#he has a bunk bed but the bottom bunk is a desk since he has no siblings

[kacey-dias]

Lil Noah doodle. He has a couple of cat instincts he acts upon, especially sitting in high places.

[spicykaraage]

Tenipuri Complete Character Profile - Eiji Kikumaru

[PROFILE]

Birthday: November 28th (Sagittarius)

Blood Type: A

Relatives: Grandfather, Grandmother, Father, Mother, Two Older Brothers, Two Older Sisters, Dog, Parrot (Taichi), Guppy [TP]

Father’s Occupation: Company Employee (newspaper reporter)

Elementary School: Hikarigaoka Elementary School

Middle School: Seishun Academy Junior High School

Grade & Class: Third Year | Class 3-6 | Seat 7

Club: Tennis Club (Regular)

Committee: None

Strong Subjects: Japanese History

Weak Subjects: English

Frequently Visited Spot at School: Gym

Favorite Motto: “See which way the cat jumps.” ➜ “If you can be a cat, you can be a tiger.” [TP]

Daily Routines: Fighting with his siblings over what channel to watch

Hobbies: Visiting pet shops, brushing his teeth

Favorite Color: Red

Favorite Music: J-Pop

Favorite Movie: Anime, Fantasy films

Favorite Book: Idol magazines (Morning Star [TP])

Favorite Food: Fluffy omelettes, tender fried shrimp, crunchy shaved ice

Favorite Anniversary: May 22nd

Preferred Type: A cheerful girl, a girl he can laugh with ➜ A girl he can laugh with all the time [TP]

Ideal Date Spot: Amusement park ➜ A zoo with meerkats [TP]

His Gift for a Special Person: “The fluffy loungewear that I wear too!”

Where He Wants to Travel: Koganezaki Park

What He Wants Most Right Now: A new knit hat ➜ A koala stuffed animal [23.5]

Dislikes: Going to the bathroom at night, changing clothes during the winter [23.5]

Skills Outside of Tennis: Cooking, fly-swatting, collecting bugs, completing capsule toy sets [TP]

Spends Allowance On: Saving money to buy rare sneakers

Routine During the World Cup: Hanging out in everyone’s rooms

[DATA]

Height: 171cm

Weight: 52kg ➜ 53kg [23.5]

Shoe Size: 24.5cm

Dominant Arm: Right

Vision: 1.0 Left | 0.8 Right

Play Style: Serve & Volleyer

Signature Moves: Diving Volley, Acrobatic Play Style, Kikumaru Beam, Kikumaru Bazooka, Kikumaru Seal Step

Time Spent on Endurance Training: Four hours a day

Favorite Brands:

Racket: WILSON (Slash DT Mid)

Shoes: DUNLOP (Revelation Pro Tour Series 90)

Fitness Test Results:

Sidesteps: 67

Shuttle Run: 120

Back Strength: 129kg

Grip Strength: 48kg

Backbend: 67cm

Seated Forward Bend: 52.8cm

50m Run: 6.62 seconds

Standing Long Jump: 246cm

Handball Throw: 31.5m

Endurance Run (1500m): 4:48

Overall Rating: Speed: 4 / Power: 2 / Stamina: 4 / Mental: 2 / Technique: 4 / Total: 16

Kurobe Memo: “Kikumaru has a strong heart because he recognizes the difference between friendship and sympathy. If possible, I’d like to see him take steps to better himself.” [RB]

[POSSESSIONS]

What’s in His Bedroom [10.5]:

His giant teddy bear “Daigorou”

Bookshelf // He’s bought a lot of various items that are left sitting on it since he forgets to discard them

Outlet extender // His TV, MD stereo and hair dryer are all plugged into it

Bunk bed // He sleeps on the top bunk, his older brother sleeps on the bottom and both of their clothes are stored beneath the bed

His older brother’s desk // Their parents changed it from a study desk to an office desk when his brother entered high school. Both him and his brother use it for studying

What’s in His Bag [10.5]:

Writing supplies // He has them just in case even though it’s unlikely he’ll use them

Toothbrush kit // He always carries it with him

A snack // Calbee JagaRico. He brings a snack on days when there’s practice since he gets hungry afterward

MP3 player // He listens to the latest trending music on his way to and from school

Hair wax // Mod’s Hair brand

Hairbrush // It takes him about 3 minutes to fix his hairstyle with hair wax

Bandages // It’s a mystery as to why he always wears them…

Playing cards // He carries them to show off any magic tricks he’s learned

[TRIVIA]

The Prince of Tennis 10.5 Fanbook | Publication Date: 11/02/2001

He likes food meant for children and was always given children’s food at restaurants due to him being the youngest of five siblings

He likes sweets and dislikes spicy food

He loves brushing his teeth and is particular of the type of toothpaste he uses. He has his own toothpaste that is separate from his family

His entire family cooks and he is good at cooking as well. He specializes in making egg-based dishes, particularly omelets

He is known to be very positive and always tries being cheerful

He and Oishi always have review meetings when they lose a match

Konomi developed Kikumaru’s phrases and speech from phrases he heard when he was a child

Konomi came up with his name since he thought a name with “-maru” in it would be cute

Konomi gave him cat-like qualities since he wanted him to be a whimsical character

He had lost many matches prior to the main storyline

He and Oishi have been an official doubles pair since they were second years

His hairstyle is not natural, he styles his hair every morning with hair wax

His parrot has a habit of saying “hey, Eiji!” because of his mother and older sister

He is good at swatting flies due to his excellent vision

His personality is described as being bright, cheerful and always smiling, but may also tire out from all the excitement

Konomi describes him as a “natural character.” Not cool nor heroic, just a normal, natural young man

The Prince of Tennis 20.5 Fanbook | Publication Date: 12/04/2003

He will clearly express his emotions

People of all ages are easily endeared by him and will even admire him

He is described to be suited for professions such as being a model, entertainer or childcare worker

He is very pampered in his family due to him being the youngest child, and he gained his lighthearted personality from it

His secondary sport would be gymnastics

The Prince of Tennis 40.5 Fanbook | Publication Date: 12/04/2007

His spirit animal is a salamander

He was more frivolous and would dawdle when he was younger, but has greatly matured since then

He has built up his stamina due to him doing low oxygen training

He is actually bad with technology and doesn’t even know how to record a video. When he went to the gym, he would constantly ask the staff how to use the machines

He is unsure of how many times he can duplicate himself, but wants to reach 100

Konomi states he is the most similar to his own tennis playing style

He is the character Konomi would like to be a part of his family since he’s cheerful and fun

The Prince of Tennis II Official Character Guide: PairPuri Vol. 1 | Publication Date: 11/04/2009

He is shown having a personal cell phone and showing Shiraishi Zaizen’s blog despite his previous information stating he is bad with technology

The Prince of Tennis II Official Character Guide: PairPuri Vol. 4 | Publication Date: 02/04/2010

He is fine playing doubles with a different partner, stating that he and Oishi will always be the Golden Pair regardless

He came up with his current hairstyle from growing out his hair and tampering with it

He and his family argue over which TV channel to watch, he has won only three times and wants to keep it a secret

He is happiest playing tennis when Oishi scores a perfect point

When asked what he struggles with at home, he replies that there’s nothing and that his large family is easier to handle than school

When asked who he struggles with in the club, he replies with Oishi when he’s not playing tennis since he finds him too serious

Konomi named him after a friend he had in his middle school tennis club, “Haremaru”

Konomi created his acrobatic play style to be different from normal tennis, and wanted to express it in an animalistic or feline way

Konomi states Kikumaru isn’t too fond of Tezuka, and tries not to get too close to him. He is also aware he has never drawn the two having a conversation

Konomi states Kikumaru’s appearance may not change much since he wants to depict him as a real-life middle school student

One of His School Days:

5:50am - Is woken up by his brother

6:00am - On breakfast duty

6:50am - Goes to school, morning practice

8:40am - 1st Period: Art

9:40am - 2nd Period: Social Studies (Japanese history)

11:00am - 3rd Period: PE (basketball)

12:00pm - Math III

12:50pm - Lunch, eats homemade bentos with Oishi in his classroom

1:20pm - 5th Period: Science III (chemistry)

2:20pm - 6th Period: English (grammar)

3:20pm - English supplementary course

4:00pm - Voluntary training, helps guide the underclassmen

5:30pm - Returns home after shopping for dinner

6:00pm - Helps with dinner

7:00pm - Plays a video game (one hour a day)

8:30pm - Takes an evening walk

10:00pm - Returns home, bathes, watches dramas and variety shows

11:30pm - Goes to bed

The Prince of Tennis II Official Character Guide: PairPuri Vol. 6 | Publication Date: 06/03/2011

He, Tezuka and Fuji are shown having a chat with Yamato and appears surprised over the latter’s changed appearance

The Prince of Tennis II 10.5 Fanbook | Publication Date: 09/04/2013

He exchanges messages with his family everyday. However, he struggles responding since his family’s quite large

The Prince of Tennis II 23.5 Fanbook | Publication Date: 05/02/2018

Oishi had lended him 80 yen the day before the metropolitan tournament since he had went to him crying over not having enough money to buy a new pair of shoes he wanted

The Prince of Tennis 20th Anniversary Book: Tenipuri Party | Publication Date: 08/02/2019

Aside from playing tennis, he has gotten into parkour after watching a video about it

[dreamy625]

This rockstar life - 4.2 On the road again

Words: 3580

Content: One scene is, um, smut-adjacent

This rockstar life master list

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

After three days of trying to adjust to the time change while wandering bleary-eyed around the city, and several times phoning the hotel front desk to ask what time, and what day, and, on one particularly confusing… morning?… what year, it was, Steve and Alice meet the rest of the band in the Perth Entertainment Centre car park to begin their old-school touring experience.

“So it’s me and Karla, you two, and Phylis in that one,” Joe, who always loves a clipboard, waves it in the direction of one of the grey-with-blacked-out-windows buses parked behind them, “and the rhythm section in the other. And Menschy’s going in with you when we get to Melbourne…”

Karla raises her finely plucked eyebrows in surprise, “Peter’s slumming it on a bus?”

“Yeah, I said if we had to do it, there was no way he was getting to jet around and stay in swanky hotels!”

“Great, so we get the adult supervision,” mutters Rick, sharing an eye-rolling expression with Sav.

“…and Ross’ll come in with us, also from Melbourne. So make sure you leave him a bunk free.”

“Probably piss in the sink again,” mutters Phil under his breath.

“If you’re all quite done griping, grab your stuff and let’s get loaded up.”

“YES SIR. RIGHT AWAY SIR.” The two guitarists salute and high-step their way over to the van that has brought their luggage from the hotel.

Joe shakes his head as he watches most of the group straggle off behind them, with the exception of Rick who has wandered off in the opposite direction. It’s going to be a long ten days.

At the top of the steps, Karla stops and turns around, “So, bus rules…”

“No shitting! No singing! No garlic!” chant the three boys in unison.

“And no groupies!” adds Joe, pointedly in Phil’s direction.

“Hey, I’m a respectable married man I’ll have you know.”

“Yeah, but you’re unsupervised and we know what you’re like.” Phil attempts to adopt an angelic expression. It's not very convincing.

“Bagsy next to the lounge!” calls Joe, slinging his rucksack onto the upper of two stacked bunks.

“Bagsy far away from Joe’s snoring!” laughs Phil, springing up into the one diagonally opposite.

“Since Ross isn’t here to argue, we can give him the one next to the bathroom, so I guess these are ours.” Steve turns to Alice, “Do you want the top or bottom?”

“I don’t know. I’m an only child, I’ve never even slept in a bunk bed!”

“You get more swaying at the top, but more road noise at the bottom,” Phil chips in helpfully.

“Also obviously you have to climb up and down for the top one.”

“Would that be easier for you? As you’re tall?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Promise you won’t drop things on me though.”

“I’m promising nothing,” says Steve with a grin as he puts one foot on the steps and swings himself up with surprising grace. “Ahh, this brings back memories,” he muses, settling back on the pillow.

Alice ducks into the compartment designated her home for the duration. “Wow, they really are tiny.”

“You’re lucky we get the luxury ones these days. Back in the day, it was three bunks stacked up, not just two,” notes Phil.

“They were like actual coffins, you had to kind of slither in sideways.”

“It’s alright for you shortarses, I don’t fit in ’em whatever,” says Joe gloomily.

Everybody has now climbed in to test their chosen beds and have their heads poking out through the curtains, except for Joe who has his legs dangling out instead.

“Oh yeah, that’s another thing - watch out for Joe’s feet sticking out if you’re walking through at night.”

“I don’t want details, but how did you manage to, um, entertain groupies in these?” asks Alice.

“Ah, we were younger and bendier in those days,” reminisces Phil with a wistful expression.

“To be honest,” says Steve looking down at her with a serious expression, defending his honour, “it didn’t happen all that much. All of us crammed on the one bus, nobody wants an audience.”

“Except Phil!”

Phil flicks his middle finger in the direction of the dangling feet and disembodied voice.

Oblivious to the gesture, Joe groans, “Ugh, my back hurts already.” He drops down out of the bunk. “I’m going to find Sav, you coming?” This last part is directed at Karla, who nods and follows him out. “Soundcheck at three, don’t be late!” he calls behind him.

“And I’m going for a run,” says Phil, digging around in his duffel bag, “You’re welcome to join me?”

“Ha!” says Steve, and Alice just giggles.

Phil heads for the front of the bus, shaking his head at the laziness of his companions.

Alice twists her head to look up at Steve. “You going to be lonely up there on your own?”

Steve makes a sad puppydog face, “You can always visit for a cuddle.”

Phil’s voice comes from the front lounge, “If you’re gonna shag in there, the bottom bunk is usually less rattly. And missionary’s your best option. No room for any kinky stuff!”

“Thanks for the tip, mate." Looking back at Alice, Steve waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

“Haha, no thankyou.” She stands up and gives him a kiss. “Come on, let’s go do something Australian before soundcheck.”

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

It’s 1am by the time the three artist buses (B.B. Steal’s vehicle crammed with not just the whole band and their manager, but also a number of fans of the female and scantily-clad variety) and the first of the crew buses set off on the long, long drive to Adelaide. It will be an even later departure, after completing a four-hour load-out, for the rest of the roadcrew and the eight equipment trucks. On the Joe-bus at least, with the aftereffects of jetlag and two hours of running around a sweaty stage, no one is really in the mood to party; once the shuffling up and down for teeth-cleaning and hair-brushing purposes is done, all is quiet.

Sometime later, Steve wakes from a confusing dream where he is on the High ‘n’ Dry tour but in Ozzy’s band instead of Leppard, to the muffled sound of fast breathing from somewhere on the bus. With his brain still half in 1981, his first thought is to wonder who got lucky. But then he recognises that those are not noises of ecstasy but of fear, and it’s coming from directly below him. Instantly wide-awake, he rolls out of his bunk, drops to a crouch, and yanks back the curtain of Alice’s bed. All he can see in the faint glow of the walkway lighting is a huge pair of frightened eyes above an open mouth gasping for air. He reaches in and cradles her head.

“What’s the matter?”

“Roof… too close… can’t breathe…” is all that Alice can manage.

“It’s okay. You’re okay. Just a panic attack.” With one hand each side of her face, he turns her head towards him. “Just focus on me. Now breathe in… and out… and in… and ooout… and in…” He hears someone stir and mutter in one of the other compartments, so he lowers his voice to a whisper “…aaand ooout…”

Gradually Alice’s breathing slows, and when he asks if she’s okay, she nods.

“I didn’t know you were claustrophobic.”

“Neither did I,” she replies with a wan smile. “I just woke up and felt like I was trapped, like the ceiling was coming down on me.”

“Do you want to swap? The top one might feel less of a box, because the roof slopes. Or you can share it with me?”

“Is there room?”

“Sure, you’re titchy.”

Trying to stay as quiet as possible, he helps her to climb into the upper compartment and, with a bit of shifting around, they find a way to fit around one another. Eventually Alice drifts off to sleep lulled by Steve’s steady heartbeat.

“Rise and shine matey! First stop’s in ten minutes.” Pulling back the curtain on Steve’s bunk, Joe is surprised to see not just the expected blond head but a brunette one as well. “Oops! Sorry guys, didn’t know you were… busy!” He gives a dirty chuckle.

Steve, not a morning person at the best of times, protests, “We were sleeping.”

Alice waves vaguely in Joe’s direction before putting the hand over her eyes. Lying with her head on Steve’s chest - so, given the size of the compartment, basically on top of him - had turned out to be the only arrangement that allayed the claustrophobia. It had been comforting but not exactly conducive to a good night’s sleep.

Still smirking, Joe rattles the curtain back into place and moves on to wake Phil.

“Sorry sweetie,” Alice whispers when Joe’s footsteps have receded down the bus, “this cannot have been comfy for you.”

“‘S fine. Nothing to do today but watch the scenery go by. Napping is part of the schedule. We’d better get up now though if you want to use the bathroom at the service station. Remember rule one!”

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

“Why is it so fucking cold on this bus?”

Alice, who had been reading in their bunk until her boyfriend stomped into the sleeping quarters and started rifling through their luggage, answers, “Air conditioning. You’ve been complaining the last three days that it was too hot. Maybe they finally found the cold button?”

There is some unintelligible muttering from the depths of the 'junk bunk' and then, “And I can’t find a jumper.”

“Probably in the luggage bay. Didn’t think we’d need jumpers in a tin can in one of the hottest places on earth! Come on, come up here under the covers.”

Steve kicks his shoes off, clambers up into the bunk and settles into the narrow space, lying arms folded with the duvet pulled up to his chin.

“I’m so sick of being trapped in this bloody box. Flying’s bad enough, but at least it’s quicker.” He glances across at Alice, who is lying propped up on one elbow watching him with an amused expression. “What?”

Alice smiles, “You are such a spoiled brat!”

“I am not,” says Steve huffily.

“Look at you, all pouty.” She leans forward and kisses first the protruding lower lip, and then the little frowning crease between his eyebrows.

“They’re supposed to look after us properly,” he grumbles, but less vehemently.

“Because you are an artiste,” says Alice with mock seriousness.

Involuntarily, the corners of his mouth twitch up. “Yes, ackcherly.”

“Are you warmed up now?”

“Mmm? Yes, much better.” He wriggles into a slightly more relaxed position.

"And are you done being spiky?"

"Spiky? I'm not spiky. It was a justified complaint."

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

Joe is woken by a loud thump and some swearing. “Everyone okay out there?” he calls.

“Yup, no problem,” comes back in an indistinct male voice. This is followed by giggling and shushing noises.

Joe squeezes his eyes shut and makes a concerted effort to ignore whatever’s going on. He needs sleep and does not have the patience for any shenanigans at this time of night.

The following morning while attempting to achieve full consciousness over cups of coffee, Joe notices Steve wincing and flexing his fingers.

“You alright there mate?”

“Fine, fine. I’ll be able to play, no problem.”

On closer examination, there is also a large bruise blooming on his right elbow. Joe sighs, “Go on, what happened?”

“I… fell out of my bunk.” Both he and Alice are looking distinctly sheepish, not looking at Joe or each other.

“What were you doing? Or do I not want to know?”

“Nothing like that!” Steve points an accusing finger at Alice, “She tickled me!”

“You started it!”

“Only because your hair was tickling my nose!”

“Not on purpose!”

Joe leans his head in his hands, “Oh god, as if the Terror Twins weren’t bad enough, now we’ve got the Tickle Twins. A whole new form of shared stupidity.”

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

When Alice wakes it is still dark and the bus is purring along straight and smooth, so she surmises they must still be on the highway enroute to Melbourne. She’s used to the sound and the motion now, so it can’t have been that that disturbed her. Maybe just the discomfort of lying in one position, with her boyfriend’s bony chest as a pillow, for too long? After just one more night attempting to sleep in their separate beds, which resulted in Alice lying awake for hours worrying about having another panic attack, and Steve lying awake for hours listening for any signs of Alice having another panic attack, they had resigned themselves to sharing one bunk for the rest of the trip. It’s a tight fit for two people, even two skinny people, so they have not been the most restful of nights. Trying to ease the soreness in her hip, she wriggles the leg that is wrapped around Steve but encounters a slight… obstacle… and lets out a little ‘oops’ in surprise. There is a low chuckle in response - Steve is clearly awake too.

“You, um, okay there, sweetie?” she whispers.

“Feel like I’ve been trying to sleep with a hard-on for a week now!” he replies in a low gravelly voice.

Alice stifles a giggle.

“It’s not funny.” But she can tell from the flash of teeth visible in the low greyish light from the walkway lights showing through the curtain that he’s grinning as he says it.

“Poor baby,” she murmurs with her lips moving against the exposed skin just below his collarbone.

“Stoppit! You’re not helping!” hisses Steve.

“Am I not?” She flutters her fingers where they rest against his ribs just under the hem of his t-shirt, “Sorry.”

He makes a little frustrated growl in response.

“Sorrysorrysorry. I’ll stop.” After a minute of silent stillness she whispers conversationally, “Is this the longest we’ve ever not had sex?”

“No, because we’ve been apart for weeks at a time before. But this is definitely the longest we’ve laid on top of each other and not done it!”

“We’ll be in Sydney in… three days? Then we’ll have a hotel room. That’s not… so long… to wait?”

Steve is trailing his hand gently up and down her back, and three days actually, kinda, seems like a long time now she says it.

“I guess not,” he sighs.

There is another pause, and Steve tries to turn his mind to less interesting topics. Which is not easy with a warm, soft body pressed to his. He can smell her familiar scent, like incense and jasmine, now mixed with a hint of coconut from sunscreen. With effort he drags his reluctant brain away from matters of the flesh and on to chord progressions, trying to hear the music in his head. Now how does the bridge in ‘Have you ever needed someone so bad’ go? The song title is not helping either.

Alice pipes up again, “I’ve never done it on a bus.”

“Not much opportunity on the 414 to Hyde Park Corner.”

“But you have?”

“Long time ago. In my wild younger days.”

“How does it work? Logistically speaking?”

“Well, like this.”

He gently tips Alice over onto her side, reaching down to hook her leg over his hip.

Feeling his erection, poking out of his boxers, now nestled neatly between her thighs, Alice blows out a little puff of air in an ‘oh’ and murmurs, “Yes, I can see that… um… all fits nicely.” She rocks her hips back and forth, just as an experiment.

Steve’s breath catches and he mutters into her hair, “This is torture.”

“D’you think anyone else is awake?”

“I can’t hear anything…”

Alice tilts her face up to him and, warm breath tickling his neck, whispers, “We could be very, very, quiet?”

Stroking his hand up her thigh, he murmurs, “We shouldn’t…”

Sliding her hand further under his shirt and brushing a thumb across his nipple, she agrees, “We mustn’t…”

Steve lets out a breathy moan and Alice smothers it in a kiss.

Across the aisle, Phil pulls his pillow over his head and prays for a quick conclusion.

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

Ross’s arrival to join the tour is announced by a sudden flash of light from the open door of the bus, which makes Joe jump and spill his cereal, followed by a cackle and the words ‘that’s a keeper’. The resulting picture - Steve, wearing boxers and sunglasses, with tufts of hair escaping from the plait Alice does for him every night, scratching his arse while staring into the fridge - surfaces some weeks later adorning Steve’s laminate for the Madison Square Garden gig, with the moniker ‘Sex symbol’.

“We ready then boys? I’ve scouted some great locations.”

Joe squints at his watch, “It’s nine-thirty?”

“I know.”

“In the morning?”

“We’ve already missed the best light, better get going pronto.”

Steve, until this point seemingly frozen in place in front of the fridge by the flashbulb, lets out a groan and flops into a seat, dropping his head onto the table.

Ross reaches over and pulls the sunglasses down the slumped man’s nose. After a moment considering the reddened eyes underneath, he pushes them back up, “Yeah, best keep those on.”

Joe stands and slings his bowl into the sink, “I’m gonna get my towel and go shower in the venue.” He disappears into the sleeping quarters, shouting “Phil-o! Shake a leg. Some weirdo wants to take photos of you!” as he walks past the still-closed bunk on his way out.

A few minutes later Phil, looking like a newly-hatched chick, emerges, rubbing his eyes. “Oh, hey Ross. Or should I say g’day?”

The photographer turns his camera from capturing the detritus scattered around the galley sink and focuses on the sleep-crumpled guitarist, “Ready for your closeup Mr Collen?”

“Absolutely, give me twenty seconds.”

Phil pops a couple of slices of bread in the toaster and removes the carton of orange juice from Steve’s unresisting hand to pour a glass for each of them and one for Ross. “So where we going then?”

“Well, there’s a national park quite near - the hills would make a dramatic backdrop…”

A groan emanates from the vicinity of the tabletop. “He doesn’t like hills,” translates Phil.

“…and obviously we have to do some beach shots to get the full Aussie atmosphere…”

Another groan. “He doesn’t like sand either. Or sunshine. It’s the freckles, he tends to blotch.”

“…and I’ve found a scrapyard that’ll be great for a really gritty nighttime shoot…”

They both turn expectantly to the grumbling blond head - silence.

“Apparently that one’s fine?” hazards Phil.

“Or he’s fallen asleep.”

Phil wafts a slice of the just-popped toast in front of Steve’s face. There is no reaction. “You could be right. I’ll get Alice. Steve-whispering is her job now.”

“Help yourself to toast,” he calls over his shoulder, “and there’s loads of beans…”

The shoot is the usual mix of shouted instructions and semi-successful attempts at following them. “Chin up, Joe.” “Stop pouting, Sav.” “Rick, turn to the left.” “No, your left.” “The other left.” “Get back here, Collen.” “Chin down, Joe.” “Clark, you look like your dog died.” “Less flirty, Sav.” “No, actually, more flirty!” “Chin up, Joe.” “Collen… where’s…? COLLEN! GET OUT OF THE SEA!”

Getting pictures of the show proves just as entertaining. Ross, quite understandably, refuses to hang from the lighting rig this time and instead scampers around the understage area, popping up out of the stairways like a gopher to snap whichever band member is passing at the time. Phil and Joe regard this as a giant game of photographer-whac-a-mole, aiming a kick, in jest of course, at the camera everytime it emerges in their vicinity. Sav, who doesn’t enjoy surprises, is less keen and all the photos taken of him look startled! And Steve’s habit of galloping around the stage without looking where he’s going almost spells disaster with a collision that sends the two artists and the tools of their trades flying! The show crashes to a halt as the rest of the band rush to help, finding, thank goodness, the two men lying in a tangled heap of limbs, strings, and scattered lenses, laughing too hard to get up! One camera down and a bruise the size of, he claims, a dinnerplate on his arse, Ross declares his assignment over and adds danger money to the Q Prime invoice.

Photos which were mysteriously rejected from inclusion in the behind-the-scenes tour booklet included:

Sav buying the entire stock of Tim Tams at a servo

Steve’s kangaroo impression

Karla and Stacy getting chatted up by two buff-looking surfer dudes

Rick flashing his arse in the bus window

Joe with curlers in his fringe

Steve drawing a moustache on Phil while he’s sleeping

Phil drawing a cock and balls on Steve’s forehead while he’s sleeping

Joe wearing a balaclava while he’s sleeping

Sav and Dara dancing to Achy Breaky Heart in the car park outside the National Tennis Centre

Alice sitting in Steve's lap, plucking his eyebrows with intense concentration

Rick balanced on one leg and using the other foot to hold a tomato while he slices it with a six-inch knife, entirely insouciant despite being stood in the galley of a bus moving at 70mph

Joe throwing Phil’s harmonica out of the window

Joe’s face when Phil pulls a second harmonica out of his pocket

Peter threatening to clout Ross with a didgeridoo if he takes any more stupid pictures

[zannolin]

@define-lying replied to your post “writing my fics and planning the notes in advance...”:

Wait I’ve always been confused about this because of the scene in the first movie where the boys hide in Darla’s room and she learns the secret. Was there another bed in the room that I missed? Where was Mary during that scene? Genuinely would love your insight

​yes SO. i have two pieces of evidence for this and if you really wanted it to, it could go either way but i will discuss that shortly. so exhibit A, we have this passage in the shazam junior novel (chapter 8) which originally planted the thought in my mind:

They could hear Rosa coming up the stairs. There was no time- no way they'd make it to Freddy's room. Billy opened the first door they came to, yanking Freddy in behind him and slamming it shut. He turned around, heart hammering, and there, in the darkened room, was Darla. She was sitting up in bed, staring at them, her eyes wide with fear. In the other bed, Mary slept soundly, earplugs in and eye mask on. "Billy? Freddy?" Rosa called from the hallway. They heard her footsteps pass Darla and Mary's door and head farther back toward Freddy's room.

(they do explain why she doesn't wake up during this scene and yes it's because of the mask and earplugs and personally i thought it was hilarious)

so there's that, of course, and we'll come back to the canonicity of this momentarily. there's also exhibit B: the deleted scene of darla and billy having a tea party, wherein you can see a second bed (and two desks) in darla's room:

this bed is not visible at all during the main scene in darla's room so i actually thought the room was much smaller than it actually is. it's hard for me to make out some of the details because youtube quality but i'm not really seeing anything that's explicitly mary's, but the entire room DOES look lived in so take that as you will.

NOW. this can go either way for a couple reasons. first, the junior novel is arguably not canon. some events are changed towards the end, and it follows the earlier/alternate version of sivana's backstory from the deleted scenes. the wizard also like straight up dies, but then again it really seemed like he did in the original before fotg so i'll cut that some slack. however, this is dc we're talking about. doesn't everyone just cherrypick canon from the comics anyway? jk but really i do what i want. secondly, there's also the argument of the canonicity of deleted scenes, but i feel like that's kind of neither here nor there for this one since it seems to have just been cut for runtime or something, not because it alters the story in any way. thirdly you could just make the argument that there happens to be another bed in darla's room for purposes of, idk, taking more kids in at some future point, because there's actually two sets of bunk beds in billy and freddy's room.

i will elaborate on this because i've been wanting to talk about it for ages but could never find an excuse. you can see in the first scene in the room that one set is to the right of the door upon entering, are parallel to each other, and pretty low to the ground:

while the billy sneaks out scene shows the ones they sleep on has the bottom one perpendicular to the top. you can see in the scene where the kids come in after victor tells him off that billy is sitting on this bottom bunk, and the beds are placed across from the door, in the corner of the room we don't really see much in any other scenes, which is why it's not something i caught on my first or second watch:

sidenote this room is shaped so weirdly my brain cannot comprehend it. also did anyone else notice his fully packed backpack sitting there on the bed? he was totally gonna run after this :) anyway if you pay attention you can see they're a lot taller than the other set; they actually stand next to them when freddy is showing billy his batarang. more unnecessary shots to prove my point (note how you can see the unused set in the background):

point being if you wanted to give mary her own room you could just make the argument that the novel isn't official canon and the bed is just there for in case they get another kid. but i think the original intent is that mary and darla share a room, just going off the junior novel, which also gives a valid and entertaining explanation for where mary was during the scene that took place in darla's room (or alternatively, you can go with the option presented in the billy sneaks out scene that she's just up late when everyone else is asleep or something). it can go either way but my instinct is yeah they share a room (there's only so many rooms in this house, after all, and there's eight of them) it's just never explicitly stated in the movie.

thank you for coming to my highly unnecessary TED talk.

[dangerous-disposition]

WIP wordsearch game!

rules: share snippets of your work containing each of the words the previous poster selected for you (optional addition: if you can't find the word in your WIPs, or you simply don't have any WIPs, you can just write a sentence around the word)

tagged by the bestest @scarcrossdlvrs

All of my snippets are gonna be coming from my modern AU stuff which I've shared a lot of already but WHATEVER i typically can't have several projects running at the same time lmao

First

In a bunk bed on a tour bus on the other side of the country, Eddie Munson stared at the phone in his hand with a little smile tugging at his mouth.

It was a short conversation but there was something really nice about having a conversation with someone who treated him like a normal human being. It had been years since Eddie could talk to someone other than his band mates, manager, and uncle without it being either drenched in starstruck hero-worship or stilted professionalism.

At first, that had been exciting. They finally made it. After all of their hard work and grinding and sleepless, penniless weeks of driving themselves to gigs, they did it. Eddie wasn’t the local drug dealing deadbeat loser every high school teacher believed he would be forever. He was somebody, and people either worshiped him or at least respected him.

He just never expected stardom to become so lonely.

Blank

Sitting back down at his desk, Steve pulled up the details for the block and opened the rooming list the tour manager sent.

He was startled, but appreciative of the fact that the riders were included in the same document, even if that meant that the rooming list was given to him in the worst possible format. A goddamn PDF.

Grumbling to himself, Steve did what he did best; tucked himself in to read the contract from top to bottom, then back again, then did the same with the riders. Then came all the technical stuff of building the room block, then struggling through getting the names off the PDF and into a spreadsheet to book the rooms.

“They could’ve sent this when it was still a Word document but no,” Steve grumbled bitchily, shoving his glasses back up his nose. “They had to be all fancy and important and send it as a fucking PDF.”

Finally, when that was all done and the rooms were confirmed, Steve pulled up a blank email and the tour manager’s contact details in their system.

The manager’s name was Chris Cunningham, according to the information the above-property sales manager input, and something about that name did sound familiar. Steve couldn’t place it right away, so he gave up trying and went back to starting his email.

Under

Steve sat at his desk typing up an email to one of the event managers’ clients, quietly grumbling to himself about why he had to email them without any real heat. The managers were busy, and sometimes it just made more sense for Steve to email them outright. He would do it, he would just bitch about it while he did it.

“Steve.”

Looking up, he met Joyce’s eyes and cringed under her stern face.

“Yes, Joyce?” he asked, but he already knew what this was about.

“I was looking through the turnovers. Did Nancy give you a group the other day?” she asked and Steve looked at his computer.

“It’s just a band and film crew. I’ve already made contact with the client,” Steve said, his ears heating up when Joyce sighed.

“I’d like to speak to you in my office, please,” she said and walked away.

Sighing heavily, Steve finished the email he was working on, sent it, and locked his computer. When he got up and turned, Nancy was hovering at her cubicle and chewing her lip.

“Sorry,” she mouthed and Steve just rolled his eyes and trudged across the room to Joyce’s office and shut the door.

Lips

“Nancy seems to think that if she turned it over properly and asked for you to assign it to me, you would assign it to one of the other managers,” Steve said with a knowing raise of his eyebrows when Joyce looked away and cleared her throat. “C’mon, she has a point, Joyce.”

“That’s because if I agreed to assign every group she wants given to you, you would be back in the same mess as you were last summer,” Joyce said a bit defensively. “Tell me about the group, and I’ll decide if you can keep it.”

“I already made contact with the client!” Steve said.

“And you were not actually assigned this group properly. If I decide I want to take the group from you and reassign it, that is my decision to make as Director of Events,” Joyce said, standing her ground.

Steve sat up straighter and narrowed his eyes. “You would undermine your team like that in the eyes of the client?” he asked and Joyce pursed her lips.

“And Nancy didn’t undermine me by going over me to assign you a group?” she challenged and Steve sighed heavily.

Deep

“Whatever, the point is Chrissy knows I always have her phone when she can’t find it. Her freaking out is just silly,” Eddie said with a sniff, glaring down at the Sudoku puzzle he was making zero progress with.

“Edward Munson!”

Jeff peered over the edge of his bunk to smirk at Eddie’s wide-eyed stare. “Uh oh,” he teased as Chrissy stormed into the room.

“You!” she practically shrieked, pointing at him as he shoved the phone between his body and the mattress as if she hadn’t already seen it in his hands.

“What?” he asked innocently, and he screamed as she dove into his bunk to wrestle the phone out from under him.

They tussled for a while, Chrissy yelling all sorts of expletives at him that were honestly still a shock coming from her sweet face. She was also a dirty fighter.

“Ow, shit! Did you just bite me?” Eddie hissed, grabbing Chrissy’s whole face and pushing her away as he looked at the distinctly teeth-shaped indents on his arm. They were deep, just barely not breaking skin and would definitely bruise.

Then Chrissy licked his palm like an animal, and he recoiled enough that he rolled off of her phone.

Okay! Now my no pressure tags: @pizzaqueen, @patchworkgargoyle, @scoops-stevie, @steddieas-shegoes, @afewproblems

And your words are: wish, falter, teeth, little, breath

[crisalidaseason]

Baptized brownies

Halloween special 2022: Episode 11. See masterlist for more.

CW: accidental drug use, Armin is a bit too high in this, talks of anxiety, Armin is a very anxious boy. 

Summary: A sleep deprived Armin encounters a small tray of baptized brownies and chaos ensues later on.

Armin’s eyes burned at this point, the laptop screen harming his sight after more than 8 hours staring at it. He groaned while running his fingers through his already messy hair, there was no way he could continue like that. 

Fuck uni, I’m gonna drop out of this shit. 

No he wouldn’t, his academic validation problems would never allow it but that’s a conversation for another day. Right now Armin has to finish this article and present it tomorrow afternoon (or today technically, since it was already past midnight). Armin’s stomach complained. When was the last time he had eaten? No idea. 

He decided to go downstairs and make something to eat. His article was already ruined so at least he could try not to get sick. The shared kitchen was tidy (Sasha was obsessed with a clean kitchen) and he almost felt bad for using it, but his stomach complained again. He was too tired to cook so he opened the fridge to prepare a simple sandwich.

"What's that?” 

He fished a container and opened it finding small squares of brownies, most likely Sasha’s. He considered taking one, but not before sending her a message. Luckily enough she was online. 

You: Sash, can I take one of the brownies?

Sash: why r u still awake?

You: uni shit

Sash: aww, that sucks. ofc you can take a brownie <3

Armin: Thanks <3

He locked his phone, and since it was in ‘do not disturb’ mode, he failed to see that Sasha had sent another message. Armin made his excuse of a sandwich, filled a cup of orange juice and took two squares of brownies. 

Time to suffer again, he thought. 

______________

Eren had a very heavy sleep, like really heavy. He would sleep through alarms, thunderstorms, during loud parties, you name it. He would have to rely on Armin to actually physically wake him up most days. But tonight he woke up because Armin wouldn’t shut the fuck up. 

“My target period is the second half of the 20th century, more specifically 1950-1980, analyzing mostly newspapers but also including the radio announcements that were transcripted and-”

“Armin what the fuck?” Eren sat up and looked down at the bottom bunk bed.

“Not now Eren, go back to sleep” the blond boy didn’t even look up “my apologies, as I was saying the historical sources were accessed through the National Archive-”

Eren sighed loudly, getting out of the top bed and planning to sleep in Jean and Connie’s room. He was turning back to get his pillow and sheets when he noticed that the digital clock showed it was 4 a.m, and he remembered Armin had been studying since 3 p.m. 

“Bro, what the fuck, YOU should be asleep!”

“I have to rehearse the presentation, Eren, can you please stop interrupting me?”

Eren looked at Armin, his face lit up by the screen and looking clearly tired. The taller man sighed, he then turned on the lamp on the blond’s bedside table. Now looking at Armin and noticing that something was off, he seemed tired but also nervous if his trembling fingers were any indication.

“Come on, turn the laptop off. You got this, go to sleep” 

Eren knew his friend well, whatever that uni assignment was it caused a great deal of anxiety on Armin. He didn't like to see the blonde this way. Before Armin could complain, Eren took the device from him, being careful not to close it.

“Hey, give that back! Eren, give it back or I’m breaking your nose”

“I’d like to see you try, now stop complaining and go to fucking sleep”

The blond boy tried to get out of bed to actually punch the other boy, but lost balance, Eren only had time to grab him by the hoodie.

“Who’s breaking noses now? Bro you’re clearly tired, at least take a nap” he said while helping the blonde back to bed. 

Eren finally positioned the laptop on the desk nearby, certifying that the google doc with Armin’s work had automatically saved. 

“You’re a nerd, but this one takes the cake, Armin. Did you even eat?”

“Yeah” he pointed to a plate on the foot of his bed “had a sandwich and a few of Sasha’s brownies” 

Eren looked at Armin mortified.

“Armin, are you fucking for real??” 

“huh?"

Oh you gotta be kidding, Eren thought. 

“How many did you eat?”

“Um, two. Needed the extra sugar”

Eren tried not to laugh, he really did, but at the same time he was pissed. Weed and Armin were NOT a good match, and they learned it the hard way.

“You dumb fuck, your anxiety is gonna kill you when it peaks” 

Armin tilted his head, confused. 

“Armin, they were weed brownies”

Eren saw Armin reach for his phone.

“Oh”

“What?” Eren asked.

Armin showed him his phone, precisely a message form Sasha:

Sash: Just be careful bby, they’re baptized

___________________

Sasha woke up to a banging on her bedroom door. Mikasa, the light sleeper that she was, immediately woke up. 

“Who is it?”

“Me” Eren’s voice was muffled “open the door Sasha”

Mikasa sighed and went back to sleep. Sasha looked at her, annoyed. 

“I hate your brother sometimes” she whispered to Mikasa. 

Opening the door, she found a very tired Eren and an even more tired Armin.

“Armin is high as fuck”

“Excuse me?” Mikasa jolted from the bed.

“Yep, he ate two of the brownies and I woke up to him rambling about his research for god knows how many hours”

Both girls looked at Armin, who was supporting all his weight on the wall, waving at them with a stupid smile. 

“They were tasty, Sash, don’t worry” the blond boy said.

Mikasa grabbed him by the arm.

“Take the mattress, Eren, let’s all keep an eye on him”

The three friends all got comfortable in Sasha and Mikasa's room. Eren immediately went back to sleep, but not before telling the girls to wake him up in case Armin feels bad. 

"Did you not see the message?" Sasha asked Armin.

"I guess not" he said, voice slurring a little.

"You seem okay though, are you feeling something weird?" Mikasa said. 

"I feel like I weigh nothing and have the weirdest urge to cry, does that count?" 

"Please don't cry" Sasha begged.

He cried. Mikasa sighed, pulling him to lay down close to her while he sobbed and ranted about how much he hates uni. Which didn't last long before he started raging about how stupid and outrageous the 20th century documentation storage policy was. 

Sasha and Mikasa let him talk endlessly, hoping that this would tire him out enough for him to finally sleep. Of course it took two long hours before Armin was finally out and both girls could actually sleep. 

In the end, Armin was not able to present his research because he slept through the day. Mikasa was worried that could actually make him feel worse, but Eren assured her that he would find a good solution and Sasha now wrote in big letters in every container that had a baptized edible.

[kombuchaclock]

Wrote a story about how Eldricia and Zedd met (when Zedd was still living); had to split it into two parts, this first part has some suggestive elements but the second is WAY more explicit so it is going to be exclusive to my NSFW page(s).

There are some D&D-isms to this since that's what these characters originated as but this is NOT the default D&D setting, don't get it twisted.

This was the part Eldricia hated; copying down spells. It wasn’t enough to know them and how to cast them, they had to be written as well. They could understand why it was required; beyond being proof of understanding, it was also a good habit for someone as easily distracted as they were. But being easily distracted also meant that it was really fucking tedious. Half the time, they weren’t thinking about what was on the papers in front of them, even if they were looking at them. Focus was a fleeting thing. They kicked their little legs with unspent energy.

They heard a yawn coming from the desk opposite theirs in the small dorm room and, without thinking, turned to look at its source. Any excuse to turn away from work. A willowy young half-elf man stood up from his desk. “I’m done. How ‘bout you?” He turned to Eldricia.

“Almost,” they answered, with a sheepish smile that seemed to be more and more common these days.

He looked down his nose at the gnome. “… You’ve been at it for about as long as I have, how are you not done?”

Eldricia shot the man an uncharacteristically cross glare. “I said ‘almost,’ and besides, you’re…” Already their expression began to falter. “… You’re one of the best students in the school, Conley! We’ve already established I can’t really keep up with you.”

“Yeah, and I didn’t even have bougie parents to pay for it,” Conley sniped as he went behind the privacy screen, eliciting another glare from Eldricia, which he paid no attention to. Conley continued as he changed into his nightshirt. "Eldricia, I know you don’t want to hear this, but I know that big-ass head of yours isn’t for show. You could be just as good of a student as me if you knuckled down.”

“Mhmm,” Eldricia showed disinterest. They had heard this before. They were also not particularly focused on Conley’s words anyway, thinking instead about how he was disrobing behind the privacy screen. Conley was not exactly Eldricia’s type, but they wouldn’t kick him out of bed either. Maybe they were just desperate. They crossed their legs instinctively. “You doin’ anything tonight?”

“Yeah, sleeping,” Conley emerged in his nightshirt.

“Alone?” Eldricia teased.

Now it was Conley’s turn to glare, although his anger was tinged with something else: fear. “Apparently I haven’t been mean enough to you in the past few minutes, so let me make one thing clear. I’ve seen a glimpse of what you have to offer, and I am not interested.” With a huff, Conley laid on the bottom bunk of the dorm, turning towards the wall. Snapping his fingers by his ear, the faint sound of a babbling brook began to play, just barely reaching the corners of the small room.

“Suit yourself,” Eldricia chimed in response, back to their usual chipper disposition. They turned back to their schoolwork, stared at it for a moment, then turned away again. They hopped out of their chair, landing on the ground with a thud. They took another look at Conley to see if the sound had disturbed him; he either hadn’t noticed or was pretending not to notice. With that, Eldricia put on their jacket and stepped away, off the campus and into the night.

______________________________________________________________

“Magic? I’ve been on the bad end of a few spells myself, don’t really wanna-“ The gruff orc whose name Eldricia had already forgotten started explaining,

“No, no, sorry, close-up magic is just a name. I’m not gonna cast anything on you, it’s just, like… parlor tricks, you know?” Eldricia attempted to get him to buy in.

He grunted. “Alright, but just… tricks, right? Nothing more.”

Eldricia grinned and pulled out a deck of playing cards, fanning them out in front of him. “Pick a card!”

Rather than point to a card, he snatched one and looked at it briefly before showing it to Eldricia. “Ten of swords.” “… Right, I see it. Could you put it back in the deck? That’s part of the trick,” Eldricia barely tried not to seem condescending. Slowly, while squinting at Eldricia, he returned the card. Eldricia then started shuffling the deck with big, dramatic motions; at least as big as their little arms could muster. All the while, their mage hand, conveniently invisible, carefully pulled open a bag of coins at his side. “Is this your card?” Eldricia finally displayed the ace of hearts. “… No,” the so-far unamused bar patron replied.

“Oh?” Eldricia looked at the card and feigned surprise. “Oh! My mistake. Hey, what’s that under your drink?” He looked down at the beer stein. Sure enough, between it and the wooden bar was a playing card. He lifted the stein up and looked at the card. A slight smile crept onto his face. “Ten of swords! Not a bad trick.” He passed the card back to Eldricia. “Good enough for a drink?” Eldricia asked as their mage hand re-cinched the bag of coins at the man’s side. Only a few coins had been plucked from it; enough to blame on whoever had paid him, if he even noticed. Eldricia didn’t really need the money anyway. They just liked stealing.

He scoffed. “Fuck no. Not like you could handle much more than that glass of grape juice you’re nursing, anyway.”

“’Cause I’m short?” Eldricia propped their head up as their elbow rested on the bar.

“I’ll put it to you this way: my mama made stacks of pancakes taller than you,” he sneered before taking a swig of his drink.

Eldricia shrugged. “Eh, you’re probably right,” they acquiesced. They sipped their glass of red wine. It was one of the more expensive drinks at this dive, and it was still swill by Eldricia’s standards. They had the fleeting thought that their parents really had spoiled them. Well, their father did. Their mother didn’t want Eldricia to drink, period. If she could see this place her skin would crawl.

There was a sound of microphone feedback, followed by a shrill voice. “Attention, Undersump patrons!” Both Eldricia and the man sitting next to them turned towards the stage. As they did, Eldricia reminded themselves of where the bar’s name came from; kind of cool, honestly, naming your establishment after the abyssal realm of Juiblex. Another thing their mother would hate. There were four figures on the stage. The one in front, a kobold with very poor eyesight judging from the thickness of their glasses, spoke again. “Tonight, returning to the stage, we are happy to present St. Antoine’s own Black Pudding!” The kobold exited the stage as a smattering of cheers, not nothing but not impressive either, greeted the band.

The orc tapped Eldricia’s shoulder. “You’ve never been here before, right? You’re in for a treat.”

“You sure? The reception seemed a bit lukewarm,” Eldricia responded.

“Maybe, but they can get the crowd worked up easy. ‘Specially him,” he pointed to one of the band members, a human man, now approaching the microphone.

“Hello, all you lowlifes!” The man at the microphone started. “Good to see this place isn’t shuttered!” A few laughs bounced back from the crowd. “Before we begin… you fuckin’ heard about Argathos?” The crowd, suddenly much more spirited, began booing the name of the infamous St. Antoine prison. “A whole new wing, built to address St. Antoine’s ‘rapidly growing crime problem’…” He continued, the crowd growing more fervent. “… will be opened by none other than the Chief of Police Renee Ewald!” Eldricia recoiled at hearing their mother’s name, sinking into their jacket in the hopes that no one would notice the family resemblance.

“You know what we say to that!” Another one of the band, a tiefling with a shaved head and mismatched horns, spoke up. “Fuck! Off!” The human and tiefling shouted in unison before the band launched into a song.

The music was unlike any Eldricia had heard. First impression: loud. Almost too loud. The sound coming from the speakers was very blown out. The band also wasn’t singing as much as they were yelling. Except for the drummer, but he appeared to be a kenku, so Eldricia didn’t really expect him to say anything. He played vigorously, though. They all did. That was what Eldricia found themselves enjoying about the performance: the energy. Eldricia knew, to an extent, about different genres of music, but growing up what they had mostly heard had been orchestras in stuffy concert houses where they weren’t allowed to move. They would long for when their mother was away and their father would play something fresher, more upbeat, more danceable. This might be even better than that, they thought. It was rough, very rough, but it was… real! Real and exciting!

It helped that, as Eldricia saw them, the members of the band were attractive. Particularly the human. He was tall, and built, but not too… defined. His long, dark hair looked silky. He might’ve been suffering under the lights, but the hint of sweat glistening on his skin looked fantastic. Eldricia’s head was uncharacteristically still as they stared at the stage, but their legs squirmed atop their barstool.

After the first song, Eldricia dimly heard the man next to her speak again. “Huh?” “I asked if you liked it,” he clarified. Eldricia nodded. He laughed. “Yeah, I bet you did. You looked… what’s the word…” “Transfixed?” Eldricia suggested.

“Yeah, that works. Was it him?” He pointed to the man on stage. Eldricia nodded. “Yeah, he’s a dreamboat alright. If I were you, though, I wouldn’t hold out hope of scoring with him. No offense.” “He’s taken?” For a few seconds, Eldricia seemed almost deflated.

The other patron hummed. “Not really, he just prefers partners who are… bigger.” “Taller than me?” “Well, usually, yeah, but I’m talking about the groin, y’know? Again, no offense, but I ain’t never seen a gnome who’s packing. I don’t even know if you’ve got one, to be honest. Not gnomes in general, I mean, but you specifically.”

He didn’t notice, but Eldricia actually perked back up when he clarified that Black Pudding’s frontman was a size queen. Perked up, but said nothing. A bit of color went to their normally ghostly pale cheeks, and they resisted breaking out into one of the biggest, goofiest grins of their life. “That’s a bummer,” they finally said, after what was probably too long of a pause.

When Black Pudding finished playing, the windows had started to change from black to blue as the sun crept over the horizon. The nearsighted kobold who had introduced them was now making rounds, urging patrons to leave The Undersump before it closed. In the midst of the drunken exodus, Eldricia’s eyes remained on Black Pudding’s frontman. Their heart started to race when he started walking in their direction. Unfortunately for Eldricia, however, he was not here for them. He returned their wave, but then quickly started talking to the man next to them. The other patron was excited, but did his best playing it cool. He couldn’t help mention he was a fan of the band, though.

“That’s great! It’s nice to meet a fan,” the frontman said as he shook the patron’s hand. “I try not to let it get to my head too much, but, y’know, it’s nice when someone likes your stuff. I just hope the message gets across.”

“Oh, for sure!” The patron responded. The two of them started a brief discussion; it was something about St. Antoine. Eldricia tuned out their words. They weren’t normally one for politics. They did, however, look intently at the frontman as he talked. He was even better looking up close, they thought.

After conversing for a moment, the frontman stopped the patron. “Sorry to interrupt, it’s just that I came over here to ask you somethin’.” “Oh?” The frontman suddenly whispered something into the patron’s ear. Eldricia couldn’t hear it, but judging from the patron’s face, he liked what he heard. The frontman then patted him on the back before heading to the restroom. There was a pause before the patron laughed. He turned to Eldricia. “Well, one of us is about to get lucky, at least!”

“Really?” Eldricia responded. There was sincere surprise in their voice. It took them another few seconds to realize that of course someone who’s specifically looking for big dicks is going to approach the big, masculine orc before they would a vertically-challenged androgyne.

“Yep!” He downed the rest of his drink, belched loudly, then stood up and threw some coins onto the bar. “Catch you later!” He told Eldricia before heading to the restroom himself. Eldricia had to admit, he did have some amount of big dick energy. The patron was both taller and beefier than pretty much anyone Eldricia had seen tonight.

Eldricia watched the restroom door for a few seconds after it closed again. Then they turned to their drink. They knitted their brow, though they weren’t exactly mad. More anxious. Anxious about doing something that might end in rejection. “Fuck it,” they said, finally. They, too, downed their drink and threw their coins on the bar. They hopped off the stool then walked, trying as best they could to look casual, to the restroom.

[senseiwu]

My new bed is arriving on Monday, and I bought a new mattress and I'm so excited for when they arrive

[countrymusiclover]

4 - Teams Search

Part 5

Military Lovers masterlist

Jay's POV

Exiting Voight's office I see the rest of our team staring at the two of us and Kyle who sits at me feet head hung down whimpering. I know exactly how he feels, he misses her terribly. She's our whole world. "Alright everyone today's case is different than any we've ever done. Jay needs our help in finding his girlfriend." Voight takes the floor rolling out a bullion board for us to lay our information on. Adam bends down seeing Kyle staring at him. "Who's this little guy?" He holds out his open palm for him to sniff finding nothing Kyle bends his head into his hand letting him pet him. "His name is Kyle. It's her handler dog." Hailey, my police partner eyes me reading that I'm nervous by shifting from foot to foot. "Jay, just tell us everything about her. It's the only way we'll find her."

Stepping up to my desk I grab my phone showing her my lockscreen picture of us. "Print this out. It's the most recent one you'll find." Hailey takes my phone running off to the printer as I pick up the marker writing her name on the board. Name : Y/n M/n L/n. Age : 24. Job : Mariane for 6 years. Last known location: Afghanistan. Hours later the board is filled with pictures and our military papers we had to fill out before we got on the plane to Afghanistan. I even stuck all 20 of our letters up there that might have some clues. Kyle lays at the foot of my rolling chair and I catch the light reflecting off his silver dog tags of his collar. Dropping on my knees I slowly reach under his collar removing the tag while he sleeps peacefully. No one has touched him too much seeing terror written all over his face. I couldn't imagine what he saw, how he saw her last. Kyle and her are so close that they can sense what the other is feeling.

Opening the tent flap I fall back on my top bunk completely tired and all I want to do is close my eyes and sleep. Someone entered the tent and I hear someone toss a bag down crawling inside their bunk too. "You up there Jay?" Y/n's voice appears when Kyle munches on his dog food bowl beside her feet. I make some sort of noise to answer her before I felt weight come up behind me on the bed. Lifting my head up and squinting my eyes open at her. "What are you doing?" She comes to lay down beside me and luckily she's small enough that she shouldn't fall off the bunk. "Kyle felt that we should cuddle since we're both really tired." Shaking my head I rolled over to face her playfully smiling. "Oh Kyle did huh?" She blushed a little trying to bury her face in my pillow which only makes me chuckle more, lifting her chin so she'll look at me. "It's cute that you want to cuddle even though we're in the military and are supposed to be tough and all."

Y/n simply nods laying her head on my chest, tracing her fingers lazily over my dark green tea shirt. "I'm so embarrassed. I shouldn't be a cuddling marine." Running my fingers through her loose hair I kiss her head. "Don't be. We've all got too many emotions running around in our heads-" The bottom bunk creeaked right as we feel heavy breathing in our faces. Y/n and I both lift our heads staring into Kyle's black eyes with his mouth wide open. "Kyle go lay down on the floor." She points her index finger to the floor and he whimpered with his head down a little. "Hold up baby. Let him stay, he can lay at our feet." Y/n tilts her head biting her lip thinking for a minute until I give her my puppy dog eyes. Kyle does the exact same look that drives her crazy. "I can't deny that face. Come on up boy." Kyle launched his body up on the bed, cuddling down by our feet with Y/n and I falling asleep together.

Y/n's POV

"Agh!!!" I scream getting punched in the gut multiple times by an Afghan. Throwing my head back I gasped feeling pain everywhere until footsteps come down the stairs. A tall person in a black robe comes I'm speaking in a language I can't understand. "Do you speak English?" I croaked out with a dry throat to the mysterious person. They drop their cloak and I couldn't not gasp seeing its the leader we were after in the first place. Their leader killed my unit. "Yes I speak English American girl. If you tell me you're people's location then you get to live. If not you die." Pressing my back against the wall with the chains rattling when I moved. Two guards had discovered Kyle's escape hole two days ago and so they've been beating me for trying to escape. Staring up in between strands of my blood stained pieces of my knotted hair. "Our location for the main base is in..." I cough watching the man bend down lifting my face to his and I winced feeling a bruise on my chin where they punched me earlier.

"Where's the base girly?" His breath brushing against my face with eyes of a killer. They have already searched through my vest and taken hold of my gun. I know why they've kept me alive this long. I'm the only person who knows the location. Our chain of command felt it was best if only one person knew as to not let it be easy on the enemy finding out if we had a possible traitor on my unit. "If I give it to you you'll need to keep me alive afterwards." One of the guys who was hurting spoke something not in English so the leader spoke in my tounge. "Why would we need you he asked?" Instantly staring into his eyes I answered without hesitation. "You need me because you can't just stroll down the street with guns shooting up the city. You're get arrested and locked up."

The leader simply asks one more question of me before exiting the room with his men. "And where is this heavily guarded base, American girl?" Closing my eyes I try and remember where Jay said his new job is at. If I'm gonna get out of this alive I need to be as close to him as I possibly can. Opening my eyes again the word slips from my chapped lips. "Chicago. It's in Chicago." The basement door gets locked and I suck in a shacky breath releasing heavy tears pulling out my phone with the cracked lockscreen picture of me, Jay and Kyle. I'm fighting to get back to you, my boys.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[ratsoh-writes]

What do their bedrooms/living areas look like? I'm going to use all 3 of my asks to request this for all of the boys if that's ok! ❤

Man, I’ve had this one in my secret notes for a good while now!

Undertale:

Both the tale brothers live in a nice little gated community. Their house is one of the smaller ones and has the same layout as the one in Snowdin. The house is pretty basic with some cozy throws and wall tapestries to spruce it up

Sans: his room actually has a proper bed and frame this time. The sheets and blankets are still bundled up in a pile on the floor though. Sans also has his homemade trashnado in the corner. There’s a desk on the wall adjacent to the door which has his laptop. And several folders stacked next to it. Other than a dresser, there’s literally nothing else in there. Sans doesn’t care much about stuff

Papyrus: his room has bright orange walls. He left the race car bed behind underground but has a race car blanket to make up for it. His walls are covered in superhero and comic posters. He also has a display case for some old figurines and his comic collection. Papyrus’ desk is one of those nice fancy drafting ones where he can adjust it to tilt upwards. He has a ship wheel attached to his door for some reason.

Underswap

The swap bros home is only a few blocks from the classic brothers neighborhood. The only thing basic about it is the cream walls. All the furniture and decorations are bright colors. The kitchen especially is real nice. The oven and stove are top notch, and the counters are filled with mason jars full of goodies.

Star: his room can blind a lesser man when you walk in. The walls are bright yellow, the bed (which is a bunk bed by the way) is neon orange. Galaxy posters decorate the wall. Besides the clashing colors, the furniture is pretty basic. Only the top bunk actually has a mattress. The bottom bunk is used as a storage shelf. He also has a shoe rack by his door

Honey: you can practically feel the nerdy aura as you enter his room. The first thing you see is a display case housing some neat figurines of characters from his favorite shows. He’s also got a pretty nice bookshelf on the opposite wall that’s nearly full. Honeys bed has a curtain around it for extra privacy with a nice little wall lamp above the pillows

Underfell

They have a home a little closer to the city center but still far enough to be considered suburbs. It’s a very sleek and modern house with white walls, tile floors and sleek black and metal furniture. The only thing that doesn’t fit the rest of the theme is this nasty old patched up sofa in the living room. The thing is absolutely hideous but is sooo comfy.

Red: his room has soft grey walls and smells like miter oil. Makes sense since one wall is just a long basic table covered in machine parts that red tinkers with in his down time. He actually doesn’t have a bed. Instead he sleeps on this giant leather bean bag. He likes it that way. There’s a few car posters decorating the walls

Edge: he obviously put a lot of thought into his rooms decorations. Everything is pretty black marble or a sleek white wood. His bed covers are blood red with a nice geometric designs on top in silver. He has a beautiful black desk with some pretty jars filled to the brim with nothing but novelty pens. If you looked in his desk drawers you would find notebooks and even more pens

Swapfell

They don’t own a house and instead live in a two bedroom one bath apartment on the third floor of one of lords complexes. The furniture is pretty minimalistic but very nice quality. Most decorations are metal

Mal: the first thing you’ll see in his room is a large wooden drawing desk where pencils and watercolors are neatly arranged on the side. There’s also a vanity with a light up mirror and a nice collection of makeup. Also a huge slanted hunters knife. He uses it to make sure his eyeliner is extra sharp.

Cash: his bedroom is the perfect definition of organized chaos. It looks messy but for cash, he knows exactly where every thing is. There’s a small tv in there with some old game consoles hooked up to it. The bed is never made.

Horrortale

Their home rests in a neighborhood bordering the forest of ebott. The houses there all have a lot more yard space than most houses in the city. The horrortale home is super cozy with lots of knit throws and pillows scattered around. The back patio has a little dog door and there’s a 50% chance of seeing a chicken walk through lol

Oak: his room is also pretty basic. The bed however has so many blankets. Like way more than any person should need. Oak is a blanket hoarder. There’s a lot of notebooks stacked on his wooden desk along with a file of patterned paper for scrapbooking.

Willow: his room has a raised bed with a cute little ladder on the side so that his dog can jump up. You can tell a lot of the furniture has been homemade or refurbished. The room is larger and in the middle is a circular stone table that’s stained with paint. It’s usually housing his latest craft

Underlust

They used to live in the same neighborhood as the classic brothers but have recently moved closer to the inner city because of work. Their home is still in the process of being unpacked mostly, but their rooms are done! The house is actually pretty conservative looking with grey walls, white wooden furniture and soft pastel decor. They do have a stripper pole in the living room though lol

Charm: his room looks exactly how you expect from him. Dark walls with lots of bright rave type decorations. On his dresser is a large pretty cake display that stands out from the rest of the rooms theme lol. His room is always on a state of organized chaos with his desk and bed covered in nick knacks but the floors staying oddly clean

Sugar: his room has light lavender walls and black furniture. It’s a big difference from the soft feminine style people expect from him. Instead sugar has a more sleek modern style to his room. He also has a standard mannequin in the middle that always has a new dresses pinned to it.

Fellswap (red)

They own a pretty two story house only a block away from the two apartment complexes that lord owns. The front lawn/garden is in top shape with lots of those metal flower decorations stuck in the ground along the dirt outline. Inside the house is most worn but comfy looking furniture. Nothing special

Lord: his room is pretty basic with mostly brown and grey accents. He does have a large mostly filled bookcase. There’s also two white bean bags and a deep red rug that covers nearly the whole floor of the room.

Mutt: he actually has two rooms. The first is pretty simple with just his bed, a writing desk and a rack for some shoes. Also his bird cage for KFC (pet pigeon). The second room has a sink, and several cages and boxes for the injured animals that he rehabilitates. The second room is slightly larger than his actual room.

Fellswap gold

They actually live in a studio apartment above wines antique shop. The apartment used to be an unused storage static until wine bought the building and repurposed it. The living space itself is a little small, but they also have access to the roof which the gold bros use as a potted garden and dining area.

Wine: his room is very classy with silk curtains on the window and a silky cream canopy above his head. All the furniture is a dark grey wood with pretty carvings and designs. The walls are decorated with beautiful floral paintings from his brother. It’s a pretty well planned out room. Very cosy and luxurious

Coffee: he has two rooms as well. The smaller of the two is just his bed, dresser, closet and a tv with some consoles hooked up to it. The second room has shelves lining nearly every wall except for one which is just a big collab mural. On the shelves is various art supplies and projects. There’s one large sketch desk on one wall. And finally in the middle of the room is a tarp attached to the floor housing whatever piece of furniture coffee is restoring at the moment .

Dancetale

They also own an apartment, one of the flats in lords buildings on the ground floor. It’s the other building from the swapfell brothers. The walls are painted a cheery yellow and the house is mostly decorated with spring colors. There’s always a huge bowl of fresh fruit in the kitchen.

Pop: his room is mix and match of completely different furniture and gadgets. Pop isn’t someone who cares about themes so he will keep whatever catches his fancy. Instead of a bed, he has a hammock attacked to the ceiling with a pillow and some throw blankets casually tossed on top lol.

Rhythm: his room is pretty sparse with just his bed, a shoe rack, and a dresser. On the dresser are pictures of each of his face classes right before they graduate. Rhythm doesn’t really care all that much about decor so the walls are pretty bare too

Outertale

They live in the same gated community as the classic brothers! The outertale home has high ceilings and lots of windows. The living room is the real centerpiece of the home. It has several large antique bookcases and display cases. Inside the displays are various rocks and crystals and the occasional fossil. It’s really neat.

Pluto: his room is comprised of mostly blues grays and greens. He has a small bookcase on the side of his bed where he keeps the things he’s currently reading. There’s also a large fish-tank with an assortment of saltwater fish inside. Pluto’s room also has a large circular fluffy rug in the middle of the floor. The floor itself is hardwood

Jupiter: his room has a similar color scheme except instead of greens, Jupiter has gold instead. He has some exercise equipment stacked nicely on the side of his bed including weights. There’s a wall tapestry with a printed picture of the asteroid belt the outertale monsters used to live in.

Gastertale

The gaster brothers also live in the same neighborhood as the classic and outertale bros. They’re at the very end in the little cul-de-sac. The interior of the house is almost all white with cream carpet, metro grey walls, and white furniture. A few of the small decorations add a bit of color. There’s a lot of potted succulents.

G: his room is probably the only dark room of the house. His walls are a charcoal grey and the furniture is mostly jet black with a few mustard colored decorations. There’s a metal wire bookcase hanging on the wall. G also has a plastic anatomy dummy that he dresses up in his motorcycle gear when he’s not using it. G thinks he’s funny

Green: like the rest of the home, his room is also mostly white. He has a pretty pale green rack for all of his glasses on his dresser. Green also has his several degrees framed in silver on the walls. his room is always spotless

Farmtale:

The farm bros have an old Victorian home that they fixed up themselves. They’re home borders the acres of farmland they own and is about a 45 minute drive from ebott city. The inside is decorated with mostly wooden furniture. There’s like four rocking chairs on the porch lol

Peaches: his room fits the theme of the house with mostly wooden furniture and a lot of quilts and rugs to add color and soften it up. Peaches always has a vase of fresh wildflowers on his dresser. The walls have photographs of plants and animals taped to them that peaches took himself.

Rancher: this mad lad has a large moose skull hanging above his four poster log cabin bed. He also hangs his favorite hunting rifles just below the moose lol. His bedroom is mostly wooden of course but is also decorated with lots of red and orange plaids.

Horrorfell

They live in the same neighborhood as the horrortale and horrorswap brothers. Their home is literally right in between the two. Inside it’s decorated in a mix between sleek modern metals and frumpy cozy style. Somehow the horrorfell bros still have their original sofa from the underground. There’s a lot of little homemade staircases for their cat doomfanger who’s too old to claim on top of things herself now

Rust: his walls are painted a soft heather grey and have some basic wooden decorations that noir painted for fun. The furniture is pretty normal with the exception of a large treasure style chest next to his bed. Open it up and you’ll find a collection of drawings and gifts from the kids he’s watched over the years. Rust didn’t have the heart to throw them away.

Noir: unsurprisingly, his room is littered in canvases and paintings on the walls. It’s divided into two sides: the messy paint side and his nice neat living side. He even has a line of tape going down the middle to complete the divide. On his living side is his bed, closet, and a low bookcase that he uses as a second dresser. The actual bookcase is in the living room

Horrorswap

As y’all all know, their house is right next to the horrorfells and one house away from the horrortales. They like bright colors and have a sort of summery themed house. The best part is the back garden which is filled with garden boxes of veggies, fruit bushes, and fruit trees.

Lilac: his rooms main color is a pretty powder blue along with canary yellow and some bright green. He has a yoga mat on the floor in place of a rug. The walls have some neat sunrise posters

Basil: his room is pretty cosy with lots of knit blankets and fluffy pillows. He has a massive poster of Pixar’s ratatouille that rust got him as a joke. Basil has like five coconut planters, each housing a different herb plant making his room smell like an Italian restaurant

The Mafias (tale, fell, swap)

The mafia brothers live in an apartment complex masquerading as a warehouse. The ground and top two floors are working area while there were three secret basement levels. The mafia bros home consists of the whole bottom level with all their rooms connected to a hallway. At the end of the hallway is a living space and the kitchen.

Snipe: his room is the one closest to the living area. Inside is sage walls with a few house plants that can survive in low light. His bed is almost never made lol. If one was to tear the room apart, they would find at least six different guns stashed in hidden compartments

Bruiser: his room is the closest to the staircase. Inside the room somehow looks super messy but is actually spotless. Bruiser decorates the walls with all kinds of gifts people randomly give him during his vigilante escapes. Stuff from pocket mirrors, to foreign currency to even a small collection of sea shells. He drilled holes into them and hung them up on strings. Other than his walls, the furniture is pretty plain

Butch: his room is a mix of greys, blacks an silvers with the basics of furniture and a small black leather sofa. On the walls are some pretty hand melded metal decorations that butch made himself. He smokes in his room so it reeks of cigars

Boss: his room fits him perfectly with clean white plaster walls, sleek metal furniture and black and gold marble decor. Everything in that room has a specific place. If anyone moved his stuff, he’d know. It’s the only mafia bro room that doesn’t caught smell like smoke somehow. There’s a male model mannequin that he uses to practice designing clothes on

Ace: the most eye catching part of his room is a large vanity with several lamps attached and a very extensive makeup kit. I’m talking professional grade. Ace isn’t the spy for nothing. He also has an open closet so all his clothing is out on display. The main color of his room is mauve funny enough

Slim: his room is a drab grey and has a large desk taking up a whole wall. It’s filled with screens and monitors. He also has a few tv screens hooked up to the wall. It almost looks like a security room. On the other side is his bed with a canopy curtain for privacy. There’s a few anime posters on the wall as well

[peachy-panic]

The Rise & Fall of Jaime Quinn: Act 1

Part of Do No Harm. 

Here it is: The long awaited, long promised backstory (In 5 Acts). Was too long to post as one, so you’re getting one chapter a day for the next 5 days, aka a record breaking posting schedule for me. 

CONTENT WARNINGS: Past parental death, mentions of foster care/group home settings, major wealth/class gaps. Nothing too intense here. CW: Jaime experiencing a moment of happiness lol. The hurt comes later. 

ACT 2 | ACT 3 | ACT 4 | ACT 5 

(will add/update links as I post)

ACT 1

The closet in Jaime’s dorm room is about three feet wide—a light wooden structure with double doors, two shelves above a single bar, and more than enough space to hold every item he has to his name. It’s the first closet he’s had to himself since he was ten years old.

The array of clothes he has unpacked from his duffle bag stares back at him: four t-shirts, a hoodie that came with his acceptance package, and three pairs of jeans. On the bottom shelf is the same pair of beat-up, black sneakers that he has worn for the past four years, and beside it, the brand new cleats he spent all summer saving for.

And he saved the best for last.

Laid out on his bed–a twin-size mattress neatly made up with the bedding set his caseworker Sarah bought for him–is the final item of clothing to put away. Jaime runs his fingertips along the silk of the soccer jersey–his soccer jersey–tracing the line where the yellow material meets smooth, black vinyl. The number “7” takes up most of the back, but it’s the lettering above it that makes his heart swell inside his chest.

QUINN.

His last name, the final gift he carries with him from his parents, is emblazoned proudly on the physical representation of what brought him here. It’s the name that he will carry onto the field, underneath the stadium lights and the eyes of hundreds of cheering fans, a soothing weight on his back, like a pair of arms thrown around him.

The bed across from his is adorned with throw blankets for sports teams Jaime doesn’t really know or care about, and above it, posters of bands he has never heard of. Scattered along the cork board above his roommate’s desk are photos of strangers in football jerseys and prom dresses, all posed with varying degrees of warmth and familiarity that makes Jaime’s wall look particularly bare in comparison.

He does have two photos of his own, though. The picture of him and his parents stays tucked away inside his wallet at all times, but the one of him and his foster brother Tyler is displayed proudly on his desk, inside the frame that Tyler bought him when he got into college. The two of them are sitting on the porch railing of the group home they shared for the last two years—the best of Jaime’s years in the system—arms thrown over each other’s shoulders.

He wanted to come today, to help Jaime move into his dorm. He insisted on it really, but Jaime knew he had meetings with his counselor and his caseworker today, and he also knew that his attendance at those meetings was a condition of his probation. And Jaime would give up his own life before he let himself be the reason that kid strayed from the straight-and-narrow path that he had walked for almost a full year now.

Tyler is sixteen going on twenty-five, but he would always be the cagey, stubborn little kid he met on the bottom bunk at Miss Sherry’s house and learned to love like a brother. The closest thing Jaime has ever had.

He hears the beep of the keycard outside the door before it pushes open. His roommate Derek and his family spill in, loudly carrying on what seems to be two separate conversations. His mother is complaining about some unidentified smell in the hallway while his brother asks when they are going to eat dinner. Jaime throws a polite smile over his shoulder as they enter, hanging his jersey on the opposite side of the bar from his t-shirts.

“I can’t believe how small your room is,” his little sister comments, flopping back onto Derek’s bed. Jaime bites the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. This might be the largest room–shared or not–that he has ever had, but that’s the last piece of information he is trying to offer up to the first people he meets on campus.

“It’ll be fine,” Derek says, nudging her over so he can sit. “We’ll be gone most of the time, anyway. This practice and conditioning schedule is no joke.” He shoots a commiserate smile at Jaime, who feels a disproportionate surge of warm elation and smiles back.

“Okay, kiddo.” His dad claps his hands together. “That the last of it from the car?”

“All set,” Derek says, pulling his sister into a one-armed hug.

“Oh, god. I’m not going to cry.” His mother immediately contradicts herself by wiping the runaway tears from her cheeks.

“Mom, please.” Derek shakes his head, standing and walking over to her.

Jaime pointedly ducks his head into the closet, pretending to rearrange his shirts and biting down on his bottom lip until it feels like it might burst under his teeth. He waits until he hears the affection settling down behind him.

“Hey, Jeremy,” he hears the dad say.

“It’s Jaime, dad.”

“Sorry. Jaime,” he corrects. Jaime turns around to face them. “We were thinking about heading to Bella’s up the road for dinner. You been?”

“No, sir,” Jaime says. “I’m not very familiar with the area.”

“Well, you’re welcome to join us if you’d like.”

“One last meal before it’s cafeteria food until Thanksgiving!” his mother chimes in lightly.

Jaime shifts uneasily from one foot to the other. He hates this conversation; not the offer itself, but the guessing game that follows. The question of if this invitation implies that they would pay for his meal, and if so, is it out of pity or kindness? Would they do this for anyone? How do they feel about their son sharing a room with the scholarship kid, fresh out of state custody? And if they get all the way there and don’t offer to pay, is Jaime going to have to forfeit all of his spending money for the next two months just to afford one meal?

Good intentions aside, the whole thing is a conversation he would rather just avoid.

“Oh,” Jaime says. “Thank you, really, but I should finish unpacking here.” He hopes no one points out the obviously empty duffle bag beside the bed.

“Aw, are you sure, sweetheart?” his mother asks. He tries not to read into the pity in her voice.

“I’m sure,” he says, throwing in a yawn for good measure. “I’m pretty beat anyway.”

“Give the kid some space,” the dad interjects, putting a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “I’m sure he just wants some time to settle in.”

“Okay, well it was lovely to meet you, Jaime.” His mother waves on her way out. “I’m sure you two are going to have a great year.”

He waves back, watching the small parade of children that follow her out the door. Derek is the last to leave, hanging back a few steps behind his dad.

“Hey,” he says, smiling wryly back at Jaime. “Sorry for all the noise. I know they can be… a lot.”

“Really, it’s not a problem,” Jaime says, then adds, “Have fun at dinner tonight.”

“Thanks.” He pauses in the doorway for a moment. “Hey, when I’m back maybe we can hook up my XBox? You play Call of Duty?”

“Sure,” Jaime responds cooly.

Let the record show: Jaime Quinn has never played Call of Duty in his life.

But he knows it’s the right answer anyway, because Derek shoots him a thousand-watt smile that could light up the room more than the shitty standing lamp in the corner, and Jaime has to clamp down on the wooden railing of his bed to keep from floating away.

“Cool. See you later,” Derek says.

“Bye.”

When he’s alone again, Jaime sits down and pulls his socked feet up onto the bed with him. He looks around the dorm room–his fucking dorm room–and feels the burn of tears collecting behind his eyes.

Jaime Quinn has had a lot of first nights in new places. New beds, new roommates, new lives to start from scratch out of a single bag of his belongings. That part is nothing new. But never before has it felt quite like this. Never, in all the foster houses and group homes and emergency placement shelters, has it ever felt so much like it could be home.

The pasta he gets from the dining hall later that night is probably not as good as whatever they’re serving at Bella’s, but it’s free on his meal plan and it tastes pretty good, he thinks. As he eats it alone in his empty dorm room, listening to the buzz of chatter in the hallway, he feels full in a way that goes far beyond satiating his hunger.

Next >>

***

TAG LIST: @whumpervescence @shiningstarofwinter @distinctlywhumpthing @whumptywhumpdump @nicolepascaline @anotherbluntpencil @hold-him-down @crystalquartzwhump @maracujatangerine @batfacedliar-yetagain @thecyrulik @pumpkin-spice-whump  @melancholy-in-the-morning @also-finder-of-rings @insaneinthepaingame @skyhawkwolf @whump-for-all-and-all-for-whump @mylifeisonthebookshelf @dont-touch-my-soup

[starocide]

A list of uni characters and if they are a top or bottom

-Hyde sleeps at the top bunk bed, because he thinks it's very cool.

-Linne doesn't care, but secretly wants top bunk.

-wald sleeps on the floor, too big for bunk bed

-carmine has no one to share a bunk bed with lmao loser

-merkava is also, too big for bunk bed. Londrekia has made a bunk bed they can share that is big enough, though. If only he was strong enough to carry it up a mountain.

- all of Orie's team share the bottom bunk bed, with the exception of mika. There's so space since she has to cuddle Palchebel to sleep.

- Seth says he's too old for bunk bed, but prefers the bottom out of the options.

- Gordeau sleeps at the bottom, and so does chaos. Azhi always gets the top bunk bed.

- Yuzuriha sleeps at the top, and the bottom of the bunk is for Ayame-chan, obviously!

- same for vatista and her wings. Gotta let the seven flowers rest.

- Hilda has her very own bunk bed , with her hair filling all the space below the top bunk.

- Byakuya doesn't have any preferences for top or bottom. He sleeps on the desk in his room because Strix jokingly asked him to do so once.

- Nanase often uses her wind powers to hop into the top bunk without a ladder. She always hits her head on the ceiling.

- Phonon says she does not have any preferences, but thinks the top one is way cooler.

-Enkidu sleeps on the floor as a form of training.

- wagner sleeps alone on the bottom. The top bunk is burned down.

[chasingpj]

𝐔𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐳𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬

"I might spread a rumor about you and Percy rendezvousing at midnight. The Aphrodite cabin will have a hoot with that one."

pairing: percy jackson x child of hecate!reader

words: 4,931

warnings: none

timeline: post sea of monsters

if you want to be tagged every time I update this story, click here

a/n: hi hi! this is part one of a self-insert series I'm working on. in this story, y/n is a child of hecate, and this storyline follows the books. the current timeline here is post sea of monsters and will continue through the Heroes of Olympus books. though it follows the original plot, y/n has her own storyline and quests. i tried to make y/n gender-neutral but as I continued to work on the timeline for this project, i had decided that this fic is for a fem reader. guys, this is really just me projecting my fantasy into fanfiction lol. i feel like this is a slow start?? and there is a lot of info dumped in this so bear with me. it'll get better and I'll be working to improve my writing as the series continues. I was on a writing hiatus for a really long time and I'm out of practice so this is my way to get back and hopefully, exceed the skills I had when I was a consistent writer. anyways, if you have any feedback, let me know! I'd love to hear what you think. as i get deeper into the series, i might ask for some suggestions on what to do with the fic. anyways, i'll stop rambling and i hope you like it!

Part One Part Two

You ignore the aching in your neck as your focus is fixed on the herbology book in front of you. You’ve been seated at your desk for Zeus knows how long reading and taking notes in your Book of Shadows, determined to finish reading it as fast as possible. Your half-brother, Alabaster, insisted that you need to memorize all the herbs and their properties before he can properly teach you how to use them in potions. Even though you understand its importance, you hated introductory work. You are itching to get to the real stuff, resulting in you glued to your chair, studying through the night as your cabin mates were fast asleep in their beds. But as determined as you are, Ambrose, your familiar, wasn’t much help. Ambrose whines as he rubs his head against your legs like a needy kitten, making it difficult to ignore him.

“What is it, Ambrose?” You whisper, sitting back in your chair in defeat. You take a second to massage the back of your sore neck before turning to face the translucent hound sitting attentively at your side. His tail sweeps the floor as it wags excitedly, and a short huff leaves his snout as if he was proud to have finally gotten your attention.

Your eyes meet his, racking your mind to figure out what Ambrose needs to tell you. At first, you thought he wanted to play, but you didn’t have time for that, so you decided to ignore him. Usually, after being ignored for a while, Ambrose will give up, finding something else to occupy him. But tonight, he was particularly persistent, and he’s only like this when he needs to tell you something.

Before you can ask what he wanted again, Ambrose gets up from his seated position, running over to the small table that stands beside your bed. You furrow your eyebrows, the first thing you notice when you walk over are your crystals neatly placed in front of your spell books as usual. Seeing them made you suddenly remember what you had planned to do.

You had told Ambrose to remind you to charge your crystals and collect water from the lake since there is a full moon tonight and of course, Ambrose being your loyal companion, did exactly that. Before looking down at the hound, who now is breathing heavily, his tail somehow wagging faster than before, you smile to yourself.

“I told you to remind me earlier, didn’t I?” Ambrose snorts and runs around your feet enthusiastically. You couldn’t help but giggle at his excitement as you reached down to pat his head. “Good boy. What would I do without you?” You continue to praise him, grabbing a black pouch and carefully placing the crystals in it. You put your index finger to your lips, signaling Ambrose to be a little quieter despite his excitement. If he accidentally wakes anyone up, then you definitely weren’t going to be able to fulfill your plans.

You bite your bottom lip as you tiptoe out of the aisle between the bunks. You look around the notoriously cramped Hermes Cabin to make sure your assumption that everyone was asleep by now was correct. It wasn’t hard to make out the faces of your cabin mates since seeing clearly in the dark was one of your many gifts, so you carefully walked along the bunks, being as quiet as you could. You are especially cautious as you approach the front where your cabin leaders, the Stoll brothers, slept. You study them for a second, knowing for sure Travis was asleep since he was snoring and loudly at that. Before you can check if Connor is asleep, you hear him shifting in his bed. You stand frozen in your spot, hesitantly looking over and you were expecting to be met with the usual mischievous grin. Instead, his back was towards you now. You have a feeling in your gut that he wasn't asleep, the timing of his moving was much too convenient. You really didn't want to wait any longer though so you decide that you might as well leave before he could stop you.

You turn on your heels, walking over to the window before you push it open. You cringe softly as the hinges creak, and you look back at the cabin to double-check if anyone has woken up from the sound. You sigh in relief when you see no one has moved, and you turn back to the window, carefully crawling out of it. This wasn’t unusual for you. You’ve done this so many times that using windows as a mode of exiting and entering a room was as natural to you as walking in and out of a door, and soon you were hopping down onto the grass. Your back is pressed against the cabin as you walk the side of it. You look up at the trees and the sky, eyes scoping around for any harpies hanging around. After deeming that you were alone, you begin making your way to the lake, Ambrose walking by your side attentively and cautiously to make sure you are safe.

The night was clear; the stars and especially the moon shone brightly in the sky. You sigh softly, taking in the stillness of the night, admiring the glistening lake reflecting the full moon placed above it. You’ve always enjoyed how quiet and cool the nights were, preferring it more than the daytime.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t avoid it as much as you wish to. Most of your siblings can agree with you that they’d prefer to sleep in most days so that they can study and practice their magic at night. However, that wasn’t the schedule of the Hermes Cabin. It was pretty impossible to sleep in since the mornings were always hectic. In fact, the cabin was just hectic, period. There was always something going on, whether it was an elaborate prank or the guys arguing over who gets to shower first after coming back from training which usually resulted in an intense game of rock, paper, scissors. You can’t say that you didn’t like it; at least you were entertained.

You also always had someone to talk to, and because there were often new campers coming in and out of there, you have easily familiarized yourself with a lot of the kids at camp. However, like your mother, you did enjoy and yearn for the occasional periods of solitude. As fun as living with the Hermes kids was, you and your siblings did find yourselves getting a little irritable at their shenanigans. It was at those times, you did wish that your mother, Hecate, had a designated cabin.

You and your siblings had always said if they ever got a cabin of their own, they would make sure everyone had separate rooms and would have designated spaces to socialize and practice their magic so that it was quiet for the most part. Alabaster, especially, was really passionate about this topic. He complained how it didn’t make sense that your mother wasn't recognized since you and your siblings were a powerful little bunch. You all needed a space to practice your magic and practice preferably at night since you were the most powerful at that time of day; you were also less prone to making mistakes in your spell casting at night. You agreed with him and would get upset about it sometimes, but the Hermes Cabin was a place you considered to be a second home. The communal feel of the space was something you enjoyed, it was one of the few places where you felt fully accepted which was rare to find being a demi-god with abilities like yours. In return to the Hermes Cabin welcoming you with open arms, you accept the inconveniently loud environment as an admirable quirk and went on with your days.

Then to compensate for the lack of silence and solitude, you would often stay up late, taking advantage of the quiet to focus on your studies. Even if you had to sacrifice the amount of sleep you got, you felt like it was worth it.

It doesn’t take you long to arrive at the dock, sitting down close to the end with your legs folded under you. You first collect lake water in a jar before carefully taking out the pouch's crystals. Assuming you had only a few left in the pouch after laying most of them on the dock, you tilt it with your hand under it, only for the crystals to come out all at once. You fumble, hands trying to bring them to your chest, but with your luck, one of your crystals falls right into the water with a plop.

“Dammit!” You peer over the edge and groan, Ambrose whining at your misfortune as he stands beside you. You look down at the water, noticing Ambrose’s and your dim reflection in it. There was no way you could get that crystal now because you didn't know how to swim, and you consider that maybe tomorrow you can convince your twin brother, Atticus, to look for it or Alabaster if Atticus refused, which you were expecting him to.

Your breath hitches at the back of your throat, jumping back as a head of dark hair abruptly pops up from right where you were staring. Ambrose barks loudly next to you, equally as startled, and your eyes widen. You stand up hastily at the realization that Ambrose's loud barks in the dead of night will catch the attention of the harpies, and right now, that was more important to you than the mysterious person that just sprouted up in the water like a zombie coming out of a grave.

“Shush! Ambrose, quiet!” Your frantic command was enough to make him stop with a whine, and you sigh shakily, turning towards the camp to check if there were any harpies.

“I think you dropped something.” Ambrose moves in front of you protectively, a low growl coming from his chest as he cautiously studies the person. You look back where the voice came from and to your surprise and your relief, you find that the mysterious person in the lake was no other than Percy Jackson. You never had a conversation with him before, but you definitely knew about him. It was kind of hard not to know who he is since he’s been the talk of the camp since he’s arrived. Your thoughts about him weren’t any different from most of the camp. You’ve seen him fight and use his powers during capture the flag, and you were just as impressed as everyone else. You did have to admit that you found him to be pretty cute too. His eyes were gorgeous, clear, and bright like a shallow, cyanic sea. You also found it adorable how his hair always looked a little disheveled.

Your (e/c) eyes met Percy’s green ones before looking at your rose quartz in his hand. You smile sheepishly, noticing the amused look on his face.

“Ah, yeah, that’s mine.” You walk over to him, but as you get closer, so does Ambrose, and his growls get louder. "Ambrose, heel. It's okay," you say softly, and he stops in his place, but his stance is still at alert, his eyes watching Percy cautiously. You pat Ambrose's head before walking past him and over to Percy. "Thanks," you smile, taking your rose quartz from his hand.

"No problem… I don't think your ghost dog likes me," Percy jokes, moving to look past your legs at Ambrose, who’s standing tall on your left side.

"Yeah, well, you kinda scared the crap out of us," you point out, amused. You take in Percy's goofy smile as he pulls himself up from the water, and you notice that he’s completely dry as he settles on the edge before turning his body to look at you.

“It’s y/n, right?” He asks, and you nod, figuring he’s probably heard about you in passing from Connor and Travis since he was friends with them too. “What are you doing out here so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," you retort playfully, making him smile. You move to sit down where you were standing. You spread the crystals neatly on the wood, making a mental note to get them before you go to bed.

"I couldn't sleep, so I came out here to hang out, but then a hippocampus swam up. One of its friends got stuck in a fisher's net not too far from here, so I went to help," he explains, and you nod. "I told you my excuse, so what's yours?"

You hum, "It's a full moon out tonight, so I thought I should take my crystals out. I also needed moon water for a potion, so I collected some for that," you point over at the big mason jar full of lake water. "It’s not as cool as your excuse,” you say playfully.

A short laugh comes from Percy, and when you look up from your crystals, you notice he was looking at Ambrose again, who was still in his tense stance. Ambrose was especially protective of you and Atticus, and it wasn’t unusual for him to be cautious of the new people you come across. You assumed that Ambrose was particularly tense with Percy since he had successfully caught you both by surprise.

"Ambrose, relax.” You pat the top of his head to soothe him. "Lay down." Ambrose whines, licking your hand affectionately for a little, and you can tell he was still uneasy about the other. He was hesitant, but he follows your command anyway, laying down with his head on your lap.

"You can touch him?" Percy asks, his eyes wide and curious as he watches you pet Ambrose.

"Yeah, I can touch ghosts in general. My mother is Hecate, goddess of necromancy, along with magic, the night and the moon," you tell him. "This is Ambrose. My mother gifted him to me to be my familiar, kinda like a guardian." You look down at the hound, smiling softly as you scratch behind his ear softly.

Ambrose is a burly Molossian Hound who lived in the time of Alexander The Great. From what your father told you, his breed was well valued in Ancient Greek and Roman times and was often used in war. It is easy to understand why the breed was used in war. Ambrose is huge and muscular, about 6 feet tall when he stands on his hind legs, and he weighs around 200 pounds. At first, Ambrose can come off as a little intimidating. You remember how your siblings had avoided him when you first arrived at camp before they realized that he was the clearest definition of a gentle giant. Even though he was trained to fight when he was alive, he was still as gentle as a well-trained house dog unless he was given a reason not to be.

"When did you get him?" Percy asks, his eyes focusing on Ambrose’s translucent body that looked like it is made up of this gray swirling vapor. He couldn’t exactly wrap his head around how Ambrose’s head was comfortably propped up on your thigh.

"We met on the night I was on my way to Camp so about 2 years ago. Without him, my brother and I probably would have never made it to the borders.” You look up at Percy, meeting his eyes again; you watch as his face softens as he shifts to lean back on his hand.

"Really?" You hum and nod, ready to drop the conversation there, thinking you shouldn’t bore him with the details. You didn’t really like talking about it much, but the way he was looking at you made you feel like he was inviting you to continue talking.

"We got separated from our father at the gas station a couple of miles away from here. He went inside the convenience store to get us snacks, and while he was in there, a cyclops had found us, tried to grab us out of his car. We jumped out and ran into the woods nearby," you explain as you look out at the dark horizon.

You remember the sound of your father yelling after you and Atticus and how it broke your heart hearing, for the first time, such despair in his voice. You knew your dad didn’t want to bring you guys to camp, but he knew it was in Atticus’s and your best interest to come here and be with other people like you guys.

When you and Atticus started developing your powers, your father had simply told you guys that you were special and to refrain from using your telekinesis anywhere else but home. He didn’t say anything more until one night, you and Atticus had gotten in a screaming match about a reason you don’t even remember. However, in your screaming match, the both of you were so angry that a green aura had formed around you both, and books, magazines, even cutlery were being flown across the room because of the sheer energy you were admitting as a unit. It was then your father had decided to take you and Atticus to the camp to control and learn about your powers before you guys destroyed the house over a dumb argument like who’s turn is it to have the TV remote.

"We were more concerned about the monster hurting our dad, so we decided on a whim to run in the forest. My brother and I have telekinesis powers, and I aimed well enough to send a rock right at the cyclops eye. We lost him a little after that, but we didn't know where we were. We made too many twists and turns; we had no idea what direction we came from. And then, this buddy appeared out of nowhere from a distance. I saw him glowing from far away and couldn’t make out what he was, but I felt that I had to follow him. So we did, and he got us to camp with no detours for any other monsters. He's been with me ever since," you say, and a low whine comes from Ambrose’s mouth as he nuzzles the side of his face on your thigh contentedly.

Percy nods, and he huffs softly, "You guys got lucky. How old were you and your brother when you got to camp?"

"12, we're twins. We actually got here a couple of weeks after you did,” you mention. You watch Percy’s mouth curve into a half-smirk.

“Wow," he says, amused, and shakes his head. “So you have a twin and a dead dog, no fair," he jokes. You giggle, rolling your eyes playfully,

"Oh please, and you have crazy water powers. You’re completely dry after swimming! I think that's pretty envy-worthy."

"Hey-,” he shrugs, taking a second as if to form a protest. “I guess you're right,” he admits and laughs. You laugh with him, opening your mouth to say something else but unfortunately, you were interrupted by a screech echoing in the distance.

Both you and Percy stand up quickly, trying to figure out which direction it came from. “The harpies,” you both mutter in unison. You bend down to grab your things, and you look at Ambrose.

"Go distract them, bud," you tell him, and Ambrose jumps up to his feet, and you watch as he runs away, barking to get their attention. Just then, you see the wings of the Harpies coming up from the trees of the forest. You turn to Percy, grabbing his hand quick,

���Incantare: Transpectus!" You exclaim confidently, closing your eyes to envision you and Percy becoming transparent on the dock. You've never tried doing this spell before, but you've gotten better at visualizing and setting intentions, so you had some hope in yourself. You open your eyes, not feeling any different, and you hoped that you just didn't make a fool of yourself in front of Percy. But when you look down at your hand hesitantly and notice it was hard to make out since you were see-through like glass, you sigh in relief. You smile to yourself, more than satisfied that you were able to pull that off.

"Woah, are we invisible?" You look over at Percy, able to see him just fine since he was under the spell with you. Percy looks down at himself, eyes widened as he processes he can’t see his body anymore. You observe him for a second, finding it cute how he looked surprised and obviously entertained at the fact that he was completely see-through. You feel yourself growing a little flustered, trying not to focus too much on the fact that you were holding hands with him.

"Something like that. C'mon, it won’t last too long," you whisper, and your grip around his hand tightens as you guys begin running to his cabin. You hear the harpies screeching in frustration as they swoop down to try and grab Ambrose, only for their claws to go right through him. While the harpies were growing more annoyed, Ambrose, on the other hand, was having way too much fun, running in circles and barking at them as if he’s teasing.

"Man, I wish I had a ghost dog," you hear Percy mutter behind you as you arrive at the steps of his cabin.

"Yeah, Ambrose is pretty great," you admit, watching him play with the harpies before shifting your gaze over to Percy. "Thanks for getting the crystal for me." As much as you wanted to stay talking to him, you knew you couldn't stay too long. You were still eager to finish studying, and Ambrose can only hold off the harpies for so long.

"It was no problem. It was on my way up anyways," he shrugs, and you smile, trying to ignore the fluttering feeling in your stomach. You look down, the two of you still holding hands even though the spell wore off already. You awkwardly let go of his hand, shifting on your feet.

"Well, I'll see you around," you say sheepishly, fiddling with your fingers.

"Yeah, I'll see you.” His hand comes up in an awkward wave. You nod, returning the wave. Your eyes meet Percy’s green ones one more time before turning on your heels and walking down the steps of his cabin. You notice that Ambrose is now long gone into the forest, taking the harpies with him to give you time to rush to the other side where your cabin is.

As you hurry back to your cabin, you couldn’t help but smile to yourself as you replayed the interaction you just had with Percy, and you couldn't help but wonder when would be the next time you could talk to him.

You carefully hoist yourself up, climb back into the cabin through the window, sighing softly once you get in. You slowly close the window, your face scrunching at the creaking sound, but you successfully get it closed before turning around, only to be faced with Connor Stoll standing a few feet away with his arms crossed over his chest. You gasp loudly, almost dropping the mason jar in your hand, being startled for the second time tonight.

“Oh, look who’s back,” he says, his lips pulled in his usual mischievous smirk, his right eyebrow raised as if he's suspicious of you. You shift, giggling nervously under his graze,

"Hey, Con.” Shit. You knew he wasn’t asleep, and a part of you wasn’t surprised that he had caught you sneaking out again. You weren’t too worried since Connor wasn’t one to be strict or easily angered, neither was Travis, but you can understand if he did get a little upset with you since the cabin could also get in trouble, and he worried about you getting hurt.

"You leave so often, I'm starting to think you're seeing someone," he teases, and you furrow your eyebrows, not really sure what he was trying to get at.

"I'm not seeing anyone. You know what I do when I sneak out," you tell him, putting your hand out to show him the jar full of water. After being caught the first couple of times, you had explained to Connor why you occasionally needed to head out at night. He was understanding of your reasons, telling you to try and not sneak out as often. When he did catch you, he always kept your outings secret. It came with a price, though. You were sometimes stuck doing extra chores, especially anything that had to do with cleaning, since he hated doing anything that had to do with mopping or sweeping.

"So that wasn't you and Percy on the dock?" Your eyes widen, and you feel your face get hot again. You shake your head, stumbling over your words for a second.

"Uh… n- that was a coincidence!" You hear him snort, laughing quietly as if he didn't believe you. Even though he couldn't see your facial expression very well in this lighting, he can still tell how flustered you were at his sudden question.

"Yeah, sure," he says sarcastically, and he hums, "Anyways, what are you going to do for me so that I don't tell on you?" He asks, and your mouth drops open. Usually, he wasn't so forward, and he never threatened to tell on you. "I might spread a rumor about you and Percy rendezvousing at midnight. The Aphrodite cabin will have a hoot with that one."

You gasp, "Connor, are you blackmailing me right now?" You narrow your eyes at him, and he shrugs,

"I guess you can say I am." You shake your head, walking over to your desk to put down your moon water before turning toward him and crossing your arms in front of your chest.

"... what do you want?" You ask, expecting him to make you take up one of his chores. But from the way he was smiling at you, you can tell that there was something more he wanted, and you were beginning to worry.

"Help me turn the Ares Cabin into bunnies," he says, and you shake your head frantically,

"No way! Clarisse will kill me," you whisper. Connor smiles,

"No, she won't. She can't kill you if she's a bunny," he points out, and your face falls flat,

"They're not gonna stay bunnies forever," you say, and you fiddle with your fingers nervously at the idea of the outrage you'd get from the Ares Cabin after shifting back from being bunnies. "I don't know, Con. I don't even know if I can turn all of them into bunnies at once."

Connor waves his hand at you, dismissing your concern. "I don't care for the logistics now. We can work on that later, but you have to agree to at least help me," he says. "Or I'm telling everyone I saw you smooching Percy on the dock."

"What!? We didn't even kiss. We talked for like 5 minutes!" You whisper-yell, your reactions much too entertaining for him, and he was having a hard time holding in his laugh.

"Your decision, y/n."

You sigh, throwing your head back. You look at the ceiling for a second as you consider your two choices. And you decide that getting your head potentially put on a stick by Clarisse was better than the burning embarrassment of Percy thinking you're spreading rumors about kissing him. "Fine, whatever. I'll help you do the bunny thing," you mumble, your shoulders slouched.

Connor nods with a proud smile on his face for trapping you into helping him. "Good choice. I will be going back to sleep now. Good night… again," he announces, turning on his heels and walking over to his bed. You frown a little as you walk back to your desk to study. Plopping down onto your chair, you decide that you’ll worry about Connor’s little plan later so you can focus on your studying. After a while, Ambrose comes trotting in, joining you by the desk as usual. You smile at him, praising the other for distracting the harpies for you before he lays down, his head laying on your foot.

As you study, you find that you couldn’t help your mind drifting back to Percy once and a while. You deem that there was no way that you could have a crush on him since you guys have only spoken once. In the midst of your internal debate to decide what you felt for him, you suddenly remember the crystal that was retrieved for you. You remember how Percy presented it to you, holding it out for you with his fingertips. It was your rose quartz. What a coincidence. You smile, rolling your eyes as you tell yourself that you’re thinking too much into it. You look over, noticing the dim illuminating light of the beginning sunrise shining through the curtains. You sigh, deciding that you should probably get to sleep and take advantage of the maybe, four hours of sleep you’ll get tonight. You close your herbology book before making your way to your bed, and with a soft sigh, you retreat under the covers, and finally, you surrender to your drowsiness.

masterlist

[likeshipsonthesea]

“Nursey?”

Nursey blinks once, and then a second time when things are still blurry. He swivels his desk chair to face the doorway where there’s a smear of orange on top of gray that resolves itself into Dex after several more blinks. He’s wearing sweatpants that are a slightly different color gray than his sweatshirt. The only pops of color are the smears of purple under his eyes, the flush of his cheeks--pink and sweet like embarrassment--, and, of course, the nest of hair he’s forgotten to have cut for at least two months now.

Sometimes--fuck, but sometimes Nursey forgets how in love he let himself get. The fact that he has at least four different poems he could quote right now, a separate poem writing itself the longer he stares. He wishes he knew how it would feel to brush his thumb across that blush, to tuck his nose into the flyaway hairs behind Dex’s ear. He wishes he knew how to love without it ruining his goddamned life.

Really. It’s way too late--or early, god, what time is it--and Nursey needs every last braincell he’s got left to finish this scene for the script-writing class he somehow let Farmer talk him into but all he wants to do is sit here and watch a sleep deprived Dex blush as he lists into the door frame.

Before Nursey can think something utterly ridiculous like, oh, to be that door frame, he blinks really hard and asks, “What’s up, Dex-a-doodle?”

Dex must truly be exhausted because he doesn’t say anything about the nickname. “Are you--” he gestures vaguely in the direction of Nursey’s laptop.

Nursey spares a glance for his scene, which has remained six pages long for the past thirty minutes despite his best efforts. He closes the lid and turns back to Dex. “I’m free, what do you need?”

Sheepish, Dex pulls a stack of papers from behind his back. Nursey sighs. Really, he ought to bluster, ought to act annoyed and refuse to help, make Dex offer him any number of things in return for reading some of the worst writing he’s ever been unfortunate enough to have put in front of him, but--but it’s very late and Dex is soft and sleepy and illiterate and Nursey can’t argue himself out of simply wanting Dex to stay.

He holds out a hand. Dex grins, the slow, crooked thing he didn’t turn on Nursey until the end of their softie year, and he puts the essay into Nursey’s outstretched hand and takes a seat on Nursey’s bed while he waits.

Nursey turns back to his desk, reaching out idly for his red pen while he starts scanning the intro paragraph. After the first two rounds of edits, it doesn’t make him cringe immediately. There’s a typo here or there and a missing comma in the second paragraph, but Nursey finds himself smiling by the end of the second example. The thesis changed dramatically since the last time he read it--the second round of edits ended with a long, lengthy, and loud discussion of the subject material, during which Nursey may or may not have provided a caffeine-induced rant about the misreading of Shakespearean plays and despite the rather dazed look in Dex’s eyes upon the conclusion of said speech, some of it seemed to have made an impact.

“It’s good,” Nursey says, as he finishes reading, smiling to himself. “Now, don’t get too excited, it’s good for a STEM, but--” Nursey cuts himself off as he turns to find Dex asleep on the bottom bunk. He’s tipped the wrong way, feet resting beside the pillows, his neck bent awkwardly as his cheek presses into the quilt.

Nursey huffs a laugh at himself for the fierce swell of affection in his chest. He puts down the essay and the red pen and crosses to the bed, gently moving a pillow under Dex’s head. Out of it as he is, he doesn’t even stir, simply settles back down as Nursey pulls away.

Nursey turns back to his desk. He put the essay down on top of his laptop and he picks it up as he turns his computer back on. He skims the first page again, stupid smile on his lips. Who would’ve thought that Dex was actually listening to him, all this time.

The Word document pops onto the screen, shining too-bright light into the room. Nursey places the essay to the side and rereads the last two pages of his scene, finding himself continuing it effortlessly when he reaches the point he’d left off. He makes the page count before the hour is up and saves without rereading it, shutting the laptop and sending him back into a softer light. He braces himself and turns.

Dex sleeps away peacefully. Arms wrapped around himself, one leg pulled up towards his chest. Nursey lets himself watch without feeling guilty--he’s too tired for anything more complicated than fondness. Sometimes it really does feel so simple.

The truth; tonight Nursey is going to get ready to sleep as quietly as possible and somehow manage to trip on his way to the bed, and Dex will wake up, bleary and pink, make to sit up, make to leave, and Nursey will press him back down and tell him to, “Stay. Dex, just--stay,” and Dex will, because sometimes Dex listens, and Nursey will fall asleep counting the soft breaths below him.

The truth; Dex has really horrible takes on Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson, and most literature up to and including the Magic Treehouse books, but he never stops Nursey’s rants, and continues to ask for Nursey’s help, and his essays get nothing but better.

The truth; one day, Nursey is going to tell Dex about all the poetry, quoted and written, that Dex inspires in him, and Dex--Dex is going to listen.

[apinktrashworld]

The Camp

masterlist

Jungkook x reader | angst,  fluff | friends to lovers au

wordcount: 2.4k

You and a few friends are going to a camp for a month, you find yourself growing closer to Jungkook though he’s your best friends ex.

For a long time, you and your friends had signed up for a camp to help volunteer. Works that needed help such as the environment, the old and homeless, hospitals and different orphanages etc. The list went on of what you could do to help. Wanting to help out as much as you can, you signed up for every possible thing on the list. The camp was set for a month. You scanned the brochure the camp had given out, you saw food was provided and the food schedule was written on the next page. There were pictures that showed people working and smiling, scanning every smile you could see you hoped to feel the same and to have a constant smile on your face throughout the camp. You had always cared about stuff like this and you wanted to help out as much as you could. You wanted to make a difference in the world and make it a better place. 

When you had told your four friends about the camp they looked like they were about to laugh, not quite thinking you’re being serious. You just stared at them waiting for them to finish so you could explain your reasons. As you did, they seemed to get more and more interested and wanted to come along with you. Now it was your time to laugh. Knowing them, they didn’t want to leave our little small town for an entire month to do volunteer work when you finally were free from school. You stopped laughing and stared at them with a smile on your face, meeting eyes with Taehyung looking dead serious. When no one said anything you made the biggest grin ever, in which they all returned. You yelled out how excited you were for this and they all started jumping and screaming with you, hugging and dancing in excitement.

That was two weeks ago, and now you had finally arrived at the camp. You and your friends stepped off the bus with your luggage and stood in a row, staring ahead. You felt ready for what was to come and looking to your side, you saw Jungkook, Jimin and your best friend, Irene gathering their luggage. Jungkook and Irene used to date a few months ago but stayed on good terms in order to keep the group together. You especially were thankful for that since you had grown so close with Jungkook and not wanting to choose between your best friend and Jungkook. 

The boys knew each other since childbirth and had stuck together ever since. Jungkook and Irene met through a mutual friend and grew close. As time went on, Irene dragged you with her to meet her new friends and Jungkook did the same with Jimin and Taehyung and just like that you hung out everyday. You thought you had found the best group you could ever find and would constantly thank them in your head. They made you happy and you could trust them with all your secrets. The more time the group spent together, the more did Jungkook and Irene take interest in one another and the two eventually started to hang out alone. One thing turned into another and suddenly they were a couple. You could tell how much Jungkook liked Irene and you were all for it, shipping them like crazy. Then Irene got in one's head and started telling you how Jimin had started to like you and tried to set up the two of you. It worked. Before you had never seen Jimin more as a friend but ever since your friend pointed out his interest in you, you suddenly noticed those quick glances he threw at you from time to time and his attempt in trying to flirt with you. Suddenly, you found yourself to like Jimin back, although not being as obvious as he was, you did not dare a single look towards him, being too afraid to meet his eyes and him seeing you blush. You did not dare talking to him more than a few words and a few attempts of flirting (though the flirting did not land whatsoever) in fear that your voice would shake or stutter. Irene noticed this too and practically forced you to talk to Jimin. You two agreed on a date and you shared a kiss or two, however the romance died pretty quickly after that, still, you care deeply for each other. Irene and Jungkook dated for three months before they broke up, Irene made the decision. She felt as if she wasn’t in a relationship with Jungkook alone and instead felt like she dated the whole group. When she told you this, you felt extremely guilty, you felt as if you were to blame for the relationship not working out. Irene is not one to open up about her feelings and prefers to keep them to herself in order to remain strong. Although Irene didn’t show her heartbreak, Jungkook however, got heartbroken. He loved Irene, and sometimes you think he still does. Wanting to help, your own heart breaking upon the sight of him, you tried showing him that you’re there for him. He refused to meet up with the group and started drinking up his feelings. This went on for a month. Irene broke him out of his bubble, talking out and listening to him, both crying and hugging and agreed to remain friends. It was hard for both of them at first, but soon it grew easier for the entire group.

Now, three months later, we’re here, standing with our hands full, Taehyung’s struggling to hold onto his bags but insisting he should take some of yours too because “a fine dame like you shouldn’t carry such heavy stuff”. Looking away from Taehyung, looking straight ahead to see where you’ll spend your life this month. Seeing people walking and laughing as they talk. Some are picking up trash and others are carrying boxes from a place to another. A huge smile spread across your face as you take the place in, you were happy you were to do this. Gathering your luggage you call for the others to get going. You all started walking towards the huge building that most likely was the barracks and the reception. It was a big white building with what seemed to be three floors. Walking up the stairs to the entrance you hear as the rest of the group are struggling to walk. Going in, you are welcomed to a group of men smiling and greeting you all. They’re wearing blue t-shirts with a text on the chest that says “Helping Hands”.

“Hi, welcome to Helping Hands!” one of the boys said with a big smile on his face, handing out four identical brochures as you had looked at before. Taking them, you hand out each of the brochures to your friends. “I suppose you are checking in?”

You nodded at his question. “Yes, it’s me, Taehyung, Jimin, Jungkook and Irene, we’re signed up for a month here” you say with an uncontrollable smile. You feel the rest of your group's eyes on you as they silently laugh at your excitement. 

“Alright, I just need all of you to sign this paper and then I will show you to your rooms” the boy informed you, gesturing to you to follow him. He stopped by a desk and placed papers with a lot of text on it. Quickly scanning through it, you signed it and handed the pen to Irene. You all signed the papers and moved on to get your rooms sorted out. Walking through a long white corridor with several doors on each side, you thought to yourself that it looked like some kind of mental hospital due to the empty walls. Not thinking too much of it, you walk through the corridor. The man stopped by one of the doors to your right and gestured for you and Irene to go inside. Inside you saw three other girls standing by each bed.

“This is your room girls, the boy’s room will be a few doors down the hallway.” the guide said and continued his walking.

The boys looked at each other then at you and Irene, thinking all of you were going to share a room. You simply shrugged your shoulders at them before turning around, catching a glimpse of Taehyung and Jimin who are both watching the girls behind you. When you turned around you saw the girls blushing and smiling. One of the girls snapping out of it, stepped forward and greeted you. Her name was Jiwoo and has a smile as an angel. Her hair was long and brown that framed her face in a way you never succeeded with, dark brown eyes which almost looked black and a voice which could make birds sing along with her. She was absolutely stunning. Jiwoo then introduced the two blushing girls behind her, Sun-hee and Mee-yon. All of them are beautiful and you found it hard to look away, your chin almost dropping at their beauty. Irene got you back to reality and introduced you to the girls. 

Getting to know each other, you learned you were all the same age and had a lot in common. You and Mee-yon especially loved taking trips and finding new places, Irene and Jiwoo got along due to them having the same major. You were really thankful for getting roommates such as them rather than girls who won’t share a single glance with you. You and Irene chose the bunk beds closest to the door, you being on the bottom bunk and Irene on the top.

A few minutes later, there were a few knocks on the door, opening up you see it’s the boys, all of them trying to squeeze through the door to look inside. Almost falling in, they stumble on their feet, smiling. Jimin and Jungkook turn to you and Irene while Taehyung gets busy trying to get acquainted with your roommates.

“Why did you get a much nicer room than we got?” Jimin whined as he turned to investigate your room again. “You even have flowers!” he exclaimed, pointing at the vase full of flowers on the table in the middle room.

“You should see ours…” Jungkook finishes as he looks down at you. Looking up at him and letting out a little chuckle. Not breaking eye contact, you quickly turn to Jimin who’s still scanning every inch of the room. “How are your roommates?” you ask, shifting your eyes between Jimin and Taehyung. Taehyung’s smoothly flirting with all three of the girls without them noticing. Jimin sits down on your bed, getting at home immediately. “It was empty when we arrived, have yet to meet them.” he says.

Looking out the window you see the sun is shining. Now that you’re here you’d like to get to know the place. So you suggest that you all take a stroll around the camp, in which Irene says she wants to do that later since she wants to sleep, Jiwoo, Sun-hee and Mee-yon agree with her, claiming they want to unpack their belongings. That brings you to Taehyung, Jimin and Jungkook, looking eager at each of them as they look back at you. “I’m down.” Taehyung shrugs and Jimin and Jungkook nod towards you.

Walking outside, the sun hits your skin. You’re wearing a white crop top with blue jean shorts that go down to your knees. Feeling the breeze pass through your legs you take some steps until you were stood on the grass. Turning around, you see three boys fanning their hands on their face, all three of them wearing black sweaters and hoodies with jeans. Sighing, you silently judge them for wearing such warm clothes in this weather and predict all the complaints that will come.

After the walk, you return to your room. You had met a few new people that joined your stroll and showed you around, telling you how stuff works around here and so on, hearing heavy breathing and small complaints about the weather here and there from the boys. They can only blame themselves for that. It had now become dark outside and a little cooler so you wanted to fetch a sweater. While back at your room, Irene and your roommates were sitting on opposite beds playing cards and talking. You greeted them and told them you were going out to the beach with the beach and asked if they wanted to come along. They said yes and now you all headed towards the boys room. Knocking at the door and opening it the same second, you were greeted with the boys along with two new unfamiliar faces. They all turned their heads towards you. You apologized for stepping in since you thought only Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook were inside. The two new people just smiled looking at the group of girls which just entered their room. “No worries love, I’m Hoseok and this is Namjoon” one of the men said and pointed at his friends next to him. Not gonna lie, they both looked rather attractive and fun to be around so you asked them if they wanted to come along to the beach. When you did, Jungkook, and Jimin snapped their heads towards you with a stern look on their faces. Confused, you looked away from them and met eyes with Hoseok and Namjoon, seeing their pretty smiles. “We’d love to,” Hoseok said, seeming thankful for your invite. Returning the smiles with an even greater smile. Then you headed out, all of them grabbing a sweater to drag on, the boys oddly quiet while Hoseok and Namjoon tried getting to know you and the girls.

Arriving at the beach, you all sat down on the sand, kicking off your shoes in order to bury your feet in the cool sand. Namjoon and Hoseok sit on either side of you, perhaps a little too close but you didn’t mind. You talked about your life and they did the same. Leaning back on your arms, you look straight out into the water. Seeing Taehyung teasing Jiwoo and Mee-yon by splashing water on them, hearing them laugh made you chuckle to yourself. Jungkook and Jimin sat in front of you whispering to each other, every now and then glancing back towards you. It didn’t seem like Jungkook and Jimin liked their roommates very much, you had yet to figure that out but for now you just wanted to enjoy the moment and look ahead of what was to come this month. 

[keijiluvr]

Naps with Suna

Imagine taking naps with Suna Rintarō

Pairings: Suna Rintarō x Reader

Warning/s: None, just fluff 

Note: I know I’m supposed to be working on the part 2 of just some boy but this has been sitting in my drafts for days and suddenly got the motivation to edit this. I hope you guys liked this because this definitely made my heart warm. 

You love, love, love naps. If you would have a free time, you would nap. You feel like you’re always out of energy, especially around noon time on a school day or even during the weekend especially when you have to deal with the Miya twins who constantly bother you since they’re your neighbors. 

Teasing them and making fun of their awful mood drops, even going far to record their petty fights is what made you get closer with Suna Rintarō but after a while of getting comfortable around each other, both of you found out  that every single person needs to take a nap at least once in a while when it’s not hectic. Finding out that both of you have something in common and the fact that it’s enjoying taking a nap makes you laugh but at least it’s with Suna and you thank the heavens it’s not having this kind of thing with the Miya twins.

At first, it would be both of you taking a nap inside the classroom, forgetting about lunch break as both of you doze off on the small desks in front of the chairs. You would always end up laughing, seeing how Suna can barely fit. His desk would look so small but he didn’t care, saying that he’s too tired and sleepy to think of another way for him to sleep. 

Both of you would sit beside each other, whispering or murmuring how awful and tiring the morning classes are. You would enjoy this with him, being able to talk and catch up on things until someone falls asleep first. It would always be you though, falling asleep first and Suna would take his time studying your face, picturing how it would look like sleeping beside you on a bed or waking up to witness this scene that makes his heart beat faster. He would drift off to sleep as well after a while. 

This would happen for a while. The fact that this started happening, you started feeling warm and fuzzy inside, always looking forward to lunch break to spend time with him. Often, the Miya twins would barge in the classroom, bothering both of you until they force you to go eat lunch with them. 

Then one day, after school, Atsumu started inviting people to their place to hangout. His reason was solely to play games but it’s really just an excuse for the setter to share the gossip he heard from the other volleyball teams or brag about something he did. 

You felt so tired though at that time, moving too slow and too tired to speak. The classes you had today drained you, it even felt as if they sucked your brain dry. 

That’s when you saw the bunk bed in the twins’ room. You noticed Suna taking a nap on the bottom bunk bed. You just felt so tired, not having the energy to climb up to the top one. So, that’s how you ended up beside the middle blocker, feeling cozy and comfy as you settled and drifted off within two minutes. 

The other teammates noticed though and couldn’t give up the chance of not taking a photo. To the twins, they thought that the picture would be enough to use as blackmail. To Aran and the others, they thought it was cute while Kita scolds the twins for taking the photo and being too loud, afraid that they would wake the both of you up. 

After that day, it resulted into one of you going to the other’s house, hanging out and drifting off to sleep on the bed. You could say that it’s the best feeling in the world, feeling Suna’s presence beside you. It brought you comfort and his hand would always end up on your back, letting his hand rub over the skin gently as the tip of his fingers brush your skin with care. He would hum softly, pulling you close to him. It would always make you fluster but you definitely love the feeling of it. 

Needless to say, naps with Suna is now your favorite thing to do instead of taking naps alone.