#he's so close to forfeiting their game and just fucking her right there

[pooks]

Ichiji was beyond pissed off at this dumb Davy Back fight.

First off, the shitty raft he, Luffy and Sanji were on broke. He told his captain that it wouldn't hold. Secondly, he's gotten whisked away by Foxy's idiotic pirate crew as their "prize".

He hated the Foxy Pirates. He hated the stupid, fake-cute woman on his crew. He hated the fake as fuck announcer and he hated this pathetic motherfucker to pirate captain Silver fucking Foxy.

And now these idiots wanted him to pledge his loyalty?

Oh ho...oh ho ho ho ho...

They had no idea who they were messing with.

"Give me that." He said and snatched a den-den mushi megaphone. He walked to the front of this "stage" and looked ahead of the massive crowd. Among them, he saw his real crew and he saw Sanji.

No one could make him pledge his loyalty to anyone else than the one he loved most.

"I pledge to..."

Everyone kept their breaths. Scarlet Ichiji, the recently risen pirate with a bounty on 40 million berries and mysterious powers that was not from a devil fruit...what would he say?

Ichiji then gave a wicked grin, like a serial murderer had just caught the scent of blood and found their new victim. "To slice the neck of anyone who says that I should abandon my precious little brother, whom I have bled out for!"

He turned his head around and smirked at Foxy, who had gone pale white and started to cold sweat. "I am Scarlet, Foxy. I am a DEVIL compared to my dear little brother. To forfeit my title as his big brother is to forfeit my life. So I DON'T PLEDGE LOYALTY TO YOU. I shall wait until the end of these games for my execution since I don't accept you as my new captain. Suck a lemon."

He was instantly booed by every single Foxy Pirate.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Sanji stood there, frozen with a widened eye. "AAARGH! SHITTY BROTHER WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!" He screamed angrily. He didn't want to see his older brother forfeit his life and if they lost...if they lost, then he would die!

Luffy laughed and clapped his hands. "That's right, Ichiji! You're my archivist!"

"HE'S GONNA DIE IF WE LOSE THE NEXT TWO GAMES!" Nami shrieked at him. "Ichiji! Don't be stupid! Just go ahead and pledge loyalty for that moron! Don't throw away your life for nothing!"

"It won't be for nothing if it means Sanji lives!" Ichiji shouted at her, pissed off that she still didn't understand a thing about his bond to his little brother. "I

Usopp was tear-eyed and sniffed. "What a model big brother...Ichiji, you're such a man..." He rubbed his eyes. "Damn it, Sanji! You're so lucky!"

'Not so lucky if we lose the next two games.' Zoro thought to himself and glanced at the cook without moving his head. Sanji looked as if he was close to a panic-induced anxiety attack, biting on his nails and looked generally distressed. He couldn't let that happen.

"Ichiji..." Chopper sniffled, hugging Sanji's leg.

'If we lose...' Nami narrowed her eyes.

'The next two games...' Robin thought.

"Sanji/I will see Ichiji being executed!" Everyone's thoughts echoed in union, not that they knew it.

'No regrets.' Ichiji smirked to himself.

There was no way his captain would let that happen.

Perhaps not the most ideal solution, but if it gives some his captain motivation...then he'll do everything he can to take him back before his pending doom.

'Kick his ass, captain.'

[just-your-average-supervillain]

...So, that ending, huh?

I'm just gonna... deposit my thoughts here. Spoilers ahead.

Before we get into any of the heavy shit, uh... I think this is the first time the second part of a Canto ended with a comedic scene. Qiu, Huan(?), and Hong Lu all having an intense dialogue while Qiu beats the shit out of us until Hong Lu finally finds the Way he believes in, at which point Qiu forfeits the entire Evaluation and gives us all his coins to rocket us to first, Huan bows out with his coins to try and get second place (and the Bough), and we... go and find Xichun to put ourselves in second, securing the Bough and incidentally handing the seat of Jia Family Hierarch to her. I mean... I think most of us knew it was coming, just not in this particular way?

Not to say that the outcome is all good, though. We now know what the purpose of Hong Lu's jade eye is! It's a high-tech camera implanted at birth so that the ghouls called the H Corp Elders can get their kicks watching the sort of footage that would have K Corp flooding the streets with all the tears produced! And Xichun's ascension to the Family Hierarch means she's gonna go meet them! Hooray!

The politics of the whole situation are also kinda neat. The Shi rule H Corp, then the Kong take over, then Shi Mu (now Jia Mu) uses her high position to trick the entire Kong Family into transforming into Outskirts Monsters and getting the Head called down on each and every one of them. Now the Jia rule H Corp, and Jia Qiu (formerly Kong Qiu) has... just forfeited the possibility of reclaiming the throne.

Also, I think we now know where the aesthetic inspiration for the Three Birds comes from. Pretty neat that the Heishou get their powers from taking on features of Outskirts Monsters, and also that there's a type of Outskirts Monster that's just a bipedal bird-man with black feathers and ringed, glowing eyes.

...I genuinely didn't expect it, but we actually got to see Garion just sitting around and chatting. No ominous shadows or overwhelming auras, just the quiet menace of this one lady bringing about the annihilation of an entire clan. Pretty neat that they followed the original scene of her watching H Corp fall from the first game so closely, just with an added scene of her applauding Jia Mu for the effort and carefulness it took to balance the line needed to call the Head down on the Kong without being targeted for the knowledge herself. Fascinating how it seems that while everybody knows of the Claws, even the leaders of Wings are totally unaware of what an Arbiter is, only that they're people who bring Claws to accompany them.

Incidentally, terrifying that the outcome of a single person breaking a taboo is not running away as the Head closes in on your location, but rather having a Claw instantly teleport next to you and then kill you.

Uhhhh just my own complaint but I think that part was too damn long. That was like... 4? 5?? 6??? different boss fights, along with the whole bullshit of having to work though the Eight Trigrams room. Like, I started playing immediately after the update dropped, and it's now five hours later. I guess we now have a shitton of new factions or enemies to make Identities out of, but by the end my brain was melting and I was mostly resorting to winrating filler battles between boss fights.

Fascinated to see how they'll shift from the whiplash comedy of us unilaterally deciding that Xichun's gonna be the next Family Hierarch to the inevitable angst of the ending of Canto VIII. I'm also a touch concerned about who the fuck we're gonna fight as the final boss if Qiu already had his big battle and then seemingly fucked right off. Is it gonna be the Elders? Grandmother Mu? I feel like the way things are going, it'll probably be one of them, but I'm not sure how to feel about that... well, whatever the case, it'll be peak.

I might have some more thoughts later, I'm sure there were a few Weird Comments from the Sinners that'll give hints to their own stories, but for now I think I'd like to go to bed.

[blckbarbiedoll]

Million Dollar Baby

Chapter 7-Game. Set. Love

CONTAINS NSFW CONTENT (fingering f receiving, oral f & m receiving, p in v sex, handjob, cum eating, etc.)

August 4, 2019-New Rochelle, New York (1 A.M.)

The crowd had quickly died down after the men called forfeit. It seemed like as soon as the game was over, everything was back to normal. Tashi and Art went their separate way, you and Patrick went yours. Until late that night.

'Knock, knock'

The repeated tapping on the hotel door woke you from your sleep. Patrick was right next to you, so it wasn't him. You slowly got up and opened the door.

"Tashi?"

"Hi."

"What time is it?"

"1 A.M."

"I have a flight to catch in a few hours. What's this about?"

"You know what, it's stupid. It's late. I shouldn't have bothered you. I'm sorry." She quickly wiped the tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Hey." You closed the door and stepped into the hallway with her. "What's going on?"

"Ayesha, I..." She took a deep breath. "I don't hate you." She whispered. 

"What?"

"I don't hate you. I love you. And it scares me."

"Oh, Tash..."

"When we hugged today, my skin felt like it was on fire. And when we kissed, I felt like I couldn't breathe after you pulled away." She cupped your face. "You were right. I spent half of my life loving you, and the other half hiding how much I love you. I don't wanna hide it anymore."

You placed your hands over hers. "I love you too." You grabbed them and linked your fingers together. "But this can't work. As much as I want it to, this can't work."

"Why not?"

"You're married. And I'm getting married."

"So?"

"So? So, how would we make that work?"

"We could try. I wanna try." She pleaded. "It's possible to love three people. I know, because I have for thirteen years."

You sighed and ran your hands over your face.

"It's not that easy."

"Just try. Give it a chance. Give us a chance. I miss you, Ayesha."

"I miss you too." Your eyes began to water.

You embraced her again and took in the scent of her perfume. It smelled sweet on Patrick, but it was sweeter on her.

🎾

"You okay?" Patrick asked as the plane took off.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

"What're you thinking about?"

"Just...us."

"Us?"

"The four of us."

"What about us?"

"I talked to Tashi last night."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. She misses me. And I miss her. And Art."

"I miss them too."

"I saw Art tell you that he loves you. 

"Yeah. He did. That doesn't mean anything though."

"Patrick."

"Yeah?"

You turned your body in your seat to face him.

"You love him too."

"He's my friend. Of course I do."

"We both know you guys were a lot more than friends." He chuckled and grabbed your hand, slowly stroking it with his thumb. "I know about you and Tashi. Atlanta, and the other night. So does Art.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I didn't- I shouldn't have-" He sighed. "I fucked up."

"It's okay."

"What?"

"I forgive you."

"You're not mad?"

"No. For a minute I was hurt though." You lifted your hand up and brushed your fingers through his hair. "I'm not mad because I kissed Tashi and Art, and it felt really good."

"You did?"

"I did. Are you mad?"

"Course not." He smirked.

"Good. I know it's gonna be tough, but I miss them. And I wanna get them back."

"So do I."

You hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

🎾FIVE DAYS LATER🎾

It was around noon when the doorbell rang. You had been anxiously waiting for this day all week. After your talk with Patrick, the two of you decided to invite Art and Tashi over to discuss everything.

"You ready?" Patrick asked you as he put his hand on the doorknob.

"Yeah. I'm ready."

He opened it and you were met with two smiling, yet nervous faces. 

"Hi." The four of you said in unison.

"Come in." You told them. "Sit anywhere you want."

You all walked into the kitchen. Patrick strayed from his normal relax demeanor and sat up straight in his chair. Art and Tashi sat next to each other at the table, her sitting across from your fiancé.

"You guys want anything to drink?" You asked. "We have literally everything, so just say the word."

"We're okay for now." Tashi said. "Thanks."

"Maybe grab yourself a Xanax, babe." Patrick joked.

You rolled your eyes and sat next to him. The room stayed silent for a few moments until Art spoke up.

"So, Tashi and I were talking, and we both decided that we wanna give this a shot."

A weight had been lifted off of your chest. Patrick's too. Even though he'd never show it.

"What exactly is 'this'?" Patrick asked.

"I wanna be with you." You told the group. "All of you."

"So do we." Tashi said. "But if we want this to work, we have to have some rules."

"Agreed."

"I think we should keep this out of the media." You said. "I have no clue how people would react."

"Yeah." Art agreed. "Tashi and I also think it's best to meet here most times. We don't wanna confuse Lily."

"We also need to treat each other equally." She stated. "If we play favorites, this won't work."

"I agree." You nodded. "Because I really want this to work.

You all brought your hands together and smiled.

"What about sex?"

"Patrick." You sternly said.

"We were all thinking it!" He threw his hands up in defense. "I'm just saying, how would it work?"

"I mean, we've never actually all done anything besides kiss." Art said.

"I guess there's only one way to find out."

🎾

That's how you found yourself on your bed with the three of them. Clothes scattered on the stairs, in the hallway, all leading to your room. You laid on your stomach in front of Tashi with her legs over your shoulders. Her hands were tangled in your sweated out silk press. 

"I'm so close." She whispered. 

Art kissed up her neck while Patrick's mouth was on Art's cock. You could hear his moans being muffled by Tashi's mouth. You slowly slid two fingers inside her. Her breath hitched when you started to pump them in and out of her. You leaned up to kiss her and Art, swallowing their moans. 

"You gonna cum for me?" You whispered into her ear.

"Yeah." She whimpered.

Tashi gripped your arm as she came around your fingers. You pulled them out and placed them in front of Patrick. He pulled away from Art and took your two fingers into his mouth and sucked them clean.

"I missed how you taste."

He moved from Art and climbed over him to hover above Tashi. He kissed her chest and up her neck before sliding inside her.

"C'mere." Art said to you. You crawled over to the other side of the bed and straddled his lap. "Hi, pretty girl."

"Hi."

"You miss me?"

"So much."

You sucked a hickey onto his neck while your hand continued what Patrick started. Art let out a gasp as he leaned his head back. You moved your hand up and down and slowly rubbed your thumb over his tip. 

"Does that feel good?" You teased.

"Fuck." He groaned. "Yeah. So good."

"I love the way you sound."  You lifted your hips and adjusted him inside you. "Oh my god." The second he slipped inside you, you were putty in his hands.

He squeezed your ass as you bounced on him. "You feel so good, baby." He groaned into your ear. "So fucking good." He kissed your jaw and nipped at the space under your ear.

"Fuck, I love it when you do that."

One of his hands came up to cup your breast. You moved your hips faster and began to rub your clit.

"I missed this pussy so much." He held your hips down as he fucked up into you. You wrapped your arms around his neck and rested your head on his shoulder. "I missed my pretty girl."

Art was different since you two dated. He was more confident, more sure of himself. It showed in his words and actions. On the court, and in bed.

"Shit, baby." You moaned, digging your nails into his skin.

"I'm so close. Can I cum inside you, baby?"

"Please."

"Yeah? Gonna let me fill you up?"

"Yes, Art, please."

He thrusted up into you a few more times as he finished. He slowed down his movements before holding you close and kissing your head.

"So good, baby." He sighed.

You slowly got off of him and laid flat on your back. Patrick came up next to you and wrapped his lips around your nipple.

"Shit." You whined.

His sloppy kisses went down your body until he got to where he wanted. He lifted your legs up onto his shoulders and slowly licked up your center.

"You're gonna eat her out after Art just came inside her?" Tashi asked, cuddled up with her husband.

"Yes, and?" He replied before returning to what he was doing.

"Oh my god." You tugged at his dark hair when you felt him suck on your clit. You knew you weren't gonna last much longer. Between Patrick's tongue and Art and Tashi's moans in the background, you felt another orgasm coming. "Oh, fuck!"

He continued to lick you while you came, not stopping until you pushed him away. He sat up and held Art and pressed soft kisses to his chest.

"Pat, I'm exhausted." Art groaned. 

"Come on, old man. We're celebrating." He pressed his lips against Art's and raked his fingers through his strawberry hair.

"Art's right." You yawned as you laid next to Tashi. "We can continue this tomorrow."

After cleaning up, you all got comfortable under the covers and tangled your limbs together.

"We're gonna need a bigger bed." Patrick sighed.

"It's a California king. I don't think we can get any bigger."

"I googled it on the way here." Art told you. "We'll definitely need an upgrade."

You all chuckled and tried to make do for now.

"I love you guys." You whispered.

You all exchanged your 'I love yous' and kisses before you started to drift off.

[annimator]

I know I’m more than 2 months late to the party, but I REALLY wanna gush about how much I loved All Stars’ finale.

It’s honestly my favourite Disventure Camp episode as of right now, because I have a good feeling Carnival of Chaos will be really great considering how much I’m rooting for a good majority of the cast

(Spoilers for the episode below [obviously] but I also mention smth from the TomJake’s spinoff’s last episode)

• Tom sounds like the kind of guy to practice confessing to his crush by talking to a photo of said crush lmao. Ashley’s being as great as always by being Tom’s wingwoman

• Awwww Hunter’s trying to cheer up Ally by showing a drawing of her :D (do you take commissions bro /j)

• Huntally kiss! :D Also Tess is there too lol

• NOBODY WANTED TO BE ON RIYA’S TEAM LMAO. ELLIE ONLY JOINED BECAUSE OF THE CHANCE TO GET 100K, AND ALEC WAS PICKED RANDOMLY AND WAS LIKE “yeah ok whatever”

• Everyone that was sitting in Jake’s stand was starring at Tom (Except James & Aiden) when he was choosing his first teammate before Ally volunteered lol

• Tom we’re not glossing over the fact that you got WATERBOARDED. Also him saying that confessing to Jake is the most stressful thing he’s ever done is a mood.

• Dat scene of the thumbnail tho. ALSO THEY WERE BLUSHING >:DDDDDD

• “Get up guys! You can have your yaoi moment later!” LMAO BEST ALLY QUOTE RIGHT THERE

• Ally’s cartwheels were so fucking cool to watch, and I hope whoever animated that was paid well. I remember hearing in a greeting that acrobatics and gymnastics are a side hobby of hers but I can’t find the link to it :(

• BRO I WAS SO FUCKING HAPPY TO SEE FIORE CALL OUT FOR ALEC AND JUMP OFF THE STANDS TO HELP HIM OUT. SHE FINALLY SHOWED THAT SHE CARES FOR HIM AND HE RETURNED THE FAVOUR BY PROTECTING HER FROM THE PAINT ARROWS AND THE HORE CARRIAGE.

• Also speaking of, when it panned to show all the contestants reacting to Alec getting shot, everybody had concern on their face besides Yul’s bitchass having a shit-eating grin. Guess he called Alec an insufferable nerd for a reason lol

• Seeing Alec forfeit being Riya’s helper was rlly great. Icing on top was Fiore flipping her off lol

• LMAO GABBY DIDN’T EVEN WANNA HELP OUT RIYA, SHE JUST JOINED TO PROTECT ELLIE

• “Awwww! What a cute kitty!” GABBY THAT IS A WHOLE ASS TIGER WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

• The slow-mo moment of Tom shielding Jake from the paint arrow was pretty cool and funny at the same time lol

• RIYA WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT

• THE WAY ELLIE IMMEDIATELY WENT TO HELP OUT GABBY BY TRYING TO PULL HER ARM OFF OF THE TIGER MY GOD I LOVE THEM SM

• Tom managed to fight off that tiger, what a madlad

• “What the hell was that Riya?!” “What? We won!” “You hurt my girlfriend you piece of shit!” YEAH TELL HER ELLIE

• Ellie would’ve beat the shit out of Riya if this finale wasn’t televised and I would watch every second of that. And good on Ellie for realizing that some things are more important that money

• speaking of, I WAS GENUINELY NOT EXPECTING A GABELLIE KISS IN THE FINALE, BUT I LOVE THAT IT CAME AFTER ELLIE SAYING THAT SOME THINGS (LIKE GABBY) ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN MONEY

• Ngl I didn’t really gaf about the staff plot this season, but Derek & Trevor are rlly cute together! Carnival of Chaos will be more interesting now that they’re canon and hosting it together >:D

• “Kick Riya’s ass for me!” YEAAAAAAAAA

• Seeing James & Aiden root for Jake was really wholesome considering the fact that Jake had beef with both of them throughout the game before making amends. Aiden actually has the my favourite elimination because of his convo with Jake before leaving. Yul’s is a close second because his monologue after getting eliminated is ICONIC

• I also like that even though you don’t hear anyone else loudly root/cheer for Jake (Besides James, Aiden, and Miriam). You can tell that everyone (besides Yul lol) is rooting for him.

• TOM HELPED TO PUSH JAKE BACK UP ONTO THE PLATFORM AFTER RIYA KNOCKED HIM OFF

• Seeing Fiore by Alec’s side as all of the finale’s helpers were in a separate stand was so nice to see :DDDD

• Tom’s not beating the “physical touch as a love language” allegations. LOOK AT THE WAY HIS HANDS ARE ON JAKE’ SHOULDERS WITH A CUTE SMILE ON HIS FACE.

• Jeez Riya’s gone off the deep end considering what she said to Connor even though she’s supposedly “PrETeNdiNg”. I personally think she’s a really interesting character considering her entire character arc, but at the same time, I think she’s a bitch lol

• “Well! You just watch! Your leg will look like a SCRAP after what I do to him.” JESUS FUCK SHE WAS NOT JOKING SHE FUCKING HIT JAKE IN THE FUCKING THROAT WITH HER SWORD AND KICKED HIM OFF THE PLATFORM.

• I WAS WAITING SINCE LAST FUCKING MAY FOR JAKE AND TOM TO FINALLY TALK OUT THEIR ISSUES AND FOR THEM TO GET BACK TOGETHER AND THEIR CONFESSION SCENE WAS SO FUCKING WORTH THE WAIT BECAUSE OF WHAT TOM SAID TO JAKE.

• “Whenever you called, I just stared at the phone. I was haunted by my past and I was so scared of making another mistake. But you reminded me that I’m so much more than my setbacks. Jake, I… I care about you so much!” I NEED TO BE FUCKING SEDATED

• THEY KISSEDDDDDDD

• Tom rlly said “If there’s any chance you feel the same way” as if Jake wasn’t blushing earlier after Tom saved him. And Jake kissed him to shut him up omg

EDIT: Idk how I didn’t mention this (or forget for that matter), but the background crowd can basically be heard throughout a majority of the episode, and their cheers get louder during Gabellie’s kiss and Tomjake’s first kiss which is such a great detail that I noticed when I first watched the episode.

• “I know you’re just coping Riya. Being alone must stink. It’s how I felt for a long time.” I did not relish this quote when I first watched this scene but OH MY GOD I FEEL LIKE THIS QUOTE IS A GOOD BOOK END FOR JAKE’S ALL STARS ARC. HE STARTED ALL STARS BY BASICALLY BEING ALL ON HIS OWN SINCE MIRIAM WAS ON A DIFFERENT TEAM BUT HE NOW HAS A LARGE GROUP OF PEOPLE ON HIS SIDE. AND KEEP NOTE OF THE PEOPLE BEHIND JAKE WHEN HE SAYS THIS. ASHLEY’S BEEN A GOOD FRIEND FOR JAKE THROUGH THICK AND THIN, JAMES, AIDEN, AND ALLY ALL BEEFED WITH JAKE DURING MOST OF THEIR TIME IN ALL STARS, BUT MANAGED TO PUT THEIR DIFFERENCES ASIDE BEFORE (or after in James’ case) THEY GOT ELIMINATED. AND DONT GET ME STARTED ON JAKE AND TOM’S WHOLE RELATIONSHIP.

• RIYA WON?! NO FUCKING WAY

• I loved how the episode panned to all the eliminated contestants’ reactions to Jake getting knocked off, especially the pan to Ashley, James, Aiden, Tom, and Ally, their faces were hilarious lol

• Ngl that scene of Jake being congratulated despite losing was kinda cheesy to me at first, but I think it’s pretty neat, AND I AM NOT COMPLAINING OVER ANOTHER TOMJAKE KISS >:D

• “I guess, as they say in fairy tales, the prince fails to beat the dragon, but at least he gets the knight in the end!” That’s so wholesome omggggg

• I LOVE HOW NOBODY (EXCEPT YUL BECAUSE HES GETTING MONEY) IS HAPPY OVER RIYA’S VICTORY LMAOOOOO.

• “Hope it was worth it. Money can’t buy friends.” Bro it’s just like that one yt comment said, “Damn, even Krystal didn’t want her to win” lol

• Seeing everyone happy on the bus ride to the airport was so wholesome; Ally, Hunter, & Tess happily playing switch together, Ashley getting a call from Will, Alec smiling as Fiore slept on his arm while he was reading, Ellie & Gabby holding each other with smiles on their face, AAAAA I LOVE IT SO MUCH

• The transition to Riya holding the money briefcase on her own was literally all I needed to know that the Tumblr blog that posted art of Riya winning but getting ignored by everyone had the gift of prophecy lol

• BRO THE WAY JAMES & AIDEN ARE HOLDING EACH OTHER GENUINELY ADDED HALF A DECADE TO MY LIFESPAN, ITS TGAT WHOLESOME

• “Oh we’re gonna spend so much overdue time together.” I WAS CHEERING SO HARD WHEN JAKE SAID THAT. I LOVE HOW EVERY WHOLESOME TOMJAKE SCENE HITS DIFFERENT KNOWING THAT THEY’RE CANONICALLY ENGAGED BY THE END OF THE TOMJAKE SPINOFF’S FIRST SEASON

• I love how Tom also invited Miriam to spend time with him and Jake since he knows that she and Jake had a great bond, only for Miriam to deny it since she knows Tom owes Jake time for themselves and themselves alone.

• I haven’t seen anyone point this out, but in the scene where the contestants go their separate ways at the airport, the people from season two exit the screen on the LEFT, while people from season one exit the screen on the RIGHT, with the only exceptions being Great exiting on the left, and Yul exiting in on the right. Alec also had Fiore on his shoulders, Jaiden, Tomjake, & Gabellie were holding hands as they exited the screen, and Ashley waved her hat in the air to wave goodbye.

• “The cameras are gone right?” “What difference does it make?” “It’s over. I can finally stop pretending!” I genuinely saw this coming from a mile away when I first watched this ep

• OKAY I HAVE WORDS TO SAY FOR CONNOR & RIYA’S LAST SCENE TOGETHER BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH IT PARALLELS WHAT ROSA SAID TO RIYA AFTER SHE GOT ELIMINATED BESIDES BOTH CONVOS ENDING WITH CONNOR AND ROSA SAYING THE SAME EXACT THING. SOMEONE ON TWT ALREADY SAID THIS, AND WHEN I SAW THAT POST IT MADE ME APPRECIATE THIS SCENE EVEN MORE.

• Ok I turned caps back off for this moment, In S2, Rosa monologues about how she’s disappointed in Riya for letting the game change her, and in All Stars, Connor says he’s disappointed in Riya because of how everyone EXCEPT Riya changed throughout their time in All Stars. LIKE THAT CANT BE A COINCIDENCE, I HAVE A GOOD FEELING THAT THE WRITERS INTENTIONALLY MADE THAT SCENE FROM ALL STARS PARALLEL THE ONE FROM S2 ONCE THEY DECIDED TO MAKE RIYA THE WINNER.

• Also pretty bold of Riya to assume her and Connor could continue whatever they had going on after oh, I don’t know, BREAKING HIS FUCKING LEG AND CONSTANTLY FUCKING WITH HIS MIND (also off-topic, but I think aleconnor’s pretty neat :D Apparently they could’ve hugged during Alec’s elimination, but that scene ended up getting deleted, would’ve made the scene more gayer lol)

• Yeah, uh, still don’t really care about the staff even though I think they’re all pretty neat. I remember being so happy after Krystal said that she had a certain duo in mind to take care of DC whilst she, Oliver, Marcus, & Nina took a vacation since it implied Trevek will return to host s4

• That scene of Riya looking at all the happy lives of the other contestants whilst she’s on her own was so bittersweet considering that this scene was the last scene for most of these characters since most of them didn’t make an appearance in the spin-offs (at least James got namedropped lol) .

• And this all once again goes back to what Rosa said to Riya back in S2, telling her that she’d win but will be alone. Everyone’s managed to get a happy ending except Riya; Tom & Jake finally went out to eat Chinese food like they promised back in S1(and ended up getting engaged), James & Aiden are still happily together and are visiting Germany with Lake & Rosa, Ellie & Gabby are still together with Ellie & Tess also having graduated, Alec & Fiore are back on good terms, Grett & Yul are separately living their best lives, Ashley, Will, Nick, & Lill all went out for drinks, and Connor ended up getting married. Meanwhile, Riya’s basically all by herself, only having the 3 million dollars, her miscellaneous acting awards, and her sister as company, ultimately suffering from success. (L)

• Seriously tho, every competitor in a competition show like this getting a happy ending while the actual winner doesn’t get one is an interesting concept that should be done more

• So yeah TL;DR, All Stars’ finale was FUCKING AMAZING! Sure the season as a whole has its flaws, but I still mostly loved it nonetheless. I started watching around episode 8’s release and caught up by watching the previous seasons to get a good understanding of all the characters. This show would’ve done WONDERS for me back when I was still figuring out my sexuality back in 2021-2022 with all its LGBT rep, but better late than never! And this series also kinda helped me heal from all the angst QSMP threw my way with how most of the ships ended up getting happy endings :D (*cough* Tomjake)

[buffa-z]

ep 18

open on ace in his little confessional with the dramatic piano

THE ZOOM

neon is totally infatuated with sae

keiwa is just genuinely a really nice and altruistic person but this isnt that kind of place so she looks the most suspicious

not voting also gets you kicked out i forgot

kekera!

all this talk about what the jamato and are they sentient and can they live but never is the question asked: can they ball?

michinaga is not invited to the game. and hes all alone in the intro sequence

all these kids love keiwa. i sure hope nothing bad happens

"keiwa just turned into something awesome!"

oh hey everyone

i love how geats is the one in all the little cartoons. the dgp's graphic designers can guarantee this guy will be in the game every time

dont lose at ball game or everyone is forfeit! this is normal and fine :)

just skip straight to powered builder theres really no point in playing around

honestly great team synergy for a bunch of people who are super suspicious of each other

that is so not the angle geats shouldve fallen at

there must be comms or something bc how are they hearing callouts thru all the explosions

geats is great at falling

tycoon i love you but i need you to not fall for this rn

they are kinda sucking ass at this. can we get a new goalie.

ace just staring weirdly at keiwa while she handles the kids at the cafeteria. seriously man you have to stop with the staring

ziin jumpscare. also wtf does "missing your mother?" mean in this instance. and also die

the fear and anger on ace's face when ziin says he looked into ace's family.

the ipad covered in geats stickers

ace's "real" mom is ukiyo mika . and according to the photo, his dads name is ukiyo issei. the nameplate graphic is dgp-style and the photo jsnt just blocked by the sunlight but actually whited out on the screen. someone gave him this photo already edited

ace: so how exactly the fuck precisely do you know all this? and no one in the real world can see it?

ziin: welll,,,, we are tourists

i genuinely wouldnt be surprised if ziin actually doesnt know the dgp setup. he's just a rider supporter so he pays the money, sits in his lounge, and watches the show. he doesnt need to know how it works

ace trying desperately not to attack ziin is so real

YES THIS SCENE LETS GOOO NEOSAEE

they are flirting like crazy in this scene. yuri clues big time.

daichi you slimy bitch

michinaga waiting for his moment. lets watch this happen

yuppp its dead bodies and id cores feeding the jamato

i really love this scene. its so fucking horrific and desperate and draws out so long. michinaga is not even capable of giving up

hes so Good at fighting. he kills a jamarider with HIS BARE HANDSSSSS WHILE BARELY ALIVE

oh god hes just screaming and dying. the music plays and things explode and he's dead on the ground and he gets back up

genuinely one of my favorite shots in the whole show. like imagine. a whole fucking chunk of city that was once there and now its this. and youre buffa and you're not alive anymore and even you cant remember what it was. thats the horror of the dgp

"there's nowhere for you to go, buddy" mannnn you dont even know the half of it

and yup these ladies are still at it. getting gayer by the second

sae what are you doing lecturing neon on love? you literally never let anyone get close to you. except for right now where you and her are inseparable. you guys are being gay as hell

oh and now shes got the harley davidson sponsor gear on

can we all just be nice to keiwa. im tired of this

the irony of wearing a shirt that says "lucky break" on it while this is happening lol

the visible guilt neon feels when she has to verbally disbelieve keiwa bc she still wants to win

ace i know youre spiraling but can you be helpful right now

chirami was just waiting outside to stir the pot

sorry i can't pay attention to what ace is saying bc his outfit is so ugly and looks ridiculous on him.

well. back to the game

nothing in the world is gonna stop tycoon from protecting people

ah god damn it. dont fall for it come on

uh oh! you just got framed!

well i guess the episode ends there

[radiant-reid]

idk if it’s been done but a blurb where reader bets spencer that she can make him cum before he finishes the crossword

oh damn i love this idea

The idea creeps into your head after Spencer times Alex doing the morning crossword and humbly brags that he did it quicker that morning.

She turns to you and complains about your husband lightheartedly. "He never loses."

So, set on helping her, the next Monday, when you find Spencer sitting in the living room preparing himself to battle the words, you set your plan into action. Walking over and gently touching his thigh, he looks up at you with a smile.

"Wanna time me?" He offers out the stopwatch. He's got his glasses on, not yet switched to contacts.

You shake your head, fingers trailing up his thigh to where he's already stirring in your pants. "I kind of wanted to do something else."

His eyebrows raise in surprise, but he's not about to decline your offer to make it a very good morning. "Uh, yeah, okay, sure."

You take the crossword and stopwatch from him. "No, you're going to be on the clock, and I'm going to make you cum before you finish."

He scoffs, unbuttoning and unzipping his pants to get his cock out while you get on your knees. "Good luck."

You don't start the timer right away, not letting him see the puzzle until he's fully hard. Teasing him is always an easy way to get him to cum quicker. "Go." You say, tongue brushing over the tip as you hand over the paper and start the timer.

He takes it with shakier hands than usual, quickly reading through the clues before he starts writing. He's off to a good start while you teasingly only suck the tip of his cock, but taking him down your throat completely has him tensing and a little groan slipping past his lips.

Hollowing out your cheeks with your tongue flat and bobbing your head up and down has him struggling to think. He knows he's much slower than usual and knows the words, but he can't seem to think of them. His pattern recognition strategy also isn't working. The little moans he's trying to conceal motivate you.

Unfortunately, he can't just block you out by closing his eyes, so he takes a deep breath in and concentrates.

He gets a couple more words in and gets closer to his usual average time once he gets accustomed to your strategy, so you switch it up, letting him hit the back of your throat and making you gag each time.

"Fuck." He moans, almost ready to forfeit, but he's a little more determined than that. However, you are too. It's very hard, he finds, to not let his glasses fog up while he breathes hard.

You're unrelenting, not giving him a moment to focus on the words in your diligent efforts to make him cum. It's game over, not even seven minutes in, when you simultaneously, cup his balls, make eye contact with him, and swipe your tongue over the very sensitive tip.

He spills into your mouth with a louder moan, throwing his head back, and completely forgetting about the crossword.

You pull off him, swallowing before smugly grinning at him. "Hurry up, Spence. You don't want your average time for the week to start so high."

Dazed, he picks up the paper again, filling in the last few words now that you've relieved the pressure, allowing blood to flow to his brain rather than it all being forced to his cock.

"Done." He declares, and you look at the stopwatch.

"Damn, seven minutes and thirty-two seconds." You announce, proud of yourself.

There's no doubt Alex will win this morning. It's the longest time you've seen him get in months.

You stand up, leaning over to kiss him. "I hate you." He mumbles against your lips with a blissful smile.

"Too bad." You reply. "You're stuck with me. Now put your pants on so we can go. I've got to brush my teeth again."

Alex is prepared for her turn to do the crossword when you get into the BAU. Spencer reads out the clues, and you time her while grinning at him.

"Four minutes and fifty-one seconds." You announce, loud enough you get the attention of everyone on the team but Hotch as they walk past. "I think we have a winner."

Alex looks surprised. "How long did it take you?" She asks.

Spencer glares at you, and you know he's about to lie to her, so you jump in. "Seven, thirty-two."

"No way." She shakes her head in disbelief. "That was an easy one."

"I got stuck on seven down," Spencer claims when he really just got stuck on you going down on him.

Morgan takes the crossword from her, reading out the clue. "Sexually attractive, six letters." He repeats, making everyone laugh while Spencer blushes.

You laugh too, hitting him on the shoulder as you sit next to him on top of his desk. "Idiot." You whisper affectionately. He could have at least picked a different clue, not one with nubile as an answer.

"Y/n didn't fit." He says uncharacteristically boldly, causing an even louder uproar of surprised gasps and comments.

[phoebe-delia]

Show, Don't Tell

MY FAVORITE TROPE!!!! IT IS DAY 14 OF @flufftober AND THE PROMPT IS "TRUTH OR DARE" AND IT IS MY TIME TO THRIVE!!!!! (Even though writing party games is SO HARD but I'm gonna do it ANYWAY).

Drarry. Party games. 8th year. No beta. No planning beforehand; literally just writing this right into Tumblr like I often do lololol. Let's fucking goooo!!!!

"Truth or dare, Harry?" Hermione had That Look in her eye. The one that meant Harry would be an utter fool to say—

"Truth."

But he did. And by the smirk on Hermione's face, Harry knew trying to backtrack would only make it worse. Which is why he braced himself for her to command him to—

"Tell Draco what you told me earlier."

Harry, at this point, buried his head in his hands. So he only heard the whispers erupt around him, and Draco's voice above it all—"Tell me what?"

Harry could hear the smirk in her voice. "I'll let Harry take it from here. Harry?"

Harry groaned and lifted his head, sparing Hermione a vicious glare before forcing himself to look at Draco's eyes—narrowed in suspicion, but if Harry looked closer he knew he'd see a glimmer of vulnerability that no amount of squinting could fully conceal.

Harry sighed and looked at Hermione imploringly. "Do I really have to?"

Hermione shrugged. "You could forfeit. But I don't think you want to do that."

"Potter, what is going on?" Draco was frowning, and looking hurt, and Harry's stomach twisted and he couldn't have that.

So he glanced back at Hermione, and ignored the eyes of the others in the circle when he said, "Can I show him instead?"

Hermione's eyes softened. "Yes, I'll allow it."

Draco scoffed, but then seemed to still as Harry took a fortifying breath and crawled toward him across the circle. The other students were silent as they watched, but Harry kept his eyes on Draco.

They were a foot away, until Harry moved even closer, cupping Draco's face with one hand and bracing himself on the floor with the other. Up close, Draco's eyes were so wide, with surprise and growing understanding, and Harry waited there, unmoving, waiting.

Draco let out a soft, barely audible, "Oh. Okay," before Harry captured his lips.

When they pulled back for air, panting, Harry was still looking at Draco's lips. He barely registered Draco whispering, "Is that all you have to show me?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not quite done yet," he whispered back, leaning in once more.

[ameliora-j]

before i fell // dm x reader

words: 2.8k

warnings: angst, talk of a breakup, mention of loss of virginity, mention of not eating, mention of not sleeping, pansy is kinda ooc and so is draco, the slytherins are assholes

a/n: i used a lot of olivia rodrigo lyrics bc i listened to SOUR while writing lol. lmk if i should add other warnings and happy reading babies!

you would be cliche and say that you fell in love the way that you fall asleep. slowly and then all at once. but you couldn’t because you didn’t. it wasn’t a john green novel and you weren’t hazel grace lancaster. falling in love wasn’t simple, and that description of it truly… didn’t describe anything. falling in love was more complicated than that. there were more layers to it than that. falling in love was rather… quick and unexpected. unexpected like snow in the middle of march. or rain when there’s not a cloud in sight. quick like waiting months for an event and finally when the time comes, it feels like you blinked and then it was over.

falling in love with draco malfoy was all of these things and more. falling in love with draco malfoy brought upon more layers than that. falling in love with draco malfoy brought pain. not just any kind of pain, no… horrible, heart wrenching, gut twisting pain. pain that began by bubbling itself in your chest right at the center of your heart, then slowly but surely worked it’s way outwards. encapsulating your entire body and making every inch of your body ache. pain like when you get attached to a character and the author kills them off. pain like when you finish your favorite book and you realize that you’re not truly in that universe and none of that actually happened. pain like when you’re two hours, fifteen minutes, and twelve seconds into avengers: infinity war and peter parker says “mr. stark, i don’t feel so good.” pain that you’ve never felt. pain that can’t be described. pain that you felt for days. pain.

you thought it was strange when the platinum blonde slytherin sought you out. he came to you one day while you sat silently at the black lake. you were alone, but only because you liked to be. you had friends of course, many actually, but you chose to be alone. the black lake was your place of solace. then along came draco. he sat beside you, a good distance away, but his presence was known. you looked to him for an explanation but he offered none. just smiled at you and turned to his notes, so you did the same. the second time he came, he sat closer, but still in silence. the third time is when he struck up conversation.

“yln, yeah?” he questioned.

“yn, actually. but yes, yn yln. and you’re draco malfoy?” you asked.

“i am,” he smirked at your knowledge of his name and then you returned to your studying. after that, the two of you talked every time he came and sat with you. short discussions about the weather or the potions assignment. you don’t know when, but soon they became longer. discussions of your day and your family. your interests and how you got your name. how you loved the rain and the stars and how you loved hogwarts, but you often missed home. draco knew you inside and out and you knew him—and before long, you called the tall, skinny blonde your boyfriend.

you walked the halls of hogwarts together, hand in hand. draco walked haughtily with a hard scowl and you with a bright smile. while you walked cheerfully and waved to your friends and to first years while draco glared at anyone who dared look at the two of you. he took you to parties in the slytherin common room and you wore his jersey proudly at quidditch games, even when he played against your house. he bought you lavish gifts at all of your trips to hogsmeade and he showered you in kisses, praise, and affection. you were whole heartedly smitten with the sole heir to the malfoy fortune.

it was one fateful day in the common room when your heart absolutely exploded. that was the day you knew that you fell in love with draco malfoy. you had been a thing for about two, going on three, months. you were sitting in the slytherin common room, reading in silence when he asked. you were pressed against his chest and he pressed a soft kiss to your head. “‘ve been meaning to ask you something,” he murmured gently. this caused you to close the book and turn your full attention to him. “want you to wear this,” he said, holding out a ring. “it’s the malfoy family crest.”

your stomach and your heart exploded into billions of butterflies and you launched yourself forward, straight into his chest. millions of emotions overcame you as you squeezed his neck as tight as possible. you nodded into his neck as a few stray tears fell. he kissed your head repeatedly as he slid the ring onto your finger before pressing his lips to your’s gently. you giggled excitedly as you stared down at the ring on your finger. “do you like it?” he asked you.

“i love it, dray. i love you. thank you s’much,” you confessed for the first time as you cuddled back into his chest. you don’t know what it was that made the blonde boy seek you out, but you’re glad he did. if only you knew the true nature of his intentions. but alas, you were oblivious.

it was the beginning of the school year, on the train to hogwarts. in the compartment of what was labeled as “the slytherin squad.” there sat theo nott, pansy parkinson, blaise zabini, and—your now boyfriend—draco malfoy.

they were all sitting around, taking the piss out of draco for all of his past failed relationships when it was brought up. “i’ll bet malfoy couldn’t get a girl to fall in love with him if he paid her,” theo spoke.

“i’ll take that bet,” draco countered.

“alright. but we get to pick the girl,” blaise decided.

“what?” pansy asked as theo began to look around the compartment. it was a few minutes before he found the victim. it was then that your fate was sealed. there, sitting in the back corner, head tucked deep into a copy of the fault in our stars, was you. you. awkward and quiet. you with seemingly no friends. poor little unsuspecting you.

“that one,” nott smirked evilly.

“what the weirdo?!” draco exclaimed incredulously. “no way!”

“so then you forfeit?” blaise asked, causing draco to release a frustrated exhale.

“alright i’ll do it,” he rolled his eyes.

“then we give you five months. make yn yln fall in love with you in five months and we’ll do your homework for the rest of the year,” theo posed.

“and if i don’t?” draco asked.

“and when you don’t… thennn,” blaise taunted as he searched for a deal that was fair.

“then we get two hundred galleons each and you have to apologize to potter for making his life hell,” theo smirked. draco scoffed at this and rolled his eyes, but nodded nonetheless.

“and what are my conditions?” he raised an eyebrow.

“she has to say it first. you can do anything you want or need to get her to say it, but you cannot say ‘i love you’ first,” blaise spoke.

“this doesn’t seem fair to yn,” pansy piped in.

“shut your mouth parkinson. no one asked your opinion,” theo growled with a roll of his eyes. but it was too late. there was absolutely nothing the girl could do to get the three to change their minds. she just had to sit idly by and watch draco malfoy break your heart as she said nothing. she wished that she could stop it, but their minds were made up. and the three of them were very stubborn.

it was a few days after draco gave you his ring when your bubble came crashing down. you were walking to meet draco at your spot at the black lake when blaise and theo intercepted you. you knew who they were, of course you did. they were your boyfriend’s best friends, however why they were currently speaking to you, you had no idea.

they told you it would be quick. that they just wanted to show you something in the slytherin common room and left little room for argument, so you had no choice but to follow them there. they sat you on the couch and began to discuss your relationship with draco. you were very confused and had no idea why you were here. “so… draco hasn’t told you?” blaise mocked a gasp of shock.

“no?” you raised a soft eyebrow as you stared on. this made theo smirk evilly as he pulled up a projector and pointed his wand at it. a picture appeared, it looked like a memory. “what’s this?” you asked before the boys urged you to ‘shh.’ you sunk further into the couch as you idly watched on.

you truly weren’t paying attention untill you heard the voice of your boyfriend. the words he spoke stung. you were soft. emotional. the way he spoke about you absolutely crushed you. it would crush anyone, but it shattered you especially. “she’s so fucking weird!” “i’ll take that bet.”

‘s all you were. all you ever were. just a stupid belt. another notch in his belt. it was that moment that draco had barged into the common room. but by then, it was already too late. the tears had already sprung to your eyes and you were preparing for a torrential downpour as you heard his voice. “i’m out!” he announced breathlessly. he froze in his run as his eyes fell on you and what was playing on the projector currently. “bunny…” he whispered softly as his hand touched your shoulder, but you quickly jerked away as if his hand had burned you on contact.

“don’t call me that. don’t touch me,” you demanded as the tears began to fall. “that’s all i was? a bet?” an involuntary whimper sounded from the depths of your throat. “i feel so stupid.” you shook your head.

“no, bunny please listen to me,” you didn’t allow the boy to finish as you wrapped your arms tightly around yourself.

“don’t call me that!” you demanded. “in fact don’t call me at all. don’t… don’t talk to me draco. ever again. i can’t believe i fell for your stupid joke. i feel so… i feel like an idiot,” you spoke. you shook your head, hastily wiping at your eyes untill you saw stars. it was then that you decided to walk away.

“YN STOP!” draco yelled. “LISTEN to me,” he demanded.

“NO!” you shouted as you turned to face him finally. “godric draco, i wish you would’ve thought this through before i went and fell in love with you,” you sniffled as you wiped your snot on your sweater sleeve.

“yn please just let me explain. please listen to me, please,” he begged.

“i feel like you betrayed me,” you shook your head. “i told you everything. you were my everything. draco i loved you. i actually loved you. i thought you loved me too but i guess you’re just a really good actor,” you sniffled once more. “i hate you draco. i really fucking hate you. i don’t want to hear your bullshit explanation because i know that you’ll never feel sorry for the way i’m hurting right now.”

“it was a bet!” draco shouted as you walked away, hand on the door knob. you scoffed as you muttered a sarcastic, ‘no shit.’ “that’s how it started yes, but then i got to know you. i figured out who you were. i learned that your favorite color is yfc and that you prefer night over day because you love the stars and that your favorite star is scorpius and you would name your son after that star one day. i learned that you love to read and you love when it storms but you're afraid of the thunder. you only dance when you’re drunk and you giggle when you’re nervous and i love that giggle. with everything in me i do. your favorite book is yfb and you choose to be alone but you let everyone be your friend. you’re gorgeous. inside and out and while it may have started as a bet, somewhere along the lines i fell in love with you so yn please. please don’t leave,” he whispered the last part as his voice came out broken.

you took a deep breath in before you began to speak. “you couldn’t have cared less about someone who loved you more. i’d say you broke my heart but you broke much more than that,” you shook your head as you furiously wiped at your eyes again. “i gave you my all draco. you were my first everything. i gave you my virginity for merlin’s sake. all to find out that i was just some stupid bet,” you scoffed.

“yn please believe me when i say that you’re so much more than that,” he begged again. “i came to tell them that they won. that i wanted out because i fell in love with you too!”

“it doesn’t matter if you don’t see me as a bet any longer. the fact is that you did. i’m worth so so much more than that.” your breaths were ragged as you spoke. “i really wish that you had thought this through before i went and fell in love with you.” you repeated with a small sniffle. “don’t you think i loved you too much to be used and discarded? don’t you think i loved you too much to think i deserve nothing?” you were openly sobbing at this point.

“yn please believe me when i tell you how sorry i am…” he spoke softly.

“don’t tell me you’re sorry. feel sorry for yourself. because someday i’ll be everything to somebody else,” with this you turned away from him. you hastily opened the door and practically ran out of the common room and away from him.

at that moment you decided to forget about it. draco, and the bet, and love, and everything. like in the vampire diaries, you decided to turn your emotions off. you laid in your dorm crying for hours before you made that decision, however. your dorm mates checked on you often, but you never offered more than merely a half hearted shrug, letting them know that you were still alive, but barely breathing. you skipped classes and meals. you were a mere shell of yourself. it was about two weeks before you could face draco again. and even then you couldn’t truly. you went into the great hall and found “the slytherin squad” sans draco.

pansy looked at you sympathetically while theo and blaise basked in the glow of their new victory. you pulled the ring off carelessly as you stopped in front of them, hair disheveled and uniform askew. you had dark bags under your eyes from the lack of sleep you’d gotten in the past fourteen days and your eyes were rimmed red with the weight of your emotions. “c’you just give this back to malfoy,” you murmured half-heartedly as you dropped the ring on the table in front of the three. just speaking his name brought you pain.

your shoulders were sunken in defeat and you were but a shell of your usual cheerful self. you don’t even know when the last time you saw daylight or had fresh air was. “wait yln,” pansy called hesitantly. you turned to face her, still staring down at your mary janes as you pulled and twisted your fingers untill you heard your knuckles pop. “you… you really love him, don’t you?”

you just shrugged your right shoulder as you used the heel of your palm to wipe the snot from your rapidly reddening nose. “i was just some stupid bet,” you replied as tears begin to spill rapidly over your waterline.

“if it’s any consolation… it was those two bozos’ idea,” pansy told you as she pointed to blaise and theo.

“doesn’t matter,” you murmured. “he’s still a traitor,” you answered as you walked away, forgetting all about the slytherin prince and his stupid friends. forgetting all about how he hit you with a train of his “love.” forgetting all about how for three months he was your everything. forgetting all about how he wrote to his mum about you and you wrote to your parents about him. forgetting all about draco malfoy. the platinum blonde boy with stormy grey eyes who had a long story buried beneath his haughty exterior. the boy who you called your first. your first kiss. your first time. your first love. forgetting all about the boy that made you fall in love just to tell you it was all a bet.

attempting to revert back to how you were before you fell.

add yourself to my taglist :)

nani’s 100 followers celebration

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[myherowritings]

Borrowed Sweaters, Stolen Kisses

— In a game of Truth or Dare, you’re dared to sneak into your crush’s dorm and steal one article of clothing to wear the next day. It just so happens that the hoodie you snatched was Shinsou’s favorite sweater.

pairing: shinsou hitoshi x reader word count: 2,204 genre: fluff, aged up au (class 3a) warnings: 16+, suggestive content

a/n: this used to be a harry potter fic i wrote on my hp account but i rewrote it for shinsou bc it just seemed fitting fhgjdhsfg. shinsou is in class 1a in this fic or 3a since they’re aged up and at least 18 years old u.u i hope y’all enjoy!! xx 

“No way.” You shook your head, kicking your legs out in front of you as you ignored Hagakure’s poking and prodding.

It was a relatively relaxed Friday night, and you and your friends decided to spend it in your dorm with a bottle of whisky and a game of Truth or Dare. The truths ranged from anything to, “Fuck, marry, kill: Sero, Kirishima, Kaminari” to, “Who was the last person you sent a nude to?” And the dares weren’t any better. Ashido practically vomiting in the corner served as a great reminder of that.

You were just grateful the dares you received were rather mundane. 

That was, until now.

“Y/N, you have to do it!” said Hagakure.

“Can’t I just forfeit this round and take a shot?”

“Nope, that’s only allowed for truths,” she quipped. 

You glanced over at Jirou, a pleading look on your face, but you were met with a nonchalant shrug. 

“Rules are rules,” Jirou sang, taking a swig of whisky before passing you the handle.

You opened your mouth to protest, but Mina’s fierce glare caused your words to die in your throat.

“If I had to chug that hot sauce concoction you guys made and then eat the mystery sushi until I felt sick, you can go to Shinsou’s room and steal a hoodie or something-- Sounds like a cakewalk compared to my dare.”

As she leaned her back against the bed, hand over her stomach as beads of sweat trailing down her forehead, you figured Mina was right. You’ve been in his dorm plenty of times before, anyway-- You two were friends and, at times, you supposed you enjoyed his company. What was the worst that could happen?

“You’re right.”

“I know.” 

Rolling your eyes, you stood up and slipped some fuzzy socks on, ignoring the cheers coming from your tipsy roommates. When you reached the door, your friends watching fervently as you wandered off to your ill-fated trek, you paused at the handle. 

You looked back at them, heaving a sigh. “If his dorm turns out to be booby trapped and I get caught, just know I will haunt you from the grave after I die of embarrassment.” 

“We expect nothing less,” was Tsuyu’s smart reply. 

Soon enough, you found yourself climbing up the boys’ side of Heights Alliance, feeling like you were doing a reverse walk of shame. It was a quarter past three o’clock in the morning and the odds of any of them being awake were slim to none, but that didn’t stop the butterflies from fluttering in your stomach. 

You made your way to the front of Shinsou’s dorm room and cautiously placed your hand on the door handle. With a small grumble you fished the key card Hagakure stole from Hitoshi earlier (which made you wonder just how long your friends were planning this whole escapade out…) out of the pocket of your sweatpants. 

For the most part, it looked just like your dormitory. Only neater. His desk was fairly organized and, aside from balls of yarn and different sizes of knitting needles, was clear enough to work on. Scarves and hoodies were piled onto the back of the chair and foot of the bed--which meant your dare should be easy enough to complete--and a dim light was left twinkling.

Everything seemed cozy and lived in. Normal.

Except for the fact that Shinsou Hitoshi was not in his bed. 

“What on earth?” you murmured under your breath, finding it a bit strange the room was completely empty at this hour. But knowing him, you reckoned he was out training at any hour he could--something that worried you about him--or playing with a cat off campus grounds. It wasn’t unlikely. 

Still, with your feet planted at the foot of his dormitory, you wanted to get out of there before you were caught. Because you knew there was no way in hell for your drunken ass to smooth talk your way out of this mess if he were to find you.

Your hand hovered over the article of clothing nearest to you, which was a sweater draped over the back of a chair, and you took a deep breath, saying, “It’s just a dare. You can do it.” 

Before you lost all your nerve, you snatched the jumper with one hand and slipped out of the dorm. As you rushed down the stairs, you could’ve sworn you heard some shuffling coming from the empty room. But you didn’t care.

Part one of your dare was successfully completed.

Now for the hard part: Wearing it around the next day.

- - - - -

“How do I look?” 

You posed in front of your roommate, trying not to laugh at how the borrowed jumper engulfed your frame. Walking down the center of your dorm, you gave a little twirl.

“Sexy,” Mina teased from her spot on her bed. “Shinsou’s sweater looks nice on you.” 

Sticking your tongue out at her, you made a face. “I’m not sure what you mean. It’s pretty gross to me. I would never want to wear any of Shinsou’s clothes.”

“Then why did you put the hood over your head and bury your face in the collar?” 

Slowly, you peered up at her with your view obstructed by the fabric. You sniffled haughtily, trying to ignore the soothing aroma of lavender and smoked wood that filled your sense. 

Mina smirked, catching the small sigh of contentment that left your mouth as you basked in the scent of Shinsou’s hoodie. “Gross, huh?” 

“Mention this to no one,” you mumbled with a nonthreatening glare, pulling the hood off your head and folding your fabric-covered hands over your chest.

Laughing, she tossed you your bookbag from across as she waited by the door, the rest of your friends back in their own rooms to get ready for class. “Come on, lovebug. You can see him during math in a few minutes.”

“I won’t be looking forward to it.”

You grumbled protests as the both of you made your way down the stairs of Heights Alliance and toward the main campus of U.A. High, but Ashido paid them no mind. Soon enough, you reached the room and spotted Jirou and Hagakure in their usual seats. 

“Hey,” you quickly whispered, sliding into the seat next to Tooru before Ectoplasm sauntered over to the front of the class.

“Nice jumper,” she said simply, voice going an octave higher in amusement. “I knew you’d go through with it.” 

Reminded of your rather bold choice of clothing (that was horribly out of dress code), you subconsciously tugged at the sleeves. You sent a quick plead to the gods above that you didn’t look as foolish as you thought you did. 

While Ectoplasm introduced antiderivatives and indefinite integrals to the class, Hagakure nudged you on the side, sliding you a ripped piece of her parchment paper.

You looked at her curiously as Mina peered over your shoulder to catch sight of the writing.

DO NOT LOOK NOW!!! But I’m 100% certain Shinsou has been staring at you since the start of math class.

Of course, the first thing both you and Ashido did after reading the note was turn your heads at the same time towards the back of the class where Hitoshi and his friends were sitting. And, as your luck would have had it, you made directly eye contact with an amused-looking Shinsou.

Both you and Mina turned around to face the front so fast you were sure at least one of you received whiplash. 

Wide-eyed and flushed, you exchanged glances with her, both of you trying to hold in your laughter.

“I told you not to look,” Hagakure whispered, a small giggle escaping from her lips, sending you three into fits of laughter you tried to muffle with your hands. 

Behind you, someone cleared their throat, causing the three of you to straighten up in an instant. 

“Something amusing you, ladies?” 

“No, sir,” you quipped.

“Sorry, Ectoplasm-sensei,” remarked Tooru.

“We’ll shut up now,” promised Mina.

With a stern look on his face but a slight tilt of his smile, Ectoplasm nodded and returned to his lesson. “I trust you three will be experts of the integral calculus by the next lesson and I won’t have to catch you making doe eyes at a certain someone?”

Though he asked all three of you the question, his gaze was pointed at you and the class knew it. Your cheeks heated up as slouched into your chair. Perhaps if you tried hard enough, you could turn into the seat. 

“Yes, sir,” you mumbled, ignoring the stifled laughter from Ashido and an apologetic, but amused, look from Hagakure. 

And as he continued the lesson, you could’ve sworn you felt a certain pair of eyes on the back of your head until the end of it.

When class finally concluded and Ectoplasm dismissed the lot of you, you rushed out of the classroom as fast as you could.

But not fast enough.

“Nice sweater, Y/N,” you heard a deep voice call, stopping you in your footsteps. “Looks familiar.”

You swallowed, slowly turning around to face Shinsou--lazy smirk and all. There was nothing you wanted to do more than dash back to your dormitory and hide, but instead you straightened your spine and braved a look of nonchalance.

“Does it now?”

“Yeah,” he said with an amused look in his eyes. “I’d have to say it does.”

Peering up through your lashed, you looked at him with faux innocence. “I can’t say I know why.”

Slowly, he walked closer towards you as you moved back against the wall. He took the excess fabric of your sleeve into his hands, stroking them between his fingers.

“You know-- It even feels familiar.” He smiled thoughtfully. “Just like my sweater I happened to lose last night.”

By now, the halls had begun to clear up, the traitors you called friends having left you with a thumbs up right as Shinsou approached you. 

You coughed as you repeated, “I wonder why.”

He was so close you could catch a whiff of his lavender and woodsy scent.

“If you wanted my clothes on you, Y/N, you could’ve just asked.”

You pointedly eyed the way he was toying with the hem of your--or rather, his--sweater, lifting it slightly. “Well, if you wanted my clothes off this badly, you could’ve just asked.” 

Shinsou raised his eyebrows in surprise at your suggestion, hand frozen on the fabric. The intensity of his gaze melted your steely disposition, embarrassment creeping up to your neck.

“I’m only kidding,” you murmured, refusing to be the one to break eye contact.

“That’s a shame, then.”

You blinked. “What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing.” 

Biting the inside of your lip, you toyed with the bottom of your sweater.

“That’s my favorite jumper, you know?” mused Shinsou, looking fondly at the U.A. hoodie. “Aizawa got it for me when I entered the hero course.” 

A horrified look crossed your face. You stole his favorite sweater that Eraserhead gifted him himself? Good going. 

“Oh, shit,” you swore, reaching for the hem of the hoodie. “I’m sorry, Shinsou! I didn’t know.”

Chuckling, Shinsou placed his hand on top yours to stop you from removing it. “No-- You can keep it on.” You paused. “I’d say I quite like how it looks on you.”

Your heart skipped a beat when his hand that was still on your ran down the length of your fingers. Before you could talk yourself out of it, you interlaced them with his own, causing him to send a shocked but pleased look your way. You smiled.

He ran the tip of his tongue along his lower lip, gently drawing you closer to him. “If I were to kiss you right now, would you be upset?”

You shook your head, leaning into his touch. “Upset is the last thing I’d be.”

“Well, then I suppose--”

“What are the two of you doing?” you heard Aizawa exclaim as he rounded the corner, catching sight of the two of you against the hallway. He pulled Shinsou away from you by the collar, your cheeks flooding with embarrassment. 

Shinsou, however, looked unperturbed.

“Sorry, Aizawa-sensei,” he said sincerely, “but what I was about to do just then-- I’ve wanted to do that for a while now.”

He chuckled at the shocked look on your face, giving you a wink as Aizawa released his shirt. Shinsou made his way back over to you across the hall.

“How cute you looked in my sweater was only the catalyst,” said Shinsou before placing both hands on either side of your hips, pulling you towards him in a brief but deep kiss.

“Shinsou! Y/L/N!”

“Sorry, sir.” This time, Shinsou didn’t sound so sincere as he ignored the appalled look on Aizawa’s face. “I just couldn’t wait until we got to the dorms to do that. Don’t worry though, Y/N-- I swear there will be far better kisses that’ll take place there as well.”

And though the two of you may have been sentenced to detention and cleaning duty for the next three weekends, you would have to say the kiss was definitely worth it.

[tsuki-sennin]

It's time for episode 21 of Kamen Rider Geats!

Oh, excuse me, Kamen Rider Geezer!

...oh, pardon me, I meant Kamen Rider Gazer!

No, no, hold on, I'm sorry-!

Enter Password: Spoilers, I guess...

Gazer, log in!

Install. Innovation and Control.

Booting... VisionOS

Error! TAURI-MORTAE.exe has been identified by VisionOS as a harmful program. Immediate action required.

-Buffa camera!

-Who's filming him, I wonder?

-"I'll massacre all those motherfuckers, just you watch!"

-Beroba-chan, hello!

-Goddess of Creation.

-That's Mitsume, ain't it?

-Change the world to be Rider free but Jamato infested.

-OHHHH NADGEY'S BACK.

-Run, Sae-san!

-Ohhhhhhh, we're doing this again.

-Less than five hours until her family's shop is blown sky high.

-"GIVE ME THE FUCKING BUCKLE SKINNY BOY"

-"...yeah okay"

-Ace and Keiwa are left to deal with the rest of the fruit basket on their own.

-Suika bomber!

-Nice shot!

-"Lying saves a lot more people than you realize, Keiwa."

-Boost!

-"You can have this one, Keiwa-kun."

-"Oh cool, thank you Ace, I appreciate it :)"

-"KEIWA YOU FUCKER, YOU'D BETTER TAKE THAT FUCKING BOOST BACK RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GONNA SHIT-"

-Seems Na-Go and Lopo are faring just fine.

-"You hand that Zombie chainsaw back over to me right now you BITCH!" (literal)

-Jelly bean

-Ohhhhhh, Daichi did his homework.

-...is he perhaps a DGP fan?

-Beroba-chan's got high tier backer rewards.

-Holy shit, Michinaga

-Crush all Kamen Riders indeed.

-Ja-Ja-Ja Strike!

-Neon!

-Goddamn, she took that.

-Y'know, producer guy's got a point. This is investing drama.

-Ace with the interruption.

-"Bitch took your gun."

-"Yo, Na-Go. I need me some connections."

-There he is. Niram-P.

-Griefing is not an epic gamer move.

-"There's this teenage girl with nothing better to do. You know how it is."

-Ohhhhh, Niram's our key.

-"And you? You're too good to be a human from now."

-Shared mysteriousness.

-Selective breeding.

-"Good thing I'm not dead, huh~?"

-Melonless.

-Goddamn, Na-Go's been carrying you, huh Sae-san?

-You were the sussiest baka all along!

-Here we go, in the thick of it all!

-It's gambling time!

-"What took ya so long, idiot!?"

-Set Fever!

-BOOST!

-HOT DAMN, SHE FASTER THAN EVER

-"Just you fucking wait, Geats."

-"You're dead! And yet you LIVE! You are ruining my VISION!"

-I didn't expect to get a Glare retool so soon, but... I'm gonna be real, Gazer looks just as sexy a suit.

-Boostriker~!

-Kon-chan~!

-Ohhhhh, bike action! Hell yeah!

-Hot damn, that's a lotta boost.

-I didn't realize the Jamato were made of nitroglycerin.

-KEIWA UHKHJG

-"Blue and yellow."

-For an executive, Niram's certainly got a lot of hands-dirtying on him.

-Forcefieldin'.

-Y'know, that painful seeming Jamato Buckle might've been best left at home. Just sayin'.

-Or maybe not.

-Delete!

-Blue and yellow!

-Ohhhhhhhhhh

-Ohhhhhh they're dead dead

-Oh whoops, never mind. Neon with the save.

-Think you'd like to give up, huh Sae-san?

-Ohhhhhhhhh

-Zombie Man lives.

-"This isn't fiction any more~! You're a real boy."

-By unanimous decision, Sae Ganaha has chosen to forfeit the Desire Grand Prix. She's pretty dang okay with it, if I'd say so myself.

-NEON

-OKAY

-I GENUINELY DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING WHAT THE FUCK

-She blew them the fuck up.

-Neon...

-Honey, you're breakin' my heart here.

-Glad you took so much out of this, Sae-san.

-See you on the outside, Sae-san.

-Buffa's got fans again.

-"It's just a prank, brooooo~!"

-Chirami, you shrewd bastard.

-"So tell me sweetheart... if you were to boil one of those boys alive, would you prefer kitsune udon or tanuki soba~?"

-Hot damn, Neon's discovered her girlboss era.

-GAME MASTER FIGHT AGAIN

-Oh! The

-The Glare suit survives!

-Oh shit, new character.

-Hot damn, the Divergence Game is closing in on a horrifying climax.

[jonnnysuh]

How To Write Good // Vernon

A/N: It all started with watching Vernon’s English tutor series and now we’re here omg. This is my first series so please give it some love <3 kind of unedited so lmk if there’s any mistakes! PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

PAIRING: Vernon x You

GENRE: enemies to ???, fluff, student!vernon, tutor!vernon

WARNINGS: swearing

WORD COUNT: 2.7K

SUMMARY: There’s the crisp air of campus, the rush of something new, and a four year degree ahead of you. Your college experience doesn’t go off as smoothly as you’d hoped when you fall asleep on course selection day and are stuck with left over electives. Struggling to get through your creative writing class, you have no idea how you’re going to get through this semester. Fate steps in when the stranger you fought in the library might just be your only chance at passing. This is all just part of the college experience… right?

Orange leaves began surrounding the burnt red brick pathway, and the small green hills of the campus quad.  Fall was fast approaching, without much warning.  The bright summer sky, now often clouds of gray. The wind brushed past you, causing your hair to fly up. Your legs brushed together quickly as you tried to make your way through campus to get to your Writing in the Arts class. You swore to yourself that you wouldn't sleep through course selection but sometimes sleep was an actual priority to you...and it so happened to be on that day.  Not your first choice, but definitely miles ahead of  Economic History on the list of leftover electives.

You flipped over your wrist to take a look at the time on your brown pleather watch. 8:12.

Professor Hampton was an older woman, who always kept her sandy brown hair in a slick tight low bun. She had enforced a rule that the doors to the lecture hall would shut 15 minutes past the hour. If you didn’t make it then you’d have to get notes from a classmate. Maybe it’d be fine if you had a friend in the class that was actually punctual, but you had often sat alone in the same spot in the far left corner of the class room.  Time was definitely never on your side as you reckoned you only had 3 minutes left until your trip downtown was rendered useless. 

You swung the thick metal door open, and began pumping your legs forward, not stopping until you reached the top of the stairs. To your luck, the lecture hall was on the exact end of the hallway. As you took longer strides, your gray backpack bounced behind you. Finally arriving at the end of the long hallway, you came face to face with Professor Hampton, who had a scowl so thick you’d think it was drawn on with a felt tip permanent marker. Without an ounce of forgiveness, that old lady secured the door shut, eyes keen on your betrayed face just a few centimetres from hers.

With the little pride you still had, you contained the urge  to bang on the door repeatedly and say "OPEN UP."

If you hadn't had time to get ready that day, or missed your bus, dammit this would've been the boiling point that would've driven you to  kick the wall. Your saving grace was that there was a cute guy typing away on his laptop in this hallway and you'd be damned if you were about to look a fool.

It was that moment, you knew that if you were going to pass this class without sacrificing a wink of sleep, you were going to have to make a friend that was good at writing notes. And quick.

—

The next day, you navigated your way through the twists and turns of the library, never having had been there a day in your life. You swear you’d gone in a circle at this point. You promised your best friend, Taylor that you’d secure a spot for your impromptu study date. Although you both had good intentions, you knew it was more than likely going to become a gossip session that involved sometimes looking at class material.

Among the rows and rows of occupied tables, you finally found an empty table, situated next to the window that overlooked the architecture and art buildings. You settled in the chair, slipping your laptop out of your tote bag , and typing mindlessly to look busy while you waited for your friend. With a look around the room, you wondered if people actually studied at the library or if they were just faking it like you.

You were so immersed in your game of Tetris you almost didn’t hear the voice that said , “Hey, I think you’re at the wrong table.”

You paused your game and surveyed the empty wooden table you were sitting at.  You blinked slowly at the brown haired man.  “I was here first.”

“That might be true but I booked it out for the hour.” The stranger stood with a slight slouch, sporting a backwards snapback and a deep green hoodie. He didn't look like the type to hang out around the library- but then again, neither did you. You swear you had seen him before, but you couldn't place where.

Did I go to high school with him?  you thought.

What if he was ugly and had a glow up and that’s why I don’t recognize him?

You took a closer look at him.

Nah. I don’t think he’s ever been ugly in his life.

“Look. My name's right here." He leaned forward, showing you his screen.

[TABLE 9] 3:00pm - Vernon C.

You pushed the phone away, unimpressed. "But you showed up late."

"It was only 6 minutes." Vernon scoffed, as if his tardiness would automatically forfeit him from his table.

"Well, have you ever heard of finder's keepers?"

Vernon nodded, his voice pointed. "But have you ever heard of fair and square?"

You tried your best to conceal the fact that you were somewhat amused by his elementary-level comeback.

"Could you look into your great, big heart to share?” You pouted tauntingly.

"Oh, yeah, because you need a table to play Tetris." He responded sarcastically but it was as if he had crept into your mind. You dreaded the idea of being on your feet trying to find another place for your game.

Your best friend rolled in between you two innocently, confused at the interaction at hand. It was like a kid walking in on their mom and dad fighting for the first time… except dad is a Tetris-hating stranger you just met 3 minutes ago.

“Sorry I’m late, Y/N.”  Taylor interjected, trying her best to mend the atmosphere with a grin.  Vernon's posture went notably straight as he exhaled, returning a sweet close-lipped smile. You couldn't help but notice the way he looked at your friend- you squinted at the shadow of the difference between this Vernon and the one that basically told you to fuck off only moments prior.

Without a doubt, you knew he was suffering from the "Taylor Effect".

Taylor was your textbook girl next door; equipped with a warm demeanour, and a confidence that was endearing rather than cocky.  You could tell that Vernon was trying his best not to stare so obviously, but he was failing miserably.

Because everyone gravitated towards her, many found it odd that she chose to keep you as company. Sometimes you thought she stuck around only because your personalities were so starkly different and would emphasize how great she was, but time and time again she proved she was notable on her own accord.

"Did I interrupt something?"

You and the man shared a look.

Vernon had a feeling that if he let you speak first, that you might ruin his chances with Taylor, and there was absolutely NO shot that he was going to tell her what had just happened. You were quick to take advantage of the situation.

“Vernon just wanted to take the tab-“

He shook his head, "No, no, no I was just leaving."

You raised your eyebrow, smugly.

“I'll see you later,” He bid.  Your eyes widened as he went closer to you, clasping his hand around yours and pulling you forwards into an almost embrace. He dapped you up. Vernon dapped you up. What? Did he think you were bros now?

Ya, right. You thought. This is my first and last time in this library. You will never see me or my Tetris again.

And with that, he swung his backpack over his shoulder  coolly and headed down the long carpeted aisle in the other direction.

Only a few moments later did he return to go through the north exit. “Wrong way.” He mumbled, charting past both of you.

—

“So you don’t know anyone in that class?” Taylor said in disbelief as you two sat at the table you had only marginally won.

“No, I missed the first two weeks so by the time I actually went to class  they already had their groups.”  you responded, blowing air out of your mouth in frustration.

School had only just begun and Taylor had swept up a bunch of friends, including you, in just this one semester.

You, on the other hand, were awkward, but not in the forgivable way. You never knew the right thing to say, and your sarcasm drew a fine line between a joke and the truth. You felt like you always had to bite your tongue to hold a decent conversation with someone. In turn, this scared a lot of people away, and resulted in a small but good group of friends that understood you.

For some reason though, you did well with confrontation. That was the only time you could force yourself to not care about what someone else thought about you. Other than that, your communication skills were almost useless.

“So go up to those kids and say hi.” Taylor responded.

You knew your best friend was being well meaning, but sometimes she felt like she oversimplified your problems because she saw it through her own lens. Of course it would be easy for Taylor to do so, but for you it would be a different story. Your stomach turned at even the mere thought of introducing yourself to the group of strangers that always sat all the way in the front of the lecture hall.

“I’ll just figure it out. I don't know how to just talk to people."

“What about that guy that I just saw you with? What was that about?”

You cleared your throat, fixing your attention to your laptop screen. Getting work done suddenly seemed more interesting.

“No, no, no look at me.” Taylor dragged your laptop away.

You begrudgingly looked at your friend. “What about him?”

“Who was that? He was kind of cute.” She cupped her cheek with her hand and sat closer, clearly interested. It was rare to see you with anyone other than your usual friend group so Taylor was invested in your endeavours outside of it.

You knew that if you told Taylor about your weird argument with a stranger, that she’d explain that you were unfriendly, that you needed to be nicer, etc. etc. You didn’t need a lecture today.

“Just some dude who finished using the table.”

Taylor chuckled, “What kind of guy says bye like that to a person he just met?”

Her guess was as good as yours.

—

ONE WEEK LATER

Determination is setting 25 morning alarms, pre-picking your clothes and opting for an on-the-go breakfast in order to just make it on time for class. You took your final strides towards the class slowly, knowing you finally had time on your side. Would it be crazy to call waking up at 6am a victory? Doesn’t matter, you were just so happy, you could answer Professor Hampton’s questions… that is, if you listened.

At the bottom of the lecture hall, sat the aforementioned groups, while the top were lonesome stragglers looking at their phones in an effort to look less lonely. You knew they were probably just reviewing their settings; turning their wifi on and off.

Professor Hampton cleared her throat into the microphone at the front of the class, prompting you to pick up the pace to your regular spot at the far left corner.

No way.

Your speed slowed down again, as you craned your head to get a better look at a brown-haired boy sitting by himself.

Despite the numerous empty seats to choose from, your caffeine rush assisted you in making the possibly dumb decision of sitting exactly right next to him. He seemed unbothered, though as he didn’t look up to question it.

Professor Hampton played her slides, while you pulled out your laptop out of your tote bag.

“Hey.” You whispered.

The man’s light brown eyes flickered towards you.

“You’re in this class?” Vernon whisper-exclaimed.

It registered in your brain that this might’ve been a mistake.

You nodded.

Vernon kept his focus on the front of the class, his pencil swivelled  away on his lined paper. You had never seen anyone actually take real-life notes before. You scanned his paper, pleasantly surprised at the organization.

“Why did you dap me up last week?”

“I honestly don’t know what I was doing.” He admitted.

Boys do dumb things around pretty girls. You'd seen it happen so many times with Taylor.

“She’s cute isn’t she?”

“Who?” Vernon was quick to play dumb, but he clearly knew. 

You were fascinated by how he was writing and listening to you at the same time.

“Taylor—my friend.”

Vernon squinted his eyes, either to think or because he couldn’t see the projection clearly. It made you wonder why he sat in the back of the class if that was the case.

“Yeah, she is.”

Bingo.

You silently relished in your impromptu decision to sit next to a stranger.

“What would you say if I got you a date with her?”

Vernon put his pencil down. “You strike me as the kind of person who wouldn’t do that out of the kindness of your heart.”

You snorted. “You’re right.”

Vernon let out a deep sigh, pushing his hoodie sleeve up his arms. He relaxed back in his seat and stared at you as he waited for your proposal.

“What is it?” His deep voice was littered with impatience but it was clear he was at least curious.

You weren’t  prepared to gain his full attention. Your mind went several ways as you collected your thoughts to be as concise as possible.

“I’m struggling in this class, okay? I can’t always make it on time, and creative writing? Not really something I’m interested in.”

“Then why’d you take the class?”

“Why does anyone do anything here? For the credit.” You responded as if the answer was obvious.

Vernon’s raised eyebrows was enough to tell you that he was actually passionate about this subject— which was perfect for you if you wanted to pass the class.

“How do I come into this, though?” His patience running thin from your incredibly interesting backstory.

“If you tutor me up until midterms and I pass, I’ll get you a date with Taylor.”

He shook his head “What if you fail?”

“Then you can take that as a reflection of your teaching skills,” Vernon rolled his eyes. Okay maybe that was a bad joke. “but on the plus side you’ve gained a new friendddddd.”

Professor Hampton gave you two a dirty look on her way back from shutting the lecture hall’s door. Vernon picked up his pencil to look busy and you tapped on your trackpad to turn the screen on.

“And what if I say no?” Vernon said between his teeth, catching the professor glare right at him with her scowl turned up to one hundred.

“Then I’ll shit talk about you to Taylor so you never have a chance.” You threatened. Your mom always urged you to use your brain, and boy, were you using it.

“You want me to teach you how to be creative?”

You shrugged. “I mean, how hard can it be?”

Vernon looked down at his notes contemplating his choices. He was silent for so long that you actually started typing notes.

“Y/N” Vernon whispered. You seemed to be fully immersed in the lesson now. Your eyes absorbing the information... Maybe writing was kind of fascinating.

“Y/N” He tried again, snapping you out of a trance.

“My bad.” you apologized. “I didn’t know the interesting part of the story was called the climax like ew—”

“I can only tutor you on Thursdays between 6 and 8 in the library. Bring your laptop and be prepared to learn.”

You knew you didn’t have class at those hours, so it should’ve been fine, but you also dreaded staying after school longer than you had to.

“What about 4-6?” You pleaded.

Vernon looked offended at your counter offer. “No. 6-8”

“4:30…?” You tried once again.

Vernon snorted at your no-quit attitude. “You wanna pass or not?”

You stuck out your hand defeatedly and Vernon shook on it before either of you could change your mind. Vernon was your new tutor.

Maybe Taylor was right. All you had to do was go up to someone and say “hi.”

And blackmail them. And use your friend as bait.

Making friends was easy.

[everything-is-by-design]

Bring Me To Life

Hey, folks! Here’s a oneshot that I wrote a few months back. It’s decent, and I hope all of you loverly people enjoy it! I wrote this fic to the gentle ambience of Bring Me Love Games (Bruno Veland Mashup Remix) and I recommend you do the same to get the full effect. Enjoy! Xo.

 Word Count: 1.5k

Lucifer x Reader

Warnings: Blood, dying, death, and fluff

The reader sacrifices herself to protect Lucifer and he tries to save her.

The monster lunged for Lucifer and all you could think was, ‘no, not him’. Knowing that the monster’s plan was to feed on his light and knowing that you might survive the attack when you knew that he would not, you threw yourself between the beast and the archangel. The scorpion-like creature plunged it’s stinger into your gut and you immediately summoned all of your strength, eyes glowing a bright white, and pushed the creature away from the angel. Blood pooled between your lips and began to stream down your chin and neck as you sliced the scorpion’s tail off with your sword. It gave a wickedly inhuman scream before backing off, it’s tail curling inwards as it shrieked and cowered away from you.

You took slow but steady steps toward the monster, gripping your sword tightly as you desperately tried to stay awake. You felt Sam and Dean’s eyes on you while you approached the scorpion. Castiel held his arms out to stop the boys from running to your aid. They shouted your name, clearly upset with your apparent sacrifice for the devil. You tried to smile, “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size, beastie?”

“Y/N, stop! You’re going to kill yourself!” Dean practically screamed at you.

The scorpion slashed at you. You held up your sword to defend yourself against its attack as you fought against its strength. You looked up to the sky, willing all the Grace of every angel in heaven, on earth and in The Empty, save for Lucifer and Castiel’s, to fuel your body and your power. A beam of shockingly bright light plunged into your open mouth as all of heaven’s strength filled your essence. For the first time, you felt something breaking through your bones and skin, protruding from your back; wings. They were huge, bigger than any normal or even any archangel’s wings were and there were twelve of them. They were jet black with horn-like bones protruding from the feathers at the top, like a dragon’s wings. Small swirled horns grew from your head while holy fire ignited between them.

The light continued to flow through your body as you embraced your true form. Half human, half angel, half abomination, and half elemental. You barely noticed the four of their reactions, only slightly astounded that they could all see your transformation. The scorpion’s pincer sank into your side drawing a hiss from your mouth and more blood running down your body. With all of heaven’s might pulsing through you, you placed your hand on the beast’s head as you blasted it with holy fire.

The fire ripped through the scorpion’s body, tearing it apart inch by inch as its harrowing screams filled the air. It finally exploded into a million pieces of ash and dust. You took a few seconds to breathe before falling to your knees. Castiel and the boys ran to you as the power faded from your essence and the new additions to your body disappeared. You watched them as time started to slow down before stopping completely. You fell over but didn’t hit the ground. Instead, arms caught you, wrapping around your body and lifting you up. Whoever picked you up held your broken body close to theirs before you felt them transport you.

Time restarted as Castiel and the boys reached where you had been. Dean looked down at the blood on the pavement. Sam breathed heavily, “Where did she go?”

Castiel looked around, “Lucifer has taken her.”

You felt yourself being laid down on a hard surface and you tried to focus on your surroundings but everything was so swirly and blurry. You cried out in pain as you felt the scorpion’s poison penetrating your blood. You vaguely heard someone shushing you as if attempting to calm you down.

“Why would you do that? Stupid girl,” You heard Lucifer’s voice ring in your ears. You felt sleep calling to you and your eyes fluttered closed. Lucifer shook your shoulders, “No, stay awake. Stay with me.”

He gently but firmly smacked your cheeks, desperately trying to keep you conscious, knowing that if you gave in and fell asleep you’d never come back to him. The archangel worked quickly, trying to suck out all of the poison he could while simultaneously healing your ruptured organs. No one had ever done something like that for him and he had lost all hope over the years being stuck in the cage that anyone would ever care for him again. And yet, there you were, bleeding out on the library’s table in the bunker having only moments prior thrown yourself between him and the creature. You had wasted no time, there was no hesitation, you had simply decided to forfeit your life to save his.

You blinked yourself awake as your blurry gaze fell on Lucifer’s bloodied white shirt. His jacket had been folded and placed under your head. His blond hair was sticking out in all directions as he worked on you, his eyes glowing red. “Talk to me,” Lucifer ordered.

“About what?” You managed. You began to cough up blood and Lucifer briefly rolled you on your side so you wouldn’t choke.

“Spit it out,” He said. You obeyed, spitting the blood from your mouth. It hit both the table and the floor. He rolled you back onto your back and continued his work.

“Are you hurt?” You asked him.

He laughed hysterically at you, “Am I hurt? Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

You were going into shock, you knew it, and you couldn’t control the words the were slipping from your lips. You cried out again as immense pain flooded over you.

“I know, I know it hurts. I’m trying to make it stop,” He snarled at you.

“You’re angry with me,” You sputtered.

The hysterical laughter continued. His arms were drenched in your blood and your gaze fell upon a new being in the room dressed in a black suit. It stood just behind Lucifer, almost ten feet away.

“There’s a reaper here,” You said. Lucifer looked at you as you nodded in its direction.

Lucifer grabbed onto your face, getting your own blood all over your skin. You noticed that his cheeks were tear stained. “No, do you hear me?”

You reached for his face with a shaky hand, “Let me go.”

He shook his head and turned to face the reaper before screaming at it to the point where it exploded into a pink mist.

“Lucifer, you won’t be able to fix me this way,” You said, once again feeling a heaviness behind your eyes.

“Tell me, then! Tell me how to fix you! Please, Y/N, please tell me how to fix you,” Lucifer begged you angrily before shaking you again violently. Rage pulsed through him. He couldn’t lose the only person to show him that kind of devotion since his father turned his back on him. His voice cracked, “Don’t leave me.”

“I need your Grace,” You said softly.

“Take it, I don’t want it if I can’t have you,” He said, lifting you to hold your limp body in his arms.

“Not like that. You need to take me as your Mate to heal me,” You said before the door of the bunker burst open and Castiel and the boys rushed down the stairs.

“Lucifer! Get away from her!” Dean shouted.

Lucifer yelled and a blast of energy erupted from him, knocking the three of them unconscious. He laid you back down, taking your right arm in his so that the two of gripped each other's forearms. He’d only read about Mates a few times in his life and wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it. “Help me. Tell me what to say.”

“Lucifer, Light Bringer, Morningstar, Prince of Darkness, I take you as my Mate from now until the end of days. I will not doubt you. I will not leave you. I will lift you up and heal you for now and for always,” You said the dedication to him as your eyes began to glow red.

“Y/N, Spirit High Priestess, Light of the Earth, Light of the Human Race, Eveningstar, I take you as my Mate from now until the end of days. I will not doubt you. I will not leave you. I will lift you up and heal you for now and for always,” Lucifer repeated the dedication as his eyes shone white.

“Bonded in blood, forever and always,” You both said together before another bright white light shone through the bunker. You felt his Grace pulse through you, healing you and strengthening you into a new being as your essence did the same to him. When the light finally faded, you had been completely healed. Any trace of blood or injury had vanished and you lay in the arms of the archangel whose soft pink wings encompassed you both, shielding and protecting you.

You looked up into his eyes that had faded to blue again. He couldn’t help but lean in and press his lips to yours. You returned the kiss instantly, feeling true bliss, ecstasy and happiness for the first time in your life fill your body and overflowing into him. Lucifer broke the kiss, “Why did you do that?”

“Because you’re worth fighting for. You’re worth saving. My beautiful Morningstar, and because I happen to be madly in love with you,” You smiled.

[gayseyjones]

I DO WANNA HEAR ABT A DELTARUNE SOUL EATER AU

what is it abt? does it follow the anime or the game story? or is it a more original story?

OMG HIIII putting this under a readmore because damn I did not expect to ramble that much

So like groundwork stuff susie, kris, and ralsei r a trio w kris as the meister. susie is an axe ofc and ralsei is. Okay I've gotta be honest the only idea I have for him is like a crazy strong scarf like armor but that sounds stupid so???? Yeah. He's there. Kris is also a weapon themself (knife) but after a previous bad experience w a shitty meister (the vessel) they decided to become a meister. they cannot stand being wielded at all

berdly and noelle are also partners! noelle is the meister and berdly is her weapon (a halberd)

gaster is lord death and jevil is asura. it kind of works scarily well. and imagining gaster acting like lord death is fucking hilarious

card king is a witch and lancer is his son, rouxls is their body guard. I think lancer and rouxls would be in a sort of "mifune and angela" type situation :) and also they have to save lancer from card king similar to crona & medusa. I think he'd be a big recurring villain in general also similar to medusa

asriel and dess WERE partners, but after a mission gone wrong dess was killed and it gave asriel crippling guilt because he's her weapon, and he should've saved her. he uses that guilt to push himself to become stronger and becomes a self wielding weapon, similar to justin. he becomes a death scythe and gets shipped off to another country in true childhood prodigy fashion and it stresses kris out because they feel like they have to live up with that, but they cant.

in general I think the main trio starts off very very rocky. their wavelengths are compatible, but they can't get along to save their lives. susie wants to go solo but she can't, kris is five seconds away from dropping out, and ralsei is desperately trying to hold them all together. similar to deltarune they need a couple missions and moments to bond to really strengthen their bond and become an actual functioning team. once they do they work together scarily well. since I'm so picky about aus I really try to keep their original characters & struggles and just apply it in a new light & context because I cannot stand aus that are just "acts exactly like this character But Trust Me it's really this character!"

noelle pushes herself hard. way too hard. which isn't good because they are kind of risking their lives every day already. she over exerts herself to the limit regularly but it brings results so she sees no reason to stop. She's able to perform soul resonance well, she has a highly compatible soul, she's killed loads of kishin eggs etc so she keeps working herself into an early grave. similarly berdly does the same and they do worry for eachother. despite this, neither of them will stop.

I think a lot of kris' main struggle is learning how to trust again. the incident with the vessel was... bad. I have no concrete say to what it is but the main idea I have right now is them being used to kill a human against their will. and up until that it's a lot of little things- being bossed around more, having less agency and control, etc basically textbook unhealthy relationship but even worse because it's meister and weapon. kris felt kinda obligated to stay in it because their wavelengths matched up and they wanted to live up to everyone's expectations but... it didn't end well. Because of the incident they had all their previous kishin eggs forfeited and basically start off at 0 when they join susie and ralsei, but they dont care because they aren't letting anyone wield them ever again. (And then they get really close with all their friends and feel loved and then susie also becomes a meister and wields kris regularly and they're besties <3)

On a lighter note asgore is a death scythe and his relationship with kris is very reminiscent of maka and spirit because I think it's hilarious. other death scythes include noelles mom and... idk who else actually. queen is a teacher who is secretly a witch similar to medusa but she's not evil or anything she's just there for the vibes. She's also a terrible teacher but gaster can't fire her because they have a labor shortage

ummm these are all very very VERY messy thoughts I just threw down I'm probably forgetting stuff but <3 I am cringe and I am free

[collecting-stories]

Heaven, We’re Already Here - t. 05 - JJ Maybank

Summary: Things are progressing between y/n and JJ. 

A/N: We’re halfway to the end...can you even believe it?

You Are Ok Masterlist | Outer Banks Masterlist

✞ My soul isn’t yours to save anymore ���

The bet had become a thing of contention between JJ and John B since the night of the kegger. It was fairly obvious that JJ wanted out and the only reason he was still hanging on was because he had convinced himself that he desperately needed the cash. 

But the more he spent time with you the harder it was becoming to justify to himself that cash was worth the level of humiliation he would be subjecting you to if you knew that this was all just one massive joke on you. From the moment he saw you in the church JJ knew that this was no game or bet, no matter what he tried to tell himself when you weren’t around. And after spending the day in Chapel Hill with you he was more convinced than ever that he needed to end things before they got out of hand.  

“Here.” JJ practically slammed the money on the table, pushing it across to Sarah.

“What’s this?”

“I forfeit.” He replied. “Take your 200 back.” 

“I thought you needed the money,” John B said, tone mocking the way JJ had grumbled about needing cash three weeks ago. 

“Yeah and now I don’t.” He snapped.  

Kiara looked away, grabbing the empty glasses off the table and taking them back to the counter. The only nice thing about him doing this in the Wreck was that she could walk away from the table when it got uncomfortable. Kiara hadn’t been shy in telling JJ that he should call off the bet, “if you really need 200, I’ll front you.” But she was less inclined to put herself in the middle of the altercation with him, John B, and Sarah. 

She knew that he regretted making the bet in the first place and she had felt guilty hanging out with you, knowing that it was all just a joke behind your back that JJ and his friends could laugh at. But he was making good on his promise to cut off the head of the beast, giving Sarah her money back and ending the bet before anyone really got hurt. It could fade into obscurity, just be something no one even remembered anymore. 

“You were almost to the finish line,” John B teased, feeling shockingly okay with a bet he’d first made when he was drunk and barely coherent enough to walk. “I mean, unless you don’t think she’ll let you get that far-”

“Shut up.” JJ snapped. “I said I was done, so I’m done.”

“Why?” Sarah pried.  

“I thought it would be funny but it’s not. She’s a real person, I’m not gonna fuck with her just so you guys can laugh.” JJ replied. He’d been feeling guilty about the bet since that first day he saw you in the church. The way you looked at him, a mirrored image of his own restlessness, depression, and emptiness. He didn’t deserve you on a good day, when he was completely devoted to you with no ulterior motive at the back of his head.  

He couldn’t do this to you, make you the butt of the joke to every pogue who heard about the bet and was enough of an asshole to find it funny. On his second time around the thought, he knew he really couldn’t do that to anyone. But John B thought it was funny and he and Sarah had used JJ’s lack of funds and general ‘go-with-the-flow’ attitude as a means to an end. 

“You’d do it if she was some kook.” Sarah commented, counting the 20’s he’d handed over. 

“Well she’s not.” JJ snapped, “look, I’m giving you the fucking money back, bet’s off.”

“Dude-“

“He said it was over John B, just quit being a dick.” Kiara piped up. She hadn’t been there when the bet was made but she had heard about it after the fact and been pissed. She was only relieved now that JJ seemed ready to put the bet to rest.  

“She might like you now but it won’t last.” Sarah said when JJ started to walk away, “I mean, you guys have nothing in common JJ, do you really think she fits in at keggers or sitting around getting high all day?”

JJ stood there, jaw tense, clenching his fists so hard that his nails dug into his palms, face turning red. The anger was just insecurity because, yeah, he agreed with Sarah. He knew he didn’t have a lot to offer you but hearing her say it knocked him down a peg and had him seeing red. 

“Just go,” Kiara urged, grabbing JJ’s arm and pushing at him, trying to get him to turn around and leave, “go.” She would yell at them for him, a much better defender of his character than he was. 

The door slammed behind him, the spring on the old wooden screen creaking in protest when JJ threw it shut as he left, already brushing tears out of his eyes as he walked, cutting through the woods back to the cut. It was stupid to get so upset about something Sarah said but he couldn’t help it. He’d been worked up as it was over calling off the bet and Sarah had only made him feel worse. 

Despite that, or maybe because of it, JJ took the path through the woods that led to the church. Taking a walk to cool down worked for everyone in the world but him, the further through the woods he walked the angrier he got. At himself, at Sarah and John B, at everything that made him take that stupid bet in the first place. The only thing keeping his anger in check was the thought of you. Sitting in the church practicing the piano or hanging laundry outside. Anywhere he could stay just out of sight of your parents, relishing in your attention.  

JJ came up on the church, not thinking to look inside before he entered. All he was thinking about was seeing you, forgetting entirely that you were not the only one who lived on the property. He stopped at the end of the aisle, still a little worked up, and caught off guard by the sight of your dad at the altar, rehearsing his sermon for Sunday. He tried to back up but failed, his clumsiness catching your dad’s attention.  

“Can I help you?” He called out when JJ bumped into one of the pews, the sound of his boot colliding with the wood reverberating in the nave. 

“Sorry,” JJ spoke up, “sorry I-“

“You came to church a few Sundays ago?” Your dad said, recognizing JJ’s face when he stepped off the altar and walked down the aisle. The blond, he realized, was the boy he’d noticed watching you. Though his wife told him he was being crazy, he was certain that he’d seen the boy in the yard once after that. 

“Ah, yeah...” JJ nodded, sniffling a little to clear the congestion from crying, “wrong turn on the way to the smoke shop I guess.” He was sure his face was still red, eyes still bloodshot, and the last thing he wanted to do was get cornered into some weird testimonial moment with your dad. He just wanted to see you, to remind himself that what Sarah said was bullshit, that you liked him, that this was more than a bet.  

“Is there something I can help you with now?” Everyone always said how welcoming and charismatic your dad was. The church wouldn’t have half the congregation it did now if it wasn’t for your dad’s ability to reel people in with smiles and an easy-going personality. 

That ease was not present as he stood there sizing up JJ. The kid gave him a bad feeling and he was absolutely certain he’d seen flashes of him around the yard before. The teenage population on the island was not a group your father was a fan of and JJ seemed the perfect embodiment of all the things wrong with that group. He looked unkempt, a little worse for the wear, and he smelled like pot. 

Before JJ could say anymore, the doors to the church opened and you walked in, eyes wide at finding your boyfriend there, “uh, mom said to call you for lunch?” You said. 

For his part, the second the door opened, JJ’s attention had snapped that way, and there you were. Exactly who he had been looking for and he felt like he could breath, like things would be alright because you were right there and he shouldn’t be so conspicuous but he couldn’t take his eyes off you. Like a magnet.  

“Of course,” he seemed to recover his bad mood relatively quick though he glared at the back of JJ’s head when he realized the boy was staring at you. “Go ahead back to the house and tell your mom I’ll be in.” 

You kept your eyes on your dad, not daring to look at JJ, “should I ask her to set an extra space?” Your dad had always been a fan of inviting church members in for dinner or lunch when they stopped by with something, you weren’t sure if it was compensation for a dwindling household or if he just liked to seem approachable but you used it against him now. If you had looked at him, you’d have noticed the slow smirk on JJ’s face as he stood there. 

If your dad said no it reflected badly on him. He always guilted you about not being helpful enough or considerate enough. “If...” he trailed off, clearing his throat to get JJ’s attention as he waited for a name. 

“JJ...JJ Maybank.” 

The frown increased in size; he’d heard the last name before. He’d hired a Maybank to do work on the roofing a few years back and remembered the man being nothing but a mean drunk. “If JJ wants to stay, we would love to have him.”

“I’ve got no where to be,” JJ replied, grinning at your dad. 

Lunch had already been finished when you went to call your dad, needing only to be plated, something you were thankful for because the awkward and uncomfortable silence that settled between JJ and your dad was unbearable. There was no way you could’ve survived waiting through lunch prep with the two of them.  

You weren’t even entirely sure what JJ was doing there. He hadn’t mentioned seeing you, he was supposed to be spending the day with his friends, as he’d already told you the night before when he snuck over because “couldn’t stay away”. He’d invited you on the boat but both your parents were home all day so there was little chance that you could go anywhere without drawing attention to yourself. Weekends were easier, your brothers and sisters who had stayed close came over with their kids and if you left no one missed you. But during the week it was just the three of you, an odd adjustment after so many years with so many kids.  

You sat at the table across from JJ, doing your absolute best not to look at him, knowing he was staring at you just to piss off your dad, who had already mentioned your upcoming engagement twice. Your mom let your dad lead the conversation like she always did and didn’t object to his over excessive mention of Timothy.  

“Do you go to the high school then?” She was doing her best to be polite, not completely certain your dad’s paranoia was based on fact. (“Just because you say you saw him in the yard doesn’t mean you saw him in the yard.”)

“Ah, yeah...” JJ nodded, “sometimes.” He took another bite of the sandwich, “hey, this is really good, you’re a really good cook.”

While The Wreck technically counted as homemade because it was Kiara’s dad who made it, JJ hadn’t eaten a real, home cooked meal, in a long time. His mom, when she had been around in his childhood, was not making lunches or any meals for him that she couldn’t microwave.  

“Oh, Ace made it.” Your mom said, beaming at you, “she’s a natural in the kitchen.” 

“You’ve been-“ JJ stopped himself short of saying you’d been holding out on him, coughing and then continuing on, “it’s good.”

“Thank you,” you chanced a glance up and then quickly back down at your plate. 

Lunch was excruciating and when it was finally over, JJ leaving and your dad watching him walk back into the woods, you told your parents you weren’t feeling well and went to lay down. You were flushed all over from lunch, sitting there across from JJ with your parents in the room. It was like knowing a secret you knew you weren’t supposed to. 

Tapping sounded on your window and you opened it, JJ standing there outside, “you’re gonna get me trouble,” you whispered. “My dad is convinced he’s seen you around our yard.”

“That’s cause he has.” JJ replied, kissing you once he was inside the room. 

“I know that.” You whispered, “what are you doing?”

“I’m reading your love letter from Timmy,” he shrugged, sitting down at your desk and pulling the letter out of the envelope. 

“It’s not a love letter,” you huffed. When you got close enough to try and take the letter away JJ spun in the chair, grabbing you around the waist and pulling you into his lap. 

“Let’s see, oh, coming to visit?” JJ said, poking your sides as he read the letter, leaving kisses along your shoulder. “So you get to go on a date?”

“Well, chaperoned.” You replied. “My dad wants to go somewhere ‘outer banks’ style, whatever he thinks that is, to show off to Timothy and his parents.” 

“Go to the Wreck.” JJ said. 

“I’m not going to Kie’s, I’m not gonna embarrass myself.” 

“Trust me,” JJ insisted, kissing you, “go to the Wreck.” 

You ran your fingers through his hair, brushing it back out of his face and kissing him. Your hands moved down so you could hold his face, leaning your forehead against his.  

“Are you okay?” JJ asked, his hands sliding up under your shirt, his warm skin against yours.  

“I don’t want to do this.” You admitted, “I don’t wanna have dinner with Timmy.”  

“Hey,” JJ pulled his face away, tilting so he could look you in the eye, “That shit doesn’t mean anything.”  

“It does in the long run,” you replied. When you had gotten Timothy’s letter that morning you’d been more than upset, knowing he was coming to North Carolina felt like the last nail in the coffin before your dad was sending you off to Tennessee.  

“Do you like him?” He asked, matter of fact.

“No, no.” You shook your head. There was no way you had any feelings toward Timothy other than mild annoyance. He wasn’t bad but he wasn’t for you. And maybe he would’ve been if this was all there was but you had JJ and there was an entire other space out there. “I wish we could just…stay like this.”

“Me too.” JJ replied.  

You pulled away from him suddenly, remembering the way he’d looked when you had walked into the church and found him there with your father. “I forgot, you were upset earlier-”

“It’s fine, it was just a dumb fight with John B.” He insisted, “I’m over it.”

“Are you sure? You can tell me anything.” You promised. You had been secret keeper and confidant for your siblings plenty of times over the years and while their conflicts had never really been worthy the secrecy, you had still been good at the task.  

“I’m fine, I promise,” he repeated, “I was just upset and I wanted to see you.”

“Well you’re seeing me now,” you teased, holding his face again so you could kiss him, “though I think you should consider leaving before anyone comes to check on me.”

-

The Wreck was totally not where you wanted to be going on a chaperoned first date with a guy who looked almost more sheltered than you felt on a regular basis. He had khakis and a polo tucked in, spikey blond hair and you were trying so hard not to be mean in your head. This was the guy your parents thought would make a great addition to their family. This was your future husband?

Any concerns or reservations you had about Timothy went out the window as you walked into the Wreck ahead of him and realized that JJ and Pope were sitting at the counter. JJ turned in his stool as you came in, propping his chin on his hand and smiling at you. 

“Hey,” Kiara had donned jeans and a t-shirt for the occasion, “six?” 

“Actually, these two will have their own table.” Your mom piped up and you looked at Kiara, attempting to convey the absolute horror of the early evening dinner.  

“Of course,” she said, grabbing menus. You could hear your father behind you, mentioning JJ’s presence in the restaurant. Whether Kiara heard it or JJ had just requested that this be the most difficult first date to get through, the table she sat you at was facing the counter. Your parents sat two tables over with Timothy’s parents while you sat down in perfect view of JJ and Pope.  

“So, what’s good here?” Timothy asked, his voice an octave higher than he looked like it would be.

You scanned the menu as if you ate there all the time and then looked at Kiara, hoping she could offer more of an answer then you could.  

“The grits are good, we do them with sausage and shrimp.” Kiara replied.  

“That’s fine.” You handed off your menu, not bothering to consider another option. Even though Kiara knew that this was all something you had to do, you felt a sense of guilt, sitting there with Timothy while JJ was sitting at the counter.  

It was palpable, you felt like you could taste it in your mouth as you spoke, felt the guilt dripping off you. Timothy wasn’t the worst, probably, and, probably, in someone else’s life he would make them happy but you weren’t sure there was any reality that would allow you to walk away from what you had with JJ and resign yourself to this life. To your mom’s life, or your sisters’ lives.  

“I’ve been looking into getting my pilot’s license, I’ll be done seminary soon-” Timothy started to say after Kiara walked off.  

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were interested in becoming a pilot.” You replied, glancing over his shoulder at JJ who was turned around in his stool, his back against the counter, watching you. If your dad wasn’t facing the opposite direction you were certain he’d be having a fit right now.  

“...the plane license would take another year at least but it’s something I can easily pursue after the marriage and it would allow us the opportunity to be missionaries-”

“Missionaries?” You paled, focusing your attention back on Timothy and away from JJ.  

“Timmy’s older brother is ministering in Zambia and they’ve always talked about Timmy joining him,” his mom cut in.  

“Missionaries in Zambia...all the time?” You asked. Your father had already launched into a separate conversation about the importance of ministry work and you felt close to absolute collapse. When Kiara came back to the table to make sure the food was okay you practically clung to her, “bathroom?”

“Through the kitchen,” Kiara lied, noting the look of distress. “Our regular bathroom is being fixed.”  

“Thanks.” You bolted. Through the restaurant and the kitchen, right out the back door and you might’ve run all the way home but somehow JJ was right there, grabbing you as you collided with him. “I can’t do this...I can’t, I can’t....I can’t be a missionary! I can’t live in Zambia and have like thirteen kids and name them all something stupid and have poufy fucking hair!”  

“Whoa, hey, babe,” JJ urged, pulling you into a hug, rubbing your back soothingly, “it’s gonna be okay.”  

“What if it’s not?” You could keep pretending like you didn’t have to think about it but the truth was, you couldn’t run from your parents’ expectations and plans forever. “I can’t do this.”

“You don’t have to do anything,” JJ promised, kissing the side of your head as he stood there holding you, “I love you. And I don’t give a shit about Timmy, or your parents, or whatever...we’ll figure this out.”

“This was a bad idea, having lunch here.”

“Hey, I don’t think so. I got to hear you curse for the first time.” He joked. “We’ll be okay, just head back inside alright?”

“Okay,” you pulled away, fixing your hair and taking a deep breath, trying to right yourself. It was just dinner. It wasn’t Zambia yet. It wasn’t even the wedding. Just dinner and JJ was right there. “Oh, JJ?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you too.” You said before hurrying back inside, leaving him standing behind the Wreck with a sad smile on his face.  

-

“Scarlett does it every year with some of the kooks, like a raffle.” Sarah explained, recounting Scarlett’s ’Touron Game’ for JJ and John B, “500 to whoever gets the most tourons...they have like a scoring system. Kind of awful, I guess, but...I mean it’s not like they don’t know it’s just sex.”

“500?” JJ asked, “I could use that.”

“What are you gonna do, pimp yourself out?” John B joked.

“I’ll give you 200,” Sarah replied immediately, cutting her boyfriend off. She was looking across the parking lot of the convenience store.  

“What’s the catch?” JJ asked, following Sarah’s line of sight to the old minivan, a girl their age standing with her mom at the trunk.  

“That’s the weird pastor’s daughter, right?” Sarah asked, already knowing the answer, “get her to sleep with you. I’ll even give you the 200 dollars up front.”

“Yeah okay. It’s a deal.”  

-

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[calmsweetcreature]

Fraternizing

A/N: Here’s my first Mikey Fic!! Lemme know the kinds of fics you want to see for the boys and I’ll make a start, I’m thinking a Luke Fic next so lemme know!

Warnings: Angst/Smut/Fluff

Word count: 5.4K

The party was heaving with bodies everywhere and as I squeezed my way through to the kitchen a hand came down hard on my shoulder.

“It’s the little mouse, what are you doing here?” Johnny Macintosh was a real piece of work, he was one of the most well known frat guys on campus - namely for how he treated women and how much beer he could put away at parties. “Always thought you were too square for parties like this, did you get lost on the way to the library?” His words were a wet whisper against my ear that made me shiver with how uncomfortable I felt. I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and walked through the gyrating bodies towards the kitchen, until again a hand came down onto my shoulder and I spun around to give Johnny a piece of my mind only to be met with my roommate and best friend Julia.

“Hey Y/N I found you! You having fun?” her words were slurred, and as she raised a red plastic cup to her lips a body crashed into her from behind sending a cherry red drink all down my white top.

“Oh s-shit, Y/N I’m sorry!” Julia reaches for my top and I push her hand away. Her heart was always in the right place but Julia always took the phrase ‘let loose on the weekend’ a bit too seriously. She dragged me out most weekends but it was never long before she left with some guy, not to be seen again until the next day.

“It’s fine, just go and sit for a bit okay? I’ll come find you soon, I’ve got to try and clean this off before it dries!” I pushed my way through and into the kitchen, grabbing some paper towels and wetting them under the faucet, patting the red liquid stains off of my top.

“I bet you regret wearing white to a frat, don’t you?” A lazy drawl came from behind me and I clamped my eyes shut in frustration. Michael-fucking-Clifford.

Me and Michael had been butting heads ever since I had started college, he liked to tease me in everyway possible and I fucking hated him for it.

“You could say that, although I think I regret coming here at all now.” Your words came out more viciously then you had intended and a hand dropped on my shoulder to turn me around.

“Now now Kitten, don’t be like that.” His lips were pouting but there was a twinkle in his eyes that led on to just how mischievous he was being. My eyes narrowed as a growl left my throat at the term of endearment he had so graciously given to me. After hearing Johnny call me mouse for the longest time and listening to me verbally bite Johnny’s ear off every time, Michael had decided that this was no mouse but a Kitten with claws, which is the only thing he had called me since.

“What do you want Michael? I’m not in the mood today.” I keep scrubbing at my top, the cloth not removing the red drink stain but instead adding a large wet patch, making the top see through and revealing the pale pink lace bra underneath. Michael scowls, reaching behind me to grab a towel, patting the top dry.

“You do not want to walk around this house like that Y/N, not with the likes of Johnny here.” His eyes were dark, the dabbing motion of his hand getting slower until his hand is slowly dragging the towel over my chest, the side of his fingers trailing over the swell of my breasts.

“Mouse!” Johnny’s voice is carried from the other side of the room and Michael’s hand moves away so fast it’s like I burnt him.

“We’re starting truth or dare in the other room and I reserved you a seat!” He pushed his way through the kitchen, pushing freshman out of the way until he is stood directly in front of me.

“I’m not interested Johnny.” His eyes go to my top and a dark grin spreads over his face.

“Shame little mouse, I think everyone would like to see more of you.” His eyes linger on my chest for a moment before he saunters off into the crowd. The intensity of his gaze makes me almost fold into myself, and I stare at the ground, wishing it could swallow me up.

“Ignore that guy kitten, he’s a prick,” Michael’s words are hushed but I can hear the anger in them which makes my eyes meet his in the crowded room. It’s like the music and the chatter stops, the only hint of the pounding music is the floor vibrating under my feet. I blink, shaking my head.

“Like you, you mean?” He lets out a snarl at my words and throws the towel he’d been grasping at my chest.

“Go fuck yourself then Little Mouse” He sneers, walking away from me.

“Michael wait!” I call, following after him. I walk into the lounge to see a huge circle of people, Michael going and sitting across the room.

“Changed your mind then mouse? I saved you a spot next to me!” Johnny pats the floor next to him and I can’t help but sigh knowing that I didn’t really have a choice. I timidly sit myself next to Johnny and I can feel Michael’s eyes on me from across the circle.

I keep my eyes low on the floor, my arms across my chest to hide the still slight transparent patch on my top. The game begins and I soon realise this isn’t the same game that I remember from high school. The rules are that all truths must be answered or you must streak across campus but the forfeit for not completing dares were that you must do a double shot of vodka or a line of coke.I was not prepared to do any of those things so I knew I would have to be extra careful.

“Mikey, truth or dare?” One of the girls in the group asked him with a twinkle in her eye as she twirled a piece of hair around her finger. You didn’t want to judge another woman and label her a bimbo but you weren’t totally sure how she got into college - it definitely wasn’t through academic means, you knew that.

“Dare.” His eyes met the girls and she giggled, her eyes blazing from either alcohol or drugs - I couldn’t tell which.

“I dare you to take a body shot off of me.” Michael rolls his eyes but nods, clearly having had enough of this dumb game already. I couldn’t help but frown at the unsteady feeling in my stomach at the thought of watching Michael do something intimate with a random girl. The feeling intensifies when the girl strips off her top leaving her in a bra and skirt - causing all of the boys and a few of the girls in the circle to whoop and holler.

I stare as another girl wets a line leading between the valley between the breasts of the girl (you now knew to be called Lucy) and sprinkle salt across it before pouring a shots worth of tequila in her bellybutton, finishing with a wedge of lemon between Lucy’s teeth.Michael manoeuvres himself until he is leaning over the blonde, his eyes catching mine as his tongue slides across her skin, the eye contact not stopping as he sucks the tequila from her belly button and not even as his mouth hovers over hers to suck up the lemon. There was a darkness in his eyes that I couldn’t ignore and as much as I didn’t always like the man, a shiver was running through my body that was setting me alight.

He sits up throwing the leftover lemon across the room. “I fucking hate tequila.”

Lucy leans up, looking after Michael longingly, “Hey Mich-”

He cuts her off, sitting back in his spot in the circle. “Put your fucking shirt on Lucy.”

A hurt look crosses the girls face and she grabs her clothes, leaving the room.

“Fucking savage bro, you going after her? She’d probably follow you to bed easy” Johnny asks Michael, who shakes his head before taking a long swig of his beer.

A slew of truths and dares go around the group, from being asked to pretend butt-dial parents and fake sex noises to chugging a bottle of ketchup. I was about ready to stand up and leave the game when Johnny pointedly stares at me, pointing in my direction.

“Mouse, truth or dare?” His grin is sickening and I close my eyes, dreading what was to come. Before I can open my mouth to answer he interrupts me. “You’re taking too long, you get a dare.”

“Johnny that’s not fair, I-” He cuts me off again.

“New rule little mouse, dare it is.” Chuckles go around the room and I cringe a little, suddenly realising how much of the group is made up of Johnny’s minions. From the corner of my eye I see Michael roll his eyes and that makes me sit up straighter, thinking that he’s judging me for being a whimp.

“Fine, bring it.” I falsify confidence, hoping no one can recognise the nerves on my face. I’m not supposed to be here, I’m the quiet girl who doesn’t spend time in frats - this game being one of the reasons why.

Johnny strokes his face as if thinking before he smirks, leaning back against the couch he is sat in front of.

“You have to sit on my lap. And kiss me.” All of the guys in the circle crack up apart from Michael who pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. The girls glare at me jealousy and I stare at Johnny incredulously.

“Johnny what the fuck?” I stare at him in shock and he grins, a sly laugh leaving his lips.

“I could always cut you a line princess. Your choice.” I stare at the ground, sighing before moving, sitting on Johnny’s lap as close to his knees as I can get without falling off him.

“You didn’t say how long for so thirty seconds is your limit.” I keep my words pointed and he rolls his eyes but nods nonetheless.

The group cheers as he puts his hand on the back of my head, pulling me in and kissing me. Now - as much as I didn’t like the guy, I had to admit he could kiss. His tongue slides across my bottom lip and I don’t let him in, that is until he pinches the skin of my thigh and I gasp, his tongue entering my mouth and wrestling with my own.I count to thirty in my head before I move my head back, but his hand clasps my head and keeps me in place as his other hand goes to the bottom of my back, pushing me further into his lap. I put my hands on his chest and push but to no avail, I breathe deeply through my nose pushing against him as hard as I can.

While most of his friends start laughing I can hear some of his friends calling his name.

“Johnny man, it’s time.”

“Uh dude you should probably stop now.”

“Get your hands the fuck off her Coleman.” I can hear Michael’s voice over the rest and I push with both hands at Johnny’s chest. His hands move to my shirt as he pulls away breathing heavy. I hear a ripping noise before I feel myself getting pulled off of his lap as I’m pushed behind a tall body. I look down at my ripped shirt, my lace bra out in the open, I push my front against the tall boy in front of me that I now realise is Michael as I catch my breath.

“Awh Mouse I was enjoying that.” Johnny wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Why’d you ruin my fun Clifford, want a taste?”

Michael tenses in front of me and I put a hand on his back, stroking my thumb until I feel his body relax slightly. I couldn’t even tell what the dynamic was between us in this moment but all I knew was I felt safe behind him.

“No man, I'm good.” Johnny smirks at his words but the smile drops from his lips when Michael utters “I like my women when they’re willing.”

Johnny stands up, his chest puffing out. “Fuck you man. Hey mouse, don’t panic - you’re a shit kisser anyway, thought your tits would make up for it but they’re shit too.”

Michael takes a step forward and I put an arm around his waist, “Michael leave it, please.”

He stills, his arm resting on top of mine before he growls under his breath, turning to leave the room with me trailing behind him.

“Michael it’s fine, I’ll just go back to my room.” He leads me up the stairs, his hand holding mine as we walk through the house.

“Y/N there is no way in hell you’re walking back through campus with that rip in your shirt. I’m getting you another shirt and then I’ll walk you back.” He pulls you through a door with a ‘KEEP OUT’ sign across the front, you bite your lip as you take in the decor. Black bedding adorns the bed, a grey rug on the floor with a wall of guitars and band posters everywhere.

“Nice room.” You murmur, picking up a photo from a cabinet and observing the picture where Michael has his arms around three other guys.

“That’s my best friends - Ash, Cal and Luke. We’re in a band together.” He turns and rummages through a drawer by his bed, looking for a shirt. I run a finger over the photo, tracing over Michael’s grin.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile like that,” I whisper, thinking about how most of mine and Michael’s conversations had been little bickers.I smile at the photo of the grinning man, laughing with his friends. The darkly dressed, scowling man you’d come to know looked so different.

“Why would you, it’s hard to give you a smile when you’re irritating me all of the damn time.” I turn to look at him when a black ball of fabric hits me in the face. I stumble back, hitting my head on the door and sliding until I’m sat on the floor. A yelp leaves my throat at the sudden fall, but the sound is muffled by the tee.

“Shit!” I pull the shirt from my face to see Michael kneeling in front of me, a concerned look on his face. “Y/N, I didn’t mean for that to happen, are you okay?” His hand goes to the back of my head, and while the touch makes me flinch, I know there’s no lasting damage.

“I’ll probably have a sore head tomorrow but yeah I’m fine.” I laugh softly at the worry on his face and he rolls his eyes, his hand not moving from the back of my head.

I look at the tee and back to Michael. “Liberty’s? You work there?” The dive bar just off of campus was not a place you frequented often, but most of your friends did - if not for the live music then for the rowdy atmosphere that was sure to get your blood pumping.

“Yeah, it’s where my band plays most of the time - I DJ sometimes and Luke and Cal who are in that photo you were drooling over work the bar most night and Ash works the door.” I blush at his words as he stands up, walking over to a mini fridge in the corner and grabbing two beers.

“I was not drooling, don’t be a jackass.” I change into the tee, it swallows me and becomes kind of like a dress on my figure. I grab one of the beers and sit on the edge of his bed awkwardly. “Thanks for the beer?” My words trail off into a question as I look at him, trying to figure out what is going on in this boy’s mind.

“One for the road. That fucking dick downstairs made my buzz disappear.” My fingers play with the hem of the t-shirt, trying to muster up the courage to say what I needed to.

“T-thank you. For what you did downstairs.” I keep my eyes low, not sure whether to say anything more.

“Don’t mention it, you shouldn’t have fucking joined that game, Johnny is a messed up dude who sees you as fruit ripe for the picking.” Michael’s words get angry and I can’t help but watch as he clenches his hand into a fist on his leg before taking a long drink.

“And what do you see me as?” Embarrassment floods through me as I hear a twinge of hope in my words. It’s only now that I’m sitting so close to him that I realise how bright his eyes are, how the stubble on his chin makes him look older then he is and I can’t help but internally shiver as I imagine that stubble grazing my neck.

“I did see you as an annoying spoiled brat who always wanted her own way. I saw you as rude, bitchy and irritating.” His words hurt and it must have been the drink making me that little bit more sensitive because I could feel tears filling my eyes at his words.

I nod softly, setting my beer on the floor. “Don’t worry about walking me back, I’ll be okay.”

I stand from the bed, walking towards the door. I knew that we had always bickered but there was a part of that felt like it was just part of the way we spoke to each other, it was never that I genuinely didn’t like him, but he obviously didn’t feel the same.

“Y/N wait.” I could hear him call after me but I didn’t want to hear more reasons why he didn’t like me. I flew open the door and stepped back out into the booming noise of the party. There were bodies everywhere and the beer was making me feel hazy as a hand clasp my wrist.

“Michael, I-” The room starts spinning when I see Johnny looking down at me, sneering.

“Where’ve you been Mouse? You left me high and dry in front of my boys.” He shakes his head, pushing me against the nearest wall, his arm resting above my head as he towers over my small frame. “You can make it up to me though,”

“No Johnny I was just going home, it was part of the game.” I fake confidence but my voice cracks slightly.

He presses against me, one hand trailing up of Michael’s tshirt, pushing it up slightly. “Awh c’mon Y/N, don’t be so frigid.” His mouth starts lowering towards mine and I turn my head away.

“Johnny, no.” I push against his chest and he tenses, pushing further into me as his mouth connects with my neck. I let out a small cry and push against him more, when suddenly his body is pulled off me and lands with a thud on the floor, another person led over him as punches are thrown at his face.

“She said no. Take no for a fucking answer you fucking creep.” I stand pressed against the wall, my chest heaving as I watch Michael pummel Johnny into the ground.

“Michael get off of him! Mate stop!” Two of the frat boys shout before they come and pull Michael away, leaving Johnny groaning on the floor holding his nose.

I unfreeze as Johnny stands unsteadily, pointing towards me.

“You’ve got fucking problems with this chick man, last week you fucking hated her and now what? You’re defending her honour?” Johnny spits out his words, blood flying from his split lip as he walks towards Michael. “You can fucking have her, she’s a frigid bitch anyway.” He pushes past Michael towards his room, some of his minions following after him.

Michael walks over to you slowly, your eyes on the bloodied knuckles of his hands. He reaches for my hand and I flinch slightly. His eyes get a hurt look in them and goes to move his hand away when I clasp it in mine, gripping it tightly but being careful not to hurt his hand. We look at each other for a moment, silent words passing through our eyes.

“Come back to my room for a minute, please? I just want to talk.” His words are low but pleading and I nod softly. It’s only when he turns that we notice all of the eyes on us. I blush, following after Michael as he drags me softly towards his room, locking the door behind him.

“That’s not to keep you in by the way, you can leave whenever. I just want to keep those assholes out.” I nod softly, holding myself as Michael moves to sit on his bed. “Y/N, kitten, please sit down.” Michael had always used that name to tease me but there was a softness in his words that warmed my heart.

“Firstly you need to know that Johnny won’t bother you again. He’s pretty coked up now but I’ll let him know tomorrow that if he even looks at you that a broken nose, split lip and black eye are the least of his worries.” His fingers move to my chin making me look in his eyes. The intense gaze he was giving me was sending butterflies to my stomach.

“Secondly what I said to you before was a dick move but you need to know that I said those things in the past tense, because I don’t see you that way anymore and I don’t think I ever really did. Fuck Y/N I don’t know.” He lifts his cap, running a hand through his messy hair before putting the cap back on and rubbing his eyes, groaning.

“And what that fucker said was a lie because I’ve never fucking hated you.” He stares into my eyes and I know he’s telling the truth.

One of his hands cups my cheek, and I hold my breath in fear of scaring him off. His forehead presses against mine and I can feel his breath against my lips.

“Have you ever hated me?” His words are hushed and I blush at how close our mouths are.

“Oh there’s been times where I’ve definitely hated you.” Michael smirks, a dark laugh leaving his lips before they’re pushed against mine and suddenly everything disappears. Just his kiss was sending a thousand volts through my body and it was suddenly like I couldn’t get close enough to him. Our faces moved against each other as our tongues wrestled. His hands gripped my face as mine clenched his shirt. We pull away for air and a small whimper leaves my throat. We both sit in silence, breathing in unison.

“Michael… could I stay here? I don’t want to be alone.” His eyes widen at my words and his mouth drops open playfully.

“Y/N how forward of you!” I blush and slap him on the chest.

“Not like that! I just want to talk to you, we’ve never just talked.” For the first real time since I’ve known him, Michael smiles - really smiles and puts his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his chest. He feels warm and in his arms I feel safe, almost like I don’t want to leave.

“I’d like that, Kitten.”

We both climb into the bed in our clothes, talking about anything and everything from Michael’s favourite music and where I grew up. I wasn’t sure when I fell asleep but all I knew was that just before I did I felt Michael kiss my forehead.

***

The light shone through the window, casting over the dark room and highlighting the arm around my waist. Somewhere through the night we had pressed up against each other and our legs were tangled as Michael spooned me. The T-shirt I was in had ridden up to my waist, Michael’s arm hot against my skin. I blinked slowly, letting myself wake up peacefully and my eyes adjust to the small amount of light in the room. I take time to remember everything that had happened at the party, left with the knowledge that Michael really does care about me and had saved me from Johnny’s ways.

I shift slightly in the bed, becoming aware of one of Michael’s hands resting on the skin of my thigh and I stretch out my back only to accidentally press my backside against his hips. His arm wraps tighter around me and his fingers spread out across my stomach. Somewhere during the night I had shed my skirt and was dressed only in his long t-shirt. I bite my lip trying not to laugh out loud and wiggle against him again. His fingers dig into my hips and I feel his face nuzzle into the back of my head.

“Kitten. Quit it.” But something bold awakens in me and I continue the movement, circling my hips back and revelling in how tight he holds me close in reaction.

“Y/N.” His voice is a growl of warning but there’s something electric about our bodies being so close. I know I’m pushing my luck but feeling his body react to me gives me all kinds of confidence.

His fingers trace the edge of my underwear and I shiver, fully rocking my ass back against his hardening dick.

“You feeling needy this morning? What happened to just talking?” His words blow hot breaths against my ear and I let out a breathy moan as his hand searches lazily over the lace of my panties, searching for my clit. He knows he’s found it when I let out a short gasp, and chuckles darkly.

“You need something?” His hand leaves my body and travels up towards my jaw, tilting my face up so that his lips are pressed against my ear. His grip is forceful but not painful and the dominance in his movements makes me whimper quietly.

“I just want to feel good Mikey.”

He groans in my ear and leans back from me, his hand on my hip.

“Turn around, please?” I shift my body until I’m facing him and he pulls me even closer, hooking my thigh over his hip until he is pressed up against me, grinding directly against my heat. I rock against him slowly, his half awake eyes and lazy grin making him look so fucking hot that I can’t help the whine that leaves my lips. I lean forward, brushing my lips softly against his.

He leans his head closer to mine to fully press his lips against my own but I pull back. He smirks and waits for me to lean forward before trying again but I pull my head away again, teasing him.

His hand goes to my ass and smacks down, pulling me into him and kissing me forcefully. I giggle against his lips and wrap my free arm around his neck, kissing him with everything I have. Michael rolls onto his back, pulling me on top of him, kiss hands pushing down on my backside and grinding up so I can feel every inch of his hardness.

“Kitten you’re going to make me nut right here if you’re not careful, looking so fucking beautiful in my clothes.” I sit up until I’m straddling him, blushing at his words.

“Are you going to go back to not liking me after this?” I take each of his hands in mine, entwining our fingers as I rock my hips forward at a steady pace. “Because i’m not that kind of girl, Clifford.” My tone is teasing and he pulls me down until I’m laying flat on his chest and kisses me deeply, murmuring against my lips.

“I have a funny feeling things aren’t going to be the same again Kitten.” He pulls away, resting his forehead against mine. “Look I’m DJing tonight and my band might play a set. Come and watch us? We can grab food after and see what happens?”

I rest my arms on either side of his head, “I’d like that.” Our lips meet again and I feel myself falling sideways as he rolls us over so that he’s on top of me.

“I want to make you feel good.” His words are whispered against my neck and he kisses down to where my neck and shoulder meets, biting down. I arch against his chest, pulling him closer. Our hips move against each other again, rocking to create as much friction as possible. I could feel how thick he was against my lace covered core and it made me want skin to skin contact - as much as I can get.

I wrap my legs around his waist and push my hips up but I feel his teeth graze my neck before biting down and I yelp out quietly.

“Don’t think for a second that you’re in control here Y/N.” One of his fingers slide under the lace of my underwear and starts tracing figure eights around my clit. I gasp out, my eyes sliding shut as his bulge continues to grind against me, sensations flowing through my body.

“You want to know something Kitten? Eyes on me.” I meet his intense stare, his free hand gripping my hip to steady my movements. His fingers speed up their movements and my eyes start to glaze over as little pants leave my mouth.

“Everytime we used to have our little spats I’d imagine putting my hand on the back of your head and shutting you up with my mouth, sucking on your tongue and swallowing up your words. I imagined what that bratty mouth would feel like, what you’d taste like. Whether you’d kiss like a princess or a dirty girl.”

His words caused my whole body to shiver, heat rising through my body and making my head spin.

“You going to find out or keep it to your imagination?” My words come out whinier then intended but I get the exact reaction I wanted as Michael growls under his breath and forces his lips against mine roughly, his tongue sliding across my bottom lip before sucking my tongue and biting down.

His hand pushes the rest of our clothes out of his way before hiking one of my thighs high against the bed and slowly pushing into me. I arch my back against him, panting softly as I start to feel oh so full.

“Fucking beautiful.” His words are whispered between us and our eyes connect as he pulls out softly before pushing all the way in. It’s delicious and hot and we both groan and the feeling. Every negative word passed between us melts away and all that is left is two people connecting in the closest of ways.

Our hips rock together, both of us searching for our highs, the small grunts and gasps filling the space between us our eyes staying locked on each other.

Michael’s forehead presses against mine as he grips my hand and pushes it against the mattress.

“Mikey.. I… I” my words are gasped out and Michael presses his lips against mine. “You close baby?” He presses his lips against my neck and sucks harshly, pressing deep inside and grinding his hips and my head spins. Something bursts deep inside me and I throw my head back, a silent scream leaving my mouth.

“Oh fuck, so tight…” A groan leaves Mikey’s lips and he pulls out, releasing over my stomach. A giggle leaves my lips as he flops down next to me with a sheepish grin. He reaches for his shirt, cleaning me up softly.

“You going to let me call you Kitten from now on?” His hand strokes the side of my face and I muzzle into it.

“Only if I can call you my puppy dog?” His face scrunches up and he frowns and me playfully.

“Fuck right off.” His words are harsh but the glint in his eyes is warmer then it’s ever been.

“Woof woof,” I tease before a screaming laugh leaves my lips as he rolls back on top of me, his lips travelling to my stomach as he blows raspberries and tickles me.

I don’t know how long we led there but all I knew was I could spend forever lost between these sheets.

🎆

Let me know what you think!❤️

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

Blighted

For my precious Sunshine, @5-secondsofcolor's birthday!! Which is technically now, because it is 1 AM on the 20th of May and I am a mad woman. Love you and I hope you have an amazing day, when you see this of course.

Here is your fic, FBI/Behavior Analyst!Calum. Female OC.

Ivy says she's cursed after taking the same career path that took her father's life. Calum's new on the team, a liaison and media specialist, but he's looking to get his toes wet.

AKA your regular old jaded pessimist veteran and bright eyed rookie buddy cop story. Please enjoy!

CW: In depth descriptions of death/crime scenes. Depictions of violence, gore, and blood.

Enjoy my masterlist (on a haitus)

Search for more writing in the h writes tag

________________________

The whiteboard never leaves. It glows behind her closed eyelids. When staring down at the neck of a bottle, she sees it floating just as the bottom of her drink. She’s cursed. But she knew that the moment she tried out for the academy. The second the thought floated across her mind, she would be doomed just like her father. Ivy tried her best to reroute herself--she got into the arts, was first chair flute in her highschool’s orchestra. She was president of the Homecoming committees her junior and senior year, and worked during the summers at her church's camp.

And yet when she went into school for her degree, she gravitated towards psychology and criminal justice. She saw her mother’s fear. The closer it came to graduation and the more the two of them talked about what she would do after graduating, the more the thought lingered, I want to get into the Bureau like Dad. But she couldn’t utter that. She couldn’t say those words without tears welling up in her mother’s eyes.

Ivy suspected her mother always knew about the desires. Ivy didn’t remember all the nights clearly, but sometimes she’d peek out her bedroom door and see the glow of the light downstairs. Ivy followed it, side stepping the creaky fourth step from the top and from between the banister’s she’d find her dad sitting at the dining room table. The kitchen light glowed from behind him and his tie would barely hang on around his neck.

“Boo,” he’d say quietly, knowing the slight shuffle of Ivy’s feet.

“How’d you know I was there, Daddy?” she’d ask, carrying herself the rest of the way down the stairs and make her way through the living room to climb into his lap.

“I can hear your feet above me,” he’d respond, pointing above them.

And they’d spend an hour, sitting at the dining room table. Ivy asked about her dad’s latest trip. He only ever told her when she was young that they were helping save people, putting bad people away. Ivy wonders if this is where it started. If this was where her father casted the spell, leaving Ivy somehow starry eyed about what it really was he did. Ivy would always look at this job with a little bit of that hope that her younger self had, and she’d always be fucked to never be able to walk away from this line of work.

It would kill her--much like it had killed her dad. But unlike him, she’d see the bullet spiral out of the barrel. Her dad had her and her mother to get back too. It wasn’t a weakness. Ivy admired her father for sticking with his dreams and also making the hard calls to make sure his family knew he cared too. But the need to decide would always be a slight hindrance, would always be the key to living or dying in this line of work.

All that’s left of her father, besides the memories and a few of his old t-shirts that got remade into pillows, is the whiteboard she keeps at her desk. There’s a whiteboard for the entire team to use of course. But this whiteboard is the one that her father used in his office. The one where he made his notes, scribbles. The one she’d write notes to him in the bottom left corner that never disappeared until she wanted to replace the note with something new.

“Thomas, look alive, and enjoy.” The manilla folder hits her desk with a quiet thwack. Ivy blinks from the whiteboard up to her senior officer. Kennedy carries on, dropping folders on every desk and each one of them stands without needing any further prompting.

Kennedy’s been in the field for years. It was all over his face with the deep frown lines. His brow seemed permanently furrowed, as if he questioned every waking second. Ivy liked to tease he worried even about sleep. But no one could sink a decade and a half into this line of work and not come out on the other side with a healthy amount of suspicion.

“And where’s this new guy?” Kennedy asks, glancing over the office.

Ivy looks up from her copy of the file. She heard rumors of someone else coming by the office, assisting them occasionally on cases. But those rumors floated around weeks ago, long enough that she chalked it up to just that--rumors. It doesn’t shock her though. Things start at rumors often, and sometimes they come to fruition and sometimes they don’t. Ivy follows Kennedy’s eyeline and doesn’t spy any new faces.

“Want me to keep an eye out for any lost souls?” Ivy offers, glancing back up to Kennedy.

“Nah, I need your eyes on this one. Head up to the conference room and I’ll be there once he shows up.”

With a nod, Ivy closes the file. She swipes the whiteboard from her desk with a couple markers and heads up to the conference room. The rest of the team sat flipping through their files too, Jenkins sitting right near the front but moved down one seat. They’re not new, having been around for a couple years. But Ivy can tell their type--getting in chummy with the boss, trying too hard. They’re a good addition, but Ivy’s waiting for the day they take a hunch and it doesn’t lead to the results they want. A loss will show their true colors, how well they can handle being wrong sometimes. No one on the team is perfect, they’re all hedging bets. Ivy’s taken her lumps of hunches being made too late, or the wrong bets placed. They’re not often. No one likes them. But they happen.

Diaz, Russell, and Burke and scattered throughout the rest of the table. The three of them have been there longer than Ivy. But they all accepted her with open arms. Diaz and Burke were more muscular. They had the brains to match, but they came up the pipeline from their local PD departments and aren’t afraid to get into a tussle. More often than not, Ivy winds up pulling Burke from fights than she’d care to admit. Diaz’s much too big for Ivy to attempt physically restraining, so she referee’s those fights that he gets into.

Russell’s their man behind the screen. He was good at getting through the internet loops, figuring out how to sort databases for the information they need without so much red tape and delay. He preferred to stay behind the lines, but could handle a tussle. Ivy doesn’t count herself as the brains. But her gut had some sort of true north needle that, more often than not, was right. She could see patterns faster than most, could sniff the air after someone and assess how much she could and wanted to trust. Kennedy consulted her often. Whenever she felt like she had something, he’d hush the crowd for her to formulate the full thought. Kennedy didn’t always agree with her assessment, but had to listen to it. He needed to listen to it.

“Nope,” Russell huffs, shutting the folder. “Fucking hell. Kennedy told me it was rough, but I didn’t--I didn’t think it was this rough.”

Ivy settles in next to him sliding him a marker. She draws roughly a tic-tac-toe board. “It not getting easier for you is a good sign.”

Russell makes his first move, the marker squeaking just a little. Ivy follows up with hers. She knows if she makes it too obvious, too easy, Russell will forfeit the game. So she tries to play along, like she’s vying to win.

Russell places his second X though his hands shake just a hair. “Yeah, but compared to you guys, I feel like if someone took a gnarly enough shit it would make me queasy.”

“A bad enough shit could do that to anyone,” Diaz pipes in, his own folder still open but his forearms pressed down over the photographs. Russell’s been around the block, definitely seem some rough things, but has always had a softer view of the world. Still wants it to be good despite all the bad he’s seen.

Ivy places down her second O, noticing the pretty obvious wide open spot she left Russell but looks up to Diaz. “I think I heard through the grapevine you were on the losing end of one of those shits yesterday,” she teases.

Diaz reclines into his seat, his chest bouncing with his laughter. “All because of your cooking Thomas.”

“My cooking is not that bad,” she defends, the cap of her black marker pointing him out.

Burke snickers too with a shake of her head and opens her mouth to speak but the room fills with the voice of Kennedy. “Aren’t y’all old enough to be left alone not to talk about shit for five minutes?”

“Never too old to talk shit, sir,” Diaz returns, his smile lifting only half his face up. He’s a charmer, whenever they go out to bars out manage to get a moment’s peace not hounded by work, he never seems to be at a lack of folks coming up to him. He’s already got a girl, but with the hair that cascades always neatly placed and the dazzling bright grin, anyone could fall for it.

Kennedy huffs his laughter quickly and then shuffles deeper into the room. “We’ve got a new friend, so let’s play nice.” As Kennedy makes head way, Ivy notices the man behind him. He’s tall. The black dress pants and black dress shirt don’t hide everything beneath them, but Ivy’s not too shocked to see people who work in the field like that with some sort of muscular physique. There’s something about his face though--something about the way his brown eyes dart around the room and his smile never shows any teeth that something familiar tugs at her.

Kennedy goes around the table introducing Ivy first, then going to Russell, coming down to Jenkins, Diaz, and then Burke. Each one of them lifts a hand or nods at their name. “This here is Hood, Calum Hood. Joining us as a new liaison.”

Ivy’s no good with faces sometimes. But names she hardly ever forgets. Hood, she met him once a few years back at a lecture. Not that she did them often, but Kennedy got more face time. But he made sure to spread the love between the team. He asked her to tag along. Calum must’ve been in the crowd, had to be, and had to have asked a question because Kennedy told her to remember that name. And she had.

Kennedy continues on with something. Ivy suspects he’s warning Diaz to keep any hazy tactics to a minimum considering how much of a mess they’re walking into. Ivy nods once more at him, and then faces back to the whiteboard, the tap on her arm prompting her too. I’m a scaredy cat sure, but not dumb, it reads in Russell’s handwriting. She spies his X in the bottom corner, opposite of where he would’ve won.

“Pull up a seat, Hood. We’ll have more time for pleasantries once we’re up in the air. But I want everyone to at least be familiar with this case.”

“Yes, sir.” His voice is smooth, Ivy notes. A soft volume and accented but smoother than she would’ve pegged.

The team breaks down the file, recapping mostly what they’ve already read but Kennedy’s old fashioned this way, needing to make sure people have done their homework. It’s an extra step than completely necessary, but having the quick meetings has always made this team feel more like a second family. There’s always a common goal in mind for them and they’re always reminded of it. No matter what happens out in the field, they all want the same thing.

“We soar in forty-five minutes. So let’s hope wheels can turn in the air. Hood, I need you to keep in mind the local PD’s been taking a lot of heat for the last couple of months. So we don’t want to take too much star power, we’re only here to assist and whatever we can do to put the local’s good grace back onto that PD we need to.”

Not quite what she expected, though with his demeanor and looks, he’s sure to work a crowd or newsroom well. She’s sure he’ll be on the ground with them too.

“Understood,” he replies and with that, all of them push away from the table. “Agent Thomas,” Hood says, reaching out almost as if to touch her elbow but never actually do it. He continues to speak once she looks over to him. “I-I don’t know if you remember. But we met at a lecture a couple years back that you held with Agent Kennedy. And I just wanted to say that I’m excited to be here, working with you all.”

“Thomas, here, does not respond well to flattery. Trust, we’ve all tried,” Diaz laughs, clamping down on Hood’s shoulders.

“I appreciate it,” Ivy responds. “Glad to have a fresh mind on the team.” There’s no smile, at least, not one she’d give Russell, Burke, Diaz, or even Jenkins. But Calum watches her give another curt nod with a quick quirk of her lips, and then leave, stacking her file on top of the whiteboard.

“Don’t sweat it. She’s in work mode,” Diaz assures. “We get off the clock and she’s a hoot. But on the clock, it’s strictly business. I will warn you, Thomas will burn you.”

Calum’s left, watching Diaz, Burke, and Russell leave. Jenkins turned tail the second Kennedy got done. It’s not that he wants to mix business with pleasure. He’s just been studying Thomas, attending as many lectures that she gives as he can. She didn’t always go directly by the book, there was something about her method that used the evidence, used science, but also had some sort of intuition. Thomas just knew things and when attempting to quantify it, she didn’t always have the words for it. Calum just wants to see that in action, understand what it is about knowing that isn’t always present in the facts.

The plane ride is comfortable. Plenty of seats even though they squeak just a little. Calum watches Thomas sit and everyone seems to sit spread out from there, keeping her at some sort of center. “Mobile. They don’t mind the hustle,” Ivy starts.

“Crossing state lines is risky, especially after the escalation,” Burke interjects.

“But wouldn’t that be a reason for it? If all the crimes look different, enough crossing state lines might make the unsub feel confident, like they’re getting away with something.” The entire plane turns to look at him. Calum freezes for a moment. He knows better. He knows so much better than that. Fuck.

“Valid. But we shouldn’t settle. Travel might be part of their job. We’ve got a good cluster to possibly estimate a home base. Get comfortable, perfect the craft here and then spread out. But why come back? Local PD's hadn't quite connected anything, until the return. More families, found exactly the same. Even when they cross state lines, all points wind back to a specific geographical location,” Burke returns.

“Hood, you got the inside of the media. What does it look like?”

Thirty minutes of his forty five was making sure that he could at least nail down this run through. And it’s easy, even with the squeak of Ivy’s dry erase marker, to run down the media reports, what information has been released and what hasn’t been released. He makes note of what the team doesn’t want to get out and what they do want to keep available to the public.

All the while, Calum watches the way Ivy writes over her board, the squeak over and over on specific strokes. He wonders for a moment what she’s writing, what it is that she needs to keep written track of. But he doesn’t get a chance to fully flesh out that thought before he finishes his spill and Diaz cuts in. They’re fast, not quite settling on any one theory. More like compiling the possibilities, not wanting to eliminate things but ranking how plausible they all could be until the pieces click.

The first thing after the flight lands, they head for the precinct. The lead investigator greets them, and there’s no pause. They’re pulled into the frenzy, looking at boards. Calum tries to keep his head in the game, but he is watching Ivy. The way she settles in her chair, her marker always moving. He’s not even sure it’s words anymore, just a constant circular movement. Sure he’s here to help regulate media outlets, and he can do that in his sleep if local PD and media follow his instructions to a T.

But he needs an in, to show he’s more than just the new meat on the chopping block. He’s worth something. “Is the last crime scene still available?” Calum asks.

The room turns to him, well most of the room does. Ivy keeps circling, but she speaks. “The plan’s to go in ten minutes. Whatever’s got you preoccupied, leave it in your go bag.”

Kennedy chuckles, tapping at her foot. “Give the kid a break. He was buried in news coverage the second we got into the door. But Hood, shake the cobwebs. This isn’t your small town’s rodeo anymore. If you need to be caught up, ask. But if you’re going to be in the room, keep those ears open.”

A task easier said than done, but he nods, resting his elbows on his knees. God, they’re going to think I’m an idiot. The room goes back to its normal buzz, but Calum keeps his head buried in his hands.

“Talk to me. What are your theories?”

Calum lifts his head. Ivy’s closer now. He can see the black marks on her hand from where she’s held it up against the swirls and lettering. “Clearly I’m barely treading water here.”

“First day nerves, but you can shake it. You wanted to see the crime scene. Why?”

“Why there? We have indications that the unsub spent a lot of time there, even with the interruptions they've seemed to caused. They're still meticulous. I want to follow their steps. What did they do first? And why? What do they need from a crime scene before it’s done?”

“Good. But what else?”

“What-what do you mean what else?”

She smiles, much different than the first one. It shows her teeth, a bit of a twinkle in her eyes. “What else?”

He goes quiet, reclines back into the seat and closes his eyes for a second. What else? There’s a lot else. “I mean, the next obvious thing is why these victims? But besides that, how comfortable is this person? Do they feel a need to be rushed, fast, get-in-get-out or can they blend in? I have a hunch they can blend in. Maybe people even trust them. They are perfectly ordinary and in essence, they have to be in order for the fantasy to work. Detection means they have to get sloppy. Being sloppy’s not an option, so blending in it is.”

“Bring that to the crime scene.” Something taps his knee and Calum cracks open his eyes to see her, standing. Her whiteboard still gently rests against his knee. She’s not looking at him though. Her gaze is locked onto the board next to him, displaying the crime scene photos.

“What’s your secret?” Calum asks. He’s almost positive she didn’t hear him due to Ivy’s lack of prompt response. But then she turns to him.

“Secret?”

“Thomas, Hood, you comin’ or what?” Kennedy calls. “I can deal without Diaz, but I need you, Thomas.”

“I’ll remember that,” Diaz laughs as they walk through the glass doors of the precinct.

It’s not Calum’s first time at a crime scene. But the second Calum steps through the door a chill runs through him. The carpet and walls are still bloodstained. Everything about it the scene just feels wrong, makes Calum want to immediately step back out of the house.

“You feel that?” Burke asks. She continues on deeper into the house, slipping into her gloves.

“This is when Thomas says she’s too Black for all this and gets the hell out of dodge,” Diaz barks. He squats down to the blood on the carpet. Ivy’s already deep into the house, seemingly guided by a force unwillingly to let her go. She doesn’t respond verbally, just lifts her hand, the middle finger extended out in the general direction of Diaz.

And Calum is standing near the threshold of the door, trying to pinpoint why it feels so cold in a house in Texas in the middle of the summer. His hands feel sticky even inside the latex gloves. His first step is shaky but he stops next to Diaz. “There are drag marks from the blood,” Calum notes. “This isn’t where they were killed, just staged.”

“The unsub staged all the victims here in the living room. We know that. Pictures show the parents at the ends of the sofa, children in the middle, dog on the floor.”

“But there’s blood on the walls. We know the Dad’s 6’1,” Calum returns.

“And we don’t have forced entry. So, whoever is wreaking havoc isn’t threatening enough for someone not to answer the door.”

Calum turns to the sofa where the family was found. “It’s picturesque, poetic even. You’ve got a whole family right here, at your will. They knock on the door. It’s dusk, sun’s just starting to set.”

“They have a ruse that gets them inside. We already know they have to blend in with the community. So what can you use to get into a house? Who gets into a house without a problem?”

Diaz goes into the kitchen where in the case file it mentions when the family was finally discovered food was still out on the table. “The window doesn’t have to last long. But it has to be just right. All three families were either eating dinner, or just done with dinner. So why dinner time?” Diaz turns from the stove to face Calum.

“It’s when everyone is together. They’re not just going after a family, but very specific family dynamics. Which means both parents need to present, two kids seems to be a minimum.”

“What’s the average dinner time you’d say? With this job, I eat whenever I fucking can. But before this, excluding people like us, when is the average person sitting down to eat?”

“6, 6:30 I’d guess. That’s assuming the average person is working a job that calls it at 5PM. A town like this is either on the verge of collapsing or being bought out. So I assume a lot of people are traveling outside to the city for work, so the commute might be even later. But I wouldn’t hazard any guesses that our unsub’s just haphazardly picking houses.”

“No, no, you’re right, Hood,” Diaz states, walking over to the table. “I guess what I’m saying is the timing. No one hears anything. But our unsub’s using a gun. That’s not quiet. And there’s not a lot of city noise this far out. They’re spending hours in the house and somehow getting out undetected. But striking at dinner time, with the setting sun, means this person’s around outside the house. But no one’s noticed anything out of the ordinary.”

“Hunting seasons,” Calum returns. “No one really flinches at the sound of a gun shot because people are hunting year ‘round here.”

“And it seems like humans are on the menu.”

“An appetizing thought.”

******

Ivy’s not sure when the chill finally left over the course of the day but it returns when she walks into the precinct and sees the entire room in a frenzy. Kennedy spies her and it’s just a look. Not much different than his resting face, but somehow she knows with that slight arch in his eyebrow. Another family--while they were proding over photos the killer was already moving on, already in the midst of their attack.

And it shouldn’t shock her. Well, to be more accurate, it doesn’t shock her and maybe that’s the thing that scares her. “I’ve been doing this too damned long,” she mutters to herself. “Hood, you’re with me. Get the address and let’s see what that gut of yours cooks up.”

“How’d--Is Kennedy going to be okay with that? The call just came in a few minutes ago.”

“Get the address and tell me how you like your coffee,” Ivy says. Kennedy’s going to come to the scene anyway, but she doesn’t tell Calum that.

There’s not another word before Calum passes in front of her. “Cream and two sugars,” he answers as he goes.

“So Black, got it.”

Paused at the desk of a detective, he looks over his shoulder. “Cream and two sugars,” he re-emphasizes with a tiny smile and holding up two fingers. Police station coffee’s never the best, but it’s better than nothing. When on a case, time is also imperative and they take what they can. Ivy fixes Calum’s cup first, slipping a lid on and keeping the stirrer through the hole. She pours her cup with no additions.

“Not even creamer? Not one?” Calum questions.

“Takes too much time,” she returns. “Burke, you staying?”

“Yeah, Russell got those files over just before the call came in. Besides that crime scene’s bound to be crowded as all hell and I swear if I walk into another house and catch a chill after seven years of doing this job, I just might quit.”

The two ladies laugh. Ivy recovering first to respond, “I need you to keep me sane even though you’re just as much trouble as Diaz.”

“Which is why I’m going to say here, work with Russell. We’re going to need Hood back before the 5’oclock news. Whatever you find at the scene will help solidify our profile and we need it soon. We need the hands on this clock, because it’s ticking ahead of us.”

Ivy nods. It’s no fun being behind. “Kennedy, we’re moving or we’re dying.”

“I trust you. There’s something off about that last one that I want to walk through again.”

“Let’s rock and roll,” she says to Calum, handing him his cup of coffee. “Mr. Cream-and-Two-Sugars.”

The drive is relatively short, all thanks to Ivy’s lead foot. But they need to get there fast, while things are still fresh.

“Did you always want to do this?” Calum asks in the silence of their drive. The radio doesn’t even play. Ivy knew he had questions. He wore them on his face, brows furrowing anytime he was the slightest bit hesitant about something.

“I don’t think I had a choice.”

“What do you mean you didn’t have a choice? We’ve all got choices.”

“My dad worked with the FBI until it killed him. And I think about how he used to tell me it was his job to help put bad people in jail. And I believed him.”

“The bug bit you before you even had a fighting chance.”

Ivy nods, taking a quick glance to Calum. “But if I had a prettier face, I’d stick with liaison too.”

Calum huffs out his laughter. “I went the journalism route first, sue me. Besides, that’s you admitting you think I have a pretty face.”

“I forget faces—so don’t think too highly of it. And I’m probably old enough to be your mother. You attended some lectures, I remembered your name. How’d you convert?”

It’s silent for a moment and Calum contemplates her statement, old enough to be his mother. “Given that my mother has shared her fountain of youth with my sister and I, you might be shocked to know I’m nearing 30. And I converted because of you and your work under Kennedy and his old superior Rogers.”

“All the greats,” Ivy teases, but she doesn't sound impressed. More like tired, used to it.

“But you’re different.”

“Yeah, because somehow the Bureau hasn’t realized their mistake.”

“Mistake?” Calum asks around his sip of coffee.

“Kennedy’s going to retire soon. He's done 15 with our unit. Another ten prior to that climbing through the ranks. Then they’re going to have to find a replacement.”

“You say that like it won’t be you.”

“Because it won’t.”

“You’ve been with Kennedy for so long. He’s obviously going to recommend you, Ivy.”

“He can recommend but people higher up get the final word.”

The truck stops just in front of the house, and Calum knows the most logical thing to do is just focus on the case, walk the scene. Do his job. But he reaches across the console and wraps his fingers around hers for a second with a squeeze. “You’ll get it. They’d be dumb not to bring you to the head of this team.”

“There’s an altar or a shrine. It’s small.���

Calum pauses with his hand on the door. Ivy continues beside him. “Go to the eldest child’s bedroom. In a corner you’ll see the small shrine. Our unsub left one at the last house. And the house before, I’d bet. And this house too. That’s what Kennedy missed. What other cops missed too. Make sure you get it photographed. Besides, I’ve been doing this job too long and don’t know if I’d even want the added responsibility if they promoted me.”

“How’d we miss that?”

“We didn’t miss shit. We saw it when we needed to see it. We see things when we need them.” It's the way she says it, like she has to believe that makes Calum believe too.

The sight rocks Calum--he knew it wouldn’t be easy. But he didn’t know it’d hit him like this. The room spins, just a little. And his heart racing. Mostly because he can’t stand the thought that this could be someone he knows. These people weren’t anticipating their would be like this. And what does that even mean for him? What does his end look like?

“Hey, whoa. Whoa.” An arm comes around his waist and he follows the lead of whomever’s grabbed him.

“I’m okay,” he breathes out. “I’m okay.”

“Yeah, I’m a fudge brownie. It’s okay to not be alright in there.”

Calum rests against the side of the house and squats down just a little. His elbows hit his knees. His breath is heavy, falls from his open mouth almost like he’s going to vomit. But his stomach’s not churning anymore. Not with the fresh morning air hitting his lungs. “Fuck,” he breathes out again, eyes blurring just a little.

“But you’re okay. Take a breather.” Ivy’s shoes turn up in the dirt. "Get him a water, will ya? Hood, take a minute. It's alright. I'll be inside when you're ready." Calum just watches her go. It takes a moment for him to lift his head. It has to get easier. Or least he hopes it does. It takes him a minute, inhaling deeply before he stands up straight.

The rest of them processing the scene goes by in relative silence. Occasionally, Calum pipes in with an addition to their theory. Ivy hums in agreement. And it’s not until they step out and slip out of their gloves that Ivy says anything. “This is why I drink my coffee black.”

“I’m sorry. I really--I don’t know why this one got me.”

“It’s the kids. Kids are the worst.”

Calum looks up to the sky. There’s a few clouds, but not many. “The photos are bad, but in person is way different.”

Ivy watches Calum, the way it takes him a second to come back to earth it seems. “Don’t ask yourself if it gets easier.” When his gaze lands hers, she can see the furrowed brow again. The question drips off his face. “You’ll only disappoint yourself. And this job’s not for the weak of heart. For the people that can’t take some losses with the wins.”

“You said it yourself. You wanted to put the bad people away.”

“Eight year old me wants to believe it’s as easy as putting the monsters away. Thirty-one year old me knows for a fact what the losses are, who gets caught in the cross-fire. It’s not easy, not in the slightest.”

“Innocent lives do add up.”

“Which is why I try not to do math on the job. They all slip up. They all reach a point where their methods don’t satiate the need. They all make a fatal flaw and counting the unfortunate lives on the way to that will have you walking from the Bureau faster than you can blink.”

“So what makes you stay? If it’s all so fucking bad, what keeps you going?”

Ivy nods to the car, pulling the keys from her pocket. “We need to solidify our profile and you need to run press ASAP. But to answer your question, the thing that keeps me going is that fact that they do get caught eventually.”

******

Eventually seems to come up faster than Calum anticipates. He was sure it would take weeks. After getting back to the precinct more information in Russell’s digging found a connection between all the families, a Venn diagram that overlapped to their X on the map. Another couple of days and it all unravelled. It’s a blur, when he tries to think back to it, on the plane. The only grounding thing is when one of the children, a little girl about 6, pointed out the tattoos on his hands. In all this time, he was sure the tattoos would be a barrier to entry--they’d somehow put him in a place that others would think he was nothing but trouble. But somehow, despite the terror she had done through, that little girl liked his tattoos, found some sort of comfort in them.

When he told her they were for his parents, she smiled at him. She said she wanted one for her parents too and then asked if he had anymore and how old he was when he got them. All of which Calum was more than happy to answer while the medic checked over her. Her older brother came soon after, asking a few questions, but overall he was much quieter than his sister. Understandable for what was endured. In the end, Calum’s just glad he didn’t see them staged on a couch, bleeding out onto the cushions.

There’s a small bit of turbulence and the shakes cause Calum to open his eyes for a moment. Ivy’s seated across from him, whiteboard on her lap, headphones in her ears. A tic-tac-toe grid drawn across it in the middle, but in the corners are some swirls, a crude drawing of the shrine from the case. Calum leans forward and tugs on the board just a little. She lets it go without a fight and hands over the marker.

Calum makes an ‘X’ in the top left. “You said this job doesn’t get easier.” He looks up to see if Ivy can hear him and is relieved when she pops out one her headphones. She raises her brows like she wants him to continue with the thought. And Calum’s not even sure he should. Instead, he hands over the board back to her. If seeing death doesn’t get easier, then maybe it just means he gets better at it. Maybe it means that not being okay with death is a good motivator to keep down this path.

“The job doesn’t get easier. You’re still human. You still want a spouse and a kid. You might want two dogs and a cat. You might want that white picket fence one day. You’ll want to close your eyes and not see death. You’ll want to walk down the street and see humans as humans again. You’ll have nightmares. Don’t hide from it. Nothing’s wrong with you for wanting that. But we’re in a world now where we see the horrors--what’s on the other side of everything you wanted. It’s a liminal space and it’s heavy to wade through.”

“I just want to not freak like I did the other day. It’s not easy. But sometimes I fear that maybe I bit off more than I could chew.”

Their game of tic-tac-toe has been forgotten, placed in the seat next to Ivy as she leans forward in her seat. “You said you were converted because of me. What exactly about me was it?”

“You just know things. When you walk onto a scene, you have an air of knowing. How can you just pick up on it in a snap?”

“Well,” Ivy laughs, “if that’s the only reason you want in, I warn you to get out.”

“I want to help. I want to save people,” Calum adds on. But then it hits him. Maybe this wasn’t the business of saving people as much as it was stopping people. Sure, they prevent future murders, but that didn’t always negate for all the lives lost. But they did save that family today. He saved that little girl that wants tattoos like his. “I want to save people and I want to stop people as well,” he finally adds on.

“There will always be monsters in this world,” Ivy warns.

“And there will always be heroes.”

“Make no mistake, Calum. We don’t have capes. We don’t swoop in all the time at just the right moment. Sometimes we are late. Sometimes we’re reacting more than we are being proactive. Sometimes we fuck up.”

His heart stops for just a moment at the mention of his first name. He’s always Hood, or at least has always been Hood. Just like she’s always Thomas to the team. But she said his first name. Unmistakably so. “Did-did you just use my first name?”

“You used my first name, first.”

When had he done that? He didn’t recall, but he couldn’t combat it either.

“Look,” Ivy continues, “the fact remains. We will fail. We will make the wrong call, or the right call just by the skin of our teeth. We will walk down the wrong direction only to figure out, we know it’s the wrong one. We get it right. A lot more often, we get it right and we minimize the death count. But we’re human--you don’t have to take it on if you don’t want. You don’t have to suffer.”

“If I don’t suffer and win, then that little girl suffers and loses. Then the next person loses. And the next. Their suffering or mine--the choice is clear.”

Ivy studies Calum for a moment. She sees the resolve on his face. Just how much sacrificing himself is a no brainer for him. It was a no brainer for her too. But admittedly, she was cursed. Maybe Calum wasn’t. Maybe she could save him, even if she couldn’t save herself. But she wasn’t in the business of saving people, only stopping them.

“I can’t stop you, can I?” she asks.

“Stop me from what?”

“Stop you from killing yourself with this job.”

“If it’s killing you, then why don’t you leave?” His head cocks to the side, now intrigued by her honesty.

“It’s like you said, I got bit before I could escape. I’m cursed. Are you?”

The little girl flashes through his vision again, and his chest tightens for a second before the relief kicks in. He could chase that feeling, the knowledge that he saved someone, one person. And that he helped put away one more person causing harm. “I am now. Ruined--because even though I can’t save them all. I can save some. I can help keep some people safe. I don’t think there’s a better reward than that.”

With a nod, Ivy looks back to their game on the whiteboard. They would’ve tied, she can see it after where she placed her ‘O’. But she hands it back over to Calum. “Kennedy’s going to shit himself when he realizes he’s got too hard heads on his team.”

“You’ll shit yourself when you realize you’re inheriting the second hard-head on the team after Kennedy leaves.”

Ivy scoffs. Of course, Calum still believes in the shiny idea that hard work yields rewards. “And this is where I can still tell you’re new to this--the dreams are still shiny and ideal.”

“All the work you’ve invested, they’d be--”

Ivy interrupts him. “I know, they’d be dumb not to.”

“Then why do you keep saying it won’t happen?”

“I’d call my pessimism a curse. But at this point, I think it’s a personality trait and the truth.”

“And let me guess, this is why you take your coffee black too.”

Ivy winks at him before her smile takes over her face. “You know it.”