#i don’t know what point i’m trying to make. just. most stories would have taken this concept and made her a flat unfeeling machine

[helaintoloki]

hello, I would like to make a request, a story based on the last episode of yours, Five talking to another Five in the final conversation and they talk about his wife and Canon Five doesn't have one, thanks if you want

a/n: i absolutely loved writing this ty for sending this in ! <3

warnings: language, slight angst, spoilers

summary: Five discovers his missing piece

When Five stumbled into Max’s and came across an entire diner full of alternate versions of himself, about a million different questions raced through his mind. However, the most pressing issue he found himself wanting to address was the context behind the lovingly placed portrait of a woman on the wall.

“Who’s the girl?” He asks his counterpart, his eyes remaining glued to the painting. The woman’s smile was gentle, her eyes kind, and her face the most beautiful he’d ever seen. He almost felt drawn to it in a way, as if there was some type of magnetic pull gravitating his focus to her and only her. It was like seeing a ghost or a familiar face from a dream that you’re not quite able to place.

“Don’t you recognize her?” The other Five retorts perplexed, confusion clearly etched on his features. “That’s y/n.”

“Can’t say I’m familiar,” the Boy confesses with an apologetic sigh as he finally pulls his attention away from the painting and sets it back to the Five in front of him.

“No wonder you’re such a mess,” server Five notes with a diverted smile as he tops off their coffee. Calling over his shoulder, he announces to all Fives, “The poor bastard doesn’t have a y/n.”

Murmurs of surprise and astonished laughter fill the cafe at the news, prompting Five’s face to heat in embarrassment at being the butt of a joke he has no grasp of. What do these Fives know that he doesn’t?

“Could you please be so kind as to fill me in on who this y/n is,” he requests agitatedly through gritted teeth. Reaching into his pocket, his counterpart pulls out a weathered photograph and slides it across the table for Five to see.

“Y/n is the missing piece that completes every Five. We all meet her in different ways at different points of our lives, but every time she manages to anchor us back down to earth. Y/n is the glue that holds us together when everything goes to shit. She believes in us, sees the humanity in us despite the horrors we’ve seen and the atrocities we’ve committed. She gives us unconditional love even when we think we don’t need it, when we think it couldn’t possibly exist.”

As Fives look down at the photo before him, he sees himself- or rather, another version of himself- enveloping y/n in his arms. They stand in front of a beautiful home with a picket white fence and a garden full of flowers smiling with pure bliss. It’s clear that the woman loved this version of him by the adoring look in her eyes, and it’s even clearer that she meant everything to the Five sitting across from him.

“She means something different to each of us, but I was one of the Five’s lucky enough to make her my wife,” his companion notes with an evocative smile. “That photo was taken on our honeymoon.

“Where is she now?” Five asks somberly after handing back the photograph.

“Dead,” he replies quietly, releasing a mournful sigh as he sinks back into the booth. “Lost her in an accident while I was trying to stop the apocalypse for a third time. That’s when I decided it was time to hang in the towel.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“We had a good run together, I wouldn’t change any of it,” the replica admits with a reminiscent smile. He takes another look at the photo, committing it to memory before handing it back to Five. “I think you need this more than I do. You may not have had the chance to know your y/n, but judging by the look on your face when you spotted the portrait I have a good feeling you would have loved her just the same.”

Gingerly taking the photograph back, Five stops to admire her gentle features and adoring smile before tucking it safely into the pocket of his suit. “Thank you.”

“You know what you have to do to fix the timelines,” the other Five firmly instructs him. “Just promise me you’ll do by right by my wife. She deserves a safe timeline to live in, one where she can grow old and be happy.”

Rising from his seat at the booth, Five takes one last longing look at the portrait on the wall before returning his gaze to the boy in front of him.

“You have my word.”

[ashpaw-is-alone]

What is ichor?

Ichor is basically Lavenderstar’s blood. Their body isnt made up of ichor, they are just covered in it. So if you wanted to pet Lavenderstar, you could. But your hand would end up wet and gross with blood. The ichor seeps out of the wounds Lavenderstar received in the fire. Usually these would be healed by dying and going to the Astral Planes (Starclan) but the bitterness Lavenderstar has from their clan basically being extinguished has corrupted their spirit. Technically I should be drawing Lavenderstar dripping with goopy ichor all the time, but I don’t because I’m lazy.

How does ichor work?

For Lavenderstar to infect and control other spirits with ichor, they need to be close to them. If Lavenderstar leaves, so to will the ichor from the infected’s body. I didn’t make it very obvious, but in the most recent ask Weedtail’s infection was slowly going away. You can see this in that their purple pupils are fading. I should have made it more obvious, but I didn’t for drama.

Lavenderstar can control how quickly the ichor infects someone. All Lavenderstar has to do is be near them. Their own ichor can leave seep off their body and onto their victim. This difference in timing can be seen in Moon 6 and Into the Pool. In Moon 6 Lavenderstar infects Rimebat quickly, not giving him enough time to properly warn Ashsight. This is takes 4 panels, so pretty standard for Lavenderstar’s speed.

Meanwhile, in Into the Pool, Lavenderstar’s infection of Weedtail is much slower so that she has a chance to speak. It takes 7 panels to get a little under halfway to complete control. This is very slow for Lavenderstar.

However, shortly after this the ichor starts going away. Ichor is controled by Lavenderstar, but that doesn’t mean their emotions don’t get in the way of it. Weedtail’s words were throwing them off, so their control weakens significantly.

If enraged enough, infection can only take a second. This is demonstrated in the last part of Into the Pool where Weedtail is instantly infected by an enraged Lavenderstar.

The grasp Lavenderstar has on their victims wavers depending on their emotions. If they’re feeling a strong emotion, it weakens the ichor’s effects. The exception is rage, which gives Lavenderstar strength. The entire reason their spirit is like that is because of the rage and bitterness they feel at their clan’s death, to the point they let it consume them whole.

On the topic of Into the Pool, the red scribbles present are also ichor, just a thinner, foamier type. This ichor - which I will now dub scribble ichor - is a lot hotter than normal ichor hench why it is bubbly. This heat is generated by Lavenderstar being enraged as well as their spirit’s form morphing which also gives off heat.

How does being infected by ichor affect the victim?

Any sort of freewill and emotions the victims have are taken away by Lavenderstar. Their spirit becomes apart of theirs, and therefore is controlled by them. This means Lavenderstar can make them do as they like, for example making Cougarshade pin down Ashsight in Moon 6. This also means Lavenderstar can see from their eyes, though this makes their spirit vulnerable to attack. Even though a part of the victim’s consciousness is taken by Lavenderstar, they can still think and feel whatever is happening to their spirit. This includes pain.

Lavenderstar has made Weedtail an exception to this (until recently) because they trusted her the most out of their clanmates. This is why one of her eyes were normal and she could show emotion in Moon 6 whilst the other victims couldn’t.

That’s all you really need to know about ichor right now! I hope this clears some stuff up because it’d be really hard to try and “tell” this in the story.

[tiazvni]

what about y/n that had to block eren in order for her to try and be with someone else. eren and y/n were never together but erens just possessive asf and they have always had something going on. like y/n goes to a party with this new guy and eren confronts her about it shortly after realising that she is there with a different guy.

i know it’s similar to other works you’ve done but just the thought of eren making y/n so weak just from his presence like ugh.

of course we all know how it ends tho :)

none of that might have made sense but i’m begging u. please.

give in | eren jaeger

words : 569

warnings : fem!reader, black coded, possessive!eren, toxic!eren, fwb!eren

eren seethed as he watched your most recent instagram story from his burner phone. dick jumping in his pants when a picture of you, so sweet and soft-looking, filled his screen, taken mere minutes before he pulled up outside of your house.

you were getting ready for a date - a juicy tidbit relayed to him by one of his sources - and he couldn’t stand the sight of you looking so pretty for another man. not when you just had his dick down your throat last week.

he shrugged himself out of his car and reached your front door in quick strides, knocking on the hardwood with a heavy hand. you shouted to him that you were coming! - double checking your appearance in your mirror before rushing downstairs to greet who you thought was your date.

but no, it was just your ex-friend-with-benefits.

“what the hell, eren,” you huffed, glaring at him with those beautiful brown eyes that drive him crazy. “i thought i told you to stop showing up at my house unannounced.”

“nah, fuck that. where the hell do you think you’re going?”

you choked on your breath. “excuse me?”

eren took a single step forward, crossing the threshold into your living room as he stared you down. his dark eyes narrowed as he looked you over - noting your sleek hair that reached your waist in waves, sultry eyelashes, glossed lips, thick body wrapped like a gift in a black silk dress, and dainty feet with painted toes strapped in the sexiest pair of heels he’s ever seen.

it’s almost like you were trying to kill him.

“you heard me,” eren scoffed. “you thought i wasn’t gonna find out about you trying to give my pussy away, hm?”

“my pussy doesn’t belong to you, eren.”

“like hell it does. you must’ve forgot the way i had you crying last week, mamas.”

you tried not to shiver at his words, clit twitching in your underwear as you wracked your brain for the memory of how you both got to this point. having gone from childhood friends to perpetual fuck-buddies, eren’s toxicity has been a recurring theme throughout the entirety of your life.

from the moment you let him fuck you after a smoke session for the first time, agreeing to a simple no-strings-attached deal, you should have known he would be the one to catch feelings all too quickly. but like the silly bitch you were, you forgoed all of his red flags solely because of the way he made your pussy sore during missionary.

but last week was the last time. never again would you give in to his control like he so craved.

“see, this is why i blocked your ass. you act like you own me the second i get the slightest bit of attention from another guy, and i don’t have time for it.” you shove at his chest, hardly moving him an inch back. “get the fuck out of my house, eren!”

“nah, strip for me.” eren licks his lips, unbothered by your words or your attitude.

your breath hitches as he moves another step closer, smirking at the sudden flash of desire clouding your doe eyes. he shuts your front door behind him, eyes never leaving yours as he shifted the locks on your door back in place, watching as each click made your body jump.

“let me see what you’re so eager to show him.”

um i WILL be making a part 2 to this. i literally wrote this during my lunch break at work — i hope it’s to your liking!! <3 <3

[calisources]

𝐓𝐇𝐄   𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐃   𝐎𝐅   𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃𝐒   𝐀𝐍𝐃   𝐒𝐍𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒   𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒.   all   sentences   have   been   taken   from   the   hunger   games:   the   ballad   of   songbirds   and   snakes   book   and   some   from   the   movie   trailers.   might   include   spoilers   for   the   movie   and   book.   change   pronouns   and   locations   and   names   as   you   see   fit.

“Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.”

“Being from the Capitol doesn’t give you that right. Nothing does.”

“Well, as they said, it's not over until the mockingjay sings.”

“People aren’t so bad, really, It’s what the world does to them.”

“That is the thing with giving your heart. You never wait for someone to ask. You hold it out and hope they want it.”

“Snow lands on top.”

“I think there’s a natural goodness built into human beings. You know when you’ve stepped across the line into evil, and it’s your life’s challenge to try and stay on the right side of that line.”

“Before need, before love, came trust.”

“And try not to look down on people who had to choose between death and disgrace.”

“What are lies but attempts to conceal some sort of weakness?”

“The strain of being a full-fledged adult every day had grown tiresome.”

“You can blame it on the circumstances, the environment, but you made the choices you made, no one else.”

“Wars are won by heads not hearts.”

“There is a point to everything or nothing at all, depending on your worldview.”

“You're mine and I'm yours. It's written in the stars.”

“But better off sad than dead.”

“What young brains lack in experience they sometimes make up for in idealism. Nothing seems impossible to them.”

“I think it’s more important than love. I mean, I love all kinds of things I don’t trust.”

“I’m planning to build a whole new beautiful life here. One where, in my own small way, I can make the world a better place.”

“If the war’s impossible to end, then we have to control it indefinitely. Just as we do now.”

“What was there to aspire to once wealth, fame, and power had been eliminated? Was the goal of survival further survival and nothing more?”

“They were both after all, still children whose lives were dictated by powers above them.”

“Star-crossed lovers meeting their fate.”

“I’m bad news, all right.”

“The ability to control things. Yes, that was what he’d loved best of all.”

“What happened in the arena? That’s humanity undressed. The tributes. And you, too.”

How quickly civilization disappears. All your fine manners, education, family background, everything you pride yourself on, stripped away in the blink of an eye, revealing everything you actually are.”

“A boy with a club who beats another boy to death. That’s mankind in its natural state”

“Please, Coriolanus, I would never forget the favor.”

“Who are human beings? Because who we are determines the type of governing we need.”

“What sort of agreement is necessary if we’re to live in peace? What sort of social contract is required for survival?”

“It’s just the kind of story that catches fire.”

“And last but least, District Twelve girl . . . she belongs to Coriolanus Snow.”

“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.”

“If history teaches you anything, it’s how to make the unwilling comply.”

“You know what I won’t miss? People. Except for a handful. They’re mostly awful, if you think about it.”

“And to erase me, they must erase the Games.”

“Why did these people think that all they needed to start a rebellion was anger?”

“And if even the most innocent among us turn into killers in the Hunger Games, what does that say? That our essential nature is violent.”

“It's the things we love most, that destroy us.”

“We all did things we’re not proud of.”

“What are the Hunger Games for?”

"If you want to protect people, then it's essential to accept what human beings are and what it takes to control them."

“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear."

“If the cause wasn’t honorable, how could it be an honor to participate in it?”

“He’s a Capitol boy and clearly I got the cake with the cream, ’cause nobody else’s mentor even bothered to show up to welcome them.”

“To dine with her suggests that you consider her your equal. But she isn’t.”

“The endless dance with hunger had defined his life.”

"In nature, things that are prey, that are weak, are marked"

"The world is not kind to those who don't fit in"

"We all wear masquerades in this Capitol"

, "There's a price for everything, Lucy. Sometimes you pay it willingly, sometimes it's taken from you,"

"Freedom is not given, it is taken"

“I’m not convinced that we are all as inherently violent as you say, but it takes very little to bring the beast to the surface, at least under the cover of darkness.”

[bullet-prooflove]

Bad Boy: Chef Luca x Reader

Tagging: @kmc1989 @djlnkaled @10ava01 @freckledhorse @wabi-sabi1090

Companion piece to:

Something Special - Luca knows you're something special from the very moment you meet.

Sfogliatella - Luca spends months perfecting your fav dessert leading to a surprise proposal.

Luca used to be a little wild, he tells you that when you’re sitting on the deck of the boat that he lives in, sharing an expensive bottle of wine. Your gaze is fixed on the lights from the city as they glitter across the canal as he hands you the glass before taking up residence alongside of you on the cushioned bench.

“Used to be?” You ask carefully. “Or still are?”

“Used to be.” He reassures you because he knows your history.

You’d had a thing for bad boys in your early twenties. You’d fallen in love with a man you were translating for, one who rode motorcycles and was possessive over his woman. He was fun, adventurous and secretive.

You can’t say when you started to lose the pieces of yourself, only that one day Armand didn’t like the way you dressed, he preferred you to wear darker scents instead of floral. A tracking app appeared on your phone so he could make sure you were ‘safe’. You wanted to leave but by that point yourself confidence had been eroded so much that you just couldn’t bring yourself to walk out the door so you stayed.

You’d stayed until you were woken up at three in the morning to the police bursting into his home and raiding the place for drugs. They had found nothing on the premises but you were both swept up for questioning. They’d detained you for five hours before they ascertained you had no knowledge of the operation. Armand had been charged and sentenced to twenty five years in prison for his role in cross state heroin operation.

It had taken such a long time to put yourself back together again after that, to reclaim who you were. You’d taken a job at the UN to get out of the city, bounced around a few countries before you found a home in Copenhagen.

It’s Luca’s words that bring you back to the present. He hasn’t told you how he ended up in Denmark, what led him to become a chef.

“My home life, it was messed up. Most of the time we were this close-” he says indicating a tiny gap with his fingers. “- from being taken into care. I was stealing all the time, trying to make ends meet, bunking off school, lashing out...”

Noone in Copenhagen knows this story, they just know him as the guy who used to with for David Fields. Someone dependable, someone capable, someone stable. They don’t know that there were nights he used his hide his sister in the closet and sing her to sleep because their mother was on another bender.

“Cheffing saved me from all of that, it gave me the structure I needed at the time, the discipline and the cash to provide for my family until my sister was old enough for university.”

“What happened to your parents?” You ask him and he gives you a sad smile.

“Dad was never really in the picture. The last time I saw him I think I was seven and he took me to an Arsenal game, after that radio silence.” He says shaking his head. “And mum… well the drugs took her.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” You tell him and he shrugs his shoulders.

“We expected it to happen a lot sooner if I’m honest.” He tells you. “I know it sounds cold but when you live like that…”

“I kinda get it.” You say softly. “When I was with my ex, he would have these moods…”

You trail off and he understands the subtext. He’s not the only one that’s seen violence, that’s managed to escape it and make something of himself. His fingers entwine with yours, a show of solidarity because if there’s anyone that understands what you endured, it’s Luca.

“I was relieved when the police arrested him, I didn’t have the strength to leave him before that but after…” Your eyes flicker up to meet his and truly they are the most beautiful shade he’s ever seen. “I got to be me again, the real me, not the one he’d tried to shape me into.”

“I’m glad that you escaped that life.” He says, reaching out to brush a strand of hair back behind your ear. “That we both managed to find our way to each other.”

You clasp his hand to your cheek, your lips brushing over his pulse point as you whisper.

“Yea. I am too.”

Love Luca? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[windtowee]

Ello I’d usually make a big greeting but I’ve written this request way too much with no response so ima head straight to the request, sorry if it’s rude

Fandom: Httyd

Reader: Fem or GN idm which

Platonic ( or u could make it romantic idrc )

Summary: Reader is a new dragon rider and their dragon doesn’t like the gang or their dragons and it’s just all the riders coming up w/ ways to make reader’s dragon more comfy around them and stop attacking everyone

Toodles!

~ Cloudy

A/n: Don’t worry, it’s not rude, besides I prefer straight to the point anyways Gender Neutral! Rider! Reader and the dragon is a female Tw! Animal cruelty, child abandonment, mentions of violence, This is platonic

A mother’s love

“So how exactly do we make this dragon not try to attack us?” Astrid asked as the other riders and dragons in the room except your dragon. For some strange reason your dragon didn’t like anyone except you and it didn’t like anyone near you. It might be a trust or a protective thing but it’s pretty unique, as even Toothless isn’t like that.

“I’m not sure. This dragon is quite interesting as they don’t even listen to Toothless despite him being the alpha. Y/n, do you have an idea of why it doesn’t like anyone getting near you or it?” Hiccup asked while the others looked at you for an answer.

“Well, I have a couple of ideas but I think this one is the most likely. When I was about five, I was abandoned in the woods, fortunately my dragon was there too. As you know, my dragon is older than me, old enough to be my parent and my dragon had eggs that got destroyed by hunters” You responded as the others connected the dots. They were sadden by your short story and the realization.

“So correct me if I’m wrong, your dragon sees you as their child after their eggs were crushed by hunters?” Valka asked. She personally related to your dragon due to her being taken away from Hiccup and Stock when Hiccup was a baby. She couldn’t imagine if Hiccup had died or been abandoned.

“Yes. So the protectiveness and dislike is due to motherly nature” You responded as you knew the bond between you and your dragon was deeper than most bonds between people and their dragons.

“So the dragon wants to see if we’re a threat or not? That’s pretty understandable due to how mother dragon’s are very protective of their little ones” Fishlegs said as Hiccup was deep in thought about how to get the protective dragon to not attack them.

Valka then seemed to have an idea. A mother always trusts another mother, no matter the species of the two. Valka then grabbed you hand and led you out of the meeting hall with the others following.

“Mom? What are you doing?” Hiccup asked as Snotlout mumbled something about how Valka should hold his hand.

“She’s a mother, she’ll listen to another mother” Valka responded calmly as she was still walking with her hand in yours.

Soon, you all made your way to your dragon. Your dragon was growling and was ready to attack to protect you. Valka was still holding your hand as she stopped in front of your dragon as the others stood behind her, just in case your dragon attacked.

Valka held out her hand as Hiccup did with Toothless when they first met. Valka and your dragon made eye contact and your dragon got closer while Valka didn’t move or let go of your hand.

Your dragon looked between you and Valka who still has her hand out. “Please, I know you’ve suffered. I have too.. A mother would do anything to protect her child, I know that as I would do the same for mine” Valka whispers to your dragon as your dragon widens her eyes when she finds out Valka is a mother like herself. Your dragon lets down her guard a little, it’s working and your dragon steps closer to Valka with a more peaceful look.

Your dragon looks right in Valka’s eyes as Valka does the same. Valka is seen in your dragon’s eyes as your dragon is seen in Valka’s eyes, then your dragon presses her forehead against Valka’s hand. The others looked relieved that it worked as the emotional moment was occurring between two mothers who had suffered a great deal.

It was touching, really.. Valka was right. A mother will trust another mother if it involves a child’s health, happiness, or safety.

[sylvies-chen]

I love the ballad of songbirds and snakes, don’t get me wrong. but the streets are comparing coriolanus snow to anakin skywalker and I just… somebody get me a gun! I need to buy a gun!

and listen, I totally get the idea behind it. they’re both young formerly promising men who spiralled downwards into violence and authoritarianism and, as a result, betrayed their best friends and the women they care for. on a basic level, they have some similarities. but again, it’s like… the most BASIC and SURFACE LEVEL comparison to make!

snow is not a fallen angel or tragic doomed hero. the entire point of the book + film was that he was always prone to thinking manipulatively, to being selfish, to being violent, to liking the system too much, to letting not just anger but genuine hatred inform his decisions. HE IS THE VILLAIN. and vader is a villain too— the most iconic villain of all time— but anakin is a whole other story, and coriolanus doesn’t hold a candle to anakin when you compare some deeper elements of their motivations.

first off, you only need to look at how they treat their ladies to understand what I’m saying. everyone loves the heartbreak of anakin and padme just as they love the heartbreak of lucy and snow, but that love for their tragic story seems to blind people to the absolute insanity that is snow’s thoughts about lucy. he lies to her, thinks she’s trying to kill him, her song doesn’t satisfy or please him, and in the books he even goes so far as to say she isn’t even that good looking??? anakin, on the other hand, delivers a minute-long monologue about how deeply in love he is with padme, how a single kiss from her haunts him, how he is willing to utterly devote himself to her and fulfil her every demand because there’s nothing else he can do. he expresses his love in a very immature way at times, but it is real and genuine. tbosas makes you question at times whether coriolanus really loves lucy, or whether just this idea of “taming” her seems appealing.

even their downward spirals are vastly different in nature. coriolanus snow becomes more paranoid in an attempt to maintain his image, in order to keep lucy under his spell. his ambitions are nuanced, not black and white by any means, but they are selfish. anakin’s spiral, though there’s no denying the horrific acts he commits, begins from a place of fear and love. he is so genuinely scared of losing his wife and his unborn children that he becomes susceptible to an outside force manipulating him towards the dark side. anakin also fulfils that element of the shakesperian tragic hero in that there’s this idea of potential that we see so present in him. he’s introduced as the one who would bring balance to the force, someone powerful beyond comprehension, a saviour of sorts. snow was never shown to have that level of promise. he was just a man who existed in a system and it is about him grappling with that system until eventually that disgusting fascist mindset takes over.

and lastly, of course, you can’t ever mention these two in tandem without remembering the fact that anakin did the right thing in the end! and coriolanus did not! luke fought to bring anakin back when vader had taken over for so many years, and in the end it paid off. anakin does the truly selfless thing in sacrificing himself to save luke. he lets love inform his decisions, as he once did before, only the fear is gone and so that love orients him towards good instead of darkness. anakin is a fallen angel, but he’s also a man who loved too much and didn’t know what to do with it. snow, comparatively, admits he isn’t above killing children and then laughs in the face of the masses he’s worked to oppress for over half a century right before his death.

anakin skywalker’s story is of the destruction and reconstruction of his good heart, of light, of balance, of love. it is cyclical, and it is tragic. coriolanus snow’s story is not. it is a story not of something sinister growing in an otherwise good heart, but a story of something sinister unravelling and revealing itself.

they are not the same.

[augustvandyne]

Angela lopez x reader

Lucy and Nyla try to set up their two best friends

-🖇

hey again! this one’s really long, and i’m not sorry.

setup

Everyone could see it from a mile away, even Sergeant Grey. So the question was, why couldn’t the two of you see it?

I mean, Angela is a detective, for goodness sake!

How could she not see that the two of you have the biggest crushes on each other?

Well, that was Nyla and Lucy’s mission for this week. To get you and Angela to, for one, see your feelings for each other. Because it’s been oncoming since the first day the two of you met. And then for two, they want to get you two together.

Yesterday, Nyla had found Lucy at lunch, and proposed this plan.

And now, I know what you’re thinking. Nyla came to Lucy?

Well, she was tired of the unknown flirting, longing looks, the touching.. it was making her annoyed. You guys were basically dating at this point, but every time Nyla brought it up, Angela denied it.

Let’s begin!

Monday

You rode with Lucy almost everyday, so imagine your surprise when Lucy told you she was going to be riding with mostly Nyla this week.

You kind of just shrugged it off, figuring she might have wanted to broaden her horizons and try out detective work. Which didn’t really make sense, because you thought her heart was set on undercover work.

Little did you know, they were plotting against you and Angela.

You also didn’t mind because that meant you would be with Angela. You two were friends, and hung out every once in a while, but you did enjoy her company and talked to her whenever you could.

Today you and Angela were mostly staying at the station, so you’d talked a bunch.

Nothing you hadn’t already known about her, though.

Eventually her phone starts dinging repeatedly, and you look up to see her scrunched up face, and you knew what that meant. She was frustrated.

“Jeez,” Angela finally gives in and flips the phone over.

You watch her as her frown grows deeper, and her frustration turns into anger. She rolls her eyes, placing her phone on silent and into her bag on the floor.

“Everything okay?” You ask, making her look up you.

Her features and voice soften, “Fine.”

She sits there and begins tapping her foot on the floor, which you pretend not to notice as you focus on the case files in front of you. She lets out a loud sigh that has you dropping the papers and gives her your full attention.

“It’s Wesley,” Angela admits. “Do you like him?”

You try your best not to make a face. You knew Wesley well.

He made his appearance throughout the station due to him being a defense lawyer. He often represents criminals in your interrogation room.

You’re best at interrogating criminals, so most people seek you out to do their interrogations, which is how you know Wesley so well.

But did you like him?

Well that was a whole different story.

He’d taken Angela out a few times, to which you didn’t like. He’d annoyed you now that he went out with her. You couldn’t explain why it bothered you, but it did.

The two of them had broken things off about a week ago, Angela’s doing, but you couldn’t get the reason out of Angela.

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” You raise one shoulder.

“You’re a terrible liar,” Angela pursed her lips. “Tell me the truth.”

“He’s kind of.. uh, an asshole?” You wince thinking of what Angela’s reaction to your opinion would be.

“Hm,” She doesn’t look fazed, which is good. But that could also mean she was upset and was just hiding it. “Well, he’s the one blowing my phone up.”

“I figured as much,” You say.

“He wants to try again.”

There was that feeling again. Deep in your stomach. You wanted this conversation to stop, but you loved listening to Angela talk. You could listen all day.

“What do you want?” You tilt your head slightly.

“I don’t know,” Angela bites the inside of her cheek. “That’s why I’m talking to you. He’s been texting me a lot lately, asking me to go out with him again, but I ended things for a reason.”

“And what reason was that?” You thought you’d at least try, but you already knew her answer.

She hesitates, and you think she might actually tell you, but then she just shook her head.

“Mm,” You clear your throat and put the files away neatly on Nyla’s desk. You reach to grab for your bag, ready to get out for the night, the overwhelming sensation to cry hitting you. “I’m gonna head out.”

“Oh,” Angela parts her lips. “I can walk you out—“

“No,” You clench your jaw, putting your walls back up. “I’ve got it.”

“Well doesn’t Lucy normally drive you—“

“I said I’ve got it.”

Tuesday

Lucy was devastated to find out about the small fight that took place between you and Angela last night.

She found out when she found you with your comfort movie on and a pint of ice cream in hand.

She was able to get what happened out of you easily, and immediately messaged Nyla with the news.

They were hoping yesterday would be enough, but apparently not.

You were relieved to find out you’d be riding with Nyla the next morning in roll call. You were interested in becoming a detective, so it worked out for you.

Only, it wasn’t going so great now that you were cornered by two men.

Nyla had been tied to a chair back further into the room, and you were being cornered close to the top of the stairs.

You called for backup about five minutes ago, and you prayed Lucy or anyone else would hurry to your location because you wouldn’t be able to hold out two men for more than a few minutes.

Next thing you know, Nyla is yelling something that sounds like a, “Watch out!”, and you’re tumbling down the stairs.

Your vision goes blurry and your head is pounding. You feel like throwing up and you have a pain in your ankle.

Thankfully, you’re put out of your misery when you pass out.

You wake up in the hospital, a doctor shining a light in your eyes.

As you thought, Lucy was there by your side when you woke up, which was a relief.

You’d gotten a bad concussion from hitting your head off the floor after tumbling down the steps, as well as a sprained ankle.

Lucy dropped you at home, which is where you spent the rest of your night—alone.

At least you did until Angela came knocking on your door.

“Oh,” You let out a sharp breath when finding the woman at the other end of the door.

“Hey, I heard what happened,” Angela steps into your apartment without even asking, concern written all over her face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” You say as her hand touches the bruise that formed on the side of your face from the fall.

Her hand is cool on your face, and even though the bruise hurts to the touch, you hold her hand there.

“Does it hurt?” She lightly moves her hand from the side of your face, and softly grips your chin, turning your head so she can see your bruise.

“Keep your hand there,” You dodge her question, grabbing her hand that’s not on your chin, and place it back on the side of your face. “Your hands cold. Feels good.”

Wednesday

You were placed on desk duty for the rest of the week. Just great.

It tampered with Nyla and Lucy’s plan, but it’s nothing they couldn’t handle.

Lucy stayed back today, but kept her distance from you and Angela. The two of you were in the same seats at Monday. Sat across from each other.

You could feel Angela watching over you as the day went by.

Lucy ate lunch with you and asked how Angela was but you did your usual show when someone asked about her.

You looked down, hid your blush, shrugged your shoulders and muttered an “I don’t know.”

Later into the shift, you had gotten up for coffee.

You and Angela stayed back a bit late to finish the case you were on. You were so close, you could feel it.

But that also meant Lucy and Nyla were at home, as well as the rest of the day shift.

They were at home conspiring against the two of you as you make your coffee.

Angela followed you into the break room, and good thing she did, because your ankle decided to give out three seconds later.

Angela speeds to catch you just in time, you falling back into her arms. You swallow nervously, your faces awfully close.

All you could see were her sparkling brown eyes, and her kissable lips.

But you beat yourself down for even thinking about that. So when she leaned in a fraction, you cleared your throat and stood up.

“Sorry about that,” You scratched the back of your neck.

“You should really be more careful,” Angela tries to play it off as if she didn’t just try to kiss you and got rejected.

“I know,” You chuckle awkwardly.

“Was it your ankle?” Angela frowns.

“Yeah, it’s been bothering me,” You shrug. “I should stay off it.”

“Damn right you should,” Angela said sternly. “From now on I’m confining you to Nyla’s desk.”

You let out a breathy laugh, “Fine by me.”

“Okay.. so go sit down,” Angela raises her brows. “You think I’m joking? I’m not. Go sit. I’ll bring you your coffee.”

Smirking, and watching you leave the room, she does just as she says.

Thursday

Today would be an exciting one.

You were with Nyla again, and Lucy was with Angela.

But since Angela forced you on desk duty, you and Nyla would be hanging back at the station.

The fun part is how all Nyla’s been talking about is Angela.

Nyla had somehow found out about your almost kiss with Angela last night, and yet she hadn’t asked about why you’d pulled back, you had a feeling she would soon.

“You know she broke things off with Wesley?” Nyla looked up, smiling at you.

“Yeah. I mean, she was thinking about it,” You try not to get too hung up on the question, trying to figure something out for Nolan, but coming up with nothing due to your mind being on the Lopez woman. “But why?”

“You really want to know?” Nyla leans on the desk, her hands intertwined together on top of the surface.

“Will you actually tell me?” You sit up excitedly.

“It was because of you.”

That caught you off guard. Why would she say something like that?

“That’s not funny,” You start blinking repeatedly.

“I’m not laughing, am I?” Nyla gave you her serious face.

“But why would she do that?” You asked yourself, and ended up with an answer from Nyla.

“Because she likes you.”

You scoff.

“What, me?” You’re taken aback at the seriousness of Nyla’s tone and face. “No. I’m just a patrol officer. And she’s a detective. She could have anyone. And she wants me? Are you sure?”

“Positive. You’re all she talks about.”

“You’re all she talks about,” Lucy looked over to look at Angela who had her thinking face on.

Angela had Lucy driving today, because she felt like sitting back today, rather than dealing with assholes on the road.

“I don’t buy it,” Angela shrugged. “I would know. I mean, I’m a detective.”

“You know, that’s exactly what Nyla and I thought.”

“What— Nyla?” Angela turns her whole body. “She’s in on it?”

“Well, I mean—“

“Are you sure? I’ve liked her since, well, I don’t know..”

“Since your first day training her? Yeah, her too,” Lucy was jittery, excited for their plan to finally come together. Even after having to go to plan D.

“Well, what do you think I should do?” Angela bites her nail nervously. “Should I ask her out?”

“Of course you should!” Lucy is basically bouncing in her seat, she can only imagine how you feel.

“Tonight?”

“Yes!” But then Lucy remembers tonight in the night your show comes on, and you almost never miss it. “Oh, no, wait, no.. here’s the thing. Thursdays are not so good, you see.”

“Her show?”

Lucy is surprised by her words, but it just points out the obvious fact that the two of you like each other.

“Yeah, yeah, how did you know that?” Lucy shakes her head.

“It’s all she talks about on Fridays, so I have no choice but to assume it comes on on Thursday nights.”

“You know what you should do? Bring her takeout! Yes, I’m going out with a friend tonight, so it works out perfectly,” Lucy beams. “You know her favorite place?”

“Of course,” Angela rolls her eyes. “I know it by heart.”

“So it’s a date.”

“Whatever,” She shrugs it off, but is secretly planning out her outfit.

A knock at the door later that night has you bouncing on your toes.

Lucy had hinted at how her conversation went with Angela earlier in the day, but wouldn’t tell you how it went.

When you open your door there she is, looking gorgeous as always, your favorite takeout in her hand.

You smile widely, trying your best not to check her out, but fail.

“You gonna invite me in, or what? Your shows coming back on,” She jerks her head in the direction of you and Lucy’s huge TV.

“Oh, come in,” She shreds off her coat, placing it on the hanger by the door.

She was wearing a black tank, which you weren’t complaining about, as well as jeans that complimented her perfectly.

When she catches you staring, you fake cough, and hide your face in the fridge, grabbing the both of you some water.

“How was desk duty?”

“As well as it should be,” You shrugged.

“Speaking of, you should be sitting,” She pushes you towards the couch, a smile across her face. “Go sit. I’ll bring you some.”

You talk as you eat, and learn that Angela doesn’t know anything about this show, besides what you’ve told her. So you pause the show, and you spend the next hour and a half explaining the show.

At this point, she isn’t even paying attention to what you’re saying, she’s just watching your mouth and the column of your throat move as you talk.

“Angelaaa you aren’t even listening. How are you going to understand what’s happening?”

“I am listening, and it’s very interesting,” Angela tries to lie her way out.

“What did I just say?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then what do you know?” You squint at her.

“That I want to kiss you.”

You hadn’t realized that there was only about an inch or two between your faces.

This time, when Angela leans in, you don’t stop her. You let her grip the sides of your neck, her thumbs rubbing across your neck.

You wrap your arm around her neck, moving yourself closer, all but on her lap. You begin running your hands through her hair.

You pull slightly, making the woman groan, which gives you access to her mouth.

It would have gone farther, had Lucy and Nyla not chosen that second to walk in.

“Oh! I guess our plan worked,” Lucy turns her head as you scramble off Angela.

“I guess it did,” Nyla smiled. “We’ve got moves.”

“Yeah, yeah we do,” Lucy nodded, sticking her fist out for Nyla, who bumps it.

[starbylers]

Will Byers main character of season 5 “emotional arc tying up the show”, mysterious connection to the main villain AND the supernatural lore, “it started with Will and it’ll end with Will”, outstanding questions surrounding his disappearance which kicked off the entire show coming full circle, written for seasons as slowly falling in love with his best friend and that point being driven home extremely hard the season before His season….that Will Byers….is NOT ending up with some random side character lol. If you think that’s the most likely outcome I’m sorry but you haven’t been paying attention.

Like truly how do people envision that scenario? Will spends the season going through presumably life changing events grappling with his identity and fighting these deadly supernatural forces alongside the people he’s most closely bonded with in the entire world including his best friend who he is literally in love with and who’s relationship with him is obviously going to be important, full on saving the world in conjunction with his personal coming of age…and then when it’s over he just trots off with cute guy #373848 who has fuck all to do with any of this, or with the story of the show, who Will absolutely would not have had time to build a convincing relationship with given all of the above. A few scenes of what, someone flirting with him? Being nice, being friendly? does not an endgame make for someone who’s not only the main focus of the season but integral to the core mystery of the show. The love interest of a character like that would need to be front and centre alongside him (oh wait…..).

And in what universe could random new side guy compare to and in fact overtake - because that’s what they’d have to pull off - the depth of his relationship with the boy he currently loves, his best friend?? There’s no time or set up for that. Will is a main character. Even Robin - who I adore but she does play a much more minor role - gets a two season love interest who’s involved with the main cast, and don’t get me started on all the complex multi season straight relationships.

An endgame relationship for Will was never going to be an afterthought. The sentiments of I hope the Duffers are brave enough to go for Byler or they’ll just give Will someone else makes no sense to me because this has been planned for YEARS 😭 they were not making season 4 with their minds undecided about Mike and Will’s fate. They were not sitting in the writer’s room like oooh this is fun and messy let’s just slap in this major plot point between two main characters and figure out why tf we did it at a later date.

They made Will, the boy at the centre of everything, love Mike so intensely while actively not presenting a single other viable option (and having him grouped up with Mike yet again next season), KNOWING from the first introduction of Will’s feelings how it was going to turn out. If they planned all along for him to end up with someone else, there would be set up (à la Rovickie but honestly more than that, probably someone who could’ve taken Argyle’s place, or at the VERY least show signs of him letting Mike go). Meanwhile by s4 finale, there’s no other candidate in sight and his heart remains with Mike more devoted than ever like ?????

Will is important. His love is important. I’m so over people trying to downplay the legitimacy of his emotions toward Mike. Gay characters feelings aren’t disposable just because they inconvenience a straight ship, and the Duffers didn’t put Will in this position without an end goal in mind. You decide what makes more sense with what they’ve shown us so far. If you can see the threads (and not see certain other threads) it’s for a reason. Writing is intentional.

[xxx-caliber]

a kurogiri theory/hc.

I have a theory for why Tomura was so much colder towards Kurogiri than he was towards the rest of League. We see Tomura be very accommodating and, dare I say, kind towards most of the League. He doesn’t get angry when Spinner gets up in his face and yells at him, he doesn’t lash out when Toga pulls a knife on him during the Overhaul arc, he never gives Twice shit for the self imposed limits of his quirk, etc. But with Kurogiri we see him be very angry, I remember him even calling Kurogiri stupid and threatening him during the USJ incident.

I think that this anger towards Kurogiri is likely a consequence of how Kurogiri’s programming effected his an Tomura’s relationship when Tomura was growing up. We don’t know much about Kurogiri’s programming (there might be more info about it in Vigilantes but I haven’t read that, if someone has and there is more info about how he was made/what AFO did to him please let me know!!) so I am going to guess what sorts of things he is forced to do and not do.

Kurogiri was made from Shirakumo Oboro’s corpse, someone who (from what little i know about him in Vigilantes) is very kind, great with kids, and a hero hopeful. I’m sure if Shirakumo saw little Tomura and how he was being raised (read: groomed) by AFO, he would try to put a stop to it, so AFO would want to ensure that Shirakumo’s personality does not break through (as has been known to happen to Nomu).

So the first bit of programming I think AFO did to prevent that is pretty obvious: I think AFO programmed in that Kurogiri cannot deny any order given by AFO to either Kurogiri or Tomura.

I think something else AFO would have been worried about is Tomura growing too dependent on or too affectionate towards Kurogiri. The reason grooming works is because groomers chose a victim who is isolated. They usually don’t have good relationships with their peers or their parents, so they latch on to their groomer who is giving them the attention that they don’t get anywhere else. Because of this lack of a relationship with anyone else, it also means that the victim does not have anyone to talk to about their relationship with the groomer, so no one will be there to point out that what the groomer is doing is inappropriate.

This leads me to my guess on the second bit of programming Kurogiri was given: do not show Tomura affection.

Showing Tomura affection would make him more attached to Kurogiri, and consequently not solely dependent on AFO, thus making the grooming less likely to work. Kurogiri obviously took care of Tomura’s basic needs and protected him, that is his job, but I think anything beyond the bare minimum was likely not allowed. No hugs, no bedtime stories, just what would keep him alive, so that AFO is the sole provider of all of the “love” and affection that Tomura craves.

Now, how would that cause Tomura to have the tumultuous relationship that he has with Kurogiri by the time of USJ? Well, from what little we see of Tomura’s childhood after being taken in by AFO, it was pretty fucked up. Getting beaten up in the streets, frequently physically ill, constantly scratching his own throat out, being forced to kill… not great to say the least. Couple that suffering with a “caretaker” who can only do the bare minimum, who cannot comfort him when he is in pain, who cannot step in when AFO is pushing him too hard, and some resentment towards said “caretaker” is likely to form.

I don’t think that Tomura hates Kurogiri, and I think that logically he knows some of Kurogiri’s coldness towards his pain is a result of AFO’s influence, but feelings don’t always listen to logic. I think that the planning of AFO in harboring a tumultuous relationship between them worked, and Tomura now has some deep seeded resentment starting from a very young age towards Kurogiri that can’t just be removed by the logical understanding he has as an adult that Kurogiri is just doing what he has to.

anyway, that’s my guess. I’d love to hear what you guys think and any other bit of programming you think AFO did.

[writing-for-life]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN DREAM'S HAIR USED TO BE WHITE!! oh my god. i just saw your post about killala and i have now perished. thanks for breaking my heart.

but also hi!! i'm relatively new to the fandom and it's a great place to be. i haven't finished reading all the comics yet but i'm curious to know:

what do you think are the main differences between TV!Dream and Comics!Dream? i've heard so many people claiming that he is incapable of changing, for instance, and though the show does convey his overall rigidity pretty well, i'm not getting the vibe that he's immutable.

also!! it's clear that he feels a lot. which is always funny to me when the corinthian is like yo, try this and maybe you'll feel something for a change but like. he does!!! or i get the impression that he does. he probably feels too much if anything?? all of it simmering just beneath the surface, barely contained. how would you personally analyze his relationship with his own emotions?

i hope all of this is coherent enough for you to answer lmao, i saw your post about enjoying being asked sandman questions two seconds after i woke up and barged into your inbox. hope you have a lovely day!

Thanks so much for the ask, and welcome if you’re new(ish) to the fandom! 🤗

I’m sorry I broke your heart—much more heartbreak to come I fear if you haven’t read the comics yet, so I’ll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.

I am one of those people who believes the differences between comics!Dream and show!Dream are actually not as big as they are made out to be where it matters, and you will definitely find people who disagree. At the end of the day, we all read it through our own lens and will never be fully objective about it.

The main difference I see is that they filed off the rough edges of the comics a bit to make a new audience sympathise more. It’s very hard to do that with a character who is basically in full arsehole mode for most of the first 40 issues or so, and even then only slowly begins to come out of it (although we can obviously see glimmers of what lies below the surface at the beginning of the comics, too, but it’s far more subtle than in the show). I’ve worked in musical theatre for a over decade of my life and understand a bit about bringing the written word to stage/screen, and some things simply don’t translate well from book to stage/screen, and you have to change it. So my personal opinion is we get a more sympathetic Morpheus and certain changes so the audience can do exactly that—sympathise off the bat. You will lose an audience pretty quickly if they don’t care about the protagonist and the universe he moves in, and you can’t be as nuanced about it as you can be in a written work. We’re talking about streaming services thinking about profits here, even if people don’t want to hear it.

Also: The more you sympathise with a character, the deeper the emotional investment and the more you feel, even if it hurts.

Having said this, I don’t think Morpheus is incapable of change, and I never got where that idea comes from. His biggest flaw is that he believes he cannot change (and even he has moments when he admits he might have). In the introduction to Endless Nights, Neil Gaiman says that he was once asked to describe The Sandman in twenty-five words or less, and famously, it was this (you might have heard it):

“The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision.”

And I think some people might have wrongly taken that for an either/or thing. I don’t want to say too much at this point because I don’t know how much you know (if you’d like spoilers or already know how it ends, let me know, I’ll happily expand on it). Only so much:

He is capable of change, also in the comics. Very obviously so. But just like he denies he has his own story (which also isn’t true), he denies he can change. Or at least he thinks he perhaps cannot change enough (it’s actually hard to write about this without giving everything away, help! 🙈).

As for his feelings: He does feel, but again, it is something he pushes down and will deny himself. Until it bursts to the surface and breaks through, and when that happens, it’s usually with, well, let’s say varying results, and that’s putting it mildly. Personally, I’d say he has problems relating to his feelings, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel. Quite the opposite in my view. He holds the collective unconscious—all unprocessed feelings and whatever else floats around in that collective mess, and it’s exactly what he says to the Corinthian in that famous scene: he needs to keep a lid on it and keep that lid firmly closed so all of it doesn’t consume him. But that also means denying himself the feelings that are linked to his own personhood (if you want to call it that). There’s Dream of the Endless, and then there’s Morpheus. And while they’re one and the same and inseparable, Morpheus is also the “point of view”. The character, the person, if you will. And deep down, he craves that personhood so badly. Out of all the Endless, he is the only one who basically collects names because they mean having something beyond his function, which is also mirrored in what he tells Death in “The Sound of her Wings”: he wants something more. He is the only one whose realm is populated with sentient beings (yes, I know Despair has rats, but I think you get my drift). He is desperately lonely and struggles with it. He seeks connection yet denies it to himself. That’s not someone who doesn’t feel.

I don’t know if this answers your questions at all—I was doing the wild “spoiler-free” dance 🤣 But please let me know if you want me to go a bit deeper, I love talking about this stuff.

You can also have a look at my metas if you haven’t already. The headers pretty much explain what they’re about and what spoiler-level to expect, but none of them are truly spoiler-free I guess:

Again, thanks so much for encroaching on my inbox, and feel free to follow up if anything was left unanswered.

@dreamaturgy ask answered

[badkitty3000]

Lewd Public Acts: Five x OC One Shot

Getting busy in a public space with people around? The idea of someone witnessing everything becomes a turn on for Five's wife, and he is definitely up for the challenge. After all, he can never deny her anything. And, let's face it; there might be something in it for him, too.

Warnings: Smut, Public sex, Dirty talk, Fingering, Blow jobs

Words: 7,412

Here is a smutty one shot I wrote featuring my original character, an aged-up Five's love of his life, Vivian, from my Halo series. That AU spawned its own series of one shots that you can read here.

I love writing these two horny love-birds, so if you have any requests for a story featuring them, or Five and a reader-insert, let me know!

The traffic was incessantly slow, with the cars creeping forward mere inches at a time every few minutes. There was nowhere to go; not even a shoulder to drive on if you wanted to be that kind of jerk. Which, after over an hour of sitting in roughly the same spot, breathing in exhaust fumes and listening to his wife’s horrific playlist of songs, Five would have gladly taken twenty traffic violation tickets just to get out of there. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, imagining it was the neck of whoever had caused this nightmare to begin with.

Viv risked a side glance, noticing the red flag that was the twitchy eye and bared teeth of her husband. Her eyes moved back in front of her, to the glove compartment where Five kept his Glock, and she subtly pressed her knee up against it. Just in case.

About thirty minutes into this fiasco, Five had put the car in park and blinked out and down the standing row of cars to try and get a look at what the hold up was, much to the shock of the other drivers. After he had stood on the side of the road, hands on his hips, assessing the situation in the most Five way possible, and then blinking back into the car, Viv had scrunched down in her seat and gave the confused, older lady in the car next to her an embarrassed smile.

Risking making things worse, and possibly her life, Viv quietly cleared her throat.

“Five. There’s nothing we can do. It sucks, but there’s no point in getting all assassin-level angry about it.”

When Five’s head whipped around in her direction, she flinched just slightly; his face looking dangerously crazy.

“Yes, I know there’s nothing we can do, Vivie.” He drew out his words slowly and measured, as if talking to a small child. “But I am tired and hungry and very, VERY over this music.” He stabbed his finger at the screen that had just lit up with the beginnings of “Sweet Caroline”, stopping poor Neil before he could get to the chorus.

The car was quiet again and Viv tried to choke down the laugh she felt forming inside of her. It never failed to amuse her when her murderous husband with a long history of blood and violence started acting like a toddler that was overdue for a nap and a snack. The more she sat there, watching him seethe out of the corner of her eye, the more she thought about it. And then she couldn’t keep it suppressed anymore. The laugh started as a muffled snort, and then her shoulders started to shake. When Five looked over at her, completely unamused, it all burst forward in a loud, obnoxious cackle that had her doubled over.

“Always glad to be your entertainment,” he snarled, looking away again.

“Oh, come on, Five…you don’t have to be so dramatic,” Viv argued, even as she still tried to swallow her laughter.

“How am I being dramatic?” Five asked loudly, throwing his hands in the air with all the drama of a telenovela actor. “You’re the one that wanted to go to this restaurant across town, even though I told you it would be a bitch to get to. And I was right, wasn’t I? You know, sometimes you can admit when I’m right. It wouldn’t kill you.”

Rather than answer, Viv reached across with one hand, squeezing his cheeks and squishing in his face. She beamed over at him as he gave her the death glare. Part of the fun of messing with him was knowing she was the only one that could ever get away with it. Anyone else would have been swiftly joining the unidentifiable roadkill that was lying next to their car.

“You’re so super cute when you’re all angry.”

Five swatted her hand away. “Thin ice, Vivie. You’re on real thin ice.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “What exactly are you going to do about it?”

“Off the top of my head, I’m thinking of spatial jumping myself out of here and leaving you here.”

Viv scoffed. “You wouldn’t dare. Besides, how far would you even get?”

“Far enough to get away from this mess and to think happily back on the image of you still sitting here, crying tears of regret over your treatment of me.”

Viv pressed her lips together to keep from laughing again. Even though Five’s body language and words gave the impression of some serious underlying wrath, the tiniest formation of a dimple on his cheek gave him away. He may have actually been pissed at the situation, but he’d never leave her like that.

“Fine. You were right…I was wrong. This was a bad idea. There, you good now?” she condescendingly patted his thigh.

As she turned back towards the passenger window, in the process of taking her hand back, she felt him grab hold of it, keeping her pressed into his leg. She turned back to face him with a questioning look. All she received in return was a very evil smile of which she knew the exact meaning behind. Uh-oh.

“Oh, no…no way, buddy. I am not giving you a hand job in the middle of a traffic jam. Absolutely not.”

Even Viv knew her argument lacked much conviction; the sternness in her voice was definitely not very convincing. When Five didn’t respond, she kept going.

“Besides, it’s not like we’re very hidden here, we’re surrounded by all these other cars with people in them and it’s broad daylight out. Not to mention my very nosy window neighbor over here, I’m pretty sure her name is Gladys, keeps looking over at us. I think she likes you.”

None of that did anything to dissuade Five; it was as if she hadn’t said anything at all. He just grasped her hand tighter, that cock-sure smile of his never wavering.

“First of all, you need to make up for this disaster you put us in, which you have so kindly admitted was your doing. Second, I have a very different kind of job in mind for you, my love. And third, I know you; and I can guarantee you’re going to have your head in my lap in a matter of minutes.”

Five took Viv’s hand and pressed it roughly between his legs, making sure she knew he wasn’t fucking around. She could feel him growing and getting harder as he rubbed her palm over the top of his pants. He closed his eyes and let out a soft exhale.

“Jesus, Five. How can you be so pissed off one second and so horny the next? That’s not normal.”

He opened his eyes and grinned over at her. “Just one of my many talents. Now, are you going to get over here? Or are you going to keep pretending you’re not going to suck my dick when I tell you to?”

She laughed softly, but didn’t make a move, even though her breath had become noticeably faster and she stopped trying to pull her hand away.

Five unbuckled his seat belt and slid the seat back further to make more room. Then he settled back into the seat, spreading his legs apart and leaning his head back with his eyes closed.

“Darling, I really don’t want to have to tell you again,” he warned, not even bothering to look over at her or open his eyes.

As he moved her hand over the crotch of his pants again, Viv took a deep, shaky breath and bit her bottom lip.  He knew exactly how to get to her.  How to turn her from a strong, confident woman into a quivering mess of sexed-up gelatin.  It’s like he knew the special, magic formula to instantly soak her panties and leave her wanting him.  She may have been the boss of him in every other aspect of their lives, but when it came to anything sexual…Five was in charge.

After a brief look to her nosy neighbor, who happened to be looking straight ahead for once, she undid her own seat belt and leaned in closer to Five. She lightly ran her lips over his neck while she started undoing his pants.

“You’re lucky I’m willing to let you talk to me like that,” she murmured with a smile before kissing the corner of his mouth.

“You’ve been letting me talk to you like that since the day we met,” he replied; which was entirely true. Then he let out a soft moan as she freed his dick from his pants and started slowly stroking him.

“So, what’s going to be in this for me?” Viv asked, still teasing him with feather light kisses on his neck.

“Dinner. Maybe,” Five answered dryly, trying to conceal his smile as he inhaled a sharp breath when her hand moved over him again.

The movement stopped completely then, and Five opened his eyes to look at her unamused face. Trying to push himself up into her fist, but to no avail, Five conceded with a short laugh.

“How does this sound? If we ever get out of this nightmare and home again, I’m going to get you on all fours and fuck you with my hand, then my mouth, and then my dick until you’re coming onto each one of them.”

Viv could feel the unmistakable rush of moisture between her legs when he said things like that. It was an automatic response from her body; because it knew that’s exactly what was going to happen. She started to rub his cock again, harder and faster this time, causing him to flop his head back with a loud groan and close his eyes again.

“Deal. Just make sure you’re watching the road and pay attention if we start moving.”

“Uh-huh…got it,” he mumbled, his hand already pushing her head down.

Vivian was on him a second later, taking him all in at once, and letting him guide her head with his hand in her hair. If there was one thing she knew, it was that the man loved a good blow job. She’d given countless to him over the years, and in that time had gotten to know exactly the way he liked it and the quickest way to make him finish, too. She considered herself a Professional Number Five Cock Sucker at this point. She could have taught a class.

She made little moaning noises as she moved her head up and down in a certain rhythm, making sure the head of his dick hit the back of her throat each time. She gagged once in a while, but he liked that, too; knowing he was big enough to choke her if he really pushed her down hard enough. The angle was awkward, but not anything she couldn’t handle and she used her hand along with her mouth to speed things up. But when her neck and back were starting to ache and the gear shift was digging into her armpit, he was still going strong. She had another trick up her sleeve that would wrap things up, though.

Taking her mouth off, but still working him with her hand, she looked up and made sure he was watching her face as she licked her lips.

“Let me feel your cum down my throat, Daddy,” she purred, as seductively as she could.

Then she was back to sucking him off and she could hear the low groaning noise that meant he was going to do just what she had asked of him. His hand tightened in her hair and he held her down while he pushed his hips up, his back arching and body stiff and twitching while he lost himself to her expert mouth-fucking skills. He was almost completely spent, the last few spurts of cum sliding down her throat, when there was the undeniable crunching sound and hard jolt of their car hitting the one in front of them.

Viv did choke a little with the impact, and lucky for Five he didn’t get his dick bitten off. The car had been rolling so slowly that it had only gently bumped the other car. But it was still enough to do some damage. Not to mention the impact had somehow kicked the music back on and suddenly the car was being blasted with the all-too familiar lyrics of “Sweet Caroline”.

…touching me…touching youuuuuu….

“Fuck!” Five cried as Viv lifted her head up quickly and looked out the windshield to see what had happened.

She groaned. “Five, god damn it! I told you to watch what you were doing!”

“Yeah, I know!” he snapped back at her over the loudly obnoxious song. While trying to stuff himself back into his pants and zip up, he visibly winced. “I guess my foot slipped off the brake! I was a little preoccupied!”

Sweet Caroline…bum bum bum…

“You were preoccupied?! I was the one choking on your damn dick!”

“Charming, Viv, really.”

Good times never seemed so good….

“Well, shit. Great, the guy is getting out of his car. Oh my god, he’s walking over here! Now what?”

“Jesus, I don’t know! Act fucking normal I guess, if you can manage that,” Five barked at her. “And turn this FUCKING music off!”

Five practically punched the touchscreen with his fist and Neil shut up again. The car seemed extra quiet, except for their angry breathing.

As the other driver got closer, Viv suddenly realized the absurdity of the whole situation. She knew what they looked like; her hair a tangled mess from Five’s hand, lips swollen and her chest flushed. Five was breathing hard and trying to tuck in his shirt and buckle his belt. Then add in the fact that they had started yelling at each other, and Viv immediately burst out laughing. When Five looked at her, first in complete shock, he must have come to the same conclusion she had and he shook his head with a smile.

“You are a very bad girl, Vivian Hargreeves.”

“And you are a very bad influence,” she replied with another giggle.

As Five composed himself and got out of the car to assess the minor damage with the annoyed looking man; Viv glanced over to Gladys who was wearing a very sour expression on her face. Clearly, she had seen the whole thing go down, including the sinful activity that had taken place. Instead of hiding in embarrassment, though, Viv just waved out the window to her with a happy smile and gave her a thumb’s up. Then she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and licked her lips, all while staring the haughty looking woman in the face. She couldn’t help but crack up again when she saw the woman gasp and cover her mouth with her hand, completely appalled.

Later that evening, after they had finally gotten home and eaten dinner and Five had eaten something else just like he had promised, they were lying in bed in the dark when Viv started laughing again.

“I can’t stop thinking about that lady’s face. She was so horrified. I’m sure she was going to go pray for us as soon as she could get back to her church.”

Five chuckled. “Well, you did put on a good show.”

“Yeah, but was it worth that ticket and the increase in our auto insurance?”

Five pulled her in close to him and kissed her cheek. “Absolutely one-hundred percent worth it.”

Viv sighed and laid her head on his chest. “You know what’s weird though? I kind of liked it.”

“Of course you did. What’s not to like?”

She rolled her eyes. “Not that. Doing it in public like that. Where people could see us? It was kind of a rush.”

“Huh. Well, that’s certainly good to know. Let me file that away along with all the other dirty things my wife likes.”

“That file must be getting pretty big by now. Your wife sounds like freak,” she laughed.

“You have no idea.”

A few days later, Viv was standing in front of her closet after her morning shower, wrapped in a towel and staring at the empty space that used to be occupied by more clothes.

“Five! Where the hell are all my work pants?” she yelled out.

A minute later, Five strolled in with his coffee, looking suspiciously innocent. “What do you mean?”

She eyed him up with a hand on her hip. “My pants are missing. Know anything about this?”

He shook his head with a smile and took a sip from his mug. “Not a clue. Weird. Guess you’re going to just have to wear a skirt to work.”

Viv narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing?”

Five shrugged and walked to her closet, looking at the line of skirts. Picking out a tight, black skirt that would be way too short to wear to work, he placed it on the bed. “Wear that one.”

“Five…I can’t wear-“

“I thought I’d come by and take you out to lunch today,” he interrupted with a gleam in his eye.

Now she understood. This skirt was for him, not her. And she was pretty sure she knew what lunch meant.

With a shake of her head she smiled. “You know, this skirt would actually be perfect to wear today. Even though there’s a good chance I might accidentally give everyone at work a look at my Area 51.”

“Your what?”

She shrugged. “I’m trying out new names for my vag. Area 51. Like it?”

“I honestly don’t know what I did to deserve you,” he replied sarcastically.

“Yes, you do,” she grinned.

Five just smirked knowingly and left the room to let her finish getting ready. But when she opened her underwear drawer, she found that it was empty as well.

“God damn it, he’s good,” she muttered to herself with a smile.

Viv spent the rest of the morning trying to avoid the scandalized looks of her coworkers while also trying to pull her skirt down so it wouldn’t ride all the way up and show the entire lab her bare bikini biscuit, which she had decided was her new favorite term. In between wrestling with her completely inappropriate outfit, she kept an eye on the clock. She was supposed to meet Five downstairs in the lobby at noon. He didn’t say where he was taking her, but she figured that was because she was the lunch.

Finally, it was noon and Viv rushed downstairs, fully anticipating a nice long lunch hour consisting of an orgasm or two. When she saw Five she hugged him and gave him a kiss.

“So, where are you taking me?”

He let his hands roam over her hips and down to her ass that was just barely covered by the skirt. “I don’t care. Wherever you want. What sounds good?”

Viv frowned. “Wait. Are you actually taking me out to lunch?”

He smiled innocently. “That’s what I said I was going to do. Why? What were you thinking?”

With a very suspicious look at her husband, Viv cocked her head to the side. “What was up with the skirt then? And the no panties?”

Again, Five just shrugged like he had no idea what she was getting at. “Nothing. I just like that skirt, it looks nice on you. And you probably left all your underwear in the dryer like you always do.”

Viv let out a frustrated sigh. “You are so weird. Fine, let’s go across the street to that café. If I can make it there without flashing the entire city my pink velvet sausage wallet.”

Five choked on a shocked laugh. “Your what?”

“What? You don’t like that one? I thought it was a winner.”

“And I’m the weird one,” he said with a shake of his head.

After their actual lunch of food, where Viv fully expected Five to blink her out of there and fuck her somewhere private, but never did; they walked back across to Viv’s building where she went to give him a kiss good bye.

“Hang on. I’ll go up with you.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Why?”

“Can’t I want to spend a few more minutes with my beautiful wife? Is that a crime?”

“You’re up to something, Hargreeves; I know you are.”

But Five gave no further explanation, so they walked to the elevator together. Viv’s lab was on the 20th floor, and the elevators were all packed with workers returning from lunch. When the doors opened, a throng of people pushed in, filling it almost to capacity. Five had led her in with a hand on the small of her back and they ended up in the back corner, which Viv didn’t really like since they were packed in so tight. She leaned in closer to Five so she didn’t have to be so close to the other people.

As soon as the doors closed and everyone pushed the buttons to their respective floors, Viv felt Five’s hand on her ass. She turned and gave him a little smile, since that wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for him to do. But what he did next certainly was. She stood there while he continued south with his hand, stopping just below the short hemline of her skirt. Then, with a move so smooth she wasn’t sure how he did it, his hand was under the back of her skirt with his fingers sneaking forward between her legs.

Viv let out a loud gasp, then quickly shut her mouth as several people turned to look at her. Five continued sliding his fingers forward until they were perfectly positioned, the slick from her rapidly dampening pussy coating them as he started to gently finger her. Viv tried to step away, but he held her to him with a firm grip on her arm, and he moved her body so that her back was closer to the elevator wall. It obviously wouldn’t take much for anyone near them to realize what was going on. But as with most elevators full of people, it was awkwardly quiet and everyone just stared straight ahead or at the moving floor numbers.

Viv tried to clench her legs together, then she tried to wriggle her way out of his grasp, but neither one of those things worked and Five didn’t let up. As the elevator climbed the floors, stopping periodically to let more people on and off, she started to get more and more turned on. He really was an expert finger fucker, and he knew all the right things to do to drive her crazy.

There were still plenty of people around, although it had thinned out a little. Five pretended like nothing was going on, just staring straight ahead like everyone else. Viv had to close her eyes and bite her lip to hold in the whimpers that were dangerously close to creeping out of her mouth. When Five sank his middle finger inside of her, fucking her with it while also fingering her clit, she couldn’t suppress a moan. When a man started to turn around to look, she coughed loudly to try and cover it up and he turned back towards the doors.

“You’re so close, aren’t you baby? Don’t let anyone hear you.” Five whispered so softly in her ear that it was almost inaudible. But she heard it, and she also felt his lips graze over her ear lobe when he said it.

It wasn’t fair. Five had an entire car to fully unleash himself in before. He didn’t have to be quiet or hold back his orgasm. This was a totally different level of torture; even if Viv was both loving and hating every minute of it.

Finally, after what seemed like the slowest crawling elevator ride in history, the last person got out on the 19th floor. When the doors closed behind them, the long, shaky moan from Vivian echoed through the empty space.

“You fucking bastard,” she panted out before finally breaking free from his grasp on her arm, as well as his hand under her skirt.

Five just smirked proudly and then quickly slammed his fist against the stop button, halting the elevator between floors with a jolt and setting off the alarm. He was back on her in a second, pushing her against the back wall and kissing her hard, one hand on the side of her neck while the other slid back under her skirt. This time he didn’t care about being discreet, and he shoved the front of the skirt up so she was fully exposed for him and he picked up where he left off.

Viv cried into his mouth as he lifted one of her legs up to his waist, holding her under her thigh while he circled her clit over and over again with his hand. His body was pressing into hers and he was breathing hard and fast; kissing her neck while she whined for him.

“Did you like getting fucked under your skirt like that? With everyone around? Knowing you could get caught at any second?” he murmured.

“Fuck, I hate you so much. But yes…oh god…yes I liked it.”

“You better finish up for me, angel. We can’t keep this stopped forever. If these doors open, everyone will see what a horny little slut you are.”

With each heaving breath Viv let out a whimper until he had her completely falling apart; her hands raking through his hair and her head thrown back.

“That’s my girl, keep going,” he urged as he pushed harder and faster.

That was all she could take and then she was yelling much too loudly for no one else to hear, even if they were trapped in there alone with alarm bells blasting. Her cries kept going, too, her body pulsing against Five’s hand as she clutched onto his arms. When she could finally stop, Five pulled away and lowered her skirt for her. The giant grin on his face was incredibly annoying, but Viv could only let out a wheezy laugh as she tried to compose herself again.

“Fuck…”

“Sorry, darling, we don’t have time for that. This will have to suffice until you get home later,” he quipped as he wiped his hand off on his pant leg and then pushed the button to stop the alarm and get the elevator moving again.

They were only one floor away from her stop, and when the doors opened, Viv found herself face to face with several of her co-workers looking very concerned.

“Oh my gosh, Vivian! Are you ok? We heard the alarm and then we thought we heard screaming.”

Five smirked and looked at his wife, cooly leaning with his back against the doors to keep them open for her, his hands shoved in his pants pockets.

Viv smoothed out her skirt and ran a hand down the back of her hair, before faking a laugh and waving a dismissive hand at the group of worried faces.

“Oh, no, I’m fine. It was silly, actually. Five accidentally bumped into the alarm button and it scared me so I screamed. I’m so over dramatic sometimes,” she explained with a self-deprecating eye roll.

That seemed to satisfy everyone well enough, despite some suspicious looks, and they slowly scattered back to their work stations. When they were alone again, Viv turned to Five in a huff.

“I’ve said it before, but you really are an asshole.”

Five grabbed her hand and pulled her into him, holding her around her waist. “Sounded to me like you were having a pretty good time. And you’re always saying how I don’t listen to you. Well, I listened this time. You wanted public sex; I delivered.”

Viv couldn’t really argue with that, so she just shook her head and put her arms around his shoulders. “As much as I enjoyed that little ride you gave my panty hamster back there, consider this war.”

“Panty hamster? What is wrong with you?”

Viv laughed and kissed him before he stepped back on the elevator, still smiling at his crazy but adorable wife while the doors closed between them.

It was a week later when the war continued. They had a deal worked out every month where Viv would let Five drag her off to their small, public library in town and sit there while he pored over old, dusty textbooks of the most boring variety in exchange for him letting her pick out any movie to go see and he had to go along with no complaining. This weekend it was library day.

She hadn’t even been doing anything all that sexual.  Just resting her hand on his leg while he scanned through some old physics textbooks and she leafed through a mystery novel.  It’s not like she’d never rested her hand there before.  Or absent-mindedly stroked her thumb over his thigh.  But for whatever reason, this time, it was getting to Five.  Maybe it was the fact that he was surrounded by books, and the quiet of the library, which he’d always loved.  Or maybe it was weird, suppressed memories of him and Dolores in a similar building, only with fewer walls and less readable options.

Five tried to block it out of his mind, instead concentrating on the long, drawn-out equations and laws of thermo-dynamics.  But he found himself reading the same sentences over and over again, his mind wandering to her hand and the warmth of her skin penetrating the fabric of his pants.  Then his mind wandered even more.  To what he knew her hand felt like on other areas of his body.  Despite the internal battle in his head, visions of her stroking him, hard and fast, while kissing him and biting at his neck were working their way to the forefront. And unfortunately, she had noticed.

“Something wrong there, honey? You look a little flushed,” Viv asked with a smile as she moved her hand further up his thigh.

Five cleared his throat. He really didn’t want her to win this one. “No, I’m fine, thank you.”

After he continued pretending to be engrossed in his book, Viv took it one step further and pushed her palm against the swelling between his legs, rubbing it over the top of his pants. She heard the unmistakable sound of a quiet groan and she jumped a little when he suddenly grabbed her wrist.

“Nice try, angel. You may have me worked up just like you always know how to do, but two can play at this game.”

He held her hand on his crotch while using the other to pull her chair closer to him. A loud screeching noise filled the air as it scraped over the floor and several people looked up to stare. Knowing that Five was trying to embarrass her on purpose, she just smiled over at him and pushed her hand in harder.

It was difficult to keep up the façade, though, when Five was returning the favor by shoving his free hand up the sundress she was wearing and rubbing her over her panties. She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. When she retaliated with a squeeze and her own rough tug it made him growl deep in his throat.

After a couple minutes of under the table rub and tug, they were both quickly losing their resolve. It didn’t really matter who was going to win anymore.

“What do you say we take this one step further?” Five asked quietly in between ragged breaths.

Viv took a glance around her.  There weren’t many people there, but there were a few.  There was absolutely no way they going to be able to just start fucking without anyone seeing.  And last time she checked, sex in a public setting was still a crime.

“As much as I want to…and believe me I really want to…I don’t think this is the best place for that.”

Five ran a finger inside her underwear and she let out a tiny squeak before shoving her hand down his pants and grabbing hold of his dick. Five jolted in his seat, his knees hitting the underside of the table.

“Fuck, Vivie,” he whispered. “This is happening. I am going to fuck you in this library right here, right now.”

She looked around again and then noticed the quiet reading room in the back. It was used mostly by students for studying but it had several small cubicles with desks for privacy. Perfect.

Viv removed her hand from his pants and pushed his away from her. With a smile she stood up and offered out her hand to him.

“Come on, I have an idea.”

Tugging at the front of his pants, Five looked up at her. “So, I have to walk across the library with a raging hard-on? Thanks a lot.”

“Well, it’s either that or you sit here and wait until it’s gone and your balls are blue as fuck.”

“Fair point. Just try to stay in front of me so I don’t look like some disgusting pervert.”

“You are a disgusting pervert.”

His eyes narrowed at her remark, but he stood up and took her hand while Viv led him to the back room, all while trying to hide his awkward boner from the suspicious eyes of the librarian as they walked past. Once inside the study room they could see there was only one other cubicle occupied. It was by a college-aged student that seemed oblivious to his surroundings and had earbuds shoved in his ears as he tapped the rhythm of the music out on the desk with his pencil.

Viv saw an empty one in the back corner and they hurried over. She pulled her panties off and shoved them into one of Five’s pockets before straddling his thighs. He uncuffed his dress shirt at the wrists and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows like he was going to start in on some major work, before he started undoing his pants. Viv draped her arms over his shoulders, running her fingers softly through his hair and pushing it back over his ear.

“Do you know how impossibly sexy you are?” she asked in between her own quick breaths, trying to keep her voice down. Leaning in close, her lips brushed over his neck. “Sometimes I look at you and I can’t even believe you’re mine.”

“This is supposed to be a quick fuck, you know that right?” he asked as he revealed his straining cock to her.

“So?”

“So, when you say amazingly romantic things like that to me, it makes me want to take my time with you.”

Viv moved further up his lap, adjusting herself carefully, and sank down onto his dick. The quiet moan he let out sounded much louder in the quiet of the reading room. Viv breathed out a soft laugh at his inability to hold back. The skirt of her dress covered them so that at least they weren’t totally exposed, although it was going to be pretty obvious what was going on if someone walked by. She didn’t care about that, though, because all she wanted to do was let Five take over and make her feel good in the way only he knew how.

With her arms wrapped around his shoulders and her chest held tightly to his, her lips found their way to his neck again. With her face pressed into his warm skin, she closed her eyes and breathed in, convinced that he must emit some type of pheromone that was made specifically for her. She imagined this invisible chemical compound drifting out of his pores, being driven by his bounding jugular pulse, and going directly to the unevolved part of her brain that was activated only by pure sexual impulse. Because there was no way anyone else in the world would be able to turn her on as completely as Five did, just on scent alone.

“Can’t I tell you nice things and still want you to fuck me senseless?” she purred.

The answer came in the form of Five roughly pushing her hips down and forward, using his strength to pump her body back and forth on top of him, despite what he had said about wanting to take his time.

Viv whimpered softly next to his ear and she could hear the sexy grunting noises he was making under his breath as he thrust her aggressively over his cock. Her body was being driven exclusively by his strength, with his fingers digging into her hips and ass; the muscles in his forearms straining as he worked hard and fast. The chair started to creak with the movement and the legs thumped and scraped on the floor.

“Someone’s going to hear us,” she whispered, her breath catching in her throat.

“I don’t care,” Five answered, looking her in the eyes while his hair fell over his own.

Viv bit her lip to suppress a moan and she smiled at him. “What would you do if we got caught?”

“They can watch all they want. But nothing is going to stop me from Fucking. You.”

His last two words were accentuated with more forceful thrusts, slamming her down so hard that the chair was loudly shoved backwards.

“Do more of that, please Five,” she begged, knowing he couldn’t resist doing anything that drove her crazy like that.

Five gritted his teeth and continued to pound her body into his, the hot sleeve of her cunt sliding tightly over his dick faster and faster until he was sure neither one of them were going to hold on much longer. The chair underneath him was complaining loudly and Five tried to quiet it by bracing them with his foot against the floor, the sole of his expensive Oxford leaving black scuff marks on the faded linoleum as his heel skittered across.

Viv’s hands were in his hair and the back of his neck as she desperately tried to muffle her cries into his shoulder. She could feel her clit banging into his pubic bone over and over again until she was dangerously close to coming. She should have been in a hurry, trying to speed things up and will herself to finish so that they wouldn’t get caught. But the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of it. She wanted someone to hear. She wanted someone to see.

“You feel so good like this. I want everyone to see, too. Let them see how good you fuck me; that I’m the only one that gets to touch you. I’m the only one that gets to ride your dick. Let them watch while you make me come, just for you, Five.”

“Jesus, Vivie…” he moaned into her hair. “If you say one more thing like that, I’m going to-”

“Come on, baby; let this whole library know how Number Five Hargreeves fucks his wife,” she groaned next to his ear with a smile.

“Oh, fuuuck, yes!” he growled much too loudly, throwing his head back and digging his fingers into her waist while they both climaxed together.

Viv startled and put her hand over his mouth, but it was too late. There was no way in hell no one had heard that.

“Five!” she scolded half-heartedly in between heaving breaths. She was already trying to climb off of him on stiff and cramped legs. “What the hell?”

“Sorry, Vivie,” he panted, helping her to stand up. “You did ask for it, though.”

Once she fixed her dress again and looked back over, she saw he was smiling, not even giving a shit that he had alerted half the library. Viv risked a quick peek over the cubicle wall and by some miracle there didn’t appear to be anyone around. She may have talked a big game during the heat of the moment, but she hadn’t really wanted to endure the humiliation of getting caught.

She leaned her butt against the desk, trying to catch her own breath as she shook her head at him, watching as he nonchalantly zipped up his pants again. He passed a hand through his hair and looked up at her, somehow managing to look even more handsome than usual.

“How do you manage to do that to me?”

“What do I do?”

“Make me fall in love with you over and over again.”

Five laughed softly, looking slightly embarrassed. “Only you would turn a quick, public fuck session into a romantic date.”

After they smoothed their clothes and hair out as much as possible, and their underpants were back where they were supposed to be, they emerged from their little cubicle. They only got about ten steps out, though, when they were stopped in their tracks by a very stern and irritated librarian who blocked their path with her hands on her hips.

“I would like you both to know that we do not take these shenanigans lightly, and I have alerted the police who will be here shortly. As I’m sure you are quite aware, there are laws against indecent exposure and lewd public acts.”

Viv didn’t know what to say or do, except for turning beet red and looking at her feet. But Five just flashed the lady his best innocent smile.

“Actually, there was no indecent exposure. We made sure to keep it classy.”

The librarian huffed loudly and pointed a finger in Five’s face. “Now, listen here, you…you…hooligan! I am used to having to remind the teenagers to behave in here, but you are two grown adults. It’s disgraceful! You should be ashamed of yourselves!”

As Viv stood there, trying to decide if she should laugh or not while continuing to stare at the floor, the kid that had been studying at one of the other cubicles got up to leave, but stopped in front of Five on his way out, a big grin on his face. He offered out his hand for a fist bump.

“Dude, way to go, that was awesome. Seriously, best study session ever.” His eyes roamed over Vivian. “Whoa, she’s hot, too.”

Ignoring the other guy’s attempt at male bonding, Five put his arm protectively around Viv’s waist and pulled her against his hip. With another heart-melting smirk that had her trying not to laugh again, he raised his eyebrows at her. Viv could feel the tell-tale staticky sensation vibrate against her body as Five was already flexing his hands.

“Ready to leave, darling?”

Viv nodded with a smile. “Yep.”

“Tell the cops we said hi,” Five snarked just before opening one of his convenient portals and jumping them both out of there.

They landed slightly off from his intended mark in the parking lot, Viv’s back slamming into their car door. Post-orgasm blinks were always a bit trickier for him.

“Ow!” she cried.

“Sorry, are you ok?”

Vivie nodded, rubbing her back but still smiling. “Nice one, by the way. Poor lady, though. At least she’ll have something to talk about at her next knitting circle.”

Five laughed. “I don’t think they talk about lewd public acts in knitting circles. At least not hers, I’m guessing. But I’m pretty happy that I got called a hooligan. That’s a new one.”

As they both got into the car and Five started it up, he turned to his wife, with her messy hair and flushed cheeks, and smiled.

“So, where should we plan our next little adventure?”

“Next adventure? Uh-oh, I got you addicted to being a sex criminal now, didn’t I?”

He leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss. “I think it’s more like I’m just addicted to you, angel.”

“See? There you go again, being annoyingly sexy and making me fall in love with you again.”

A cop car pulled in, and Five drove quickly out of there, one hand on the wheel and the other on her leg. He gave her bare thigh a squeeze as he turned out into traffic. “As long as you keep feeling that way, Vivie, consider me one very happy and lucky man.”

Link to my Master List

[artist-issues]

so here's something I'm curious about: God's Not Dead. The films, not the statement itself.

I first saw the first film when I was younger and I hadn't yet embarked on my journey on examining just what i was taught and what I truly believed, but I remember finding the film a little uncomfortable.

I saw the second film and Ive never watched the third, and I think what I really don't like the first film is how it bashes other people's walks of life (Muslim father, three brands of athiests, and how it continues the myth that Christians in The United States are being Persecuted for their Faith Right Now.

Oh yeah and how the plots are really really dumb too, since the first film centers around a philosophy class with a professor that is skipping a very important part of most College degrees and the second takes place in a Bible Belt State with a high school teacher answering a students question comparing Marting Luther King Jr to Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and being taken to court over it.

I was twelve or so when I saw that movie and I honestly was not convinced by the film That God's Not Dead (in terms of the actual arguments in the class scenes.

The specific Denomination that I grew up with (Adventist) focuses a LOT™ on the end times so I do know about the future persecution thing well but like, I don't think we're there yet.

Anyway if you don't know those movies, feel free to ignore this ask but I'm genuinely curious about your thoughts on them, wether positive or negative or neutral

Hi! I saw the first God’s Not Dead in theaters. Never re-watched it. Did not see the sequels.

The good thing about God’s Not Dead is that people worked hard to make something that might shine a counter-cultural light on the truth that the God of the Bible exists. Stories that try to point to truth are on the right track, baseline.

The bad thing about God’s Not Dead is that it took things that are real, and genuine, and true…and it made them feel fake. By telling the story with strange conclusions and weird-triumph moments.

The thesis of the movie, that God is not dead, is something that only non-Christians would need to be convinced of. But the movie is clearly made for Christians. So. Yeah, it’s uncomfortable.

But you shouldn’t find every experience that the movie tries to portray uncomfortable because they don’t happen. You should find it uncomfortable because they don’t happen in that cheesy, Hallmark-grade way.

When a student stands up to their professor and says, “no, I’m not going to go along with this, and this is super weird that you’re trying to draw this line about the specific Christian God,” guess what? The whole classroom doesn’t usually get up and agree with you. They normally barely react. So even though some professors do put their foot down and try to mock or “kill” God in the classroom, and some students do push back, no. It doesn’t normally happen in that victorious way.

Just like how some young Muslim converts to Christianity genuinely are treated poorly by their families, or their community, not just in America, but absolutely, certainly around the world. Absolutely, certainly. I literally can think of not one, but two examples I’ve recently heard of, directly, from people I know.

Like I said, the events and life-experiences that the first God’s Not Dead movie are based on do technically happen all the time in America, and the West, and the world in general. They just don’t normally come with crowd-agreement, impactful music, wise one-liners, and celebrity appearances. The worst thing that the God’s Not Dead movie does is show you hints of things that are real, and really happen in real life, but cheeseball way it shows you those things, and the caricatures it turns people into, makes the real thing look fake.

As far as “the myth that Christians are Persecuted Right Now in America” goes…you just have to decide what you mean by “persecuted.”

If you mean, are we getting our heads run over by cement mixers, or dragged out of our homes and imprisoned for studying or even owning a Bible, or kidnapped by hired hitmen once our families find out we’re Christians, like they are in Yemen or Africa or basically anywhere outside the West…no. No, we’re not facing persecution like that. We’re not persecuted.

But if you mean, in the context of this conversation, that “atheists and professors and people in the professional sector of our education systems don’t have a weirdly specific bone to pick with Christians,”then you’re wrong. They do. They have. For a long time.

My second semester in college, in my plain old World History class, the Professor legitimately opened his class by explaining to us students that if we wanted, he would allow us to replace our midterm and our final exams with book reports as long as we read two specific books he assigned us. One was a book about how Jesus of Nazareth was not the Messiah and the Bible was false. The other book was a fictional short novel with heavy themes criticizing specifically Christian religion. Those were the two books he picked for his students to skip taking the midterm and the final, if only they would read those two books. And those were the ones he chose.

Not only that, but literally in the first class, I remember being stunned when he flippantly opened his summary of the 18th century by saying, “If anyone ever tells you you should check out the God of the Bible, and follow him, laugh in their face. Don’t do it. He is the kind of God who likes to make His people promises and then strand them in the desert for forty years!” First class. Out the gate. Like it was a joke.

It’s not a joke. Dude just openly mocked two out of the three major world religions that people identify with across the globe. Explain to me how telling someone never to convert to a specific religion and to mock it instead is anything other than “discrimination?”

Can you imagine a Professor getting up in front of a class and saying, “if anyone ever tells you that you should check out Allah ] and follow him, convert to Islam, laugh in their face! And here’s one short novel and one historically inaccurate essay criticizing Allah and making fun of Islam; if you’ll read these, tell you what, I’ll let you skip the two most stressful exams of the semester!”

No, of course you can’t imagine that. A Professor who did that about any other religion, creed, or god would be fired or taken to court or penalized or dragged on social media, at least. But the only student in the whole room who batted an eye when he said that about the Christian God was me. The only one who said anything was me. And it wasn’t a big stand up, dramatic declaration. Momentous music didn’t play in the background. My friends and classmates didn’t’] gasp or support me or stand up and agree with me.

It was just me raising my hand and saying in a shaky voice with a red face, after the sixth time he’d randomly deviated from talking about the Roman plumbing system to describe how the Apostle Paul and the other Apostles supposedly disagreed about who Jesus was (big lie, not true at all, but often used to “discredit” the Bible) to say, “sir, that’s not true. It doesn’t make sense. There’s a verse in the Bible where the Apostle Peter literally tells the church that the Apostle Paul’s words are directly from God.” And then he was like, “okay, I’m going to move on.”

I mean I just felt kind of stupid because the whole class was confused about the interaction; nobody was treating it like it was as important as me or the professor was, so it felt awkward to “make a stand.” But rest assured, all over the freakin’ country, people are excited to use up way too much of their brain power and emotional energy mocking, disparaging, and trying to discredit the God of the Bible and Christianity. They don’t believe in Him, but they’re so he’ll-bent on making sure nobody else does either?? Like, I don’t believe in Big Foot, but I’m not walking around trying to barter my students into reading anti-Big Foot books by giving them a pass on their midterms. But that’s how lots and lots of “athiests” treat the specific Christian God.

That’s not new. It’s not dramatic. It’s not persecution. It’s alllll part of the same old song and dance.

But it is real. The worst thing about God’s Not Dead is it made it feel fake and caricature, when it happens all the time and matters 🤷‍♀️ Anyway. Hope that answered your question.

[glitchyko]

I’ve decided to just go wild and start showing off my ocs and stories here that I’ve had in my brain and have made art for, even if they make absolutely no sense, starting with my oc that arguably makes the least amount of sense, but I still love her despite that, Xiǎodàn

To explain what’s up with Xiǎodàn, she kind of started as a sort of silly what if thought I had that went something along the lines of, “What would happen if someone was like, born in the scroll?” I’m not sure how to explain it, but before I knew it I was just running with the idea and Xiǎodàn is the result of that-

I’m still working out some of the details of Xiǎodàns story, but I have a sort of general idea of her backstory and her family’s to an extent

So this story starts with Xiǎodàn’s mother, Xīcai, who was a celestial maiden, though she was only a servant/attendant, nothing too grand or special. But she was forced into assisting in a crime (this is one of the things I’m still thinking on) and was caught and sentenced to be imprisoned in the memory scroll, however her punishment was reduced to be only temporary since it came out that she wasn’t helping of her own free will

But when Xīcai was eventually released from said scroll, two things were different about her now, one being her divinity was taken away from her (this was part of her punishment) and she was pregnant-

To explain that Xīcǎi, falls in love with a man who is a apart of the ink scroll (he’s the memory of someone else, I don’t really know how to explain it, ink scroll stuff is hard to explain, but basically he’s not the actual guy, but a memory of him) and stuff happens from there that leads to Xīcai to be expecting when she’s freed from the scroll

So now that she’s a mortal woman, and soon to be a mother, Xīcai works her ass off building a life, getting a home and job and integrating into the mortal realm and raising her daughter, who she named Xiǎodàn, and her daughter looks and acts completely like any mortal human kid would

That changes after Xiǎodàn’s 13th birthday

One day, Xiǎodàn noticed on the very tip of her middle finger, was a small black mark, that no matter how much she scrubbed and wiped it, wouldn’t go away. And with each day that passed, that black stain quickly got bigger and bigger and more appeared as well, and within a month or two, she was basically an ink person, though unlike the ink demons shown in s4, her body has more physicality, she’s got flesh, bones, etc, and her body doesn’t stain everything it touches

So while Xīcai is trying to figure out what to do about her daughters transformation and who she can go to for help, Xiǎodàn stays home and in her room most of the time, since she can’t go outside with her current appearance, cause of this, she’s grown incredibly lonely since she can’t see or talk to her friends in person now, the only person she can talk to face to face is her mom. One day at some point she’s just curled up in her room, and she mutters how she just wants someone else to talk to, before pressing her face into her knees, unaware of drips of ink on the floor slowly coming together and forming a small puddle, until a figure starts coming out of said puddle

It turns out Xiǎodàn can summon Inky (that’s what she calls the protective curse/ink MK) and de summon him whenever she pleases-

In a way Xiǎodàn is kind of like a walking scroll, she can create/summon ink people, but she can’t imprison people in the scroll (maybe she could if she had a piece of the scroll but I’m still deciding on this)

Xiǎodàn is not super eager to trust this ink monkey person who appeared in her room, and Inky isn’t super keen on trusting her either, though they are very curious about what exactly Xiǎodàn is and what she could be capable of, since she was able to bring them out of the scroll without a having a piece of it, and Xiǎodàn summoning inky and talking to them does make her wonder what exactly can she do (inky helps spark her curiosity) but she doesn’t tell Xīcai about this because she doesn’t want her mother to worry or freak out, and Inky advised her not to. So Xiǎodàn sort has Inky as a secret friend, summoning when she just wants someone to talk to about whatever.

One day inky is summoned by Xiǎodàn, and inky notices some bags are being packed and asks what are those for, and Xiǎodàn explains that her mom says they’re going to go to a city called Megaopolis to meet someone Xīcǎi says might be able help her, and when inky asks who, Xiǎodàn says he’s called the monkie kid and Inky just quietly says with a smile, “Interesting…”

And that’s all I’m gonna share for right now, I know this oc and this story don’t really make sense when you think about it, and there’s things I still need to decide on, but I wanted to share these here cause why not

[theblue6ook]

Shit Interview PT 3

Summary: Y/N’s first introduction of Bruce Wayne isn’t exactly the best: “I thought he was supposed to be charming.” [B (23) & Y/N (21)] [Eventual slow burn with Bruce]

Pairing: Bruce Wayne x fem!reader

a/n: Well hello there. If you liked this story, it’s a part of my “Out of My League” series. There will be more to come ;)

It had been a week since Y/N’s conversation with Alfred. When the driver had picked her up for her interview the next day and drove her to Wayne Manor… well, she thought she might faint. She had known the Wayne’s butler had taken over as Bruce’s parent figure, but-god-she did not know it was Alfred. How did John even meet him?

They held the interview on Bruce Wayne’s back patio, just outside the kitchen. Alfred had tea prepared and asked her various questions as she looked out towards the sprawling gardens. She could see everything from their view; his pool house, the tennis court, hell, even Gotham, but one thing was missing. Her boss. It had been a week since Y/N’s conversation with Alfred. A week since she was hired, and she still had not met Bruce Wayne.

-

Bruce sat hunched in the cave. The only thing illuminating the area was the artificial light seeping off multiple computer screens. He tried to straighten in his chair, feeling uncomfortable. This wasn’t a week of the usual patrol with the typical idiots robbing and running. That was child's play. This week, Bane had been breaking into research centers for the necessary chemicals to create a more permanent strength enhancer. Not only that, but each break-in, they took hostages and executives, making them give up private company data so they would know what other chemicals were going to be shipped and where.

He was growing frustrated. It should have been at least an easy trail to follow, but Bane had hired decoys, look-a-likes, to go to other research centers and pose as himself, and Bruce was only one person. At this point, he wasn’t even sure any of them were Bane- his thoughts were interrupted by an abrupt ring! Figuring it was Alfred with information involving the case, he didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Any updates, Alfred?”

“Uh, no. Sorry. This is Y/N, Mr.Wayne,” she stated, confused, but continued, “I don’t know if you got my last message, but Alfred told me you wouldn’t be in the office this week so,-”

“I’m sorry, who is this again?” Bruce sat up straight in his chair. He didn’t think to answer the phone any other way. Why would anyone else but Alfred have the cave phone line? This case is getting to me. I need to be more careful.

Y/N paused, rethinking what to even say. She didn’t even think he would not know who she was; Alfred hired her, for god sake.

“Oh, I’m guessing Alfred didn’t tell you then,” she stopped, trying to find the right words. “Well, I was hired as your new assistant. Yay… Anyways, I was just getting started sorting your schedule and wanted to know if you had any preferences-”

‘Yay,’ what was I thinking?

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” he interrupted her yet again, with fake politeness, “I’m not in need of an assistant.”

Irritation crept up her neck. She did not take kindly to being interrupted, but this is her boss, so she’s trying to remain calm and… slightly collected.

“Well, you’ve got one,” she stated plainly. “Alfred seems to think I would be helpful to you anyway.”

“Does he?” This conversation is wasting my time. Bruce grabbed one of the case files and started violently flipping through it to make the most of this conversation.

“Mhm,” Y/N took a breath. “Alfred is a friend of mine, and he asked me very specifically, as a favor, to help you work and you know.”

“I don’t know actually.”

There was no more beating around the bush, so she decided to state it firmly, “To help you get back in the office. Look, I’m sure you’re busy doing… whatever it is that you do, but this will just run so much smoother if you help me and I help you.”

As she spoke more, Bruce found himself less and less able to focus on the task at hand. It had been days, and he just wanted one lead, and that was all. It didn’t seem like much to ask for. He rubbed his brow. I do not have time for this. 

“Well you don’t have to worry about it,” he laughed fakely. “I really have no interest in an assistant. I’m sorry to be the one to say it, but this is a waste of your time. There’s really not even a need to continue the conversation.”

I thought Bruce Wayne was supposed to be charismatic. Y/N looked around, speechless. She wasn’t sure what else there was to say. She sat shocked at her new desk in her new office and looked around. They had put a minifridge under her desk, and her chair didn’t squeak. It was the first place she had worked that was clean and new. No infestation, no slop, just clean, and she liked it. She liked it a lot. It was the first place she felt excited to go to work. No, no, I am not leaving.

“As wonderful as this conversation is, I’m afraid we’ll have to cut it short,” she starts. “Now. I’m going to be at the office tomorrow, and I do expect you, as my employer and the face of your company, to be there.”

“You’re fired,” Bruce blurted out.

“You didn’t hire me,” she countered, “Alfred did.”

“Well, don’t anticipate seeing me. I have other things to work on.”

“What work?” she said without a second thought. “Word on the street is you’re never in the office.” 

Bruce inhaled sharply; his blood pressure had to be rising. Abruptly, he hung up the phone. Turning toward the stairs, he practically leaped out of his chair. Making his way to the kitchen in record time, he turned left into the living room. “Alfred!”

There, in a small seat by the window, sat Alfred. He was unbothered and drinking his tea. Folding the newspaper, he looked up at Bruce, “I’m assuming you met Miss. Y/L/N. I sent her call down to the cave for you.”

“Alfred,” Bruce sighed, “Bane is planning another heist that I am supposed to catch before it starts, and you’re worried about my time in office? What don’t you understand about what I’m doing? I don’t need or want an assistant-”

“I beg to differ.”

“Please be reasonable,” he groaned. “I am not showing up. These cases take precedence over anything that assistant throws at me.”

“Then perhaps work on these cases at the office. At least be there to show your company you’re around, present, alive.”

“Why so my ‘new assistant’ can hover over my shoulder?”

“Well, you could try to ignore her, but I would be weary of it. She’s as stubborn as you.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” Bruce stated bluntly, starting to move out of the living room back down to his own fortress of solitude.

“I hope the business you’re planning to tend to is at your place of business,” Alfred called after him. He couldn’t see Bruce anymore, but he heard him scoff from the other room. Alfred chuckled, “It must have been like talking to a mirror.”

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

You might’ve already got this before, and I’m asking this in genuinely good faith.

Your essay was very interesting, and convinced me of Erikar as a ship reading. I also really enjoyed your dissection of Eridan as a very honest person drawn into destructive behavior. It very much lines up with his status as a Prince of Hope! One who destroys conviction/belief through conviction/belief.

What confused me was your insistence on the hidden hand of the author. Death of the Author and all that, what’s implied in the text can be taken on its own separate from commentary but you seem to be doing an autopsy— the text implies [this] so *Hussie* must have intended for [this] and then tried to cover it up. If they genuinely thought it was a better ending, why not do it? Why the secrecy, why the feints? I think it’s a little conspiracy-brained to insist on a secret “better ending” that we don’t have author’s word or drafts on.

I’m also a little drifted on your frustration with the deaths of the trolls? You write that the theme of Homestuck— a standard coming-of-age story, a reckoning with society and the exit from youth— is undercut by the deaths of the trolls, because that means they *had* to die, in *punishment*. I disagree. Their deaths are tragic, not just.

Homestuck has a lot of methods of revival, the choice to (for the most part) perma-kill some characters (the trolls for one, and then AR, WQ, and WK) is a deliberate choice to make death mean something. If dying doesn’t mean anything, what are the narrative stakes? Murderstuck marks Gamzee as a threat, Eridan as a tragedy. The deaths there are meant. To be sad. To demonstrate that sometimes kids don’t get to grow up, that sometimes the society they live in cuts them down.

Homestuck is a sad story at times! It doesn’t need an ending where everyone gets to live to keep its coming-of-age conclusion.

I hope this made sense. I’m not trying to attack you, I’m just skeptical of some of your points. I hope you go on to do more analysis in the future!

If you want to believe that, go ahead 👍 again, arguing my points on that front would require its own entire essay, lol, so I'm not really planning to do that as the answer to an ask. The only thing I really want to say here is that while Homestuck is often sad, as you say, its underlying tone is unwaveringly hopeful right up until Game Over/the Retcon, and even kind of beyond that. If you prefer a sad story, then you can have a sad story, but it's just not a reading consistent (to me) with the entire rest of what Homestuck is.

For example, the whole narrative grapples with the debate of predestination vs. free will. Do things happen in Homestuck because they have to, or because characters are making choices? But with the introduction of John's retcon powers, it lands firmly in the "free will" side of the debate: the retcon powers outright defy the power of stable time loops - a reflection of how Breath is associated with freedom and choice. This is the optimistic option.

Another thing the narrative grapples with is the realness vs. fakeness of magic. I don't think it's hard to argue that between LE's "evil wizard" status and Godtier!Calliope's wand-induced black hole that the arrow falls firmly in the realm of magic being undeniably real. This is the optimistic option (and yet another narrative element that Eridan is extremely relevant to).

Moreover, even post-Retcon, there are elements that are kept that soften the tragedy already present in the story - for example, the concept of the Ultimate Self, and the implication that all surviving characters will eventually achieve it, takes the edge off all their doomed and dead counterparts, who won't actually be relegated to double death in the dream bubbles, since in a way, they'll live on through their alpha counterparts. It turns those sacrifices from bitter to bittersweet, and serves as a counterpoint to common takes like John being sad that he doesn't know the version of his friends that exist post-Retcon. The inclusion of it in the post-Retcon story, even with its botched delivery, says to me that Homestuck is still intended to be optimistic at its core, even with the extreme Giving Up that Hussie did.

And let's not forget how Calliope gets to come back to life, no strings attached, and that her stated purpose is only to live. Up to the end, the tone is that of HOPE, and I think there's no mistake that HOPE is supposed to be what defeats LE.

As I said in replies on that post, as an artist, I just can't imagine spending literal years, and literally a million words and thousands of images, writing something that's so thematically and tonally consistent, only to hard swerve right at the end, without extenuating circumstances.

And the thing is, there WERE extenuating circumstances, and they're fairly well-documented.

The kickstarter got funded, and while the story is muddled, we know the production of the game was extremely troubled, and Hussie was having difficulty being a project lead for that while also grappling with everything else. Everything else being, of course, an ever-increasing number of irons in the fire - more third-party artists he had to commission and manage, more merchandise he had to be on top of, bigger updates to sate the demands of the fanbase.

Which, speaking of, was infamously one of the most awful and toxic fanbases to ever exist, and one that Hussie has deliberately attempted to distance himself from since. I can't imagine the kind of daily abuse, harassment, callouts, and worse that Hussie had to endure as Homestuck's creator during the fandom's peak years. I don't blame him at all for turning against them.

Therefore, given the way the tone and themes hard swerve, the way several characters get bent entirely out of shape (you're telling me Karkat had several means before him of bringing his dead friends back and WOULDN'T SAY ANYTHING???), the way several plot threads are simply left dangling in the air, and the way some characters reach really weird and unpleasant conclusions (davepeta, gcatavrosprite), I think it's actually LESS reasonable to assume that the ending we got was the original plan. Hussie saw that to do the ending he wanted to do back in act 4, he'd need to write for a year, maybe two years more, and then looked at his mounting stress and pressure, and looked at the fanbase he'd come to hate, and just went "nope." And I can't even really blame him for it, lol. In his position I'd probably do the same.

Also, please don't mistake "the deaths are undone" for "the deaths will not have mattered" - I think there's a reason that the game over timeline characters still exist post-Retcon. Their arcs don't end with their deaths, and their failures are weights on them that must be narratively resolved - I believe that they go on to be the ones to defeat LE, although I have much less evidence to support this. It just makes narrative sense to me - the post-retcon team focuses down the Felt, various Jack Noirs, and the Condesce - the latter of which is their final boss, as the ultimate representation of the shitty society they're doing away with on their path to creating a new one.

Meanwhile, the dead and "irrelevant" versions of the characters, the ones who grappled with and were harmed the most by what LE represents - immaturity, selfishness, and cruelty - go on to band together after death, and defeat him in the bubbles, a culmination of their vengeance for the havoc he wreaked. And with him being destroyed in the bubbles by the dead and irrelevant, symbolically, he will be rendered nothing more than a bad dream for the waking, relevant, and alive.

Thus Gamzee is still an antagonist, although it becomes (Gamzee) and (Equius) who go on to form LE. Those deaths and those failures still matter, they still happen, they still have narrative weight. Even without the Game Over versions of the characters still existing and still being important, the decision to welcome antagonists like Gamzee and Eridan back into the fold is rendered more complex and more significant BECAUSE we've seen how badly they can go.

The speech originally given by post-Retcon Vriska to (Vriska) is also, to me, a weird artifact of this hypothetical original ending - as it exists within the actual comic, it's said by the wrong person to the wrong person - Vriska with her character development reset to a (Vriska) who's had her characterization destroyed in order to make the first Vriska seem more right. I think originally, it would've come from (Karkat) to Meenah, the latter of which being the one whose idea it was to fuck off with the treasure, and who caused the Beforus team's worst problems, and who has a track record of fucking off whenever she's tasked with taking responsibility. Thus, it would serve as a conclusion to Meenah and Karkat's arc, as well as Game Over Sadkat's arc specifically, would convince Vriska to go with him, and would give Meenah some narrative commeuppance, which would kickstart some sort of Beforan troll feelings jam that would rally them together to actually be useful for once in their lives/afterlives and contribute to the LE fight.

Again, if you PREFER the sad ending, I can't stop you, but the reason I'm going in on there being an "original ending" that isn't sad is because the sad ending doesn't make narrative sense. Why is the ultimate self speech coming from a combination of two characters that barely spoke? Why is it triumphant that Meenah and character-development-reset Vriska get to be the big goods in the fight with LE? Why do multiple prophecies suddenly get dropped right at the end when all other prophecies DO come true? Why does Karkat spend so long being sad his friends are dead, and also why is he deliberately set up as the Friends Troll (blood = bonds), and then suddenly not care that multiple methods exist for bringing back his friends? Why bother softening the blow of all the dead/irrelevant alternate selves if they're intended to be fully tragic? Why introduce a mechanic that would let them save whoever they want consequence-free and then not use it to do that? Why does Roxy love wizards so much and then not get to meet the wizard boy? Why is the entire rest of Homestuck so carefully crafted, so narratively satisfying, so thematically and tonally consistent, and then all of it goes to shit right at the end?

So yeah lol this is the SHORT version lol this isnt even the LONG version of this essay