#he's like the least hot guy out of the three main guys but he's got a girl

[janeaustenlover]

“What's this, Sara? What's this blood, Sara?”

Cerdita (2022), dir. Carlota Pereda

[sunflower-lilac42]

✧ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞 || luke hughes ♔

summary: when she gets cold on the boat, luke gives her his hoodie and all the emotions come out.

warnings: reader feeling crappy about herself, negative thoughts

publish date: 03/31/24

notes: this is for my plus-sized girlies coming from a plus-sized girlie. i am here for you and i will give you as much content as you would like. this really healed my inner child fr, so i hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as i had writing it. i love you and give me three-eight business months for a next fic | add yourself to the taglist ➺ taglist!

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A lot of the time it felt like that was the only feature people noticed about her. Not that she was funny, or smart, or insanely good at making a spreadsheet for anything and everything. It was the fact that she was fat, or excuse people’s language, curvy. It had been what labeled her for her whole life it seemed like. And no matter how hard she tried to stop it from happening, it never did. 

She heard the whispers every time she was in the hallways in high school, every time she sat down and the chair would creek even the slightest bit, every time she’d accidentally brush someone’s shoulder. It was horrible, something that would haunt her for years to come no matter what happened. 

When she went off to college, her voice was the only one that stayed with her. She met Luke through mutual friends and while she loved their relationship, she always thought it put a damper on her mind especially when she realized she liked him. Luke was Luke, he was tall, handsome, adorable, cute, charming, and all of the above. And on the inside, he was funny, smart, kind, nice, everything a girl could ever love. He made it impossible not to fall for him.

But why would Luke want her, when he could have anyone he ever wanted? This put a strain on their friendship during sophomore year especially. She would go to games, supporting the hell out of him because he asked her to be there. And always somewhere further down the row, in a different section, wherever, there was a group of girls who looked nothing like her. They were skinny, and pretty, they wore outfits that looked not only good on them but just good in general. 

They were standing there, looking like that, while she looked like this. Wearing leggings that were too tight to make her look thinner, they pressed too hard on her stomach. Wearing the largest sweatshirt in her closet to hide the way her hips bulge a little, to hide everything if she was honest. And while she knew it shouldn’t have bothered her, that she shouldn’t have been mad at them, she couldn’t help it.

However, when she was around him and it was just the two of them, she couldn’t help but notice the thoughts dissipate. There was something about him that made her forget what she was thinking, forget what she was feeling besides happiness. He made her feel beautiful even if he didn’t know it. 

But, when he went away to New Jersey, there was no one to block out those thoughts anymore. Every day she thought negative things about herself, and compared herself to her friends, to those she passed on the way to class, those in the dining hall, everyone. She was left feeling alone with her thoughts, which made her feel all the worse. 

In the weeks following her last day of class, she got a text from Luke. He had asked her to go to the lake house in Michigan. She wasn’t expecting it, to say the least. It meant that she would have to spend at least a week around Luke and his brothers and their friends in shorts and shirts. The things that made her uncomfortable when she was alone. 

She reluctantly agreed to his invitation and the only reason she did agree was because she knew Luke wouldn’t stop texting her and calling her until she said yes. She didn’t like summer, it meant that she couldn’t resort to her long sleeves and leggings due to the temperature. It was too hot for that. At least when she was at her own house, it wasn’t bad, she could do that and wouldn’t be hot due to her being able to set the house to a cooler temperature. 

But, Luke was Luke, and it was hard to ignore him. They hadn’t seen each other since he left for New Jersey, keeping up only through texts and FaceTime (which was not her favorite thing in the world). So, when that text came through that she had said yes to coming, he was bouncing off the walls for hours. He had run to tell Jack and Quinn, immediately, yelling at them to get a room set up for her and to make Trevor and Cole or whoever share one. 

It was rare that Luke got excited to see someone besides his brothers and his closest friends, so when Quinn and Jack heard him rambling a million miles an hour, they knew that this “friend” was special. Luke picked her up from the airport, having flown in from her home state. He was quick to bring her bags to the car for her, open up the passenger side door, and everything in between.

When he saw what she was wearing, he curled an eyebrow, “Aren’t you hot?”

“W-what? No.”

“Y/n/n, you’re wearing a literal sheep right now and it’s like 80 degrees.”

“I’ll have you know, I’m quite comfy.”

“Whatever you say.” He muttered but he made sure to turn the AC on full blast so she wouldn’t overheat more than she already was.

Y/n was trying to prolong the time she would have to be around Luke, and his brothers and their friends, in shorts and t-shirts and tank tops. And while she knew it was going to have to happen soon, it didn’t mean that it had to happen now. She was beyond grateful that Luke turned the AC on, it was a blessing in disguise. 

When they pulled up to the house, he wasted no time in doing the same things he did at the airport; grabbing her luggage, opening her door, and leading her up the steps. He opened the door with his elbow and pushed it open with his back, or well more or less his butt. Y/n giggled at the action and stepped inside after him, looking around in disbelief, “Can’t believe you get to spend every summer here.”

“Yeah, kind of lucky to have two-”

“Heads up!”

The two turned to see Jack hurling a football in their direction and Luke dropped her things to catch it. Due to Luke’s reaction time, he spared his best friend from getting hit in the face, “Dude!”

Y/n stood in shock, blinking even as Luke’s hand was taken away from her face. Jack winced, “Sorry.”

Luke threw it back at him and hit him square in the head, “Well, that’s Jack, which means…”

As he trailed off two more voices and two pairs of footsteps came from the hallway, “Cole and Trevor aren’t too far behind him. Blonde one is Cole, the douchey looking one is Trevor.”

“Douchey?”

She stood there in the entranceway, raising a hand as if to say hi. Trevor and Cole walked in and took her bags for her, “M’lady.”

She giggled again as she watched the two bumble around the house like idiots, all while Luke’s face heated up in embarrassment. When she looked at him she threaded her arm around his waist, “Don’t worry. I have my bunch of idiots back home. They don’t compare honestly.”

Luke’s arm wrapped around her shoulders in habit, slightly tightening as a way to ground himself. He looked over at her to see her still watching the three 22-year-olds, who were now dancing around the living room playing Just Dance. His eyes were filled with fondness, he couldn’t remember the last time or if there was ever a time he felt like this about someone. 

“You must be y/n! I’m Quinn, Luke’s oldest brother.”

Y/n smiled at him and Luke swore he could’ve died right there, “Nice to meet you, Quinn. Oh! I saw your guys’ last few games of the season, you guys played well.”

Quinn’s cheeks flushed, “Oh, thanks. Well, listen, your room is right next to Luke’s if you need anything. Anything in the kitchen you are more than welcome to have, we do have some things that if you want to cook you can. The bathroom is at the end of the hallway and the campfire is out back. I won’t tell, but I’m fine if you drink, just don’t do it outside the property or when our parents get here.”

She nods, trying to keep up with all the information he is spitting at her. He walked away and let the two be on their own, going back to his room. Luke picked back up her things and led her into the hallway and to her room. He placed her bags on the foot of the bed and looked back at her, “Well, I’ll let you get settled. I think we’re going out on the boat tonight.”

She didn’t think it would be this soon that she would have to wear them. Luke could see the panic that showed in her eyes for a brief moment, “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah. I'm just not a huge fan of the water.”

“Oh, that’s okay! You don’t have to go in it if you don’t want to.”

That sent some relief through her body, “Okay.”

“I’ll come back when we’re ready to go, okay?”

She nods and watches as he leaves, worried about what was to come.

✧༺✎༻∞

Two hours later, Luke came back into her room. He knocked before coming in, of course, looking down, “Hey we’re just about- holy shit.”

Y/n stood there in her ripped jean shorts that didn’t come down fully because she had gotten them last year, her oversized UMich hockey shirt that was beginning to fade from the number of times she’d put it through the wash. Her hair was in two braids with her UMich baseball hat on and her makeup was done in the slightest bit. She was wearing a pair of gym shoes, her trusted ones that she’s had since she started college. When she heard Luke’s voice and then it cut off, she shied away, wrapping her arms around her waist.

“What?”

“Nothing, you just look-”

Here it comes. The fat jokes, the “you should get clothes that actually fit you” monologue, the snide remarks about her working out, and everything in between. But what hurt more, was that it was going to come from Luke, her best friend, her crush, her seemingly everything. The one who made her forget about those things.

“Really pretty.”

Her head snapped up and her eyes opened wide, “I- what?”

Luke’s face flushed, “You look pretty. Um, we’re getting ready to go! You ready?”

“Oh, uh yeah.”

“Did he really just call me pretty?” Her thoughts ran a thousand miles an hour as she grabbed her bag from the bed and followed Luke. There was no way he said that, was she imagining things? What had she eaten for lunch? 

Luke helped her onto the boat, holding her hand as she stepped up. She sat down and immediately pulled out her computer, connecting it to her portable hotspot. The boys watched her both in confusion and in awe, but Jack was the only one to speak up, “Why are you on your laptop? Dude, you’re gonna get it wet.”

“I just have to do something quick.”

Jack watched from beside her as she pulled up her spreadsheets and started typing information in it, “Holy shit,”

That was the second one of the day, and both of them had been directed at her, “What now?”

“Dude, these are insane.”

He stole the laptop and started scrolling. Now she felt ten times more embarrassed than she was before, “It’s nothing.”

Luke was the next to steal the computer, sitting in awe at the payrolls among other stuff she created, “Damn girl. How much free time do you have?”

She toyed with the ends of her shorts, starting to fray, “A lot.”

She was glad once they moved on from the topic and she was able to shove her computer back in her bag after updating a few things. She watched as the boys went out on the water, Luke staying with her, claiming that he didn’t want to go in the water either. However, as time went on it got colder and colder, yet none of them wanted to go back.

It was now nighttime and y/n was cold from the drastic temperature change. Luke watched as she shivered and instantly took off his sweatshirt and handed it to her, “Here.”

Her eyes looked between him and his hoodie before shaking her head, “I’m okay.”

His eyes softened, growing increasingly worried and confused, “Y/n/n you have goosebumps all along your arms. You’re not ‘okay’.”

“No, I promise. I’m okay.”

“Please.”

She hesitantly took it and unfolded it to hold it up and look at the size. This had always been a worry for her, fitting into other people’s clothes especially when it came to boys. Sure they were ‘bigger’ than her, height was and all, but was that enough to counteract? She nervously put her arms through it, being careful not to stretch it out. She pulled it over her head and was pleasantly surprised when it fit a little baggy on her. 

However, her mind clouded with negative thoughts and it started yelling at her that she was the one that stretched it out, that that was the reason why it was baggy. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Hey, it’s okay. You can tell me.”

She tugged slightly on the hoodie, feeling it start to cling to her impossibly tight. It wasn’t the hoodie, it was her mind making her think that it was smaller than it was. She tried to get out of Luke’s gaze but it was no use. She cursed to herself before looking out at the water, watching the boys splash each other like immature 10-year-olds, “I’ve never been the skinniest girl out there, Luke.”

Her words caused him to frown. ‘Is that seriously what she’s worried about?’ He brought his right hand up to her face, placing her chin in between his index finger and his thumb. He turned her head so her eyes had no choice but to look at him, “You listen to me. You are beautiful, okay? You are the prettiest girl I have ever laid eyes on.”

She moved her head away from his grasp and wrapped her arms in front of her stomach. Luke was determined to convince her that he wanted her. That she was the only one for him, so despite her worries and insecurities, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap. She yelped in surprise and as soon as her butt touched his legs and squirmed, “Let me go, Luke.”

“No.” His voice was stern as he spoke. 

“Please, Lu.” 

“I’m sorry but I don’t think I can. Not when you are talking about yourself like this, out loud or in that beautiful head of yours. Listen, y/n/n, I know it’s hard, believe me. And while I might not know exactly what you’re going through, I have had my fair share of insecurities myself. You are gorgeous and I love every single part of you there is, okay? I cannot tell you one moment that I have seen you look ugly.”

Completely brushing over the fact that he said ‘I love’, she continued trying to prove him wrong, “What about that-”

“Nope! Doesn’t exist. And I’m going to tell you that if you do not come to at least one game of mine next season, wearing my jersey I might lose it.”

Luke’s words had her blushing in an instant but her mind did not want happiness to be a thing tonight. Her thoughts of this being a prank clouded the intense blissfulness she felt for a few seconds, “Why?”

“Why what, sweet girl?”

The nickname passed over her, “Me. Why me?”

“I’m going to tell you my favorite moment of you and then we’ll see if you know why,” He removed one of his arms from her waist to wrap his fingers around the back of her neck and rub his thumb against her cheek before continuing, “Freshman year. First game you ever went to. I had just bought you a jersey and wrote on the back of it with a sharpie my name and my number. It wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world, obviously because that’s you, but it made sure everyone knew you were supporting me. You wore it with those jeans that I like, the ones with the rhinestones bordering the pockets, and you wore these gym shoes, the ones you’re wearing right now. You had your hair in two ponytails and this hat,” He flicked the brim of it, “and you brought two of your other friends for whom the life of me I cannot remember.

“But you stood for the whole game with this little pompom thing in your hand, cheering every time someone got a goal and booing every time whoever we were playing got one. And then after the game I met you outside and then we went to go get ice cream and you got vanilla with sprinkles and we tasted each other’s because I kept looking over at yours and you finally gave in. And then I took you back to your dorm and you stole my beanie. Which you didn’t give back for another two weeks.”

Her eyes watered as she listened to him, “Y/n/n. Don’t cry, please.”

She shook her head, “I’m not, I promise.”

“No matter how long it takes, what it takes, I am going to prove to you that you are beautiful no matter what anyone says. And as long as you love yourself, that’s all that matters. But you’ll always have my love, okay?”

“You love me?”

“Of course I do! I know we’re in college, or well, you are, and we haven’t really dated, but when you know you know.”

She smiled at him and closed her eyes when his lips made contact with her forehead, and then her cheek, “Can I kiss you?”

She nodded and leaned in to meet him halfway. Once their lips connected they heard ‘whoops’ from the water. They pulled away, both red in the face. And as they drove back, y/n sat next to Luke with her head on his shoulder and his hand resting comfortably on her thigh.

𝑵𝑬𝑾 𝑱𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬𝒀 𝑫𝑬𝑽𝑰𝑳𝑺 𝑻𝑨𝑮𝑳𝑰𝑺𝑻 ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

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[lovelybucky1]

Bad Guys Win

Kinktober Day 13- Knife Kink

part two of "nice guys finish last" but can be read as standalone fic

warnings: AFAB!reader, horror movies, referenced violence, knife play, dirty talk, under negotiated kink, dom/sub dynamics, 18+ minors DNI

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Ever since that night Anakin got you high and confessed his desire for you, you've been spending a lot more time together. You're still just friends, but now your relationship has a lot more benefits than it did prior.

Tonight Anakin invited you over because he had the house to himself. It was far too casual to be a date, but he got pizza delivered and there was cold beer on the table, so at least he made an effort.

You had no delusions about why you were there. It's a hookup between friends. Good friends, sure. Ones who care about each other very deeply, but it was still just sex.

That's why you were confused when Anakin grabbed your arm and led you down the stairs to the basement. It's technically unfinished, but it was a large area rug, a couch, and a TV hooked up with your brother's PlayStation.

He told you it was movie night and rifled through the shelf of movie cases. He chose Friday the 13th because it was fitting for the day. You fondly rolled your eyes at his joke and joined him on the couch once he got the DVD in the player.

He pressed up against your side on the couch and pulled the classic yawn move and put his arm around you. It was a bit odd to cuddle with Anakin like this, but you know him well enough that the closeness wasn't uncomfortable. The closeness did, however, allow him to feel every twitch of your body.

You jump when Jason pops out of no where, jostling Anakin.

"You okay?" he asks, chuckling.

You scoff. "I'm fine."

"Are you scared? Don't worry, your big brother will protect you," he jokes.

You elbow him in the ribs. "Don't call yourself that, freak."

Anakin just laughs and turns his attention back to the movie.

When it gets to the final chase scene, you're squirming with anxiety. You know it's just a movie, but the suspense gets you to. Anakin looks down at you with a smirk on his lips.

"Would you fuck him?" Anakin asks.

Your head snaps to the side, looking at him with furrowed brows. "Jason?"

"Yeah," Anakin says.

"You mean the crazy killer with the knife?"

Anakin adjusts his position so he can see you better. "Yeah. I mean like, you don't have to think he's hot. But if it was me, would you fuck me?"

What a weird fucking question. You can't tell if he's genuinely curious or if he's fishing for some kind of compliment.

"I guess," you shrug.

"If I had the mask and the knife?"

"Yes, Anakin," you sigh, getting annoyed that he's talking over the climax of the movie.

"Would you like it if I chased you?" he asks, his voice suddenly taking on a different tone. "Would you be my final girl?"

You raise your eyebrow at him. "Is this a sex thing?" you ask.

"Yeah," he smirks. "Think about it. You'd play the little, innocent helpless victim and I'd be the big bad killer. Maybe you got wrapped up in a relationship with a guy who's a bad influence nothin' but trouble," he says as he leans closer to you. "He brings you right to me and I have to have you. I get him out of the way first, and after that, you're all mine."

You lean back as Anakin advance, but when the back of your head hits the couch, you realize you have no where else left to go. Your heart begins to race in his chest as his eyes look over you hungrily. You can't deny that you're getting a little excited despite not knowing what Anakin is up to.

Suddenly, Anakin shifts. He leans up a bit and reaches behind him, searching for something in his back pocket. He reveals a small silver pocket knife that glints in the light from the screen.

He flips the blade of the knife up and you can see the sharp silhouette in the dark. It's only about three inches long, nothing like Jason's, but this one is real.

"I've got you now," he smirks.

The arm around your shoulder turns from comforting to restraining. He's holding you firmly in place by your shoulder with his other hand being occupied by the knife.

"You're crazy," you breathe.

"You want me to stop?" Anakin asks, dropping the knife for a moment.

You consider, but you're open to trying new things and this is obviously something that gets Anakin going.

"No," you say. "Just don't kill me."

Anakin grins, his white teeth glowing in the dark. He raises the knife again and lets the tip of the blade catch on the fabric of your shirt.

"I'm not gonna kill you, you're too special. I'm gonna keep you for myself."

Anakin is now leaning over top of you, blocking your view of the TV. His hand holds your shoulder firmly and his knee is resting on the cushion between your legs. You're trapped, but you don't want to get away.

Anakin tips your chin up with the flat of the knife, making you look at him. He tilts his head condescendingly and looks at you with pity.

"You're lucky I'm the one who got you. Some of the other guys aren't so generous. They like to see pretty things like you bleed dry, but I prefer to keep 'em wet," he says.

You're unclear of the story that goes along with this little fantasy, but you suppose that's not necessary to play the role of the helpless victim.

"Why are you doing this to me?" you ask, using a higher pitched voice to play up the desperation.

Anakin seems elated at your participation in his game. "Because I saw you squirmin' during the movie. This shit turns you on, huh?"

You whine when he shakes you. "No it doesn't," you say. "I was scared."

Anakin hums, not believing you. "Maybe you're more of the Ghostface type then. Would you fuck him?"

Suddenly you feel too shy to maintain eye contact with Anakin. You don't know how he read you like that, but he's right. You've always had a thing for Ghostface. Not the killing, but the voice and that flirty tone he used.

"Yeah, you fucking would," Anakin grins. "So that's your type, huh? I can do that for you, baby."

Anakin has never called you baby before and it does something to you. The tenderness of the pet name combined with the sharp metal waving in your face makes for a confusing mixture of desire in your abdomen.

Before your mind can catch up with your body to realize what's happening, Anakin has you on your back on the floor. He's kneeling over you, straddling your torso. In this position, the side of his face is lit by the TV and he looks hotter than ever. The manic grin on his lips, the lust in his eyes, the line of his throat.

"Aren't you gonna try to run?" he asks. When you shake your head no, he laughs. "Some final girl you are. Just handing yourself over to the bad guy to do whatever he pleases with you."

Anakin tosses the knife on the couch, then grabs the waistband of your sweatpants and panties and pulls them down together. You lift your hips to help him get them off and once you're bare, he slots himself between your legs and hooks them over his shoulders.

"And bad guys like me love ruining pretty things like you," he smirks wickedly.

[bluegalaxygirl]

New Bounties (Law X Reader)

Plot: After Wano you and the heart pirates get their new bounties some are higher than others but your shocked, you've never had a wanted poster before and now suddenly you have one.

Warning: Spoilers for Wano, bad language and Fluff.

Law X reader, established relationship, Reader is Female. Thank you to @being-worthy for the idea.

Even though you've been a member of the heart pirates for years you've never had a wanted poster but it never really bothered you, the jobs you were picked for where always behind the scenes mainly because you were good at it. Sneaking around and blending in was something that you could easily do, you need to pretend to be someone? Just give a photo, their personality and job description. You need to break into a military base? You'll be in and out within an hour depending on the size. So it wasn't hard for you to go unnoticed by the world government but Wano was a different story, you managed to blend it pretty well until the big battle started then you got found out quite quickly. Luckily your main job was over and done with so you helped Law and Kid take down big Mom, it was the hardest battle you have ever fought and you almost lost an arm to the giant woman but with your boyfriends skills your arm was almost back to normal. Parting with the straw hats was hard for everyone well except Law, the crew have grown quite close to the straw hats and now the alliance is over most of you hope you'll never see them again just so your not forced to fight them. Your strong but you know there's no way you would win against the other crew. Kids crew however, most of the crew where more than happy to get away form the hot headed captain but you became quite close with Killer who seemed more down to earth than Kid.

Some of the crew where still kinda mad at their captain after yesterday, instead of taking the route Law chose and sticking to the plan, Kid teased your Captain and Luffy to a breaking point making the three ships go down one of the worse routes and down a waterfall. You weren't the type to yell but after almost getting flung off the ship you gave Law a piece of your mind, the poor man had no idea what to do as you stood in front of him and the crew yelling at him for the first time, your face red with anger and heart pounding in your ears. The crew were kinda scared of you afterwards mainly because of Law's shocked face and head bowed in defeat after you finished yelling at him and walked away with a enraged aura. You stayed in Bepo's room last night deciding to give your boyfriend the cold shoulder for the night but now you were on the sofa drinking some hot tea with Lemon and honey for your now sore throat. All the yelling really hurt your throat but at least you could still talk normally "Y/n" Bepo calls out running into the sitting room while holding a piece of paper in his hands soon followed by most of the crew some cheering with big smiles while others sighed in defeat flopping onto the sofa next to you. The two that really caught your attention was Penguin and Shachi linking arms and dancing around with wanted posters in their hands "Oh! You guys got new bounties" With a smile you place a book mark in your book and set it on the table before standing up and being hugged by the fluffy white bear.

You pull your face out of his fur so you don't suffocate as the bear holds you tight while swaying with joy "My bounty went up" Bepo calls out letting you go, so he can hand you his wanted poster, looking it over your eyes soften at the new picture showing a fighting but very cute Bepo but you gasp slightly at the bounty seeing it went up form 500 to 2,500 berries "Wow Bepo, this is amazing" You jump a little as the bear joins you "If you like that your gonna love this, look how cool i am" Penguin runs over putting an arm around your shoulders shoving his wanted poster in your face. Handing Bepo's wanted poster back to the bear you pull Penguins poster away from your face so you can actually see it "Oh please mine is on fire" Shachi sing songs as he goes to your other side putting his arm over his friends that's still around your shoulder holding his wanted poster out to you "Please man your hat is covering your face" Penguin shoots back earning a glare for Shachi "Yea well at least my bounty is higher than yours, plus i think your picture is blurry" As the two playfully banter you take the two wanted posters and look them over, their bounties went up a lot close to going into the millions "Well done boys, i'm very proud of you" You smile at the two managing to stop their bickering as you hand the papers back to them, the two smile at you while finally letting you go "Which one do you like better?" The two yell at the same time before glaring at each other.

Deciding to tease them you pat Bepo on the head, the bear staying close to you since he doesn't really like the two men arguing with you in the middle. Bepo is very sweet, but he can get aggressive, luckily he only steps in if you try and fail to stop the two, he knows you can handle them though. "I like Bepo's" You giggle rubbing the white soft fur on the bears head making the bear smile wide "What? Not fair" The two yell behind you making some of the crew laugh at their shocked faces "I'm sorry" Bepo bows making the two yells more "What are you sorry for?" They both glare at the bear who jumps slightly but you reassure him and turn to the two boys "That's enough now" you sigh pushing them away from Bepo "I'm proud of all of you so don't fight" Your words make the two sigh and nod "yes ma'ma" Shachi sighs walking off to get a drink soon followed by Penguin. "You ok?" You ask Bepo who still has his head down, he nods though and holds his wanted poster close to his chest as you place a hand on his shoulder "You did an amazing job, go celebrate" You gesture over to some of the crew now in the kitchen having drinks and making popcorn. Bepo nods with a smile and heads off to join the crew while you turn back to the sofa seeing Ikkaku sulking. With a sad smile you place hand on her shoulder and kneel down i front of her "You did a great job even though your bounty didn't go up" You try and reassure her but her eyes don't look up from her lap "I think mine's now the lowest" She sighs, you know its hard for her being the only woman besides you on the crew.

Some times it feels like you have to prove yourself just to stay a part of it even though the crew and your captain have never made you feel that way. "Hopefully it will next time, for now i'm just glad you got a new picture" You say looking down at the dangling paper in her hand, your comment makes the girl crack a smile while bringing the paper up, so she can look it over "They got my good side at least" She laughs and you stand up and place a hand on her shoulder letting out a small laugh a long with her "Every side is your good side" You comment making her jump slightly as she looks up at you, her brows furrow trying to tell if you joking with her or not but when she realizes your being serious Ikkaku jumps up and hugs you tight "Thank you" She whispers as you hug her back with a small smile. You hold her for a while rubbing her back hoping she'll feel better soon but you break the hug when someone clears their throat behind you. Turning your head while holding Ikkaku's arms you look to see Jean Bart who has a surprisingly big smile on his face. You smile at him before turning back to Ikkaku who gives you a small smile before sitting back down now looking much happier "Thanks again Y/N" The girl relaxes into the sofa as you nod at her and walk over to the large pirate seeing him with several papers in his large hands. "Did yours go up too?" You ask stopping in front of the man but having to lift your head up in order to look at his face "Yea but i think you'll like this more" The giant man holds out two pieces of paper.

Taking them you lightly smile seeing Law's new wanted poster. You still can't get over how handsome he is but you were very surprised at the bounty, it now being 3 billion, you knew it would go up but this was insane. You shake your head trying not to get too overwhelmed by the amount of zero's as you pull out the paper form under it and gasp in surprise gripping the paper unable to believe what your seeing. Somehow Jean Bart knew exactly how you would react to this news managing to take the time you gave him while looking over Law's wanted poster to move everyone out of your direct line to the door. Some crew were confused, but they didn't argue with the the man and stayed out of the way. It took you a second but your legs moved before you could tell them to do so, running out of the room with the wanted papers in your grip you sprinted done the hall jumping over the lip of the doors connecting hallways. The crew watched you run off but Bart stopped them form following you some concerned as to why you would react like that, "Is she ok?" Bepo asks walking over to the large man but keeping his eyes on the door you ran out of but Bart smiles wide at the bear "They got their first bounty" Bepo jumped in excrement with a big smile as others laugh and cheer starting to get more drinks out to throw a party for themselves.

Running down the metal hallways of the sub you soon make it to Law's office, you didn't bother knocking just barraged in to see your captain sitting at his desk reading a book "Y/N?" Law asks about to get up when you slam the wanted posters on the desk before turning to him with a big smile. The poor captain had no idea what was going on, you've never walked into his office without knocking first, he thought maybe it was an emergency but your smile and bouncing feet told him different. "Your bounty went up, it's now 3 billion and look" You bounce on your tip toes unable to control your excitement as you grab your first ever wanted poster and show it to him "My first wanted poster" You laugh with slight tears of joy threatening to roll down your checks. You haven't spoken or even looked at Law all day, he hated the silent treatment you gave him but seeing you smile so beautifully at him and rush in to show him something made his heart melt slightly, a small smile appears on his face as he takes his eyes off you to look at your wanted poster. The picture in his opinion didn't do you justice but what really caught his eye was the bounty, his small smile drops and his eyes go wide making your heart sink. You stop bouncing and your smile fades along with your tears of joy, you didn't know what was wrong, maybe he's still upset over you being mad at him or yelling at him. "Law... I'm not mad anymore, i'm sorry" You go to put the wanted poster down but your captain grabs it staring with his breath hitched in his throat.

Law tried to form words but it was hard, he's never seen a first bounty this high before, yes you helped take down big mom but for a first bounty this was insane "I-I know, thats not it" The captain finally managed to say prying his eyes away from your poster to look at your sad face, he didn't mean to upset you but he couldn't help the reaction he had. "Then what? Don't you like it?" You hated the pit in your stomach, you didn't think to look at your bounty, you didn't care how low it was, you were just happy to have your name and face on a wanted poster. Law quickly stands and pulls you into a hug with a slight chuckle finally getting over his shock "I love it sweetheart, i'm sorry, i'm just shocked at such a high bounty" You sigh in relief at his words while hugging back, to be honestly the silent treatment you were giving him was torture for you since you love spending time with him, even if its just sitting in the same room as each other and not talking. "It can't be that high, i mean Bepo's is now at 2,500, mine can't be much higher" You laugh only to for Law's eyes to widen slightly and pull you away to see if your being serious, looking up at him in confusion it suddenly hits you that your bounty must be much higher than Bepo's "You didn't look?" The captain asks grabbing your wanted poster while keeping a hand on your hip as you shake your head. "No i ran straight here... i didn't think it would be much" You blush a little, its funny how your first thought when getting your wanted poster was to show Law.

The captain lets a small smile show while handing you the poster letting you look it over, your eyes scan the page until you get to the price on your head, as you count the amount of zero's your eyes widen in shock as your hand starts to shake. Law's quick to notice taking your hand to hold it still while rubbing your hip "1.5 billion?" you ask looking up at the man who nods getting closer to your face "How? Why?" You could hardly comprehend what was written on the piece of paper but Law snapped you out of your thoughts by placing a light kiss on your lips "You did great" He whispers against your lips making your heart flutter a little as a smile appears back on your face "I'm sorry for yelling" You whisper back placing the paper back on the desk so you can run your hands over his shoulder and to the back of his neck keeping him close to you "I deserved it, shouldn't have let that asshole get to me.... I-I'm proud of you y/n" Leaning in the captain lightly kisses your lips feeling you lean in while running a hand up and through his hair. He goes to pull away but you bring him back in for more placing light kisses on his lips before locking them fully and lightly biting his bottom lip. Law chuckles slightly wrapping his arms around your waist to press you closer to him as his mouth opens letting your tongues meet and lips move together. You can't help but moan slightly into it as the captain lifts you up and makes you sit on the desk pulling your legs, so they wrap around his waist, the two of you pull away for air both panting slightly from the heated make out.

Law looks down at the desk spotting his wanted poster and running his hand over it "Your so handsome" You whisper hugging the man close while kissing his neck, Law leans into you a bit before pulling over your wanted poster to get another look at it "you're beautiful" The captain whispers back making you pull away from his neck, so he can kiss you again, its light a first but soon gets heated again this time Law taking the lead and licking your lower lip getting you to open your mouth for him. The make out was long one or both of you having to pull away for air only to go back in for more, you swear his lips are addictive, he may not always show it but moment like this tell you how much he loves you and you want to give that same love back. "Sweetheart" Law stops the make out placing his hand on your neck to stop you form going back in for more, he knew if you did keep kissing him he would just cave in and let you, as much as he would love to continue the captain not only had work to do, but he also had to talk to the crew. "I'm only going to say it to you ok.... I'm sorry for how i acted yesterday, forgive me?" Law asks seeing you smile and nod with loving eyes "Forgiven, just don't do it again" You pull his hand away form your neck giving him a light kiss before getting off the desk "The others are probably throwing a party, you wanna join?" you ask fixing Law's hat and shirt that you've messed up while the captain runs a hand through your hair to fix the mess he made "Only for a little while."

[engeorged]

Please Feed the Bears

Words and concept by @fillthattank and @engeorged

Artwork by @badoobers

Having spent four years in teacher training college and 8 years working in shitty schools, Dan was done being a teacher. Like most of his colleagues, he loved the kids and teaching, but the red tape was killing him. He was still spending hours and hours every evening lesson planning, marking and setting goals. Even just engaging with parents through the new app the school had imposed took an hour a night now. He was done.

The job had taken his whole life. He didn’t have a social life any more, he didn’t have time for friends, let alone dating. He used to be hot! Six pack abs and thick biceps left over from his rugby days, but late night pizza orders and rushed meals whilst sat in his sofa marking had put an end to that. He wasn’t unfit as such, (he still cycled to work!) but he had a definite little pot belly now with a jiggle when he walked and his ass was forcing him to buy jeans two sizes too big.

He’d begun to put aside a little money each month to go travelling and it was now time to cash in. He gleefully handed in his resignation and booked his tickets. He was going to fulfil a life long dream and tour America. His money wouldn’t last long but he’d be able to get a little cash in hand job every few months and settle down for a bit and that should last him. All his mates did it when he was training and he was beginning to feel like he had missed out, so now was his chance. The morning of the flight came and he felt so free and so excited! He’d sold everything he had accumulated in his shitty flat, gotten rid of his bike and the keys to the flat. All he had in the world was shoved into his backpack. The world was his oyster.

Three months later

The bubble burst two weeks into the adventure when he was robbed on a metro in New York. All his cash and bank cards were gone. When he had phoned his insurance company, they had gone bust overnight and so there was no payout. He refused to phone his parents. He was 30, that would be so humiliating. And they wouldn’t be gracious about it, they had already told him this was a childish idea to go travelling on a whim like a teenager. They’d probably give him money to come home, where he’d end up living in their house for a few years whilst he did supply teaching jobs in horrific schools. No thank you, he’d sort this out himself. He got a job for a few months, cash in hand with no questions asked, doing deliveries for a pizza place in New York which gave him enough money to travel west and a constant supply of free pizza. Sure it was on the bus, and sure he’d put on a few more pounds but at least he’d done it himself. He arrived in what the bus driver called ‘Butt Fuck Nowhere’ ready to work.

He booked himself into a cheap and sleazy hotel. He had enough money for one night which meant he needed to find himself a job fast. After making a few enquiries he found the only real place to work for foreigners was in a massive theme park just on the edges of the town. He hiked his way there and found the employment office and made his case. In lieu of a formal interview, the guy looked him up and down and made his assessment. Dan was 6’5 and so being tall, tall, he would be the park's main mascot, Buster. Buster was a big bear and the costume was huge, with loads of room inside. The only upside was that his face wouldn’t be entirely covered by the costume. Instead there was a little hat with bear ears he would have to wear.

He would have to do a trial before he was offered the job for real, and the eventual pay would be $15 an hour, which didn't seem like a lot. Whilst Dan signed the contract, the boss called for his helper who was a short burly guy in his late twenties called Mitch, with a gravely voice that made it sound like he smoked 40 a day. Mitch’s eyes perked up when he saw Dan.

‘He’ll do!’ Said Mitch, his eyes hungrily taking in Dan’s face and height.

‘Hey!’ Said Dan, holding out his hand. Mitch shook it enthusiastically.

‘Hope you’re hungry!’ Said Mitch

‘What?’ Said Dan, a little confused but he began taking off his clothes ready to get into the costume. He was about to pull it on when Mitch stopped him and pushed him over to a pair of scales. ‘Step on’ Mitch encouraged him.

‘I’m a little husky at the moment!’ Dan replied nervously

‘That’s not a bad thing.’ Mitch replied as he took the reading from the digital scales.

‘Hang on? Why did you need that?’ Dan asked, realising that that was weird.

Instead of replying, Mitch just held out the costume. Dan slid it on, pulling his arms through the holes. It wasn’t as heavy as it looked and was a little baggy round his middle but it seemed to fit ok.

‘Why did you need my weight?’ He tried again as he did the zip up, but he was bundled out of the office and into the park without an answer

It was early, but already, Dan could see people walking around. He wasn't entirely sure if they were fellow employees or visitors. They weren't wearing any uniform, but they looked like adult men. Way more adult men than he'd expect at a theme park.

Years of teaching had killed most inhibitions and fear of embarrassment within Dan, so he jumped up and down, danced a bit, acted like he thought a man in a bear-suit was expected to act.

"Hey, it's Buster Bear!" he heard someone say.

Dan turned round, and waved. It was a group of guys, six he counted, looking around 30. A big variety of heights and builds, though they all looked pretty hairy.

One of the guys came running towards him.

"C'mon guys, let's bust the bear!' he said, to the others.

When the guy arrived, Dan didn't even have time to talk. The guy shoved a hot dog right into his mouth. Dan was a bit shocked, but started chewing. It wasn't a bad hot dog.

No sooner had Dan swallowed that another guy shoved a hot dog into his mouth. Dan was even more surprised, but hey, the customer is king, and he was kinda hungry anyway, so he chewed and swallowed.

The six guys proceeded to shove a hot dog each into his mouth. He wasn’t expecting that at all but as he was on probation he didn’t want to challenge it. His minder stood to the side happily watching and not saying a word. Was this a thing here? It didn’t take long but he ended up eating six hot dogs in a short space of time.

This first guy moved to feed a second one but Mitch stepped in. ‘You know the rules, big guy. Let someone else have a go. Move along now!’

Admitting defeat the six guys moved on laughing and patting each other on the back. When they were at a safe distance he turned to Mitch ‘What the hell was that?’

‘Did no one tell you?’ He laughed. ‘It’s just a cute thing we have here. When you see Buster bear you have to feed him something. It’s just for fun! You’ll get used to it!’

Dan was so confused. It was one thing giving the bear a small thing but he’d just eaten six whole hot dogs and he’d been on the job for 15 minutes! Also why were they grown ass men? Theme parks are for kids right? He wasn’t even sure what question to ask first. He opened his mouth to ask something and found a churro in it. Two young bearded guys had snuck up behind him. They happily began feeding him a big churro each. Dan was starting to feel pretty full already but he really needed this job. He’d have time to ask questions in a moment. So he played along. Rubbing his furry tummy and chewing he ate a churro from each of them.

As they walked away, clearly happy he heard one of them comment about how hot he was which gave him a little rush of pleasure, followed by a touch of embarrassment.

Turning to Mitch he formulated his question ‘Where are the kids?’

Mitch looked at him like he’d said something crazy inappropriate and just shook his head. ‘Dude this place is for adults only! Now look lively. Here comes another group of customers.

Totally confused, Dan turned and saw four guys coming towards him with huge bellies and carrying buckets of loaded fries. Before he could say anything, a chubby hand stuffed a fist full of fries into his mouth. They were hot and salty and covered in bacon and cheese and so good. He could ignore the full feeling with fries as tasty as this. A few fistfuls in, and the dudes started fighting over who got to feed him the next lot.

‘Bro wait your turn?’ The lead guy said in a thick southern accent.

‘This is my turn dick face?’ Replied a guy who looked like he could be his brother, shoving him out of the way with his fat ass.

Dan found himself amidst four angry fat guys who’d clearly had a few too many beers and his teaching skills suddenly kicked in.

‘Boys, there’s plenty of room in my tank, now just keep the fries coming!’

It calmed the situation a bit but still was a little tense. A few of the guys were squaring up to each other and getting riled up. Guided by Dan the fries were soon put away turn by turn into his filling tank. Pacified and pleased with themselves the men staggered away punching one another on the arms as they went.

The four buckets of fries on top of the hotdogs and churros suddenly weighed heavy on Dan's stomach. He belched loudly and gave his belly a rub. ‘How come you didn’t intervene man?’ He asked Mitch

‘You seemed to be handling those dumb asses pretty well yourself?’ Mitch laughed back

‘I thought it was one thing per person? You said that was the rule?’

‘Yeah but they had the golden buckets. They paid extra. They can feed you the whole lot if they want!’ Mitch explained. ‘Let’s keep going, bud!’

Dan uncomfortably followed on behind Mitch, feeling the heavy food settling as his stomach set about the task of digesting. Over the next hour or so they encountered several more guys, all keen to feed something to Buster. Dan played the part, eating up the burgers, candy apples and handfuls of popcorn. All the food they seemed to serve at this place was full-on junk food. It didn’t hurt that it all tasted so good. The pace was fast but not too bad. He felt like he was keeping up. He’d always had a big appetite and would often find himself eating his feelings when he was back in school. And he needed this job. He couldn’t bring himself to contact his parents. There were just two more hours of the trial left, he could do this. He was beginning to notice that the costume was feeling a little claustrophobic. It felt super roomy when he put it on but he was feeling the material clinging to his skin a bit now. It was super hot inside too. He could really do with something to drink. He would look for some dudes with beers or something if that was allowed.

The next encounter he had was two good looking college bros with backwards caps and muscle tees. Unfortunately they didn’t have beers but they fed Dan a funnel cake each. He’d never seen one of these before but the sweet dough tasted amazing. Afterwards though he began to feel a little uncomfortably full. The last few bites were a little hard work. He could feel grease and the pressure of food in his packed stomach reaching a slightly more painful place. When they had gone he asked Mitch if he could take a ten minute break. Mitch reluctantly agreed but said he couldn’t take the suit off. He took him behind one of the rides where they found a little bench. Dan eased himself down and instantly regretted sitting. The pressure reached a peak which made him wince and stand back up. Tentatively, he sat back down and leant back on his arms. Under the suit, he arched his back to give his belly space to expand. Mitch grinned. ‘Ready to give up yet?’

‘No man, I’m good’ Dan lied.

‘There’s pockets!’ Mitch offered smiling still

‘What?’ Dan was feeling a little light headed with how full he was feeling and he didn’t really know what Mitch was talking about.

Mitch leant over and pulled a small zip down on the side by Dan's hip. ‘If you need to give your belly a rub, there’s a small pocket. Trust me on this. You need all the help you can get before the lunch rush!’

The prospect of a lunch rush was something Dan would need to deal with in a few minutes but for now he eased his hand into the side of his costume and felt the warm flesh of his distended furry belly. He couldn’t trust himself to think back over how much food was in him, it would just make him queasy. For now he just closed his eyes and gave his tight belly a good rub.

‘Come on buster!’ Mitch said after a too short amount of time. ‘You need to be back on the tarmac!’

Begrudgingly Dan stood, admittedly feeling a little better after the rub. He could almost feel the food redistributing itself as he moved.

‘Hang on, What did you mean lunch rush?’ He asked his guide as they walked.

Mitch just smiled. ‘Happy hour!’ He repeated cryptically.

Leading the way, Mitch took Dan back into the park where they made their way to an area set up next to a steep roller coaster. A little food hut decorated to look like a large picnic basket was serving food to a long queue of guys, all who started cheering as they saw Buster Bear approaching. This made Dan's stomach lurch a little. That was a lot of guys buying food. ‘Should we keep moving?’ He asked Mitch nervously.

‘Why would we do that? This is your chance to prove you deserve the job.’ He pointed at a large wooden throne just next to the clearing. ‘Take a seat’

Reluctantly Dan shuffled towards the chair and sat down. It was surprisingly comfy and the position of the seat meant that he was nearly stood up which put no extra pressure on his already packed belly. He gulped as he realised that the design was probably on purpose.

One by one the men left the queue and joined a new one in front of Dan. They all had their fast food clutched in their hands ready to feed Buster. Mitch leant in and whispered into Dan's ear. ‘If you can survive this, the job's yours. And did you read the small print?’

Dan shook his head nervously. ‘No?’ He admitted, looking to find a way out of this. There was no way this was worth $15 an hour.

‘At the end of the day we weigh you and you get $50 per pound you put on. You get a bonus for the more food you eat!’

That changed things for Dan. He really needed that cash. He’d nearly used up the last of his money staying at the motel in town and without this job, he’d not have enough for the next few days. A few hundred dollars could really come in handy right now. He could eat a lot? What’s 10 lbs of food look like? That’s $500 dollars. Surely that could be doable? He set his jaw and nodded to Mitch ‘let’s go’

The stream of food that followed was unreal. Each guy shoved one thing into Dan's open mouth and he chewed and swallowed like his life depended on it. Corn dogs, tacos, hamburgers, onion rings and fries all disappeared down under the fur of the costume into his hidden but rapidly expanding belly. He didn’t allow himself time to consider how much food there was or how he was going to feel afterwards, he just kept the thought of the dollars ringing in his ears. Ice cream and donuts, beers and sodas all sucked down into his filling tank. The guys queuing were loving it and Dan was fully playing the part of a greedy bear. Growling and snarling as their sweaty palms pushed the calorific food into his mouth. Mitch’s face slowly turned from a smiling sneer, laughing at Dan's fate, to one of admiration. He’d been with a lot of Busters and Dan was eating like one of the best. He’d spent many an afternoon with a sorry dude in a bear costume throwing up into a bin after a shift but this guy seemed to be an absolute eating unit. Towards the end of the happy hour though he started being a little worried. This guy had eaten a lot. Like, too much. Even with the bear costume on he could see that his gut was beginning to push against the fabric.

As Dan was being fed a large chicken tender the bell went to signal the end of happy hour. Dan looked a little confused as he snapped out of his feeding frenzy. The rest of the guys in the queue all shared a collective groan as Mitch told them that the bear needed to head back to his cave for his nap whilst Dan looked on, totally dazed. As Mitch shooed away the queue, the volume of food inside Dan’s belly suddenly made itself very known. He felt the skin over his belly stretched and tight and the pressure that had built up inside him became very apparent. He had never in his whole life felt as full as he did right now. In the distance he heard Mitch talking to him. He wasn’t sure what he was saying but he nodded and allowed Mitch to help him to his feet. The new weight in front of him made him stagger a little at first as he felt the food lurch inside his belly balloon. A large belch escaped and he found himself laughing. Mitch led him through the park round the back, fortunately not encountering any more punters eager to offload some more food into his aching gut.

Coming round a little bit he found himself back in the offices, just him and Mitch, who was looking at him in a concerned way. ‘I said are you ok bud?’

Dan belched again in response. ‘I think I’m ok? I ate a lot.’

‘Yeah. You did.’ Mitch nodded in agreement. ‘You wanna take off the costume?’

Dan nodded. He went to undo the zip but found the fabric was restricting his movement. Mitch fished around under his neck and pulled the zip down to the bottom of his ribs. The rush of cool air was like heaven as he peeled his arms out of the costume. He went to pull the zipper down but his bloated midsection was now an obstacle. Pulling it out, he managed to get the zip to slide down to the underneath of his belly which pushed itself through. Dan looked up into the mirror on the wall opposite. Shocked, he saw the full extent of his four hours of being stuffed by random strangers. His belly was enormous. The furry skin stretched tight over the mass of food contained inside. Round and expansive, his belly looked like it had been photoshopped. His gut had completely filled the baggy costume.

‘Holy fucking Mac and cheese balls’ Mitch exclaimed reaching over to give his belly a poke. Even his heavy handed push hardly made a dent in it.

‘It feels like I’ve swallowed quick drying cement!’ Dan complained. ‘Help me out of this fucking thing!’

Mitch pulled the costume down round his ankles, headbutting his engorged stomach by accident. ‘Shit man, sorry!’ He said rubbing his head

Standing there in just his pants Dan couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. He was enormous. His furry belly and body made him look like he was still wearing the fat bear costume.

Mitch nodded at the scales. ‘Wanna see how much we owe you?’ He asked

‘I’m gonna bankrupt you!’ Dan managed to joke as he stepped on.

Mitch whistled, clearly impressed. ‘Fuck me man. You’ve done well there today! I’d have to check but I’m pretty sure that’s a company record!’

‘Tell me man!’ Dan pleaded.

"We owe you $850 man! You’ve eaten 17 lbs of food!!’

Dan nearly passed out with shock. Taking another look in the mirror his distended belly looked like he was pregnant. Sticking out from under his ribs it rolled down in a wide curve till it tapered in where the ghost of his Adonis belt framed the underside.. All he wanted to do right now was sleep this off

‘You’ve definitely got the job!’ Mitch reassured him. ‘See you again tomorrow?’

————————————————————

If you want to continue Dans story yourself you can head here where you will find a chat bot programmed to be Dan at the end of this story!

[mochinomnoms]

This is a very specific thing I said to my friends so if they follow your blog then they would know who I am but the whole thing of buy one get two free deal came from something that is common in my country where in local bazaars they sell these showering kits that came with shampoo, conditioner and a bottle of liquid soap my mind clearly infected with twst could only think about the octotrio being one of these packages Azul is the soap, and the twins are the shampoo and conditioner and the three of the products are wrapped with tape so you are forced to get the three which is oddly cute to me but onto the main thing!

Came up with another octotrio polycule idea since yuu represents a shrimp in Floyd's weird lenses of seeing the world sometimes if done intentionally or not you tend to clean up the twins or patch them up even fixing up their (poorly put on) uniform Jade got dirt in his face when he was in a mountain trip? Come here you careless eel and wipe out the dirt then you can talk about your new findings BUT WASH YOUR HANDS FIRST

Floyd decided to do parkour or maybe he just dumped a whole smoothie on himself because he was hot and used the drink to cool off and there you go, disinfect the wounds or scratches and putting silly cute band-aids (one time he got mad that his favorite design was out and you placed a mushroom design band aid since he still needed one, remind yourself to go stack up with the band-aids before Jade goes and sniffles about his dear brother using his favorite band-aids)

I am thinking that since the twins are a bit much more affectionate or aren't as busy as Azul is, you are doing one of your "Nurse/cleaner shirmp" (Floyd gave them the name) on one of the tweels and you guys were in Azul's office so he sighs trying to get attention he wishes that he also got his own nurse/cleaner shirmp affections if he doesn't say it out loud he can and will break his pen/ink flask and oh no! His gloves are completely ruined!! Clearly coaxing you into helping him with the mess or when he does voice his wishes about it when you two/three are present the tweels are quick to tease him about it "I thought that octopuses didn't go to cleaner shrimp stations?" or "Would you be able to provide protection in exchange? I thought that octopuses weren't predators" Okay that was rude, it is on. Of course that he can protect the shrimpy and if octopuses didn't go to cleaner shirmp stations then he would change that! Overall silliness and sweetness (They are having a discussion about planning to surprise you with a visit to the coral sea and going to visit their parents!!) they might turn almost anything into a friendly/loving competition and you are trapped in them but they are still so sweet and caring for you and each other 10/10 definitely a unique dynamic but awesome either way

(the same anon forcing their brain to fabricate more octotrio polycule ideas)

I think Floyd takes the most delight in seeing you care for them like an actual shrimp. He thinks it's endearing and will definitely make efforts to get dirty or mildly hurt so that you'll attend to him.

The other two have their own nicknames for you: Jade calls you and Azul My Pearl/Darling while Azul calls you Angelfish and the twins Dear(s).

It's Azul's way of showing affection, as he is quite reserved with his affections, at least until you're all in private. He does envy the liberal affections that the twins have with you, Floyd in particular doesn't care much about what others think, and Jade generally is more reserved than his brother, but will still give you chaste kisses when saying hello/goodbye. Azul, at most, will hold hands and maybe tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ears, something he often does during quiet moments.

It may be silly, but he gets a little jealous at seeing y'all share PDA when he's still getting used to the new dynamic. So he's coaxing you to come help him clean up! Look at his hands, they're absolutely stained with ink! Won't you please help him clean up Angelfish? 🥺

It backfires as the twins also take the opportunity to “care” for Azul. Instead of letting you fuss over him quickly, they decide that this is a sign that he's much too tired to continue working, look at the mess he made! It's time to close his office early and cuddle pile in his bedroom!! Jade's making the extra effort to run a bath in the absurdly large tub in Azul's private bathroom, while Floyd is running around collecting pillows and blankets to make a nest/fort. You do your do diligence and help Jade tend to him, causing him to get more and more flustered.

The night ends with the twins teasing the silly little octopus for wanting some tending from the shrimp. They're complaining that he never asks for affection like that from them!!! Eels can be gentle too, we promise Azul~

[ladykailitha]

Across a Crowded Room Part 2

This has five parts and is complete. It will be released every Saturday.

In this we has Steve's friends be dim, Eddie bringing breakfast, and Steve be a lovable dork.

Part 1

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

****

Steve had been shocked by the greeting of Eddie spinning him around. But not as flabbergasted as when Eddie kissed him on the lips just for saying that he missed him.

After Eddie left, Steve felt three pairs of eyes on him and he squirmed a little under their gaze.

“What?”

“Look,” Maria said, “you have been talking this guy up for weeks. Ever since you announced he was coming to stay for a week. And yeah we knew you had a crush on the guy, but this was holy shit fastest levels of yearning to relationship I’ve ever seen.”

Jarren nodded. “I mean, he’s hotter and cooler than you said he was. Like an actual record deal for his metal band? So cool. Long curly hair and doe eyes? So hot. But that’s not the point I’m trying to make here.”

“It better not be,” Steve groused. “Mine!”

Jarren laughed. “All yours, Steve. I promise. But the point I’m trying to make here, is that you kinda blindsided us with this one. Why didn’t you tell us about him before.”

Steve looked over at Robin. “I talk to him all the time. Like prior to him coming out to Chicago, we’d constantly call and text. He’s always commenting on my socials. Like I know I’m slow, but that is extreme levels of dense.”

Jarren and Maria glanced at each other in confusion.

“Wait,” Maria said, “you’re telling me that your ‘stalker’ is that guy?” She pointed toward the door.

Stalker was the name Steve’s friends called Eddie because he would always have commented or liked Steve’s posts by at least the end of the day. Faster than even Robin most days.

“You guys didn’t know?” Robin asked. “Like how many Eddie’s do you think Steve knows?”

Jarren held up on finger and then deflated. “Fuck. Yep. We’re idiots.”

Maria tilted her head back and forth and then shrugged. “Yeaaahhh.”

“I’m going to head home,” Steve said looking at his watch. “I’ll catch you guys later.”

They all waved him off with Maria promising she’d get Robin home safe. As he walked to the door he checked his state of drunkenness. He ran his tongue over his lips and decided that an Uber was a better idea than driving home.

He scheduled the ride on his phone and lit a cigarette. He had graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in education and basically had the whole summer off to get ready for the major change in his life.

Robin was moving out to New York to get her master’s degree and with any luck an internship at the UN as an interpreter.

She was super excited, but it would be the first time since they became friends that they would go their separate ways.

At first she had tried to convince him to do his last year of school in New York so that he could get his teacher’s certificate and teach there.

But as much as Steve was on board with the idea they both realized too quickly that Steve would be miserable in New York.

But Robin?

Robin would thrive.

So they had packed as much time together as they possibly could as they got used to the fact she would be leaving come summer’s end.

His thoughts were interrupted by the driver pulling up. After both of them triple check they were the other’s right person, Steve slid into the back of the car.

“Music or no?” the driver asked, looking at Steve in the rearview mirror.

“No music tonight, man,” Steve said. “I just want a little quiet tonight.”

The driver nodded and directed the car back to the main road that would take Steve home.

Steve made sure to tip well as the ride slipped by in blissful silence.

He thought that he would be thinking nonstop about Robin. About Eddie. About that kiss. But the quiet hum of the car in the darkness soothed Steve mind and while he didn’t sleep, he felt groggy when he got home as if he had.

He thanked the driver and began the slow trek up to the apartment he shared with Robin.

Steve stuck his key into the lock and sighed. Half the apartment was in disarray as it was nothing but half filled boxes and rolls of packing tape and bubble wrap.

Robin had already packed up her stuff and it was sitting in storage waiting for her to tell them to ship it cross country. The only bit of her things that remained was her clothes, which she had been living out of her suitcase, her daily stuff like toothbrush and shit, and her cellphone and laptop.

She had been sharing Steve’s bed because they needed to be next to each other. To hear the other breathe in their sleep. To know that their person was still there.

Yeah, okay so they weren’t handling it as well they had hoped they would.

He had taken off his shoes and flopped face down into the bed when got two messages.

The first was from Robin saying that she was staying the night Maria’s. Something they often did when they got too drunk. The second one was from Eddie.

-Sleep well, angel

Steve blushed. He didn’t even know why. There was just something so sweet about it.

-Night, Eds

He set his phone to the side and rolled over onto his back. He draped his arm of his eyes.

His plan was always going to be telling Eddie he was in love with him. It was also the plan was to move out to California with Eddie after the week. He was going to give up everything to be with him. Because he didn’t think he could live in Chicago by himself.

He had friends here. But without Robin to put a buffer between him and others when he got overwhelmed, he wasn’t sure if he could keep going out. He would become a hermit.

But now that Eddie was going to move out here, Steve knew that he would have other outlets for social interaction. He got along well with the other members of Eddie’s band and it would be great to see them again.

He got up and stripped down to his underwear. He preferred to sleep like that even in the dead of winter, but with Robin sharing the bed with him he had at least been wearing sweats to bed.

He slipped underneath the sheets and wondering what it would be like to feel Eddie’s skin between these sheets.

He fell asleep to the thoughts of Eddie curled up behind him.

****

The next morning was disturbed by the sounds of his soulmate coming home.

“Come on, dingus!” she hollered. “Up! I have coffee and breakfast.”

Steve was up and throwing on a pair sweats, hopping on one foot as he scrambled out to the kitchen.

He skidded to a stop and blinked at the sight before him.

“Look who I found on our doorstep?” Robin greeted cheerfully.

Steve smiled. “Hey, Eds. I’m guessing you are the bearer of breakfast and coffee?”

Robin squawked her outrage, but Eddie grinned. “Sure am, sweetness. Got you that caramel macchiato you love so much, an iced mocha for the lady and a dark roast, cream and two sugars for me.”

Robin glared at him.

“I kid I kid,” he said and handed her the black coffee. “It’s as dark as your soul, Buck.”

She took the coffee and sipped happily. “Yeah, you can keep him.”

Steve laughed.

“If that’s all it took to get soulmate approval,” Eddie teased, “was a single cup of coffee, I would have bought you one years ago.”

Robin pushed at him and then dug into the bag of breakfast sandwiches.

“What’s this?” she asked pulling out a sandwich in a plastic container.

Eddie snatched it out of her hands. “Mine!” He clutched it to his chest and hissed.

Robin held up her hands in surrender. She went back to her digging. She pulled out a breakfast burrito with peppers, onions, mushrooms, eggs and sausage.

“And that one’s mine...” she said sing-song, setting it to the side.

The last one she pulled out was a simple egg, cheese, and sausage on a buttery croissant. She handed it over to Steve.

“Is it creepy he knows our breakfast order?” she asked as she settled into to her coffee and breakfast.

Steve scoffed. “Robin you have posted about that same burrito almost every Sunday for the last two years, if he didn’t know what you liked, then I would be concerned.”

“Oops!” she said around a bit of food.

Eddie just shook his head and dived into his breakfast.

“What did you get, Eds?” Steve asked.

Eddie had just taken a bite, so he didn’t answer immediately. But he moaned happily around his bite.

“That, my darlin’,” he said once his mouth was clear, “is an eggs Benedict in a breakfast sandwich and I’m in heaven.” He wiped his mouth with his fingers and sucked on them to lick them clean.

Steve’s eyes went wide as he followed the movement. He licked the bottom of his lip and forced himself to look away before the situation got uncomfortable.

“It’s almost as good as the eggs Benedict Uncle Wayne used to make. I see why you guys love that place so much.”

“Yeah...” Robin said, “I’m gonna talk to Kendra and see if I can sleep on her sofa this week...”

Eddie and Steve’s heads snapped her direction.

“What?” Eddie asked, oblivious to Steve’s torture.

Robin rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to be around when the tension finally breaks and you fuck like rabbits on every surface of this apartment. Just clean up after yourselves, yeah?”

She hastily finished her burrito and kissed Steve’s cheek. She walked down the hallway to their bedroom to change out what she was wearing and to shower.

Eddie chuckled at her swift exit. “I didn’t realize I was being that obvious.”

“I think it was the moan that got her,” Steve muttered going back to his sandwich.

Eddie leaned forward and whispered, “Why, darlin'? Did it get you?”

Steve blushed all the way to the roots of his hair. He chewed on his bottom lip and then nodded.

Eddie wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

“Eds!” Steve groaned, pushing the other man’s shoulder. “At least wait until she goes to work, yeah?”

Eddie cackled. “All right, darlin’. I’ll be good until then. But after that, all bets are off.”

Steve felt like heat slid down his spine to pool in his gut.

He gulped and went back to his sandwich. Eddie and Steve were finishing up their breakfast when Robin came back out. She had her bag thrown over one shoulder, ready to go.

“I’m off at five,” she said. “So if you two wanted meet somewhere for dinner, just text me before then.”

She kissed both of them on the cheek goodbye and sauntered out the apartment with a cheerful wave and a “Don’t do anything I would do!” said over her shoulder.

“I’m not sure which of us the menace anymore,” Steve chuckled, shaking his head fondly.

Eddie pulled Steve in for a kiss. “Babe, you share the same brain cell, I’m pretty sure the answer is both of you.”

Steve snorted but couldn’t deny that Eddie was probably right.

“I’m going to miss her when she moves to New York,” he said softly.

Eddie held Steve tightly. “I know, sweetheart. Have you thought about what you want to do after she’s gone? I mean I know you were planning on moving out...” he makes a vague hand motion at the mess around them, “but where were you thinking?”

“Originally or now?” Steve asked after a moment or so just staring at him blankly.

“Is the plan different now that I’m in Chicago?” Eddie asked, pulling back so he could look Steve in the eye.

Steve pursed his lips and nodded.

“Stevie...” Eddie said warningly.

“What?”

“What was your original plan?” he asked dryly.

“Throw myself at you and move to California with you when you went back at the end of the week?” Steve said with a grimace.

Eddie blinked a moment. “Oh.”

“Oh?” Steve asked tilting his head.

Eddie steered him over to the sofa and sat him down on it. “Let’s talk about this for a minute, because even though we want the same things it seems like we’re not on the same page yet.”

Steve furrowed his brow but nodded anyway.

“Hey,” Eddie said firmly. “I’m not saying that’s a bad thing or that I don’t want to be with you. I do, but we need to have a talk about what being together means, okay?”

Steve let out a rough sigh. “Yeah okay.”

“So tell me about this plan of yours.”

Eddie settled himself on the sofa, twisting his body so he was facing Steve. He leaned one arm against the back of the sofa and laced his hands together, giving Steve his full attention.

“I was going to confess my feelings for you tonight over a fancy dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant,” Steve began. “Which I’m still taking you to, but maybe not tonight.”

Eddie smiled encouragingly. “Sounds good so far. What’s next?”

“And then if you told me you felt the same,” Steve continued, ducking his head, “I’d spend the rest of the week trying to convince you to let me go back with you to California.”

Eddie huffed out a laugh. “And what would you do back in Cali, baby?”

“I’d bartend,” Steve said with a shrug. “It’s what I did when I was going to school here anyway. Then during the day I’d get my teaching certificate in LA.”

Eddie blinked and then his expression softened. “Oh, Stevie. That sounds like a great plan. Too bad I blew by getting a record deal out here, huh?”

Steve laughed. “Nah, it just means I didn’t waste my money getting my teaching certificate for here.”

“So now what’s your plan?” Eddie asked after kissing him fiercely.

Steve shrugged. “Well, you’re here apartment hunting, so I figure I can tag along. Because something that might not work out for you...”

“Might work out for you instead,” Eddie finished. He licked the top row of his teeth thoughtful. “Sounds like fun. Let’s do it!”

“Today or later this week?”

Eddie grabbed Steve’s wrist and hauled him to his feet. “Go get dressed, baby, I want to go apartment hunting with you.”

Steve kissed him deeply and then went and did as he was told.

****

Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

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[bluehourbucky]

Nice Jacket

pairing: chubbybaker!bucky x fbiker!reader

summary: you pick up bucky from work for the first time on your 6 month anniversary

a/n: many many thoughts about soft bucky none are coherent :))) also I don't know anything about bikes so bare with me fudhdhd

/ main / bucky /

18+ only

no minors please

______________________________________

Bucky has been acting weird for a while now and Steve and Sam have been going over what he could be so secretive about. They got nothing. He's singing, dancing and making heart shaped pastry but they haven't seen him outside of the bakery like ever.

He couldn't be in love could he? Bucky rejected at least three people this month alone.

"Hey Steve, could I ask you to close up tonight I promise I'll make it up to you."

Steve lifts a brow because Bucky almost never leaves early.

"Uh sure but why? It isn't like you to leave early?"

Bucky blushes but quickly tries to cover it up with a cough.

"Mygirlfirendispickingmeupforourdate." bucky says all in one breath very quietly. He's not sure why he won't tell his friends. Maybe it's because he doesn't want to jinx it as it has been a few years since his last serious relationship so he wants to hold onto it for a little while.

"What?"

"Just need you to close up please." Bucky begs and Steve just nodds.

Time quickly passes, and Bucky gets a text that you'll be there in 10. He's not the fastest when it comes to getting off work. There's always something that catches his eye before he leaves, but right now, he's out of his work clothes in no time.

"How do I look? Do I have flour in my hair?"

Steve smirks when he realises Bucky is going on a date.

"Hard to look at, punk. And no you do not have flour in your hair."

Bucky shoves Steve and flips him off.

Thats when they hear a loud roar of bikes in front of the bakery.

"Which one is yours?" Natasha asks you lifting her visor.

"The hot one." you simply reply looking at the men though the window taking your helmet off.

"That doesn't help you know? They're both hot."

You roll your eyes.

"Do you think the jacket is too much?" You look back at the box at the end of your bike a leather jacket you've prepared for Bucky as his present. You've customised it with the patches of your biker gang and some other patches from his favorite band and his favourite books. There's also his last name on the back in big white letters. You hope one day you'll get the same thing on your jacked but that's just wishful thinking.

"I gotta go see ya later punk. Thanks for the help." Bucky taps Steve's shoulder before he leaves.

"You can leave now." You tell Natasha, who's being a menace and just won't leave until she meets your Bucky.

"When do I get to meet him?" Natasha groans, Bucky is all you talk about and she didn't think you could get so soft and giggly about a guy she's never seen it before, usually you're indifferent to the guys you date. But with Bucky oh it's all about Bucky, the blue of the sky is not as pretty his eyes, the cakes you eat are not as good as Buckys, anyways you get the point.

"But-" She's cut off by you turning on her bike and pushing her to leave, you'll deal with the teasing later tonight is special so, no one is meeting anyone tonight.

You run up to Bucky when he exits the bakery and jump into his arms, he smells incredible his cologne mixed with sweet smell of bakery brings you so much comfort.

"Hey, handsome." your arms still around his middle nails softly scratching his back.

"Hi doll." he looks at you smiling, moving a strand of hair that has fallen.

"Ready to go?"

"Ready."

You sit on your bike and wait for Bucky to sit behind you, he carefully sits behind your wrapping his big strong arms around you and you feel right at home.

Bucky will never forget the first time you took him for a ride on your bike, he was so nervous as he's never been on one before. He was holding onto you like his life dependented on it, which at that moment it felt like it did. He's kept his eyes closed for most of the ride, Bucky thought it was embarrassing but you reassured him that it's okay.

The second time Bucky was even more embarrassed than the first as he suddenly turned into a horny teen and got a hard on when you kept putting your hand on his thigh every time you stopped at a red light and the constant vibrations and moving didn't help. And again you told him that it's fine and that you didn't think it was embarrassing.

By now, he's already used to it, and he loves going on rides with you. He loves kissing you when he's balancing the bike, your legs over his thighs, your hands in his hair pulling him closer.

Bucky looks at the city around him it's always busy, always crowded. He smiles to himself when he sees you're taking the route to get out of the city, he doesn't know where but wherever you take him he'll be fine with it.

It takes less than an hour to arrive at your destination, you stop at a resting spot in the middle of nowhere. Just one table that looks out to the city, it's there susually for travelers that need to rest and be on their way. Tonight it's luckly empty.

"We're here!" you step off the bike and take your helmet off, then help Bucky take his off as it always gets stuck for some reason, the reason being Bucky likes you taking it off for him as he always gets to hold your waist because you have to get on your tippy toes to pull it off.

"I picked up some wraps from your favourite place, I hope they haven't gotten cold." you say as you're trying to hide the jacket that takes 80% of the box.

"You didn't have to do that. Thank you, doll."

"It's nothing." you also take the drinks and put them on the table. Bucky and you sit on the bench turned to look at the city line.

"Happy 6 months to us."

"Happy 6 months. Hope I get to spend many more with you." Bucky replies, and you blush.It isn't something you expected to hear, it's not like you don't want that too with Bucky, but you didn't think he felt the same way.

Bucky starts to panic when you don't reply, he scared you, he knows that you two haven't been together for a long time but he's never been more sure about anything or anyone else before.

"Listen I-" you cut him off with a kiss and tell him to wait.

"Uh I know we said no gifts but... I got this for you, you don't have to wear it and I can take these off." You shyly present the black leather jacket and Bucky takes it from your hands and puts it on immediately.

"I love it! How do I look?"

"Very handsome." you pull him in for a kiss turns into much more, he holds your neck, deepening the kiss.

Hours pass and you switch between making out and talking and Buckys fingers find their way inside your jeans and your hands find themselves in his jeans too.

As much as Bucky is shy in public he's totally opposite in private, he's needy he's loud and you enjoy it so much.

"My friends want to meet you. Apparently I'm obsessed with you and they wanna give you the talk."

"You are obsessed with me through." You hit Buckys shoulder and he holds it groaning in pain.

"Ouch. I'm obsessed with you too."

It's quiet for a while but it's not the awkward silence you're just enjoying each others company, your head on Buckys chest, you playing with his fingers.

"Thanks for the jacket doll. I'll wear it every day gotta show it off it's really cool."

And true to his word the next morning he wears the same jacket to work and Steve and Sam are all up in his business at 6 in the morning.

"Nice jacket where'd you get it?" Sam teases and Bucky does a turn to show it off.

"My girlfriend got it for me and she customised it."

"Someone is willingly spending time with you? I have to meet this brave soul"

"Shut up Sam."

[The end]

________________________________________

likes comments and reblogs are appreciated <3

[imfinereallyy]

The Long Con

I saw this tik tok edit of Rachel McAdams in the movie Hot Chick where she gets a milkshake on house (and she's just totally playing the guy) and for some odd reason this spiraled me into thinking about Conman!Steve and Mob Boss!Eddie. So here is my brainrot I guess. Maybe I'll do more parts or make something longer on ao3 if people like it.

Steve wasn't one to not think things through. Yes, he was aware that it was a double negative. He played up the dumb part quite often, but Steve wasn't actually stupid. So it was all part of the game, really.

Steve loved the game. The rush, the push, and the pull of tricking someone, getting them for all their worth. Steve loved the game because it was fun. Steve loved the game because he got to use horrible people for his very lavish lifestyle. There was nothing like living rich by feeding off the rich. Well, he was trying to do that, at least. See, Steve, although good at what he did, he burned through money faster than you could say savings. It wasn't his fault, really. He used to be better at keeping track. Always made sure to have enough, just in case. Hadn't needed to worry about anyone but himself. Because the only thing Steve truly loved for a long time was the game itself.

But then he met people along the way, misfits and criminals like himself that he couldn't help spoiling. The only person who seemed to catch his problem was Robin, but even she couldn't resist a new hard drive for her computer. It's how she made her own money, after all.

Despite his problem with spoiling everyone, Steve always thought things through. He followed the rules of the game without rules and continued to fill his pockets, scamming the deserving and cruel. But sometimes, sometimes for Steve... his abilities and bad habits sometimes, well, overlapped. Sometimes, Steve could have been better at choosing the right people to care about. He was getting better at it, he swears. He let go of the wrong ones a long, long time ago.

But sometimes they came back begging.

Tommy had been someone from his life before. Before being on his own, back when purple and blue were his father's favorite colors to paint him with. It was a time before the game, a time that, although he tries to forget, had a grip on him.

So when Tommy called, seeking forgiveness, seeking help, Steve caved quickly. He would always be that same little boy, looking for love from a past that wasn't there. Tommy wasn't his parents, sure, but it was as close as he would get.

So, yes, steve normally thought things through, but there was the rare occasion, there was the exception to the rule, where Steve majorly fucked up.

He was in Boston when it happened. Even though years ago, Steve swears he would never be going back. He's in a small diner two blocks away from main street. And he had just finished getting Tommy's money back. Steve always celebrated with one of three things: drinks, sex, or milkshakes.

And Steve wanted out of Boston as fast as possible, so he went for his quickest and sometimes tastiest tradition.

"How much do I owe you?" Steve smiled innocently at the waiter, giving his best babygirl face.

The waiter bit his lips as he tried not to stare at Steve's mouth, "It's okay, it's on the house."

Steve licked part of his free milkshake off his finger, "Really?" Steve's voice was an octave higher just for the waiter. He could tell he was someone who had a preference for men, and most likely had a problem with letting go of his masculinity. So Steve knew the more feminine, the better. Steve couldn't help the sly grin that stretched across his face when the waiter got flustered. He was an attention whore; sue him.

His waiter—huh, Andy, according to his name tag—looked like he was about to say something when a throat cleared behind him.

"Andy, doll, you might be wanting to get back to the kitchen for a minute." A deep voice said behind Andy. It sent chills down Steve's spine. The Boston accent with a slight tilt of Irish was enough to captivate him. Andy moved faster than the speed of light at the command.

When Andy disappeared, with his tail between his legs no less, the most beautiful man Steve's ever seen revealed himself. A tall, pale, curly brunette stood before him in a suit with a ripped-up band tee underneath. It shouldn't look good, and it shouldn't look professional, but it did. Steve saw tattoos peeking out from exposed skin, piercings all over his ears, and enough jewelry to start a store. Steve was bewitched.

The mystery man smiled, hands in his pockets, and leaned down slightly into Steve's space. "Oh, sweetheart, I have been looking for you everywhere."

Steve stayed silent, drinking him in; he smelt of mint, smoke, and morning rain.

The man slid into the booth, put his arms on the table, and made a little beat with his knuckles on the plastic. Then, Steve noticed the words "Hell Fire" across his knuckles. Steve's heart sunk to his stomach. He had heard of those hands before. Those hands were famous.

The man leaned his face against his right fist. "Hell" pushed into his cheekbone. "The name is Eddie Munson, love." Eddie looked Steve up and down. "But I think you've already figured that out by now, haven't ya?"

Steve steeled himself. He should be okay. He hadn't wronged this man before, but something, something was telling Steve that he most definitely had. The look in his sweet abyss of eyes told him as much.

A smirk stretched across Eddie's face, and suddenly he kicked the leather bag next to Steve's feet under the table. Steve's cheek twitched slightly for a millisecond, but it was enough to give him away. "It seems here... like you and Hagan have stolen quite a bit of money from me." Eddie tsk-tsked while Steve's heart dropped from his stomach to his feet. Tommy screwed him.

"And that love, well, that just won't do."Steve had never seen such a sweet smile feel so deadly. "So, Sunshine, I am going to make you a deal, and you would be smart to take it."

Steve wasn't actually dumb, but yes, he most definitely did not think this through.

________

Sooo thoughts? I was going to write more but if this was a flop, I didn't want to put my heart in soul into it. But I did spiral a bit with it. Whoops!

edit: I made some grammatical changes but that's it. I realized I kept switching tense changes when I was writing in present, so I changed it to past. I'm much more comfortable with it. Let me know if there are any more errors.

part 2: here

[burntheedges]

Maintenance Request: Chapter 3

Joel Miller x f!reader | new chapter every Friday 18+ (minors DNI) | ao3 | main post & chapter list chapter word count: 2.4k

fic summary: Hot Construction Guy is the bane of your existence - he seems to only pop up at the worst possible moment for you, every time you see him.  There’s no way there could be something more there.

Right?

chapter tags/warnings: reader has allergies to certain flowers (plot related), misunderstandings, some angst, drink mention a/n: ok we might be exaggerating a flower allergy a little bit here but it's all for the plot, ok? go with me.

Chapter 3

Monday, September 16 Fourth week of the semester

After the pile driver incident, it was like the floodgates opened, in terms of seeing Hot Construction Guy around campus. You’d realized at this point that he must have worked for the university, like Beth said — not a contractor, after all — but you still didn’t know his name or what he did, not really. You caught a glimpse of him sometimes, heading somewhere or other on his own or with a crew of guys. He was usually too far away to talk to or even wave at. Even if you’d been on waving terms. Which you weren’t. 

About a week after the pile driver was finally gone from the library construction site, you stepped out of your parking garage and immediately sneezed. And then sneezed again. And again.

You looked up and around, wondering what on earth was going on, and you saw them — chrysanthemums. Orange, red, and yellow chrysanthemums. In every flower bed, all around the parking garage and the buildings across the street.

You sneezed again. Twice.

You knew that they changed out the flower beds regularly in various places around campus, and it was about time for them to do something for fall. But did it have to be chrysanthemums? You were so allergic. You pulled your sweater up over your face and tried to breathe shallowly as you walked quickly in the direction of your office, where you at least had allergy meds in your drawer. 

As you entered the central quad, you noticed some people from the grounds crew installing the flowers over by the building next to yours. As you got closer, they started to move towards your building with a golf cart full of flowers and all of their various tools.

And that’s when you saw him up close. For the third time.

It was like he had put on a new outfit for a new job — dark pants, light blue denim shirt, neck gaiter pulled up around his nose, complete with gardening gloves to tie it all together. Like a doll you could dress up for different jobs. Hot Gardening Guy, a new version of the same man to add to your mental list of Hot Construction Guy and Hot Contractor Guy. Or Hot Landscaping Guy, maybe. (See? Not Hot Construction Asshole, after all! said Beth’s cheery voice in your ear. You sighed.)

He, of course, noticed you as soon as you got within 50 feet of the door. As you reached the stairs, he held up a hand in a wave. You started to wave back, but launched into a fit of sneezes — three, four, more, you lost count. When you finally stopped, covering your nose and mouth with one of your hands and fishing for a tissue in your bag, and looked at him again, you found him frozen in place with his hand raised. He looked startled, eyes wide. Great.

You felt your cheeks start to warm as he unfroze and headed towards you, a concerned tilt to his brows as he pulled down his neck gaiter, revealing a frown.

“You alright there, darlin’?” He came to a stop in front of you as you finally located a tissue and replaced the hand you had covering your face.

“No,” you said shortly, trying not to let him hear how much of a gross mess you were behind the tissue. “‘m allergic.” You gestured towards the flowers being installed behind him. 

“Ah,” he replied. Once again, he actually sounded somewhat apologetic. “Well, shit. Sorry about that.” He raised one hand to rub the back of his neck, and was he actually looking sheepish? You realized he was covered in dirt and some flower petals right before you sneezed again. Violently.

“I hafta get inside,” you mumbled through the tissue, making a break for it. He nodded. He opened his mouth to say something else, but you were already turning away and slipping through the door. As it closed behind you you could have sworn you heard him curse – a soft, but vehement, “fuck.”

…

you (9:02 AM): [image of your face, miserable, swollen nose, eyes watery]

bestie (9:07 AM): wow wtf happened to you

you (9:08 AM): they’re putting in my nemesis all over campus

bestie (9:09 AM): I thought they were a spring flower

you (9:10 AM): some of them are, some of them bloom in fall

bestie (9:10 AM): ugh I’m sorry

you (9:11 AM): and you’ll never guess who I ran into on the crew putting them in

bestie (9:12 AM): NO (9:12 AM): how could HCG do this to you (9:13 AM): maybe he is HCA after all

you (9:14 AM): he did look like he felt bad when I sneezed in his face 6 times

bestie (9:15 AM): what did he say

you (9:17 AM): nothing, I ran inside to get away from the flowers

bestie (9:19 AM): 🙄

you (9:22 AM): [same picture as before] (9:22 AM): look at my face and then tell me you would have done anything differently

bestie (9:27 AM): ok fair

… 

You crossed paths with him yet again later that same day, after you’d dosed yourself with allergy meds. You were heading back from teaching your afternoon class when you spotted him. He was standing back from another flower bed installation, watching over what was going on. He had his hands on his hips with his weight shifted to one side, opposite knee cocked. It did amazing things to his shoulders. And his hips. Damn. You blinked. Taking a break, maybe. He turned his head and caught your eye as you passed, and you noticed he stood straighter and ran his hand through his hair before he walked towards you.

“Why are you everywhere, lately?”

The words left your mouth before you could even think about stopping them. You could only blame the allergy meds for the way your thoughts became actual words with little, if any, oversight from you. 

He actually stopped short and grinned in response. And god, his smile. It was even better than you remembered. You stared at it. It felt physically difficult to move your gaze upwards.

“Ah, well.” He cleared his throat and you blinked. “Guess I do get all over campus, sometimes. But um, I wanted to ask. Is it just chrysanthemums that you’re allergic to?”

You nodded, a bit dazed, and added, “and their relatives. Daisies, sunflowers. Um, marigolds. Ragweed.” He hummed in response, nodding. 

“I am sorry about this, darlin’. Had no idea.” He hesitated. “I wish I could change ‘em out, but—”

You waved your hand, brushing the thought aside. “No, I get it. I can see they already bought all the flowers, don’t worry about it. Can’t change everything just because they make me sneeze.” You sniffed. “I’ll just take more allergy meds for a bit, it’s fine. It’s probably worse today because you’re moving them around so much.”

He nodded and opened his mouth but didn’t actually say anything in response. For a moment the two of you just stared at each other. Your brain fought through the drowsiness of the allergy meds for something to say.

“I’ve got to get to my office so, um. I’ll see you around, seems like.” You offered a weak attempt at a smile, and he laughed softly. “Hope so, darlin.’” You scurried away before you could let yourself think too hard about that response.

…

bestie (4:49 PM): so maybe not an asshole then

you (4:50 PM): why am I an absolute mess every time I see this guy

bestie (4:51 PM): sounds like he’s into it, to be honest (4:51 PM): he likes the mess

you (4:53 PM): shut up

…

Ellie (6:03 PM): we could rip them all up (6:03 PM): be sneaky about it

you (6:05 PM): 🙄 no thank you  (6:06 PM): why is it always straight to property damage with you 

Ellie (6:09 PM): operation kill the evil flowers

you (6:10 PM): stand down, agent Williams 

Ellie (6:11 PM): 🌻☠️

…

Friday, September 20 Fourth week of the semester

The rest of the week was a bit of an allergy-induced haze for you, but you managed. You’d almost made it a full five days with the Ellie-styled “evil flowers” menacing you from every building corner and you were ready to go home for the weekend and relax. You couldn’t wait to get away from the colorful little assholes and breathe without sneezing for two whole days. 

Your morning had been worsened by a very early planning meeting where Trevor, the Brit Lit Prick, had decided to deliver a monologue about why courses in his subject area should receive preferential schedule placement next semester. You’d slowly sunk down in your chair until Claire elbowed you and you realized you were basically hiding under the table. Everyone in the room knew he wouldn’t get what he wanted, and everyone also knew he wouldn’t stop whining about it anyway. It was exhausting just thinking about it.

In your final class of the week, your students were doing group work, chatting about the selection of poems they’d read the night before, when it started. 

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

A fucking jackhammer noise, right outside the windows of the classroom building you were in. Noise on campus wasn’t irregular — it was college, if it wasn’t some event or construction, the students could always make more than enough noise on their own — but this volume was yet again at a level usually avoided while classes were in session.

Everyone in the room looked up, startled, and started to peer through the windows. You did the same, walking over to the windows to try to see what was going on.

And there he was.

Back in his Hot Construction Guy outfit, complete with hard hat and yet another flannel shirt. He was standing with his arms crossed and talking to another person dressed just the same. But even from the back you recognized his shoulders and the line of his hip as he leaned to one side, knee cocked. The breadth of his shoulders really stood out, you noticed idly, with his arms crossed like that. You could see his hair curling out from under the back of his hat. He was watching the man with the jackhammer go to town on a section of the sidewalk right in front of the building you were in. You groaned and ran a hand down your face. 

“I’ll go see if they can cut it out for a bit,” you told your class. “Keep working through the activity.” You knew as soon as you left the room they’d probably just watch at the window, but you couldn’t really blame them. You’d do the same thing, after all. As you made your way downstairs you nodded at a few other professors who stuck their heads out into the hall. 

When you opened the door to the building and tried to step through it, though, you realized there was a member of the crew standing there to keep people from doing exactly that. 

“Sorry, ma’am, can’t come through these doors right now.”

“I see that. What’s going on? We’ve got classes happening right now.” You tried to sound polite rather than immensely frustrated. 

He started to respond, but a hand came down on his shoulder from behind, interrupting him. And there was your Hot Construction Guy, yet again. How did he see me?

“I got this, Cam. You head on over there.” He gestured with his chin back to where he’d left the rest of the crew. And the jackhammer. Cam, apparently, nodded and left.

Your construction guy turned and smirked at you. “Fancy meeting you here, darlin.’” He spoke loudly to be heard over the noise.

You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms over your chest. “How long is the noise going on for, this time? We’re in the middle of classes, you know.” You didn’t bother with a veneer of politeness. Not with him.

He actually winced. “Yeah, I know. Sorry about all this, but we’ve gotta get to the water line again. Shouldn’t be more than about 20 more minutes.” You sighed and groaned, tossing your head back briefly. 

“That’s the rest of the class period.” You knew your voice was getting thin with frustration, and you tried to hide it. You knew, of course, that this man was not at fault. He was just some guy on the crew. He winced again. “Can you just tell your boss or whoever to try not to do all this during classes?” 

He opened his mouth to reply, but a shout from behind him took his attention. He looked back at you apologetically. “Sorry, darlin’. Gotta go see what that’s about.”

“Of course you do. Well, see you again soon, can’t wait to find out what shitty, unpleasant surprise you have in store for me next time.” 

As soon as the words left your mouth you regretted them — that’s not really how you thought about him. Or your unexpected run-ins. His eyebrows went up and he looked – shit. He looked like maybe that actually hurt. But he was already moving away, and you couldn’t fix it, not then. You had to get back to class.

You turned sharply and stomped away from him, mad at yourself and trying to tamp down your guilt at what you’d just said. You didn’t see the wistful look on his face as he watched you go. Or the determined set to his jaw as he nodded and turned back to his work.

…

bestie (12:37 PM): so let me get this straight

you (12:37 PM): ugh

bestie (12:38 PM): you told him your interactions were “shitty unpleasant surprises”

you (12:39 PM): uggggghhhhhh

bestie (12:40 PM): and he looked, what (12:40 PM): sad?

you (12:41 PM): UGH (12:41 PM): i don’t know i ran away like an asshole

bestie (12:43 PM): 😬hate to say it babe (12:44 PM): but i think you might actually need to apologize for that one (12:44 PM): i mean, if you actually want to talk to this guy. and maybe just in general

you (12:44 PM): I KNOW (12:45 PM): shit (12:45 PM): i know

bestie (12:46 PM): sorry

you (12:46 PM): no, you’re right (12:48 PM): ugh

bestie (12:49 PM): let’s talk about it tomorrow at brunch

you (12:51 PM): yeah i need a drink for this (12:51 PM): Ellie’s hanging out with Riley tomorrow, anyway

bestie (12:53 PM): one mimosa coming right up 

you (12:54 PM): 🥂

...

a/n: I know! I know, don't hate me. I promise the next chapter is a good one. prev | next

tag list: @jupiter-soups @ilovepedro

let me know if you’d like to join the tag list!

[123puppy]

If you don't like jealousy trope kindly leave and do not read

but I pray for a moment where Alastor is in the middle of dumb nonsense that somehow involves him like how Vox called him out in 'Stayed Gone'

If Adam waltzes into the Hotel you best believe the two 'dads' are laser-focused on his ass ready to throw him out with the intent to dismember him (and devour his heart) and threaten to cut his dick off (Lucifer said that ofc) and feed it to the lowest of sinners out on the streets.

At first, it's ugly tension for a few weeks in the hotel but slowly and painfully it becomes breathable at least when all three are not in the same room together, in one incident Adam bursts into the kitchen wanting to snack on something and sees Alastor cooking something delicious and gets up in his personal space ('dude that smells fucking good, I didn't know you were a housewife type of guy') and Alastor just loses it for all the right reasons and nearly stabs Adam with the biggest sharpest kitchen knife but reflexes are second nature to Adam and he easily catches Alastor's wrist with a lazy look like 'Really?' but then Lucifer walks in asking what's the commotion is about and sees how close the two sinners are and the direct contact Adam has with Alastor and let's say it took longer for lunch to be ready as Lucifer physically throws Adam against the counter and somehow has the knife that Alastor once had in his own hand ready to cut up Adam into tiny douchey pieces

Another week passes and Charlie calls them for a Bonding Exercise and Adam complains all the way there wondering why he, the first man, needs to be part of some stupid hopeless attempt at 'being nice' and 'trusting your peers' to not stab you in the back (he's watching Nifty with a sharp eye but he sees the creepy symbols hovering over her as Alastor watches Adam with a keen eye, smiling viciously) but Charlie is insistent and Lucifer is sitting right across from Adam with a look that says 'You better listen to my daughter or I light you on fire' and Adam sits on the floor because Angel and Husk have the couch and Vaggie is laid out on the other couch (purposely)

Nifty sneaks closer and closer to Adam until she's sitting in his lap Alastor is not having it for one second and he steps in front of Adam with malice in his eyes but Adam is confused and yelling 'Why are you bitching at me she crawled in my lap' but Charlie intervenes and yells 'This is good!' and everyone stares at her but she ignores them and gestures 'Trusting someone that you don't get along with is our next Exercise well done Nifty!' and angles herself so that Alastor can see her 'Alastor how about you give it a try?' and the room fluctuates in temperature first it was cold then it got hot (both Alastor and Lucifer's doing)

Lucifer stands and the chair scrapes back at the force him shoving it backwards and strolls over with a poisonous smile on his face standing directly in front of Alastor and staring back at Adam 'I would like to volunteer' he says with a dark undertone to his voice

Angel purrs 'Can I join in on the threesome?'

The Main Lobby suffered furniture casualties

[peachyloveswriting]

I saw the need for König requests and came RUNNING omg

Idk why but I really would love to see König (or Soap or...any of them tbh) jealous. Ik it's cliche but....I am starving....just a crumb of content ;-; just a little bit of König watching the main character get attention from someone who isn't him and him going feral. I beg 🙏🧎‍♀️🥲

ATTENTION SEEKER --- König

SUMMARY: During a night out on the bar with the boys, König watches Soap get what he feels like is too "touchy". Not feeling very happy he decides to corner you outside, his plan didn't come to fruition however...

CONTENT: Suggestive, panic attack, hurt/comfort, fluff.

NOTES: This went a completely different route than I expected but I'm not changing the cringy ending because I'm lazy

⸝⸝⸝⸝⸝

You're not part of 141 however you are close friends with Soap, being friends with the Scotsman you often find yourself drinking with him on nights off. It's always a good night when you spend it with him and his team. Drinking with him isn't an issue either, he's respectful, he doesn't make nasty comments, and he takes care of you when you're drunk.

Thankfully you're only buzzed at the moment, you've only had about two or three drinks. Soap's laughing beside you while you babble up a story. His hand rests on your shoulder while he clutches his stomach with the other. You came up to the bar a few hours ago with Soap, his team, and könig, your boyfriend. He hasn't said a word since you got here, he usually doesn't but he would at least have ordered a drink by now yet he hasn't. Pausing your story for a moment you look beside you to see the chair empty. Sad to not see the man there you frown, he must've stepped out for air while you weren't paying attention.

Continuing with your story you begin to feel eyes burning holes in the back of your skull, it's hard to ignore the itch that rolls up your spine while you squirm in your seat. Red hot heat collects at the back of your neck while you drift off into silence. Soap's brow furrows in worry as he looks at you. Putting a hand on your knee and shaking it he pulls you back to the present moment. "You alright? Drinks got you already?" He asks. You shake your head. It's not clear in the moment but you can't shake this feeling. "Need to step outside?" He moves his hand to your fore arm, his body turning to step down from the stool.

"Yeah. I'll be right back just stay in here." Turning to slide down his hold on your arm tightens. He looks at you with worry swimming in his eyes, secretly pleading for you to not go alone. "I'll be fine, Soap." You reassure, brushing his hand from your arm. Giving you a curt nod he turns back to the bar. Able to slip away you press your feet into the floor and begins to make your way outside. Your stomach burn with the weight of a full grown adult, the heat bubbles up your throat in a small burp and you push into the cold air of the night. Your breath leaves you in white puffs as you shiver under the sky. Thankfully this bar isn't too heavily populated, standing alive outside shouldn't be an issue. With no creepy guys around at least, König was usually by your side so people would stay away. His usual body heat at your side freezes your back while you sink into the realization that he's not around. Not common for him to be away from you for so long, especially in public.

Brows furrow with worry and arms crossed over your chest, you look around the edge of the building to see if he stepped off to the side for a breather. "König?" You call into the shadows. The response of cold dripping water answers your call as you settle back into clearing your mind. It's hard to think straight when thoughts of König's whereabouts cloud your mind. Being buzzed apparently doesn't help with that, it only blinds you further as you smother yourself deeper in thought. He could be anywhere, and sure he can handle himself perfectly fine but who can blame you for being worried?

The bell on the entrance to the bar echoes through the night, glancing back for a brief moment you can see a figure begin to step from the threshold. Stepping away from the door and looking away you swallow harshly, your stomach churning with the idea that you probably left him alone inside. He would be worried when he came back from where ever he was. Going back in would mean that feeling crawling back up your spine while trying to have a nice conversation, but staying out meant you could breathe and relax. Torn between the two, it's hard to make you're decision, König shouldn't have to worry about you and wonder where you are but he's not around. Taking in a deep breath warm spreads in your gut, it's fizzles like a shook soda while you bite your lip.

König was too important. Biting the bullet you turn on your heel to move back inside. As you turn, a large figure sends electricity through your chest. Calling out in surprise you step backwards to peer up at the person. His tall stature and body scream familiar to you but your back is shoved against the brick wall before you can meet his eyes. Fear settles in your stomach as he presses against you, it's then that the smell of König's cologne hits you.

"König what are you doing?" You ask as you crane your neck up to look at him towering above you. The light casts shadows on his eyes making them look icy and cold as they stare down at you. "He should learn you are mine." His voice is damn near a growl as he rests his hands on your hips and pulls you to the side of the building. Dazed, you press your palms to his chest pushing his body away from yours. Suddenly the air is no longer cold around you, it's smothering, the heat taking you whole. "What are you talking about?" The fizz in your gut has exploded, turning your mind into a jumbled mess. "Soap having his hands all over you." His hands are slipping up your shirt while your press the back of your head against the wall. Clenching your eyes shut and shaking your head you push him away.

"Stop, I can't breathe..." A tight phantom grip holds your neck, involuntary tears form in the corners of your eyes and you lift a hand to fan them off. The quickening breaths in your chest become increasingly hard to take the more you gasp for air. Your heart clenching and unclenching in your chest brings with it small jolts of pain making you seize. "Oh god..." You choke out as you rub your neck.

Two hands grab your shoulders to pull you away from the wall, the cold replaces their warmth momentarily before a coat is draped over you. "Breathe." König says. You nod feverishly, your hands gripping the edge of the coat with an incredulous force. "Breathe in, hold" Swallowing thickly you suck in a slow steady breath and let the air swim around your lungs. "Okay now breathe out..." Tightness firms and loosens as you release your breath, your hands go blindly searching for a hand to grasp desperate for something to hold onto.

Your cold searching hands find purchase in König's hands, a light reassuring squeeze letting you know he's there. Looking at you, he can feel his stomach churns unevenly. If he hadn't of pounced on you like that you wouldn't be like this right now, at least that's what he thought. He's not exactly wrong, if he'd been softer, the situation would be different. Watching you blink up at him with teary eyes makes his heart throb in pain, his biggest fear has just come to life: hurting you.

"I'm so sorry." He states. His hands gently squeeze and loosen against yours while he looks down at you, eyes soft with worry and brows furrowed with concern. "I did not mean to cause this." He's almost whispering at this point. You rock forward on the balls of your feet. "I'm just buzzed baby, you scared me is all." Even though you actively admit to his aggression not being the issue he still looks away nervously. His handa pull from yours to pull the coat around you tighter. "I was already freaked out before you did that." You state.

His head cocks to the side. "Why?" Giving a gentle smile and slipping your arms into the sleeves, you wipe your eyes. "I didn't know where you were, got worried." You explain. "But now I'm confused, why does Soap need to know I'm your's?"

A red shade tints his face while he shifts his weight, his hand fiddles with the belt buckle of his belt. "He was getting all handsy with you..." His voice trails off before that cold look glazes over his eyes and they meet your gaze. "...I did not like that." Hearing his voice drop to an octave you didn't know it could makes a you shudder. "Baby you know he's just a friend." Your hands rub up and down his forearms to console him, he seems unaffected by this and huffs in frustration.

"I did not like it." There's emphasis on every word, venom bleeding through his lips. "But I did not mean to make you cry in the process of showing you." His gaze stays cold, locking you beneath him. König's emotions are out of left field and it feels like he's walking on thin ice. It's clear the alcohol has had an effect of him, but you didn't expect it to be this. *It's okay-" he interrupts you. "Not him touching you like that." Frustration lingers in his throat, burning like the alcohol swimming in his stomach. This feeling of jealousy latches onto his chest like a stack of weights keeping him in place, he can't breathe without it consuming his racing thoughts.

"I really, really, want to show you how much better than him I can be," - subconsciously stepping closer to you, he starts pushing back against the wall - "I just want to make sure he knows...what belongs to me."

"König, I am completely yours and no one else's. You don't have to show anyone that and I can swear by it." In his state of mind it feels like your words are hitting a brick wall, you know what's coming and you're excited but mentally, you're unprepared. "I get that you love me, and you're jealous because of him but I want to do this at a more personal time. I hope you understand."

He pauses just inches away from you, his hand slipping into his pocket. "That is okay. I just want you to do this one thing for me." His eyes plead for you to let him have this one thing, to allow him at least some peace of mind and you can't ignore it. The way they bore into your soul with burning love and guilt. "Yes baby, anything." You weren't really thinking when you said it and you weren't ready for what came next.

When that velvet box came out of his pocket, your heart dropped. Looking down at it and up at you, he opened it to present a small silver ring with the word promise written on the outside of it's width. "I was planning to do this some other time but I want to secure it now. I want you to promise me that one day we will get married and that you'll stay mine until that moment comes. I want this to be how others know, because I don't want to do anything sexual for the reason of jealousy. If I can't show them that way then I'd rather make it as official as possible." He says. His hands tremble and his heart beats rapidly in his chest. For a moment you thought the question was going to be popped. You're thankful this wasn't it but that it was a guarantee of what's to come. His hearts in the right place, even though his mind isn't.

Smiling, you grab his shaking hands and steady them. "Thank you for respecting my wishes and not doing what I'm uncomfortable with...but this, I didn't even think that this was- I- yes. I promise." Swallowing the urge to cry you pull him into a hug, your arms pulling him flush against you while you hide away in his chest. Happy, König wraps his arms around you a smile plastered on his drunken face while he rocks you back and forth. "I am sorry for getting like that." Pulling away and grabbing your hand he slips the ring onto your finger and pulls it to his lips. "I truely am." Pressing a kiss into the ring he softly lets your hand go.

"I know Baby." Cupping his face in your hands you smile up at him. "Are you ready to go?" You ask. He nods, bringing a smile to your face. "This was irrational of me, save me the embarrassment."

You chuckle before pulling his face down to press a small kiss on his cheek. "It's okay. We're drunk, let's just forget that ever happened."

[citizensun]

Queerness and the House of Usher (spoilers!)

See I just added these Thoughts to the tags in @quecksilvereyes 's post but now I have Feelings too

TFotHoU (or HoU, as I will refer to it here), as expected from a Mike Flannagan show, has a bunch of Queer Rep™ to talk about. HoU is, also, about remarkably evil people - amoral capitalists who'll step over anyone if it means they'll get something from it. And look! Some of them are queer! Kinky too!

That's bad queer representation... right?

The show isn't that clear when stablishing sexualities, but we see that at least three of the Usher kids - Napoleon, Camille and Victorine - have same sex SOs/assistants with curious job descriptions. Prospero's taste for orgies probably implies queerness too, but honestly I don't remember if he gets it going with any guys in the story. I honestly have no idea about Tamerlane's voyerism thingie and Frederick is the only one with a "traditional family" going on.

Unrelated, but: Leo is definitely cheating on his bf Julius. Completely dismissing about his worries for him too. And for his cat. That's objectively evil, clearly. Vic literally killed her fiancée Alessandra, though she didn't stuff her under the floorboard, which is an L when compared to Poe's original. Cam doesn't believe in true love. Perry blackmailed his sister in law. Mean. He's also got a surprisingly high kill count for the family's disappointment, but since unlike Roderick he only killed rich people, we stan. I don't belong in Kinky spaces so I haven't got a big take on Tammie, only that - well, she's completely dismissing of her husband and sees him as a prop, just like the sex worker she hires.

Huh.

See, the nature of a story called "the fall of X family" is that X family is going to be the main character. The title kinda implies that they're falling for a reason, ergo, they're despicable fucking people. And they're queer! They're very queer. Many flavors of gay. They're the main characters, and they're monsters, and they're gay.

No, that's not bad rep.

Queerness as a movement, a community and a theory is very focused on scaping a cisheteronormative society's binaries (ie man/woman, husband/wife, public/private) and creating living conditions to those who fall outside of these categories - mlms and wlws, the trans, the nbs, the aros and aces... we are all queer, strange and estranged from this weird and limited worldview. And so we create a community for ourselves. It's very focused on care and anti-stablishment. Since a cisheteronormative society tends to be very white, rich and western, it's also focuses on anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism. Y'all know that, this is Tumblr and we love leftist Discourse.

I also know many, many gay people irl who are not like that at all. Libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, terfs, completely apolitical people and the like. Sexuality at it's core is personal, not political, so there are gay people out there who are perfectly comfortable with their sexuality on an individual level but do not see the point of getting involved in the broader context. They're queer, but are they...?

Well—

Not to mention there's lots of asshole gays out there! Don't you have a shitty ex? Have you never been almost run over by a drunken butch who blew cigar smoke into your face? I have! Life experiences are just like that. Maybe you should touch more grass. You'll probably find a lucky gift from your neighbour's dog, who is an astrology-obsessed bisexual and also really hot but stopped making out with you at a party once she found out you're a pisces (the neighbour, not the dog).

(Granted, none of this is as bad as implanting an experimental heart contraption into the fiancée you just killed because she dared to have ethical principles and then being so consumed with grief you stab yourself in front you'd your dad but you know how it goes. We're not the 1%.)

My point is, queer people are people. We are complex. We fuck up, and sometimes there's still times to fix things and sometimes... there isn't. We're consumed by jealousy and regret and sometimes we're so locked into our own head we stop believing the rest of the world is real too. Just like any other people, because unfortunately, queerness isn't a sign of morality.

And even if queerness does mean community, kindness and acceptance, tell me... Where the hell would the Usher kids get those from? The people around them are not really peers – they're ass-istants, blowjob-giving apartments, orgy mates, heart surgery providers, hired fitness moneybags, perfect housewives. Even if the partners are all shown to care for the Ushers, there's still a distance, a power gap, that makes the relationships fundamentally wrong.

And the partners? Arguably they're the good queer rep in the show, but look – even when Julius and Alessandra are shown to be good people (or at least people with an ethical boundary), they're not the good gays, they're simply the good SO's to a family of psychos. Exactly like Bill and Morrie, who afawk are straight people.

Which leads us to HoU's parameter of morality - Auguste Dupin. He refuses to drink the Amontillado, symbol of all the Usher opulence over the years. He got screwed over by the Usher twins and by the Raven herself, but he refused to cave in (except for the informant part, admittedly). He's not a good gay guy; he is gay and he is a good man.

The fundamental difference between our show's main tragic yaoi couple isn't that Auggie is a happily out gay man (and therefore is good) while Roderick is a sad divorced hetero (and therefore is bad). Auggie is the richer man because he is a good man; he has a spouse and children and grandchildren he loves with all his heart. He has a family and a community and he has found a sort of happiness no money can buy. Roderick owns the world – but what does he really have? What do his children even have? How could they ever build communities for themselves if they were never in one? Their father made them compete for his love. He never nurtured their bonds, he just showered them with money and excess until it was too much for them to handle. Juno herself pointed out - they were never a family. The House of Usher was only that. A house. It is empty and soulless.

What is queerness without a community? How could the people who represent the relentless corporate normativity and cutthroat capitalism ever be good queer rep? How can they even be queer?

Hear me out: on the most individual, simple level, being queer is still about not fitting in. These kids are bastards. They are are PoC and women in a predominantly male and white dominated space. They're on top of the world, but they're still outsiders to their own House. How could they not be queer?

And yes, I know this discussion takes a different turn when it comes to representation in media, but it's not like Flannagan fell into a Hays Code-era flamboyant villain trope. Queerness is just there. Just like Victorine and August are both black people in (arguably) the opposite ends of the morality spectrum, there are queer characters of many kinds here. The story just happens to be about the fucked up ones.

HoU is a poignant critique of capitalism and a surprisingly funny adaptation of Poe. We'll judge it by that. It happens to be queer – more things should be.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

New rec: Choices book I actively avoided for years because the cover art gives "supernatural love triangle between the 'nice guy' & the 'bad boy'" and it's a trope I despise except turns out I'm an idiot because holy shit this was one of my favourite books

For one, the vampire lore is unique? Or at least uncommon enough that it feels like something new. It's even different from Choices' other vampire series

Second? Both LIs are wrong about their view on vampires and actually have to come to terms with this and learn to change and grow throughout the series. If anything, MC's the only one who's got it right. Both LIs have their own flaws & trauma while still being interesting and likeable characters and neither one is pushed above the other as being "the correct choice".

It also doesn't make the "bad boy" so antagonistic towards MC and the "nice guy" so sweet that it makes no sense for MC to pick the bad boy (*cough*choices' save the date*cough* my favourite is the antagonistic LI but also he's so hot & cold towards MC and a jerk to her for no real reason???). MC clicks with both of them in a different way and there's enough reason for MC to choose either one of them. It actually shows why MC needs both of them

Also, MC is initially built up in a way before they interact with the LIs so that all of their decisions throughout the story actually make sense. They're responsible but also insanely competitive. Despite staying in line presumably throughout their life, they're drawn towards anything that'll give them a shot of adrenaline

Plus all three characters get their time to shine and MC's a fucking badass, honestly they're up there with om's MC as being one of the more interesting & fun to play MCs

And MY favourite, absolute favorite thing about this, the main thing that shot this up to one of my favourite choices stories:

MC makes a Buffy reference in this. That means at one point they watched and/or read Buffy and/or Angel, saw her get together with first the tortured ""good guy"" and then later the rebellious ""bad boy"", saw all the love triangle discourse in the fandom and said well that's fucking stupid, watch me introduce them both to the concept of polyamory that's right it's NOT a fucking love triangle

or it can be if you want it to, like you can choose one of the two LIs but the "true" route, the one where you get a charm each from both LIs and complete MC's charm bracelet (usually the indicator of a fully completed story in any choices book is to complete a set of something) is the one where MC picks both of them

There are also frequent instances where the choices are [no romantic option at all] and [romantic option for both LIs eg: holding both their hands]

And yeah the LIs aren't in love with each other and spend a lot of time competing for MC, something they do right until the very end of the book BUT at about the midway point they become a proper team and start talking about the three of them as an inseparable team making it very clear that if this doesn't end with MC choosing both of them it's gonna turn into a me and you and your friend steve situation.

And then when either one of them talks about how much they care about MC they start using "we" and "our" [eg: "that's our girl/boy" when the two LIs are alone together]

And then they start being as protective of each other as they are of MC

Cas screaming "don't touch him" when Gabriel gets attacked + Gabriel throwing himself over and shielding both MC & Cas when they get attacked

I'm not saying they're in love or that they'll ever fall in love but they are much much more okay with sharing a partner with each other than either one is willing to admit

anyway, this is them:

[gyupremacy]

Beauty Marks | lsm.

↳ Pairing: lee seokmin x fem!reader

↳ Genre: smut, established relationship

↳ Au(s): idol!AU

↳ Word Count: 1.2k

↳ Rating: 18+

↳ Warning(s): unprotected sex (cover your stump before you hump), fingering (f. receiving), facial, fondling, oral (mutual), swearing, dom!DK, sub!reader, light choking, brief biting, an absurd amount of pet names

↳ Summary: Dokyeom's been getting dogpiled lately for the little "gifts" you give him before he leaves for the studio. Let's just say... it has some interesting results.

↳ a/n: Thanks to a *lovely* poll in a SVT server I'm in, we have the lovely DK getting down and dirty with a daddy kink. Thank you so much for Indigo @playmetheclassics beta-ing and creating this banner!

╔══ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══╗

You have been a hot topic amongst Seventeen these past few weeks. All things considered, you WERE the girlfriend of one sunshine and main vocalist, Dokyeom.

However, your relationship with him was not the main source of chatter - at least not as a whole - but one aspect was a recurring presence: your lips.

Your boyfriend knew about your habit of overdoing it a bit when it came to your lipstick. Applying at least three layers at a time, the remnants of the ruby red marks were ever present on him.

Whether it be on his face, his neck, or his shoulder, it had gotten so bad that the other members were placing bets on where the next kiss mark would be.

"There is no way Y/N is going to let you out of the house these days, hyung," Chan snickered with Seungkwan.

"That girl will pounce on you someday, Kyeom!" Jeonghan joked...

"Looks like she already has!" Seungcheol added, laughing.

Normally, he would brush off those kinds of remarks, but it has started to annoy him. He didn't mind letting the guys see how affectionate you were with each other. However, the assumptions about the dynamics of your relationship were what bothered him.

Comments about him being "whipped" for you weren't anything that warranted a response, but the implications about him essentially being your "boy toy" did.. He didn't have any problem with his masculinity, nor did he feel the need to prove it, but the fact that his personal life was up for discussion was something he disliked.

"Easy guys! I don't think Dokyeom looks too happy right now," Joshua warned.

"Come on, Shua! He knows we're just playing with him! Right, DK?" Mingyu laughed.

"Right," was all he could muster through gritted teeth. He wanted nothing more than to be anywhere else.

That's when he, not so quietly, got up and left the scene, leaving the rest of the members in awkward silence.

"So… does anyone want a beer?" Jihoon chimed in.

The door of your apartment slammed open, and that's when you knew your boyfriend had come home.

"Hi, baby! How wa-" you didn't even get the opportunity to finish your sentence when Dokyeom pounced on you instantly.

You were pinned against the wall and door that led towards your bedroom, with his body enveloping you like a shield.

"That little stunt you pulled earlier today caused quite the commotion among the guys. Don't you think we should do something about that, baby girl?" his voice went down several octaves more than his normal tone, leaving goosebumps down your skin.

"W-well, if the guys were giving you a hard time for the lipstick stains I left, maybe you could talk it out with them?" you tried to say in defense, but a dark glint was visible in his eyes.

"No, I was thinking of something more… on the punishing side," Dokyeom said as he pushed you into the room and onto the bed.

Your sex life was fairly vanilla, all things considered. You both had discussed wanting to try new things but knew each other's limits: no degrading, inflicting pain, and always making sure you were okay with what was happening.

"You're so sexy, angel. Too bad you had to embarrass Daddy in front of his friends," he shook his head, his hand wrapping around your throat with a slight squeeze. "Does that feel good?"

"Yes," you muttered..

"Yes, what?" Dokyeom teased.

"Yes, Daddy!" you moaned.

He was pushing it when it came to the "Daddy" thing. You didn't mind using pet names in the bedroom, but you never heard the end of it after you teased him once with it.

"Good girl! Now, let's get these clothes off you," Dokyeom didn't hesitate, taking your shorts and underwear off in one motion, only for him to reach underneath your shirt to discover you were bare.

"Nothing underneath, either? You must be aching for pleasure," he bit his lip and bent his head down placing kisses along your stomach.

Dokyeom moved lower to place kisses on your thigh, biting your inner thigh slightly as he did so until finally moving onto your dripping core

Dokyeom lapped up the juices from your core, looking into your eyes the way you like them. He alternated between the usual kissing and teasing motions as well as thrusting his tongue into you.

"Oh fuck!" you moaned, tilting your head back, wanting nothing more but to stay like this.

"If you moan, I will stop," Dokyeom warned. You bit your lip in agony as you wanted to scream out in pleasure at his actions. He reached up towards your body, squeezing the soft mound in his hand.

He brought his hand back down your body, taking his thumb and pressing it against your spot. The digit soon disappeared inside of you, reappearing and disappearing once more at a rapid pace.

"Does that feel good, baby?" Dokyeom asked.

"Uh huh, It feels so good inside me," you manage to muster out, all while trying not to moan.

"That's good! I'm going to take my pants off, and I want you to suck me off." he unbuttoned his jeans, sliding them down before throwing his underwear across the room.

You moved over to lie down on your stomach, bringing your lips up to the tip of his member and bringing him inside your mouth.

"Yes! Just like that!" Dokyeom praised.

Wanting to feel him in the back of your throat, you attempt to go further down his shaft until your gag reflex gets the best of you.

"Don’t worry about taking me all the way, Y/N. We'll have plenty of room between your other lips," he winked, flipping you once more on your back.

"I was waiting all day for you to come back home so you could be inside of me." you bit your lip, ready for the familiar stretch that came with your boyfriend's thick member.

He teased your lips with the cockhead at first, only to enter you in one swift motion him. It took a while for you to adjust to his size, but the familiar tightness in your lower belly was all you both needed to continue.

"Oh, god! I'm so close!" Dokyeom said as he rutted inside of you.

"Me too!" you gritted through your teeth while still suppressing the moans you wanted to let out.

"Where do you want it, princess?" he requested.

You quietly murmured "face" before he slid out of you, motioning for you to get on your knees on the carpeted floor.

He rapidly jerked his member looking down at your lit-up eyes and eager tongue sticking out just for him. Shots of clear liquid come out all over your face and tongue.

"Now that's what you call a beauty mark!" Dokyeom giggled, placing a kiss on your cheek and then getting up to get a towel to clean you up.

He enters the attached bathroom, grabbing a towel to clean you off. You both curled up on the bed, making small talk.

"What were you going to ask before I… interrupted?" Dokyeom smiled.

"I was about to ask you about your day, but after that, I got my answer." you breathe out.

There was a moment of silence between you two before you interjected.

"Were you mad about me leaving lipstick stains on you?" you queried.

"No. I guess it was all the frustration from the guys' teasing and I need an outlet to release it," Dokyeom mused.

"Well, if it means anything, none of the other guys has anyone to leave kiss marks on them," you joked.

╚══ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══╝

© gyupremacy, 2023. All rights reserved. 

[moog-rt]

ᴄʏʙᴇʀʙᴜʟʟʏ [ʀɪꜱᴇ!ᴅᴏɴɴɪᴇ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ] ᴘᴛ. 5

Links to parts: one two three four five

Summary:

Fate brought you and that purple-clad turtle together in the form of endless battles of code. You were a purple dragon recruit, and he was your target. He plays your games as you tease him with the slim possibility of victory.

You may just let him win if you are feeling particularly merciful.

Notes:

enemies to lovers; slow burn; takes place after the movie; reader is a 'villain'

Word Count: 3351

If you’d prefer to read it on Ao3, here’s the link:

ᴄʏʙᴇʀʙᴜʟʟʏ [ʀɪꜱᴇ!ᴅᴏɴɴɪᴇ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ]

Otherwise, enjoy!

♡ ♡ ♡

Your hands were shoved deep into your jacket pockets as you trudged your way to the coffee shop just down the road from campus. If the crunch of fallen leaves beneath your boots hadn’t been indicator enough, the biting cold morning air was telling that autumn had arrived in full swing.

The bell above the entryway rang as you opened the door to the cafe and got in line to order. The warm atmosphere was much needed as you could finally take out your hands and rub them on your chilled cheeks. Your nose felt like ice.

After paying, you scoured the main room for a seat. Practically every table was occupied by people your age with their noses in laptops and textbooks.

With autumn comes midterms…

You slipped into a seat at a table that someone else had just relinquished and brushed off the leftover crumbs. The tabletop itself was a small circle but it sat two people, which was all that mattered. You got your laptop and notes set up as you waited for your order to be called. With how little sleep you were getting recently, it would be near impossible to start studying without some caffeine. It felt like your brain was packed with cotton balls.

You were in the middle of sighing and rubbing the sleep from your eyes when your name was finally called out. It was hard for you to care as the seat screeched out as you stood to go get your drink. However, many eyes bore into you for the disruption as you shuffled over to the counter.

“Here you are,” the barista said sweetly.

Fingers brushing against each other as you took the warm beverage from her grasp, you met her gaze and smiled back.

“Thank you,” you hummed.

As soon as you sat down and took your first sip, you could feel life rushing back into your veins. It was like all the clouds filling your brain had finally dissipated. The steam that escaped from the cup helped to thaw your nose.

You put on your headphones–opting for your own choice of music over the playlist the cafe employees were playing–and got to work as you waited for your friend to arrive. As was your routine for the past couple of weeks. Stay up late making deals with your archnemesis, peel yourself out of bed bright and early to go to this cafe, study with April until your brains felt like they were sufficiently rotted away, and scurry to class together. Sometimes you liked to sprinkle in a Purple Dragon meeting here and there.

Ever since your first deal had been made, you had offered more, and Von Ryan had reluctantly agreed. Several rounds of a variety of games stole away the majority of your nights. They were fun, but on top of classwork and purple dragon assignments, you were being zapped of your life force. 

You found that you also had to fight a lot harder to actually win. You hadn’t expected your opponent to kick your ass at games as much as he did.

Your ego took quite a few blows as a result.

To make matters worse, it felt like none of your jokes ever landed with the guy. You knew they were funny. At least some of them were. He was just too stubborn to admit it!

“So serious…” you murmured to yourself, mindlessly scrolling through a study guide your professor had emailed the class.

“Yeah, I swear they’re tryna kill us.”

You jumped slightly and took off your headphones as you looked up from your screen. Before you stood a heaving April, a sheen of sweat decorating her forehead.

“God, it’s hot in here,” she said as she shrugged her jacket off and sat down across from you.

“Girl, are you alright? Did you run here from the gym or something?” You started moving your belongings so that she had more room on her side of the table to put her belongings. “I thought you were free before this.”

“I was .” She waved her hand at you while she caught her breath. “But my pals called me up to help out with something…This morning was just a bit of a rush…” She released a breathy laugh, shaking her head.

Your eyes squinted as you grinned at her. “Sounds like a fun way to start your day.”

She let out an incredulous laugh in response.

“Don’t even get me started.” She unpacked her study materials, brushed her bangs from her face, and placed her palms on the table as she looked back at you. “Alright, I’m gonna grab something to drink and then we can dig into things. That sound good? You want anything?”

“Ready when you are,” you said, lifting your drink to show her you were taken care of.

It didn’t take long before she joined you again, opening up her laptop and flipping through her pages of biology notes.

“So what did you need to help your friends with so early in the morning?” you asked, tilting your head and shooting her a curious look.

“Hm?” Her eyes shot up to meet yours before darting off to the side. “Uh… They got themselves into trouble as they usually do, so they called me up for help since they’re kind of a man down, so to speak.”

Your eyebrows furrowed.

“You live a wild life, April. I’m jealous,” you said.

“Be careful what you wish for,” she scoffed. “Now, enough stalling. We gotta get to work.”

You threw your head back and groaned dramatically.

“If I must!”

The next hour or so was filled with the silence of reading, frequent buzzing of notifications, and the occasional exchange of questions regarding subject materials. Every now and then, however, your questions would go unanswered as your friend was too distracted by her phone to hear you. After the fifth time of speaking to a wall paired with April’s solemn expression, your curiosity had finally eaten away at you.

“Everything alright? Who are you texting?” you asked as you rested your chin in your palm.

“Mm…” Your friend didn’t look away from her phone until she had finished typing. “Oh, um, just a friend… Donnie, actually.”

“Oh! How has he been?”

She sighed and placed her phone down whilst rubbing at her face.

“Better. He’s been better.”

You bit the inside of your cheek and dropped your gaze before April continued.

“Poor guy has been holed up in his room for the past month. He’s barely sleeping. It seems like he only eats if someone tears him away from his computer and forces him to… He’s just not taking care of himself.” She shook her head. “Worse is he’s not really letting us help him either… God, it just sucks having to watch your friends fall apart, you know?”

You were quiet. You watched her as she let her head fall into her hands. You found it more comfortable to look out the window instead.

“I’m sorry,” you said, fiddling with your jacket sleeve.

“Nah.” April raised her head, shaking it and offering you a soft smile. “It’s not like you could have done anything. We just gotta wait for him to either talk to us or power through it, I guess.” “I– Still.” You looked back at her, swallowing. “I’m really sorry. …That sounds difficult.”

And you were sorry. Sorry that you hadn’t dug into his connections sooner. Sorry that it was having a negative effect on April.

Sorry that you failed to consider the consequences of what you were doing.

Yes, you began offering him deals to help him out, but even then, it was mostly self-serving. Because you were getting bored? Because it gave you some new form of entertainment? Because you didn’t want April to be mad at you if she found out?

You could have stopped altogether. Should have . After the first deal. After you finished your first assignment.

But you didn’t.

And now the results of your actions were smacking you in the face.

“Anyways, let’s get started!” April said, clapping her hands together.

You nodded.

The chatter from the other tables combined with the cafe music and ringing from the entry bell served as white noise for you and April to find a rhythm to work to. The two of you began discussing the semester-long project for your bio class. April pulled up the rubric, and you began brainstorming possible subjects and hypotheses you could address. Planning away until it was time to head to class, you wrapped up the study session with a rough proposal.

Your routine from then on had been altered.

You continued to meet with April in the mornings. However, when you didn’t have a meeting with the purple dragons to stay up-to-date on plans, your nights were filled with studying and essays and projects. You made more time to play games with your friends, too. Your bedroom was filled with laughter and shouts and gory sound effects from the assortment of games you’d play with them.

The Purple Dragons’ interests had long since shifted from Donnie to various tech companies. The most recent discussions had been surrounding TCRI. The facility was rumored to have technology that seemed to not even be of this planet. The possible technological advancements the group could gain from them far outweighed that of the mutant turtle.

You had finally released your hold on Othello Von Ryan.

Only on nights like this, where you and April had plans to meet up and do school work, was there a chance that you would interact with him.

Every other minute, you checked your phone for an update on April’s arrival. You had gone down to the lobby of your apartment building to wait for her. It was the first time she was meeting at your place, and you knew that the process to get up there was a bit of a hassle.

You kept your eyes peeled for her after receiving a text saying she was just down the block. You noticed her burgundy space buns through the glass doors before anything else, but upon closer inspection, you caught sight of another figure following her to the doors. You thought for a moment that they’d walk through together, but she spun around and began shoving the person in the oversized hoodie out of frame.

All you could see now was April aggressively pointing in the direction she had come. The hood popped back into view, peering in and looking directly at you before turning away dejectedly. You leaned slightly to the side to see if you could catch a glimpse of them, but they had already walked far enough away that you couldn’t see.

You stood up to greet April as she came inside.

“Were you being harassed?” you asked, shooting her a concerned look.

“Hah, it depends on your definition of harassment! That was Donnie. He has been begging to tag along and just will not take no for an answer,” April said. You raised your eyebrows.

“ That was Donnie?” you asked with a high-pitched tone. April shook her head and chuckled.

“Yeah, don’t think too much about his fashion sense. I swear he scrambled out after me as fast as he could. Threw on whatever was closest to him,” she explained, waving her hand around.

“He wasn’t wearing anything while you were with him?” you questioned. “Are you guys…like…?”

It took April a moment to catch on to what you were trying to suggest. Her eyebrows shot to the top of her forehead and her eyes were wide as saucers as she whipped around to face you. 

“Oh my god , no!” She waved both her hands in front of her, shaking her head vigorously. “He–uh–just wasn’t dressed for the weather! We weren’t doing anything crazy. Ugh, I don’t even want to think about that.”

April looked like she was about to hurl. She may have been dry-heaving a little bit, too. 

“Oh! That makes total sense!” Your face burned as you looked away and laughed awkwardly. “Sorry, my mind jumped straight there…”

The two of you laughed it off on the elevator ride to one of the upper floors of the building. With a quiet chime, the doors opened up straight into your home.

It was designed to be fairly open and modern. Wide, white marble tiles spread across the floors, and the walls across from you were filled with large windows that framed the city almost perfectly. A sleek set of stairs wrapped around the edge of the area, leading to the upper level of the penthouse.

“What on Earth…” April gawked.

“My, uh, my room’s upstairs,” you said, looking away awkwardly.

“Nuh-uh, you did not tell me y’all had money! An apartment should not have an upstairs. This is wild!” she said as she followed you up the stairs.

“Both of my parents are fairly successful business people…” you explained as you opened the door for her to enter your room. 

It was bright from the various LED lights and signs that you had strewn about to decorate. The gradient colors bounced across your walls and furniture. April wandered over to the edge of your room that looked over the city.

“Gosh, what I wouldn’t give to live in a place like this,” she said, throwing her bag on the floor next to your bed. “Totally unreal.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind a roommate,” you chuckled. “It would be nice to get a bit of that college experience everyone loves to talk about.”

“Oh, I feel you. I’m living off-campus, too. Really feels like I’m missing out sometimes,” April said, plopping down on your bed. “Though I don’t think you’d be able to decorate your room like this if you were living in a dorm.”

“You’re totally right. I don’t think I’d be able to live without my decor,” you joked, taking a seat at your desk.

“It reminds me a lot of how Donnie decorates.”

You turned to her with a smile.

“Oh, really? He’s a big fan of LEDs, too?”

“That and the color purple, mostly,” she chuckled. “The guy knows what he wants.”

While you were on the topic, you had been wondering…

“How has he been recently?” you asked. “I remember the last time we chatted, you said he wasn’t doing so hot.”

“ So much better. Everything seems to have gone back to normal for now. He’s getting out a lot more than he was, and I think his eye bags are almost gone!” She grinned.

“I’m glad to hear that!” You smiled in return.

You really were. It had been weighing on your mind quite a bit ever since she had told you. You wish you could go back in time and leave him alone rather than torment him for your own amusement, but obviously, that wasn’t an option. Knowing that he had relative peace of mind now made you feel a little bit better.

You and April eventually turned the conversation back to your classes and got to work on your project. You had turned in the final draft of your proposal a couple days ago and were starting on the actual data collection. Together you dug through previously published papers that could provide additional information for you to work with.

You would take breaks every once in a while to grab snacks or watch stupid videos on social media. It wasn’t uncommon for one of you to become sidetracked, which would inevitably lead the other astray shortly after.

At some point, your little siblings had barged in, somehow sensing that there was a new presence in the house. They had a field day with April, and luckily she didn’t seem to mind them at all. Eventually, you had to boot them out of the room so you could keep getting work done.

When it seemed like you had gotten sufficient materials to use for your project, April suggested giving Donnie a call just to double-check that you guys weren’t missing anything. He answered almost immediately.

“You are conversing with Donatello,” his voice sang through.

“Hey, D,” April greeted. “We were just doing some work for our big bio project. Are you free to look over some of the notes and sources we’ve collected?”

“April, you know I am always available if data collection and scientific articles are involved.”

April rolled her eyes dramatically, and you both chuckled quietly so he wouldn’t hear. April proceeded to list off all the information you had gathered so far and summarized the experimental design you had decided on. He hummed along as he listened, providing some feedback here and there regarding what you two could focus more on or different articles you could reference.

“I’ll send you links to a few that I think will be particularly helpful. As a whole, however, it seems you have done quite a good job. The information you have accumulated thus far is reputable and will certainly validate your study,” Donnie stated. “Consider me impressed.”

“I’d hope so! We’ve put a lot of time into this,” you laughed. It was the first thing you said since the call started.

“Ah, there is my favorite disciple!” he began.

“Boy, if you don’t knock that shit off, I swear!” April huffed.

“You know, I was going to grace you with my presence tonight, however, April here told me I was unwelcome,” he spat.

The two proceeded to get themselves into a silly argument over he-said-she-said. You watched quietly with a soft smile gracing your lips. You wanted to join in the argument for fun, teasing and joking where you could, but it felt so wrong to do. Knowing the role you played in his life, whether he knew it was you or not, made you feel like a fraud for acting friendly with him.

Eventually, April and Donnie’s little squabble subsided, and you said your goodbyes. You and April added the articles Donnie sent over and called it a night. After walking her back down to the lobby, you returned to your room to vegetate.

You lied on your bed, watching the gradient lights change as they danced across your ceiling. You had wired all of the lighting to be in sync, alternating between various shades of blue, purple, and pink. You would switch up the color combinations if you got bored or if you needed something to fit the mood of the night a bit better.

April said Donnie’s setup was similar. If you two actually knew each other–as friends rather than opponents–you were sure that you’d have a field day chatting to him about the things he’s created. Judging by the blueprints you had stolen, your silly little light fixtures were probably child’s play for someone as technologically advanced as him.

You may not be friends, and the chances of you becoming friends were probably slim to none, but at the end of the day, you felt grateful to know that someone like him actually existed. Your world was beyond that of 9-5 office jobs, school, and circuitry. There were still mysterious people like him, part turtle and part… something else that you weren’t sure of.

Your world wasn’t as boring as you had feared, and you felt lucky to know that.

An alarm began sounding from your phone, causing you to jump. Scrambling across your bed, you picked up the device to see what was happening.

Apparently, there was an attack on the Purple Dragon’s network.

You looked over at your desktop. You hesitated for a moment before crawling over and sitting down at it. It didn’t take long for you to negate the attack and reinforce some of the security on the network as well as the servers.

Tracing back the IP of the attacker through various VPNs, it was no surprise to see that it was Donnie on the other end. Your heart jumped at the opportunity. It wouldn’t be so bad for you to make another offer to him if he was the one initiating, would it?

♡ ♡ ♡