya and you broke things off around a week ago, and you still have around a month and a half of your lease left, . . which you both have paid for in advance, and since neither of you are giving that up and letting your payment go to waste (especially in the current housing crisis where finding a new apartment on such short notice is already hell), you're stuck with your ex for another month together.

Shit right?

"Fuck my life", you mumble, as Mona quite literally laughs in your fucking face, as you break things down for her, filling her in on everything.

"Couldn't put up with him for another month and a half?", she says, having the audacity to joke about your terrifying, horror story, worthy of a situation, "No, he's insufferable", you added with another sigh, "I cant even sleep at night, his evil presence keeps me awake at night", you add with another sigh, this time more dramatic then the last.

"Yeah, I bet, he keeps you awake at night", she added taking a sip of her overpriced overly complicated iced coffee order, "fuck you??"

But for all your theatrics, things really weren't much different from when you both were together, which . . lowkey has been pissing you off, why is he so unaffected by all this?, here you Robin's last album on loop in your headphones and he was causally doing work, and reading?? He could read?? (maybe he's unaffected because someone actually replaced Kaeya in his sleep and that's why he's so normal about this, because that's your only logical reasoning.)

And when he's not acting like this is completely normal, he's acting like he did when you guys were together, and maybe that shouldn't make your heart flutter, like how he made you coffee and stuff before he left for his shift the other day, and remembered the make it just how you like it, and yes that is the bare fucking minimum but you were weak, weak and pathetic, your friends would not be proud.

Or maybe he'll say a flirty comment that will have your heart fluttering, and obviously that comes naturally to him, Kaeya is a natural flirt, which pisses you off. Another reason to stay mad at him and not cave under zero pressure.

And sometimes you'll flirt back, and then your friends will shame you with a shame circle.

And then right after that, to add salt into the wound, that man, with the infuriating shit-eating grin will compliment you for something you do, or how you look, and your heart will beat like you just did a 5k, which you should be doing instead of sitting hear falling for just about 0 effort, because this is just naturally coming to him.

You may or may not last the one and a half month, it's truly a challenge you've left up to Celestia, because Archons knows you've caved and given up already.

THOMA — no one knows you've broken up

The two of you broke things off around a month ago . . except, you guys didn't really announce that you guys broke it off, the two of you did mention it, briefly in passing. During conversations when the two of your friends mentioned you both in passing. (did I mention your friend groups are very tied to one another?)

The two of you just didn't want to drag a lot of attention to your relationship being over, and make things awkward for the others . . . which is the excuse and hill you both are choosing to die on, in reality neither of you would like to truly acknowledge that things were over, because admitting it to everyone fully, is like solidifying things were over.

And you both were kind of okay with things right now, not exactly over but not exactly so, as well.

The two of you talk, things are fine, a few passing comments here and there, maybe a few flirty jokes, drunk I miss you's, avoiding eye contact at friendly meet-up's and events.

It was fine, really.

It was the best course of action for you both, he liked staying in one place and you liked travelling, and with no compromise in sight, it just felt okay to break things off, a easy solution, your goals didn't match.

But that didn't really change your feelings for each other, the logical reasoning was to leave, and you both did break things off.

However, when the two of you make eye contact, maybe even those lingering touches, and jokes that seem way too specific to be just a joke . . that you guys share to one another, is this really the outcome you both want?

Maybe not—especially not when, you get a little too happy when someone on the streets assumes your still together . . or the little smile on his face as people question when are you both going to tie the knot.

CHILDE — " lets hit it back for a rerun "

You guys have broken up, totally, officially this time and not just for shits and giggles, and maybe you guys still go out to functions together, and maybe you guys still like to hang around each other, why the hell not, your both great company, and hell, you guys both know each others interests really well, likes and dislikes, it's practically written in the stars or whatever for you guys to hang.

And so what if you guys flirt from time to time, joke about getting back together, and maybe spill a few I miss you's when your almost black out drunk, because that's totally normal, it's like when you get drunk and say "I love you" to your friends—because that's what he is, a friend.

And maybe, it's a little weird for you both to get jealous when someone else hits on either of you guys at the bar, and maybe he did cross a boundary, when he pushed that dude who was getting a little too touchy off of you—and maybe, it was a little far-fetched and totally in violation of your boundaries or whatever to drag you out of there, and tell you . .

"Is that the best you could do?", he mumbled under his breath, as he checked you over, almost like you could've gotten injured, when he's the one who picked a petty fight with the guy you were talking too, who yea did get a little handsy, but you weren't stopping him, you would've if he went any further.

"Excuse me?", you reply back in tone, adding snark to your tone, because clearly you needed the upper-hand in this argument, (did I mention he got you kicked out of the bar), "I mean if your going to go after someone, then at least try and pick someone who could one-up me", he says, in tune, his words having a slight edge to it, that just ticked you off, and suddenly you remembered why the two of you broke it off, no one could grind your gears more then the person in front of you.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean", you asked, quieter this time, trying not to press a fight this late into the night, because you weren't gonna be the one who said something they regretted in the morning.

"Plus why were they even hitting on you, when we haven't even gone public about breaking up", he mumbled to himself, completely ignoring your question, "You can't seriously be jealous over this", you asked, "well I'm, what are you gonna do about it?"

"—well", he cut you off before you could finish, and maybe yeah he did kiss you . . . and maybe you kissed him back, what about it.

ALBEDO — resident nonchalant dread-head

Your friends really hated him, and I mean despised him, they called him emotionally unavailable, and their first coarse of action after the breakup was to subtly jab at him in order to make you feel better, which never really worked.

Sure he was a little expressionless, and maybe that was something you liked about him, how difficult it was for other people to get a reaction out of him, because it made you feel all the more better when he did smile at you, or show you a side of himself that others would not see, or have the privilege of knowing. You liked being special, and in a way you were.

Needless to say the breakup broke you up, and it wasn't mutual in the slightest, in fact it was completely out of the blue on your end, and for the first month you were a wreck, I mean you met the guys family for fucks sake, and you still get along with his sister, who hasn't seemed to get the memo about you two being over, Klee is truly an angel (not) and your not breaking the news to her or cancelling the plans you had with her (because who does that to a fucking kid).

But things got weirder over time, to Albedo suddenly crashing in on your playdates with Klee, to getting jealous openly over things like you talking to other men, but it was subtle, so much so if you commented on it you'd sound insane, because like yeah the resident nonchalant dread-head who broke up with you is getting jealous, yea (name), we believe you.

And then that eventually turned into playfully flirting, which boiled over into you both agreeing to be friends, and friends casually hang out all the time right? So you guys started casually hanging out again, and so what if he sometimes got you things that were a little too expensive to be causal friend gifts, and maybe yeah he did pull up to your house with flowers, and maybe yeah you both do go out together, but you guys were still just being friends. (Your not making the first move after getting broken up with first, no this shits on him).

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