#he’s singing somebody that i used to know and is low key killing it

[wickedhawtwexler]

having a slay time at karaoke tonight

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 18: A Series of Ecological Disasters

Booting up ye old Yugioh, booting up a new aesthetic playlist to type to. (today’s playlist is webcore, which would feel like such a damn fake aesthetic, if it weren’t that every single one of these -core aesthetics are pretty damn fake and everyone knows it.)

Anyway, it’s been so long that, I’ll be honest, I thought I booted up the wrong episode:

I usually skip the anime intro, but I try to watch it once each arc, cuz the intros change, and this arc was like “screw it, here’s all the other villains, just pretend this arc isn’t happening.” They had Pegasus, they had Marik, they have Bakura (who is kind of in this shot as well, you can see him phasing in there.) And like...I guess they’re hiding the villain of this arc or something because that was it. Alexander the Great got just nixed from this villain list and that’s a shame.

Just a real weird choice, but since apparently this arc didn’t air in Japan they probably had to outsource this anime intro and whatever studio in charge of it just cobbled together stuff from every other season and then a couple of shots of capsule stuff.

Speaking of capsule stuff: get a load of how many freakin lines the animators have to deal with every time they draw Grandpa.

Bro saw this and was like “oh yeah, this is a Shonen Jump” and yeah. The hair does give those vibes. We got a good look at what Vegeta would look like if he really let himself go.

(read more under the cut)

Sorry, my playlist started playing a song where every single line of the song is “Adrien Brody” and it took me like a few minutes to realize I was listening to “Brodyquest” completely seriously.

Damn it, webcore, don’t betray me like this.

Anyway, this arc does something super surprising: Yugi actually hugs somebody and doesn’t look like he’s going to pass out standing up.

It is pretty fitting that the good Yugi hug would go to Grandpa.

And, as night falls, Joey Wheeler has gotten hungry, and there is nothing to eat but his new best friend and spirit animal, baby dragon. Unfortunately he shares life points with the dragon, and I think if you eat it that just instakills you.

And directly underneath him--since this world is like 100 feet wide and things just conveniently happen--Tea has told everyone that they needed to stop worrying about Joey. Which is a lot coming from Tea, because her worrying about Yugi/Yami getting hurt is most of what occupies her headspace in this series.

But even Tea was like, screw Joey, I guess.

Who kinda just falls directly into them upside down, and shows us what Joey’s hair looks like when it’s sticking straight up.

For reals, admire how long Joey Wheeler’s hair is. If Tea were upside down, she would have the same length of hair.

Also speaking of Vegeta, I am low key concerned that Joey has what appears to be a significant amount of male pattern balding going on for a teenager.

Apparently getting set on fire many, many times did have an effect on Joey, and this massive pompadour he wears is a combover. Poor baby.

Holy crap, if this is what card stress and getting killed multiple times did to Joey Wheeler, can you imagine what’s going on under Seto’s bangs? That’s probably why his bangs ride so low, Seto likely wears a freakin toupee.

Guys, Joey’s gonna lose his hair at 25 at this rate. Those locks just aren’t long for this world. Poor baby.

After Joey rejoins the party, he immediately eats all of their food. Not sure why they can’t just have Baby Dragon eat like...whatever Baby Dragon naturally eats...and then transform that into shared Joey Wheeler life points, but it’s not clear exactly how much of a life-connection they have with their Yugioh monsters. Not like it matters because Joey Wheeler is default starving all the time anyway.

Tristan has decided we should start laying blame, I guess because Duke Devlin isn’t here anymore to be the local kill joy. This doesn’t seem to be important at any point, and most of the characters are just ignoring Tristan because like...once you’re in the haunted game in a haunted tomb in a random part of India--it’s kind of moot to argue about who’s fault that is, youknow?

Joey reminds us that he found this quest item in a treasure chest under a secret waterfall. No one says “that was convenient that you landed there after getting chased through a ravine by man-eating birds after you got your dragon from when you got your crotch injury from getting spliced by that tree.”

Which is when Tea says “Wait! We haven’t had a plot thing happen in like 4 seconds! Wait!”

Hey what degree of “I don’t trust nature” do you have to be to assume that all the flowers are trying to eat you?

Like what level of anxiety is Tea where she not only is like “pretty sure the flowers are going to destroy us?” but also...she’s correct? Like she’s not wrong.

They set the dog flowers on fire, but unlike the Jungle Book this doesn’t solve any problems (which apparently got taken off the Disney+ kid’s menu so...yet again, I make a Disney reference in these recaps that future generations will not understand because so much of the Disney library has been banned from the vault. It’s almost like Disney should let go of that copyright they held on for like a hundred years, because what they’re holding on to is only going to get more racist with time. But nah. Gotta hold on with their greedy mickey mouse gloves.)

So instead of using fire, Tristan used his monster to electrocute the air (?) and blind the dogs. Wisely, the animators quickly jumped to this other scene so we wouldn’t have to analyze why it’s suddenly daytime or why that plan would even work.

Joey and Tristan do a lot of buddy buddy stuff this arc. Usually we see a lot of Joey and Yugi’s bottomless friendship, but we don’t get this much Tristan/Joey love. So shippers rejoice, these two seem to have several coordinated dances and songs...and I’d say that teens don’t typically do that, but I went to summer camp, there are situational places where teens will sing the entire vacation and make coordinated dances.

Weirdly, since Joey and Tristan share so much time together, this also means Tea and Yugi actually sit next to eachother for a lot of this arc, almost as if they were a couple. Mind you, they’re chaperoned closely by Grandpa, but youknow...that’s a different energy than I’m used to seeing.

That and like, they can’t have Tea dance with them because last time she did a dance, it was like a DDR fight and she elbowed some guy like it was a fisticuffs situation. Like there was some sort of dance war going on behind the scenes of Yugioh’s card war, and it came up once and I guess Tea resolved it and the dance fights haven’t come back since.

Overall, if they did a dance with Tea, they would get kneed in the face, so that’s probably why they insist on doing cancans as a duet and not a trio.

After Joey and Tristan freak out over having no food, Tea decides to just start eating in front of them.

and like...didn’t Joey eat that food yesterday? Like last night? The short term memory loss on all these fools.

Immediately after this we realize something weird in the water. That’s right, it’s a massive head.

Yugi seems to have forgotten they lit this turtle on fire and electrocuted the entire sky the night before. Not that it mattered.

There were like...nesting birds on those trees on that island. What the hell? They just killed so MANY of those man-eating dogs that are flowers.

Seriously are land turtles allowed to just...dive underwater for long periods of time? How does that ecosystem even work? It’s like...That’s wild to think about.

Inside the temple, they have to fight a genie or something.

In case you were wondering, the only reason Tea and Grandpa got iced is because they were the closest to the door. The two who were actually standing out of harms way were the closest to harm the whole time.

Bro tells me this is also what will happen to you if you are in the front or the back of the party while playing Cthulu D&D

Anyway, Pharaoh decides to disclose that his big problem of feeling guilty all the time and taking all the blame, which he did all of last season...is still a huge problem he will probably never tackle.

Straight up, don’t be fooled by my caps, everyone else has completely forgotten about Alex, who is still running around that temple up there. They haven’t even asked Grandpa “hey is this your protege? Is this your mentee you never told us about?” Nah. They already forgot. 

How wild is it that Pharaoh thinks this is all his fault when he was the only one who was like “YUGI IT’S A TRAP DON’T GO IN THE- well...OK I guess we’re doing this, fine.” Is he upset he didn’t take control from Yugi and walk back to the plane? Because that’s the only way he could even be partially responsible, He was the only guy who was like “I see the end from the beginning on this y’all, and it’s the massive pyramid in India.”

Speaking of forgetting, they came across this language Pharaoh has decided to have nothing to do with.

This was actually a riddle and it was like...it was a riddle, sure, I guess.

And so Joey Wheeler does not hallucinate his dead wife from a previous incarnation and get on the back of his Baby Dragon to sail away into the sunset. Instead they’re just gonna walk.

Too bad Tea’s orb covered in wings only seems to hover a bit. Every single wing on that weird orb is absolutely useless.

And then Pharaoh’s pokemon is just a fire--which is hard to sit on--and Celtic Guardian...who would allow it, sure, but probably doesn’t fly (I think. He might fly)

And then Tristan’s Pokemon kinda seems like if you sit on it, you will get electrocuted. It can probably fly though. It’s very round. Seems like an anime thing that the more round your mascot character is, the more likely it can at least bounce a good distance.

So, next time, I’m just going to assume that we are going to do even more camping. And youknow, if you told me exactly HOW MUCH CAMPING was in this card game show with super future tech, I would not have believed you. But like...a lot of this series is set in the woods right? Like a lot a lot? I have grown to appreciate the woods.

Anyway, as always, if you just got here, this is a link to read these in chrono order:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

See you next time!

[drreidfics]

Dr. Reid and the Broken Girl pt1.

DR. REID AND THE BROKEN GIRL (Working Title)

Characters : SpencerReid x FemReader

Warnings : Abuse, Hints of Self Harm.

CAUTION // TW // THIS BOOK DEALS WITH MATURE CONTENT SUCH AS PROFESSOR AND STUDENT RELATIONSHIP, SEXUAL ASSULT, SELF HARM, MENTAL ILLNESS AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE. IT ALSO INCLUDES A LOT OF RATED-R MATERIAL. IF THIS IS TRIGGERING OR MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE THEN PLEASE DON’T READ.

Here I am again, on the floor, begging him to stop. There he is again, laughing at my pleas and forcing himself inside of me. Almost every night he climbs into my bed, then in the morning, he pretends everything is normal. When anyone is around, he acts charming. He is able to trick everyone into thinking everything is fine. Well, it's not.

My phone buzzed to life at the side of me. The alarm was going off but I had been up for hours, staring at the flecks of dust dancing around the air. The sunlight streamed in through my thin, white drapes. It was beautiful out. It was the middle of May and bound to be hot out in Arizona. I could feel the warmth on my skin already. I needed to shower and get all this sticky sweat off my skin. It wasn't even mine. I felt disgusting. His touch lingered everywhere on me. The bruises he gave me stained my skin more than the self inflicted cuts.

'Morning Ms. y/l/n. Last night was lovely. See you at lunch?'. It was a text from Mr Reid. He was my psychology professor. Older than me, at thirty, he had long dark hair and deep brown eyes. His hair curled slightly at the end. He was tall and slim. Smart and nerdy, having two degrees and a doctorate, he left his job at the FBI for something less mentally draining. He had worked there since he was twenty-two.  I was twenty-one making our age gap quite small. Look at me, trying to convince myself that it even mattered. He was a lovely guy. Friendly, and handsome. He wouldn't fall in love with a student, and if he did, that student would never be me. He was too smart for that.

"Morning Dr. Reid. Thank-you for taking me. It was a fun eve! Yes, see you at lunch. We can have a chat about the stuff we saw yesterday =)". I read the message over and over again before hitting send. I was nervous as I usually always say stupid things. My low self esteem affected me very much. I was twenty-one, already with one degree and going back to do another. I was still living at Sharon's and I haven't had a boyfriend. He texted me back instantly.

"Can't wait! Need a lift to school? =)" I smiled down at my battered iPhone 6. I couldn't afford a brand new phone. I was lucky in that I only had to work a few hours a week at the local book store and that it was something I enjoyed doing. Sharon was good to me. She helped me pay for and make my way through college. I don't know what or where I would be without her. On the other hand, she brought the human spawn of the devil into my life.

"No thnx, Luna is picking me up =)" I sent but then instantly regretted it. I love my best friend but I would have preferred a ride with Dr. Reid. Our conversations were always interesting and insightful. We could talk about a wide range of subjects for hours and it would only feel like minutes passed.

"Ok, see u soon Y/N"

I smiled, almost forgetting my problems before catching glimpse of myself in the mirror. My fragile, battered body stared back. I sighed. He could never find a girl like me attractive. Not that it mattered anyway. Silly little girl crush.

After debating whether it was best to just find the nearest bridge in town and throw my self off or get ready for school (I am very mentally unwell), I decided on the latter. Luna had already texted me to inform me that she was about to set off. Knowing Luna, which I have had the pleasure of knowing for fifteen years (no sarcasm in there), ten minutes would be ten years.

I staggered down the dreaded stairs, almost losing my footing a few times, feeling light headed. I entered the brightly lit kitchen. It was so bright that I could feel an aching behind my eyes. The decor was simplistic, all white with gold features. Classic business mom who is never home asthetic going on.

       Sharon sat at the island, face absorbed in her laptop. She was in her late forties with short, mousey hair. I believe she would be referred to as a 'Karen'. She looked nothing like Dom. She was short, like me, and fairly slim. He was tall and muscular with broad shoulders. Quarterback star player with the strength to show for it. He could snap us both in half. Dominic is Sharon's only child. Yes, that is correct. She is not my mum. I lost her.

Sharon looked up at me, flashing me a warm smile, still bashing the keys to her MacBook. She took a sip of her black coffee, nibbling on some cold toast. "You look like shit" she stated; matter of factly, her face blank.   '"Thanks?'" I answered with a raised eyebrow. I walked over to the coffee machine and put in a pod, sticking my travel cup underneath. 77Kcals of goodness. All the fuel I will need this morning. "Sweetheart, don't act like that. You know I'm just saying. You need to sleep more" '"I know" I sighed. It was true... "But that makes two of us" I retorted cheekily with a grin.        "Oh sweetheart, don't I know it" she raised her cup as if toasting the comment before gulping the last bit of coffee.

Sharon was my guardian, though not anymore as I was an adult and of drinking age. She still cared for me though as if I were her own. My mom died when I was seven and my dad had a breakdown. He couldn't cope. One day I came home from school and he was gone. He didn't say a word to anyone. He packed up his stuff and  left me. I hated him for a while. The anger within me burned to my core. After a while I felt sympathy. He didn't get the help that he needed. If he did then we both wouldn't be in this mess. We'd be happy - together. I doubt he would know how to contact me now.

Aunt Sharon took me in. She wasn't really my aunt, she was my mom's best friend. She was the only connection to my mother that I had left besides her wedding ring. She loved her dearly and I believe she loves me dearly too. It's not her fault she can't protect me. She works herself to death trying to help me live my dreams. Dom wasn't the child that she had always wanted. He is doing nothing with his life. That is something I will alway's respect of her, single mom raising her child and somebody else's.

I loved her, though she did have the tendency to dish out tough love which often was way - way too harsh. And she was always away leaving me with him. I knew that if I'd only just tell her what he was capable of... What he would do to me when she left... She'd have murdered him herself with her bare hands. But it would kill her. I couldn't do that to her. He was the only thing she had who was blood. Me, I had no-one.

"shit! Is that the time? I'm going to be late. I gotta go, honey. Say bye to Dom for me." she pleaded as she stuffed the last slice of toast in her mouth and gathered her briefcase and her keys. " ...And make sure you have something to eat. You're wasting away!"                                   "Have a good day at work Shaz" I shouted after her. I doubt that she heard me. She was out the door in seconds, jangling her keys and fighting between speaking with me and the ringtone on her work mobile. I heard her professional, scripted 'Hello, Sharon Cormack speaking' as the door slammed behind her.

I made my way through the spotless kitchen Gina, Sharon's housekeeper, always did a good job. I grabbed a bottle of water out of the integrated refrigerator. I also grabbed my iced latte from the coffee machine. It was almost half eight. My first classes start at nine and Luna still wasn't anywhere in sight. I scrambled through my purse for my phone, ready to give her a piece of my mind. That girl would be late to her own funeral.

"You're up early" a voice from behind me sneered. It took all my might to not to curl up in a ball, trembling.

"I... I have school"

No reply. I felt him creeping up behind me, felt his breath against my neck.

"I can think of something much better to do with the day baby"  he whispered as he planted acid kisses on my neck. It burned. I squeezed my eyes shut, putting my hands up defensively. He pushed my back into the counter. A sharp pain ran though me.

"Please stop. I have to go" I whispered as his hand snaked its way up my neck, fist knotting tightly in my hair.

'"Why do you think a whore like you has the right to tell me what to do, hm?"

'- Hello? Katy?'  Luna's smooth voice called out in sing song.

Oh, thank god for her and her timing. He released me from his grasp and increased the distance between us. His eyes were clouded. I could tell he was pissed. I brushed passed him, running towards Luna, who was standing by the open door. I ran straight into her arms hugging her tightly.

"I thought you'd never show." I whispered. She rested her chin on my shoulder, stroking my hair. I could tell that she was staring daggers at Dom and I could tell he didn't care. Like I said, the same routine. Every morning.

By the time lunch rolled around I had had enough. had gotten into a lot of trouble with Ms. Hallows over an overdue assignment and I had spilt water all down the front of my jeans. It looked like I had pissed myself. My saving grace is that they were dark jeans and so it wasn't too noticable. That didn't stop Georgie from laughing and calling me pissy pants for half the day.

Georgie was the kind of girl that you would avoid in high school. Everybody wanted to be her but everyone hated her so bad. She had golden brunette locks, a slim face and a petite nose. Her friends Nova and Ari were just as bad. Everyone used to tell you that when you left high school things would be different. I am sorry to inform you that they don't. Bullies stay bullies forever.

I forced my way through the groups of students, crowded together in the corridors. The last thing I wanted was to be late for my chat with Mr. Reid

"Y/N" I heard Luna calling after me. I could tell that she was chasing me through the crowd of students.  "Y/N. Look, Y/N stop." I rolled my eyes.

"What?" I snapped. I could see the hurt in her eyes. She leaned on the wall, panting. I sighed. "I'm sorry. What's wrong?" I asked. I felt bad for snapping at her. All she wanted was answers, like anyone would have after walking in on what she did. But I don't give answers. I shut down. I don't tell anyone anything. She tried talking once we got in the car. I ignored her and I ran once we'd arrived at school. She didn't even need to speak. I could just tell what she wanted to talk about from the look on her face. I sighed again.

"Luna, I can't talk about this right now."  I saw the hurt in her eyes. If I kept pushing her away then eventually she wouldn't fight to stay. 'Good', a small voice whispered in my head. Maybe that would be for the best. She deserves better. Everyone does. I could just end my life today and nobody would care. I used to fight hard against the suicidal ideations that entered my mind but now I didn't see the point.

"I have my meeting and I can't be late. Taco Bell after classes?" I asked. To my relief, she smiled and nodded, that beautiful smile that I loved so much. She was so easy to please. I smiled and walked away towards room 1980. Dr. Reid's office.

"I love you!" she shouted after me smiling.

"I love you more!"

"Lesbians" Georgie mocked. She was stood near the bathrooms. I rolled my eyes.

"Grow up"

Luna was gay but we weren't together. We had been intimate a few times but nothing had come of it. But so what if it had? We both agreed it felt weird as we had known each other as friends for so long. We didn't want to ruin anything. Luna and I had been friends ever since she opened up my juice box for me in kindergarten and then hit the girl who had stolen my straw. We had been inseparable ever since. She's been with me through thick and thin. I'd hate to think where I'd have been if she hadn't been there when my mom had died. We are and will alway's be the best of friends. In another life I could see us growing old together, adopting puppies and children but sometimes, it doesn't work out. And if you love someone, you have to let them go.

I opened the door to 1980 and as soon as I did my heart fluttered in my chest. There he was, as beautiful as ever. He looked up from the book he was reading, glasses perched on his nose and smiled, he seemed glad to see me.

"Sweetie!" he said, a smile spreading across his gorgeous lips. He's the only person who calls me that.

"Dr. Reid"  I smiled back. My smile was huge and I probably looked so dorky but I don't care. My day just got brighter. I pulled up a chair next to him and kicked my feet up onto his lap. He rested his hand on my calf.

"So what did you think to the book?"

[wri0thesley]

number 11 with Melone?

“So…do you want your underwear back?”

warnings for: obsessive behaviour, stalking. neutral reader and pronouns although reader DOES wear sexy underwear. 

It's the third pair of underwear that's gone missing this week - and you really liked this pair, dammit! You're tired of going out to the cheapest clothes store you can get to with a shit assassin's wage (what kind of asshole pays their assassins this badly? Your boss, apparently), and having to choose ugly pieces that are on sale and not at all your personal style.

And, unfortunately, you know exactly what's happening to them.

You avoid Melone as much as possible. The rest of the team have not been at all coy about telling you you're doing the right thing; making vague references about how Melone treats possible lovers, or about how he can't be trusted, or about how he's just creepy. You've never been assigned to work with him on a mission - by all accounts, Melone works well alone, and Risotto is glad of that. But this is getting ridiculous.

You know it's none of the other guys. For one thing, they don't seem the type - and for another, most of them have shrugged and admitted they're keeping lovers on the side in safehouses and the like. Trying to keep their loved ones safe in the only ways they can. But Melone . . .

Well.

He's got nobody to come home to, if the boys in the squad are right. And from the hungry way he's always looking at you, eyes travelling the length of your body, hunger radiating off every lithe, panther-like inch of him, he's not particularly interested in keeping a lover off-base. He wants his lover somewhere a little closer to home.

It's not that he isn't handsome - he is handsome. It's just that he's so . . . intense. His eyes focused on you, gloved fingers flying over keyboard keys, low hum of acknowledgement in the back of his throat when somebody speaks to him. Utter focus. The cold, clinical way you've heard him talk about both his marks and his Baby Face mothers. Something about him just gives you shivers and shakes. Sorbet and Gelato are terrifying, sure, but they're terrifying in a way where you know what you're getting if you get on their bad side. Melone seems like he could snap at any moment.

You're not doing any good pontificating. You get up from your bed, slamming the drawer shut - your favourite pair of pale blue satin underwear with lacy rose appliques isn't going to retrieve itself from Melone's room on its own, you guess - and neither are all of the other nice pairs you've had to replace with sale rack rejects in leopard print and hot pink. You're sure Melone would appreciate them - he seems like the kind of guy who'd appreciate that kind of performance - but they're not very you.

You try and be quiet as you pad along the hallway. Melone's out on a mark, so you know he's not going to be around to catch you (the schedules of La Squadra members are easy to pick up on if you listen, or if you sweet-talk Illuso and bring him some of that hair conditioner he likes), but you still don't want anyone reporting back to Melone that you've been snooping about his room. Ugh. You wrinkle your nose, stopping outside his door. You can't believe you're going to go in there out of choice.

You hope it's not going to be like a weird fetish porn studio. You can barely look at the way Melone dresses without flushing red - most of La Squadra dress like they're in an erotic movie, but Melone is the utter worst for it. You pause, and take a deep breath. Alright. You can do this.

You push his door open--

And it's normal.

A perfectly ordinary, serviceable bedroom, much like how yours had looked when you'd first moved into the hideout. Yours is possibly a little more lived-in - you have nice coloured blankets and knick-knacks. Melone's bedroom is bare; a laptop on his desk, some biology and astrology books on a shelf, a tarot deck (you shouldn't be surprised about it, based on how much store he puts in where the planets where on nights people were born) - one decorative throw pillow. It's almost sad, how quickly Melone could probably pack his things up and just leave the squad entirely.

You almost feel bad for him, before you remember why it is you're in his room in the first place.

You're pretty sure Melone is stealing your underwear. Your used underwear, to make it even worse! Right out of your laundry hamper! (Melone, coincidentally, doesn't seem to have a laundry hamper. You wonder if his wardrobe is just full of the exact same suit and snort to yourself before you lean down by his bed and open a drawer).

Boring clothes. Civvies; plain shirts and jeans, that Melone almost never wears because his stand means he can work remotely. Clicking your tongue, you rifle through them - and your fingers catch on a hard edge. You push the fabric to one side and pull out . . . a photo album?

Is he secretly soft-hearted? Sentimental in private? There's a small smile on your face as you flick open the photo album, that falters when you realise the polaroids slipped within the clear casings all have one thing in common.

All of them are of you.

You, smiling as you talk to Formaggio. Your head thrown back in laughter on the sofa downstairs in the living room. Concentrating on a mark on a mission you'd been sent on with Prosciutto - your face falls as you rifle through them.

Not just you as a member of La Squadra. 

You as a civilian. 

A picture of you before you'd gotten caught up in this business. A picture of you and your family. Your graduating class--

Your heart begins to beat hard in your chest, as you drop the photo album and wrench open the second drawer.

A half-empty bottle of your perfume, that you thought you'd accidentally thrown away. Post, addressed to your old apartment before you'd moved in here. A napkin with a kiss mark pressed against it, lipstick in a colour you haven't worn for over a year.

Your guts feel like they're dropping through the floor as your shaking hands pull open the bottom drawer. This time, Melone's made no attempt to hide things from you.

Your underwear, neatly laid out beside one another, gussets showing. They're stained with something you know isn't from you. A sex toy that you'd bought and only used once because Pesci had knocked on your door whilst you were using it to check you were okay, and you'd bundled it away in your own bottom drawer so you didn't have to look at it and remember the sheer embarrassment of Pesci maybe overhearing you touching yourself--

Three more polaroids. You, undressing in the shower, bent over to fold your clothes. You, hands buried inside your shorts on your bed. You, getting dressed in a morning, bare in the light filtering through the curtains--

Your face burns at how open and vulnerable your naked body is in them. 

How did he get these?

Your hands are shaking, your mouth dry. You want to take your underwear back, but also - what might Melone do if he finds out you've found his creepy little shrine?

"Enjoying yourself?"

The voice is soft, the cadences gentle - but you still start, falling to one side, your head turning to stare at Melone through wide, frightened deer in the headlight eyes. He sees the fear on your face and smiles, cold and clinical, and you wonder if perhaps he's just going to kill you right here. He shrugs his elegant shoulders.

"I've been watching you for a while," he says, unhurried as he crosses the room, kneeling beside you on the floor like you aren't trembling viciously. He drags a gloved finger over your face in one of the polaroids, his small smile not faltering for a moment. "I had to bide my time, didn't I? But once you find such a perfect match, you don't want to let them go so easily . . ."

"Y-you're sick," you manage to spit out, heart beating like a drum. Melone tips his head to one side, considering.

"Healthy as a horse," he says, after a moment. He winks at you. "Hung like one too, if you want to find out."

Your fingers cling at his stupid, plain, characterless bedspread as you pull yourself onto your shaking legs.

"I'll tell Risotto," you whisper, your heart seizing in your chest. Your voice is coming out so dry.

"And who do you think he'd prefer to lose, cara?"  Melone says. He doesn't sound mean, or patronising, or smug - he sounds like it's a fact of life. "The new recruit, or me? Someone who's never failed on a mission? Who doesn't need a babysitter on jobs?"

"I--" your voice peters away. He's right.

"Besides," he says, motioning at the array of items he's collected. "Do you think I got these myself? Do you think nobody noticed? You're not the only one who can bribe Illuso with hair care products, you know." That same curious, simple smile on his face, he continues; "We share the same favourite brand."

"I . . . This is . . ."

Melone reaches over and he touches your face, griping your cheekbone in his fingers so you can't pull away. Your flesh feels like angry fire every place he skims, sickness rolling in your stomach.

"Oh, you're so pretty," he says, sing-song tone leaking into his voice. "You're going to be so perfect, tesoro."

The spell breaks, and you wrench yourself away. Fuck your underwear. Fuck all of your stuff. You stumble away from him, across the room, heading out of his door on unsteady legs that are at least managing to be fast. You hear Melone's voice, an echoing laugh as you head towards your own room to pack immediately and get the fuck out of here--

"So I'll take it you don't want your underwear back?"

[melvinthedepressedrobot]

😳👉👈 Why? (For the top song of the year post)

okay so Fair by The Amazing Devil is the most perfect love song of all time and I could stop there but I have SO MANY FEELINGS

like, the whole album is fantastic, the sound, the lyrics, Joey Batey and Madeleine Hyland’s voices (especially Madeleine’s massive belts on That Unwanted Animal and Farewell Wanderlust, like a primal wailing in the absolute most complimentary way possible), the story that flows through the album, from a love literally on the rocks in The Rockrose and the Thistle to the very ending line of simply “I’m doing fine” in Battle Cries, I would kill to witness this album live (especially if they did it in a wood like in the live recording videos, I’d go fucking feral)

but

Fair, specifically, has my whole heart

there are so many love songs out there, more than you could possibly count, songs about new love and unrequited love and heartbreak and The One, about eternal love and love against all odds - it’s a very small percentage of songs aren’t about love in some way, and as somebody who is obsessed with music, who can’t remember what he had for lunch but can remember the songs he learnt in nursery, I would like to think I have heard enough love songs to Have An Opinion on them

Fair isn’t like those love songs, Fair about real love, it’s not an intense fantasy, like so many love songs, with Joey Batey’s vocals soft, low-key, almost spoken, almost whispered, like a train of thought - emphasised by the constantly rolling rhythm of the guitar through the whole song - like two people just idly chatting about a real relationship

about somebody you settle down quietly with, who you make stupid jokes with, who you have a real connection with, who you watch telly with, who you have fights with but work it out with, who’s heard you fart and snore, who makes you feel better just by standing beside you, makes you laugh, weep and ache

and even in the moments of the song that are intense, comparatively, Joey doesn’t go into a belt, but up into a falsetto; I can’t help but think of that one theory of musical theatre - in which belt is so frequently used - about how when the emotion gets too much, you sing, but again, that loops back to the intense fantasy, because think about when you’re emotional like that, you so rarely shout or wail, instead your throat tightens and your voice goes up 

god, it’s so viscerally real and I am a hopeless fucking romantic and it’s all I’ve ever wanted and I just don’t know if I will ever find a love song that speaks to me quite as much as this; it’s not fair how much I love this song

[vampiricfairy]

I Never Told You What I Do For A Living

Chapter 3

Word Count: 2183

Pairing: Jonathan Harker x Reader

Warnings: ⚠️TW ED⚠️

__

You rolled your eyes and grabbed your phone, calling Zoe.

“Good morning Y/N-“

“Dracula found me, I think.” You said, actually relaxed.

“WHAT?! HOW CAN YOU BE SO RELAXED?!?! I’LL BE THERE, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” Zoe hung up.

You sighed, you regretted going out that night.. To a certain extent, Jonathan was cool though but you probably would’ve met him regardless. You checked your texts, Jonathan didn’t text you which disappointed you a little.

After maybe 10 minutes of waiting Zoe barged into your apartment and stomped upstairs into your room.

“Y/N??” Zoe exclaimed and you gestured to the writing on the window.

“You need to be more careful, Y/N. Can you stay at one of your friends’ house?” Zoe asked.

“Probably.. I’ll have to ask-“ You said, before realizing something. “But wouldn’t that be what Dracul would want?”

“You’re right.. You’ll come to my apartment.”

“I- what? I would endanger you and- that isn’t a great idea either! I don’t want that!” You said, “I’ll.. Look whether one of my friends could maybe help me out? We have hiding place in my dads garage and it seems fairly safe.” You said.

“Just.. Don’t go out after dark and do your best to stay safe. I have to get back to work.” Zoe sighed, “I’ll check up on you later, alright?” She said and walked out of the apartment again.

After asking all your friends who possibly could help you out with your small issue.. Your friend Henry told you that you could stay at his house for the night. Would’ve been cooler if he weren’t madly in love with you, well rip you.

You took a shower and then cleaned the blood off your window as it wasn’t really a nice sight for you to seeing the blood of somebody you don’t know.

You packed all your necessary stuff.

__

Henry had convinced you to leave the house with him, it was sunset which made you nervous.

“I told Lucy we’d meet her.. She’s not as bad as you think she is. By the way she met somebody and wants us to meet him, I promise you it’ll be fun!” Henry said and held your hand.

“Please.. Not for long- I need to be home by sundown- I can’t stay longer outside than that!” You said, obviously you couldn’t tell him that a vampire who killed your great-great-great aunt and that he wanted to apparently destroy your bloodline, was chasing you.

“Why are you so pressed? At most we’ll stay outside for an hour! What are you so afraid of? You’re acting weird.”

“Henry!!” A familiar voice screeched.

You rolled your eyes, there she was, Lucy Westenra. Next to her stood a pretty tall man, he had dark hair and.. Wait a fucking minute.

“Bye hoes. I’m leaving.” You said as you stomped away.

“Not so fast, Y/N.” Said the man.

“Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Go fuck yourself.” You said, not turning around.

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” Asked both Lucy and Henry in unison.

“Nothing.. Just leave me alone!” You said and you started running.

The man followed you and you ran faster, for your life- not knowing where you were running. You saw a taxi and almost stumbled into it.

“Jonathan Harker Foundation, now.” You said.

The driver was slightly confused but started to drive, during the ride he tried to make small talk but you didn’t feel like it and snapped at him a few times. It really wasn’t his fault but you were probably being chased by the vampire that was trying to destroy your bloodline and that didn’t help your mood.

Once you reached the foundation you threw the money into the drivers lap, “Miss?? That is too much-“

“Keep the change-“ you said as you charged into the foundation and immediately flew into Zoe’s arms.

“Y/N are you alright?!” Zoe asked, a little surprised.

“H-he is with my friends- I don’t.. I don’t feel safe-“ you sniffled.

“Calm down first, what exactly happened?” She asked.

You explained it to her and she sighed, “it’ll be fine Y/N. You need to take care of yourself and maybe avoid going outside for a little.” Zoe tried to reassure you.

“What’s wrong?” You heard a familiar voice say.

You looked up and wiped away your tears, “Jonathan?” You sniffled before looking at Zoe, “how- why is he here?” You asked.

“He is trying to help us with.. Well Dracula.” Zoe said and Jonathan nodded. “The foundation is also named after him, so you’d think he would try to stick around here to help us.”

“I’ll take care of her, Zoe.” Jonathan said and tried to smile reassuringly.

“Alright, if you do try to hurt or.. Anything, you know what happens.” Zoe said, threateningly.

“I am very aware and I wouldn’t hurt her or you in any way.” Jonathan said.

“That’s cool but what’s the Wi-Fi password?” You asked.

“Count Dracula.” Zoe said before she disappeared.

“Alright, got it.” You said as you typed the password into your phone and waited as it connected.

“You could stay at my apartment if you want.” Jonathan offered, he seemed to be fairly interested in you and you didn’t exactly understand why.

“I mean if Zoe’s okay with that- but don’t you have to sleep in a coffin or something?” You asked, as you texted your friends letting you know that you’re okay. You realized something-

“I d-“ you interrupted Jonathan.

“I-I just realized that Dracula could have tracked me by my Snapchat location- holy shit-“ you exclaimed before turning off your location information on your phone.

“Snapchat?”

“It’s an app where you can talk to people and send them pictures, I forgot to turn off my location mode.. So that would explain why Dracula found out where I was.” You explained as you turned the ghost mode on.

“You have to be more cautious with your privacy, Y/N!” Jonathan said, as you looked up into his eyes to see a bit of worry?

“I’m fine- I mean I’ve survived the last 17 years and I’ll survive.. At least another 5 years- well anyways. Should I ask Zoe whether I can stay at your place?” You asked, feeling a bit silly as you felt like you were a little child asking for Zoe’s permission which made you tempted to just go but you couldn’t because you knew Zoe, out of all people would rip your head off if you didn’t let her know where you went after being chased by the vampire threatening to destroy your bloodline.

“Go ahead, darling.” Jonathan smiled fondly at you.

__

After a 30 minute talk about what you shouldn’t do and Zoe ranting about your safety you sat in a car with Jonathan and a driver. She told you to not fall in love with Jonathan, you didn’t really understand what’s there to fall in love with in first place- maybe that was mean but the dude low-key was a huge boomer. He had his attractive traits, yes, his eyes are fairly pretty but you were sure when Billie Eilish was singing Ocean Eyes she most definitely didn’t mean Jonathan.

Jonathan looked at you, “are you hungry? I don’t really have any food in my apartment but I could buy you something.” He offered, smiling a little at you.

“No.. Not really- Jonathan?” You asked.

“Yes, anything wrong?”

“Do you.. You know drink blood?”

“I-“ he hesitated a little, “I do. Just not as often as Dracula, I try to drink blood every.. Two days so I can function but otherwise not. I primarily try to choose lawyers as I enjoy keeping up with the law- it makes me quite happy.. Do you have anything that makes you happy?” Jonathan asked, trying to get the conversation going.

“Well I tend to enjoy listening to music and reading- it’s fun to go out with friends or learning new things, I’m pretty interested in the paranormal, occult and psychology.” You smiled, remembering the times where you would tell your friends creepy stories to watch the freak out.

“You really seem to be a Van Helsing, I’m not surprised.” Jonathan remarked.

“Maybe it runs in the blood, who knows?” You smiled sheepishly.

After a relatively long drive that didn’t feel so long, Jonathan led you to his apartment. His apartment was pretty tidy, small and rather well put together.

“You got a TV, I see- do you want to watch a movie?” You asked.

“Isn’t it a little late?” Jonathan asked, “not that I mind! I just think you should try to not sleep too late everyday!”

“Nahh! I’m good! Let me put on something more comfortable first though.” You said, grabbing your ag and disappearing into the bathroom. You kept your thigh highs on as you were wearing an oversized sweater. You honestly hoped Jonathan wouldn’t mind since he’s from another century, but he shouldn’t think about it anyway.

“Done!” You said as you walked into the living room area and flopped next to Jonathan on the couch. “I’m pretty sure you slept through all the good horror movies so why don’t we watch.. The Conjuring?” You suggested.

“I’m fine with whatever you want to watch-“ He answered with a small smile.

You took the remote and streamed Netflix of off your phone on the TV. You were feeling a little tired already, bit it wasn’t that bad yet.

You didn’t even remember falling asleep during the movie. As you feel asleep you rested your head on the next best thing; Jonathan’s shoulder. In your sleep you mumbled something and pretty much wrapped your arms around him, snoring lightly.

If he were able to blush, he would. But since he wasn’t he waited a little before carefully removing your arms and picking you up as if you were a fragile doll that would shatter at any moment. He carried you into a bedroom, placing on the bed and tucking you in.

He looked at you, admiring your sleeping and beautiful form before stopping himself from his thoughts. He quietly walked out of the room and to his coffin, lying down in it and closing his eyes. It didn’t really take long for him to fall asleep.

__

You woke up the next morning, a bit surprised about where you were as you walked into the bathroom and washed your face then brushed your teeth. Trying to find Jonathan you walked into a room and blushed slightly when you saw the vampire who was.. Shirtless. He seemed to have just taken a shower and maybe, just maybe, you were staring a bit.

You blushed even more when he saw you and mumbled a “I’m so sorry-“ as you closed the door again. You thought for a moment and remembered what you saw.

Jonathan wasn’t ripped or anything, his body was pretty average, he had a bit of pudge on his stomach but it was normal for the era he was from. So you knew from history lesson, yeah you’re big smart. But you somehow thought it was cute on him, wait why do you find a 148 year old cute?

You stood there with your back leaned against the door, thinking as he opened the door and you fell into his arms, luckily he caught you and you figured; today wouldn’t be a good day.

“Are you alright, darling?” He asked, a little worried, still holding you.

“I’m good, I’m great.. I-I I’m just so sorry for walking in on you, I should’ve knocked.” You said still slightly embarrassed.

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it.” Jonathan said, “are you hungry? If you want to I can give you money so you could buy something from the bakery.” He offered you.

“No thank you..” You smiled a little.

“How come you never eat?” He asked, slight worry in his voice.

“I-I do? I’m just not eating as much because don’t like it.. I’m trying to lose a bit weight so, why not?”

“But why? Darling, you’re absolutely stunning.” He told you as he looked into your E/C eyes.

“Cool that you think so, I don’t. I don’t want to talk about it, Zoe would fry me.” You said.

“I won’t force you to talk to me, but I do want you to know that you can trust me.” He said and you sighed.

“I’m good Jonathan.. Really. Just don’t make me talk about it because it’s embarrassing.” You said.

“Do you want to finish the movie?” Jonathan asked, knowing that that would lift your spirits.

“Yeah!!” You smiled and flopped on the couch.

__

After watching a few horror movies you practically held onto Jonathan, you were a bit scared even if you didn’t want to admit it so you hugged Jonathan’s arm and leaned your head on his shoulder. “Johnnyy, I’m scared-“ you whispered.

He paused the movie, “nothing’s gonna hurt you. I promise.”

“Well if you say so..” You smiled a bit tiredly as Jonathan played a little with your hair..

It all felt too good to be true.

[fieldfullofbangtan]

bts hc: mafia members

mafia!aus are my favorite ok let me

Seokjin

knows hes hot shit

could make grown ass men melt

doesn't partake in any fist fights

his face is too pretty to get scars

operation leader

good at planning and thinking ahead

the one that sits back while the others have to get their hands dirty

but he gets some shit too because he has to be overseer

“Jin can you STOP singing we all hear you in our earpieces and its fucking annoying”

“excuse me you are being blessed by my voice”

*continues singing while the others are getting shot at*

looks like an angel

and is kind of a guardian angel because thanks to him the others haven’t died yet

Namjoon

does he or does he not look like a sexy mafia boss

definitely the leader

the others can disagree and argue

but he has the last say

well educated but still chose the bad boy lifestyle

so he’s super smart

but also bad ass

you would not want to be on his bad side

has a natural alpha male aura

we have to mention his occasional clumsiness

*yells at everybody to shut up and listen*

*trips over something before he starts to talk*

*coughs* “As i was saying”

low key

people wont peg him for a bad guy

and he wants to keep it that way

Yoongi

he has passed the point of resting bitch face

now he’s at ‘ill kill you if you move” face

could probably sit around and do nothing and people would run away

appears to be super cold

but is actually kinda emotional

his hard outer shell is just to protect the softness inside

kills a man without blinking

cries when a dog in a movie gets hurt

“im not crying shut up i got something in my eye!”

animals are better than humans

same yoongi same

jin uses yoongi as a tactic

there exists a “plan yoongi” where he just stands around and stares and it’ll get the job done

Hoseok

probably the nicest one out of the seven

voted most likely to spare someones life

still a bad boy dont get me wrong

he’s just a little more... scared 

has awesome aim so hes always assigned sniper

cuz he would shit himself if somebody jumped him

he can handle himself in a fist fights but if someone jump scares him he’ll pee himself

the others are grateful because nobody wants to be sniper or backup because its ‘boring’

is also a boss at persuading and manipulating people

probably because he’s so likable

nobody can/wants to say no to him

“you know... if you surrender we can be friends”

and they do it

he protecc

he atacc (from afar)

but most importantly he happy and on cracc

Jimin

bad boy in the streets

sweetheart in the sheets

nickname is pretty boy

and he truly embraces that nickname

half of their rivals are secretly gay for him

you wouldn’t expect him to be the fighter kinda guy but he is

once you get him going he’ll punch the shit outta someone

but then you really have to piss him off

“wow jimin hit someone last night? what did he do?”

“he said jungkook and taehyung looked like a couple”

can handle his guns

by that i mean both his biceps and the weapon

maybeee focuses too much on flirting and sometimes forgets the main point of an operation but you know

if you got it - flaunt it

Taehyung

at base hes goofy and super chill

but once he gets out and the -game- starts he turns it on

family is super important

so is loyalty

so if you disrespect any of his brothers he will hunt your ass down

but otherwise he acts innocent and unbothered

kinda like a dog

when hes comfy at home hes like a pomeranian

and then when he fights he goes full rottweiler

more of a fistfight kinda guy

would feel super cool when walking up to some building with his 6 bros behind him

“can i please stand in the middle?”

“SHOTGUN”

“wait I raise my gun first and then you guys go”

totally living out an action movie

Jungkook

you know taz from looney toones?

thats jungkook

just a tornado that wrecks everything it passes

hes fast and strong at the same time

its very unfair

doesn't have the best temperament

so he gets into fights a lot

his hyungs know how to calm him down

just throw a carton of banana milk at his head

“DID JIMIN JUST PAT MY HEA-”

*gets hit in the head by banana milk*

“love u chimchim”

funny boi

but funny at others expense

his sarcasm makes people hate the entire group

“Im just being funny?”

"you made fun of the most wanted man in koreas bald head?!”

“but did you SEE the head on that man?”

[clexa--warrior]

There’s a new group of villains on Fear The Walking Dead.

Well not entirely new. These are the same people who’ve been scrawling “The end is the beginning” everywhere. The same people with the submarine who are looking for Morgan who took the Magical Key from the bounty hunter way back at the beginning of Season 6.

I admit, I’m just kind of tired at this point. Tired of all the bullshit and bad writing and the tedious characters and the predictable stories. Tired of the parade of mediocre villains. Bone weary. And yet here I am, still reviewing this damn show.

Let’s take a little walk down memory lane, shall we?

TV’s Greatest Villains

At the beginning of Season 5, after the Most Horrible Villain Of Any Walking Dead Show was taken care of at long last, we got a new group of bad guys who . . . just wanted their warehouse back? And directions to an oil refinery?

Truly, these were now The Most Horrible Villains Of Any Walking Dead Show Ever.

Logan (played by a woefully underutilized Matt Frewer) was the head honcho of these bad apples and he fooled Morgan’s group into flying a plane they didn’t know how to fly far, far away to help some strangers in another part of the vast continent of Texas. Then he . . . moved back into his warehouse! The bastard.

After half a season of trying to fix the plane so they could fly back across the Pacific Ocean (which we all know separates the two halves of Texas) Logan tries to pretend like he’s a decent guy and fools the Morganites into showing him where the oil refinery is. Dastardly Logan! Then, just when Morgan and Logan decide that their names are similar enough that they might as well be friends, the Rangers show up!

They show up on horses with rifles and expertly kill Logan and every single member of his crew but for reasons (reasons!) they spare Morgan and the Morganites. It turns out that Logan was working for the evil witch queen of Lawton, Virginia—Truly The Most Horrible Villain Of Any Walking Dead Show Ever (Seriously). She is so evil that she kills the people working for her, who helped lead her to the oil refinery, and spared some people she didn’t know who weren’t loyal to her at all for reasons.

Yes, you heard me. Reasons! You don’t get to know the reasons. That’s not how scripts work. Scripts are supposed to be confusing, opaque and riddled with plot holes and inexplicable character choices.

Anyways, Virginia and the Rangers with their horses and their cowboy hats and their idyllic Texas aesthetic become the new Big Bads sometime in the second half of Season 5. Morgan and Friends make a PSA documentary to make sure anyone wandering from gas station to gas station is able to know who to call (GHOSTBUSTERS!) if they’re in trouble (which, like, yeah it’s a zombie apocalypse) because Morgan really wants to make up for all the bad things he’s done and so do all his friends.

Virginia is very mean, though, and so she makes a PSA, too, and that pisses Morgan off so bad that he takes his people far, far away to an abandoned Western-themed park-town filled with zombies and they make another PSA on the way that’s even more amazing and magical but a dude dies making it, marking the Best Walking Dead Death of All Time in the process. Seriously a dude decides it’s so important to film a selfie shot for the PSA that he dies when a bridge that’s collapsing surprisingly collapses! And then everyone is very sad!

Then, uh, after a spell at the new town that has no resources or water because it’s a theme park town instead of a real town, Wes and Alicia paint some stuff and June and John Dorie get married and Daniel plays some guitar and sings and Frank Dillane is like “Holy shit I’m so glad I bailed on this show” and then Virginia comes because Morgan calls her because instead of walking somewhere else they decide they should call the Evil Witch Queen Of Lawton so she can rescue them by splitting them all up (even Skidmark the cat!) and then the season ends with Morgan getting swarmed by zombies but don’t worry he’s still alive and they’ll tell us as much in a trailer that comes out before Season 6 because AMC is criminally addicted to spoiling their own shows for no reason on social media and . . . and . . .

Somewhere between Season 5’s finale and Season 6’s premiere AMC and showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss must have put their heads together with Scott Gimple and decided that the Rangers and Virginia were actually super dull villains, just like the last few villains (I skipped the whole Vultures plot because they were actually so stupid they put the stadium under siege but still let Madison and co. go out scavenging because somehow they never read the Siege 101 manual or something).

Anyways, for reasons that must be obvious by now, somebody must have pointed out that Virginia is not a very good villain after all, partly because she’s just not that convincing but mostly because she made a goddamn copycat PSA and someone thought that was actually a cool story because there is no God and life’s not fair and this is also why we can’t have nice things, son.

And they must have realized that the Rangers are a like a cartoon version of what might happen in Texas after a zombie outbreak (just compare this clown show to the far more realistic Vatos gang from Season 1 of The Walking Dead). All these realizations must have felt strangely repetitive after what I can only imagine were similar revelations about Martha, the Vultures and Logan. So many revelations, so little useful insight or meaningful changes!

The Believers

In any case, they had June kill Virginia after a weird series of events that also saw one of the only good characters left on this godforsaken show get killed by yet another brat, and came up with The Believers, a group almost entirely inspired by The Monkees. These totally realistic folk live underground where they grow crops and embalm zombies and talk about how you need to be able to “see” when you look at this one creepy zombie they have entwined in vines in their basement. They’re led by a guy named Teddy played by John Glover who must really be down on his luck to take a role on this ridiculous show, though he’s actually creepy as a villain so that’s something. But no, I’m not going to feel any hope or optimism because fool me once shame on me, fool me again and George W. Bush, man. He has something to say about this.

Wes and Alicia and Al and Luciana all find their way to these people. I honestly can’t remember how they found them, but they show up to scout things out. They get interviewed like we’re back in Alexandria. Things go bad when Wes runs into his long-lost brother and ends up killing him after a scuffle over a gun. Wes’s brother has had a little too much of that Kool-Aid if you know what I mean. Wes isn’t too shook up about it. Remember when the entire brothers Dixon conflict between Merle and Daryl played out over the course of one single episode of The Walking Dead? Yeah, me neither.

Luciana says stuff because she’s still on this show for some reason. She says stuff a few times and people say stuff back to her. Al checks an embalmed zombie with a helmet on thinking it might be her lover girl from Season 5, because you totally embalm zombies with their helmets still on, but it’s not. Boy I was really worried there for a second!

Alicia sets the embalmed zombies on fire so they can get away and the others escape but Alicia doesn’t and then she has to have a whole entire conversation with Teddy and it’s pretty damn awkward when she tells him “You wanna kill me? That’s not gonna happen.”

Teddy’s like “whoa damn I was going to kill you but now that’s not going to happen crap” and Alicia’s like “So there, Teddy. You jerk face with your crazy-man beard.”

He knows something about Madison somehow. And he wants to “save you, Alicia” but “I don’t need saving” she tells him and then he talks in more cryptic circles. Teddy’s been looking for someone like Alicia for a long, long time and she’s like “listen old man at least I got some lines this episode!” which, to be fair, is true.

THE END. CREDITS ROLL.

Verdict

Yes, I am clearly mocking just about everything about this show. But I didn’t come up with this crap. I didn’t come up with Martha and the ethanol, or the plane and the beer-balloon, or Totally Pointless Logan, or Ginny and her boring ass cowboys. Maybe Teddy will be a better villain than all these. To be fair, he is a better villain already in a lot of ways. Then again, the bar set by the Vultures, Martha, Logan and Virginia is not very high. It’s so low, it’s less a bar and more of a speed bump.

So while Teddy is far more intriguing than the rest, and it’s even possible that Glover’s brief appearance here in this episode was better than the sum of all the other villains in this show since Season 4, I imagine they’ll find a way to screw him up also and then, as soon as he’s worn out his welcome, replace him with some other group of bad guys. The Shouters, a group of post-apocalyptic crazy people who wear zombie faces and shout at each other really loud, led by a bald woman named Alphapha.

Here’s the thing.

We need more than just Good Guys vs Bad Guys. There are other struggles to work with in fiction. Friction between the group that causes realistic, compelling internal strife. Survival against the elements and just the struggle of surviving in a world laid low by a pandemic, maybe without creature comforts like walkie-goddamn-talkies. Or perhaps a compelling story about a survivalist group at odds with a Native American tribe over water rights, whose intertwined family histories are marred by murder and revenge, where our heroes find themselves torn between both sides of a bloody fight they know very little about.

Yeah, what a notion.

Like I said at the very top of this review, I’m tired. I’m tired of Fear The Walking Dead. I’m tired of the same crap happening over and over again, another absurd bad guys who ultimately make the same fatal choice: They mess with Morgan Jones. NOBODY messes with Morgan Jones.

Maybe Morgan can make a PSA about how mean and delusional Teddy is and then Teddy can make a PSA about how The End Is The Beginning, Actually, Morgan You Twit. It’s just all nonsense at this point and it has been since the end of Season 3. We aren’t dealing with actual stories about real people. We’re watching a cartoon with two-dimensional cartoon villains and a bunch of uninteresting flat characters. Except a cartoon would be more fun.

What is the point of this show now? It’s like a goofier version of The Walking Dead, which also suffers from too many villain groups at this point and too many characters but not this level of crappy writing (usually).

Let me predict the plot for the remainder of Season 6 and likely part of Season 7 if AMC is actually going to let the current showrunners continue driving this show into the ground:

Teddy wants the key from Morgan so he can use it to activate the nuclear bombs on the nuclear sub that’s in the middle of Texas (because Texas, you recall, is separated by the Pacific Ocean which has dried up because ZOMBIES and the sub is there now). He wants to nuke the planet because he wants to save everyone because they’re weak probably. From this nuclear wasteland, new life will spring eternal and his cult—well protected in their underground parking garage with their cute little gardens—will be the new rulers of the world. Or at least of Texas which—we know because of geography class—accounts for approximately 57% of Earth’s land mass.

Look, I’m sorry. I’m really truly sorry but if this show continues to be a joke I don’t know why we should take it seriously. A mocking review if only fitting for a show that continues to make a mockery of itself. AMC has the resources and the wherewithal to produce a better zombie show and quite frankly audiences deserve one. There was nothing fundamentally awful about “The Holding” so I’m honestly not fully sure why I’m in such a snarky mind frame, but there was nothing very good about, either, and it’s just plain as day to me that they’re already falling into the same traps they keep falling into over and over and over again. Meet the new bad guy, same as the old bad guy. It’s all so predictable.

Because they don’t really learn from their mistakes, or because even if they do they just don’t know how to course correct. That’s the problem when you just don’t have much talent but nobody steps in and says “enough is enough!”

Because seriously, my droogies, enough is enough already.

[trensu]

Episode 14: The One where LWJ Sings to WWX, y’know, Like a Bro

WE’RE STILL IN THE BEST CAVE IN THE WORLD GUYS

AND WE START OFF WITH ~THEIR SONG~ PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND AS LWJ GENTLY WAKES UP.

And first thing he notices is that he woke up with his forehead ribbon on his forehead where it’s supposed to be (it’s right there in the name) 

Wwx: oh yeah, i put it back on you while you were sleeping. I know how nervous you get when you’re not wearing it.

DID YOU HEAR THAT?

DID YOU?

HE PUT IT BACK ON HIM TO SPARE HIM ANXIETY

(You can't tell me that LWJ does not low-key have anxiety. Nobody's that much of a stickler for rules without being constantly anxious about breaking them. That's just facts)

Also, lol, the minute lwj wakes up, wwx is all “ah, must be 5am.” HE’S KEEPING TRACK OF TIME WITH LWJ’S SLEEP HABITS LOLOLOL

Now wwx and lwj are talking Important Escape Details

Wwx: yeah, went back into the pond and it looks like the Murder Turtle blocked off the escape route

Lwj: you shouldn’t be going into the pond with your injury

Wwx: i’m not that delicate!

And then he turns it around and asks lwj how well the medicine was working on his leg (it’s all better now, i guess?? idk he seems fine now. wq’s medicine is MAGIC)

BECAUSE THEY CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER

Here we learn the official name of the Murder Turtle

Lwj: it’s like a xuanwu but not

Wwx: xuanwu?? *proceeds to describe what he knows about it*

Lwj: *is impressed and surprised*

Have more faith in your soulmate lwj. He reads! Sometimes! When it’s important!

Wwx: aren’t xuanwus supposed to have sharp teeth? Like Grrr

HE MAKES THE MOST ADORABLE GROWLY FACE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE AND MAKES THE CUTEST GROWL SOUND AT LWJ. AHHHHH!

But also, he’s disappointed that the xuanwu didn’t have sharp teeth?? WWX, THE THING TRIED TO EAT YOU JUST YESTERDAY. BE GRATEFUL IT DOESN’T HAVE SHARP TEETH

Wwx: it doesn’t even matter what it is! It’s a big monster and if we kill it we’ll be Big Damn Heroes

So EXCITED and EAGER and he has this MISCHIEVOUS LOOK ON HIS FACE. Obviously he’s suffered brain damage

Wwx: and, ah, if it kills us, it’s okay bc it’ll be an AWESOME death lol

Lwj just stares at him LOL

His face is like, “this guy? This is the guy my heart decided to fall for?? Really???”

Okay so now they’re being all sneaky and gathering up bows and arrows that surround the pond and then they go back and get to work on fixing them and preparing for battle

We get to see lwj practicing the chord assassination technique like a BADASS

They come up with a plan!! Wwx will go into the Murder Turtle’s shell to coax him out of it so that lwj can then, idk, decapitate it with his Killer String.

(that’s...not how actual turtles work, but bc this is a magic murder turtle, i figure the rules don’t apply)

AHHHHH

LWJ DOES A THING

So obvs since wwx has to go inside the shell and lwj has to stay outside the shell they gotta communicate right and Ancient Fantasy China does not have good cell reception

Wwx: listen to me

And with that verbal cue, lwj does this thing that makes his fingers glow with spiritual energy and then taps wwx’s forehead which then has a little burst of the glow for half a second.

And TA-DAH! NOW THEY’RE PSYCHICALLY LINKED!!! 

THEY’RE SOULMATES AND NOW THEY’RE PSYCHICALLY LINKED YOUR OTP COULD NEVER

It must be a link that only lets them hear what the other wants them to hear otherwise wwx would’ve found out lwj is smitten with him right there and then, omg, that could’ve saved us so much heartbreak later on

But we’re not gonna think about that right now bc i don’t want to short-circuit my keyboard with tears

YUCK, wwx is inside the Murder Turtle’s shell and it’s SUPER GROSS

EVERYTHING IS ALL RED

THE FLOOR’S ALL MUDDY AND GUMMY

THERE’S LIKE, FLESHY ROPES HANGING EVERYWHERE

DISGUSTING

Wwx: ewww, it stinks so bad i wanna puke *chokes back bile*

BE STRONG WWX, YOU CAN DO THIS

And now he’s bumped into some dead bodies 

WHY ARE YOU PUTTING YOUR FACE SO CLOSE TO THE DEAD BODIES WWX, THAT’S A TERRIBLE IDEA. YOU WERE JUST COMPLAINING ABOUT THE STENCH 2 SECONDS AGO, AND NOW YOU’RE SHOVING YOUR FACE IN IT???

Oh noooo, now he’s found the Screaming Sword of Resentment that screams bloody murder at him

He grabs it and stabs Murder Turtle in the face which makes Murder Turtle mad enough to get out of the shell

We’re going to continue to ignore the bad cgi and ridiculously over the top fighting moves

...and the way he floats horizontally(??? somehow??) as the Murder Turtle tries to shake him off

My poor bb is hanging on for dear life while lwj does his Killer String thing

I LOVE LWJ’S DETERMINED FACE HERE!!

His brow is all scrunched up and his mouth gets all pinched and firm. SO DASHING LAN ZHAN, GO SAVE YOUR SOULMATE.

But oh no! The resentful energy pouring from the sword is getting to wwx!

Uh oh, I did not like the look of that grin on wwx’s face

that was NOT HIS MISCHIEVOUS GRIN

THAT WAS A MALEVOLENT GRIN.

I DON’T LIKE IT

STOP THAT WWX

BE A GOOD BOY

Lwj shouts his name, he’s so worried!!

And now we see wwx use resentful energy for the first time ever!!

In a badass move he starts levitating all the abandoned swords and staffs that littered the shore AND USES THEM TO STAB THE MURDER TURTLE IN THE THROAT

SO COOL, SO COOL

Murder Turtle flops over dead and takes wwx down with him INTO THE POND AND WWX IS UNCONSCIOUS!! NOOOOOOO

Lwj, ofc, rushes to his side as soon as he hits the water and rescues him

He gets him out of the pond and takes him to dry land

Lwj: wei ying, wei ying! Wake up, wake up

GUYS, THIS IS THE MOST EMOTION WE’VE HEARD IN HIS VOICE SO FAR

HE’S REPEATING HIMSELF FOR GOODNESS SAKE

HE OF FEW WORDS GOES ON TO REPEAT HIMSELF TWICE OVER

HE’S FREAKING OUT

Oh gross, we cut to the Evil Wen’s lair 

C’mon nobody cares about whatever’s going on there. Get us back to the important stuff!!! I am Done listening to evil wens ranting

AHH WE’RE BACK IN THE CAVE WITH OUR BOYS!!

WWX REGAINS CONSCIOUSNESS!!

Wwx: lan zhan, is it dead?

Lwj: yes

Wwx: yes? (he says weakly, in disbelief, MY POOR WWX)

Wwx: is it dead? (why’s he repeating himself, WWX ARE YOU OKAY??)

(I mean, obviously he's not what with the murder turtle thing but I don't think he can afford to get more brain damage at this point)

Lwj: yes, it is.

Oh and now wwx is telling lwj about all the screaming voices he heard from the sword and asks him if he was dreaming those up

LIKE HE’S NOT TRUSTING HIS GRASP ON REALITY RN OR SOMETHING!!

AND HE’LL ONLY TRUST IT IF LWJ CONFIRMS IT FOR HIM

BC HE TRUSTS HIM AND THEY’RE SOULMATES!!!

Lwj reassures wwx that he did not dream up those screams

(Somebody should probably check him for a concussion,jic. I mean those screams were real THIS time but you never know!!)

(Maybe concussions don't exist in Ancient Fantasy China, idk)

Wwx is all pale and shaky!! MY POOR WWX!! Lwj is rightfully fussing over him

He lets out a weak laugh (BC THAT’S HIS COPING MECHANISM, DIFFUSE THE SITUATION WITH HUMOR, MY POOR WWX) and is like “who knew that one day i’d get to see the 2nd jade of lan look so worried?”

IT’S BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU, WWX, YOU DENSE IDIOT

Lwj doesn’t respond but he does look away briefly LIKE HE’S AFRAID OF WWX SEEING SO MUCH EMOTION ON HIS FACE

AAHHHH, LAN ZHAN, IT’S OKAY, DON’T HIDE AWAY LIKE THAT!! I PROMISE WWX LOVES YOU TOO!!!

WWX: lan zhan, i didn’t think i’d survive this

He whispers weakly AS HIS BODY IS STARTS TO TREMBLE LIKE CRAZY

Lwj: wei ying, you have a fever

And then he brings wwx’s wrist close to start pouring in some spiritual energy

SO GENTLY, WITH SUCH DEDICATED CONCENTRATION

BC HIS WEI YING IS HURTING AND HE WANTS TO MAKE IT STOP

AAHHHHH

WWX: that’s so soothing lan zhan

Oh jeez, the way he sounds when he says that...

And omg the way lwj looks in the blue glow of the spiritual energy transfer

AS IF HE DIDN’T ALREADY LOOK LIKE SOME SORT OF HOLY DEITY, HE’S LEGIT GLOWING NOW TOO

WWX: how boring...why hasn’t jc showed up to rescue me yet?

Uh, rude much? Lwj is right there

AND HERE WE COLLECTIVELY LOSE OUR MINDS BC WWX ASKS LWJ TO SING TO HIM!!!!!!!!!!

AND LWJ STARTS TO SING TO HIM!!!!!

AND THIS IS WHERE WE GET ~THEIR SONG~ ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE CHARACTERS FOR THE FIRST TIME BC THAT’S WHAT HE SINGS TO WEI YING

AND WHILE HE SINGS, WE GET GIVEN THE MOST WONDERFUL OF ALL FLASHBACKS. 

IT IS A COMPILATION OF ALL THEIR IMPORTANT MOMENTS TOGETHER SO FAR

THEIR MOONLIT ROOFTOP SWORD FIGHT!!

THEIR COLD POND CAVE MARRIAGE!!

THEIR BUNNY LANTERN!!

BASICALLY EVERYTHING I’VE BEEN SCREAMING ABOUT THESE PAST 14 EPISODES

I’M LITERALLY TEARING UP

I CNA’T TAKE IT

MY HEART, MY HEART 💕💕💕

THEY’RE SINGING ~THEIR SONG~ AND I’M DYING OF FEELINGS OVERLOAD

Also, jfc, there’s no Heterosexual explanation for that flashback sequence…

Wwx: it sounds so nice, so nice, what’s the name of the song…?

AHHHHHH!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

LWJ TELLS HIM THE NAME OF THE SONG!!

!!HE PRACTICALLY CONFESSES HIS ETERNAL UNDYING LOVE TO HIM

AND WWX HAS TO FUCKING PASS OUT BEFORE HE HEARS IT GOD DAMN IT

IT’S LIKE GETTING COCKBLOCKED, BUT LIKE, EMOTIONALLY WHICH IS SO MUCH WORSE  WTF

And when wwx wakes up again, he’s out of the cave!

But instead of seeing lwj’s godly visage, he wakes up to that peacock jzx and is like “you??”

Jc shows up!

Wwx: where’s lan zhan?

Jc: he left

Wwx: he left?? But he’s still injured!!

Jc: so is everyone else!! And he went back to gusu so…

Wwx: but he--

Jc: A THANK YOU WOULD BE NICE

Jc: IT’S NOT LIKE I TRAVELED WITHOUT REST FOR 7 DAYS TO GET HELP AND RESCUE YOU

Now we got to go through Plot Things

We’re at Lotus Pier!! (where wwx proceeds to pass out again!! Get used to it guys, he does this a lot)

Then the yunmeng sibs have a beautiful moment together

Okay, we’re gonna pause here BC WWX IS SO FREAKING ADORABLE??

He gets all pouty and asks jyl to clean his face for him bc his arms are too tired and jyl does it bc she loves her brother

AND HIS ADORABLE FACE

HIS SO CUTE ADORABLE FACE WHEN SHE CLEANS HIM UP

I CAN’T I CAN’T

IT’S TOO MUCH

HOW IS THIS GUY AN ACTUAL PERSON THAT EXISTS 

Lol, wwx is like, i wish you’d been there in the cave with me jc, lan zhan almost bored me to death

What a liar, lol

Like he wasn't completely enraptured by LWJ's presence the ENTIRE TIME

Oh yikes, we’ve got some screwed up family dynamics in the Jiang Family courtesy of m-yu and jfm.

For the sake of my sanity we’re gonna gloss over that

Now that the parents stormed off, wwx does his best to console jc (bc his parents, double yikes)

Now watch me as a break down sobbing when wwx makes A PROMISE HE WON’T BE ABLE TO KEEEEEP

I’ll be your right hand man, he tells him. Gusu has the twin jades, but yunmeng will have twin heroes, he says

(WHY MUST YOU HURT ME THIS WAY, SHOW, WHYYYYY)

After wwx says those things about the twins, he looks up at the sky wistfully and asks jc “do you think we’ll ever see them again?”

“Them” he says, like he’s not completely talking about just lan zhan

jc’s like how the heck would i know???

And we end the episode with wwx still gazing at the sky, dreaming about his lan zhan

I mean, we don’t see it, the dreams or thoughts or whatever, but we kNOW IN OUR HEARTS THAT’S WHAT HE’S DOING

This was a Very Heterosexual episode. For that I give it 10/10 stars. I would watch that flashback sequence with him singing over and over and over and over and over and ov--

Return to Masterpost

[septicbro1005]

I am an Addict, But I Get Paid to Indulge in my Habit

A/N: Sad Kirishima thing with implied Kiribaku. I just heard a song, got hit with the biggest wave of inspiration, so I’ll work on it between breaks in homework assignments. Ready for some good ol’ sad shit? Great. Based off of “Art is Dead” by Bo Burnham. There will be cursing, self-deprecation, depressed / anxious thoughts, suicidal thoughts, mentions of self-harm, etc. If this shit is not your cup of tea, go onto whatever the hell else you’d like. Cool? Cool.

Eijirou Kirishima hasn’t really been the most confident person in the world. Hell, probably not even the most confident person in Class 3-A. No matter the facade he put on, his inferiority complex has always bit him in the ass at the worst times.

Does he ever show other people how he feels when that happens?

Of course not!

He’s Eijirou Kirishima! The Unbreakable Red Riot! Nothing will ever make him break! He’s the toughest, manliest man out there!

Yet, behind closed doors, there are those days.

When the voice in his head screams. When a loud noise makes his heart race for the next thirty minutes. When his fingernails dig into his shoulders as he takes deep breaths. When the second he does something wrong or that he feels is wrong, he clams up and is flooded with guilt. When he doesn’t speak unless spoken to, and only replies with the fewest amount of words possible. When the fake smiles and the fake affirmations come to the surface.

Then the memories come in.

They flood in faster than he can stop them, and he’s stuck thinking about those things until he finds something else to do.

So that’s why he asked Jirou, in their first year, about music. Happily, Jirou taught him to play the keyboard, which he grasped quite quickly. In fact, by their third year, he was writing his own songs.

Of course, his lack of confidence never allowed him to put them out to the world for people to see.

But, he anonymously goes to a cafe near campus and plays his music there. Every weekend he can.

He’s somehow become a hero in training by day, and a comic musician by night.

This results in little to no down time, what with all of his classes, studying, creating new music, and anything else along those lines.

And there’s one song he’d been working on since he began writing his own music. He’s put his heart and soul into it. He’s practiced it, he’s practically perfected it.

Since he started his gigs at the cafe, he’s been debating on whether or not to throw it into his set list. And every time, before he can even make a joke to introduce the song, he pauses.

He can’t.

He can’t move. He can’t breathe. He can’t think properly. There’s only a few thoughts that swirl in his head, until one voice in his head yells at him to move on.

And so he does.

There was one night, however, that he had an exceptionally shitty day. He almost entirely flunked a quiz, he passed out during training because he didn’t eat lunch, and Bakugou was nowhere to be seen.

Eijirou has no idea how or why Katsuki Bakugou affects him so much. Yet, whenever something happens to the ash blond or the ash blond isn’t there, he’s filled with anxiety and even a bit of jealousy.

Which makes Eijirou hate the way he felt that day.

So when he came into the cafe that night, his beanie shoved low onto his head and colored contacts on, it was much harder to fake his entertainer’s smile.

He started with a couple of jokes and dumber songs, with only some meaning behind it.

And as he finished the third song, he heard the door open up to the cafe.

He’s grown used to people walking in part way into his shows, it doesn’t offend him. Not like it really should. He’s not doing it for money. He just wants to release his feelings in the form of music and comedy.

                                                          ~~~

Katsuki Bakugou was a frequent customer at a cafe close to campus. He had been since he was a second year. He’s always loved going on the weekends, when the entertainer is there.

He never heard a name from the man, and it seems no one else has either. He asked the manager, but she said she was sworn to secrecy by him.

So, he hears the wild applause coming from the cafe, and felt a small grin bloom on his face that grew once he entered.

The man sat in front of his piano, drinking from one of the coffee cups from the cafe. The cafe bought a piano for the man a few weeks after Katsuki began to frequent the place.

Customers erupted with clapping and laughter as the man turned from the piano.

“Okay. Next, I’ve got a poem for you guys. It’s called ‘I Fuck Sluts’,”

A woman in the crowd screamed.

“Not a roll call, but thank you,”

                                                        ~~~

The night was almost over, one song being the last thing in Eijirou’s set list.

He’s kept it to himself for far too long, He was gonna burst if he didn’t say something.

“This next song honestly isn’t funny at all, but it helps me sleep at night,” he managed to push out, rubbing his sweaty palms against his pants.

The anxiety in his voice would be obvious to any of his friends. None of them were there, though, so he doesn’t have to worry.

Katuski watched the performer closely, watching his nails dig into his knee for a moment before bringing them up to the piano keys.

His fingers moved quickly and gracefully across the keys, causing a swift yet elegant melody to float through the air.

Katuski watches as the performer looks out into the audience, taking a clear breath in before turning back to the piano.

“Art is dead. Art is dead. Art is dead. Art is dead,”

Eijirou’s voice carried through to the ears of the crowd, one or two weak cheers coming from the audience.

Katsuki appreciated the performer’s voice, being so soft and soothing, no matter how dark the lyrics were.

“Entertainers like to seem complicated, but we're not complicated. I can explain it pretty easily,”

The performer looked like he was glaring holes into somebody, brows furrowed and shoulders stiffer than usual.

Eijirou was tense.

There was no going back. No stopping now.

“Have you ever been to a birthday party for children? And one of the children won't stop screaming,”

They way that line was sang sent shivers through Katsuki. Hatred was evident in his voice, but the question was who it was pointed to. This hypothetical child was clearly a stand-in for somebody.

“'Cause he's just a little attention attractor. When he grows up to be a comic or actor, he'll be rewarded for never maturing. For never understanding or learning that every day can't be about him. There's other people, you selfish asshole,”

Katsuki frowned as the crowd laughed a bit.

Eijirou’s heart beat erratically in his chest, having to take deeper breaths to continue singing properly.

The hypothetical child was one he hated.

“I must be psychotic. I must be demented to think that I'm worthy of all this attention,”

The hypothetical child with shoulder length dark hair, red eyes, sharp teeth and a worthless Quirk.

“Of all of this money, you worked really hard for. I slept in late while you worked at the drug store,”

The hypothetical child who was greedy and ungrateful.

“My drug's attention, I am an addict. But I get paid to indulge in my habit,”

This hypothetical child who grew up, dyeing his hair firetruck red and putting on a mask of confidence.

“It's all an illusion, I'm wearing make-up, I'm wearing make-up Make-up, make-up, make-up, make...”

Katsuki noticed the performer’s voice sounding far more choked up, and he felt his own grip tighten on his coffee cup.

“Art is dead. So people think you're funny, how do you get those peoples money?”

Eijirou’s hands shook as he played, praying to every god that he wouldn’t miss a key and mess up.

Because then the audience might see this isn’t a joke.

“Said art is dead. We're rolling in dough, while Carlin rolls in his grave, his grave, his grave,”

Katsuki went to the coffee counter to go get a refill on coffee, not wanting to take his eyes off the beanie clad performer.

“The show has got a budget. The show has got a budget. And all the poor people way more deserving, of the money won't budge it,”

Eijirou’s had a complicated relationship with money in his life. He started his life with a good amount of money, which then dropped substantially when his Quirk activated.

It wasn’t because of that, but he’d always thought it was his fault for developing a Quirk.

But as he got older, his financial state got much better. He could afford luxuries. He could afford dyeing his hair consistently. He could afford to go to Yuuei.

But then he felt guilty when his parents paid for his braces. He felt guilty when his parents paid for him to go to Yuuei. He felt guilty when his parents paid for a therapist after his mom thought he developed depression. He feels guilty when his parents pay for his medication.

He wants to pay them back, he just doesn’t know how.

“‘Cause I wanted my name in lights. When I could have feed a family of four for forty fucking fortnights. Forty fucking fortnights,”

Eijirou realizes he’s allowed to feel bad for himself. He knows that.

But it’s hard to feel like shit when you know there are small children who can only eat a meal or so a day, because their family lives in poverty.

There are people dying from cancer out there.

There are people who run a razor across their wrists almost daily because they no longer want to be alive.

There are kids who look at the knife block in their kitchen and think about which knife would kill them the fastest.

Because he used to be that kid.

He used to pull the big knives out of the knife block when his parents weren’t home and would think about how quick and easy it would be to make his family’s life so much easier.

Just a few stabs, and they don’t have to deal with me.

“I am an artist, please god forgive me. I am an artist, please don't revere me. I am an artist, please don't respect me. I am an artist, you're free to correct me,”

Katsuki had gotten his new cup of coffee and practically squeezed the coffee out of the cup when he looked at the performer.

His hands were shaking, his cheeks were flushed, and tears streaked down them.

“A self-centered artist. Self-obsesed artist. I am an artist. I am an artist,”

Eijirou hated the warm tears trickling down his face as he sang. He despised it. All he wanted was to finally put this song out, and just be free of it’s almost deathly grasp.

“But I'm just a kid. I'm just a kid I'm just a kid. Kid. And maybe I'll grow out of it,”

Forcefully, Eijirou pressed on the keys with their finishing notes, drinking from his water.

Hardened fingers dug into his leg as he told everyone to have a good night, packed up, and left.

As he exited the warm cafe, he shivered under the fluttering snow. Releasing a sigh, it quickly fogged up.

“Okay, back to--”

“Oi,”

Katsuki watched as the performer whirled around.

“You alright?”

Eijirou sat there, unable to speak.

Katsuki Bakugou went to his show.

Katsuki Bakugou saw him sing his most vulnerable song.

Katsuki Bakugou watched the unbreakable break.

“Fine. You need something, sir?”

“I need to know you’re okay, Shitty Hair,”

Hearing the nickname confirmed Eijirou’s fears, and he shook.

“Ha. So you did recognize me, huh?” Eijirou laughed weakly.

Katsuki felt his brows furrow in a way they don’t normally.

“Wanna talk back at the dorms?” Katsuki offered before taking a sip of coffee. “I’m willing to listen to you,”

Eijirou felt the lump in his throat swell and his eyes spring with tears.

“Yeah... sure,”

A/N: I actually like how this came out! It’s sorta shitty, but not incredibly so! I’ll put this on my Wattpad and my AO3 later, so if you vibe on there, then vibe on there. Peace out! Stay safe and healthy! - Septic / Spark

[sarcastically-defensive17]

Killing Boys - C. Hood.

Requested? Nope.

Tag list: @killerqueenishere @starshonerose

Tagged two lovely people who are kind supporters of my writing! If anybody wants to be part of the tag list let me know!

Original story by sarcastically-defensive17. Based on “Killing Boys” by Halsey.

Rule number 1 of having somebody like Y/F/N in your life, is that you should never, under any circumstances even consider the idea of crossing her. Ever.

She can be the sweetest person, but she also knew how to cut people off without a second glance. And how to get her revenge.

She kept her friends close and her enemies closer.

Which is exactly how she ended up gracefully slipping through the back left second storey window of the Hood house at exactly 12:43AM on a Thursday night.

She was quiet, agile. In her youth she spent many, many days in the bedroom with the boy who was once her best friend. The layout hadn’t changed and she stood over him, quiet as a mouse.

His breathing was deep, face relaxed and mouth slightly agape as he snored softly. Even asleep, he was quiet. She adored it about him.

Growing tired of waiting for him to wake on his own, she held a hand over his mouth and tapped repeatedly on his forehead, causing him to stir and then jump when he saw the girl.

“Don’t make a sound, Calum.” His eyes were wide, not used to the serious tone of the girl, “we have a mission.”

Told me pick my battles and be pickin' 'em wise, but I wanna pick 'em all and I don't wanna decide. No more.

“What mission? Why are you here so late? Did you come through the window?” He clutched the blanket to his chest when she moved to rip it away, how voice squeaking, “No! I’m naked!”

“You’re naked?” She raised a brow. She knew for a fact that he was not naked, simply shirtless. She lived next door to him for Christ sakes, she often saw him walking past his window with his sweats low on his hips and no shirt.

“Yes?” He stated, more as a question that a fact. He looked confused, and she looked annoyed.

Thus then led to Calum positioned in the drivers seat of his mother’s Honda Civic, a black shirt covering his torso after Y/N had forcefully put it on him in a way his mum would when he was younger.

They were both quiet, the only sound occupying the space being the radio blasting 90’s throwback. Y/N sung along to every song.

So we'll sneak in the back and then we'll kick in the door.

Every so often she would stop singing along to direct him, and eventually they pulled up outside of gated community. Inside he could see houses larger than two of his out together. The street lights were bright, and there was a strong theme of pale white brick as the foundation for almost all of the twenty or so houses inside.

The gardens could be seen from outside of the gates, every lawn clipped incredibly close and evidence of professional routine gardeners was admissible.

There was no attendee at the gate, instead she made him pull up close enough so she could input a code to the after hours keypad.

“The only thing in his phone that he didn’t hide,” her smirk was devilish, and Calum felt his heart racing at the sight.

He didn’t know what the point of their trip to her boyfriends neighborhood was, but Calum relished any moment he could spend with the girl.

Even if he never had a shot with her.

She directs him to stop a few houses down from the large White House. The lawn was clipped and an Australian flag was positioned hanging from a flagpole next to the grand driveway.

The same drive way that had four expensive cars parked.

“So what are we doing here?” He asked, eyeing the houses carefully. They didn’t take too kindly to non-residents visiting the community, especially not two teenagers from the less well off neighbourhood out on a -quote- revenge plan.

“You ever keyed a Ferrari before, Calum Hood?”

She extended her hand, in it lay multiple keys of various sizes and sharpness. A smirk was still on her face but her eyes hid something.

Almost sadness.

Tell me have you ever keyed a Ferrari before? Oh no, oh I don't anymore.

The snuck towards the house, Calum’ large feet making more racket than Y/N’s smaller ones, followed by a schedule of shush sounds falling from the girls lips.

“You sure about this?” He whispered as they approached the sleek red vehicle.

Her boyfriend bragged for nearly six months after his father had spent the large sum of money to get the overpriced vehicle. The cherry red body gleaned in the low light, and he found himself stopping to admire the beauty of the automobile in front of him.

“Now or never, Hood.”

She was beaming, and a cringe pressed into his features as she stabbed the key into the paint, walking the length of the vehicle without lifting it.

“Oh my god!” He whisper-shouts, hands raising to grab at his black curls.

“Shush!” She hissed, scratching more marks into the paint job. “You gonna stand there; or are you gonna help me draw dicks on this piece of shit?”

And I'm not breaking, I won't take it and I won't ever feel this way again 'cause you don't need me anymore. And I won't ever try again and all I want in return is revenge.

He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help himself. Her boyfriend was the biggest jerk in their school. He tormented everybody. He couldn’t help but want revenge as well; although he wasn’t sure why Y/N would feel the need to get revenge on her boyfriend.

They spent almost an hour scratching various pictures and words into the once pristine car.

They were in their own little world, laughing with ear other and both getting revenge for the wrongdoings caused by the boy, when the porch light flicked on.

“Shit!” Left the girls lips and her fingers laced with Calum’s.

Within seconds she was pulling him along, running side by side with him as an older man rushes out of the house. He stood, not a wrinkle in his silk pajamas, an expensive looking phone clasped in his hands and he cursed the surveillance cameras for not being functional.

A stupid move, really.

Cause I don't need you anymore. So where do you go?

She rushed to the drivers side, releasing Calum’s hand as she climbed in and sped off once he claimed the passenger seat. They were both out of breath, a smile on Y/N’s face and a nervous grin on Calum’s.

She grabbed his hand as she drove, shaking it in the air as she voiced her excitement.

His cheeks flushed at the action, but he remained still as she kept his hand in hers when the moment passed.

Pull up to the drive and I remember the codes. Yeah, the only fucking numbers you don't hide in your phone. No more, no more, anymore.

She drove them to a park near their shared street, exiting the cat and claiming a spot on one of the swings. Calum followed her, already missing the weight of her palm on his.

“So,” he tried as he took a set on the swing next to her, “wanna tell me why we just ruined your boyfriends most prized possession?”

She swung her legs softly, rocking the swing back and forth. She didn’t look up at him. Calum knew her well enough to know that she only avoided eye contact when something was wrong. She was the most confident and positive girl he knew and it hurt him to know something had happened to bring her mood down.

“He’s not my boyfriend anymore,” there was a small smile on her face, a sad smile and Calum found himself reaching for her hand again. “Found out he has been sleeping with my best friend for a couple months.”

“Oh.”

She made a noise of agreement, laughing softly, “It’s okay, I put hair remover in her shampoo.”

He let out a loud laugh involuntarily, and she laughed along with him.

“I feel bad about it, considering we’ve been friends for so many years but she slept with my boyfriend. I think my betrayal is a little less than hers,” she swung their joined arms, looking up at the boy.

Climb up to the window and I'm breaking the glass then I stop 'cause I don't wanna Uma Thurman your ass. No more, no more, anymore.

“I should have called Michael, we could have tried to kick his ass,” he laughed, picturing the two of them getting their ass kicked by the popular boy.

“I think I have a better chance of going Uma Thurman in his ass than you two do, god bless your souls,” the smirk was back on her face and he felt at ease witnessing the light return to her eyes.

And I'm not breaking, I won't take it and I won't ever feel this way again 'cause you don't need me anymore.

“Thank you for this, Cal,” her voice was soft, her eyes boring into his flushed cheeks.

“You don’t need to thank me, Y/N. Any guy would be stupid to turn down a pretty girl asking you to go with her on a revenge mission,” he released the words before he could stop himself, only to turn to see a slight redness tinting her face.

She beamed at him, leaning across the space between the swings and kissing his cheek.

And I won't ever try again, and all I want in return is revenge, ‘cause I don't need you anymore.

“I’m sorry that asshole did that to you. He doesn’t deserve you, and neither does your ex-best friend,” he whispered again, turning his head slightly and gasping at the close proximity.

If she leaned forward a fraction of an inch, their lips would press together. Calum would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about kissing the girl he had been infatuated with for many years.

“I don’t need them, especially not her. Plus, boys are just place holders, they come and they go. Except for somebody as amazing as you. I’ll keep you around if you want to stay,” she whispered back, pressing a kiss to the corner of his cheek.

His face dropped slightly, the anticipation of her lips on his getting the better of him, but he still smiled sweetly at her confession, “I’m here for as long as you want me.”

“Dish our more sweet lines like the ‘pretty girl asking you on a revenge mission’ and you’ll get what you want,” she winked, giggling he beamed at the words falling from her lips.

When I don't need you anymore.

And I don't need you.

[minvaleria93]

EMPIRE chapter 3 • Empire

Words counted: 2287

Gerne: Romance/action/drama

Pairing: BTS x Ladies of EMPIRE 

The city was a marvel. Especially at night. Seoul was like a scene from a movie. It was like a world of its own with its own energy and atmosphere. Loud music played and the chatter from the people lived and breathed in the air.

The whole city was a maze. A labyrinth of shops that shouted 'BUY ME' and restaurants, the smell of food stands and open restaurant intoxicated their senses, fogging their minds with one goals: I MUST FOLLOW THAT DELICIOUS SMELL. Antique and art stalls, jewelry and shops, luxury boutiques, souvenir kiosks and leather goods, all showcased their products. People flocked to them like fireflies to a lamp, enthusiasm accentuating their features.

The foot traffic was insane. There were people walking this direction and that. They could hear some people speaking in tongue, some held phones to their ears and others spoke among themselves.

After a one hour and thirty minute drive from the airport the car stopped in front of a tall skyscraper with many windows and palm trees. There was a fountain outside in the driveway that the cars used as a roundabout, there were a few steps made of stone that led to the clear glass doors which were held open by two doormen dressed in black and red. There were people walking around and some where waiting for their cars to be brought to them and others got out of their cars so they could be taken to the car park. 

She locked her phone and turned to open the door, but cold fingers wrapped around her wrist and held her in place. She closed her eyes for a second before she turned to look at Niklaus. Just knowing that he was in the same car as her made her stomach fell like it was tied into knots and there was this boiling sensation in her chest and throat that she couldn't only describe as poison. 

It's been five years. Five years since that cursed night, five years since her future was snatched away. But she had to go through with this or her cousin would face prison and her father loose his oil business. She didn't want either of those things to happen. And since Niklaus and his uncle were their only hope she had to go through with it. 

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" He asked. "Everyone will be there, and they will ask where is my fiancé."

Isabel wanted to vomit at what he called her; fiancé. She never in her life thought that she would hate such a word. "Niklaus I'm exhausted," she said. "And sleepy. You'll have to face everyone alone on this one."

Niklaus nodded just as the door opened. He raised Isabel's hand to his lips and placed a kiss upon her knuckles before he watched her set out from the car. 

"Welcome back Miss Kyo," the two doormen bowed at the sight of the young woman before they held the doors open for her. Isabel may have been engaged, but she told everyone that she was not going to move in with Niklaus until after they were married. 

A low gust of cool air kissed her face as she stepped foot into the hotel. The ceiling was so high that had Isabel always asking herself how they managed to hang the chandelier. The ceiling was made of glass and you could see the sky perfectly. The floor was made of grey and black marble stone and the colours were mixed together. There were leather black sofas and armchairs on the left with a black glass table and there was a staircase a few feet away rom the font desk and blew the staircase, on the right were two elevators.

Isabel approached the front desk and saw a girl dressed a black and red uniform with brown hair standing behind a computer. "Miss Kyo," she smiled. "It's been a while."

Isabel returned the smile as she nodded. "Yes, it has."

"Well I'm sure you've had fun in London," the girl said. "Your suite is always ready for you." She pressed a button on the side of the desk and two men approached them. "They will take your luggage up to your suite," she said, before she handed them one card and another one to Isabel. "If there is anything you need just ring the front desk." 

Isabel nodded with a smile and followed after the two men to her suite. 

                                                           ••••

The sound of police sirens echoed in the air as though the city was one large cave. The city lights glowed with more bright blue than any other colour.

The sound of muffled singing and cheering could still be heard even from such a high building. 

She turned the key on her motorcycle and placed her feet down on the group as she took the helmet off her head. 

"So," Jungkook began as he closed the door to his car. He stretched his arms out as he looked around the empty rooftop of the parking lot. "Where is that brother of yours?"

For the first time, Nari didn't have an answer. Where was Namjoon? Why wouldn't he turn up when he was the one wanting this sit down to happen? What was going on? Nari opened her mouth to speak, but before a single word could leave her lips the sound of a car pulling up to the rooftop interrupted her. She looked over Jungkook's left shoulder and saw not just one car, but four other cars following up. 

Jungkook turned around and watched as the cars all came to a stop, the sound of their engines turning off was heard before the doors opened and out stepped familiar faces. Jungkook dropped his head as he looked down at the ground and exhaled a small laugh. 

J-Hope pushed the lower part of his red blazer back and tucked his hands in his pockets. Jin adjusted his tie and moved his head around. Taehyung got off the phone with someone and tucked it away in his blazer pocket. Jimin held his head up high, rubbing his chin. And Yoongi leaned against the hood of his car with his hands tucked in his pockets. 

There was a silence that lingered in the air as they stood around, before the sound of footsteps reached their ears making them all turn their heads. A tall and slim man wearing a black suit approached them. He had a warm undertone much like Nari, brown eyes and dark grey-silver hair.  

Kim Namjoon looked at everyone and exhaled a small laugh that sounded more like a sign of relief. "You came."

"Well it's been a minute since we all last gathered like this," said J-Hope, glancing at everyone with a smile and a short nod.

Namjoon smiled back at J-Hope. "It has," he said.

"Jin," Jungkook smirked. "How's restaurant business treating you?"

Jin laughed, throwing his head back. "Ah, Jungkook you never change. Forever picking on those older than you."

"It's one of my many specialties," Jungkook's smirk only grew as he turned from Jin and shot a quick wink at Nari who rolled her eyes. "I also hear you dig holes?" 

Jin pointed a finger the young man, his head slightly tilted upwards. "Want me to put you in one?" Jungkook moves his jaw around as he looked at Jin trying not to laugh.

"Alright, alright," Namjoon chuckled. "Let's all calm down."

"What's this all about, Namjoon?" asked Taehyung.

"Yeah," jimin nodded. "Why did you drag us all the way to Seoul?"

Namjoon stood silently. Bringing them all to Seoul was it just for a reunion, but something much bigger. He held his head up high as he spoke. "I didn't call you all to Seoul for just a reunion," he said. 

"No kidding," scoffed Jungkook sarcastically.

"Let him finish," J-Hope sighed, as he looked at Jungkook before he turned to Namjoon. "Continue."

"There is a deal on the table," Namjoon said. "Powder and a casino. Now as you all know there is more money potential in narcotics than in any other business. If we don't get into it, somebody else will."

Taehyung held his hand up like a student asking a teacher a question. "I'm sorry," he said. "We?"

"Yes," Namjoon replied. "We. And with the revenue they earn they can amass more and more police and political power. They will become stronger than us. And Eventually they will come after us. It's just like countries. If they arm, we have to arm. Now we have the gambling and we have the unions and right now they are the best things to have."

The drug business was dangerous, and Yoongi knew that better than anyone. That was the reason he left in the first place. He didn't want to drag the others into the power business but he still ran into Namjoon a few years back during a shipping. He just didn't want the others involved. 

"It's a trick." 

Silence fell. Yoongi had spoken for the first time, getting everyone attention. They all looked at him with wide eyes. It would be their skins that would go on the line if the wrong decision was made.  

"Would you look at that," Jungkook broke the silence. He crossed his arms over his chest, a sly and provoking smirk dancing in the corner of his mouth as he tilted his head to the side. "He speaks," he said.  

Yoongi knew Jungkook was still not a peace with him leaving everyone all those years ago, but he wouldn't have been any better if he was in his shoes. 

"Must you run that mouth of yours?" Jin sighed.

"Yes," Jungkook said before he pointed at Yoongi, but had his eyes locked on Jin. "It's been what? Five years since he left us and all of a sudden he wants to look out for us."

Yoongi pushed himself off the hood of his car and turned to unlock his car, but Namjoon was quick to speak. "This is not a trick, Yoongi," he said. "It's a chance – our chance."

Yoongi turned to everyone and laughed as he narrowed his eyes at Namjoon. "A chance? a chance to what?"

Namjoon took a step forward. "To start over." He said. "Take everything. We maybe ruined, but we are still family— not whole, but family. Forever." Yoongi didn't even shake his head or speak as he turned away from Namjoon. 

Namjoon closed his eyes and exhaled a sigh. He still wasn't finished with telling everyone why he had them all brought to Seoul. He spoke again just as Yoongi's hand touched the handle of the door. "He is here."

Yoongi froze on the spot and the others looked at Namjoon as though he had just spoken another language. They immediately knew who he was talking about. "I'm going kill every last one of them," Yoongi smiled at Namjoon and pulled his door open.

"And then what?" Namjoon asked, his arms stretched out before he dropped them by his sides. "Then you return to Taejeon-dong to resume your life as the Agust D? Away from all of us?" Silence. Yoongi watched as Namjoon approached him until he stood right in front of him. The sound of sirens, cars and trains seemed louder than ever. 

"This is us," Said Namjoon. "Bangtan, and we remain together, forever. I am asking you to stay here. We will help each other and stand together. We will be brothers. We will build an empire here together." Namjoon raised a hand and placed it on Yoongi's shoulder with a hopeful smile on his face. 

Jimin looked at the others as though they were having a silent conversation between their eyes, before he stepped forward and broke the silence. "Does this mean we'll have to bring our work here?"

"Yah, I can't leave my restaurant customers just like that," said Jin.

"Don't forget your wife," Taehyung patted Jin on the back. 

Jin nodded. "Oh yes, and my wife."

J-Hope smiled. He didn't even have to speak to let everyone know his answer. He turned his head to the side and saw Jungkook watching everyone with a hardened expression on his face. "What's with the face?" J-Hope asked him. "You'll turn to a stone with a hard expression like that."

Jungkook clicked his tongue. "Tsk, I'm not Yoongi who wants to be a stone in his next life." Namjoon breathed a small laugh as at what Jungkook said, before he looked at Yoongi and watched as he tried his best not to laugh. 

The sound of someone's phone ringing caught everyone's attention and turned to look at Jin. 

"Hello?...salang?...yes...no, I think we're finished...no, I'll be going back...okay, salanghae." 

"When do we move out here?" Taehyung asked. "I need to clear my schedule and appoint someone in my place while we're out here dealing with business."

With setting a date and an agreement, Namjoon stood in the middle of the rooftop and watched as everyone drove off. He felt relieved that they all agreed to his offer. 

"Good going brother," Nari praised him. "You have your boys all together."

Namjoon smiled down at his sister. "You did pretty well too, Nari" he said. "I wouldn't have done this without you."

Nari scrunched her nose. "No!" She cringed. "The nice-brother doesn't suit you. Just a simple thank you would have been fine."

"Thank you," Namjoon said before he placed a kiss on the top of her head. "And be home by the time I get back."

Nari rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah" she sighed and placed the helmet on her head.

https://valeriabadova.tumblr.com/post/628695734145941504/empire-chapter-4-under-new-manag

[megan-is-mia]

Killing Me Softly Chapter 1 (Poly! abbabruno w/ Cop! Reader

(this is just a repost of my fic from AO3)

“It’s almost ten o clock, they’re usually gone by now. It should safe to get some breakfast” (Y/n) reasoned to herself. Even so, she crept quietly from the bedroom towards the kitchen.

“See I told you she’d appear if we waited for her” Bruno said from his position leaning over the counter. Abbacchio gave him a grunt in answer, his eyes shut and earphones in his ears as he leaned back in his chair. (Y/n) stiffed in alarm and tried to back away to the safety of the bedroom but found the door sealed shut.

Reluctantly she entered the kitchen proper and moved to take a seat next to the albino male but before she could pull out a chair, Abbacchio had grabbed hold of her wrist to yank her into his lap. With a soft yelp, she crumbled into his arms like a doll.

Without even opening his eyes to acknowledge her the albino pecked the top of her head and squeezed his arms lightly around her waist. (Y/n) trembled a little which only prompted Abbacchio to tighten his hold and press her against his chest.

“You know you’ve been acting differently this past couple of days mi Cara” Bruno said coming over to sit in the chair (Y/n) had been originally aiming for. He reached out to cup one of her hands between his with a concerned expression.

“Have I? It must be all my late shifts at the station...” (Y/n) said dismissively trying to end the conversation as quickly as she could. She’d seen something she wasn't supposed to see during one of her patrols and the knowledge haunted her.

“Is that annoying bitch Arabella bothering you again?” Abbacchio chimed in as he rested his chin on top of (Y/n)’s head. (Y/n) frowned and shook her head trying to dislodge him.

“Arabella’s my partner, she’s not a bitch or annoying. We just have our disagreements from time to time but that’s normal in any relatio— partnership” (Y/n) quickly corrected herself. Bruno and Leone didn’t like it when she referred to the situation she had with her patrol partner as a relationship.

“Then what’s eating you up mi Amore?” Six days ago you were bounding out bed sometimes even before either of us were up and now suddenly you’re hiding in your room until noon. Did somebody at the station threaten you?” Bruno pressed gently squeezing (Y/n)’s hand.

“No! Nobody’s threatening me at the police station. That’d be ridiculous!” (Y/n) said beginning to panic inside and itching to get away from the pair. The memories of a dismembered corpse and merciless blue and green eyes flashed before her as she twitched.

“Your heart’s beating awfully fast now. Tell us the truth, we won’t be mad if somebody’s trying to blackmail you —Well we’ll be mad at them— but never at you” Abbacchio commented his chin dropping from the top of (Y/n)’s head to rest on her shoulder.

“Please, believe me, if something was wrong I would tell you. You know that Leone. I trust you and Bruno more than anyone else in the world” (Y/n) squeaked. Both males were silent for a long moment before sighing almost in tandem. Bruno let go of (Y/n)’s hand and Abbacchio’s grip loosened around her waist.

“I’ll take your word for it, for now. But we need to have a serious discussion about it this evening over dinner” Bruno said firmly. (Y/n) let out a sigh of relief and basically melted into Abbachio’s lap.

It wasn’t much longer until it was time for the men to head out of the day leaving (Y/n) alone in the apartment for the next couple of hours until her shift at the police station began. Once they were out the door and long gone for the time being (Y/n) locked the front door and retreated to her bedroom which thankfully had unsealed since Bruno’s departure.

Prying up a floorboard by her bedside (Y/n) scooped up a notebook full of clues about a particular horrid string of murders. For the past few months, all the low-lifes in (Y/n)’s patrol section of town had been dying off. And not in rational ways like knives to the chest or guns to the head but with body parts being hacked apart and then left as proof.

The cuts were always so clean like the parts had been unzipped by some malicious zipper. For months (Y/n) and her partner, Arabella failed to find any solid leads. That is until (Y/n) had stumbled on a metaphorical gold mine a week ago. During a solo sweep of one of the neighborhoods, (Y/n) had heard a man screaming in an alleyway. Following the sound but staying out of sight the young woman had seen something nightmarish.

There was a man slumped against the wall his arms and legs separated from his body begging frantically for mercy. His head was turned to the side staring at something or someone who was chuckling at his pleas. (Y/n) could have sworn she recognized that laugh but ignored it to focus on the injured man.

“Please! Have mercy! I’ll never sell on your turf again! Just let me go Signori!” The man begged almost falling over as he spoke. The laugh came again but was accompanied by another laugh that was deeper than the first. (Y/n) also found her ears pricking up in recognition of this voice as well.

“Oh don’t worry about that. When we’re done with you, you won’t be selling those nasty things on anybody’s turf” the first voice said stepping into the light where (Y/n) could see. Her eyes widened at the sight of the familiar spotted white suit of Bruno Buccellati. Not far behind him came the unmistakable long black coat of Leone Abbacchio.

The two men now blocked most of (Y/n)’s view of the injured man but she could definitely hear as his pleas got louder and more desperate as his head started to part with his body before Bruno snapped his fingers and with a pop blood went splattering everywhere.

“Urgh so messy, did you have to do that? We’ll have to make a pit at the new place before we can go over to our darling’s place and have dinner ready for her when she gets home from patrol” Abbacchio complained softly. Bruno rested a hand on his partner’s shoulder squeezing it lightly before sighing.

“I know, I know but I was getting impatient. I can barely wait to see her and this info extraction was taking to long” the black-haired man said with a sigh. While the two were excitedly talking about her, (Y/n) quietly snuck out of the alley feeling ill inside.

She’d never thought to question what her boyfriends’ occupations might be. It’s been so easy to swallow their lie about being normal businessmen. Oh, they were businessmen alright, illegal businessmen that is, mafiosos who were taking out liabilities to the mob.

(Y/n) had hurried home and locked the bedroom door that night. When Abbacchio and Bruno came into her apartment she ignored their knocks on her door and questions about what was wrong. This had been the general air the past couple of days as (Y/n) put together a plan. She was going to leave Naples and hide out in her hometown for a few weeks before reporting back to her boss about the real culprits of the Zipperman & Moody Jazz murders.

Today was the day she would be making a break for it, instead of reporting for patrol in the afternoon she’d be in her car speeding towards her childhood home in Capri. She’d call her mom when she was about half-way there and tell her she was dropping by to give her a surprise.

Quickly dressing and slipping the notebook into the suitcase she’d prepared for the trip, (Y/n) left the bedroom grabbing her car keys off the corkboard by the front door as she went. Locking the door behind her and lugging the bag down the stairs took more time than she anticipated, causing her to grow a little nerve until she had thrown the suitcase in the back seat and hopped into the driver seat.

Once she was on the road (Y/n)’s nerves dissipated and she turned on the radio so she could sing along to the top forty as the miles went by. At about the half-way point she pulled out her phone as planned but before she could dial her mother’s number there was a hand clamped around her wrist.

“What are you doing mi Cara? This isn’t the right direction for your house” Bruno’s voice growled coming from the backseat. Having to slam her foot on the brakes and try to safely get to the side of the road driving one-handedly would have unnerved (Y/n) normally. Having Bruno seemingly appear in her backseat like magic made it worse. (Y/n) slid down in the driver’s seat breathing heavily with Bruno still clutching her wrist as he climbed out of the back to sit in the passenger seat. He fixed her with a cold stare of anger as he waited for her to speak.

“Bruno please, I can explain” (Y/n) stuttered out trying to free her wrist before it suddenly fell off onto the floor. That ill-feeling that she’d felt at the sight of the man’s mangled corpse returned full force. “Bruno, please! Don’t kill me! I promise I won’t tell anyone what I saw!” she babbled her eyes filling with tears.

“Hey, hey don’t cry. I’m not gonna hurt you. What did you see? I promise I’m not gonna kill you” Bruno’s face immediately softened as he pulled (Y/n) close making her rest her head against his chest as he stroked her hair.

“That man in the alley, you did something to him! Like you did to my hand, and you killed him! And now you’re going to kill me like you did him!” (Y/n) sobbed, all her cop training had been for naught. How do you stand against a supernatural power that can rip people apart?

“Oh dear, is this what’s been gnawing at you mi Cara? You saw me and Leone at work and thought the worst? Oh no, don’t be afraid. You have nothing to fear from me” Bruno cooed still stroking (Y/n)’s hair. “I can fix it, you’re not going to lose your hand” he added picking up the young woman’s hand and pressing it against her wrist where it reattached seamlessly. “See? Nothing to worry about” Bruno finished but (Y/n)’s expression of terror had not disappeared.

Unbuckling her seatbelt and pulling her up into his arms, Bruno opened a zipper and stepped through it with (Y/n) in tow. He then opened a second zipper at their destination: (Y/n)’s apartment. The place was in shambles the only furniture still in one piece was the couch where Abbacchio was sitting with his hands in tight fists.

His head shot up with a dark look directed at (Y/n) but it faded upon the sight of Bruno’s solemn expression and (Y/n)’s tear-stained cheeks. He rose from the couch, approaching the pair and taking (Y/n) from Bruno’s hold with a questioning look.

“She saw us take out old man Crayln” Was all Bruno said but it was more than enough for the albino. All the nasty, violent thoughts that had been bouncing around his head about how (Y/n) needed to be reprimanded disappeared. Because deep down in his heart, what mattered above all else was how much he loved the girl and never wanted her to look at him with eyes of fear.

“Leone... let me go please” (Y/n) begged almost in a whisper. Abbacchio was silent as the girl began to quiver like a leaf in his arms. “Please I promise I won’t say anything. Not even a single word, I’ll ask my boss to take me off the case! I’ll-I'll-I'll make up alibis for you two so you’re taken off the suspect list! I’ll... I’ll quit my job... move back in with my mom in Capri...” she babbled out with increasing volume and distress.

The albino still said nothing as the girl gasped like a fish out of water before saying. “I know I’m a coward, I’m a pitiful excuse for a cop but I just can’t do it... I can’t fight you, either of you. I love you too much... I don’t wanna hurt you” she mumbled dejectedly, her knees going weak and she almost went tumbling to the floor. Would have tumbled to the floor if Abbacchio hadn’t been holding her steady.

“(Y/n) listen to me. Really listen to me, I want you to look me in the eye and listen to every word I say” Abbacchio holding the young woman’s chin up with one hand forcing her to hold eye contact with him. Once he was sure her attention was all on him, he leaned in and kissed her lips gently.

“I love you too (Y/n) O’Reilly, I love you more than anyone else in the world,” Abbacchio said after he pulled away from her lips. “Well maybe there’s one exception to that” he quickly added shooting Bruno a playful look. “My point is that you have nothing to fear... I would lay down my life for you. Don’t forget that mi Amore” he finished pressing another kiss to (Y/n)’s lips with one hand still tilting her head up and the other wrapped around her waist.

“All we want to do is keep you safe mi Cara” Bruno added coming up behind (Y/n) and wrapping his arms around her hips. His cheek pressed against hers and he nuzzled her gently. “And we thought for the time being that hiding what our true profession was from you would be the best course of action. Of course, now things have changed, and soon this area will be entirely under Passione’s grip. It won’t be safe for you to live here by yourself” he explained softly.

“What are you saying Bruno?” (Y/n) said going stuff as a board. She recognized the name of the syndicate the two males were affiliated to and a chill went down her spine. Of course, her boyfriends would be part of the most infamous mob family of all, that was just how her luck was going today.

“We need to move you to somewhere safer (Y/n). This neighborhood is too far from our base and we can’t properly protect you. That’s what he’s saying” Abbacchio supplied when Bruno refused to answer (Y/n)’s question.

“So where do you suggest I go? It’s not like I’m rolling in dough and can afford to rent another apartment while I’m still trying to pay for this one” (Y/n) said indignantly, the emotion being her way to try to mask her fear but both men saw right through it and held her even tighter in response.

“You’ll move in with us, it’ll be just how it is now except we’ll be living under the same roof full time,” Bruno said smoothly. “You can move in tonight, I’ll go get your bag from the car and drop it off at our apartment then we can go celebrate this happy event by eating out” he added decisively letting go of (Y/n) and turning on his heel to go through a zipper.

“We’ll meet you at St. Viento’s in half an hour” Abbacchio called to the black-haired man as he disappeared through the zipper. His attention then turned to (Y/n) once more as he scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. Carefully dumping her on the mangled bed before starting to go through her closet looking for appropriate attire for dining out.

“This should do nicely” he finally said tossing a grey high-low dress with a sheer keyhole neckline onto the bed. (Y/n)’s nose crinkled in annoyance and she glared at the dress like it was something nasty like a rat.

“I’m not putting that on” (Y/n) said stubbornly and folded her arms before looking away. Abbacchio rolled his eyes before sitting on the bed beside her and beginning to tug up her shirt so he could pull it up & over her head. (Y/n) resisted the stripping but her pants soon joined her shirt on the floor as the albino unzipped the dress and held it for the young woman to step into. “I said I’m not putting it on” (Y/n) said looking like a pouty child as she did so.

“Well then if you insist on being so stubborn then I have no choice” Abbacchio growled dropping the dress and pouncing on (Y/n), pinning her to the bed. His hands then darted across her body tickling her mercilessly until she gave in and put on the dress. With her all dolled up, the albino let her outside down to the car he and Bruno shared. Helping her into the passenger seat before sliding into the driver seat himself and taking off.

Every so often his eyes would briefly flash over to check on (Y/n). Although she’d put on a brave mask, he could see the cracks of fear in it. He and Bruno would have to rectify that as soon as possible. Abbacchio already missed (Y/n)’s odd quirks when it came to casual intimacy. Missed her resting her head in his lap to nap, missed her proclaiming that he was her throne and then she was the couch queen, missed having her legs entangled with his while they watched horror movies late into the night.

He reached out across the car’s console to gently hold her hand. Even though she flinched at the touch she still entwined her fingers with his as they drove towards St. Viento’s, (Y/n) didn’t even recognize the name so she supposed it must have been a relatively new establishment or one owned and frequented by the mob.

Abbacchio parked the car and got out before helping (Y/n) out and locking the car behind them. They entered the restaurant where Bruno was already waiting and waved to them as they entered. The black-haired man has chosen a rounded booth, a silent queue the albino read immediately. Having (Y/n) sit before him and effectively caging her between himself and Bruno just in case she tried to run.

“This place is too fancy for me, even this makes me feel underdressed” (Y/n) mumbled tugging at the hem of her dress with a frown. She always seemed totally unaware of the effect she had on the two males she called hers. Absolutely ignorant of how cute she looked in the dress they’d snuck into her closet months ago. The mafiosos were utterly in love with only two things, each other and her.

Given the chance, they’d kill for her if she asked for it. Although that’d never happen given (Y/n)’s gentle heart. Hell, the only reason that they’d been angry about her sudden exit from town was that they had thought that perhaps she was trying to leave them. The fact she was scared of them right now was a setback but nothing irreversible in the long run. Slowly they’d drag her deeper and deeper into their world, always careful to shield her from the worse of it so she’d grew confident beside them.

(Y/n) missed the looks the two men exchanged as they ordered their meals as well as the ones they sent at the waitress as she brought out the wine selection. Being a light-weight (Y/n) was soon babbling like an idiot and sitting in Bruno’s lap occasionally stealing from his plate as they ate. Not that he minded much as it gave him an excuse to hand-feed her a few choice bites. After dinner was over (Y/n) stumbled towards the car clinging to Abbacchio like a child. She rode to the apartment on his lap, quietly giggling to herself all the while. Once inside the men’s apartment, she declared she was too tired to move, a sentiment shared by the males.

“Imma just crush the couch then” (Y/n) said half-sitting, half-falling onto the couch. She clumsily tried to unzip her dress but being unable to reach the zipper.

“Don’t be silly you’re sleeping with us mi Cara” Bruno said gently guiding the tipsy young woman into the bedroom and helping her undress. (Y/n)’s suitcase was tucked in a corner and she opened it with a click, pulling out boxers and an old tee shirt as pajamas.

“I was wondering where those had disappeared to” Abbacchio commented as (Y/n) pulled her pjs on.

“You can have em in the morning kay” (Y/n) mumbled sleepily climbing into the bed. The albino only smirked as he stripped down to his underwear and joined her under the covers.

“Nah, you can keep them. They look better on you anyway” Abbacchio commented wrapping his arms around (Y/n)’s waist and pulling her back against his chest. The bed shifted again as Bruno joined the pair having taken down his hairdo and changed into his nightwear as well. He turned off the lights before slipping under the sheets and slipping an arm around (Y/n) as well. Pressing a kiss to her forehead before leaning over to press a kiss to Leone’s lips before settling back into place.

“Goodnight bedbugs, better not bite me” (Y/n) whispered nuzzling her face against Bruno’s chest and drifting to sleep almost instantly. Once she was down for the count the men began discussing in earnest what their next step would be in taking over their factor of the mob so they could better protect their little darling...

[tracybirds]

*grins* @gumnut-logic another one for your “to read” pile. Thanks for being so welcoming to all us newbies in the fandom and glad we can babble about the ecosystems and whales and writing and goodness knows what else together :D I don’t even hold your Aussie heritage against you (true historic international relations are happening here)

Of course it’s featuring Virgil :D Have a wonderfully Nutty Day !

Warning for non explicit nudity bc well that’s what happens when you take a shower *whistles innocently*

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

The sound of streaming water and snatches of off-key singing that floated out from the hangar bathroom told Virgil that Gordon had once again raced through his post-mission checks in order to snag the best shower on Tracy Island. There were eight showers scattered around the sprawling villa, all fitted with temperature controls and pressure jets that could wash away sweat and blood and private tears after a hard rescue. But all the brothers were in agreement, the shower in the hangar was the best, if only for the virtue of being no more than fifty metres from any of their birds and removing the requirement of climbing stairs before stripping away the muck that clung to them. The ritual of jostling each other for first shower and talking in low voices, sprawled across ancient couches while they waited their turns, provided them with a necessary boundary between rescue and rest that none of them were willing to sacrifice lightly.

Virgil couldn’t bring himself to care today. His head was pounding slightly as his body protested at the thought of more exertion and he held the railing tightly as he climbed the stairs to the main section of their home.

He wasn’t sure what he had been planning as he swayed slightly in the lounge room. All he really wanted was a sandwich and to not need to talk to anyone for a couple of hours. He collapsed on the nearest couch, groaning at the way his sash dug into him as he piled his weight on top of the utilities that adorned it. Wriggling slightly, he pulled it off and discarded it on the floor beside him. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to close his eyes for a second, he thought to himself.

---

Somebody’s finger was jabbing into his side, pulling Virgil up from the depths of slumber.

He assessed the annoyance as he groaned at its intrusion.

“Virgil,” called a voice from above him.

“Ngh,” he grunted, and turned away, burrowing his face into the back of the couch.

“Grandma is gonna kill you if you don’t get up,” insisted the voice. “Come on, you need a shower, you stink and you’re gonna get mud everywhere.”

Virgil knew all this. He wanted the voice to go away and stop badgering him with information that he was already perfectly aware of.

He considered for a moment that perhaps there was some sort of dissonance between his actions and his awareness of the fury that would rain down from above if his Grandma discovered him lying there, mud-soaked, grass-stained, and covered in unidentifiable substances that he didn’t want to dwell on.

“On your own head, Virg,” chirped the voice and suddenly all was silent again.

---

It was mid afternoon by the time Scott crashed into the lounge room, loud and cheerful as he chatted on the comm to Kayo.

He stopped in his tracks at the sight of Virgil, still snoring on the couch. His eyebrows raised as he took in the semi discarded uniform, the muddy footprints that showed how Virgil had crashed without a second voice.

“What is it, Scott?” asked Kayo.

“It’s Virgil,” he replied, holding out his wrist to allow the comm to transmit a rudimentary holoscan of the room.

“Yeesh, is he okay?” she asked. “Looks like whatever happened this morning hit him hard.”

“He should be, Gordon would have mentioned otherwise. Or at least hidden it better.”

“Should we start heading back?”

“Nah,” said Scott, moving gingerly through the room to avoid spreading more mud around. “I’ll start clean-up here and check on him myself. I’ll let you know if I need back up.”

“F.A.B., Scott,” she said and signed off.

Scott sighed as he looked around him and grabbed the mop. He could worry about the couch – and his brother – after the most immediate mess was dealt with and food was procured. He thought back over the report Gordon had made only a few hours prior, his face freshly scrubbed and skin still pink from the heat of the shower water. There had been nothing to indicate injury, just a comment about both of them being famished and Gordon looking forward to making a meal without Grandma hovering over his shoulder ‘helping’.

Virgil snuffled in his sleep and Scott looked down at him with a fond smile. He was too young to remember life before his brother was born, the two of them partners for as long as he could remember. They’d shared a room, shared toys and computer games and sports equipment and even their classroom teacher when they’d been put in a split year class. They’d always shared their responsibilities as big brothers too. But Scott was still Virgil’s big brother, and the only one he had, so it was with a gentle touch that Scott woke him.

He grinned at the sight of Virgil frowning against the light, blinking owlishly as he readjusted to consciousness.

“Hey Virg.”

“Morning?” his brother asked in confusion.

“Nah, just a nap.”

“Oh,” said Virgil, stretching out the crick in his neck. “Wow, what happened?”

Scott frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“I remember climbing up the stairs,” said Virgil, looking carefully around him. “God, I was exhausted.”

He scratched at his chin and sniffed sharply.

“Am I still in uniform?”

“Yup,” said Scott. He held out a sandwich and grinned when Virgil promptly inhaled it.

The brother sat in silence, eating their way through a plateful of ham sandwiches. Food didn’t need to be fancy when you’d burned through every energy resource you had not four hours ago.

Finally, Virgil sighed and leaned back. He pushed the plate away as he bent down to remove his boots and tear the socks from his feet.

“Eurgh,” said Scott, shoving him away. Virgil threw the socks half-heartedly at the laundry chute, shrugging indifferently when they fell short.

“You’re getting those,” said Scott firmly. “I’m not touching them, that crosses a line.”

Virgil groaned and held out an arm.

“Come on, help me up then.”

Scott hauled his brother to his feet, waiting patiently as Virgil stooped down to collect his things.

“Shower, then bed,” he said firmly, as though it were the first night he’d been trusted with babysitting his brothers all over again.

Unlike then, Virgil didn’t fight him, instead leaning sleepily against his should and allowing Scott to drag him up the stairs to his bedroom.

Scott gently kicked the door open and walked into Virgil’s sunlit room. Wide windows opened onto magnificent views of the surrounding landscape, the blue ocean and lush greens of the forest that had established itself on the rocky island hundreds of years before them. He could feel Virgil sagging in relief beside him and swung into their shared en suite bathroom.

“You gonna be okay?” he asked, rummaging through his brother’s drawers.

Virgil didn’t reply, only giving him a thumbs up when Scott looked up to scowl at him.

“Well, yell if you need me,” said Scott, throwing a pair of sweatpants at him. “I’m gonna go clean the couch before Kayo comes back with Grandma.”

Virgil blinked as Scott hurried from the room. He was feeling a lot more human now, the food and nap having done him a world of good, but he was now very aware of the grimy feeling that coated his skin and stuck in his hair. He peeled off his uniform, bundling it into the basket that sat in the corner and turned the tap on. While he waited for the boiler to heat the water and fill the bathroom with a steam that would clear the fog in his mind, he padded back into his room, fumbling with the sound system for a moment until the calm sounds of his favourite sonatas filled the air.

His stomach and soul fed, Virgil jumped into the shower, murmuring happily at the stream that massaged his muscles and joints and pulled the sweat and mud from his skin.

He took his time, savouring the moment and washing away the heartache of the day. Mudslides were fast and vicious, burying homes and suffocating the living without discrimination. Even though the rescue that he and Gordon had been assigned had been successful, he knew that he was saving people who had lost more that he would ever know. The emotional toll of the day had worn him down and it was only now, as the burden lifted, that he could recognise how it had weighed on him.

There was a knock on the door.

“You good, Virg?” called Scott.

“Yeah,” he called back, his voice rough against his throat.

He turned the shower off, the strains of music still floating in air joined by the slow dripping of water.

Virgil felt more refreshed than he had done in days, perhaps even weeks, but as he pulled on the soft sweatpants, the events of the day came crashing back down upon him.

He barely greeted Scott when he left the bathroom, making a beeline for his bed and flopping down on it face first, not even bothering to close the blinds in his room.

“Uh, Virg?”

Virgil didn’t respond as he sunk into the mattress, wet hair squashed down as he burrowed deeper into the pillows. A soft snore snuck out and Scott chuckled.

“Sleep well then,” he said and walked out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. “Love you little brother,” he whispered.

[vampirecatboy]

ok I low key wanna request all the ocs you listed but I'll just keep it to 2 lol. Kira (ofc :3c) and Aja because i just love him lol

i mean you know i would absolutely, happily spend at least six hours doing everybody, but Kira and Aja are good choices lol

Full Name: Kira Mag Raith (fun fact for the people, Mag Raith is pronounced Mag Ray, yay Irish!)

Gender and Sexuality: cis man, he’s pansexual but skews toward men because i’m gay and can’t help it lol, he’s also polyamorous

Pronouns: he/him

Ethnicity/Species: clavat, so basically half-elf, and ethnicity does work a bit differently in our campaign, but he’s white-coded, and speaks with an Irish accent of varying strength (it’s stronger when he’s upset or with his family, good luck understanding him if he’s upset and with his family)

Birthplace and Birthdate: born in Cairn, tbh i haven’t really thought about his birthday, but i get strong earth sign vibes from him, maybe Virgo? so let’s say August 31, the liminal space of days like it seriously doesn’t feel like it should be real

Guilty Pleasures: napping in sunbeams, i was going to say jk but i actually love it, so he naps in sunbeams but is a bit embarrassed about it

Phobias: what’s that vegetable cats are afraid of? cucumbers? “they have dark energy, trust me”, or humiliation. cucumbers and humiliation

What They Would Be Famous For: alleged attempted murder on television, on a more serious note he’d probably prefer not to be super famous, like celebrity-style, he’d probably prefer to be a folk hero or urban legend or a cryptid lol

What They Would Get Arrested For: he has done nothing wrong, ever. idk maybe assault or public disturbance for fighting someone in public, maybe trespassing if he sleeps in the wrong shed or barn

OC You Ship Them With: bit of Justice, but mostly Rhys

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Rhys again, but despite everything it’s not all that likely, Rhys is a jerk but he’s not a murderer

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: fantasy or adventure, but he’s not much of a reader

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: deus ex machina, it’s the easy way out and he doesn’t like it

Talents and/or Powers: he’s spent a lot of time perfecting his bow skills, so he’s very good at hitting long-range targets, he’s also great at keeping secrets

Why Someone Might Love Them: first off, he’s small and adorable, but mostly he’s very considerate and trustworthy, and he’s a great listener. he’s really not going to be mean unless you’re mean first

Why Someone Might Hate Them: misinterpretation of his demeanor/behavior probably, or if someone decides he’s responsible for problems they caused Rhys

How They Change: please my sweet boy i’m begging you, open up to someone please, that’s what i’m hoping for at least, he needs to learn how to really trust others

Why You Love Them: he is..... my boy....., for real though, he’s genuinely so sweet and he cares about people a lot and even though Dmitri tries to possess him from time to time, i love that he’s basically nothing like him

time for spicy boy!

Full Name: Aja, i have not given him a last name. i have no excuse.

Gender and Sexuality: cis man, he thinks he’s straight but he’s so not, i haven’t given him a concrete label but queer is applicable

Pronouns: he/him

Ethnicity/Species: ifrit (the pathfinder version of a fire genasi), plus he’s a sorcerer with a draconic bloodline, so somebody at some point fucked a dragon and he’s got some of that

Birthplace and Birthdate: oof i can’t give a town name but he lived up in the mountains? he is, however, such an Aries, let’s say his birthday is April 4

Guilty Pleasures: mackin on Dmitri he reads erotica, i’m not gonna beat around the bush, he’s always seen seducing women, so obviously the dudes he hangs around expect stories of his conquests, unfortunately he has perpetually shitty luck with bedding women so he is a big ol virgin, but no way is he telling anyone that, basically he takes the scenes from the erotica he reads, modifies them a bit, and pretends they’re his experiences (it’s worked so far, luckily all those dudes he talks to really don’t do much or any reading)

Phobias: he doesn’t like being on boats in open water, he’s a fire elemental with a red draconic bloodline, on a base, instinctual level he does not feel safe when surrounded by water (he’s alright in the rain though)

What They Would Be Famous For: allegedly sleeping with several noblewomen, maybe a princess or two (someone mentioned a queen once and well, he’s not going to deny it)

What They Would Get Arrested For: arson. no story there he just. likes fire.

OC You Ship Them With: Dmitri, naturally

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Dmitri, but it’s not personal, there are plenty of dudes who hear about him sleeping with their wives so like, any of number of them would have no problem hiring an assassin (or a bounty hunter with a penchant for killing his targets) to go after him

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: erotica and maybe a touch of romance, a guy can dream

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: there are some romance/smut tropes he gets sick of, anything to do with virginity and purity and virtue and deflowering a maiden, both on a personal level and also on a “virginity is a social construct used almost exclusively on women to determine their worth” level. also some of those male writers really do not know how certain parts work. as soon as he sees the word “tight” he throws the book away

Talents and/or Powers: want something burned? toasted? roasted? singed? he’s got you covered. he’s a skilled, powerful sorcerer with a preference for fire magic. also he’s obviously a great liar and a hell of a charmer

Why Someone Might Love Them: despite his reputation as a philanderer, he’s a gentleman and he’s drowning in that respect women juice, he’s not pushy, if she’s not interested, he backs off, and i mean, 20 charisma score, he’d have to really flub for someone to not love him

Why Someone Might Hate Them: ah those husbands do not like some sexy fire boy comin in and boinking their wives, supposedly very well, also he’s very showy and that can get on people’s nerves

How They Change: he has a Gay Crisis and suddenly “oh, maybe.... men too?” and i mean, Dmitri does suss out his myriad of lies about sexual conquests, and he eventually does kind of open up about his insecurities because Dmitri just kinda listens and doesn’t criticize or mock him and really only adds things like “wow, that really sucks, i’m sorry dude.” and that’s all he really needs

Why You Love Them: he’s hot, he dresses slutty, he’s a master of charm, and yet..... 73 years old and he has not seen a naked woman in real life. also the blushing mechanic i gave him, where instead of blushing, his hair kinda flares up like a ghibli character but with fire..... too cute. also he’s smart. i’m pretty sure intelligence was his highest stat after charisma, at like 16, and i love that for him

ah thank you i always spend so much time on these and i love it lol

[lovemesomerafael]

It’s Complicated                       Chapter 6:  A Little Too Easy

Source: @kendaspntwd

Chapters 1-5        Story on AO3

Amanda Rollins noticed Rafe Rojas the second he walked into the squad room.  Only a man who lived in jeans could make them fit like that.  And the squint lines around his dark eyes did something to her down low.  He was the lean, cowboy type – well, he was a literal cowboy – she absolutely could not resist.  His hat was well-worn and didn’t disguise the shagginess of his thick, dark hair.  She didn’t mean to come on to him.  She liked Frankie, and Frankie was in deep shit. But her older brother was basically sex in cowboy boots.  So Amanda got real Southern, real fast, the minute she stepped up to Rafe to introduce herself.  Sure, Porter was standing next to him and could have made the introductions.  But Amanda’s ovaries were in charge.  Or some part of her female anatomy, anyway.  

“We’re on our way out to Riker’s,” Porter explained.  “We just stopped by to give you guys a chance to ask any questions you may have thought of.”

“Nikki OK with that?”

“Nikki might not be aware of it,” Porter muttered.  “And your lives might be easier if you didn’t mention this visit to Stone, either. Unless something good comes out of it.  But I trust you guys.  I know you’re on Frankie’s side.  ”  

Dodds introduced himself to Rafe, who was a few inches shorter and a few shades darker.  Rafe’s voice was deep and Amanda thought she detected just the slightest twang, like a delicate spice that gave a tasty dish just the right, subtle kick.  

For several minutes, the group discussed anything in Frankie’s past that might be either helpful or hurtful, but there was nothing.  She was who she was.  She had no skeletons, no previous arrests (knife-related or otherwise), and no history of any kind of violence, unless having a hair-trigger temper and a sharp tongue counted. Rafe couldn’t help the case, except to reassure them that there were no surprises in his sister’s past waiting to trip her up.  

Porter and Rafe left shortly thereafter.  Amanda could feel her thighs quiver when Rafe touched his hat to her and said, “Miss,” as he left.  Amanda was positive he gave her a subtle wink along with his nod.  She stood just a little too long watching the hallway after they’d turned the corner toward the elevators.  

 *********************

Porter ran interference with the guard at Riker’s who tried to keep Rafe from hugging his little sister. He felt responsible for his friend being in prison for a crime she didn’t commit, and he wasn’t about to deny her the small comfort of a hug from her brother.  

“You all right, Snot-rocket?”  Rafe asked, sitting down next to Frankie.  

“Y-yeah,” Frankie stuttered, trying desperately not to cry.  

Rafe pulled her head to his shoulder, and Porter signaled to the guard to let them be.  

“Everybody sends their love. They’re pissed at you for tellin’ ‘em not to come, but they get it.”

“I can’t-“

“They know.  They treatin’ you OK in here?”

“Yeah.  It’s fine.  My lawyer knows some of the guards, and she has some clients in here, so…”

“Can’t say I’m too impressed with a lawyer whose clients are in prison.”

Frankie gave the tiniest laugh, then sniffled.  “She’s good. She’ll get me out of here.”

“Yeah, she will.  And if she don’t, me n’ the guys’ll stage a jailbreak.  Always wanted to do that.”  

“Don’t even joke about that in here,” Frankie told him.

“Ain’t jokin’.  So listen, Porter only got us five minutes, so I don’t wanna waste it.  Just… you need anything?  You need me to do anything?”

“No, there’s nothing. Dean gave you the keys to my apartment?”

“Yeah.  I’ll take care of it for you until you get home.  You just hang in, all right?  Porter’s gonna find that kid.  I met your team at SVU, and they seem like they got their shit together.  We got you, OK?”

“OK.”

“By the way, I’m gonna marry that Amanda.”

“She’s way too good for a snot-rocket like you.  But you go ahead and try.”    

 ********************

Things started to get strange about eight O’Clock the next morning.  Peter Stone got a call in his office.  Based on an anonymous tip, Detectives Carisi and Tutuola had picked up Juwon Jefferson and had him in custody.  And he was talking.  

He was a different kid than Stone had seen on the tapes of his first interrogation.  For one thing, he was a mass of bruises and cuts.  For another, he was giving them real information. The attitude was still on full display, and he was definitely not happy to be there.  But at least they had him, and for whatever reason, he was ready to tell them everything he knew about Alan Canady.  In part, Stone believed his story that Canady had been a truly evil son of a bitch, and now that he was dead, Juwon could safely say so.  But there was no way that was the whole story.  

“Yeah, man, I tol’ the Doc to go see the motherfucker, gave her the message he was gonna barbecue her boyfriend if she didn’t show up.  Ain’t nothin’ illegal ‘bout that.  I just delivered a message.”

“Did he pay you?”  Stone asked.

“Yeah, man, you think I play messenger boy for my health?”  

“Why did he want to see Dr. Rojas?”

“He said he was gonna fuck her up.  Said he was gonna do hisself, make it look like she done it.  Guess that’s pretty much what he done, ain’t it?  That’s bad-ass, man.  Stabbin’ yo’self.  That’s cold.”

Stone rolled his eyes. This was all way too convenient. Out of the blue, they get an anonymous tip and this kid who hadn’t cooperated at all is suddenly telling them the exact same wildly implausible story the suspect told?  And he just happened to be covered with injuries?  No.  Somebody got to this kid, and he was either getting something huge out of this, or they had something big over him.  Either way, Stone wasn’t about to let Rojas walk on the word of this little tweaker alone.

“Why should I believe you?” Stone asked, looking hard at the kid.

“I don’t give a shit if you believe me.  It’s that rich bitch doctor sittin’ in Rikers, not me.”

The kid had talked quite a bit about Alan Canady’s rapes of the three women.  That, at least, they could prove.  The kid’s evidence gave them probable cause to test Canady’s DNA against the rape kits, which was being done right that moment.  Stone thought blackly that it wasn’t like it was hard to collect Canady’s DNA - it was pooled all over the floor in that cheap motel room. But that still didn’t prove who had killed Canady, and it didn’t answer why this kid was suddenly in custody and talking.  Stone was suspicious of anything this neat and easy.

 ****************

Later that day, Stone stopped by Barba’s office.  Barba was sitting at his desk, tapping a pen and staring off into space.  

“Thinking deep legal thoughts?”  Stone grinned.

“Shallow ones, anyway. What can I do for you?”

“I wanna talk about this Rojas case.”

Barba frowned.  “You can’t talk to me about that case.”

“Not about the case itself, just…  Hypothetically, what would you say if you had a case with a very hard to find, reluctant, unreliable witness, who suddenly gets found by an ‘anonymous source’ and starts singing like a canary?”  Stone made himself comfortable in one of the chairs in front of Barba’s desk.

“I’d smell a rat. Especially if this suddenly cooperative witness is a junkie.”

“He is. Hypothetically.”

“Hypothetically. Look, I’m in an impossible spot here. You know that.  I know Francisca Rojas didn’t kill Alan Canady.”

“You don’t know that, and neither does anyone else except Canady.  And he’s not talking.”

“I have instincts, same as you.  And I know this woman.”

“You’ve known this woman for a whole month.  And you’re fucking her.  Tends to mess with the instincts, Barba.”

Rafael shot Stone an irritated look and gave a snort of annoyance.  “What, exactly, do you want from me here?  There’s no way she did it.  I know that.  But if you’re asking me whether you can believe this tweaker’s sudden conversion to the light, I’d say no.  So you get all the information you can out of him, and you check it all out, and you prove she didn’t do it with that evidence.”

“What the hell’s happened to everyone around here?  Since when are we in the business of proving someone didn’t do a crime?”  Stone snapped.

“Since always.  We prove the truth, not just what we want to be true.  That’s why I’m saying don’t buy the tweaker’s story.  I’d like Franci-  Dr. Rojas out of Riker’s today.  But you have a job to do, and that means you need to be right.”

“Thanks for nothing,” Stone smirked, getting up.  

“That’s what I’m here for. Get her out.  Soon.  But do it the right way.”

Rafael was troubled.  The tweaker was back and now he was talking? What had she done?  Or what had been done on her behalf?  

 **********

The DNA matched.  Alan Canady was the Pattern 20 rapist. Unfortunately, that didn’t prove who had killed him.  Nothing did. The autopsy was consistent with either Canady stabbing himself or someone else stabbing him; it was inconclusive either way.  And both his fingerprints and Frankie Rojas’s were on the knife.  True, Canady had no defensive wounds, but she could simply have gotten a lucky shot before he realized what was happening.  Because Barba’s building had no security cameras, there was no way to prove that Canady or Jefferson had somehow gotten in and stolen the knife.  From an evidence standpoint, that meant it was equally likely that either Frankie had killed Canady, or he had done it himself.  

In the end, the Manhattan DA’s office had no choice but to drop the charges against Frankie Rojas.  With the tweaker kid’s testimony, there was simply too much reasonable doubt for Nikki Staines to work with.  Nikki had actually been in the office the day the decision was made, raising holy hell and making Peter Stone’s life miserable.  Stone wasn’t happy about any of it – he felt like they had been played by someone who had gotten to the tweaker kid, but he couldn’t prove it, and he had other cases he could prove.  So they dropped the charges and Nikki blew up the phones at Riker’s as she drove out to collect her client, making sure they would have her processed out and ready when Nikki arrived.  

She called Dean Porter from her car.  “You heard?”

“Yeah.  Can I go pick her up?”

“I’m on my way now. But listen.  I’m never gonna look a gift horse in the mouth, but Stone thinks he got played, and I can’t blame him.  Is there anything I should know about that Jefferson kid?  It does seem like he had a pretty sudden, and violent, change of heart.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you don’t. I just want to know I’m not gonna get any surprises, and my client isn’t either.”

“You won’t.  I swear to you, Nikki, it’s all above board.  The kid was telling the truth.”

“Yeah, but why was he telling the truth?”

“You know what?  Take the win.  It’s all good.”

“It better be.  You got a lot to lose these days.”

“Yeah, life is good. And I wouldn’t jeopardize that. We didn’t do anything to the tweaker kid that’s gonna hurt us.  Or you. Or Frankie.”

“You didn’t, huh? Then who’s ‘we’?”

“Did I say ‘we’?  I meant ‘I’.  Hey, Nikki, my other line is ringing.  I gotta answer that.  Nice working with you.”

***************

Frankie was pretty sure she was being set up.  She didn’t really like it, given what she’d just been through, but it was hard to find a basis to complain.  Her brother and Amanda had become very… close, and were both claiming that, since he was planning to fly back to Austin in the morning, it was their last opportunity to spend time together.  So, as badly as they felt about it – yeah, sure, she thought – they wondered whether Frankie would mind spending one more night at Barba’s.  Besides which, all her things were at Barba’s.  And they claimed already to have set it up with him.  

Frankie dimly felt that it was bizarre for people who loved her to be worrying about romance, their own or hers, after she had just been in prison for murder.  But she was exhausted.  She’d barely eaten or slept in the five days since her arrest, and she’d been in an emotional spin-cycle the entire time.  The truth was, she wanted two things.  She wanted to take a shower for about a week, followed by a soak in a bathtub for a month.  And she wanted Barba.  

She hadn’t spoken to him since her arrest.  He’d retained Nikki for her, and she’d had messages from him through Porter, but that had been all he could do.  Now that she was about to see him again, she was in a turmoil of different emotions.  She felt physically hideous and soiled, and she felt emotionally battered and horribly ashamed.  She thought she was far too needy to be going to stay with a man she knew as little as she knew Barba.  But, apparently, she was the only one who felt that way, because he was waiting for her when Nikki pulled up at the curb in front of his building.

He looked absolutely delectable to her.  Gorgeous and kind and caring and opening his arms to her before she was all the way out of the car, even though all she had to wear home was the terrible sweats they’d given her at the M.E.’s office when they’d taken her bloody clothes.  Nikki smiled broadly at Rafael as he moved to push the car door closed, cradling Frankie in his arms.  

“Thank you,” he mouthed.

“My pleasure,” she replied, waving.  She liked the idea of Barba owing her one.

Rafael gently guided Frankie through the door to the lobby, and held her while they waited for the elevator.  

“Thank you for letting me stay with you,” she mumbled into his shirt.  She hadn’t looked at him, really, as she’d climbed out of Nikki’s car, just put her arms around him and buried her face in his chest.  

“I would have come to your place, if you hadn’t come here.  Even with your brother there.  I want to help.  I’ve felt so fucking useless these past days…”

She squeezed him, hard. “You called Nikki.  You shouldn’t even have done that.  That was everything.”

“I know you didn’t kill him, Francisca.”

“No, you don’t.  No one does, except me and him.  But I didn’t.  I swear it.”

“Still arguing with me…” he said with a grin, as he led her into the elevator, still with her arms clasped to him and her face buried. He wasn’t sure what to make of that. It was wonderful to have her in his arms again, to be able to comfort her as he’d been aching to for days.  But the way she was clinging to him spoke of a depth of fear and anguish that he’d only guessed at.  He was intensely grateful she had come to him so that he could help her through it.  He was honored that his fresa, usually so dauntless and fiery, and now so crushed and wounded, would allow herself to be this vulnerable with him.  He vaguely realized that he would do anything for this woman in his arms, but he paid little attention to the thought, as he thought about what he could do to help her begin to recover from her ordeal.

She released him from her arms when he closed the door behind them, but stayed right next to him.

“I’m guessing you’d like the longest, hottest shower in the history of the world,” he suggested.  

“I’d give my left arm for that,” she sighed softly.

“No charge for guests. You go get in the shower, and I’ll bring you a drink.”

“Do you happen to have any scotch?”

Rafael couldn’t help but laugh at that.  Everyone knew about Rafael Barba and scotch.  He was a little amused by this evidence that they really hadn’t known each other that long.  “I have scotch.”

When he had poured a scotch for each of them, he hesitated outside the door to his bathroom for a moment. He could hear the water running, and see billows of steam floating lazily into the bedroom.  But he was suddenly unsure what she was expecting. Did she want privacy?  Should he wait for her to come out?  Well, he’d told her he was going to bring her a drink.  Besides, he realized, the steam was escaping into the bedroom because she had left the door ajar.  He knocked tentatively and pushed the door open a little.

“Francisca?  I brought your drink.”  

She didn’t respond. He noticed the sweatshirt and pants she’d been wearing wadded up on the floor.

“What do you want me to do with these sweats?”

It took her a second to answer.  “Bonfire,” she finally said in a choked voice.  

He was sure he heard a sob. He didn’t hesitate, but stepped into the room, set his drink on the counter, and pulled the shower curtain back just enough to see her.  Her hands were splayed on the tile wall and she was leaning on both arms, head hanging, crying hard and trying to be silent about it.

“Oh, mi fresa,” he said, pulling the curtain back and stepping, fully clothed, into the shower to take her into his arms.  She instantly let out a groan of agony, turning into him and clinging to him as she sobbed into his shoulder.  He held her drink just outside the spray of the shower.  

For long minutes, he just held her and let her cry, while the hot water cascaded down and soothed her. He didn’t realize he had begun to hum softly to her until she turned her face into his neck, muttering, “That’s nice.”

When she seemed to be done crying, he moved them a bit to the side and held the glass to her.  “Here, drink this,” he said softly, not letting go of her.  She downed its contents in one gulp and handed it back to him.  He smiled.  

When he felt her arms loosen around him, he reached behind her and set the glass down on the shower’s built-in tile shelf.  He took a bottle of shampoo and poured a little into his hand.  Moving her just a bit backward out of the spray, he began to shampoo her hair.  She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, the slightest smile touching her lips. When he was done, he moved her under the spray to rinse her hair and began to soap her body.  He tried not to make it sexual, given the situation and the fact that he was still wearing all of his now-soaked clothes.  But it wasn’t easy.  He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like she moved into his hands from time to time. He conditioned her hair when he’d finished washing her, and moved her once again under the spray to rinse out the conditioner.  

“MMmmmmmm,” she said. “This feels so nice.”

“That’s the point,” he said, leaning down without thinking and kissing her.  

He was just preparing to be concerned about pushing her when she reached to put a hand behind his head and wind her fingers in his wet hair, pulling his mouth harder on hers.  After thoroughly kissing him, she looked into his eyes for the first time since she’d arrived.  

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.  And I mean that in a number of different ways. I like having you here, and I’m here for you.”

“I know,” she said.  “Can we take a bath?”

“Of course we can.”

“And… will you please take your clothes off?  I don’t care what you do when you’re alone, but I refuse to take a bath with a clothed man.”

Rafael put his forehead to Frankie’s.  “No, I won’t take them off.  But you’re welcome to, if you want.”

“Oh, you’re a pain in the ass, Barba.”  She kissed him again and began undressing him.  

When she had his clothes off, he quickly washed his hair and turned the dial that turned off the shower and began to fill the tub.  Pulling back the curtain, he picked up the pile of wet clothes and wrung them out as best he could, then tossed them across the bathroom into the sink to be dealt with later.  

“You get comfortable.” He said.  “I’ll be right back.”

Rafael quickly padded out to his kitchen and retrieved the bottle of scotch, bringing it to the bathroom and setting it down next to the tub where Frankie was pouring some shampoo under the water to make bubbles.  He took his glass from the counter, lifted hers from the shelf in the shower, and put them on the edge of the bathtub, then stepped into the water. She moved to let him get seated behind her, then scooted between his legs and relaxed against his chest. 

He poured some scotch into her glass and handed it to her, then picked up his own.  He wrapped one arm around her and she held his arm with hers. They sat in the rapidly-filling tub and sipped in silence.  

When the tub was full, Frankie used her foot to turn off the water and turned herself so that she was lying on her side, her cheek on his chest, and could put both arms around him.

“I love you,” she murmured, eyes closed and smiling.  

Rafael kissed the top of her head, wondering whether she could possibly have meant what she’d just said. She lay quietly, seemingly perfectly satisfied with no response other than a kiss.  She’d had two drinks – he had only poured a couple of fingers each time, but he had no idea when the last time she’d slept or eaten was, and for all he knew, she was asleep right this second.  Maybe she didn’t even know she’d said it.  He decided that’s what it was.  His chest felt warm anyway, and it wasn’t just because of the scotch.  

He thought he dozed a little, lying there holding her in the hot, bubbly water.  He was gently nudged back into consciousness when she shifted between his legs and mumbled, “It’s getting cold.”

“You want to put in some more hot water?”

“Mmmmmm, I want to be in bed.  I don’t want to get out of this tub and move to the bed.  I just want to be in bed without that part.”

“I’d like to do that for you, mi fresa, but I don’t think I possess that particular skill.”

She inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled.  “OK, we’ll do it the hard way.”

They helped each other to stand and climb out of the tub, and Rafael wrapped Frankie in a deliciously large, fluffy towel.  She was too sleepy to comment, but she made a mental note to compliment him on his taste in towels – and scotch – in the morning.  Neither bothered much with their hair – Rafael just toweled his off and Frankie twisted hers into a quick bun on top of her head.  They quickly brushed their teeth, leaning on one another, and were cuddled together in bed very soon thereafter, arms around one another and her head cradled on his shoulder.  

In the soft light coming through the window, Frankie looked up at Rafael.  She lifted her lips to kiss his jaw and he turned his head to take her lips between his.  He was a bit surprised when she subtly shifted her body and opened her mouth to his, sliding her hand down his side to his hip and thigh, angling her caress until she was softly cupping him in her hand.  

“Barba?”

“Hmmmm?”

“Will you please make love to me?”

“Anything for you.”

He followed her lead, going slowly and touching her softly, never taking his mouth from hers, even when whispering endearments and praise.  Her soft moan as she came with him inside her was pure enchantment, and he was almost positive it contained a whispered, “I love you.”