#i had buy a gauge and everything. it was crazy

[peachcitt]

metamorphosis chapter is coming a little later today!

[runningfrom2am]

leveling the playing field XIII

summary: with nowhere else to go after getting caught cheating to help lucy gray, you both make some desperately stupid decisions.

pairing: coriolanus snow x fem!reader

wc: 4.2k

tags/warnings: capitol brat!reader, maybe slightly ooc coryo, idk i tried my best. do they love each other or hate each other? who knows (we do, kind of). implications and mentions of abuse, so read with caution!! also a little bit of swearing but that's neither here nor there. oh, and manipulation (both of them lowkey)

masterlists // nav // requests

a/n: nothing much to say other than thank you guys and i hope you like it :)

series masterlist

You think you might die from this heat. The ice bag that Coryo brought you only lasted so long, especially when you shared it with the covey, which cut its window of efficacy in half. Both of you trailed behind everyone on the way to the lake, besides for Maude Ivory who found a very comfortable spot on Coryo's back. You should have thought to buy her some new shoes before the several-hour hike, but you didn't think that would be of consequence.

"How is Sejanus?" You ask, making conversation as you wipe the sweat from your brow. You'd like to gauge if Coryo knew anything more about your mutual friend's habit of hanging around with the wrong people.

"He's... yeah. He's fine." Coryo sighs, adjusting his hold on Maude Ivory's legs around his waist as he steps over a tree root.

"You don't sound so sure." You laugh, tilting your head up at him.

The bruise on your cheek wasn't red anymore, now healing into a yellowish hue that Coryo could hardly tear his eyes away from. He wishes you were still in the habit of wearing makeup every day, then he wouldn't have to stare down the result of his failure every time he looked at you. He shakes his head. "Well, I'll tell you about it later."

You just nod, looking down at the ground in front of you to make sure you don't trip. Now it was your turn to wish that the two of you could talk about what's going on between you. Whatever Sejanus is up to with Billy Taupe reminded you that even though you're far away from the chains of the Capitol, you still weren't entirely free. Even if now it was just free of the prying ears of a little blonde girl who loved to talk. "If you could change one thing about your routine right now, what would it be?" You ask, looking up at him again and squinting at the sun as it breaks through the trees above you.

Coryo draws his head back for a moment, confusion washing over his features at the seemingly random question. "Uh, everything. Next question."

"Ah-ah," You shake your head, hair falling into your face which you quickly pull back again. "Only one thing."

"Okay, fine." He chuckles, shaking his head. "Um... not sure, honestly. Maybe I'd have more success trapping those damn Mockingjays." He grumbles, looking up into the treeline.

You laugh, rubbing over the mostly healed scratches on your arms. "Nothing yet, huh?" Up until the point that you forgave him, you had gone out every night for almost a week, having learned a better system for opening the traps that didn't result in them cutting up your arms with their claws. Not so much as a thank you from the birds that apparently could speak, until you had started to thank yourself every time you reached around the side of the traps to open the metal, just so they would echo it back to you. You knew it was crazy, but it had become a fun semblance of a normal routine.

"Not one. Hardly any Jabberjays either, we think someone was setting them free in the night, they were easier to trap at first." He replies, smiling at you despite his frustrations about it. He couldn't wait until they could catch enough for Dr. Kay so he could start shooting them instead. "Rebels, most likely."

"That's annoying." You laugh, trying to hide the nervousness in your tone. "Why would they care about some birds?" It was a stupid question to pose, to poke holes in his only theory when it didn't already point back to you.

"They're hardly more than animals themselves." He grumbles, shrugging. "No, actually, I'd probably spend more time with you, if I could." He changes his answer and effectively, the topic as well. At this, Maude Ivory lifts her head from his shoulder.

"Are you guys in love?" She asks, turning her head so she can look at you now.

"Oh, no." Your cheeks burn as you laugh, shaking your head. "It's complicated big kid business, Maude Ivory."

"That's enough." Coryo chuckles nervously, spinning her on his hip and carefully putting her down. "Go bother the others."

The girl giggles, walking backward in front of you with her shoes in her hand. "It's why, I love you, you're as pure as the driven-" She starts to sing a song you were writing with Lucy Gray, knowingly taunting you, but you're quick to cut her off.

"Hey! Don't!" You laugh quickly, pretending to push her forward so she'll run along. "They've got some thin walls in that house..." You chuckle quietly, avoiding his gaze as you watch her run up ahead.

After a few moments of silence, Coryo speaks again. "What about you? What would you change?"

"Can I be uncreative and say the same thing as you?" You ask, cheeks still red.

"Sure." He nods slightly, a small smile on his face.

"Great, because those birds are starting to get on my nerves." You joke, bumping your shoulder against his arm.

He smiles, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I hate you too."

"Oh, hush. You know I love you." You freeze up as soon as you say it, suddenly it holds a lot more weight to it than your typical friendly banter.

At that, Coryo drapes his arm over your shoulder with a satisfied smile, pressing a kiss to the side of your head.

"Can you tell me about Sejanus, now?" You ask, head placed on Coryo's lap as you lay on the dock. You had been out of the water for a little while, now, utilizing the sun to dry your wet hair and skin.

He looks back up to the cabin, seeing Lucy Gray and the rest of the covey scattered and picking plants or lying in the grass. "Uh, he just keeps sneaking off, and I found a good bit of money in his locker, but he told me he was broke so... I don't know what he's up to."

You sigh. "I've seen him hanging around Billy Taupe a lot. They're a sketchy crowd in the nicest of terms."

"Well, he is district. It doesn't surprise me that he'd associate with them." Coryo explains, distracted in a weak attempt at braiding a small section of your hair.

"He's gonna get himself killed." You mutter, eyes closed to block out the sun. You couldn't tell Coriolanus about how you ran into Sejanus a couple of weeks ago, knowing he would ask questions about why you were out at that time too. It's easier to lie to Sejanus than to him.

"It's not our problem if we stay out of it." Coryo tries to ease your mind.

"We can't just stand by and watch, though. It'll eat my conscience alive if something were to happen to him."

Coriolanus looks down at you, watching your calm expression form into something resembling worry. He chews on the inside of his cheek and nods to himself. He would have to do something, if Sejanus ended up getting in some kind of trouble, the guilt of knowing without acting will kill you. "Okay. I'll figure something out. I'll get him to keep his distance." He promises.

Days had passed since that interaction, and Coriolanus is crippled by the fear that he made a horrible mistake. He got the full story from Sejanus, and it was worse than he pictured.

You liked Sejanus, at least you acted like it when he was around. Coriolanus could always see that the district-born boy meant something to you, even if it was unclear based on the way you spoke about him when he wasn't present. Him running off into the woods with a bunch of derelect rebels was far from a viable option, Coriolanus wouldn't have it. He couldn't risk your reaction knowing that he told you he would do something to intervene.

He needed to talk to you. You were the only one he could trust to tell about the Capitol-bound recording he sent off of Sejanus' confession, or the news that his family had been kicked out of their apartment back home. He wasn't even sure he wanted to tell you. Coryo had been fighting this internal battle for what felt like ages, so maybe he could just include the basics, leave out his actions, and let you lift some of the tensions from his shoulders by telling him it would be okay. That it would all be over soon, and that you're proud of him for passing his exam. He could get the two of you out of this dump by the end of next week, and he couldn't get you away fast enough.

Unfortunately for him, when he finally arrived at the Hob on his night off you were already on stage with the Covey. You were laughing, dancing and spinning, occasionally joining Maude Ivory on her hip drum while Lucy Gray sang. The crowd loved you, and you loved the attention. He'd be lying to himself if he tried to say he didn't love watching you so happy, but the timing was inconvenient at best.

Coryo found his usual spot against the wall, sitting down next to Sejanus. He wasn't about to let him out of his sight, not anymore.

"Give it up for our friends in the band!" He smiles at Maude Ivory's excessive spirit as she holds her arms out to encourage applause before her eyes lock on him. Her face lights up more, somehow, and he greets it with a nod.

She turns to you while music is slowly tuning out, and gives a slight tug on the bottom of your new dress. It had been scuffed up in your fight with Ash, but you had cleaned it up nicely- hardly a stitch was out of place.

You look down at the girl, who just gives a slight nod in the direction of the wall Coryo was sat against. "He's here, you gotta sing it now!" Maude Ivory says, loud enough so you could hear but not enough to be picked up by the mic behind her.

You look very briefly over at Coryo, shaking your head at her as your cheeks turn rosy. "He's never gonna hear it." You say, leaning down to her level. "Who even says its about him, huh?"

"You can't trick me, Sage." She giggles, pointing at your nose.

"C'mon, lets do it!" Lucy Gray chimes in encouragingly as you stand back up. "I'll play for you. All you gotta do is sing."

You roll your eyes playfully, shaking your head again. "No, I-"

"Now, welcome back for her second performance with us, Sage! She's gonna take us over for a minute here. I promise, y'all are in for a real treat." You're interrupted by Maude Ivory making the announcement for you. Internally you cuss, plastering on a nervous smile.

"It's beautiful, you gotta relax." Lucy Gray says in your ear, already adjusting her hold on her guitar. "If I can sing a breakup song to the whole country, you can sing a love song just to the folks in this room. C'mon." She smiles, nodding for you to take the mic as Maude Ivory bows you in.

You'd played this song a bunch back at the Covey's home after Lucy Gray caught you humming the abstract tune of a lullaby your mother used to sing to get you to sleep when you were little. You didn't remember a single word, but the melody was enough for her to recreate and embellish it into one of their songs, to which she insisted you help her write the words for.

Coryo is leaning forward, elbows rested on his knees as he watches you. From what he knew, you weren't much of a singer. The redness evenly spreading across your cheeks and nose in time with the intro music was evidence enough of that.

"Sing for us, sweetheart!" Someone from the crowd calls out, which is matched with whistles that force Coryo to sit up to try and get a look at who the hell is yelling at you. His jaw is seized until he hears your voice echoing through the large room, drawing his gaze back to you on the stage.

"I've taken some hits, so no wonder I'm wary. It's why I need you, you're as pure as the driven snow..."  You look over his way only briefly while you sing the first round of the chorus, trying not to let your voice catch from the nervousness still pumping through every inch of your body.

He knows it before you're finished, but the last word, the one you didn't let Maude Ivory get to on the way to the lake, makes his heart flip in his chest. The eye contact he made with you as you said his name was so heavy with everything you've ever wanted to say to one another but never had, and he completely swells with pride knowing that it was about him.

"Cold and clean, swirling over my skin..." The inclination, again, to shout to everyone that you were his girl was immense and overtaking. Just like the first time, but now he knew it for sure. He was positive."You cloak me, You soak right in, down to my heart."

By the time you render the final verse, his whole world has changed."It's why I trust you, you're as pure as the driven snow..."

I'm gonna marry her.

He's up as soon as the song is over, heading for the back of the stage as you take your bow. Your smile is wiped when you look up and he's no longer there, and neither is Sejanus. Worry pools in your insides as you scan the crowd, giving a rushed smile to Lucy Gray and Maude Ivory as you jump down. You hurry to the back of the stage, brow furrowed as you search for Coryo.

By some miracle, he's there. If you're not mistaken, he's got tears in his eyes as he strides up to you quickly, the stage lights leaking past the stage to illuminate him just enough. His pace and his intense expression only worry you more. "Is everything-" You ask frantically, only for your question to be disrupted by his actions.

Coryo takes a deep breath, and then, as soon as you're within reach, he cups your face in his hands and leans in. The world around you seems to fade as his lips meet yours in a passionate, long-awaited kiss.

Time stands still, and in that moment, everything falls into place. The worries that plagued him when he walked in completely dissolved as he felt your hair in between his fingers. When he finally pulls away, a small smile graces his face.

You're both breathing heavily as you stare at each other, and it's then that you realize he wasn't crying due to any kind of upset. He was crying because of you. With a smile so real that you could feel the sun on your back, even late at night in this dim building hundreds of miles from the comfort of your collective home.

"Coryo..." You say, smile fading as you regain perceptions of your real life.

"I know, and I have so much to tell you..." He grins, leaning down to kiss you again.

It was your turn to interrupt, pressing a hand to his chest to stop him in his tracks. Tracks you so desired to follow, wherever they may take you, but right now you had bigger concerns. "No, no it's... where is Sejanus?"

He pauses, and it's like the spell is broken as he straightens his posture, looking around as if Sejanus should be right there. "Uh... shit." He had completely forgotten about his friend as he fell under the trance of your voice, of the song you were singing to him.

You're quickly out from under his arms, walking back around the side of the stage to go look for your friend.

"Coryo-" You stop, and he's right on your heels as you turn back to him, pointing toward the back wall. "Go check the bar. Keep an eye out for Billy Taupe. Obviously. He's probably with him." You instruct and he nods to you quickly before beginning to push his way through all the drunk people in the crowd.

You try and scan the sea of faces, but you don't see Sejanus anywhere. The music the Covey is playing is loud, drowning out any hopes you had of being able to shout for the boy. You could follow Coryo in the search, but that would no doubt just waste time. You groan, pushing your hair back out of your face in frustration. You shouldn't have stopped Coryo from kissing you again, if Sejanus wants to be reckless you should just let him. The two of you already saved his life once, was that not enough for him?

You glance down the deserted hallway to your right, and then your feet are carrying you toward the back room in an instant. You turn the corner and push the sliding door open when you hear shouting coming from the other side. "What the fuck is going on?" You ask, eyes flitting between Sejanus, and the two other boys in the room, alongside a girl who who you vaguely recognize.

"Y/N?" Sejanus asks, turning back to you quickly.

"Y/N..." The girl mutters to herself, rolling the name around in her mind and on her tongue. You can see it in the way she's looking at you. You ignore it, eyes locked on your friend now.

"I told you to not get involved in things you shouldn't, didn't I? Didn't Coryo?" You scold him, gesturing to the door.

"It's not- I didn't know they were going to buy weapons! It's not what I wanted, they told me the money was only for supplies, that no one would get hurt!"

"These are supplies." Billy Taupe's friend, Spruce, replies.

"Why would you trust them!" You spit, pointing vaguely at the other people in the room.

"Listen, Princess-" Billy Taupe starts, a bitter taste to his tone just as the door slides open again. Coryo's frame is blocking your view of the boy in a second, tucking you carefully behind his back.

"Talk to me. Not her." He hisses, and you grab his arm. The feeling of his skin under your palms is comforting, warm, and tense in your grip. "What are you doing, guns, Sejanus?" He turns his attention to your classmate.

"Coriolanus, I didn't know this is what they would do, they lied to me-" Sejanus starts his pleads for help again on a separate set of ears.

Unsurprisingly, his response is almost identical to yours. "You thought they would be honest? What are you doing? There are peacekeepers right outside!"

"That's what I said." You mumble in exasperated agreement "Why did you even give them money at all?" You ask, hoping to get some answers.

"Sejanus wants to run off with these dimwits into the woods up north," Coryo explains to you.

"What?" You ask, shocked, looking past him at the boy you've known for years. The thought of never seeing him again pulls at your heartstrings in a way you're unfamiliar with. "You can't. Absolutely not."

"You're not my Ma, Y/N!" Sejanus spits.

"Wait, I know you." The girl cuts in, pointing at you. "You're that missing girl. From the Capitol. Y/N Y/L/N. My dad got a call about you!"

You freeze up at the accusation, biting your tongue as you look up at Coryo. A memory flashes in your mind, that's why you recognize her. She's the girl who Lucy Gray dropped a snake on in the reaping- the mayor's daughter. "Huh?" You ask, trying to look as confused as possible.

"Don't play dumb, we're past that." She scoffs and you just shake your head.

"Genuinely, don't know what you're talking about." You relax your posture, crossing your arms over your chest.

"Well," She sighs, shrugging sarcastically. "I'll go tell my dad where you are. Your family sure is missin' you..." She starts to take a few steps before the back exit and you clench your jaw at her smug smile. You want to rip the hair out of her head and throw her body in the lake to rot.

"Mayfair, you can't leave." Billy Taupe scolds her, grabbing her arm which she quickly yanks away.

"This is ridiculous and confusing, and you act like I don't see the way you still look at Lucy Gray! Why don't you take her with you instead, huh?"

"She is coming, isn't she?" Spruce asks, seeming just as confused as you in a completely opposite way.

"You were bringing Lucy Gray?!" Mayfair shouts, shaking her head at her (now presumably) ex-boyfriend.

"She said she wanted to come!" Billy Taupe defends and you laugh, shaking your head.

"Okay, so clearly there's some major communication issues in this gang of misfits you've found, Sejanus, so let's just go and leave them to it. It won't benefit you to be stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of starving idiots who will kill each other in a week if they get too lazy to hunt." You plead with him and he shakes his head at you.

"Y/N, wait-" Coryo says, looking back at you only briefly.

"Yeah, Capitol Princess is right. I'm out." Mayfair says, raising her hands in defeat and turning to leave. "You'll all hang for this!"

"This power trip you have about your father being the mayor pales in comparison to what my family has. You'll all be dead by the morning if you say a word." You tell her, voice calm as she freezes, turning to look back at you.

"She's all talk, she won't tell anyone." Billy Taupe tries to defend her from the tensions rising in the room. You were concerned about getting sent home, of course, but if she told about their plans to run, everyone in the room would be executed come the morning light.

"Oh, you think I'm scared of you, Sage? You think I won't tell? Ask Lucy Gray." She's right, Lucy Gray had told you about how this girl was responsible for the reaping being rigged to result in Lucy Gray's death in the games. What they never accounted for was her strength, her intelligence, and her having Coriolanus Snow and Y/N Y/L/N as mentors.

And how Lucy Gray became a victor, known initially to most of the Capitol for her similarities to you. Only, Lucy Gray wasn't bat shit crazy.

Coryo's mind is reeling at the threat made to you as the girl starts to walk away. Within a second, before you can even make a move to tackle her, he's reaching onto the table and grabbing one of the guns. He lines up quickly and squeezes the trigger, letting the bullet fly square into the center of the girl's back. His training had paid off sooner than he thought. Coriolanus wasn't about to have you caught, sent back to a home much worse than that safety hazard at the edge of the Seam where you're currently staying.

"Mayfair!" Billy Taupe is quickly at the girls side, but she's already dead. Sejanus is shaking, and you are fighting back the smile that threatens to form on your lips despite the stress of the moment. "What have you done?" He screams at your friend.

"She was gonna get us all killed!" You defend. "You should be thanking him! Trust me, she was nothing special."

"You've got something comin', Capitol boy." He says, shaking his head as he looks up at the two of you, hatred filling his eyes. "You think you're gonna blame me for this? That you'll never get caught?"

You resist the urge to just shrug, agreeing that no, probably not. Undeniably, your best move would be to blame him. "He was defending all of us, can you not get that through your thick skull?" You settle on, keeping your footing as level as possible as Coryo pulls you back closer to his side again.

"If I swing, for this you will with me!" He screams in anger, back on his feet and moving quickly towards you as Coryo shoves you back behind him, lining up again. He didn't have to shoot, though, because Spruce does. The boy's body flings into the wall to the left of you from the force of the impact, slumping against the floor.

Your heart is pounding as you look between your two friends. "Sejanus, are you alright?" You ask, trying to approach him as Coryo starts shouting orders at Spruce to get rid of the guns.

"Hey, he's fine." Coryo grabs your arm, pulling you close to him to look at you. "I'm gonna handle this. Get back out there and sing, play the violin, just do something, okay?"

You glance back at Sejanus again, who is clearly panicking so bad he looks like he might faint. "No, I'm not leaving you, and Sejanus-"

"Sejanus is fine." Coryo says again sternly, shaking your shoulders now as he looks into your eyes. "Go back out there. I will handle this. I'll find you soon." He promises, gently pushing you in the way of the door. "Go. Now."

You swallow the anxiety sitting uncomfortably in the back of your throat and nod, glancing only briefly at your friends before you leave, closing the door quickly behind you.

taglist: @totallynotkaibiased , @stelleduarte , @klplynn , @secretsicanthideanymore , @bejeweledreverie , @gloryekaterina , @andrewgarfieldsbitch , @queenofspades6 , @pepperonipastas , @ladybug0095 , @lunamothwrites , @sbrewer21 , @mus-tbe-a-weasley , @splxtscreen , @unclecrunkle , @karmaswitch , @coconut-dreamz , @nekee-lilac02 , @ooooglymoooogly , @riddlerloveb0t , @lovedbalances , @notyourwildestdream , @snowlandson-top , @too-lit-for-fanfic , @utopiakys , @deafeningballoonnacho , @roosterschanelslut , @chmpgneprblem , @cosmoetik , , @urvampgfsworld , @carolanns-world @nan-nie , @shakespearseclipse , @iovemoonyy , @notyoursweetheart-honey ,  @xyzstar , @eatpizzasass, @slytherinholland , @queenofshinigamis , @elodiebeau , @soulessjourney

i've closed my taglist for coryo now!! sorry to everyone who wanted to be added, but unfortunately there was significantly more demand than i expected and i sadly just can't tag everyone. BUT! if you still want notifications when i post for this fic, please turn on my post notifs!!

[griefabyss69]

steddie rated m or e 😈

not gonna be picky but maybe something inspired by this line: “you would forget your underwear”

Mostly because I believe in my heart that you could write something devastatingly sexy about something so very silly. Congrats on 100 followers!!!

Hiiiii~ this is probably still more silly than sexy but they're like, horny about it <3 So I hope you still enjoy!!! Steddie - Rated: M - 1121 Words

(Full thing under the cut!)

contains: One terrible moment of wordplay and Steve pushing Eddie's buttons (sexy)

"Listen," Eddie begins as he turns his back, hands at his waistband. "I know you've got jock socialization, but maybe close your eyes or something."

Steve hears that, and sure, of course he'll do whatever makes him comfortable – but they've changed in front of each other like a hundred times by now. He could literally go out and buy the exact same brand and size of boxers that Eddie wears if he wanted, if wasn't Sunday and the stores weren't closed.

"Alright," he says, turning his back too for added security. "You wearing something lacy tonight?"

It's a joke.

It's only a joke, but Steve thinks if Eddie said yes then he wouldn't be walking out of this room until his jaw was sore and he owed Eddie a new pair of lace underpants.

It gets a reedy laugh out of him though, makes the awkward air between them a little tense in another way, but sadly Eddie squashes his hopes and dreams before he can get too carried away brainstorming how to convince Eddie in a totally no pressure way that he should let Steve put his mouth on his cock.

"Nah, I uh," Eddie laughs, shaky. "There's just… nothing."

Nothing.

Well, that's a hell of a lot sexier than his boxers, that's for fucking sure.

Steve bites his lip, nods in encouragement before he remembers they're not even facing each other, and puts a smile on his face so it comes through in his voice–

"You would forget your underwear," he says, maybe overkill on the teasing but he practically hears the sizzle of Eddie's blush from here. "You get distracted by a sick guitar riff while getting dressed?"

Eddie groans, and it sounds like he finally bites the bullet, his belt clinking as he works his pants off.

The zipper, the denim brushing against itself, against all of Eddie's bare skin, that's a sound that would get Steve to skip his briefs in the morning.

He'd skip everything else too.

"No, you asshole," he says, but he's got a chuckle in his voice and there's the soft rustle of him pulling a pair of Steve's sweats on. "Just a super-duper miscalculated laundry day."

"Ohhh, I see. You got lazy at the wrong time," he continues to tease, and once he's sure Eddie's not all balls-out, he turns to gauge how red he's made him.

It's not as red as he knows he can get, and he seems tense in a specific way, like that time he got a major hard on in the middle of movie night and nothing he did would get rid of it. Steve still thinks about when he had to jerk off in the upstairs bathroom on slow days at work.

"Hey, I'm usually really good at laundry!" Eddie says, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Uh huh," Steve says, just to be a bitch, even though he believes him, doesn't really care about it either way. "Maybe you didn't forget at all."

Eddie scoffs, kicks at his leg.

"I literally just said I didn't forget. I ran out, and didn't think you'd want my dirty underwear in your bed."

Well… he's right about that.

"So thoughtful of you," he says as dryly as possible. "Do you think it would be sexier if you wore lace in those jeans, or was today sexy enough for you?"

He narrows in on the crimson spilling over his skin like someone tipped over a paint bucket, the way his mouth opens a little bit in shock, the way his eyebrows furrow at him with a hunted look.

Steve could hunt him for real, sink his teeth right in, with how crazy it makes him.

"You talk like that in the locker room, Harrington?" Eddie asks, shifting restlessly, and – okay.

Steve's distracted from the last name thing because Eddie's cock swings when he moves, clearly starting to get hard, totally free under the sweatpants.

"Never," he says, eyes locked in, unable to even pretend he's not pushing like a million buttons right now and hoping nothing blows up in his face. "Answer the question."

"Jesus," Eddie mutters, rubbing his hand over his face. "Are you having fun with this?"

Steve looks up long enough to meet his eyes and give him the most sincere nod he can muster up.

"You're the worst," Eddie laughs, gathering his hair up to get it off of his hot neck, before he lets it all drop in a sweep, way too graceful for the condition it's in. "And… I think they'd be two different kinds of sexy, you can't really make them compete."

It's such an unexpected answer and it also makes so much sense. It's like Eddie's thought about it before, and isn't that something.

"So it was sexy? How long were you free balling?" He asks, taking a step closer just to see what Eddie does.

"All day," Eddie's voice doesn't really crack, but it fries, and Steve wants to push right up against him to see what else he can get it to do. "It was… too uh… I just felt kind of exposed."

God.

"Well, if you still feel like that, you can always borrow some shorts," he says, because while he's riding the line, he wants Eddie to have the option to step back behind it. "Or is it different since you're just in my house?"

Eddie blinks rapidly as if he's building a shield with his eyelashes, making some lightspeed decisions that Steve guesses he'll never hear about.

"I'm okay," he says, shifting from one foot to the other in such a subtle movement that if Steve wasn't studying him then he wouldn't notice the purpose of it. "Also these are a lot softer than my jeans."

Steve laughs, even as he watches the outline of Eddie's shaft twitch. He's getting a little harder.

"Your poor cock," he says, drawing up all of his strength so he doesn't offer to soothe it with his mouth. "It needs to get used to it, huh?"

Eddie's mouth does a wry twist, his eyebrows furrowed like he's perplexed, but there's something brewing in his skull that Steve knows he's going to pretend to hate.

"What, like commando training?" He asks, and Steve bites his lip.

That's actually kind of clever. All of Eddie's worst puns are, because that's how they get stuck in Steve's head.

"You're fucking terrible," he sighs, just to give him the reaction he wants.

Eddie beams.

"Nah, I'm incredible," he says, sarcastically flipping his hair in a way that he used to do to make fun of Steve.

Now he just does it all the time like, ironically, or so he says.

"Incredibly terrible, yes."

[steveharringtonat3am]

Somnophilia with Steve

kinktober masterlist!!

pairing: steve harrington/fem!reader

word count: 962

warnings: somnophilia (previously given consent), penetrative sex, morning steve (he's just so bf)

When Steve had first brought up the idea of doing stuff when one of us was asleep, I didn’t think it was that weird. I mean, what guy wouldn’t want to be woken up with a blowjob? And I sure as hell wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity to be woken up by Steve’s amazing oral skills.

So we put it on the table, but made sure to set a few rules. If either of us was wearing a certain set of pyjamas, doing stuff was fair game. For Steve, it was his plaid pyjama pants that he never wore anything under. For me, it was this silk pyjama set that I had to keep re-buying because everytime Steve saw me in it, he immediately ripped it off.

It was also fair game if either of us were naked, which is what led me to this predicament I was in now.

When I walked into our bedroom, the sun just starting to rise, I don’t expect to see Steve fast asleep in bed. He looks so pretty I had to admire him.

And then he shifts.

The blanket slips down his hips and I get a glimpse of his bare thigh. It’s insane how much the sight turns me on, but it does. I had spent many nights perched on his leg, grinding against the rough denim of his Levi’s as he mocked me for being so desperate for him that I would resort to this. But even with all of the teasing, he would always help me fall over the edge.

I gently crawl onto the bed, trying to gauge how deep his sleep is. When soft snores fill the bedroom, I take it as my cue to gently pull the blanket off of him. I thank whoever’s up there that Steve runs hot, and doesn’t cling to the covers like I always do.

When I finally get the fabric off of him, my mouth is practically watering. Steve has always been hot. I had a crush on him for years before we got together, even when he was a douchebag. But there was just something about him that drew me to him.

Maybe it was that one time he saw me walking in the rain and offered to drive me home, despite the fact I was soaking wet and definitely left a puddle in the passenger seat. But maybe it was that other time he gave me his jacket after one of his crazy parties when it got a little too chilly.

It was little things that made me fall in love with Steve, but his looks were definitely a welcomed bonus.

And the sex was amazing.

His legs are just barely spread enough for me to settle in between them, his cock half hard. My mouth is watering but as much as I want to suck him off, I’m too wet to do anything other than ride him.

Climbing on top of him while trying not to put my weight on him is a feat but I manage it nonetheless. I know I have to take this slow, so that I don’t immediately wake him and ruin the surprise, but it’s torture to slowly line his cock up and sink down on it.

When he moans softly, I think I’ve blown it. But then his snores begin again and I relax. I take my time sinking down on his cock. He’s still asleep when I take all of him, biting my lip to keep from moaning loudly.

“Fuck…” I whisper into the silence of the room as I rock gently back and forth. I want him to wake up when he’s close, but I know that will be unlikely given how desperate I am for him to fuck me.

“So good…” He mumbles, shifting and pushing himself deeper into me. It takes everything in me to be quiet but I just about manage it. I wanna wake him up now, but I don’t wanna do it with a moan.

I start to bounce up and down on his cock, not taking him all the way so there’s no loud slapping of skin like there normally is. But he’s still so deep and I fist the sheets desperately.

“God you feel so good…” I mumble.

“Well isn’t this a lovely surprise?” Steve’s raspy voice teases me as his eyes flutter open to drink me in. I don’t falter, but I let myself drop to take him a little deeper each time.

“W-wanted to wake you up n-nicely.” I moan in between words, finally letting myself collapse against his chest. He laughs loudly, and the sound fills my chest with love.

“This is very nice baby. But you know what would be nicer? Feeling your tight pussy cumming on my cock.” His hips start thrusting up into me, and my brain fully short circuits.

“M’so close Steve….p-please? I’m almost there.” I know I probably don’t need to ask permission right now, but the last time I came without asking I didn’t sit properly for a week.

So it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“Go ahead love.” His voice is strained and I know he won’t last long either. It only takes a few more deep thrusts, and I cum with a loud moan.

Steve clearly isn’t far behind and I feel a flood of warmth as he slowly works me through my orgasm.

“Fuck…” I whisper, snuggling into his chest. He just laughs, kissing my temple and hugging me tightly.

“Well good morning to you too.”

hope you enjoyed!!

[samcarpentersgirlfriend]

could you possibly do wes asking reader on an actual date after gaining a crush from reader from the fake dating :)?

sure, thank you for requesting!! ♡

MAKE IT REAL || WES HICKS X READER ⋆⭒˚｡⋆

summary: above

word count: 931

warnings: g!n reader, use of y/n (tried to keep it to a minimum) maybe an abrupt ending? idk I didn’t really know how to wrap it up sorry :((

y/n: sorry I’m late!!

y/n: I’ll be there in five minutes I promise

That was eleven minutes ago.

Wes sighs as he reads over the message for what feels like the thousandth time, each passing second only serving to make his shaky nerves even worse. Hell, he feels like the anticipation is going to kill him slowly - well, either that or he’s gonna throw up all over the table.

Wes really hopes it isn’t the latter.

When he’d asked you last night if you wanted to meet up at your usual diner - the one the two of you had frequented when discussing the ins and outs of your fake relationship, he thought he’d be fine. It was casual enough, right? He’d buy you your favourite milkshake and then tell you straight up how head over heels he was for you and hope that you wouldn’t laugh in his face. No, that was unfair, you were too damn kind and downright perfect to laugh at Wes like that, but his point still stands. The last thing he wants is to totally embarrass himself and make you uncomfortable in the process.

When you’d first asked him to be your fake boyfriend, he’d laughed in your face - quite literally. Because there was no way in hell you were being serious; fake dating was a trope reserved for shitty romcoms alone. But when he saw the look on your face and how much it would mean to you, Wes caved. And then he really fell.

Because how could he not, when you called him yours in front of all of your friends, an arm around his waist pulling him close? How could his heart not skip a beat when you’d run into his arms after class, your body pressed to his with your sweet scent leaving him completely reeling? And overtime, it became natural - second nature. He’d grab your hand in the hallway without even thinking about it, and the pet names slipped easily from his lips. It was easy to forget sometimes that everything was for show, that it was all a façade. But it was real to the rest of the world, and honestly? It felt more than real to Wes.

So it wasn’t long before you took over his mind completely, thoughts of your blinding smile and stupid jokes keeping him awake at night. It was pathetic really, how much you made Wes want. Want something real.

It was driving him crazy, and so, despite his better judgement, he was finally going to do something about it.

Just as he contemplates sending another text, the telltale chime of the bell above the door has him whipping his head around so fast that it’s a miracle he doesn’t get whiplash. You look beautiful as always, but that barely counts as a surprise anymore.

You don’t even need to look around for Wes, he notices, as you make you way to the booth the two of you always sit at.

“Hey, sorry I kept you waiting” you say sheepishly, sliding into the seat across from Wes. “Aw, you got my favourite!” You smile when you notices the tall milkshake on the table in front of you. “Here, I’ll pay you ba-

“Nah, I’ve got it, don’t worry about it.” Wes assures you as casually as he can muster. The anticipation is killing him, and he doesn’t know how much longer he can wait anymore.

“So, um, I actually asked you to come here for a reason.” He admits, gauging your expression for your reaction.

“Wait, so you don’t just want to hang out with me for the hell of it? Ouch.” You tease, and Wes can’t help but smile despite himself.

“You know what I meant. Anyway,” he begins again, “I wanted to talk to you about our… fake relationship.”

You immediately perk up. “You need me to be your partner for hire this time? I think I can work with that.”

Your positive reaction serves to give Wes that bit more confidence. “Not exactly. But you know, I really did have fun. Pretending to date you, I mean.”

“Me too.” You respond, a smile playing on your lips and an unmistakable warmth in your eyes.

“Good. I’m glad. So,” Wes says, drawing out the word as you take a long sip of your drink, “I was thinking that maybe we could do it again. But… for real, this time?”

You instantly look up, your expression unreadable even to Wes. He can’t stop now though, so he carries on speaking. “I wasn’t going to say anything because you’re my best friend and I don’t wanna make things awkward. But… I can’t stop thinking about you, Y/N. I’ve tried. But you just keep coming back.” Wes laughs, but it’s more out of nervousness that out of humour. “Point is, I really like you. A lot. So maybe, you know, if you feel the same way, we could try being more than just friends?”

You open your mouth to speak, but you close it again before you can. You’re silent for a painstakingly long few moments, and it’s driving Wes insane to the point that banging his head on the table would be less painful.

Finally, you speak.

“Really?” You breathe hesitantly, like you can hardly believe him. Like he’s the one out of your league.

“Yeah! I mean, if you want to, obviously.”

“Hell yeah I want to.” The grin on your face is blinding, and one that’s reflected by Wes completely.“I thought you’d never ask.”

[gumnut-logic]

Along the way (Part 6)

Sweetapple | Dear Mr Tracy | Along the way - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Okay, you get this bit early both because @womble1 asked kindly for it and because I'm rather ridiculously excited about it (and it's Fibre Feast day and I will be going out with my sister and buying yarn :D )

Again, many thanks to the totally amazing @onereyofstarlight for keeping me company in my crazy for a good part of yesterday, her readthroughs, and suggestions that led to the ending of this part.

And also, all the thanks to the wonderful people who read yesterday's part without this part and still supported me and didn't throw rocks ::hugs you all tight::

Again, warnings for darkness and water, but only for the first part.

I really, really hope you enjoy this.

-o-o-o-

Was your life supposed to flash across your mind when someone you loved was moments away from dying?

Alex let out a whimper as he struggled for breath after holding it too long yet again.

“Allie, you need to go for help.”

“Not leaving you.” He gasped in as much air as he could and dove.

All that engineering training, all his efforts to save people with Siliwrap, all his fanboying over the Thunderbirds and International Rescue. He had brains and this was a simple problem, there had to be a solution!

This time he fumbled around looking for something that might be able to help him move the object that had his mother’s foot trapped.

Time was running out. The building was falling into the river and taking them with it.

There had to be a solution.

His fingers slid over unfamiliar shapes in the darkness, most hard and unforgiving, as solid in not moving as the culprit holding his mum.

His fingernails skittered over something rough and he grabbed at it. Wood?

At a guess it was a piece of the building, like so many he had scampered over today.

Breathe. He needed air.

He climbed upwards, for a moment terrified he had lost orientation in the dark, only to break the surface with relief.

He gulped in oxygen and dove again.

He had a length of wood; he was pretty sure by weight. Hurriedly he gauged its length and width and, fumbling through the wreckage, grabbed a loose piece of rock.

A quick nip to the surface, where he again had to ignore his mother’s protests, and he was under again, jamming the rock up against the wall beside his mother. He edged the end of the wood down into the narrow gap beside his mum’s ankle.

Holding the combo steady, he again surfaced.

He gasped out the words. “Okay, Mum, I’m going to try and lever the gap wider. As soon as you can, pull your foot out.”

She drew in a breath. “Okay.”

“Get ready.” He dove again, his head ever so light from the fluctuating oxygen supply.

A long enough lever could move the world. Or at least that was the engineering theory. A brief flicker of the lecturer who had hammered that one home. Time to prove it.

Alex had his own body mass, but he lacked purchase. He reached out a hand and gripped the sink, which was now well underwater, and using his feet put everything he had behind moving that lever.

Nothing.

Come, on, damn you!

He shoved and kicked at it, begging the wood not to snap, to take the strain and free his mum!

Please!

Was it possible to cry underwater?

The smallest of movement, he almost missed it amongst the flurry of air bubbles. He shoved again, straining with everything he had…

And his mother was grabbing him, pulling him to the surface, hugging him within an inch of his life. “I’m free, Allie.”

Thank, god. He clung to her for the second it took his breathing to catch up to his heart rate.

As if realising it was losing its prey, the building creaked and shifted again.

Hell.

He found his mother’s hand and gripped it tight, before starting to feel about in the dark, looking for the way he had fallen in.

Apparently one advantage of the building shifting was to lower the doorway, enabling Alex to both find it easily enough and gain a purchase on door frame. With short, somewhat breathless instructions, he helped his mum climb over him, out of the water, and into the cafe proper.

Or what was left of it.

Dragging himself up after her, he wrapped her arm around his shoulders, and although it was impossible to stand upright, he helped her through the maze and up towards the light.

-o-o-o-

“Thunderbird Two, we have a report of a building falling into the river near your location.” John’s voice was crisp and professional. “Emergency services claim there are at least two lifesigns still inside.

A glance at the details sent to his comms had Virgil swearing. A museum of all things and so close, just over the road.

He banished thoughts of Alex.

“FAB, Thunderbird Five.” He turned to Gordon. “Might need you on this one, Fish.”

“Whatever you need, big bro.”

No Thunderbird Two. Just big bro and whatever he needed.

Virgil briefly gripped Gordon’s shoulder and then they were moving.

Helmet on, exosuit, John was already streaming data to his HUD as he once again ran across the parking lot, this time in a different direction.

The sight of the building had his heart sinking. It was obvious that the massive tree in the centre had messed with the earthquake-proof structural support. That support was the only reason the whole complex wasn’t already in the river. Some serious rebar reinforcement was currently at its stress limit and the building was likely go any minute.

Gordon was running beside him at an easy lope as they approached the small group of people hovering outside the wreckage.

There was access through what was once a window and now…

The two lifesigns suddenly blinked from red to green as two people climbed out of the window, a man helping a smaller and older woman.

Virgil stopped in his tracks.

Alex?

As if the thought was permission, the whole pile of broken wood and masonry cracked, groaned and slid off the bank and into the river.

“Thunderbird Two, all lifesigns are clear and safe. Stand down.” Professional and loved, John’s voice spoke of a history of brothers attempting that last second rescue when everything went to hell.

But that wasn’t needed here.

Alex didn’t notice him, his focus solely on the woman in his arms as he led her to sit beside another woman being attended to by the medical team on site.

Virgil followed him with his eyes.

A click of his thumb and the exosuit disengaged around him, its weight toppling to the ground with a clatter.

He could feel Gordon’s presence beside him, but it was all the worry, all the terror that had haunted him all day, each time he pulled a body out of the rubble, each time a lifesign wasn’t Alex, each time…

He reached up and unclipped his helmet, letting it drop behind him as Gordon whispered into his comms. People were staring at Virgil. But then they always did that, he was a Thunderbird. There were even some cameras out. No doubt his face would be all over social media and his father pissed off again.

But he didn’t care.

Alex was still bending over the injured woman. It was obvious she was someone close. As he hugged her, Alex chanced to look up.

“Virgil! You’re here!” The blond, tall, lanky engineer stood up and rushed over. His shirt was shredded. He was soaking wet. And there were bruises, so many bruises, the worst of which was violently red leading up into his hair at his left temple.

Virgil’s eyes raked over him. “Alex?”

“Yeah, Mum is-“

Virgil grabbed him and pulled him in tight, one gloved hand finding the back of his neck, the other just holding him close. “Oh god. I thought you…” He squeezed his eyes shut on Alex’s shoulder.

Tentative arms wrapped around him. “Virgil, I’m okay.”

It wasn’t possible to squeeze his eyes any tighter, so instead he pulled back a little, looking up into brown eyes, almost as dark as his own, framed by lank, wet and dirty blond hair.

A breath and he was kissing the man. Needing to know he was real, needing Alex to know how worried he had been…

Just needing.

Alex froze for a split second before definitely kissing him back. Oh, definitely. Virgil lost himself the touch and taste of…him. Warm lips, the tip of a questing tongue, and, oh god, Alex…

Alex.

It was a camera flash that broke the moment. That and the murmuring giggles around them. Virgil pulled away and realised exactly how pissed his father was going to be.

But honestly, turning back to Alex, who he had yet to release from his arms, whose expression was simply stunned and so wide-eyed he might break an eye socket, Virgil really didn’t care.

He brushed a hand across Alex’s shoulder, wanting again to touch. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

Alex dipped his head. “Yeah.” It was a drawn out syllable, more breath than voice. His eyes tracked over Virgil. “You?”

“I am now.”

Dark eyes stared at him.

Virgil gazed back.

Worry flickered across Alex’s face and he shifted where he stood. “Uh, Mum’s hurt her ankle. Could you take a look?”

Virgil’s eyes widened, reality finally slamming home. He straightened. “Of course.”

He let Alex go, but to his surprise Alex didn’t let him go, a hand on his arm directing Virgil around to the small dark-haired woman sitting on the steps behind him. She was as drenched to the bone as Alex, but was smiling up at the both of them with only what could be described as glee. “About time someone swept my boy off his feet.”

“Mum!”

She ignored him and addressed Virgil with more of that smile. “Hello, Mr Thunderbird. I’m Lolly, and I’m very, very pleased to meet you.”

-o-o-o-

Next

[hartage]

I need more lore on that very attractive Fletcher Jennings (taly)

a bit of a rundown of talyllyn (no. 1) for you :)

- his name is huw jennings, but he honestly goes by ‘talyllyn’ more than he ever goes by ‘huw’. he probably thrives off the ego rub

- he’s 29 years old physically, 159 years old technically. (24 september 1864) i could get into my lore about how they age, etc. but i feel like that could all be compressed into one giant post.

- however! speaking of an ego rub, though talyllyn is old af (turning 160 this year!) he still has a bit of a ‘princely’ manner in how he carries himself. i think a lot of people would think him to be humble like his rws counterpart (skarloey), but i think the fact that he ran nearly continuously from 1865-1945 is a little bit of a flex if i do say so myself. he wants to be celebrated for that, wouldn’t you?

- he’s got a crazy rivalry with the other engines on the railway, and chewed dolgoch out over the fact that he would rather buy ‘replacements’ (no. 3 and no. 4) from the corris than give him a full overhaul (like dolgoch and the volunteers could give him a complete overhaul with 50 GBP, but i digress)

- talyllyn has a lot of old victorian mannerisms. if you enter his room it’s like a time warp, a bit of nursing home core honestly. an old iron bed, floral prints, trinkets, the whole grandma gamut.

here’s a quote from railway adventure that i feel like is really fitting of just…no. 1

“…like everything else about the railway this room had remained firmly rooted in the Victorian age; it made no concession whatever to the 20th century, was not in the best state of repair and looked as if it had not been spring-cleaned within living memory. One end of it had been fitted up as a booking office with a long counter, a ticket cabinet and a ticket date stamping machine. This last was of the early pattern on which a change of date type can only be effected with the aid of some pointed instrument such as a penknife, and where the ink ribbon must be periodically wound back by hand.”

- according to railway adventure by LTC rolt (my main ref for no. 1) whenever no. 1 first arrived it was bouncy and wild due to its “horizontal motion” which makes me feel like he’s a lot more brisk than dolgoch.

- huw talks fast, and is a lot more charismatic. he goes “yup… indeed…aye…” in conversation while dolgoch goes “isn’t it?” and “mhm.”

- pre-preservation i feel like that no. 1 was the ‘preferred’ engine. it’s more a headcanon for me rather than fact, but i feel like the reason why no. 1 had so many overhauls in the past compared to no. 2 was because talyllyn was the one who ran better after all of the ‘teething troubles’ were fixed.

- to me, even though the two are quite old, there is still a rivalry between dolgoch and talyllyn to this day. think a big brother vs little brother rivalry. the ‘i know better’ role, y’know?

i think that’s basically all i have now. it’s kind of funny bc no. 1 is actually the least developed of my narrow gauge humanization ocs, (that’s a mouthful) but please send more asks if you want to know more!!

[antiquity1111]

BNHA 375 Japanese to English Translation w/ Commentary Part I

奥渡島　「麗日・蛙吹 VS トガ」

Okutou Island - Uraraka & Asui vs. Toga

Tagline 1:

美しき南の島で——‼︎

At the beautiful southern island——!!

Tagline 2:

No.375 滅茶苦茶

No.375 Chaos 

滅茶苦茶 (romaji: mechakucha) translates to “chaos; disorder; confusion; mess.” Rukasu and Pikahlua opted for “mess,” but I think “chaos” better describes the feel of the chapter. “Mess” to me just sounds like someone trashed a room and now somebody has to clean it up. It sounds almost… orderly, controlled. To me, “chaos” sounds like havoc and mayhem and whirlwind action, like too much is happening all at once, everything’s moving too fast, and your head’s spinning trying to make sense of it all. Perfect.

フロッピ‼︎

= “Froppy!!”

姿を晦ます技術はミスディレクションの類！恐らくとても複雑で微細な…

= [Her] technique to hide her presence is a kind of misdirection! Perhaps it’s very complex and subtle…

姿 (romaji: sugata) means “figure; form; shape; appearance.” Because translating sugata as “appearance” could understandably give the wrong impression that Ochako is thinking about Himiko’s Quirk when she is actually thinking about her evasiveness, I translated it as “presence.”

晦ます (romaji: kuramasu) means “to conceal (oneself); to hide; to abscond” and refers to Himiko’s proficiency at seemingly disappearing, either to flee a dangerous situation or to launch a surprise attack, as she did against Curious’ associates in No.225.

Additionally, 晦ます can mean “to deceive; to dissemble; to fool,” which also applies. Himiko is highly perceptive and attuned to others’ feelings; able to accurately gauge a person’s personality, temperament, and motivations within a short time of meeting them; and demonstrates a remarkable ability to manipulate people and situations to her will, a fact All Might begrudgingly notes in No.335:

翻弄し続ける少女トガヒミコ

= “The young lady who continues to make fools of us, Himiko Toga.”

翻弄 (romaji: honrou) is a verb meaning “having at one’s mercy; trifling with; toying with; playing with (as if a joke or plaything); making sport of; making a fool of; leading around by the nose; pulling the wool over one’s eyes.” It describes a person stringing someone along, deliberately misleading them into believing a falsehood of some kind, tricking them, for personal gain. 

While we’re on the subject of Himiko’s fantastic (ongoing) manipulation of the Heroes, allow me to point something out that no one seems to have noticed or thought anything of, at least not that I’ve seen (I’ve been waiting MONTHS for somebody to mention it so I could without being jumped, but it never happened! 😭 Maybe it’s because I’ve somehow found myself on the Hero side of the fandom despite wanting to be on the Villain side of it…?). No.345 ends with a close-up of Himiko’s face showing one of the tubes of her blood-sucking equipment twisted around her pinkie finger:

On the other end, of course, is Izuku, having been yanked off course from his mission onto Okutou Island, forcing the Heroes assigned to the Sky Battlefield to struggle not to be seriously injured or killed by Shigaraki for One (rest in peace, Kacchan…) while stalling for time until his arrival. 

This illustration directly references the idiomatic expression “have (someone) wrapped around (one’s) (little) finger.”

Himiko quite literally had Izuku wrapped around her pinkie finger, pulling his strings, creating a distraction, buying time for Tomura to do irreparable damage to the Heroes and for Spinner to secure Kurogiri, advancing the Villains’ cause(s). A masterful actress, she has been deceiving the Heroes since her introduction, playing the “part” of an unfocused, “lovesick,” “boy-crazy,” somewhat airheaded adolescent.

(NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN ATTACK ON HER CHARACTER; TO THE CONTRARY, THIS IS A RECOGNITION OF HER SENSITIVITY, INCREDIBLE OBSERVATIONAL SKILLS, CREATIVITY, AND ADAPTABILITY, AND HER SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL GIFTEDNESS. THESE ARE THE EXACT TRAITS THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR HER TO SURVIVE ALONE ON THE STREETS—NO EASY FEAT—FOLLOWING HER RUNNING AWAY ON THE DAY OF HER MIDDLE SCHOOL GRADUATION AFTER ATTACKING SAITO.)

Himiko Toga is, above all, a skilled escape artist and social chameleon who learned at an early age that she would have to wear “masks” to be “accepted” and “protected” from harm. She could be “liked” or she could be herself. There was no in between. Her parents were clear that no one could ever or would ever accept and love her real “face.” Naturally, being a helpless, impressionable child who was eager to please them and desperate to feel connected to them, she believed them, internalizing the message that she is inherently unlovable, deficient, and deviant, and must hide behind false personas to avoid the pain of rejection, abandonment, vilification, and violent victimization.

あれ?

= “Huh?”

キュリオス様

= “Curious-sama!”

警察・ヒーローに追われる毎日

= Every day, I was chased by police and Heroes.

否が応にも周囲の挙動に過敏になった

= I became hypersensitive to the behavior of [people in] my surroundings, whether I liked it or not.

過敏に (romaji: kabin ni, meaning “oversensitive; nervous; thin-skinned; touchy”) is composed of the kanji for “to exceed; to surpass; to be over (indicating excess in degree or amount); too (much)” and “alert; agile; keen; sensitive.” This word describes the hypervigilance Himiko developed as a runaway evading capture by police and Heroes. 

女子高生のフリすると世間はちょっぴり易しくなった

= Pretending to be a high school girl makes the world a (very little) bit easier.

Notice that word, pretending. Why was she pretending to be something she isn’t and doesn’t identify with?

捕まらないように

= So I don’t get caught / arrested.

捕まらないように

= So I don’t get caught / arrested.

捕まらないように

= So I don’t get caught / arrested.

This aspect of Himiko’s character isn’t often discussed by fans, but she’s terrified of being detained and afraid of police and Heroes. She’s suspicious of everyone but the League of Villains, who she trusts and feels safe with. The threefold repetition of that line (“So I don’t get caught / arrested”) underscores the intensity of her anxiety and desperation to not be captured. As a result of her traumatic early childhood experiences, she became a deeply insecure and skittish person conditioned by her parents to be excessively polite, respectful, and demure, especially in her language, even when she does not particularly like or respect a person (appeasement: survival tactic common in complex trauma survivors meant to minimize the likelihood of conflict by people-pleasing and self-censorship and de-escalate conflict when it does arise by catering to the needs and demands of threatening others, restoring “peace” at the expense of one’s own needs, aka self-betrayal). She is always scanning her environment for potential threat, prepared to flee at the first sign of trouble. Nevertheless, Himiko is not weak or powerless and is not a coward. She is as much predator as she is prey (exactly like a domestic cat, actually).

The first of these screenshots is from No.225 and the second from No.348. See that wide, toothy grin of Himiko’s? That’s an example of a visual trope called the slasher smile, and it always forebodes ill intent, usually murderous. She is literally baring her fangs like a lioness moments before charging her prey. Notice also how Himiko has hidden her face behind her hands in the lower right quadrant of the second screenshot. Her face is drawn completely in shadow, impossible to read. This artistic choice implies that she is concealing more than just her face; she is being dishonest, misrepresenting her feelings and/or motives, pulling a fast one on the Heroes like she has in the past.

敵の数も減ってきた‼︎ニアハイエンドを抑えれば行ける‼︎ ヴィランのかずもへってきた‼︎ニアハイエンドをおさえればいける‼︎

= “The Villains’ (read as: enemy’s) numbers are also decreasing!! If we subdue the Near High-Ends, [we] can go!!”

This is a common occurrence in BNHA, but I do want to mention it. The kanji for this line from Gang Orca say “enemy,” but the furigana say “villain.” When kanji and their corresponding furigana do not match, kanji represent what is meant while furigana represent what is said. 

In this context, Gang Orca says “villain,” but he means “enemy.” Who cares? What’s the difference? Villains are enemies, right? The reason it is notable any time a Hero says “villain” but means “enemy” is because it speaks to an antagonistic us vs. them mentality that makes connection and compromise impossible. Real change and progress will not be made until Heroes are approaching and interacting with Villains as humans, person to person, NOT as “Heroes” and “Villains,” “allies” and “enemies.” Tomura gave a great speech about it that no one paid attention to, proving his point (https://at.tumblr.com/antiquity1111/bnha-english-vs-japanese-translation-comparison/mwc337dsnhpd). If the Heroes ever actually listened when the Villains talk, they’d know this already and this second war might have been avoided. 

この島でこいつらを制圧することが俺たちの使命だ‼︎

= “Our mission is to suppress these guys on this island!!”

こっちの数が減る程

= As our numbers decrease,

逃げられなくなってってる捉えられ始めてる

= I won’t be able to escape and will be caught.

仁くんの血液量だと30〜40分の変身が限度…

= With this volume of Jin-kun’s blood, my transformation will be limited to 30-40 minutes…

今飲んで数的有位をくつがえせても"哀れな行進"はこの離島で終わる いまのんですうてきゆういをくつがえせても"サッドマンズパレード"はこのりとうでおわる

= Even if I drink this now and overturn the numbers advantage, the “Sad Man’s (read as: Miserable) Parade” will end on this isolated island.

Here again we have a case of kanji and furigana not matching. 哀れな行進 (romaji: aware na koushin) translates to “Miserable Parade” in English, while サッドマンズパレード (romaji: saddo manzu pareedo) says “Sad Man’s Parade” in katakana. When Twice uses the Sad Man’s Parade during My Villain Academia, it is also written like this, with the kanji reading “Miserable Parade” and the furigana “Sad Man’s Parade.”

When Touya references Twice’s technique while speaking to Himiko in No.341, he calls it the 哀れな行進 (romaji: aware na koushin, or Miserable Parade) and the furigana read the same.

Take another look at these screenshots.

In the first screenshot, Twice uses the Sad Man’s Parade (mismatched kanji and furigana; read as: Miserable Parade) for the first time in-series. The kanji are written WITHOUT quotation marks: 哀れな行進. In No.357, when Himiko is contemplating her options, Sad Man’s Parade (mismatched kanji and furigana; read as: “Miserable Parade”) is written INSIDE quotation marks: “哀れな行進.” In No.341, “変身” (—> “Transform”) is written INSIDE quotation marks but 哀れな行進 (—> Miserable Parade) is written WITHOUT them. This seems inconsequential at face value, but there does seem to be a pattern to it, and where there is a pattern, there is usually a deeper meaning to be uncovered. At least in these chapters, quotation marks seem to be used around the name of a technique or Quirk only when it belongs to someone else. In the first screenshot, 哀れな行進 is NOT in quotation marks because the technique is Twice’s and its name is being called out by him. In the second screenshot, “哀れな行進” IS in quotation marks because it is Himiko, not Twice, thinking about the Miserable Parade / Sad Man’s Parade, but it does not belong to her. In the third screenshot, “変身” IS in quotation marks because it is Touya, not Himiko, who cites it, but Transform does not belong to him. Finally, in the fourth screenshot, 哀れな行進 is NOT in quotation marks, despite the technique not belonging to Touya or Himiko.

Why might this be? It’s possible that Touya is talking less about a technique than he is an event or performance the two of them will stage in honor of Twice (続けさせてやろう, romaji: tsudzukesaseteyarou, meaning “to let something continue for [someone],” as a favor to them) and for themselves commemorating the abandoned child Himiko Toga and the forgotten child Touya Todoroki. This is Himiko and Touya rising above the learned helplessness of their childhoods to reclaim their sense of agency and power to fight back, raise their voices to speak their truth even in the face of harsh criticism and repudiation, and determine their next steps on their own terms. Their Miserable Parade will be their send-off for their fallen comrade, friend, and brother. It will also be their send-off for the children that they were, an act of love by their adult selves for their child selves, an acknowledgement that they mattered and deserve to be remembered. (Remember when Touya incinerated Himiko’s childhood house for hurting her in No.341? Their Miserable Parade will be that but on a much, much bigger scale).

これまでトガヒミコの行動原理に大局的な戦術思考が用いられることはほぼなかった

= Up till now, due to Himiko Toga’s acting principles (i.e., the rationale governing how she has conducted herself), she almost never employed big-picture tactical thinking.

Because her primary concern has always been to avoid being captured, Himiko has tended to favor fleeing over fighting and so has seldom had to think through and implement battle strategies. She does not have the combat experience of some of the other characters and does not have a naturally heavy-hitting Quirk like Decay or Hellflame, but she is shrewd, flexible, and quick on her feet (literally and figuratively). Most importantly, she has been able to rely on subterfuge for her survival and has performed well enough as an actress to have not needed to apply herself beyond dissembling. Masquerading as a “normal” schoolgirl has carried her through to the present moment. But as of No.349, Himiko has grown beyond wanting and needing to hide behind the face of someone else, anyone “normal.” As of No.349, for the first time in her life, Himiko Toga does not want to be anyone but Himiko Toga. She is not running from herself anymore. She is not hiding. She is owning who she is and making no apologies for it. I suspect this development came about due to the events of No.341. It cannot be overstated how liberating and life-changing it can be to be seen, validated, unconditionally accepted, and protected, to be loved for who you are and know you are not alone.

Unconditional positive regard is defined by humanistic psychologists to mean expressing empathy, support, and acceptance to someone, regardless of what they say or do. Unlike other practitioners of his day who offered therapies like behaviorism, which were quick to confront how poor choices hurt us, psychologists like Rogers started by validating their clients’ feelings, withholding judgment, and offering support. Known as “client-centered therapy,” this treatment emphasizes the healing power of human connection. While Roger’s theory shifted the psychology landscape, it didn’t only benefit therapy seekers. According to Rogers, problematic behaviors like overeating, drinking too much, and procrastinating aren’t altered with confrontation, judgment, or punishment; they are remedied with compassion, understanding, and acceptance. In his view, people are wired for self-actualization, or the need to fulfill our potential. However, painful experiences like being bullied, shamed, or judged thwart our growth. Unconditional positive regard restores hope by showing us we are loved and accepted. From Rogers’ lens, when people feel safe, honesty follows. And being honest with ourselves and others is crucial for change. Whereas judgment and shame elicit defensiveness, acceptance fosters safety, which invites honesty and self-exploration. It’s offering the sort of grace we wish others would offer us when we fail.

Social worker and shame researcher, Dr. Brené Brown, says authenticity is “the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” Rogers said authentic people are comfortable with vulnerability and approach others with openness and curiosity. In short, authenticity builds intimacy. But frequently, our authentic self is shut down by shame, judgment, and criticism. Perhaps someone once told us we were “too sensitive,” “not talkative enough,” or “too nerdy.” Or maybe we were teased for not following the crowd in some way. These messages convey that it’s not okay to be who we want to be. As a result, we’re forced to choose between living out our values and feeling rejected (usually by those we need and love most) or changing our views to fit in. Often, we’d rather ignore some aspect of ourselves than feel left out.

Until recently, Himiko had lived her life suppressing parts of herself that had been shunned and vilified by her family, her peers, and greater society, feigning (exaggerated) characteristics she believed the person she “ought to be” would have in the hope of “fitting in,” “being accepted,” and “belonging.” In No.349, she breaks her well-established pattern of self-abandonment with these declarations:

もういい

= “That’s enough.”

出久くんもお茶子ちゃんも梅雨ちゃんも大好きだけどもういいよ

= “Izuku-kun and Ochako-chan and Tsuyu-chan, although I like you very much, [I’ve had] enough [of you].”

Literally, もういいよ means “enough already.” Contextually, Himiko’s saying that her patience has worn thin and she’s grown sick of dealing with them.

Regarding “I like you very much,” the word Himiko is using is 大好き (romaji: daisuki), which is composed of the kanji for “big” (大) and “like (something, someone)” (好き). This word can be used to express a strong liking for a person or thing and does not always have romantic connotations. It can be used to say you like anything, from a particular food to your pet to a boy band to an actor to a character to any person you’re fond of, including a friend, a child, or a lover. Parents sometimes use this word to express affection for their children. There are several ways to say “I love you” in Japanese. Of them, this word has the most general use and the least intense meaning.

なりたい自分になりたいの

= “I want to be who I want to be.”

私は私が当たりまえに生きたいだけ

= “I just want to live my life in the way that is natural for me.”

ねエ? 甘くん

= Right, Jin-kun?

私はトガヒミコ

= “I am Himiko Toga.”

ヒーローはいらない

= “I don’t need a Hero / Heroes.”

だから消えてねさようなら

= “So, please disappear / die. Goodbye.”

These days, ね (romaji: ne) keeps sneaking its way into Himiko’s sentences. It’s a particle that can be used as a request for confirmation or agreement (e.g., right?; isn’t it?; doesn’t it?; don’t you?; don’t you agree? aren’t you?), to express one’s thoughts and feelings (e.g., you know; you see; I must say; I should think), to make an informal request (e.g., will you?; please), or as a filler word.

What’s interesting about it to me is that Touya has a habit of overusing this and other words with similar functions. The more he feels he is not being seen, heard, understood, and believed, the more anxious and upset he becomes and the more his speech becomes peppered with all of these awkward, unnecessary, and largely rhetorical confirmation seekers / filler words. This nervous habit of his is a verbal tic born from not being listened to, validated, and supported as a child when he tried to confide in others. (It is also evidence that the “fawn”—or people appeasing / people pleasing—survival response has been activated). He reached out to his family members for sympathy and understanding and found everyone had closed their eyes, ears, and hearts to him. He was fun to play with, sure, and oh so cool, but he wasn’t fun to be around when he was riling Enji and/or Rei up or sobbing and complaining about stuff everyone else preferred not to think about or confronting his parents about their selfishness and utter failure to be good enough parents (developmental psychology term; coined by Dr. Donald Winnicott in the 1950s) to the four children they had forced into the world and then neglected. He wasn’t fun when he was making problems, and he was always making problems. Because his pain was not met with kindness and compassion and because all anyone ever thought to say to him was “stop doing that; stop being so stubborn; do something else; play with something/someone” or “talk to someone else,” he internalized the message that he is not a person who can generally trust that he will be believed when he speaks out when he has been wronged or that he will be received warmly when he is hurt and in need of emotional support. He learned that he is not a person who can expect that others will respond to help him when he reaches out to them for comfort and protection, that he is not a person other people care to listen to and share with, that his feelings do not matter and are burdensome to others, that his word is worthless because he is.

Himiko has a similar habit of framing declaratives as suppositions and demands as requests, which is easily explained by how she was being raised by her parents to be a “good, deferential, normal” girl. She’s the kind of person who says “please stop” when she means “stop it right now” or “fuck off” because saying “stop it right now” or “fuck off” would be too forward and offensive and she must always be meek and mind her manners. Touya showed evidence of having his confirmation-seeking verbal tic as a child, but Himiko seems to have developed this habit more recently, which leads me to wonder if somewhere along the line she began unconsciously mirroring him down to how he talks, or maybe she’s feeling especially uncertain? It is uncomfortable breaking “character” to be a version of yourself—your authentic self—you’ve never been allowed to be or given yourself permission to be. It’s understandable she’d be feeling out of her element.

いやだよ！私も私の当たり前を全うする麗日お茶子として！

= “I refuse! I also live in the way that is natural for me as Ochako Uraraka!”

There is a bit of a disconnect here that I’m only noticing now. Himiko said that all she wants is to [be able to] live in the way that is natural (could also be translated as “normal; ordinary”) for her, meaning she is not currently free to be herself but she wants to be. Ochako answered as if Himiko had said that she has already been living freely in accordance with her beliefs and values and affirmed that she, too, lives in the way that is natural (could also be translated as “normal; ordinary”) for her. 

That’s the end of our detour to No.349. Let’s pick up where we left off with No.375, shall we?

そもそもココで逆転しても

= In the first place, even if [I, we] reverse [the situation] here,

戻りの船をわざわざ島に着かせてるとは考えにくい… こっちのワンチャンをわざわざしまにつかせてるとはかんがえにくい…

= it’s hard to imagine [my, our] one chance (read as: return boat) going out of its way to reach the island…

What Himiko means is that if a ship to collect the Heroes were to arrive on the island, she could escape away on it as a stowaway or Transformed, but she understands that something so convenient for her side (and ill-planned on the Heroes’ part) is not likely to happen.

分断と隔離…ヒーローはもう"仁くん"のこと知ってる？

= Division and isolation… Do the Heroes already know about Jin-kun?

I think it’s sweet that Himiko refers to Jin’s blood as if it were him. That blood is all she has left of her brother. To her, blood is life, the essence of a person. To carry Jin’s blood with her is to have Jin-kun with her always. That is why it would have meant the world to Himiko that Touya salvaged a little piece of her brother to give back to her. In a way, Touya did save Jin. Actions speak louder than words, especially for the Japanese, who strongly prefer to demonstrate their affection and devotion through generous and caring acts rather than through words. (This shying away from direct expressions of love and intimacy is so deeply ingrained in Japanese culture that it is not uncommon for husbands and wives to spend their lives together happily married and having never spoken the words “I love you”!) For Himiko, blood is a love language. Touya spoke it fluently in No.341. Something else that is interesting to consider is that Horikoshi is known to have been very intentional with his naming conventions, with basically every character’s name flagging something about their Quirk (and personality) or their arc and function in the narrative. I wrote more about this in another post on another character (= Hawks) that I’ve yet to share, but I'll go ahead and include related excerpts from that post here. Unfortunately, I've hit the screenshot cap for Part I. Here is the link to Part II: https://at.tumblr.com/antiquity1111/bnha-375-japanese-to-english-translation-w/0rytdy0l68x3.

[hypergamiss]

Your page is so inspiring 💗 I was wondering if you could give me some advice on allowance for being a girlfriend and potentially wife. I started out as his sugar baby but now I am his girlfriend and I am currently getting 5k per month and he pays for my car which is about $1000 per month. By the way I don’t work. I don’t have any bills as I’m living with him and my 5k is just for beauty maintenance and shopping but it never feels like I have any money left to buy nice designer things each month and I thought that he would buy me surprise luxurious gifts or take me shopping every so often but no he just expects me to buy everything I want with my allowance. He has bought me two Chanel bags but I had to really push him to buy the second as he said that most of his friends buy their wives ‘one nice thing per year’??? He is 56 and I am 27 and we’ve been together for a year now. I’m just wondering like for other girls are they getting more than this or should I not expect that much more? I have always dreamed of living a luxurious lifestyle and getting spoiled by the man that I am with. I am grateful for what he does but I just feel like he doesn’t even want to spoil me and buy me things :( am I crazy to think another guy would or is it hard to find a guy who would do more than this? By the way I would say I am attractive, just for context, and I’ve never had a hard time getting guys but only dated for a month in between last relationships so I didn’t really get a feel for how much other guys are willing to do for me. I have asked him for more allowance and he said he didn’t think that it was necessary and most people don’t spend so much money. I would really appreciate if you could give me some advice, thank you ♥️

Thank you 🫶 for the compliment!

So you are receiving $6k a month as a live in girlfriend. Most women would be more than ok with that, but you want more. If you are really bothered by not receiving more, then phase him out. Make sure you are saving a lot (if not most) of the money you receive and invest it. Just for future thoughts: it’s a lot easier to live alone and have more than one option available. At the moment you are not sure if you should expect more or not. Imagine yourself receiving your allowance from him and you are living alone (and self sufficient). Another benefactor could easily replace him if you find what you are looking for. Not moving in with a man allows you to gauge a lot of things at once, including how generous he really is. You can also predetermine what kind of lifestyle a man can provide for you if you take the time to vet them. Maybe your boyfriend is genuinely generous but he can’t afford to give you more than what he currently does? If you did your homework and you are sure he is just holding back then I think you can easily answer your own questions. I don’t expect a doctor to give me the same lifestyle a multimillionaire who runs several companies would. I hope this helps since I am not a sugar baby but I do get taken care of by the men who pursue me in general.

[the-firebird69]

They had this thought about building factories in office buildings and things like that and you can for electronics it's a little bit more work but not that much and it's changed the zoning and take some time is there a huge Warehouse is here they're not used and it'll take a few seconds to change it.

I went through a lot of ideas okay and we are opening factories it's just that some factories are not allowed at all and we would make factories I'm going to help make them mobile and we'll have some too and we're going to play a game with these macaronis and they allow weapons manufacturing and they're kind of crazy so we're going to go ahead and we're going to start doing this. The kit for the craven items it didn't work and the kit for the other items too within that name.

Nobody's picked up the Bradley and we can make the kit for the plant ones in that factory and we can make it for a few different vehicles the craven supercar the firebird turns into a Ferrari and other cars too that would be changing into something are we all have a lot of ideas and you need a mechanic if you're going to move the motor so... He says I think I'm wrong Hal okay so you keep the rear differential and this is for say a Pantera or Lamborghini you keep the rear differential and the gearing you send a kit with the engine mounts that put it in a precise location that even our son could not f****** up... You give explicit instructions on how to install the new axle and you don't mess with the old one and reinstall the engine and it's in the same configuration it's just moved back so he's showing me a picture over and over of like a 6-in long drive shaft into the rear differential it goes into it attaches to the main drive portion of your transmission and there there is a something that goes in between and it would work this this is an awesome idea you have a complete mechanical kit we could do that after a time he says but really you have to do it right away even on the Volkswagen the Volkswagen it might be hardest to change the rear with the front but no that would be stupid so he says same thing you take the rear wheel stuff off and you have to put a new kit for the front it says I don't think so it's true everything runs itself except for the drive and you change it to a shaft drive and solid rear axle and you include it in the kit and you get the parts from something else and there's other VW vehicles that have the shaft and rear axle is solid and you're doing it on probably well the scirocco has independent suspension in the rear but it's a drive shaft from the front so you take the scirocco and you can make a Lamborghini and I like the idea and it's particular cars you can come up with other kids and we have cars in stores it would excite the automobile industry and these kids would sell like madness and people would buy them like madness and all sorts of cars have a rear axle that's solid they have power the firebird the trans Am the Camaro the mustang all of them can be converted because we have the chassis and we send a chance out with the conversion kit and it makes people more interested we also can modify the chassis it's not illegal and put the engine where it goes and people like that better and you send the kid out he's wondering what the kit would be it drop it on the inside is probably finished and we're saying that you would include oh really it takes a lot of time to do all that stupid s*** inside and the dashboard in the gauges and the chassis would be kind of separate still and it just be clamped on or strapped on and it's a way to do it because it's still a kit you can't bolt it together. Trump tried to do it they won't let him other people are trying to do this stuff and they can't and see what happened. We're trying to do it and they won't let us but we're going to go around it we can Australia and New Zealand but you have the pseudo empire

Is it a great idea and to make it mid-engine is a great idea and to use the electric engine is a great idea. The rear is not a independent on those little Geo or Sparks but you need a differential we can get a new rear end it'll go in easy and you you take the electric motor and you make it into a shaft off the shaft it gets 20 more horsepower and you're right at almost 1:30 which way you need to be but it has more torque and it would make the vehicle work as most small kids like a lotus it's a perfect car for it. And he's thinking the emira my lotus but the electric version and if you do that you get a 130 horsepower and it would go probably 250 miles top speed would be almost 300 mph 0 to 60 would be 2.9 seconds quarter mile would be about 7 seconds. Kit and you can make it almost look the same for by lotus they can't do much about it they might actually start making it electric version and sell those for a real money but our son says I would probably get this car if I had just a small money cuz I could pay a teeny bit of insurance and I a replacement cost is low and I could also pay almost no electrical charge and use the apartment to charge it and they have adapters for 110 and people are saying this is crazy like 45 minutes or 30 minutes and about 10 minutes of the charging station and he can go to Miami and back without charging although he probably would want to and it's about the same price as gas doing it that way but driving around here he'd never have to charge it and he'd be driving a lotus people like it they like the concept and we might just make him out of metal to save everybody the problems including us the stamp them and it takes just milliseconds and everything goes together perfect so we're going to look into it

Thor Freya

So you're saying is a kid to relocate the engine location is not hard to make because you make it correct exactly where it goes with the kit and car and your engineer it and you design all the pieces and your fabricate all of them and send it with the kit and that's what we thought we looked at it and it's not a difficult thing to do and if you leave out like you need this axle from this car people can get those and they managed to for something like this with a lotus this is a great idea and he was on lotus drive and I remember the lotus bar and just kept popping up everywhere I was saying what is this with lotus the lotus position it's not praying mantis it's Jesus every time and really I think it is a good idea to convert to electric and put it mid drive and to make the lotus and really scissor doors for the solid top and eventually metal would be great I mean this thing would be awesome I'm a damn car that doesn't go anywhere you be going from like top speed of 100 mph if that you put someone in it is 80 I mean two people it's 80 mph to 220 mph with two people for an hour seems like 20 minutes to get to Miami from the West Coast of Florida literally that thing is going to fly and off the line you can beat any cop in the world. And his mom is getting into the okay and Biden too and he likes the idea and this is great what a strange idea as bizarre but really these are dog cars these cars suck and that size car is perfect lotus even the Bradley GT1 which would be a little odd but you move the engine back and you include a kid so when you have a kit for an engine everybody you put the engine mounting brackets and they'll build it such that goes in certain holes and you can't misalign it it's always going to be lined up right and yeah there's a little forgiveness but not much but still you engineered and you design it and you test it and you do it many times to get the perfect sizes and your machine them all the exact same it is not a bad technique it's not a bad way to do it and for crying out loud this would be awesome

Brad

Olympus permission to print granted

This is fascinating I'm hearing what he was just doing okay cavitating that's what he's telling me but really this is an awesome idea and I love it and relocating the electric motor and just putting a shaft on it gives it more power and that's what people want to hear I have never heard of an idea this good but really it's coming from more than just us and he's thankful and he wants them to help and it's our son and daughter-in-law and our other son and daughter-in-law and our daughter and son-in-law and another couple daughter and son-in-law so you want them to get on it and build the prototypes and they say they haven't already done it and we say where are they and they don't have them so we might try the lotus but he says a different kit car is always easier other than one that's famous like the Bradley GT modernized our way would be easier to make than any of the brand names and we might want to do that so I was thinking about it

Hera

We know he's right too if you copy of supercar it's a pain in the ass if you make your own it's different and people want him to make one and decide one he's designed a whole bunch of them

Thor Freya

Olympus

[what-an-empty-mind]

Random things that make me nervous

Because if I’m not the type of person who is an oversharer I don’t know what I am

1. Not being able to hear my siblings breathing at night (my brother used to have a constricted airway and he would sleep on me or with my parents so we could monitor his sleeping, he has since had surgery and is several years older so not a problem anymore but I still get nervous)

2. The sedation hat something is crawling on you but there is nothing crawling on you and it’s just your skin being silly

3. Silence in general. I can’t do quiet, I need some kind of stimulation, can I go without noise? Yeah but only if I’m focused. Or my brain will make noises

4. Electric hum. I thought I was crazy, but I think I manifested it enough that the rest of my family noticed. Some of the electrical buzzing is at an annoying frequency (specifically one of our really old power strips behind the tv in the summer time because my mom wanted to air out the house)

5. Noise. I know this sounds a bit paradoxal but hear me out. When you first wake up in the morning (or you don’t go to sleep at all) everything sounds so much louder and even your footsteps feel loud that you don’t even want to move. I think the worst one is dishes because I avoid watching breakfast cause I don’t wanna hear the sound of the bowls rubbing against one another

6. The feeling that you’re not alone and you know your alone. Someone said this is normal but have I ever mentioned how I will absolutely blast music just to get my mind out of thinking this and focusing on that because it makes me feel better for a bit. It’s worse if your not in your own house

7. Uh…. The thing when you try to take something off and you know your doing it right but it tightens instead??? Like please I want to break free.

8. Driving. I have been on a bus accident, my mother got in a car accident when I was eight, she locked me in the car at a gas station when I was less than two, and just the number of accidents I’d been a witness to let alone ones I remember that my mom doesn’t remember… (she swears so many things didn’t happen) I am now learning how to drive. I think I started dissociating while driving and babes I don’t even have a license I have a permit.

9. People. This is normal right? People just make me nervous. Is it because I think someone could hurt me? Yeah. But that’s not all of it, im just nervous I’ll mess up when it comes to people, I can’t socialize right. You can get too modes from me one word answer or immediately click and you know half my backstory by the time we depart. Im also very bad at gauging what is appropriate of a time to not respond…

10. Centipedes. Self explanatory. I gained consciousness in Hawaii I was about four or five that’s how far my memories go back there scattered and out of order but one of the earliest ones is seeing on picking u other baby we were looking after to put him on the couch really calm like, and grabbing a hammer to smash the insect, and one of my mom’s boots. All the while my mom is like… O.O” ‘when did she find the time to find the hammer?’

**just a reminder to anyone in tropical climates, insects like centipedes always travel in pairs. When you see one there will be a second one not too far behind the first one**

11. Money. When I had a job and got paid I think I spent more time talking myself out of buying necessities like socks, shoes, underwear and that kind of stuff. Shit I even talked myself out of buying food for myself because I had food at home (I was gonna be home for at least eight more hours)

[hyunsuks-beanie]

I Love You Too, Love

Bang Chan x reader; just some good ol' tooth-rotting fluff

A/N: My first attempt at writing a real scenario lmao. Do lmk how it was❤Also, it's funny how I'm an anti-romantic to the core, but it all goes out the window when it's Chan

Coming back home at night after a long day at uni/work, you wanted nothing more than to cuddle and watch a nice movie with Chan. Your best friend had been on tour with his group, Stray Kids, for the past three months, and the daily messages and FaceTime calls were not nearly enough to stop you from missing him like crazy. The teeny tiny (or so you insisted) crush that you had on him, didn't help either. You missed his voice, his tight hugs, the way he would always listen to rant about your day, the way he would always know what to say, the way his smile would light up your day, everything. While he did try to fill the gap by still listening to your rants on a daily basis on FaceTime, it just wasn't the same without him being there in person.

Sighing, you unlock your door, expecting to be met with pitch darkness. Instead, what you saw made you drop your bag to the floor, as tears welled up in your eyes. There, standing in the middle of your living room, was Chan, your best friend, who was supposed to be away for yet another month. Not able to believe your eyes, you pinch yourself, only to realize that he is indeed there, in the flesh, smiling at you as if you mean the world to him (unbeknownst to you, you most certainly do).

"Missed me?," he asks, and you suddenly find yourself running towards him at full speed, crashing into his chest and wrapping your arms around him in the tightest hug ever. This causes Chan to slightly lose his balance, and makes him laugh heartily before placing a gentle kiss atop your head. "I missed you too, love. So so so much."

After staying like that for a solid two minutes, you finally break free, glaring up at him playfully. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming home?," You ask, trying your best to suppress your smile and appear angry. This causes him to chuckle before cheekily saying, "If I had told you, I wouldn't have been able to seen your true happiness at seeing me. If you already knew, you would probably have acted as if you're disgusted that I'm back, and we didn't want that now, did we?"

You shove his chest slightly, before finally turning your head towards the dining table, only to be met with the sight and aroma of all your favourite dishes, that Chan had apparently spent all evening trying to make. "You must be hungry. Freshen up and let's dig in, I'm starving," He says, pushing you lightly towards the bathroom. While getting changed, you finally register the fact that your heart is hammering in your chest, reminding you that the man standing in your living room means so much more to you than just your best friend.

Being away from Chan for months has made you realize that what you feel for him is much more than just a crush. You may very well be in love with him, but you're too scared to admit it because neither do you want to face rejection, nor can you bring yourself to put his career at risk. With these thoughts in mind, you finally exit the bathroom, sighing deeply to yourself.

You don't, however, notice that Chan too, is in a dilemma of his own. Before going on tour, he too, knew that he liked you. But being away from you made him realize that you are his home, and that he would much rather be with you than with anyone else. He has been planning to confess today, and has been trying to gauge your feelings ever since you came back home. Your sigh doesn't escape him, and, full of concern, he asks, "What's wrong, love? Got something on your mind? You know you can always tell me." Truth be told, he's worried and scared that you already know about his feelings, and don't reciprocate them. He fails to see your knees going week and a blush creeping up your cheeks at the nickname, and instead, all he notices is you giving him a small smile and saying, "Not at all Channie, I'm completely fine. Now let's eat up before the food goes cold."

Once you guys get a couple bites in, the awkward atmosphere starts easing once again. Chan tells you all about the tour and all the places he saw. "London was the best, but I wish you were there. You would have enjoyed the London Eye." "Well then, you'll have to take me there one day." You tell him about how life has been back in Seoul, ranting about your annoying professor/boss, and he tells you about all the small trinkets that he saw at souvenir shops that reminded him of you. "That charm bracelet was so you, I just had to buy it." "You didn't have to Chan. I don't need any gifts, having you back home is enough."

After dessert, you ask him if he'd stay the night, and he says that since he has the week off, the boys don't expect him to back at dorms until the following morning. "So.....you're staying?," You ask with a small smile tugging at your lips. He smiles back at you lovingly, and ruffles your hair before saying, "Yes love, I'm staying. Now let's watch a movie."

After picking the movie, you come back to sit on the couch next to Chan, throwing your legs across his lap. Now it's his turn to blush, but unlike him, you're not oblivious to his reddening cheeks. "Awww, is Channie blushing? Why? This isn't the first time I've thrown my legs over your lap," You chuckle, causing him to hide his face in his hands. "Yeah but, I've really missed this being away from you all this while," He smiles warmly.

The first half of the movie goes by with the both of you making random comments about it. At one particular scene where the characters are having nachos, Chan suddenly exclaims, "Salsa reminds me, the boys and I learnt a little Salsa during our time in Italy, and I really wanted to teach you some of the moves." "Me?," You ask, bewildered, causing Chan to become shy and start stuttering. "I-I m-mean if you w-want to. It's o-okay if y-you don't."

You're having a hard time trying not to melt into a puddle at his cuteness, as you force your mouth to open, and say, "No Chan, I'd love to." "Really?," He returns to his giggly self, as he gets up off the couch and extends his hand out for your to take. You smile and take his hand, and he brings you to the center of the room. "Just one sec," He says, pausing to pick the music on his phone. Once he's done, he places his phone on the table, and starts guiding you through the dance, one step at a time, with the movie being nothing more than a long-forgotten background noise. "Left foot forward, right foot backward. That's right, now dip, and come back. Now place your leg on my waist....," You both freeze at this, realizing what he just said. It's only then that you notice just how close you are to him, and the familiar feeling of your heart racing comes back. You both stare at each other, hypnotized, before your eyes flick to his lips and back up to his eyes. When he does the same, you timidly ask, "Can I kiss you?"

That's all it takes to break Chan out of his trance, as he crashes his lips onto yours, kissing you as if his life depends on it. You don't even notice that he is backing you up, until you feel your back hit the wall. His lips taste sweet and a little spicy, which you attribute to the food you had earlier. The kiss is soft but full of emotions, and even though it does seem a bit cliche, you can feel fireworks fly. The butterflies in your stomach every time you see Chan seem to have been replaced by a whole zoo, and you can't help but smile into the kiss. This causes Chan to break into a smile as well, before he gently lets go.

"I really want to keep kissing you because God have I been waiting to do that for years, but I feel like I need to get this off my chest first," He says, shy once again. "I like you, a hell lot. Actually no, screw that, I think I'm already in love with you. I've known this for a long time, but I was just scared to admit it. Being away from you during the tour made me realize that I want to be more than just 'best friends' with you. I want to call you 'mine,' and I want to be yours." "Oh Channie, you don't know how much I have wanted to hear you say that you love me too, this distance has been a wake-up call for me too, but I was just so scared of jeopardizing either our friendship, or your career. And I can't have either of those two." "Don't worry about my career, we'll find a way out love. Just say the word, say that you love me." To this, you gawk at him, before saying, "I gave you a speech on that just now, didn't I? Of course I love you." "Yeah but you didn't explicitly say that you love me, idiot. But now that you've said the right words, I legit feel like the happiest man on earth." You shove him slightly before wrapping your arms around his torso. "So, now that we've got our feelings sorted, what does that mean for us?" "Well, for starters, I think it means that my nickname for you just took on a literal meaning," Chan smirks. You pout at this, but then say, "I love you Channie." He places his chin in your head, and says, "I love you too, love."

[descendantsramblings]

Style Headcanons

So basically, I’m a big hater to the way the costume team worked on them. The whole “All Isle kids wear Leather” and “Auradon Kids always look like they’re on their first kid and on the way to the country club” thing drives me crazy. It sorta feels like they made costumes before giving them personalities (The leather on Carlos  and Evie feels like it clashes with their personalities. Lonnie’s dresses in the first movie doesn’t fit the personality we see, even though she didn’t have much of a personality until movie two. Audrey dressed like a thirty-four year old mother who just picked up her kid before going to the country club. Ben’s only good outfit was his swim trunks.) So here are some personal headcanons and pictures of what I imagine for them. (I started making them at 1am last night lol)

Villain Kids 

Evie

As someone raised to want to be a princess, she wants to dress like how she imagines a princess would.

She loves pastels and is no stranger to pairing pastel blue with a neutral red or bright white. 

The only pants she really wears are either athletic shorts or those little flowy elastic shorts, otherwise she’s all skirts.

She’s sorta a prep but not in the same way a character like Audrey would be. 

Evie has respect for most aesthetics, even though she doesn’t fully fit just one. However, she hates crocs and those little pastel shorts that white boys wear, she will announce it often.

Wouldn’t be caught dead in neon colors. 

owns a blue fur coat (it’s fake fur, obviously)

Carlos

Baby boy is a total softie

You know that one gay little sweater in movie one, that’s where they went right, more of that.

He’s into the soft boy aesthetic and only strays from it for formal wear

loves layering sweaters over button ups

Cuffed jeans, always because ya know, bisexual 

Owns a floral button up from Jay, normally he hates patterned button ups but it’s his favorite shirt. 

Loves striped sweaters, he owns about 6 variations of them in different colors (all include red, white, or black of course)

Jay 

In theory, Jay doesn’t really have one aesthetic, he’s willing to try on just about anything

Most of his clothing was bought by Evie or Carlos, especially his formal wear

The only clothes that Jay will buy for himself is athletic wear

He doesn’t really see the point of buy clothing that he can’t go straight to practice in. 

Still has the beanie,  but he owns one in just about every color to match it to his outfit.

Listen, we know Jay’s main color is yellow/gold, but why did we always see him with more red/blue in the movie? What type of snow white aesthetic were they trying to give him?

Jay owns a button up that he write on, he refuses to wear it actually buttoned though

Mal

She loves the grunge/alternative aesthetic, she thinks it makes her look more like she belongs to the Isle

She wouldn’t wear skirts until after she and Evie became friends, Evie bought her her first skirt (a purple plaid one) and she fell in love with it

Mal has a whole jewelry box of just chains, both necklaces and ones that attach to clothing 

Owns a pair of Demonia Swing-815 boots (black patent) and a pair of Demonia Camel-203 boots (holographic purple) 

100% owns one of those studded hot topic belts. 

Has a headband with little horns that symbolize her mother’s horns 

Instead of the leather half gloves from the movie, she has those little fishnet gloves and covers her hands in rings.

Uma

Her style is similar to Mal’s because if Mal is going to do something, Uma will do it better.

Uma only wore outfits that were super Fem and had skirts until Mal started doing it

Then it was Uma always wearing pants, because of her love for plaid skirts she owns a whole collection of plaid pants

the only jeans she owns are black or dark wash. 

Her first ever large purchase was a pair of Doc Marten 1460 Zip Tartan Lace up boots (they’re green, black, and blue plaid) 

She and Harry bought matching Doc Marten Jadon platforms (his are more shiny though)

Isn’t as into chains as Mal, more into chockers. 

Harry 

When the E-boy aesthetic came out, Harry was all over it 

Harry definitely has one of those chains with a little lock on it. 

I’d like to imagine he has baby gauges

the before mentioned platform doc martens, he definitely treats them like his baby

Even though Harry dresses like an e-boy,  he always has his pirate hat on

Definitely wears cloth masks as a fashion piece he actually would wear his in the pandemic though, unlike some people who wore them before but not for safety 

Harry is actually really good at graphic liner, he owns a gold, red, and white eyeliner to add color to the outfit if it’s mainly black

gold>silver 

Bought plaid pants because Uma did, he want’s to match with his captain

Gil 

As we know (maybe you don’t) it’s in the canon that Gil’s mother taught him to sew and he enjoys it. 

So Gil doesn't dress in one aesthetic or even close to being in one, he wants to try out everything, both making and wearing them.

He does stick to a monochrome color scheme though, mainly shades of brown with white or black thrown in. Sometimes he adds a little red or yellow though to “honor” Gaston

Most of his clothing is more comfortable than anything

Only owns three pairs of jeans, the rest are different types of pants (he loves corduroys) 

Owns a pants chain that harry bought him but he only really wears it when Harry and Uma are wearing one so he won’t feel left out on it. 

Dizzy 

Baby girl has seen the Isle steal the childhood innocence from people, she dresses in kidcore as a way to keep hers

Her outfits always has at least 4 different colors in it.

No stranger to neon colors, she has a pair of overalls that are neon rainbow and covered in gummy candy and she only wears them with a neon green tee, Evie and Carlos hate this outfits, Jay loves it because of the disappointment it brings to the two fashion fans 

Dizzy’s outfits in the movie were colorful obviously but they should have been just more over the top

She loves patterns and has no fear of pattern mixing

definitely owns some funky earrings, clay rings, and  statement necklaces

puts beads on her shoe laces, especially on her converse (they were white ones, she drew all over them) 

Auradon Kids 

Ben

Okay so Ben’s animated and movie outfits were bad, you can’t convince me of anything else

Why was Ben not dressed in the soft boy aesthetic? You’re trying to tell me that Belle’s son wouldn’t be a soft boy?

He has a jean jacket with his father’s beast symbol painted on the back

Absolutely loves graphic crewnecks, often layers them over collared shirts

He and Carlos go shopping together often in their free time

Lover of funky crew socks,  ones with paintings, patterns, logos, whatever. But his socks always match

After he and Mal started Dating, he bought a white jean jacket and let her paint it, he wears it all the time even though it didn’t match his original clothing, he bought more clothes in her color scheme to match it

He owns like 6 pairs of high top converse (light blue, yellow, white, navy, black, and Purple after getting the jacket back from Mal)

Chad

Listen, out of everyone he was the closest to how I imagined he should be, that being said, he had a little soft boy thing going on in some movies that I don’t think fit his personality

Polos and button ups are basically all he owns, but he does have some of those pastel simply southern esc graphic tees (Southern people probably know what I’m on about, all the guys who act like Chad at my school have like 5 of them each)

Owns 6 pairs of those horrid little southern boy pastel shorts in different shades of blue (plus 1 white pair)

Will not wear jeans, ever, the only pants he owns are khakis

All over the shirts that have logos embroidered into the shirt over the chest. 

Definitely gets asked if he’s on the way to golf/ the country club, the joke is that he is, he has to meet his father there after school

prep.jpg

Audrey 

Listen, I’m not an Audrey stan, but they did her so dirty in the first movie

She should have been the stereotypical mean girl outfit wise, I mean, mini skirts, all pastels

Owns a pink teddy coat, and a white one, she actually cares about if they get dirty though, takes good care of them

definitely has a collection of tennis skirts, pairs them with sweaters/crewnecks or blouses that have a slight puff to the sleeve

The type of girl to wear rufflely rompers on her birthday every year, pink, white, or baby blue obviously

loves those tiny shoulder bags

preppy and looks good in it. 

cropped polos and tube tops

Jane

This account is a Jane should have been cottage core/ fairy core fan page, her outfits were almost there, just not there, she’s literally a fairy but can’t use magic nor did they let her dress like one, I hate it here

Baby girl loves gingham and floral patterns, some of her dresses are a little more to her mother’s taste than hers (her mother bought them) but as long as it’s a pattern she likes she will wear it. 

Cardigans are her best friend, she owns one in multiple shades of pink and blue, plus a white one (all of her clothing fits a pastel pink/blue/white color scheme)

Babydoll dresses her a her favorite style of them (the one I put in the top right corner is what I imagine her birthday dress as) 

People try to mockingly ask if she’s on her way to a tea party/picnic (like they do with Chad and the country club) if the answer isn’t actually yes one of her friends still say yes, no one can be rude to her about it 

She owns a corset (Evie bought it for her, it made her nervous at first but she loves it) 

Owns kitten heels and flats mainly also two pairs of mary janes (in white and blue) 

has one of those little pearl purses that aren’t really useful but they’re cute 

Lonnie

Last but not least, our funky little lesbian (she is, Jay is just her emotional support queer man) Lonnie, she sticks to the teal, blue, and pink color scheme they gave her in movie one

She mainly wears sweats (or athletic clothing) otherwise it’s graphic tees tucked in (many of them are from the men’s section) 

Only wears sneakers, she has places to be but also collects them (also owns 1 pair of pink crocs, Evie tried to burn them)

Carlos and Ben talked her into wearing a collar shirt under a graphic tee once (they bought her a sleeveless button up which she hated at first) and now she does it anytime she wants to look like she put effort into her outfit. 

Wears a lot of necklaces and rings (she loves to layer necklaces, she thinks it makes her sweats look less boring) 

Uses a mini backpack instead of a purse, easier to carry more things.

Has two pairs of custom painted air forces. 

Hates wearing bracelets but always has to have a hair tie on her wrist so they don’t feel empty .

[sup-hoes-its-me]

To Be So Lonely (Gaara x Reader)

A/N: my first ever attempt at a gaara one shot. Essentially, you are permanently disabled due to an accident involving evil jinchuriki gaara, but you never gave up on him. friends to lovers. dramatic confessions. gaara is just so pure and sweet, he deserves all the love and more. perfect baby boy. precious.

ps. this was a very quick write. there may be mistakes, idk. just hopefully someone enjoys.

Word count: 3600 (soo short lmao)

The pair of them walked the aisles of the bakery. He adored how her eyes grew wide when they landed on a particularly shiny loaf of bread or a decadent chocolate cake that she couldn’t help but gush over. Today, after work since it seemed he had a break, he decided he would go with her to the dessert shop she’d been begging him to go visit.

He watched as she hobbled forward on her crutches, leaning some of her weight on walls or tables when she got the chance. He felt genuinely awful. It was his fault she was in that position after all. Nearly ten years ago when she enveloped her in his sand and crushed her leg brutally. He was so lost and hopeless back then, and a mere sparring match was enough to set him off and permanently injure the woman.

He felt like the worst man alive as he watched her walk around, and he followed on soft feet behind her. They were friends. It seemed that even after all he had done, she still cared about him. She walked up to his office the day he became Kazekage, and asked to be his assistant. He couldn’t say no, not with the way she smiled so beautifully at him with those soft lips and sparkling eyes.

Admittedly, he wanted her to be at his side.

She often sat with him in his office when there wasn’t anything too urgent going on, her legs tucked under her and her crutches leant against his desk. She would tell him stories about her day or things that she found funny, and he would listen intently to each word. He adored her voice. It was perfect, the perfect pitch and tone, just enough enthusiasm to blow him away. How she could be so positive when so many things had gone wrong, he wasn’t sure.

He knew that if he asked Naruto, the boy would have the answer for sure. He was so wise with people in that way. After all, Naruto was the reason Gaara was able to change into the man he was today, the man that had Y/N laughing and giggling in the evenings before she went home.

Y/N’s smile was so bright. It practically glowed when she entered the room. He wanted to bottle it up and keep it forever, that is how much he admired her enthusiasm. He couldn’t imagine the pain she went through, and the struggle she goes through daily. He couldn’t imagine the strength she must have to work for him and maintain that attitude that he admired so deeply.

She was so beautiful. He found himself waking up multiple times in the morning with her still on his mind, her eyes and her smile and the way her hair fell around her face. He found himself so lost in the mere thought of the woman, he thought he might be going crazy.

He’d asked his siblings about the situation, on separate occasions, just gauging what two more adjusted people thought of the situation. Each time, they laughed, and told him he simply had a crush on his closest assistant. His sister told him to act on his feelings before she was swept away by some other man from the village. His brother told him she was quite a catch, and he would be lucky if she liked him back. He thought she was only kind to him because he was her boss, essentially. Needless to say, that was a bit rough for Gaara to hear.

He wasn’t sure what he would do if Y/N shared his feelings. She certainly was kind, and the woman he wanted to be with, but he just couldn’t be with her, not after everything he had done. He couldn’t imagine her ever caring for him like that after he took away a huge portion of her mobility. He stole away from her the ability to become a shinobi like she always wanted. He felt like a monster.

There was no way in good conscience, he could accept her affections and burden her with his own. She was too perfect. He wouldn’t ruin her in that way. He couldn’t.

And so he was content just following her around, buying her little goodies here and there to make her happy just one more time before he had to see her off for the night. No doubt, he would dream about her once again tonight, after spending so much time staring into her eyes and hearing her melodic laugh. Sometimes, he found himself looking forward to those nights where she would plague his mind. He could truly be himself in those dreams without any constraint, without an ounce of guilt. He could love her during those nights, and he found himself longing for more and more each day.

She spun around in front of the final glass case in the near empty bakery, and she pointed to some fruit tarts in a little box.

“You want those?”

“Yes, please.”

He pointed them out to the staff, and they bagged them up and slid them across the counter. He got a discount as the Kazekage, and he was more than willing to buy a few things for her. It was the least he could do. Even though he paid her a decent amount for her work, he still felt generous. He liked seeing the way her eyes lit up and her ears perked up with happiness each time he bought her a simple cake or tart. It was so cheap and simple, he felt like he was robbing her. He got so much enjoyment out of seeing her beauty over and over again and all she got was a little dollar dessert.

They walked out of the store, and she sighed, reaching into the bag and taking out the little box. She pulled out the cake and took a quick bite, sighing loudly at the flavor. “Wow, Gaara, this is one of the best ones yet. Try it,” she held out the other side to him.

“No, I’m okay. I’m sure it’s great.”

“Oh, come on.”

He sighed, and took the tart from her hands, taking the tiniest bite from the side opposite of hers. She was right. It was really good. He nodded, his lips curving into a tiny smile as she grinned, giving him a thumbs up. “See, I told you it was really good. I don’t go around picking out crappy sweets.”

“Here, eat the rest. You haven’t had a chance to eat today, have you?” he asked, urging her to take the tart back. She did, and nodded. “You really can’t be doing that, Y/N. It’s not healthy to skip meals like that.”

“I know. I normally don’t but during my lunch break today, I was busy talking to your brother and I lost track of time.”

“So it was Kankuro’s doing? Of course.”

“Oh, jeez. It’s not a big deal. My parents are going to the market today so they’ll no doubt be home with some food for me to eat for dinner. Plus, you got me these awesome tarts for dessert.”

He nodded, a hum leaving his lips. “Still, I’d like if maybe you started eating lunch with me, just so I can make sure you’re getting proper nutrition.”

Her eyes widened, and she began to smile once again. She felt her cheeks begin to heat up from his offer. How could he so casually say something like that? He was never one to really think through the things he said, just saying exactly what was on his mind. “Are you asking me on a lunch date?”

“What?! No-that’s not what I meant,” he blurted out, his own cheeks turning red under her stare. “I just meant it as a friend thing.”

She averted her eyes back down to her dessert, and she took another bite. After giving him a moment of time to cool down, and after she’d swallowed, she replied giddily, knowing it would stir him up once again, “Alright, well, I wouldn’t mind if it was a date thing, just saying.”

He was now nearly as red as his hair, and she burst out laughing. “What?! Y/N, don’t laugh at me!”

“Okay, Kazekage-sama.”

He huffed as he tried to calm down, following as she started off once again to her home. On days like this one, he would walk her home from wherever they had gone, and in turn, he said it was a way for him to see the village. In reality, he had seen the village more than enough time to count, he really just wanted to walk with her home, to feel like he was doing something for her by providing company on the short journey through the streets.

As they approached her home, he knew that this was going to be the end of their outing and he would have to leave her once again. He really enjoyed their time together. It was the only part of the day he looked forward to most of the time, and to see her go always filled his heart with a bit of sadness. It was unreasonable to want anymore time out of her day to himself, but he couldn’t help but want it.

She opened her front door and stepped inside, holding the door open so she could see him standing at the edge of the walkway to her family home. He shifted awkwardly under her stare, one that was absent of a smile and that familiar glimmer in her eye. Things felt serious all the sudden, and it made him nervous.

What had changed all of the sudden? He never expected her next words. They hit him in the chest like a stone, and knocked the air from his chest.

“Gaara, I think I’m in love with you,” Y/N called to the boy standing in her doorway. One outing after another, she found it harder and harder to maintain a neutral guise around him. Y/N really liked him. He was strong. He was a hero. He was a beautifully kind creature whom everyone came to adore.

He stood there in shock, his eyes wide and lips just agape. He wanted her to take back what she’d just proclaimed. He couldn’t accept it. Not when her crutches were right in his view, and her leg was missing right below the knee. He couldn’t handle that confession. Not now, not ever.

It was all his fault.

He turned his head away to the street and sighed, shutting his eyes tightly. “Y/N, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” she asked, fiddling with the bag of groceries in her hands. It took a lot of nerve to confess to him. It takes a lot to go out and profess your love to the Kazekage and the famous Gaara of the sand. He was a celebrity, practically. He wasn’t simply a childhood friend. She was rightfully nervous.

“I’m sorry you feel that way about someone like me.”

“Gaara, stop. Please. What happened, it’s over now. You’ll never be that same person again.”

He grit his teeth, another sigh coming from behind his teeth. “I cannot accept your confession. I’m sorry, but I have to go now. Please, keep this between us, alright?”

It seemed that the end of their rope was near. He had said what he wanted to say, or what he felt needed to be said. He cared for her, he’d cared for her since he could really remember. She was always kind to him, so beautiful and sweet and generous. Y/N was forever forgiving, and he knew that. He was fully aware that she’d forgiven him for what he’d done to her when he was lost in violence all those years ago. He just couldn’t forgive himself. He was forgiving of those who had wronged him, but to give mercy to the person who brutalized the one woman who’d shown him kindness from the beginning, he just couldn’t bear it.

Gaara was a lonely man. He would always be a lonely man, surrounded by people but always just far enough to protect them. He couldn’t let someone like her become close again and risk something else happening. Even if he was non violent now, what’s to say someone else wouldn’t have a grudge against him and target her?

It was all too overwhelming.

“You can’t deny it, Gaara, you love me too,” she called back to him, quiet enough not to disturb the neighbors but loud enough that it rang out in his chest like a gong, echoing there for a minute. She continued softly, “You can’t just pretend there’s nothing between us just because something happened almost a decade ago. You can’t abandon me, not after everything we’ve been through.”

“Y/N, it’s not that easy.”

“It really is that easy. If you care about me, and I care about you, then that’s all that matters. Forget about my leg, please. I’m over it. I’ve grown used to it, so much it’s not a problem,” she explained, “In fact, you treating me like I’m some injured lamb is the real problem. I’m a strong woman. This injury is nothing when it comes to my sheer force of will.”

He felt terrible, really, he felt like every move he made was the wrong one. He felt like he’d travelled down all the wrong paths with this woman, and she still loved him. Despite everything, she loved him without fault. He was her best friend. The friend who stole her leg from her so young. He was beyond conflicted.

His eyes flickered around the street, and she could feel his paranoia. It would be quite scandalous if someone caught them out here talking about something as personal as this. He was the Kazekage after all, whether he was experiencing normal 22 year old emotions or not.

Y/N grabbed his hand and tugged him quickly into her home. Her parents were gone for the day to the shops, so they weren’t there to intervene, not that they would be too pleased to see their daughter with the red haired boy. Yes, they were proud to have him as their Kazekage, standing strong and tall for the nation. But the injuries he had inflicted on their daughter were a bit too severe to ever completely forgive him. They could never give Gaara their blessing, nor did they truly approve of their friendship. Y/N and Gaara knew this. It only caused his guilt to hang heavier in his chest.

She shut the door behind him, and sighed as she leant her shoulder against the wall, a bit of pressure taken off her sole leg and her arms propped up on the sticks.

“Gaara, how do you feel about me? Really?” she asked.

He wanted to say nothing, to just turn away and pretend he hadn’t heard the question. But he knew that wasn’t an option. He would tell her everything. “I enjoy your company, more than I care to admit. You are so beautiful and kind, I always want you around, especially when work gets rough.”

Y/n stood silent as she let him keep going, to get what he was feeling off his chest. There wasn’t really an outlet in his life to get out all these pent up emotions. He could use a shoulder to lean on sometimes, just as much as anyone else.

“You’re right,” he groaned, “I love you.”

A soft breath caught in her chest at his words. It was true that she had a feeling he felt that way for her, but it was a different thing to hear his words reach her ears. His breathy, raspy voice and the exasperation carried in his tone. The way his eyes refused to meet hers he was so afraid. She felt a shiver run up her spine, and she had to take a deep breath to calm herself down. “Then what’s the point in fighting it?”

“It’s wrong. What I did to you, you’ll never be the same again and it’s all my fault. I don’t know if I could bring myself to look at you everyday knowing that I hurt you so badly. Back then, I didn’t even have remorse. I-I…”

“It’s okay! You’ve changed, time and time again, you’ve shown me that you’re not the same man you used to be. You are so brave and caring and considerate. You care about me and all the other villagers. You changed, and I love the man you’ve become.”

“Does that mean you can forgive me for what I’ve done?”

“I would forgive you a thousand times over.”

“Y/N…”

“You’re the man of my dreams. Please, don’t deprive me of that.”

When his eyes met hers, he wanted to melt away in her arms. She really didn’t care about what he had done, she just wanted him for who he worked so hard to become, the man that Naruto pushed him to be. She raised his arms, and found himself walking right into them. Her head hit his shoulder, and he let out a long shaky breath. “I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you, too, Gaara. I truly do.”

And when she pressed her lips to his, he found himself falling deeper in love with her. She was so soft and gentle in his arms, against his skin, flush and warm like he’d always imagined. He never really expected himself to find someone, not after all he’d done and the man he made himself out to be. He never imagined the kiss of a person on his lips, or the feeling of someone’s arms wound around his body. He only imagined pain.

Yet, here she was. The most forgiving angel in the entire world.

“Y/N L/N, what the hell is this? Dammit, can’t you do this somewhere else, you foolish girl?” a voice called through the door, and when they peered between the curtains, the sight of her mother and father walking up the path to the front door, grocery bags piled in their arms. Her mother’s face was quite red, a small smile gracing her mouth, while her father was another story. Completely exhausted with everything.

Gaara pulled away quickly, his head ducking down so his eyes only met the floorboards. He was Kazekage, why was he so afraid of some old man and his paper sack full of rice? He wasn’t completely sure. All he knew was that Y/N stood there with that beautiful smile, her cheeks puffing out from embarrassment. “It’s okay. They aren’t angry. You might want to head on back home, though.”

The elderly couple opened the door, and he found himself face to face with her mother who smiled, corners of her eyes crinkling. “It’s about time, you sweet boy.”

Her father roared, feeling himself growing hotter with every second that passed. “About time for what, Rise? This man to come in here and violate our daughter-”

“Shush, dad. It was all me this time,” Y/N piped up from the back, which only fueled the fire.

“Of course! You’ve always been so promiscuous, Y/N. How could I expect any less?” he rolled his eyes. “And about you, Kazekage boy.”

“Be gentle, Tanaka.”

“Instead of hurting my daughter, I expect you to protect her as if your life depended on it, you hear me? I won’t have someone coming into my house and hurting my children,” he demanded, and Gaara could only nod. He had never been in a situation quite as terrifying as this one, he had to admit. He felt like he had been caught in the middle of some heinous act, even if it was only kissing the object of his affections. He was more than embarrassed, he thought he might crumble into a million tiny pieces.

He replied, “Of course. I’d never let anything hurt Y/N, sir.”

“That’s what I thought. Now get out of here. You can see your little girlfriend some other time, she has chores.”

“Dad!”

“Enough.”

Gaara nodded to the family of three before opening the door and walking through the threshold. “Goodbye, Gaara!” As he peered back over his shoulder, he was once again stunned by her smiling face, her small hand waving to him as he shut the door behind him. He felt his heart beating faster as he walked down the street back to the Kazekage’s mansion.

Has life always felt this good? He wasn’t too sure. He felt high, like he was floating above the ground with each footstep. Maybe giving the good life, giving Y/N, a chance, was going to work out in his favor. He could feel happiness creeping up his chest and rumbling through his stomach. His cheeks turned red at the thought of his now girlfriend in her home getting scolded by her father, and he couldn’t help but imagine the next day when she would report to his office to pick up paperwork and maybe he could swipe another kiss.

When he walked into his home, he brushed by his brother whose brows perked up upon seeing his expression. “What’s got you looking so whipped, Gaara?”

“It’s nothing, Kankuro.”

“Y/N, right?”

“Maybe.”

His brother's loud laughter rung out in the empty hall. He patted his brother's back with a firm hand, practically congratulating him for getting a girlfriend. It was strange in that way, thinking about it like that. He now had a girlfriend to hug and hold, to keep tightly clasped in his heart for as long as she would allow.

Life was too good. He slept better that night than he had in a long while. All because of this one person who’d wormed their way so easily into his heart.

[aceinspace691]

40 for the ask thing :D not sure if we're allowed to add more to it but id love it if it was the dteam. if not all good!

Yes, thank you for the prompt! Yeah, for these, you cant be as detailed or as minimal as you want; all I ask for is a pairing and a prompt number, which you gave me :] Thanks again for the prompt and I hope you enjoy! (I may have gone a bit overboard haha...)

I made this sort of a pet au, and this is going to a be a bit angsty at first, but then I'll add in some fluff :D I made Sapnap the giant in here because he definitely seems like the type to be overly enthusiastic and unaware of how the tinies were actually feeling.

Prompt list can be found here! Please send more in, I’d love to write some more :]]

Warnings for: Dehumanization, referring to a person as 'it,' treating people like pets, swearing, fear

Word Count ~ 1250

--------A Bit More Human--------

Sapnap shifted the tiny beings in his hands, leg bouncing in excitement as he observed them. He had bought them earlier that day. They were a new oddity that the world had recently discovered and he'd decided to buy both of them, seeing as it seemed to cause the other distress when he grabbed the one in blue.

"You guys are so cool!" His voice was loud, and he didn't notice how they flinched in his hands. His eyes darted to the one in a green cloak as it moved a bit. "Let me get you guys back in your cage real quick and I'll get something to play with you guys."

He walked briskly over to his cage and slid the two of them off into the cage, which was lined with the shredded material found in hamster cages. The beings pulled at their collars nervously as he grabbed the harnesses to attach the leash to.

He turned away to make sure the harness and leash were properly connected and looked back at the sound of a small click. He locked his gaze with the one in blue, who froze, its hands holding the green collar.

Without thinking, Sapnap shot his hand out, wrapping it around the one in blue and dragging it through the air to be closer to his eyes. He reached out his other hand to grab the collar out of its hand, but didn't make it that far.

"GEORGE!" The voice was full of fear and desperation.

Sapnap froze, lowering that other hand as he looked around in confusion. His gaze rested on the other tiny, in the cage. It looked pale all of a sudden, and it scrambled back as Sapnap leaned closer. It seemed to hesitate before it stiffly took a step closer.

"Please put him down. Don't hurt him." The voice pleaded and Sapnap's brain short-circuited, staring blankly at the tiny being. At the lack of response, the being's pleading grew more intense and desperate. "Please, it was my idea, I'll put it back on, just please don't hurt him."

Sapnap finally registered everything and was flooded with a sense of overwhelming guilt. He placed the one in blue back into the cage, pulling out his phone numbly. He dialed Bad, the other greeting him with a cheery tone.

"Bad, I fucked up."

"Hey, language!" His friend chastised, but then his mind must have caught up because it was followed by, "Oh, wait, what happened? Are you okay?"

"It's just, I got those new tiny things as pets, except apparently they're able to.. Uh, I don't know. They were skittish when I bought them, but..." He sighed, dragging a hand down his face. "I didn't know they were actually afraid of me..."

"Oh, Sapnap.." The voice on the other end was sympathetic. "Are they still in the room with you?"

"Yeah..." He glanced over at the two, noting how they were watching him intently. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Then talk with them," Bad encouraged, "and try to make this better, okay? Call me if you need anything, you muffinhead."

"Bad, what-" The call went silent and he lowered his phone, kneeling slowly in front of the cage. It was one where the lid came off, so he was still staring through the bars. He noticed how they were shifting constantly, the one in blue's hands on his collar.

They were people. Sapnap felt sick, wishing he'd noticed beforehand. He opened his mouth to speak, licking his lips as they suddenly felt dry.

"I, um.. You can take that off." He pushed away the extra guilt that come from the expression of disbelief on that tiny face. It looked so human and he couldn't believe he hadn't connected the dots sooner. "I'm really sorry, and, oh!"

The tinies jumped at the increase in volume, huddling closer as the other collar slipped off and cringing as Sapnap removed the front wall of the cage. He backed away a few steps.

"You don't have to forgive me," he began with, heart pounding, "but I'm really sorry I scared you. And like, bought you. And, uh, didn't treat you like people." Silence met him, and he cleared his throat slightly. "You don't have to stay here either, but I promise if you do, you won't be, like, pets or anything."

"Um," That was the one with the blue one, and Sapnap was shocked to hear a different accent then the other's. "You're going to let us go?"

Sapnap's heart felt heavier as he nodded. He knew that they didn't have to forgive him, but he'd hoped that they would anyway. But, regardless, he'd keep his word.

He was met with relieved smiles from both of them, and he offered a tense one in reply. The two stepped forward slowly, looking around and realizing that they were high up. Sapnap realized this too, and he reached for them without thinking.

He froze as he was met with startled yelping, quickly bringing his hand close to his body.

"Sorry! Sorry..." He felt humiliation and shame course through him and he felt his face redden. He just kept messing up. "I was just going to move you somewhere you could move easier, um," he slowly moved his hand to rest palm up near them, ignoring how they scrambled away, "does this work?"

The one in green looked up at him through eyes that seemed to be weighing their options. He whispered to the one in blue before they both nodded and stepped closer to his hand. He noted their hesitation and tried to hold as still as possible as they started to finally step on.

He was careful as he slowly brought the hand up to his chest, other hand hovering nearby in case something happened. He tensed a bit as he took a step and felt the two lean against his chest.

"Um, where do you guys wanna go?"

"The kitchen." The one in green said, glancing up at him and watching carefully. "Just like, on the counter or something."

Sapnap looked a bit surprised but he didn't comment on it, simply nodding and taking careful, steady steps toward the kitchen. Before long, they were there and h place his hand on the counter for them to get off.

"Wait, um, before you go," Sapnap said, feeling a bit guilty at the way they froze. He was quick to shake his head slightly as he continued, "I, um, it's nothing crazy, and I'm not going to bother you or anything after this, so you'll never have to deal with me if you don't want to, but could I at least know your names? I'm Sapnap."

A moment passed. Then another. The two on the counter exchanged a look and seemed to have a silent conversation before they responded.

"I'm Dream." The one in green said slowly, as if he was gauging Sapnap's reaction. When the latter simply gave a small nod and smile, he continued. "And he's George."

"Nice to meet you, uh, this way, I guess." Sapnap straightened himself, feeling oddly huge and out of place in front of them. He turned to leave, but was stopped by the accented voice-George.

"You won't try to catch us or anything?"

Sapnap glanced over his shoulder with an earnest half-smile. "Nope."

He ignored the feeling of warmth and hope he got in his chest when he heard "See you around then, Sapnap." and knew that he'd have a chance to make everything okay.

[sodasback]

Origin Story - Part 3

ER Nurse Rafe x ER Nurse Reader

Part 1 Part 2 

Warnings: Unprofessional work environment stuff. Alcohol consumption. Cursing. Unedited, will go through and edit later.

Not my photo. All credit to owner/creator. <3

The next couple weeks you focused on being a new nurse in the Emergency Department. Your life was filled with shifts with a preceptor and tons of classes and trainings. 

You were thankful for being so busy because otherwise you would be constantly ruminating on the night at Crazy 8′s and what you said to Rafe. You can’t believe how drunk you got in front of your brand new coworkers and how shamelessly you flirted with Rafe. And the worst part was: you didn’t know how he took it. Really the last time you said more than a couple words to each other was when he started your IV that next morning. It seemed like everything was okay, but you flushed every time you saw him on the floor. And then you’d curse at yourself for having such a crush on a guy. 

-

You were by yourself in the med room, finishing up at the Pyxis, pulling meds for your patient when Rafe walked in. 

“Hey Y/L/N, I feel like every time I see you, you’re running around. How’re you doing?” Rafe asked, taking your spot at the Pyxis. 

“Doing good!” You told him, almost too enthusiastically. “How are you?” 

Rafe let out a little chuckle at your new formality with him. “I’m good.” 

You hesitated for a second looking at Rafe’s back while he faced the Pyxis, wondering if you should bring up what you were thinking. 

“Listen, Rafe.” He turned around once he heard the serious tone in your voice, causing you to look down for a second before meeting his gaze again. “I want everyone here to see me as competent and I want to maintain everyone’s respect, including your’s. ...so that night at the bar, when you took me home I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I’m just really embarrassed that I-” 

“Y/N, you don’t have to say anything. Everyone here has had a night at Crazy 8′s and you didn’t say anything that night that you should worry about, okay? I already know you’re a badass nurse who’s more competent then some of our seasoned RNs. You have all of our respect, including mine.” 

You smiled at him and nodded. 

You started to turn away, but then stopped yourself, “But didn’t I kinda throw myself at you when you brought me to my apartment?” You asked, putting your hand to your forehead and scrunching your eyes shut, only peeking at him when you heard him chuckle breathlessly. 

“Uhh, yeah, you might have tried to flirt a little. But like I said, you didn’t say anything I didn’t want to hear.” He looked you in the eyes, trying to gauge your reaction.

Your lips parted and you opened your mouth to speak, when your preceptor for the day popped her head in. “Y/N, come on, bed 12 is going for CT.” 

-

The following weekend was Edgar’s birthday which brought everyone back to Crazy 8′s that Friday night. You were determined to go and only maintain a slight buzz and classy behavior the entire night to make up for the last time you were at the ED crew’s favorite bar. 

The night started out with everyone buying Edgar shots and of course, Edgar dancing the night away. At one point, Edgar and you were out on the dance floor with everyone else. The birthday boy had a cocktail in hand he was sipping from. You didn’t notice, but as the two of you danced, Edgar saw his best friend behind you. Edgar mischievous grin grew on his face before forcefully twirled you away from him and into Rafe’s chest. 

“Woah, watch where you’re twirling Rookie. If you wanted to dance, you could have just asked, you didn’t have to tackle me.” He teased.

You rolled your eyes, “You flatter yourself too much Cameron. You can thank your bestie over there for launching me into you.” As you let Rafe grab your hand and twirl you around. 

“Oh, don’t worry I will.” He smirked, and nodded at Edgar who made an obscene gesture that the 2 of you just laughed at. 

The two of you continued to dance for a few songs and it was innocent enough, until a sensual song came on. Your hands had a mind of their own as they moved to rest on Rafe’s shoulders and his settled on your waist. 

As the song continued and the alcohol coursed through your veins, you felt your inhibitions fading as your fingers laced together behind his neck and he pulled you closer as his hands gripped lower on your waist and the small of your back, dangerously close to your ass. Your smiles both faded as you looked into his eyes and your lips parted. 

The song was coming to an end. “I think I need some air” You whispered, still looking in Rafe’s eyes. He looked toward the balcony patio and turned, firmly holding your hand, pulling you behind him and maneuvering his way through the crowd for you. 

The cold air hit you and instantly sobered you a little, which honestly, only made you more sure of your attraction to your new coworker. It also didn’t help that outside was completely empty. It was just the 2 of you. 

Rafe pulled you close to the railing where there was a beautiful view of the city lights. “Better?” He asked as he leaned on the railing. 

You followed suit but shivered at the cold metal hitting your skin coupled with the chill of the outside air. “Yeah. Just a little cold. But good.”

“Here” Rafe said, as he slipped his flannel off. 

“Oh no. It’s okay, I’m fine-” 

“Just put it on Y/N.” Rafe smirked at you. You smiled and slipped it on, not missing the sweet smell of his cologne wrapped around you.

You both leaned on your elbows against the railing and looked out at the view in a moment of silence. 

“So beautiful” you muttered in a blissful tone. 

“Yeah” Rafe agreed quietly, but you turned to see he was looking at you and not the view. Your eyes widened ever so slightly and your mouth dropped open a little. Before you could stop yourself your lips were on his. 

You felt like you had been struck by lightning and you couldn’t stop from moaning softly against Rafe causing him to let out a gentle grunt before you both opened your mouths and deepend the kiss.

The kiss was only getting more passionate when you had a moment of clarity. You pushed at Rafe’s chest and pulled away. “Shit!” You cursed closing your eyes, hitting your palm to your forehead and turning away from Rafe.

“Y/N-“ Rafe tried to stop your impending freak out he already knew was coming.

“I’m such an idiot!” You exclaimed. “I can’t believe I’m making out with my coworker I’ve known for what? Like 3 weeks?!”

“Hey! Relax. It’s fine.” Rafe tried again.

“Of course you think it’s fine! Every girl at work probably throws themselves at you! And now you think I’m just another-“

“Y/N!” Rafe grabbed your shoulders, “Chill! I’ve never made a move on a coworker before, so don’t worry about that. And I don’t see you like that. You’re not just some girl.”

“Rafe we barely know each other!” You reminded him,  “Can we just forget this happened please?!” You asked exasperated and still freaking out. You didn’t miss the disappointment flood Rafe’s face, but you were too freaked out and buzzed to do anything about it.

“Yeah, of course.” he agreed easily. 

You shuffled your feet back and forth and took a deep breath.

“Are we good? Is it gonna be all awkward now?” You asked, still stressing.

Rafe laughed, “Why ‘cause you’re a bad kisser?” He teased and answered your question for you.

Your mouth dropped open in offense, “Shut up! Take it back!”

“Make me!” Rafe furrowed his brow at you. And you punched him in the shoulder.

“Ow! I’m just kidding. Lighten up, Rookie. Yeah, we’re fine. ...Are you good?” He asked, giving your hand a squeeze.

“Good.” You smiled, squeezing back. “Kay, I’m gonna go back in first, okay?” 

And you started to turn, “Wait, Y/N.”

You groaned, “Cameron! Don’t make this harder! We can’t-” 

“I was just gonna say, I kinda need my shirt back, if we’re gonna play this off.” He said. 

You almost died from embarrassment. “Oh yeah! Right, right right! I’m so dumb. I’m sorry- I “ 

“Y/N!” Rafe stopped you from going off on a tangent while laughing at your ability to easily fall back into a freak out. 

“Yeah” You agreed and shrugged off his flannel, handing it back to him.

Of course, you panicked when you got home and tossed and turned worrying about what happened between you and Rafe.

Then, you got a text message from an unknown number

Unknown #: Stop worrying about it.

You knew it was Rafe, but you didn’t have his number saved. 

You: How do you have my phone number, stalker?

Rafe: We have unit directory, Rookie.

You: Likely story. How’d you know I was worrying?

Rafe: Lucky guess ;) We can forget it happened 

Rafe: ...if you want to.

You stomach dropped and you took a second before you dialed Rafe’s number. 

“Hey” He greeted. 

“What if I don’t want to forget it happened?” You asked.