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mrsbarnesblog · 7 months

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personal pillow

masterlist ko-fi ao3

Avenger! Bucky Barnes x Avenger! Reader

Summary: You confront avengers when they start teasing Bucky about being too soft.

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: established relationship, avengers tease bucky, he's a grumpy old man, fluff

Author’s note: soft bucky is my everything, and I literally cannot imagine him acting another way.

Bucky Barnes wasn't the most affectionate and nice person on earth. Always grumpy and with an attitude, didn’t like physical touch, and hated being vulnerable and soft. However, when you were alone in your room, he was a completely different man.

The only thing that he loved more than you, food, and old music was sleep. He hated it right after the Winter Soldier program was removed because of the violent and dark nightmares, but you were the solution to all of his problems.

He loved sleeping with you. On you, to be exact.

He accidentally discovered it once when he just threw himself onto your bed and somehow laid with his head on your stomach.

You didn't know why your boyfriend liked it so much, but since that day he always ended up on your stomach, your boobs, or between your thighs with hands wrapped around your body, and it was almost impossible to drag him away. You always ran your fingers through his fluffy hair in soothing motions to ease the tension in his body, and it worked every single time. Bucky slept like a baby in your arms.

Today he left early in the morning for training with Sam, but then he had a lot of paper work and something that needed to be done in the city, so you didn’t really talk to or see him. He only left a kiss on your forehead while you were still in bed and sent you a few messages throughout the day.

It was your day off, and you didn’t feel like doing anything special or being productive. So you brought a fluffy comforter from your bed, a cup of hot chocolate, and sat in the common room to watch a movie on a big ass screen that Tony bought to show off.

When the film almost ended and you were already kind of sleepy, you heard firm footsteps from the hall. The tall and big body was standing in the doorframe, but you didn’t see your boyfriend’s face yet; it was pretty dark in the room.

“Hey, baby, how was your day?” You paused your movie and squinted to see Bucky.

“Fucking amazing. A bunch of assholes and tons of reports that they sent me last minute.” He grumbled, coming closer to you. “Let’s go, I need my personal pillow or I won’t fall asleep.”

You tried to hold back a laugh when you finally saw his face. Tired and frowned with pouty lips like a child. Bucky was painfully cute when he was a little bit mad and annoyed, and you didn’t want to do anything more than pinch his cheeks and kiss all of his face.

“You look so cute, gosh.” You smiled, biting your lip. “But I have only... fifteen minutes of my movie left, and I really want to finish it today. Do you want to lay on me here for now?” You opened the covers and pointed at your belly.

Bucky stood there silently for a few seconds, still with a frown on his face.

“I don’t want these douchebags to see us here.”

“They won’t; Steve is on the mission, Natasha is already in her room, and Sam went on a date. C’mon, I’ll massage your head.” That was everything you needed to convince your boyfriend to give up. He took off his shoes and laid on top of you with his head on your stomach and hands around your waist.

You covered your bodies with a duvet and stroked his hair, brushing it over and over again with your fingers. You felt that Bucky pulled up your shirt a little bit, and as soon as his cheek met with your warm skin, he heavily sighted, finally feeling safe and calm.

“That's okay, baby.” You cooed, massaging his scalp. “Do you want to talk about your day? What made you upset?”

“No, just want to feel you, doll. Missed you so much.” He mumbled against your stomach and closed his eyes as your soft touches made his body almost melt into yours.

“I missed you too. I’ll just finish my film and we’ll go to sleep, ‘kay?” Bucky just slightly nodded, already feeling too sleepy to actually say something.

It didn’t take him too much time to fall asleep completely. Your gentle scratches and the way you rolled his hair around your finger, along with the muffled sound of the TV and soft cover on top of him, did their work, and Bucky was peacefully snoring on you in a span of a few seconds.

You weren’t much better than him; your eyes started closing as soon as the credit scene began, and you didn’t have enough power in you to resist it, especially when a giant, hot human pillow was sleeping on top of you.

So you just gave up.

The first thing that you heard when you woke up was mumbled talk and laughter. Your eyes snapped open because your brain completely forgot that you, in fact, weren’t in your room or bed.

The common room was filled with almost everyone. For fuck’s sake, when was the last time you saw that many Avengers together in one room? And now all of them were sitting on the other couches and armchairs, looking at you and laughing. Well, they weren’t looking at you; they were looking at Bucky, who was still glued to your body.

You quickly sat straight, now completely awake. The movements disturbed Bucky’s peaceful sleep, making him grumble and try to get you back under him.

“I didn’t know that Cyborgs could be so clingy.” The most annoying voice Bucky could’ve possibly heard in the morning filled his ears, and he lost every last piece of sleep in his body, sitting up on the couch.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Willson? All of you, in fact.” Bucky looked around the room, seeing Sam, Nat, Wanda, Tony, and Clint with shit-eating smirks on their faces; Thor, who looked just happy to be involved; and Steve and Bruce, who actually felt uncomfortable to be there.

“Sorry, Buck, they just...” Steve wanted to apologize but was disturbed by Tony.

“Sam just told all of us to come here a few minutes ago because he had something hilarious. And look! The strong and scary Winter Soldier is being a softie for his girlfriend.” Tony laughed, almost dropping his cup of coffee. You didn’t even expect that, but you felt a sudden wave of anger going through your body because you were already sick of everyone pushing Bucky’s buttons.

“Or maybe all of you should just mind your own business? You both would actually know something about Bucky if you tried anything besides making fun of him or trying to get him angry. You don’t even understand how fucking hard it is for him to communicate after everything that happened, and all of you are getting on my nerves. Just a bunch of children, I swear.” You growled, standing up and grabbing Bucky’s hand to drag him away.

Everyone was surprised by your words, and even Bucky looked at you with a weird expression on his face but still stood up, holding your hand.

“Sweets, it’s just a joke—” Natasha started.

“No, it’s not. I love you, Nat, I really do, but it’s not funny.” You looked around the room. “Y’all probably don’t understand the effect that your words have, but I see in private what none of you can. And when I tell you that your mockery and jokes make everything worse, I really mean it.” Bucky awkwardly shifted near you under all of the eyes that were glued to him. He felt exposed by the way everyone saw how he showed his affection to you and that he, in fact, was a really touchy and sensitive person. “C’mon, Buck, everything’s okay.” You looked back at him with your usual soft eyes, and his whole attention was now focused completely on you.

Everyone saw how Bucky’s body language changed when you talked to him, and even if someone like Tony or Sam couldn’t admit it out loud, the thought of being too harsh on Bucky appeared in their heads.

Without any further words, you lead your boyfriend out of the common room, leaving the Avengers in an awkward silence.

The comfort of your and Bucky’s shared room made you deeply inhale as soon as the door was closed behind you two. Before you could even say something, two strong hands wrapped around you from the back, and Bucky buried his face into your neck.

“Thank you, doll.” Your hand reached behind you to gently stroke Bucky's hair. “You didn’t have to do it, really. I got used to their words.” He squeezed you tighter, pressing his chest into your back.

“That’s not okay, baby. I’m sick of that. You may not say it to me or even admit it to yourself, but I see that it hurts you.” You turned around in his hands, placing your own on both sides of his face. “But that’s okay that you want to cuddle, to sleep on me, to be held. Really. There is nothing wrong with it. I’m really honored to be the person who is allowed to see your soft side.”

“I love you. Fuck, I love you so much, doll, you can’t even fucking imagine,” Bucky whispered before leaning forward to kiss you.

“I love you, James.”

“Can we stay here today? I don’t really want to talk with anyone besides my sweet and protective girl.” You couldn’t hold back your laughter at his teasing tone.

“Of course we can, Buck.” That was your last word before Bucky lifted you off the ground, put you on the soft blankets of your bed, and climbed on top of you, happily wrapping around your body and falling asleep.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky x reader #bucky x you #james bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #marvel x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes fanfiction

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inmyicyworld · 8 months

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Personal pillow

Avenger! Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: You confront avengers when they start teasing Bucky about being too soft.

Words count: 1.7K

Warnings: none

Author's note: idk how I feel about it, but i've been thinking about clingy/soft Bucky for way too long, so here you go🫡

masterlist my ao3 ko-fi

He loved sleeping with you. On you, to be exact.

He accidentally discovered it once when he just threw himself onto your bed and somehow laid with his head on your stomach.

“Hey, baby, how was your day?” You paused your movie and squinted to see Bucky.

“Fucking amazing. A bunch of assholes and tons of reports that they sent me last minute.” He grumbled, coming closer to you. “Let’s go, I need my personal pillow or I won’t fall asleep.”

Bucky stood there silently for a few seconds, still with a frown on his face.

“I don’t want these douchebags to see us here.”

“That's okay, baby.” You cooed, massaging his scalp. “Do you want to talk about your day? What made you upset?”

“No, just want to feel you, doll. Missed you so much.” He mumbled against your stomach and closed his eyes as your soft touches made his body almost melt into yours.

“I missed you too. I’ll just finish my film and we’ll go to sleep, ‘kay?” Bucky just slightly nodded, already feeling too sleepy to actually say something.

So you just gave up.

The first thing that you heard when you woke up was mumbled talk and laughter. Your eyes snapped open because your brain completely forgot that you, in fact, weren’t in your room or bed.

You quickly sat straight, now completely awake. The movements disturbed Bucky’s peaceful sleep, making him grumble and try to get you back under him.

“Sorry, Buck, they just...” Steve wanted to apologize but was disturbed by Tony.

Everyone was surprised by your words, and even Bucky looked at you with a weird expression on his face but still stood up, holding your hand.

“Sweets, it’s just a joke—” Natasha started.

Without any further words, you lead your boyfriend out of the common room, leaving the Avengers in an awkward silence.

“I love you. Fuck, I love you so much, doll, you can’t even fucking imagine,” Bucky whispered before leaning forward to kiss you.

“I love you, James.”

“Can we stay here today? I don’t really want to talk with anyone besides my sweet and protective girl.” You couldn’t hold back your laughter at his teasing tone.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #james bucky barnes #bucky fic #bucky x female reader #james buchanan barnes #marvel fanfiction #one shot #fluff #bucky x reader #sebastian stan #bucky x you

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 years

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$100 billion later, autonomous vehicles are still a car-wreck

Autonomous vehicles were always a shell-game. The last time I wrote about them was a year ago, when Uber declared massive losses. Uber’s profitability story was always, “Sure, we’re losing money now, but once we create self-driving cars, we can fire our drivers and make a bundle.”

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/30/death-to-all-monopoly/#pogo-stick-problem

But Uber never came close to building an AV. After blowing $2.5b, the company invented a car whose mean-distance-to-fatal-crash was half a mile. Uber had to pay another company — $400 million! — to take the self-driving unit off its hands.

It’s tempting to say that Uber just deluded itself into thinking that AVs were a viable, near-term technology. But $2.5b was a bargain, because it allowed the company’s original investors (notably the Saudi royals) to offload their Uber shares on credulous suckers when the company IPOed.

Likewise Tesla, a company that has promised fully self-driving autonomous vehicles “within two years” for more than a decade. The story that Teslas will someday drive themselves is key to attracting retail investors to the company.

Tesla’s overvaluation isn’t solely a product of the cult of personality around Musk, nor is it just that its investors can’t read a balance-sheet and so miss the fact that the company is reliant upon selling the carbon-credits that allow gas-guzzling SUVs to fill America’s streets.

Key to Tesla’s claims to eventual profitability was that AVs would overcome geometry itself, and end the Red Queen’s Race whereby adding more cars to the road means you need more roads, which means everything gets farther apart, which means you need more cars — lather, rinse, repeat.

Geometry hates cars, but Elon Musk hates public transit (he says you might end up seated next to “a serial killer”). So Musk spun this story where tightly orchestrated AVs would best geometry and create big cities served speedy, individualized private vehicles. You could even make passive income from your Tesla, turning it over to drive strangers (including, presumably, serial killers?) around as a taxicab.

But Teslas are no closer to full self-driving than Ubers. In fact, no one has come close to making an AV. In a characteristically brilliant and scorching article for Bloomberg, Max Chafkin takes stock of the failed AV project:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-10-06/even-after-100-billion-self-driving-cars-are-going-nowhere

Chafkin calculates that the global R&D budget for AVs has now exceeded $100 billion, and demonstrates that we have next to nothing to show for it, and that whatever you think you know about AV success is just spin, hype and bullshit.

Take the much-vaunted terribleness of human drivers, which the AV industry likes to tout. It’s true that the other dumdums on the road cutting you off and changing lanes without their turn-signals are pretty bad drivers, but actual, professional drivers are amazing. The average school-bus driver clocks up 500 million miles without a fatal crash (but of course, bus drivers are part of the public transit system).

Even dopes like you and me are better than you may think — while cars do kill the shit out of Americans, it’s because Americans drive so goddamned much. US traffic deaths are a mere one per 100 million miles driven, and most of those deaths are due to recklessness, not inability. Drunks, speeders, texters and sleepy drivers cause traffic fatalities — they may be skilled drivers, but they are also reckless.

But even the most reckless driver is safer than a driverless car, which “lasts a few seconds before crapping out.” The best robot drivers are Waymos, which mostly operate in the sunbelt, “because they still can’t handle weather patterns trickier than Partly Cloudy.”

Waymo claims to have driven 20m miles — that is, 4% of the distance we’d expect a human school-bus driver to go before having a fatal wreck. Tesla, meanwhile, has stopped even reporting how many miles its autopilot has mananged on public roads. The last time it disclosed, in 2019, the total was zero.

Using “deep learning” to solve the problems of self-driving cars is a dead-end. As NYU psych prof Gary Marcus told Chafkin, “deep learning is something similar to memorization…It only works if the situations are sufficiently akin.”

Which is why self-driving cars are so useless when they come up against something unexpected — human drivers weaving through traffic, cyclists, an eagle, a drone, a low-flying plane, a deer, even some pigeons on the road.

Self-driving car huxters call this “the pogo-stick problem” — as in “you never can tell when someone will try to cross the road on a pogo-stick.” They propose coming up with strict rules for humans to make life easier for robots.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/3/17530232/self-driving-ai-winter-full-autonomy-waymo-tesla-uber

But as stupid as this is, it’s even stupider than it appears at first blush. It’s not that AVs are confused by pogo sticks — they’re confused by shadowsand clouds and squirrels. They’re confused by left turns that are a little different than the last left turn they tried.

If you’ve been thinking that AVs were right around the corner, don’t feel too foolish. The AV companies have certainly acted like they believed their own bullshit. Chafkin reminds us of the high-stakes litigation when AV engineer Anthony Levandowski left Google for Uber and was sued for stealing trade secrets.

The result was millions in fines (Levandowski declared bankruptcy) and even a prison sentence for Levandowski (Trump pardoned him, seemingly at the behest of Peter Thiel and other Trumpist tech cronies). Why would companies go to all that trouble if they weren’t serious about their own claims?

It’s possible that they are, but that doesn’t mean we have to take those claims at face-value ourselves. Companies often get high on their own supplies. The litigation over Levandowski can be thought of as a species of criti-hype, Lee Vinsel’s extraordinarily useful term for criticism that serves to bolster the claims of its target:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/02/euthanize-rentiers/#dont-believe-the-hype

Another example of criti-hype: the claims about the risks of ubiquitous drone delivery — which, like AVs, is half-bullshit, half self-delusion:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/05/comprehensive-sex-ed/#droned

Today, Levandowski has scaled back his plans to build autonomous vehicles. Instead, he’s built autonomous dump-trucks that never leave a literal sandbox, and trundle back and forth on the same road all day, moving rocks from a pit to a crusher.

$100 billion later, that’s what the AV market has produced.

Image:

Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Gartner (modified): https://www.gartner.com/en/research/methodologies/gartner-hype-cycle

[Image ID: A chart illustrating the Gartner hype-cycle; racing down the slope from the 'peak of inflated expectations' to the 'trough of disillusionment' is the staring eye of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, chased by speed-lines.]

#pluralistic

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tobesolonely · 1 year

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i hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you think!

harry is y/n's boss, and he's also a super rich ceo :)

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Y/N never planned on becoming a personal assistant.

In fact, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life. College was enlightening because she was having a good time learning a little bit of everything, but it was almost…too much. How was she supposed to settle on just one career when the world was filled with so many different opportunities?

So while working as a personal assistant was never a part of her life’s plans, the older Y/N got the more she realized that life is funny sometimes and try as she might, it’s impossible to plan for everything. Besides, working as a personal assistant for an extremely successful (and surprisingly kind) CEO did have its perks. The pay, for starters, was better than anything she would’ve earned anywhere else working three times as hard, and not to mention the flexibility he allowed her was unheard of.

Thus, Y/N earned extra money working for Mr. Harry Styles when she wasn’t busy with class or school work, and in return, he paid her fairly and treated her with graciousness - he even bought her dinner sometimes and ate it with her late at night in his office when they were spending time combing through files and reviewing reports. He was a fair boss and always understanding whenever she told him she had more work than anticipated and wouldn’t be able to go in to help that day. According to Harry, she was a student first, and an assistant second, so he never pressured her to put the company above her studies.

Being Mr. Styles' personal assistant involved lots of calls, setting up meetings, and checking his spreadsheets and productivity reports. Occasionally she'd do the whole “run-and-get-his-coffee” thing, but that didn't happen often - and when he did, he always made sure to buy for Y/N as well.

“Miss Y/L/N? Could you come to my office when you get a free moment, please?”

The sound of Harry’s voice crackles through the intercom in Y/N’s tiny space, a room adjoining his own office. Additionally, it functioned as a waiting room of sorts when people were meeting with the boss. Y/N enjoyed surveying the expressions on her co-workers' faces whenever they met with Mr. Styles. Everyone always seemed so nervous and Y/N couldn’t figure out why. Was he not as nice to everyone else as he was to her?

“Sure thing,” she holds down on the button beside the speaker as she relays her response. “Is there anything I can bring you beforehand?” The button is released as she awaits his answer. It comes immediately.

“That’s alright, Y/N. I just need your help reviewing something. Won’t take long.”

Y/N ignores the flutter she feels in her tummy when Harry calls her by her first name. He didn’t do it often but sometimes he did, and she couldn’t deny she liked the way it sounded rolling off his tongue.

“Be right there, Mr. Styles.”

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

“Do these numbers look…odd to you?”

Y/N leans forward in her seat across from Harry as he turns his large monitor screen to face her. She’s faced with a busy spreadsheet filled with numbers, and a confused expression quickly overcomes her features.

“What numbers am I looking at, sir?” Y/N can’t help the heat that begins to flood her face. “‘M not too familiar with Excel…know I probably should be seeing that I’m an assistant and all that but-”

“It’s fine,” Harry cuts her off with a small smile on his face. “It’s a busy document. I could’ve been more clear - I was referring to the bolded numbers. They’re smaller than last month’s, do you agree?”

With her attention now directed to the right part of the document, Y/N examines the numbers as she tries to think back to last month’s revenue. While it differed, she didn’t think it was significant. Then again, she wasn’t the one running a multimillion-dollar company.

“I see how there’s a bit of discrepancy. I can double-check and look through all of the documents to ensure everything has been accounted for if you’d like, sir.” Y/N watches as her boss’s shoulders noticeably slump in relief.

“Could you do that?” His tone is hopeful, eager. “I mean, do you have the time? I’m already running late to a meeting that I sent the Zoom link for, gotta hop on and get a handle on that…”

For the first time since Y/N began working for Mr. Styles, she senses that he’s overwhelmed. He’s usually so calm and carefree, much more carefree than she imagines she would be with such big responsibilities, but right now he seems…tense. Upset.

“I just need to get a confirmation for that event you’re speaking at next week and then I can do it.”

“I owe you dinner. Thank you, Miss Y/L/N,” he gives her a pointed look. “I’ll share the spreadsheet and documents from the previous and current months with you, and you can let me know if I missed anything.”

Even though Harry’s bought her dinner more times than she can even count before, something feels different about the way he says it this time. She has to look down so he doesn’t see the sheepish look on her face.

“I’ll be right next door if you need me.”

Harry grins. “I know.”

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

As it turns out, Harry did make a mistake.

It wasn’t a big deal and easily fixable but man was he grateful to her. No one made Y/N feel smarter and more appreciative of her being there than Mr. Styles.

“That’s great, really,” Harry tells her for at least the third time in ten minutes. “I would’ve never caught that. Never! ‘M not ashamed to admit a second set of eyes is always helpful - at least for me.”

Y/N looks down to hide her timidness. She loves praise, but it still makes her shy! “Well, thank you, Mr. Styles. I know you have like, actual people for this…” she pauses as she shifts from foot to foot. “But if you ever just want me to take a quick peek ‘cause I’m right next door, I don’t mind.”

Harry gives Y/N a look she can't quite discern before speaking again. “I think I'll be taking you up on that. Why don't you take the rest of the day off? Already helped me out so much today, don't you still have that project you need to finish up for your class?”

“Are you sure?” She gives her boss a puzzled look. “I have, like, a ton of work left to do here.”

“Someone else can do it,” he flashes her a warm, dimpled smile. “It's fine, Miss Y/L/N. School first, remember what I always say.”

Y/N ignores the sensation she feels in her belly from Harry’s stern tone of voice. “Yes sir. I….thank you. I appreciate it. I can make up the time and stay later tomorrow-”

“That won’t be necessary,” Harry straightens a stack of papers on his desk. “Same time tomorrow, or will you be coming in a bit later?”

“Can I let you know tomorrow? It depends on how much of my project I finish tonight.”

“That works. Please get home safe, Miss Y/L/N. Try and enjoy the rest of your day.”

“Thank you,” Y/N quietly responds. When she turns to exit his office, she hesitates before turning back to him. “Are you gonna leave soon too?” She hoped she wasn't overstepping by asking.

Harry lets out a quiet laugh. “Hopefully. I have one more meeting, and have to make sure everything is ready for a deal we're closing on tomorrow.”

“Okay…well, see you tomorrow,” she pauses before quickly adding. “I hope your night doesn't run too late.”

“Me too. Thanks, Y/N.”

Harry looks back down at his work, and Y/N takes that as her cue to leave. She gently shuts the door behind her and lets out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding once back in the privacy of her own office. Y/N felt so flustered! The fact that Harry was allowing her to leave early so she could finish her homework didn't surprise her - it wasn't the first time he did it, and it wouldn't be the last. She was mainly just surprised Harry even remembered she had a project! Y/N mentioned it to him once briefly last week when she first had assigned it and said nothing else about it. To know that he remembered and was concerned about her finishing it on time made her feel…cared for.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Y/N is drowning.

As it would turn out, her project was turning out to be a lot more time-consuming than she initially anticipated. She had to write a research essay and create an infographic to supplement it, and she was still stuck on the research part! She’d been working on it for hours– ever since she finished class at 10 am, but now the time was after 1 pm and she needed to be to work in an hour. Even though Harry always told her school came first, she wanted to be a good employee for him! She already left work early yesterday - she couldn’t skip out on her shift. Y/N realized she was an…untraditional employee, and she didn’t want to be fired so Harry could have an assistant with more availability. He always told her he appreciated her help whenever she gave it, but she still couldn’t help feeling like she didn’t do enough. She flings those thoughts to the side as she refocuses her attention on her work.

Y/N falls so deep down the Google rabbit hole that she doesn’t realize the amount of time that’s passed until her phone is ringing. The name “MR. STYLES” lights up her phone and she curses under her breath as she realizes she was supposed to be at the office nearly 30 minutes ago. She picks up and immediately begins apologizing.

“Mr. Styles! I’m so sorry, I lost track of time because I’m just so overwhelmed with this project and it’s not really going that well but I can be there in twenty minutes, I promise!”

There’s a small pause on the line before Harry replies. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

His answer takes Y/N aback. The last thing she was expecting was for her busy boss to offer up his assistance with a trivial college research project. “But…don’t you have, like, work to do?”

“I always have work to do, Miss Y/L/N,” he answers nonchalantly. “It can wait. I am the boss, after all. Why don’t you come in and let me take a look?”

Y/N’s hesitant, not wanting to bother Harry with something he was so far removed from such as her college assignments, but he was offering, and well…two heads were better than one. So Y/N tells him she’ll be there shortly, thanks him again profusely, and ends the call. She sits unmoving on her couch for a second after hanging up, trying to ignore the fluttering feeling in her tummy. Mr. Styles wanted to help her! With school work! It made her dizzy to think about it for too long. She finally stands to gather her things, trying to stick to her promise of arriving as quickly as possible–Y/N figures she’s already kept him waiting long enough.

She makes it to the office fairly quickly, greeting the front desk staff as she walks through the lobby. Harry’s corner office was located on the very top floor of the 20-story building. It was quite the view. Y/N sets her tote bag down on her desk before taking out her laptop and notebook filled with information pertaining to her project. She takes a deep breath before knocking on the door connecting her office with Harry’s. He lets out a quick, “Come in!” to which Y/N complies, letting herself in.

Harry looks up from his computer once she enters the room, his hard gaze immediately softening. “Oh, Y/N. You look so tense. Come sit, let me see what we’re working with.”

“I’ve got a bulk of the research done,” Y/N mutters quietly as she pulls back the chair from his desk. “I’m just having a tricky time organizing my thoughts.” She slides her open notebook across the table at him, watching anxiously as he reads over her tiny scrawl. After reading over her work in silence for a couple of minutes, he clears his throat and speaks.

“Is it just me, or have school assignments become enormously mundane?” his brow furrows in confusion. “A research paper and an infographic? Bit of an overkill, hm?”

“That’s what I said,” Y/N shakes her head in disgust. “Everything on my infographic is coming straight from my paper, anyway!”

“How about I start making an outline for your paper?” He looks down at the notebook again. “I think I can see where you're going with this. ‘M not very creative though, maybe you can get started on your infographic.”

“You could do that for me?”

“After all you've done for me?” Harry sucks his teeth. “C’mon. I'm no monster, Y/N.” He flashes her a dimpled grin.

“Thank you,” Y/N says for what had to be the hundredth time that day. “Anything helps, Mr. Styles. I owe you one.”

Harry waves his hand dismissively. “None of that. Would you like to work here, or are you going back to your office?”

Y/N looks down at her clammy hands folded in her lap. “If you don't mind, can I stay here? Just so you can ask me questions about my work if you have any?”

“I think that's a wonderful idea,” he tilts his head curiously at her. “Have you eaten today? I was thinking of ordering something. Does Thai sound good?”

“Oh, I had banana pancakes this morning before class,” she bites her lip. “I'm okay.”

“Nonsense. It's already past three,” he opens his desk drawer and pulls out a take-out menu. “This place is great - I'm a regular. Let me know what you'd like. I always get the basil stir fry.”

Y/N wordlessly takes the menu and reviews it for a few moments before settling on a crispy tofu dish. Once their order is called in, Harry locks his phone and places his attention back on Y/N.

“Someone will bring that up to us when it gets here. Let's get started, shall we?”

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Harry’s the first one to break their comfortable silence.

He pushes his glasses up on his nose, clearing his throat. “What do you think about this, Y/N?” He turns his monitor toward Y/N so she can see what he’s doing. He has a neatly organized outline, bullet pointed and everything.

“I think it looks really good,” Y/N says with a nod of her head. “The bullet points look like they’ll be easy to follow. Thank you for your help."

“I like helping you. You help me all the time.” Harry says this so matter-of-fact, as if he were stating the sky was blue. He wordlessly turns back to the document he has open, beginning to type again. They’re interrupted twenty short minutes later by a knock on the door.

“Come in.” Harry calls out curtly. The door opens and in walks someone Y/N recognizes from the accounting department.

“Mr. Styles, I have those reports you needed finished. Would you like to review them?”

“Not now,” he responds immediately. “I’m busy.”

The accountant has a look of what she assumes to be slight annoyance on his face. She wonders if Harry catches it. “I’ve been trying to go over these things with you for nearly a week, sir...it needs to be signed off on and submitted.”

“It’ll have to wait, Mitch.”

Harry’s answers are short, and it’s obvious he’s not in the mood to talk about work. The accountant opens his mouth like he wants to say something else, but stops himself, turning to leave instead. Harry doesn’t seem perturbed at all, but Y/N feels bad! Was Mr. Styles putting off work to help her?

“Okay, sir,” the accountant turns to place his hand on the doorknob. “Perhaps we can review tomorrow?”

“Perhaps.”

The accountant opens his mouth as if he’s going to say something but he decides against it, deciding to just leave instead. After a somewhat awkward silence, Y/N breaks it.

“Thank you for helping me again. I know I keep saying that, but I know you’re really, really busy.”

“Again, I like helping you," he pauses. “Why don’t we call it a night now? I’m sure you’ll do more work when you get home anyway.”

Y/N nods at this and grabs her notebook from in front of Harry, shutting her laptop. "Thank you again."

"Let me walk you out. I'm going that way too."

Y/N walks through the door to her own office and gathers her bag, slipping her laptop inside. She turns around to find Harry standing in the doorway giving her an expectant look.

"Ready?"

They enter the elevator together and Harry presses the first floor button, pressing his back against the wall. Y/N does the same. As the elevator descends to the first floor, Y/N feels Harry’s eyes on her but she doesn’t turn to look at him. Once the elevators open, they exit the elevator and make their way towards the parking lot.

“My car’s on this level,” Y/N tells Harry, exiting the elevator. “Thank you for walking me with me, Mr. Styles.”

“Of course. Same time tomorrow?”

“I’d like that,” Y/N gives Harry a bashful smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Styles.”

With that, Harry gives her a small grin as the elevator doors are closing. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Please let me know what you think! Part 2 soon :)

#harry styles #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles fic #harry concept #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles one shot #harry styles blurb #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x reader

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apomaro-mellow · 3 months

Note

Tommy + Carol Cameo on bingo Steddie, I feel like that could be interesting

Oooh let's do a second take on this. This one's post s4

Eddie watched from the door as Steve primped himself in the mirror. Normally it was endearing, sometimes even enough to get him hot. But tonight of all nights, it wasn't doing anything for him. Okay that was a lie, it was doing something for him but not as much as it usually did.

"You promised you would be nice", Steve said, fiddling with his hair like it wasn't already perfect.

"I promised I wouldn't bite. And you know that's different."

Steve wiped any product off his hands and then stuck his thumbs into the corners of Eddie's mouth. "I know." He let his thumbs trace his boyfriend's canines lovingly. "But you know what I meant Mr. Wordsmith."

Twenty minutes later, they were sitting across a from Tommy and Carol in the booth of a diner. Steve had run into Carol in the middle of the street and somehow they'd awkward conversationed themselves into having this double date.

After a long silence, Tommy spoke up first. "What are we even doing here? He dumped us, remember?"

"Yeah, a good fuckin' call if you ask me", Eddie said.

"Hey, you were the one bitching a fit when we found out they were dating", Carol said, glaring at Tommy.

"Because he-you know that he-", Tommy started and stopped.

"Carol said you guys wanted to make amends", Steve said. "I don't really know how, but I...", he took a breath. "You guys were grade A assholes but I was too. And I miss you...us." He took Eddie's hand under the table for strength.

"Yeah, well, why'd you never come back?", Tommy asked.

"Because I can't go back to that person. And it's not because of Nancy or anyone else. I'm not that person anymore."

"No, you're the kind who hangs out with losers. And now even worse you're hitching your wagon to a-"

"Don't", Steve stopped him in his tracks because he knew what word was about to drop from Tommy's lips. Murderer. Official reports didn't do much for small town opinions.

"But you know how it looks, right?", Carol raised a brow. "You're about to be like him, a town pariah."

Steve knew they believed what everyone else did. That Eddie was responsible for the Spring Break murders. He couldn't tell them everything, he wouldn't burden them with that but... He shared a look with Eddie before turning his attention back to them.

"I wanna show you guys something."

They went out behind the diner and Steve took a deep breath. "Eddie didn't do anything. It was...someone else. I can't tell you anything, but I can show you." Slowly, he lifted up his shirt to reveal the scars left behind by the bat bites.

Carol's hands went to her mouth while Tommy stood there with a heartbroken expression.

"Jesus, Stevie. Were you, were you fighting a bear or what? Shit."

"How are you-? What happened?", Carol whispered.

Steve let his shirt down. "I can't tell you everything. But I can say that I'd be dead if Eddie wasn't there." As well as Nancy and Robin, but Steve wouldn't bring up their names now. "Eddie's a goddamn hero. Even if this town will never know it, I won't stop saying it."

"I'd jump in that lake every time, tiger", Eddie smiled.

Carol had so many questions. And she was pretty sure only half of them would only be answered. But they had come here to make amends. And there was one way she could do that.

"So, if Munson wasn't responsible...if he was out there helping and s-saving you, then Jason Carver incited a whole mob based on what? Just hearsay?"

"Hearsay, conjecture, and a healthy dose of fearmongering", Eddie said, hands in his back pockets.

Carol and Tommy shared a look. She wiped some stray tears from her face and Tommy sniffled a bit as they composed themselves.

"Well, we can't make Eddie a hero. But we can do the next best thing", she said.

Eddie raised a brow, intrigued while Steve waited, already having an idea of what she had come up with.

"Gossip is a powerful thing. And Jason's not around to defend himself anymore", Carol said.

"And as I recall, you were pretty good at spitting venom too", Tommy said. "I know you said you're not that guy anymore, but what about using those powers for good?"

Steve considered it but not for very long. "Between the three of us, we could probably run his cronies and their families out of town."

Steddie bingo under the cut

#apo writes #stranger things #steddie #carol perkins #tommy hagan

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gremoria411 · 2 months

Text

How to get into Gundam

Because fuck it, I was gonna do one of these sooner or later anyway.

So you want to know what this Gundam thing’s about, maybe you like the mecha design, maybe you caught part of an episode one time and want to catch up, or maybe you saw a nice piece of Chamuro fanart and want to go to the source.

But there’s so many shows and timelines that it can be quite daunting on first look, so this guide is intended to give a rough overview.

I would however like to stress two four things beforehand however:

This guide is not intended as “The One True Way” or anything. There’s no harm it coming into it a different way, and these are only my own opinions.

There’s nothing stopping you from just watching one show and leaving it there. You don’t have to watch every single show going, even I’ve only seen most of these, not all. Gundam typically has variations on similar themes - it’s very nice watching multiple shows because they complement one another, but it’s not necessarily required.

I am very much an insider looking out here, so let me know if there’s any details I’ve missed.

I’m not gonna recommend these on a “if you like X, then watch Y basis”, mostly because I don’t personally find genre recommendations helpful, so I’d recommend picking based on promotional material (vibes, if you will).

I’ll be using this chart, supplied by the excellent@l-crimson-l, to illustrate everything.

Gundam as a whole can principally be divided into three sections: Universal Century (or UC), the Alternate Universes (AU’s) and the Build Series.

The AU’s are below the light blue line, near the bottom of the Chart, the Build Series is within the bright green line at the top-right corner of the chart and UC is the big line in the middle. We’ll talk about each of them individually.

The AU’s

The Alternate Universes were conceived as a way to get away from the continuity-heavy nature of Universal Century and provide an easy jumping-on point for new fans. The AU’s are standalone and require no prior knowledge, and are thus an excellent place to start. Honestly, I’d recommend quickly searching some promotional materials (like posters) and just going with the one you find most appealing based on that. They are (in production order):

Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994)

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995)

After War Gundam X (1996)

Turn A Gundam (1999)

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002)

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007)

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011)

Gundam: Reconguista in G (2014)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans (2015)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (2022)

There’s side series and movies and other things besides, but these are the mainline shows, if you will. I have specific notes on a few of them:

Witch From Mercury - It’s of a shorter length than is usual for mainline shows, so consequently it’s a much smaller time investment than the others.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam - While undeniably rad as hell, I would recommend watching another AU first. G Gundam differs from its stablemates in a few key areas, and I find it helps to have a contrast to fully appreciate those differences.

Gundam AGE - is probably the only one I wouldn’t recommend. I didn’t like the art style and the technical explanations just got on my nerves, so I stopped watching.

Turn A and G-Reconguista are technically part of UC as well, but it’s not really crucial information so don’t feel like you have to watch UC first (I’m only including this detail for completionism).

I’ve found all the AU’s I’ve seen to be pretty good, so I’d say that which one you start with really just comes down to personal taste.

The Build Series

Is just kind of doing its own thing. The Build series is basically Buy Our Toys: the series. It’s got a far lighter tone, and I’ve had cause to compare it to pokemon prior. It’s also chock full of references and in-jokes to the other series.

Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try are the ones I’d recommend - they’ve got actual stakes and the fight scenes are really good.

Build Divers and Build Divers Re:rise I can’t recommend - I just find Build Divers aggressively boring. Build Divers Re:Rise is just okay - neither standout good or particularly bad. Its main flaw is that it’s a sequel to Build Divers.

The OVA’s are pretty much bad across the board - I’d particularly recommend avoiding Gundam Build Metaverse.

Universal Century

Universal Century is the big main timeline of Gundam, and is the timeline the original Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979 takes place in. There’s a tendency among certain fans to place UC as the one-above-all of Gundam, but I wouldn’t really go that far. It’s all pretty good, but I wouldnt really say one timeline is better than another (save personal preference, anyway).

Because UC is so big, it can be subdivided a couple times. The primary division is “Mainline” UC versus everything else. Basically there’s four-five shows in Universal Century from which everything else flows. As long as you know roughly what happens in these shows, then you can watch basically anything else in UC and have a good idea of what’s going on. These are (in order):

Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) - sometimes called Mobile Suit Gundam 0079.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988)

With Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2010) as a nominal fifth (honestly I feel like you could argue either way).

The rest of the shows are:

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989 Three-Episode OVA)

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991 Movie)

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991 Thirteen-episode OVA)

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1999 Twelve-episode OVA)

G-Saviour (2000 Live Action Movie) - nobody ever talks about or acknowledges this one, it’s just here for completionism.

Mobile Suit Gundam MS Igloo (2004-2009 Three OVA’s with three Episodes each)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015 Six-Episode OVA, adapted from the Manga of the same name)

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015 Eight-Episode Series, adapted from the Manga of the same name)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis (2017 episode, adapted from a light novel of the same name. Later rereleased as Gundam Twilight Axis Red Trace, with additional footage)

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018 sequel movie to Gundam Unicorn)

Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway (2021 ongoing movie series, very much adapted from the novel Hathaway’s Flash)

Most of the other series relate to events in the aforementioned “mainline” shows in some way, but a lot of the sidestories set during the One Year War require very little introduction (Thunderbolt, 0080 and 08th MS Team). Similarly, works set in “Late UC” (F91 and Victory Gundam) carry on from the other series thematically but don’t have any plot connections, so they can all be watched without any background knowledge of the rest of the Universal Century.

Compilation Movies

Just a quick note here - many of the Gundam series have compilation movies, where either a whole series or part of one are compressed down into a movie. While each movie compares differently, they usually boil down to this: Compilation Movies usually have worse pacing, but really nice animation.

One of the great things about Gundam is that different shows offer variations on themes, so seeing how different characters react to similar situations, or how different settings change their approaches can make it incredibly rewarding.

I haven’t seen enough of SD Gundam to make any sort of recommendations there, and Manga is something I might touch on another day.

EDIT: Oh hey also: You can watch a good chunk of these on YouTube, for free, officially. The Official Gundam.Info YouTube channel rotates the series shown on its channel periodically. I think it’s got F91 and SEED on there currently? But it’s had Wing, 00 and Witch From Mercury before. Also all of the Build Fighters series are there.

So yeah, that’s a thing.

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bruciemilf · 2 years

Text

I so desperately crave a fic where Bruce forgets all about an interview he scheduled with Clark, specifically, with our boys in this portrayal

He's swallowed up by that ginormous red hoodie Jason always forgets at the manor. It's got a soft undertone of beer and pizza clinging to it, and knowing Jay, the chances of that changing are close to none.

It's Bruce's favourite thing to wear.

Below that, Dick's sweatpants have to be snaked tight around his waist. He's wearing Tim's ridiculously soft socks, Batman themed as well, a flock of bats starting from his calf and gathering into his famous cowl on top of his foot.

On his hands, he's sporting two bracelets that Damian and Cassandra asked him to help craft. He accepted, of course, because his little Damian looked astray, eyebrows down and eyes worried, scared of rejection.

They were both terrible at it. Cassandra had a great time. And Bruce's dark green and sunshine gold bracelets pleased Damian greatly.

But he had no time to shower that morning; His ribs were moaning still, every step he took feeling like Bane's brutal, sledgehammer punches, hitting him right in the gut.

And Dick stole all his conditioner, and Steph smuggled his skincare products, exfoliants, bath salts, and everything she could get her grabby little hands on, and gone she was. Tiny fingers, big damage.

But that was fine; He didn't expect anyone today. He'll just scarf some blueberries and yoghurt and gulp down four espressos before burying his nose in Jim's earliest case.

That's what he thought

Before modern day Adonis suddenly emerged I his living room.

This man, he's...He's... he's beauty. That's all Bruce can muster in his flustered mind, brain itself blushing, cheeks hot and soaring with a fierce flush. Which was impossible to miss with his paleness. God.

There you are! Got me scared for a moment there," oh no. He makes deep voices sound cute. Those pearly whites had no mercy on Bruce, neither did that boyish grin, glowing silver and warm. " Thought I'd fall through a secret door and straight into a shark tank. "

Say something. Say something funny, come on, he's joking with you.

" ... Why are you In my house?"

Fuck.

"This man, - Clark, Bruce knows who he is. Out of all the bad things that had to happen today, being surprised by his favorite journalist just had to be one of them, - blinks, some grin cut down, and Bruce curses in his mind.

"Um. Your father let me in. Did you forget,-"

" I forgot you were coming. I, uh. I," he stuttered; He hasn't stuttered since he was 16, and had to pitch that board meeting to a mile long table of greedy, silver artefacts in suits who wanted to snatch his company. " I, - Coffee. You want...Coffee?"

"...Sure. I'd love some."

Was it just Bruce, or did this report carry a note of amusement in those words? Bruce scrambled for the first cupboard he could see, " NO!"

Clark jumped on his feet, making a dash for him behind the kitchen island. Bruce almost choked, because up close, he could notice the buttons and seams on that baby blue plaid shirt fight for their lives. " What's wrong?!"

" We're out of coffee," he hissed, muttering a ' damn it, Tim, I TOLD you to replace it' but no matter. He had to find Clark something else. " Uh... Water? Juice? Do you like orange juice?"

He could see it, the corners of Clark's lips tugging upwards, " Orange juice is my favourite drink. But it's fine, really. I'm here to unbury your deepest darkest secrets, not have lunch," he smiled, then, most likely noticing Bruce simply froze in place, he added, " That was a joke!"

Bruce forced a laugh, " Of course. Why would I have something to hide? I have nothing to hide," Very well, that sounded entirely too suspicious. " I mean, not anything illegal. Just... Secrets. The normal amount."

Clark nodded, endlessly patient, this saint of a man, " I've had my share of that. Don't worry, Mr. Wayne."

" Oh, just Bruce. That's my name."

The taller man smiled, " I'm just going to ask you about your involvement in renovating Arkham and maybe Mr. Grayson's podcast, but that's all. I won't try to fish for information. I don't believe in peer pressure and bullying."

" I know," his mouth spoke without him, " I, uh, I know you. Your journalism, I mean! My youngest enjoys your online interviews. We watch you together. I'm a fan of your writing, thought. It's magnificent. "

Even if Clark blushed to be polite and thanked him quietly, Bruce wanted to dive off a building without a grappling hook.

" Uh... Bruce? You're murdering your orange."

True enough. The fruit was entirely empty in his clenched fist, spilling over his hand and pooling on the floor. Bruce cursed. Slamming the sad, deflated remaining on the counter, he simply said, " I'll cut this now."

" Okay." Nodded Clark, clear, perfect blue eyes fixed on Bruce and his hands. Bruce only prays his fingers won't tremble like his heart is.

He stabs the orange.

It squirts all over his hoodie, and Bruce offers no reaction. It's almost worth it, this pit of mortification slowly, tortuously devouring his body, to see Clark's impressive frame shake with laughter behind his giant hands, goofy glasses crooked on his nose.

" I'm sorry," he sounds as dead as he feels. " The orange has retaliated." That did it; Clark was full on laughing now. Humiliation burned like liquid fire over Bruce's face.

If Dick were here, or Alfred, he'd hide his face into their chests like a shameful child. But neither are there, so all he can do is slowly place the knife on top of marble, and stand there like a statue.

Coming off his high, Clark watches him closely, a speckle of mirth shining on blue. " You know, you're nothing like I thought you'd be. As much as I enjoy this, you should change."

" I'll try. I don't want to be like this, either."

Clark grinned. " I meant your clothes, Bruce."

" ... Yes. I should. I have a large collection of clean clothes. Because I do my laundry regularly. I know how to do laundry."

Why are you still talking?

Then, gone was that angelic, fond grin from Clark's Greek statue of a face. He smiled hotly, almost...Sultry? At Bruce now. Something saucy. Sweat was sticking to his skin. " Do you want me to pick something for you?"

"... Please?" He squeaked.

Twin steps went inside his bedroom, and they didn't come out for a long time.

#batman #battinson #superman #clark kent #superbat #bruce x clark #soft bruce wayne #good dad bruce wayne #dc comics #dcu #jason todd #fluff #writing #my writing #text

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aerynwrites · 2 years

Text

Ruined

Vampire!Silco x Fem!Reader

Arcane Halloweek: Day 4 - Monster AU

A/N: I have been so excitedly sitting on this one shot for days now and I’m so happy to finally share with y’all. Also…I just Just of made up my own vampire rules so just ignore that lol. Hope you all enjoy!

Word Count: 4k

not beta read - apologies for any and all grammatical/spelling errors.

You should have known this was a stupid idea.

You should have known your mistake and consequent solution would come back to bite you in the ass. Just like every other time you try to go out of your way to appease everyone. Yet, here you are, suffering the consequences because some fucking assholes decided to jump you and the caravan on your way back to the Last Drop.

Sevika, Ran and the other goon with you had made quick work of most of them, their superhuman speed making them efficient in their jobs. However, a few of the thieves managed to get away with almost half of the supply.

The blood supply that keeps Silco from having to roam the lanes in search of food.

You can’t help but kick yourself, as you remember the damning words you uttered to Sevika in the aftermath when she asked what you were going to do. What you were going to tell the boss.

I’ll take care of it.

You might be one of the few humans in Silco’s employ, but you’re good at you’re job and you’re loyal - two things that lead to the right hand woman taking you at your word. Plus, it’s not like you lied.

You are taking care of it.

You’re just trying to take care of it with Silco being none the wiser. As far as he knows the pickup went off without a hitch, his blood supply being unaffected. If only due to some late night visits to Singed for blood draws to replace the missing product.

It felt like a great idea at the time - a simple, easy way to ensure the boss has what he needs without any needed stress. Except as the days wear on, everything starts to catch up with you.

Reports seem to pile up, your focus shifted as eyes droop with each written line. Thirum having to shake you awake at the bar when you drifted off mid conversation, brows furrowed in confusion. Your head pounds almost every morning, eyes foggy as they try to focus on the world around you. And on top of all of that, you’re fucking exhausted almost constantly. Arms and legs move slower, you can never seem to get fully warm.

And if Silco’s sidelong glances or frustrated sighs when he has to repeat himself for the hundredth time, say anything…He’s starting to notice that something is off.

A faint call of your name pulls you from your thoughts, bringing you back to the bustling bar of the Last Drop as a large hand settles on your shoulder. You turn and come face to face with Sevika, who’s looking at you with that all too familiar frustrated scowl.

“Didn’t you hear me the first dozen times I called your name?” she asks, casting a glance at your barely touched drink.

You shake your head, gesturing around you lazily, fatigue already setting in. “It’s loud.” you offer lamely, smirking when she rolls her eyes.

“Boss wants to see you.”

You sigh, “I already gave him my reports-”

Sevika cuts you off, practically hauling you off the barstool. “Now. And he didn’t seem keen on waiting.”

The tone of her voice is sobering, pushing your fatigue to the side as you look towards the stairs. You don’t offer Sevika any response other than a wary glance as you make your way to Silco’s office.

The stairs creak beneath your feet as you make the journey until you are outside the familiar door. Raising a hand to knock, your knuckles don’t even meet the surface before the familiar drawl of Silco’s voice stops you.

“Come in.”

Entering without hesitation, the door closes behind you as you make your way into the room, stopping just behind the chairs in front of his ornate desk. His chair is facing away from you, the smoke curling delicately over the top the only indication he’s sitting in it.

You clear your throat softly. “You…wanted to see me, sir?”

The chair turns to face you smoothly, teal and orange gaze settling on you as he takes a deep drag from the cigar at his lips before snuffing it out in an ashtray on his desk. His eyes never leave yours as he exhales slowly, the smoke enveloping you in a distinctive spicy aroma.

He must see the way your nose scrunches at the smell, never being one for cigars or the way they smell, a detail he’s picked up on in your years of service.

“A distinct smell, is it not?” His voice is like silk as it leaves his lips.

Brows furrowed at the random line of questioning, you nod slowly.

Taking a deep breath, he picks up the cigar once more, twirling it between long fingers as he studies it. “A distinct taste too,” he continues, “each cigar tastes different than the last. Some have a certain headiness about them while others are more delicate - sweeter, even.”

You shake your head, heart thumping nervously in your chest as you lose any idea of why you were called up here. “Boss, I don’t understand-”

“Blood is the same in that sense,” he says, cutting you off as he pulls open the top drawer in his desk, procuring something before placing it on the desktop. “Everyone’s blood tastes different. Not a single one is alike. Which is why-” he taps the object on the desk twice, “I know this shipment of blood is different from the rest.”

Your eyes fall to the desk and you feel your stomach drop through the floor. It’s a blood bag, just like the same ones that typically come in the shipments. But the only difference is the slight difference in the labels. You tried your best to replicate the labels on the typical bags, but you couldn’t perfect them.

This is one of the fillers you slipped in. It’s your blood that’s been emptied from that bag, and you can only hope he hasn’t connected the dots.

“If there’s an issue with the product I can talk to the supplier and see if they’ve made any changes,” you say, voice coming out weaker than you anticipated.

Silco regard’s you for a moment, before he slowly gets to his feet, eyes never leaving yours as he rounds the desk, that oh-so-familiar saunter sending a chill down your spine.

“Were there issues with the shipment?” He asks plainly, getting closer to you with each calculated step. “Because there are just a few too many coincidences for me to dismiss.”

He’s in front of you now, a mere foot away as he looks down at you, orange iris blazing as he starts a slow circle around you.

“The shipment was delayed, then the product differs vastly from those in the past, and at the same time as all of these discrepancies are occurring, one of my best employees starts to decline in health and their duties…”

You can’t find it in yourself to move as he stalks behind your back, breath fanning over your ear until he pauses just over your left shoulder.

The one thing that you could never seem to get used to with vampire’s, despite spending most of your time with them, was their lack of warmth. You almost expect to feel heat seeping into your back through your thin shirt, but all you feel is bone shilling coolness as he leans forward, lips brushing against your shoulder as he speaks.

“I have a theory,” he whispers, lips trialing ever so slowly upwards to rest just over your jugular, “and I'd like a chance to prove it.”

The faint scratch of unnaturally sharp canines against the delicate skin of your neck, makes your voice waver as you speak. “W-whatever you need.”

He chuckles darkly, and you feel ashamed of the excitement that shoots through you.

“Be careful what you so willingly offer.”

Before you can blink, a strong hand wraps around your wrist, spinning you until you are pressed up against the edge of the desk, trapped between Silco and the hardwood behind you. But that isn’t what sucks the break from your lungs.

No - it’s the glint of steel in the fading light of his office that has your breath leaving you in anxious pants.

This is it. You think, eyes instinctively clenching shut. He’s going to kill me for lying to him, for trying to cover up my mistake, for breaking his trust-

A sharp gasp leaves you as a stinging pain erupts across your fingertip. Eyes fly open only to see Silco tossing his knife onto the desk behind you as his dual colored gaze falls to the hand held between you.

Your hand. With one finger extended and a delicate pearl of blood bubbling to the surface. It feels as if you aren’t even breathing as he takes the digit into his mouth, tongue laving at the small wound. Contrary to what you imagined, his mouth is warm and tongue slick as it moves to collect every scrap of blood from your finger.

After what feels like an eternity but is probably just a mere moment, he pulls back licking his bottom lip thoughtfully before fixing his gaze back on you. He fixes you with that wicked smirk, the one that always makes your knees weak.

“It seems I was right,” he says simply. “I had a feeling something happened with the shipment, and in an effort to correct the accident, you filled the gaps with your own…supply.”

You go to speak, but Silco cuts you off just as you take a breath, leaning down ever closer to you, your noses brushing gently as he speaks. “I could taste the difference immediately. The regular supplier most likely supplements the blood with nutrients and other things and it makes it taste…bland, medicinal…” he trails down lower, nosing at your jaw, “lackluster.”

“But yours…” His breath makes your skin prickle and you can’t stop the shiver as he dips lower, lips brushing the spot just below your ear. “Your’s is different. Brighter, more vibrant, sweeter…” his words melt over your skin like warm honey, and you can’t find it in you to care when your hands come up and grip his arms for purchase as he continues.

“I had an idea of what you were doing right from the beginning, and as I kept drinking, kept tasting you, well…I couldn’t help but wonder what it tastes like directly from the source.”

As if to emphasize his point, he runs his tongue over the delicate skin above your jugular, and the words leave your lips before you can stop yourself.

“You can. I’d…I’d let you.”

The confession is a broken, desperate thing, but he must enjoy it if his bemused chuckle is anything to go by. You want nothing more than for him to do it, to take what you've been willingly giving him for days now. But to your confusion, and slight disappointment, he pulls away, eyes roaming your face.

“I know you would,” he reveals, lips ticking upward in that smirk once more at your shocked expression. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed. The way your heart speeds up in my presence, your stuttered breaths, dilated pupils…”

He pulls even further away then, reaching up to pull your hands away from him with a gentle grip, a drastic contrast to the delirious way he’s teasing you.

“As much as I desire to accept your offer…you’re weak,” he deapans, letting your arms fall to your sides once more. “This plan of yours has left you barely able to function, let alone let me feed from you.”

He sidesteps you gracefully, rounding the desk as you turn to follow his movements until he is back in the same position he was earlier. Sat in his chair with all the power in the world as he pulls a new cigar from inside his desk, snips the end off and lights it with calculated precision.

His eyes fall from you down to the scattered papers on his desk as he takes a deep inhale from the cigar before letting it out once more.

“Take the next few days to yourself. I expect you to be at full capacity before the next shipment.”

His words are a clear dismissal, and you have to stop yourself from physically reeling from the whiplash the last several moments have given you. But you don’t stay to ask questions, instead taking it for what it is.

The door to Silco’s office clicks shut behind you as you exit into the hallway, and your brain can only seem to focus on one thing.

What the fuck do you do now?

───── 𖥸 ─────

It’s been weeks since the shipment incident, and just about the same amount of time since your moment with Silco in his office, and his words haven’t stopped ringing in your head.

As much as I desire to accept your offer…

Sure the offer had been made in the moment but…you meant it. Years spent pining after your vampire boss had left you thinking about the idea more than once, and…

He didn’t outright refuse you. He just…deferred it to a later date.

At least, that’s what you’ve been telling yourself as you’ve tried to find a way to bring it up again in a casual way.

Initially you weren’t ever going to speak about it again - in fact, once you returned to work you had planned to pretend that the whole fiasco never happened. The new shipment came in without a hitch so things went back to normal.

…almost…

You have your energy back and you’re back to your old self, no longer missing meetings or dozing off at the bar. But Silco…something is different since you’ve come back from your mandatory recovery leave.

Your meetings with him to go over reports feel more…intimate. Before, you typically stood a few feet from the desk, rattling off numbers and important details while he looked at the papers. But now, it’s vastly different.

Now he invites you so sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk as you go over the reports. Oftentimes standing to pour you both a drink - another new addition - before taking his place in the empty seat beside you.

The first time it happened, it caught you off guard, stalling your speech as you looked over at the kingpin of the undercity who only lazily gestured at you to continue.

Once you gathered yourself again you had indeed continued, but you didn’t miss the way he leaned forward, elbows on his knees and leaving very little space between you as he read over the parchment in your hands.

Each time he’s so close you can smell the faint scent of his cologne and the spice of cigars on his breath when he mutters a question. And you swear a few times you even heard him take a deep breath just a little too close to be coincidental.

You also noticed that the blood supply is lasting him longer than usual, which means he’s either finding a supply elsewhere or just not using it.

Maybe he was so used to mine…he doesn’t like the taste of the other stuff now…

The thought is fleeting, and you try to shove it down before it takes root, but you can’t. It’s the only thing you can think about as you slowly ascend the stairs to Silco’s office, nerves alight with anxiety as you finally stand in front of the door.

What if he doesn’t want it? What if he laughs I’m your face and calls you out for the foolish child you feel like? What if-

“Quit lingering at the door like a wraith. Either come in or get back to work.”

The all too familiar voice meets your ears through the thick wood for the door, and you can’t stop the warmth that floods your cheeks.

The door is unlocked so you walk in easily, letting it click shut behind you as you step further into the room. Your eyes fall immediately to the man who’s been plaguing your thoughts.

He stands in front of the large window behind his desk, the light casting his office in a green hue and making him nothing but a silhouette against the backdrop.

Instinctively you shove your hands in the pockets of your jacket, trying to hide the way they shake as your nerves get the better of you.

Finally, Silco turns to face you, his orange eye bright and glowing against the darkness of his silhouette. It makes you shiver for an entirely other reason and that alone seems to give you the little courage you need to approach the desk.

His features make themselves out as you come closer, the light not distorting them as much, and you’re able to see the way he raises a brow just as he lowers a cigar from his lips. He makes a point to blow the smoke away from you, and you silently appreciate the small gesture, licking your lips as you try to find the words you want to say.

However, Silco beats you to it, voice smooth as he speaks.

“If you have something to say…say it.” He says bluntly, eyes locked onto you.

So he knows. Or…at least has an idea.

Pulling your hands from your pockets, you clasp them in front of you, trying to appear more confident than you feel.

“I just noticed that the new supply might not be up to your…standards. And I just - wanted to let you know that my…my offer is still on the table.”

Your last words come out in a whisper, confidence slipping away from you the longer you hold Silco’s unrelenting gaze.

The suggestion sounds pathetic when you say it out loud, and you’re ready to take it all back to tuck tail and run when a chuckle meets your ears.

It’s the same as the ones he gave you last time, dark, humorless - but not cruel or demeaning. Just like he’s privy to a joke you don’t understand, an irony you can’t fully comprehend.

And as he stalks from behind the desk, snuffing out his cigar on the way, you find that your eyes never leave him. Not even when he comes to stand almost toe to toe with you, that damn cologne tickling your nose and making your eyes flutter as he leans in closer.

“Do you have any idea what you’re offering me?” He asks, voice genuine, as if he truly wants you to rethink your precious gift.

But you have thought about it. Thought about the possibilities, what could go wrong, and what could go so mind-nubmingly right.

You just hope this will fall under the latter.

You give him a small but firm nod, voice not wavering as you speak. “I do. And…It’s yours. I-If you want it.”

The breath of air he releases is one of relief, you can practically feel the way he sags into your space, nosing your jaw as hands ghost up your sides.

“Oh, my dear…” Breath fans over your ear sending shivers down your spine. “You have no idea how much I’ve craved it.”

You don’t know what you were expecting. Part of you was expecting him to take you right there, teeth plunging into your neck unceremoniously to drink directly from the source like he wanted. Part of you maybe expected him to be a touch softer, walking you through it before sharp canines pierce delicate skin.

But you never expected a kiss.

Never expected cool lips pressed against yours with a ferocity only intimate lovers possess. Never expected the feeling of his tongue running across the seam of your lips or granting him access as easily as you draw breath.

He hums lowly into you, and you can feel the vibrations from within his chest as he wraps strong arms around you to pull you impossibly closer against him. Fingers press greedily into your sides as he guides you backwards and you don’t even have the wherewithal to wonder where he’s taking you.

Only when he turns you both with incredible grace and sinks down onto the plush velvet of the sofa does it register, and by then you’re already in his lap and too far gone to care.

He breaks the kiss as soon as you slide onto his legs, thighs straddling his own as lips trail from your mouth to your cheek, then lower.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me?” He husks, voice like broken gravel as he nips at the edge of your jaw, those impossibly sharp fangs scratching teasingly.

“You’ve ruined me. You gave me a taste and it’s made everything else taste like the toxins swimming in the river Pilt.” He’s at your neck now, teasing, nipping, tongue laving out to soothe the little bites. “Bitter, acidic, bland-“ he takes a deep inhale as he nuzzles into you, and you can feel the way his lashes flutter against your skin. “Nothing like this, like the divine ichor that seems to run through your veins-“

“Silco, please.”

Those two words. The utterance of his name and the way you beg so sweetly are his undoing. They are enough to snap the thin little thread of control he still had and allows him to finally take what he’s so desperately wanted for longer than he can remember.

The pain is both as intense and yet, lesser than you had thought it to be. It’s a piercing, searing heat that flows from your neck to your fingertips where they grasp for purchase in his fine silk vest. Yet the ecstasy that courses through you moments after is enough to overwhelm all else.

It’s…strange. But it feels good. With each languid pull, each pass of his tongue over your skin, the way his arms tighten around you, crushing you to him as he feasts - it all makes the heat in your belly burn brighter.

He groans against you as he drinks, pressing harder against you as if that will somehow make the blood come forth faster, nose digging into your shoulder as one hand comes up to tangle in your hair as you nuzzle into his own neck.

It feels like an eternity when he practically rips himself from you with a grunt of effort. Pressing one last kiss the delicate skin which stops the gentle flow of crimson. You were just beginning to feel the telltale signs of fatigue, sleep tugging gently at your eyes when cool hands come up to cradle your face.

You’re pulled from your place on his shoulder gently, and brought up only so caring eyes can look you over. The teal iris, the one so many seem to overlook, is eclipsed by the black of his pupil, hunger still present in his gaze.

There’s still the faintest hint of red on his lips, one corner darker than the rest - and you can’t help but reach up to wipe at it. It’s the first time you’ve truly touched him throughout all this, the first time he’s ever let you touch him. So, you try to commit it to memory. The way the scars marring his upper lip feel beneath your thumb as you wipe gently at the blood left there.

Without thought, his tongue peaks out to wipe up the excess, brushing against the pad of your finger before retreating once more as he reaches up to take your hand in his own.

You’re momentarily struck by the gentleness of his actions, the way his brow seems to draw together in concern. Which is why you can’t fathom why the words spill from your lips.

“So, was it better directly from the source?” You ask, voice soft and bringing a rare half smile to the man’s lips.

He nods. “As I said,” he begins, leaning in so lips ghost over your own, and you can almost taste the metallic tang on his breath.

“You’ve ruined me.”

#arcanehalloweek22 #silco x reader #arcane silco x reader #arcane x reader #arcane silco #silco #arcane

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rays-of-fire-and-ice · 7 months

Text

From Afar

Prompt: text messaging

Rating: K/General

Setting: Starts off in Full Bringer arc, carries on into the ten-year time skip.

Synopsis: In which Toshiro and Momo start texting.

AN: we’re almost at the end of @yearoftheotpevent's challenge! This time, I went for something so different from anything I’ve written before (in terms of format anyway). I took a section from my earlier post, but everything else is completely new. Note that the names for Hitsugaya switch in each section to indicate who’s point of view the messages are being viewed from.

I hope you enjoy it!

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Hinamori: Hey Shiro-chan! ヾ(•ω•`)o Text me back so I know that this worked. Hitsugaya: It’s Captain Hitsugaya. Also, you missed a ’,’. Hinamori: Good, it worked!

Hinamori: Also, you don’t have to grammatically correct in text, Shiro-chan.

Hinamori: How was your day? Hitsugaya: It’s CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA, Hinamori. My day was fine. What about you? Hitsugaya: Also, I didn’t mean those capitals because I was angry, just emphasizing the point. Hinamori: I know (❁´◡`❁) My day was great! I found the fourth volume of the Crimson Chrysanthemum saga while I was on my break!! ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆ Hitsugaya: Also, Captain Hirako and I got all of our paperwork done before the end of the week ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ He’s got this new CD from the World of the Living and I think it helped me focus. Hitsugaya: That’s good. I’m glad you found that book, I knew it was important to you. Hinamori: What did you do today? Hitsugaya: Mostly reviewing reports. In my break, I started work on a new sculpture. Hinamori: (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o))) Hitsugaya: I wasn’t done. Hinamori: Sorry!! m(_ _)m It’s just you didn’t text for a while after your last message. Hitsugaya: There’s a time limit? Hinamori: Not really, but there’s an assumption that if you don’t message after a certain time period it means you’re waiting for the person to respond or you’ve left the phone. Hitsugaya: What’s the time period? Hinamori:…It depends?? Hitsugaya: Why are there so many vague rules around this?! Hinamori: You’ll get it in no time (✿◠‿◠) I’m so glad you decided to start texting, we can talk to each other more regularly now!

Hitsugaya: We’ll see, I may end up not liking this.

Hinamori: One step at a time! Anyway, tell me more about your day!

__________________________________

Shiro-chan: Is now an okay time to text you?

Hinamori: Hi Hitsugaya-kun! ヾ(•ω•`)o

Hinamori: Yes, it is.

Shiro-chan: Is Matsumoto with you?

Hinamori: No, but she came by earlier with the paperwork.

Shiro-chan: At least she did that.

Shiro-chan: Any idea where she’s gone to?

Hinamori: Do you have her contact details? You could just text her directly.

Shiro-chan: I’m not going to do that.

Hinamori: Why not? (´･ω･`)?

Shiro-chan: Because I’ll never hear the end of it from her.

Hinamori: What do you mean?

Hinamori: Are you still there?

Shiro-chan: Yes.

Hinamori: Sorry m(_ _)m It’s just that you didn’t text anything back for a while. It’s okay, you don’t have to elaborate. I could text her if you want? ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Shiro-chan: Don’t bother.

Hinamori: Maybe she’s with Nanao-san. I heard they were going to go over some Women’s Association planning.

Shiro-chan: I will never understand why you’re all so secretive about your activities.

Hinamori: We’re not secretive!

Shiro-chan: Shouldn’t you be doing work?

Hinamori: I could be saying the same for you too! ￣へ￣

__________________________________

Hitsugaya: Is now an okay time to text you?

Hinamori: Sorry for the late reply!! m(_ _)m Yes, it is.

Hitsugaya: Did I leave my bento box in your office?

Hinamori: I was wondering who it belonged to! Yes, it’s here.

Hitsugaya: I’ll come around to collect it in an hour.

Hinamori: Take your time! Was it from your lunch with Captain Hirako?

Hitsugaya: Yes.

Hinamori: Sounds like it was productive according to the Captain O(∩_∩)O

Hitsugaya: If you call playing music and deliberately signing your name backwards productive.

Hinamori: ^_^|||

Hinamori: He’s a good captain.

Hitsugaya: I’ll be over soon.

__________________________________

Hinamori: Look what I found!! q(≧▽≦q)

Hitsugaya: You can send pictures on these?

Hinamori: Of course! Didn’t Rangiku-san tell you?

Hitsugaya: She still doesn’t know I’m texting.

Hinamori: Really, what’s the harm in telling her?

Hitsugaya: Don’t go there.

Hinamori: …All right.

Hinamori: Anyway, what do you think? Aren’t they cute?!

Hitsugaya: Are they meant to look like cats?

Hinamori: Yes!! I really like the orange one, it’s so sweet looking (≧∇≦)

Hitsugaya: It’s not all about the look, Hinamori. Can they actually spin?

Hinamori: Want me to by them and you can find out? (oﾟvﾟ) o

Hitsugaya: No, I outgrew spinning tops years ago. I’m not a child anymore!

Hinamori: It’s okay to still have hobbies from when you’re a child, Hitsugaya-kun.

Hinamori: But if you’re sure, then I’ll leave them (┬┬﹏┬┬)

Hitsugaya: There’s nothing stopping YOU from buying for yourself or someone else.

Hinamori: You’re the only person I still know who used to play with them, and I don’t know how they work.

Hitsugaya:…I’ll show you.

Hinamori: (⊙ˍ⊙)

Hinamori: Really?!

Hitsugaya: Don’t tell anyone.

Hinamori: I won’t! Even though there’s no shame in it!

Hinamori: I’m buying them! *: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

Hinamori: Thank you, Shiro-chan!!

Hitsugaya: Why are you thanking me? We don’t even know if they spin.

Hinamori: We will next time we have a lunch break together!

__________________________________

Shiro-chan: Is now an okay time to text you?

Hinamori: Yes, it is. Also, you don’t have to ask me that every time, you can just text me whenever and I’ll answer when I can *^____^*

Shiro-chan: Noted.

Shiro-chan: I can’t see you today, we’ve got business to take care of in North 58th District.

Hinamori: That’s okay!

Hinamori: Good luck with your work! (❁´◡`❁)

Shiro-chan: Thank you.

__________________________________

Hinamori: I have some reports you need to authorize. Is it okay if I come by now?

Hinamori: Shiro-chan?

Hinamori: I can come by with them tomorrow, they’re not urgent (*^_^*)

Shiro-chan: CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA

Hinamori: Is something wrong?

Shiro-chan: MATSUMOTO JUST FOUND OUT I’M TEXTING YOU

Hinamori: Oh, how did that happen?!

Shiro-chan: SHE HEARD MY DENREISHINKI BEEP WHILE WERE LOOKING OVER SCHEDULES

Shiro-chan: NOW SHE WON’T SHUT UP ABOUT IT AND I'VE HAD TO LEAVE THE OFFICE

Hinamori: I’m sorry, Shiro-chan!! （＞人＜；) I shouldn’t have messaged you!

Shiro-chan: CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA!

Shiro-chan: AND IT WAS MY OWN FAULT FOR HAVING IT THERE AND NOT KEEPING IT ON SILENT.

Shiro-chan: Also, sorry for all the capitals.

Hinamori: Rangiku-san just messaged me about it. She seems really ecstatic about this!

Shiro-chan: I’m going back in and stopping her right now.

Hinamori: It’s not her fault, please don’t be mean to her!

__________________________________

Hitsugaya: I just reread your message from two days ago. Did you still need me to authorize those reports?

Hinamori: Hitsugaya-kun! Yes, actually. I can come over now if you have time (･ω･)b

Hitsugaya: Not yet, Matsumoto is on her way out. I don’t want her here to bug us about texting.

Hinamori: Ah, she already spoke to me about it at our Women’s Assoication meeting yesterday.

Hitsugaya: Not in front of everyone else I hope!

Hinamori: No! Just the two of us. Honestly, would it be so shameful for everyone to know you’re texting? Most Shinigami I know do.

Hitsugaya: It’s unbecoming of a Captain to engage in frivolous things so often.

Hinamori: Well, we don’t text that often, and you text far less than Captain Hirako.

Hitsugaya: Of course he does, I’d expect that from him.

Hinamori: What does that mean?! (ﾟ дﾟ )

Hitsugaya: Matsumoto just left. You can come over now.

Hinamori: I’m on my way ε＝┏(･ω･)┛

Hinamori: But don’t think I’ll forget what you just wrote!

Hinamori: On second thought, I just ran into Rangiku-san. It seems she was aware of these reports already and was coming to get them?

Hitsugaya: Did she read my texts?!

Hinamori: No, she didn't. Captain Hirako mentioned them yesterday at the Lieutenant and Captain's meeting.

Hitsugaya: Why didn't she tell me about them?

Hinamori: Apparently you were really busy with reports and trainign schedules, so she thought to not add this on to your work until you had more time.

Hitsugaya: Wait, are you texting in front of her right now?!

Hinamori: ^^;

Hinamori: I mean, she knows now...

Hinamori:...She wanted me to send this.

Hitsugaya: Why did you take a picture with her? Tell her to get back here right now!

Hinamori: She's on her way.

__________________________________

Hinamori: Good luck with your mission tomorrow!

Shiro-chan: You heard?

Hinamori: Abarai-kun told me. I hope everything goes well with Kurosaki-san.

Shiro-chan: I’m certain it will. Kuchiki will be giving him his powers back. We're just there to observe and defend in case of threats.

Hinamori: Ah, that makes sense!

Hinamori: I have to get back to work. Have a good day! (✿◠‿◠)

__________________________________

Hitsugaya: I need an opinion.

Hinamori: Hi Hitsugaya-kun! ヾ(＾∇＾) Sorry for the late reply, I was finishing up some orientation with the new recruits. Did you still need a second opinion?

Hitsugaya: Yes.

Hitsugaya: What do you think of this artwork?

Hinamori: o(*°▽°*)o

Hinamori: You sent a picture!

Hitsugaya: It's not a big deal.

Hinamori: I guess not, it's just you haven't done that up until now ^^;

Hitsugaya: Matsumoto and Minagawa (our third seat) have said we need more artwork in the division. Obviously not in the training rooms, but perhaps the library or main office. What're your thoughts on this one?

Hinamori: It's beautiful! ♡(ŐωŐ人) Is it watercolour?

Hitsugaya: I think so. It's of a valley in the southern Second District, we have juristiction over it so I thought it was appropriate. Do you think it would fit in the main barrack's hall?

Hinamori: Yes!! It could be near the entrance!

Hitsugaya: Minagawa said the same thing.

Hitsugaya: All right, I'll go buy it tomorrow.

Hinamori: How exicting!! ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ

Hinamori: I need to get back to the office, Captain Hirako and I need to finish off some reports.

Hitsugaya: He better be helping you with those.

Hinamori: He is, and if he isn't, I can do them! ᕙ(‾̀◡‾́)ᕗ

Hitsugaya: There's no excuse!

Hinamori: I can call him back at anytime if he's not there.

Hitsugaya: You're showing your Tiger of Paperwork side, Hinamori.

Hinamori:（＞д＜）

Hinamori: I bet you're laughing right now ( •̀ - •́ )

Hitsugaya: I won't say.

__________________________________

Shiro-chan: Happy birthday, Hinamori.

Hinamori: Thank you, Hitsugaya-kun!! (●’◡’●)

Shiro-chan: I can’t come see you today, but I’ll try in the next few days.

Hinamori: You don’t have to, I understand that you’re busy right now ^_^

__________________________________

Hinamori: We should really visit the Junrinan some time.

Hitsugaya: This seems out of the blue.

Hinamori: Ah, sorry! m(_ _)m

Hitsugaya: What made you think of that?

Hinamori: I just realised it’s been a while.

Hitsugaya: You’re right, it has been.

Hinamori: Maybe we could go some time next week?

Hitsugaya: At this stage, June 14 works best for me. It seems to be when I’ll have a proper break.

Hinamori: I can make that work! See, texting is good for organising things like this!

Hinamori: I’m excited now!ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ

Hitsugaya: We’ll see, but I’ll aim to keep it free.

__________________________________

Hinamori: Are you on your way?

Hitsugaya: On my way to what?

Hinamori: Sorry!! I was meant to text Rangiku-san. It’s for the emergency Lieutenant’s meeting.

Hitsugaya: She’s on her way.

Hinamori: Thank you.

Hitsugaya: I'm about to go into the Captain's meeting, I'm turning this off.

Hinamori: Okay, same. Stay safe.

__________________________________

Hinamori: Hitsugaya-kun, are you all right?

Hinamori: I heard from the Captain what happened.

Hinamori: Text me when you can.

__________________________________

Hinamori: I’m sorry, it’s been a two days and I haven’t heard from you.

Hinamori: I want to come and see you, but everything is in chaos here. It seems to be that way for everyone.

Hinamori: If that’s why you haven’t texted back, that’s okay. I was just worried after what Captain Hirako told me. What the Quincy did to you and the other Captains is unforgivable. Please let me know if there’s any the Captain and I can do to help.

Hinamori: I hope you’re okay

__________________________________

Shiro-chan: I’m sorry, I only just saw your messages.

Shiro-chan: I’m fine.

Hinamori: Thank goodness! I was trying to find time to come over and see you.

Shiro-chan: You don’t have to, it sounds like you have a lot happening.

Hinamori: It feels disrespectful to text you about what happened.

Shiro-chan: We don’t have to discuss it now.

Hinamori: If you’re sure.

Shiro-chan: I really am fine. I’m focused on training my zanjutsu right now.

Hinamori: I’m glad to read that. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.

Shiro-chan: There’s no need, but thank you. I need to get back to training soon.

Hinamori: Do your best!

__________________________________

Hinamori: Hey, Shiro-chan, are you awake right now?

Shiro-chan: It’s Captain Hitsugaya.

Shiro-chan: Why are you still up?

Hinamori: I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have sent anything. Please ignore my message.

Shiro-chan: It’s fine. Why did you text me?

Shiro-chan: You’re breaking the ‘texting rules’, Hinamori. Are you still there?

Hinamori: Haha, sorry. I guess it’s no use.

Shiro-chan: Why are you up?

Hinamori: It’s hard to sleep right now.

Hinamori: It’s strange, I just remembered were planning to visit the Junrinan on June 14. That was three days ago…I almost feels like I jinx us by suggesting it.

Shiro-chan: Don’t be silly, that had nothing to do with the invasion.

Hinamori: I know you’re right. I guess I’m trying to make sense of all of this. So much has happened.

Hinamori:I just can’t help but be vigilant.

Shiro-chan: It’s understandable, but you need your sleep.

Hinamori:The Quincy could show up at any moment. Don’t you think about it too?

Shiro-chan: Yes.

Hinamori: Is that why you’re up too?

Shiro-chan: It’s mainly paperwork.

Hinamori: Why are doing paperwork at this hour?

Shiro-chan: It needs to be done. We’re falling behind.

Hinamori: …Do you need some help with it?

Shiro-chan: You should sleep.

Hinamori: You should too, but it looks like neither of us are going to.

Shiro-chan: You don’t have to help.

Hinamori: I want to.

Hinamori: I can be over there in 20 minutes.

Shiro-chan: Only if you’re sure.

__________________________________

Hinamori: Thanks for walking me back!

Hitsugaya: Why are you texting? You should be asleep now!

Hinamori: I’m about to go, just wanted to thank you.

Hinamori: And also thank you for the tea and for hearing me out too, I think both helped to calm me down a little.

Hitsugaya: It’s not a problem. Thank you for helping with the reports, I can help with some of yours.

Hinamori: There’s no need. Good night! (*^▽^*)

Hitsugaya: Goodnight, Hinamori.

__________________________________

Shiro-chan: I had to get a new denreishinki, my last one was broken at some point during one of the battles in the war.

Hinamori: Shiro-chan! That’s a shame, now you don’t have our text history! ╥﹏╥

Shiro-chan: It’s not a big deal.

Hinamori: I guess not, but I like to look back and have memories of those times.

Shiro-chan: We didn’t really text that much, so the history wouldn’t be that extensive.

Shiro-chan: I think I can understand, even so. I no longer have that picture you took.

Hinamori: You mean the one of Rangiku-san and I?

Hinamori: Here!

Shiro-chan: Thanks.

Hinamori: I didn't realise you liked it (´• ω •`)

Shiro-chan: It's not a bad picture. I was used to having it there on my denreishinki, I guess.

Hinamori: That's so sweet, Shiro-chan! (≧▽≦)

Shiro-chan: Captain Hitsugaya!

Hinamori: We should take a picture together too (●'◡'●) If you want to, that is.

Shiro-chan: I'll think about it. As is, we won't have time right now.

Hinamori: How have you been?

Shiro-chan: Busy with planning the reconstruction of the districts under our jurisdiction.

Hinamori: Same here, its so much work.

Hinamori: I guess we won’t be seeing each other for a while.

Shiro-chan: Yes.

Hinamori: Good thing we started texting before all of this!

Shiro-chan: It is proving to have it’s uses.

Hinamori: See! I told you you’d come around! ^_^

#hitsuhina #toshiro hitsugaya #momo hinamori #fanfiction #bleach #fluff and sappiness #the ending felt natural so I ended it where I did #but I'm thinking of doing a part 2 for this

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santoteez · 2 years

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Kinktober 2022 - Day Three

Genre: Smut, Fluff (? Debatable)

Idol: Choi Seungcheol (S.Coups) of SEVENTEEN

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings: Gym Sex, PlusSize!Reader(not extremely detailed or anything), unprotected sex, semi-public sex?, fingering (f receiving), squirting

Seungcheol sighed as he completed his final rep of the night. The pull-up bar banged against the rest of the cable machine, relieved to be put out of its assault.

Although he wasn’t one to let the woes of the idol career get to him, there were times when Seungcheol just couldn’t help himself. Like when variety show hosts decided it’d be fun to make jokes about his relationship.

Let it be clear that Cheol wasn’t the jealous type. No, he took pride when Y/N received too-long stares during their routine strolls, or when the barista’s fingers lingered a bit too long when they collected her payment, only for their face to drop when she promptly spun away from the counter and into his arms. No, he wasn’t a jealous boyfriend.

But there were some things he just couldn’t ignore.

“S.Coups, you’re such a busy guy! You’re the leader of a 13-member group, the leader of said group’s hip-hop unit, and you just got off a world tour. Now, you’ve revealed the most shocking part of all: your 13-month relationship with Y/N. How do you make time for everything?”

“Well, when you want something enough, you simply make time for it.” He smiled.

“Truly impressive. Now, tell us a bit more about Y/N. I know you want to respect her privacy and all, but just tell us what you think we and your fans need to know about her.”

Cheol beamed at the thought of his girlfriend. “She’s great. I was walking past a building- I won’t say where- when I noticed her drop a handful of documents. The wind was blowing so I stopped because there was no way she’d get them all herself. I helped her to her car and we’ve been inseparable ever since. I couldn’t ask for a better girlfriend. She’s the sweetest person I know and she’s always there when I need her. “

“And do you do the same?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Are you also always there when she needs you?”

Cheol flinched, recalling all the times he’s had to postpone or take a rain check on their plans. Then, he remembered the nights when he fell asleep on her on Facetime or she’d arrive at his apartment excited for a night in to find him dozing off.

“I’m sure I’ve let her down in the past year, as I’m not perfect. But It’s always my goal to make it up to her.”

The host scoffed. “She wouldn’t have to go through all of that if you had a regular job. Or even a job like mine. I’m just a TV host. My workday ends. I could easily make it to important events since I don’t have anything like a world tour in the way.”

Cheol shifted in his seat, remembering the time Y/N’s work dinner fell on the same day as a special stage. Shaking hands with her boss with sweat dripping down his temple after running all the way there was not a good look. “Right.”

“Well,” The reporter snickered. “Maybe Y/N should be with me.”

“You?”

“Or someone like me. That could be there for those crucial moments.” He shrugged.

Cheol laughed. “Let her be the judge of that. We make it work between us. No one else matters beyond that.” His knuckles tightened around the arms of the chair.

The host raised his hands in defense. “I’m just saying.”

“Thank you for having me.” Cheol stood up from his chair, heading for the door.

“You’re leaving?” The host turned to the production staff. “Is it over?” He asked, to which they shrugged. “Well, I guess we’re done!” He said, and the cameras stopped rolling.

They missed Cheol’s fists colliding with the host’s face.

So now, here he was, turning his anger into fitness.

If the world thought he wasn’t a reliable boyfriend to Y/N, it wasn’t long until she thought the same. He had to intercept before it was too late.

Which is why he called her over.

Sat in the corner of the gym, on a barely-used bench, Y/N watched as Cheol’s back muscles stretched and contracted with his every move. She watched as his Adam’s Apple bobbed wildly after every sip of water.

She shifted in her seat, heat rising throughout her face and neck. When he called her over, she rushed over, excited at the thought of a late-night stroll afterward. But, her mind now had other plans. She took a deep breath as Seungcheol lifted his shirt to dry off his face, his sweat-glistened abs on display for her greedy eyes alone. This gym was privately owned, and the owner was a friend of Seungcheol’s. It was also after hours, so no one would be arriving for hours to come.

“Ch-cheol.” She spoke, her voice barely a whisper, but he heard it.

He turned to her, smiling as he took in her beauty. He beckoned her over, chuckling softly when she wrapped her arms around him.

“I’m sweating.”

“I’m aware.”

“Let me shower first.” He tried to pull away, stumbling when Y/N didn’t let go.

“You’re not that sweaty, it’s fine.” She tilted her head to look at him. “Even if you were, I’d still want my hug.”

Cheol stared at her, raising his hand to caress her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “For what?”

“For all the times I’ve missed a date or turned up late. I’m sorry I’m not always-”

Y/N pressed her lips against his, silencing him mid-apology.

“Are you doing this because of that shitty reporter? I told you, he’s an old classmate of mine. Always had a thing for me, even when I declined numerous times. I actually have his mom on Facebook. And what do you know, she had not seen the clip yet. So, I sent it to her. She said she’d ‘deal with that knucklehead.’” Y/N smiled as Cheol burst out laughing.

“Don’t let his words get in your head. I’d never leave you for him. I knew what I was signing up for in this relationship, and I’m happy here. I want to be with you.”

Cheol took one look into Y/N’s sparking eyes before he leaned in, closing the gap between them.

He tried to take his time, to be gentle. And it lasted all of 5 seconds before his kisses left Y/N constantly breathless. He pushed her onto the workout bench, yanking her leggings down her legs.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m in a rush.” His face was flushed.

“It’s okay, me too. Keep going.” She whispered.

Cheol slid his fingers under the waistband of her lacy panties - the ones that drove him crazy, was this her plan all along?- and let out a shaky breath when the pads of his fingers found her clit.

“You’re so fucking wet, baby.”

Y/N whimpered as she rolled her hips to lean into his touch. With her promotion and Cheol being busy with promotions, they’d barely found any time for…this. Hence why Y/N felt like she was losing her mind.

“Cheol, just fuck me already.” She pleaded.

He kissed her temple, a rather innocent gesture while performing such a lewd act. “I want you to cum first.”

“Seriously?”

“You cum on my fingers first or not at all.” He met her gaze, stoic and almost unfazed by her frustration. “Do you understand?” He plunged two fingers inside her, knuckle deep.

Y/N felt the heat spreading across her cheeks as she nodded, her breaths becoming ragged as time went on.

Her hand flew up to wrap around his wrist, keeping him still as her body shook.

“There we go. Didn’t that feel good?” Cheol asked, sucking his fingers clean.

He smirked when Y/N whined. “I know, I know. I didn’t forget.”

She was positive her heart skipped a beat when Cheol lifted his shirt over his head. The room was relatively dark, but the moonlight highlighted her boyfriend perfectly.

“Are you sure you want to do this here? This isn’t like you, baby.” He teased, despite knowing her answer.

She tugged on the waistband of his sweats, pulling him towards her. “Hurry up and fuck me the way that reporter can’t”

Cheol groaned, his dick hardening even further, which he hadn’t thought was possible. He yanked her panties off, abandoning them on the bench as he lifts her up by the thighs.

“Wait, Cheol. What are you doing?” She yelped.

“Shh, I’ve always wanted to fuck you just like this.” He pressed her back against the wall, strategically placing her between the pull-over machine and the treadmill.

“What if I get heavy?”

“You’re not. I love your size.” It was true. Cheol loved every aspect of his girlfriend. From her plush thighs to her full breasts to her soft midsection, he was obsessed. Then add her intelligence and charisma on top of that? How did he get so lucky?

He momentarily moved his hand from her thigh, pushing his sweats down just enough to let his cock spring out. The tip was leaking already, begging to be stimulated. Without a second thought, he brought her thighs up to wrap around his waist. He took grasp of her hips with both hands and slid his fat cock into her tight, little hole.

Y/N clawed at Cheol’s back with her long nails. She gasped as he pulled out almost completely before bottoming out again at a harsh pace, not even giving her a second to adjust.

“Cheol, baby. Hold on.” She managed as she held on for dear life.

“Uh uh. You can handle it.” He nestled his face in the crook of her neck, the faint traces of her perfume infiltrating his senses. “Good girls take what they’re given. You’re gonna be my good girl, aren’t you?” He gritted, not letting his pace falter even for a second.

“Yes! Yes, I’ll be good for you. So, so good.” Y/N could feel the sweat on her back allowing her to glide across the wall. “Just don’t stop, please.”

Cheol brought a hand to her face, pressing his lips against hers. His kiss was hot, hungry, and desperate.

“You’re gonna cum soon, huh? Gonna cum for me in the middle of my friend’s gym? Gonna let me breed this tight, little pussy? Fill you up until it leaks out?”

She nodded. “Baby, look.” She ran her hand over her stomach, where the bulge had not gone unnoticed. “I can feel you right here.”

Cheol huffed. “You’re killing me here, baby. I don’t know how much longer I can last.”

“Cum inside me, Cheol,” She whined. “Wanna be full of you.” She stared at him through lidded eyes.

He shook his head. “You first, baby.”

Y/N’s body shook as Cheol’s wandering hand rubbed jarring circles on her clit. Her mouth fell into a silent scream and hot tears rolled down her cheeks as her orgasm overpowered her being. Her body stilled as she squirted, her fluids coating Cheol’s abdomen.

“Fuck…” He mumbled, following suit as his white, hot cum filled her pretty cunt. The visual and intensity of her orgasm had been the final push he needed to cum.

They stayed like that for a while, trying to regulate their breathing.

Cheol broke the silence. “I’m gonna set you down now, okay?” He whispered as if an octave higher would scare her away. When she nodded, he helped her to her feet and stabilized her footing when she stumbled slightly.

“God, I needed that.” She laughed softly.

“You and I both. Shower?” He asked.

Y/N side-eyed him.

“Just a shower. I swear.”

“You said that last time.”

“...Okay, maybe I did. But can you blame me? I can never get enough of you.” He laughed when she glared at him.

The following morning, Cheol’s cell phone woke him up.

“Hello?” He asked, not bothering to see who was calling.

“Choi Seungcheol. Did you fuck in my gym?”

That woke him up. “Nope.”

“Then what are these damn stains on the bench and on the floor between the machines?”

“...Okay, maybe I fucked in your gym.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say. I have a mop, a bucket, and rags. Be here in 15 minutes.” And the line went dead.

Cheol groaned, sliding out of bed.

“Do you have a schedule today?” Y/N asked groggily, opening her eyes momentarily when she felt him move.

“No, I’ll be back soon. Keep sleeping and we can go out for breakfast when I get back okay?”

She smiled and nodded, closing her eyes again.

His phone rang a second time.

‘I heard you, I’m coming.”

“There’s panties on the floor. Do you have any idea how much I hate you right now?”

“Okay, I forgot them there. I’m coming. Don’t get your panties in a twist.” He laughed as the man on the other end spewed a line of profanities down the receiver.

Very tired but I’m trying to power through in order to finish what I started :)

This was not proofread so forgive any typos but I’ve read it multiple times and I didn’t find any! <3

-pluto

#seventeen smut #scoups smut #seungcheol fanfic #choi seungcheol #scoups #kpop fanfic #kpop fanfiction #kpop smut #kinktober #seventeen fic #seventeen fanfic

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kingwithpaintedfingers · 2 months

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An Update on the Status of My A03 Fics!

Hihi! I have no idea if anyone who follows this blog reads any of my fics on AO3, but if you do, then you might like to know what the heck is going on with my fics, and why I haven't posted any updates in over six months.

First of all, I am alive! I wrote a lot of fics in the summer of 2022 when I had just gotten active in a fan server on Discord where there was a lot of encouragement to write fanfiction. In the spring of 2023, I started a medical assistantship course, and in order to keep myself focused in class, I turned off notifications for the server. And then I just kind of...didn't turn them back on???? In my defense, I was intimidated by the amount of time it would take for me to backread everything I missed, and that eventually snowballed into me just no longer looking at that server. I should honestly become active in it again, because it did a lot for my writing productivity. I also have a lot of hobbies both in real life and on my computer, and those take up a lot of my time as well. So that's why I didn't post much last year and haven't posted anything yet this year.

But I want to let you all know, that I do fully intend to complete the fanfics I have already started on AO3, and I do intend to write the sequels I promised a year and a half ago.

So without further ado, here is a status report on the incomplete fics and series I have on my AO3:

How to Live With Fire: One of my most popular fics! I have two sequels planned, and a rough idea of what I want to happen in each of them. Both of them are probably going to be only a few chapters long. The delay on this one is mostly on Part 2, since Part 2 has only the vaguest ideas of what I want to do with it (how Mortarion and Vulkan become a longterm couple, and how their legions react to this change). The trouble with this one is, I haven't read any Salamanders novels, let alone ones that take place during the Horus Heresy. I think I will at least have to read Deathfire for this one. I am praying that I don't have to read Vulkan Lives, since I understand that one has less tasty Salamanders content than I would like, and way more John Grammaticus than I find tasteful. But I will still try Deathfire at the very least, if I can find a physical copy at the library or a used bookstore or something.

A Matter of Trust: Another one that's going to end up being a trilogy. I have figured out what happens, now I just need to read the Plague Wars trilogy, because those events are going to be kind of important to the rest of the plot. Again, I'd like to read physical copies of the books so that I can flip through them easily. I'm going to see if I can find copies of the first two novels through the local libraries. Fingers crossed!

Until the Bitter End: Ohhhh, this one's gonna make me cry...this one is mostly hinging on me rereading The Buried Dagger and taking notes. Much lower barrier for entry for this one, since I've read it so often that I mostly remember where to find the events I'm looking for.

Lantern and the Child: This one is going to have like, a billion chapters. It's going to become episodic for a while, but I'm looking forward to it. In this case, it's a case of figuring out which characters I want to introduce. The idea of it being episodic is kind of exciting for me, because it feels like it will be a fun thing to do, and because it goes along with a writing conceit that my co-creator and I have for this AU, that it's the events of a theoretical (very dark) Pokemon anime.

This Once Nearly Was Mine: This one should literally be the easiest one to complete, I am ashamed that I haven't finished it. There's only one chapter left, and I don't even have to come up with all of the events. Again, this one is going to dip into Horus Heresy events that I haven't actually read, but I think I've heard enough from osmosis that I can skip most of it. I just need to, y'know, actually sit down and fucking write it.

Deep's Embrace: I've got an outline! And I've even got some scenes written out! As I type this post, I am preparing to submit chapter 2. I'm having a lot of fun with this fic, as you could probably all tell.

Anyway, that's basically it for now. If you have any questions, please let me know! And if you have any friends who you know enjoy my fics but aren't following me or aren't on Tumblr, please link them to this post so that they know just what the hell is going on with me.

#my fanfiction #ao3 fanfiction #warhammer 40k #warhammer 40000 #horus heresy #warhammer 30k #mortarion #calas typhon #vulkan

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nanowrimo · 1 year

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A Fond Farewell to NaNoWriMo Technical Director Dave Beck

We’ve got some truly bittersweet news: after almost 10 years as NaNoWriMo’s Technical Director, Dave Beck is moving on. Dave joined NaNoWriMo in 2014 and since then has overseen all things site and tech-related for NaNoWriMo and Young Writers Program. In addition to his considerable technical skills, Dave is a true Renaissance man with a remarkable range of skills, interests, and hobbies. Thanks to Dave and our other long-time Software Developer, Jezra Lickter, both our websites are currently in very stable places for this transition.

Before we say goodbye, Dave shares some thoughts about his time at NaNo:

Q: What are some of your proudest achievements at NaNoWriMo?

I’d say it’s the redevelopment of the Young Writers Program website, which started in 2015. The first version of the website didn’t have many participants. I worked with Marya and Chris [Angotti] for the redesign. However, the biggest risk was creating a writing space for the kids. This feature did not exist before, so we built it from scratch. When we first launched it, 40% of the kids were writing on the site. The number is still going up. It’s 84% at the moment. I didn’t expect it to be this successful. Last time I looked, 20 billion words were written! The second achievement: we haven’t lost a single word ever since the writing space was created. It was very important to me that we did not lose any of the kids’ novels.

In general, the YWP site was the most fun.

Q: What are some of your fondest NaNoWriMo memories?

The design is the best part. Not the coding itself, but deciding what things we should do and how to get there. When you figure out a design and then develop it, it’s very satisfying when it works well.

It’s also fun being able to creatively collaborate with people, especially with the YWP. I’ll miss Marya and Jezra a great deal, it was very productive.

Q: Tell us about one of your NaNoWriMo novels.

I’ve never won NaNoWriMo! Not even close to it. The closest I’ve gotten is 5k. It was a nonfiction book about ADHD. The funny thing is, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a writer. But I didn’t want to write books! I just wanted to be F. Scott Fitzgerald and go to cocktail parties. I do NaNo every year though. It helps me understand the website and see if everything is working as it should be. So instead of writing, I see the problems and go and fix them.

Q: Fun fact about you that people might not know?

I’m a veteran career changer. I’m leaving programming and coding to become a winemaker. Before this, I was an attorney. I’m still a member of the California Bar actually. I was also a reporter for the LA Press, a fancy sous chef in Boston, and an exhibit designer at the San Francisco science museum.

If you can’t tell, I have ADHD. I liked this job the most since it’s so complicated being a full stack developer. It works well with ADHD because I’m constantly switching what I’m doing.

Q: Are coding and noveling at all the same?? Inquiring minds want to know.

A little bit? There is an element to understanding narrative within a code. You want to understand the order and how the code does certain things. It’s kind of like plotting a novel.

Designing code is also a creative process. But the coding itself shouldn’t be, which is the biggest difference. Coding is standardized so it won’t cause problems, especially when multiple people are working on the code.

With novel writing, you can do whatever you want. You can even break rules to prove a point. You don’t want to do that with coding or you break the whole thing!

Q: What will you miss/not miss the most at NaNo?

I’ll miss the creative relationships I had with Marya and Jezra. It’s interesting and fun work. NaNoWriMo also had a lot of creative lunches before COVID. Once, we all created our own cocktails!

I won’t miss how sometimes, it feels like I’m reinventing the same wheel over and over. For example, we’re trying to refine the system that makes challenges for existing novels. It’s still not completely working right in the way we want it to be, so we end up spending a lot of time on it. It’s like Sisyphus. You think you’ve finally completed something and then we’re back at the bottom of the hill.

Q: Any advice for a developer working at NaNoWriMo, or any aspiring tech developers?

Learn all seven parts of full stack developing as fast as possible. You will need it. Rely heavily on Jezra too. He knows a lot.

For aspiring tech developers, you should only spend 10% of your time actually coding. The other 90% of your time should be spent planning, scoping, and user testing. One of my issues is jumping into a code without a plan, which leads into problems I could have avoided. You should plan for things ahead of time. It’s like scoping your whole novel before writing words down. I’m a pantser coder which isn’t necessarily the best thing.

Q: Since you’re so fond of the YWP site, how about advice for any young writers?

Think for yourselves and write what you want to write. If it’s what you’re interested in, you’ll have fun.

Interested in learning more about open positions at NaNoWriMo? Sign up here to be notified of job postings. Just as we celebrate the diversity of our creative community, we want our staff to reflect that same spirit of inclusion, and we will encourage candidates of all races, genders, cultures, class and educational backgrounds, abilities, and orientations to apply.

#nanowrimo #writing #coding #tech dev #interview #by nano hq #dave beck

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ruinakete · 19 days

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☽ ・ 𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 & 𝐏𝐑𝐄-𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 / 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 ━━━ ooc post.

hello everybody! with my formal return to the dash sent to the masterlist, I thought it only necessary to make a post regarding my muses; interpretations, changes, mission board prompts, etcetera. we'll tackle only one of these as of right now since I'm already late on the mission board—

LONG STORY SHORT? recent events have made me unsure of myself and, unfortunately, I can tell that those insecurities are bleeding into my portrayals now. I apologize if my writing seems weaker than before because of this; it's something I simply have to work through to get fully comfortable again.

—simply know for the other listed points that, after threads are cut down for one muse, a cap of five per character will be set for all and a schedule will be implemented properly next week, as I've been slacking with reply times.

as always, I'm never the one to step first when it comes to thread statuses, so if you'd like a thread dropped, please let me know! no hard feelings! otherwise, I'll continue under the assumption that all interactions are a-go. concerning the mission board, feel free to claim a thread via DMs on Discord ( @ barelyelix ), since I do not check for Tumblr IMs and I sometimes overlook server pings. down below are the prompts I'm looking for, though my interest may exceed these:

━━━ MISSION BOARD: SHOWCASE !

ZEPHIA? @ here

none, as her character is the one I am now most unfamiliar with. not open for any new non-event threads until mid-May.

EREMIYA? @motheruin

FAITH +1: the specifics of this idea need to be fleshed out more but I am interested in exploring Eremiya's fear of fire and how it subconsciously ties into religious ideals and the life of magic. whether or not they save a maiden, her main intention is to selfishly steal the spell's makings for herself, despite it just being shown off for this occasion and nothing more. (GOLDEN DEER REQUIRED)

BOOMS: of course, Eremiya will do everything in her power to report the group; they're more than a disturbance, they're taunting. however, she'll begrudgingly require a partner who is like-minded as she, since the sudden bursts of fire in the air are hardly... tame, and productivity will not prosper if she remains uneasy with every passing image of a spiraling rocket. or you can be a BOOMS enthusiast stopping her before she snitches.

otherwise, she will only be open to pick up one new non-event thread come May.

EMMERYN? @emblemartyr

HEAVY ARMOR +1: has anyone ever sat a pirate down and asked them how they felt? no? alright then, Emmeryn's interested in serving as a more, pacifist diplomat between the Leicester Alliance and the pirates. no one acts so recklessly without a reason, right? has a grievance between the two parties caused the rift? besides, the fortified sea vessels will keep her, her partner, and the crew safe. hopefully. long enough to enjoy the ride, at least! (GOLDEN DEER REQUIRED)

FAITH +1: something something persecution... religious corruption.... something something fire and sacrifice.... insert sun metaphor..... curiosity equaling bravery and the opposite....... me and Emmeryn want the skill point, further plotting necessary (GOLDEN DEER REQUIRED)

PHOTO-ARTIFEX: a way to keep memories trapped within an image? perfect! Emmeryn's all too happy to volunteer herself for testing! she doesn't mind who wishes to help either since she mainly wants to see how well the machine works, and if she can satisfy the gaps in her memory by creating new, frozen-in-time moments she can never forget. also not against swaying volunteers who only want to help technical-wise and not have their pictures taken.

SWORD +1: half for the point and half because I am absolutely enamored by the return of the silly rat orchestra MSKMWNSDJ it's highly possible that Emmeryn was dragged into this, as her place in the town may have been too far from the monastery to notice students going missing; plus, she doesn't fit the criteria of victims, per se! of course, her first idea is speaking to the culprit, so your muse may have to be bait unless they mistake Emmeryn for a student. she won't let anything happen to you so no worries! worst case scenario, the culprit can't understand the common tongue and we have to play instruments to communicate.

always open for threads, as of now! necessary to bounce her voice testing off of someone else, whether mission board or otherwise.

#☽ ━━━━━━ ❝ a bleeding dragonstone; her heart crystal ・【 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 】 .#passing out after this i'msotired #i did see a few muses i wanted to poke for eremiya and emmeryn so i'll recheck once i wake up from a night nap #need to catch up at a comfortable pace before everything so i wanted to start early and not miss anything else orz

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beautifulpersonpeach · 10 months

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been lurking on your blog for a while and i find your new jeans write ups interesting. it's like the cookie song doesn't bother you so you're okay with it?

***

Hi Anon,

Story Time

Some years back, I moved to the US for work. I'd learned English at a young age, lived and worked with English-speakers and thought myself to be very fluent. Anyway, one day I had a business proposal put in front of my desk. I won't explain what exactly the product was, but the long and short of it is that at some point during the brainstorming session, "two girls one xyz" became the catchiest, most fitting tagline. My team had a good mix of old and young people who came from diverse backgrounds. We could all speak English and considered ourselves well versed in slang, but nobody in the team caught the reference until 2 weeks before launch, when in one of the campaigns, it sounded like "two girls one cup".

Now, for anyone who doesn't know what that phrase is, don't bother googling it. The gist is, I quickly learned that in America, you never say "two girls one cup". At least not in public. Everywhere else, this line doesn't mean anything, but in America and certain online communities, it means everything. By the time we found out, it was too late to revamp the campaign to change it, so we instead tweaked it to become a bit quirkier so those who caught the reference won't be totally put off by it. And overall the project was a success and caught on well in Germany, Poland and the UK, but if we didn't catch that reference in time, the campaign would've been a disaster. The way we caught the reference was someone outside the team, a local American, who immediately flagged it the minute he saw it in our outlook report. All of us fluent English-speakers had some vague idea of the various ways the campaign would look and sound, but nobody attached the meaning of "two girls one cup" to it.

And so, maybe that's why I buy the explanation offered by Ador. I can very easily see how an English professor at a Korean university, a couple of Scandinavian songwriters, and one Korean DJ, wouldn't know a Eurocentric slang interpretation of an innocuous English word. Because I myself, the first time I heard Cookie, didn't get any sexual undertones or innuendos. The song honestly just seemed cute to me… the puns in Korean were cute. Also, “taste it, smell it, bake it…” for Korean sweets and desserts, all that isn't odd to say. I mean, people here plan their whole days around trying out a new café and savouring a new sweet on the menu like it's a life-changing experience. It's fun and cute to attach that level of attention and importance to your sweets. The connection with CDs was obvious at first glance too (the CDs are huge in the MV so it's hard to miss), and given what I would call the ‘café culture’ in Korea, the play on words in Cookie seemed honest to God adorable, and a lot of my Korean friends and family (the few who listen to k-pop) felt the same. It probably sounds like I'm reaching here but overall I didn't think this was a big deal anyway.

International k-pop stans felt differently, but k-pop stans in general are easy to rile up, and even if Ador indeed had some ulterior motive, either way I don't really care.

I don't care for the same reason I don't care that Beyonce used the 'spazz' slang in her song, for the same reason I don't care Chaeyoung from Twice went around the US in a Q-Anon/nazi t-shirt, for the same reason I don't care about XG saying they've got 'opps', for the same reason I don't care that Mamamoo/Shinee have done black/brownface and never apologized for it, for the same reason I don't care that Florence Welch is apparently a Satanist, for the same reason I don't care Bang PD is likely fucking someone half his age...

And so on.

It's not because I don't understand the implications of all these issues, but the standard applied in stan twt for what is considered 'problematic' and 'cancellable' doesn't impact how I feel about music and the artists. I decide all that for myself.

And I like Cookie and NewJeans.

#newjeans #newjeans cookie #kpop #Kpop music #girl groups #ador #Hybe #fandom discourse #kpop fandom

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zmwrites · 6 months

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Trick or Treat!! 👻

(Event Post)

Hellooo this is very late but Halloween is a state of mind so I'm still going to reply :)

I am going to share a very fun snippet from CAMRR WIP, aka the moment when Maeve's weekend goes entirely tits up.

“Maeve?” Rachel shouted from somewhere downstairs. Their bedrooms were on the second floor, there was a kitchen and small living space on the main floor, and the basement was mostly unfinished aside from the laundry and utilities.

“What?”

“Maeve!” This time her name was accompanied by the thunder of footsteps up the narrow steps. Rachel burst into her bedroom, eyes wide and phone so close to her face that the screen was almost touching her nose.

“Rach, we’ve talked about knocking. I could’ve been naked,” she said. She spritzed some product on her hands and worked it through her hair.

“As if I haven’t seen you naked before.” Rachel looked around the room and grabbed Maeve’s phone off her bedside table.

She frowned at her in the mirror. “Can I help you?”

“Did that Charlie guy give you his last name? Or tell you what he does for a living?”

“He said he worked in public relations. Why?” She turned just in time to watch Rachel unlock her phone. “Why do you know my password? What are you doing?”

“You’ve had the same password on your phone since the eighth grade,” she replied. “And I’m setting all of your social media accounts to the most private setting available.”

“Again, why?”

“Because shit is about to hit the fan.”

Just then, Rachel’s phone buzzed and Haley’s face popped up on caller ID. Haley was the third member of their trio that had been friends since elementary school, except she’d chosen to stay at home after high school, gotten engaged to her high school boyfriend, and had welcomed her first child a few months earlier. It was a very different path than Maeve and Rachel had chosen, but it seemed to suit her well.

Maeve snatched the phone from her dresser and answered it. Haley’s face filled the screen, her brown hair tied on top of her head and her mouth pinched with concern. “Haley, what is wrong with Rachel? She’s taken my phone hostage and won’t tell me what’s going on.”

“You didn’t get my texts?” she asked.

“I just stepped out of the shower and now Rachel—”

“You’ll thank me later,” Rachel said. “Do you have any socials you’d consider deleting completely?”

“What?”

“Rach, show her the article.”

“What article? What is going on?” Maeve demanded. She barely used most of her social media accounts, preferring to use them to keep up with the friends and classmates she’d lost contact with over the years instead of posting updates herself. The only one she posted on regularly was Instagram, and that was usually just photos of her and her friends.

“Trade?” Rachel offered, holding her phone out. Reluctantly, Maeve obliged, happy to have her own phone back in her hands but still confused. “Read your texts.”

Maeve opened her messages while Haley gently chided Rachel for freaking out. She’d only missed a handful of texts—her parents and younger sister Adrien discussing groceries in their family group chat, a notification that her phone bill was due, and then whatever was in the group chat with Rachel and Haley.

Haley: Don’t judge me for reading trashy magazines but Haley: Link - Check Out This Article From The Snapshot Review! Haley: Doesn’t this look like Maeve? Rachel: Looks like Home Slice too?? Rachel: Oh fuck Rachel: I think that IS Maeve

Maeve clicked the link, insides twisting into knots. Why would there be a photo of her in The Snapshot Review? It was a celebrity gossip magazine—heavy on the gossip, light on the actual reporting. Almost everything she’d seen from them had been inflammatory clickbait.

The webpage loaded. Sure enough, there it was: a photo of her and Charlie from the night before, sitting in one of the back booths at The Home Slice. She was laughing, half a slice of pizza in her hand. He had his head in his hand and was gazing at her with a softer smile than she’d noticed the night before. It was from later in the evening, after he’d taken his blazer off, and looked like it was taken from outside the window of the shop.

“What the fuck?” she whispered.

Her eyes went to the headline: Brittany’s Prince Charles Steps Out With Mystery Redhead for Romantic Dinner; No Sign of Girlfriend Colette Bachelet.

“What the fuck?” she repeated, louder this time, and sank into her desk chair before her knees could give out.

And now you all know where the second R comes into CAMRR - cheesy ass modern royal romance.

I hope you have enjoyed this fun (and late) little treat!

#camrr wip #zoe replies #ask games

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bruciemilf · 2 years

Text

I so desperately crave a fic where Bruce forgot all about the interview he scheduled with Clark. With this portrayal specifically

He's swallowed up by that ginormous red hoodie Jason always forgets at the manor.

It's got a soft undertone of beer and pizza clinging to it, and knowing Jay, the chances of that changing are close to none. It's Bruce's favourite thing to wear.

On his hands, he's sporting two bracelets that Damian and Cassandra asked him to help craft. He accepted, of course, because his little Damian looked astray, his eyebrows down and eyes worried.

They were both terrible at it. Cassandra had a great time. And Bruce's dark green and sunshine gold bracelets pleased Damian greatly.

But he had no time to shower that morning; His ribs were moaning still, every step he took feeling like Bane's brutal, sledgehammer punches, hitting him right in the gut.

But that was fine; He didn't expect anyone today. He'll just scarf some blueberries and yoghurt and gulp down four espressos before burying his nose in Jim's earliest case.

That's what he thought

Before modern day Adonis suddenly emerged I his living room.

Say something. Say something funny, come on, he's joking with you.

" ... Why are you In my house?"

Fuck.

This man, - Clark, Bruce knows who he is. Out of all the bad things that had to happen today, being surprised by his favorite journalist just had to be one of them, - blinks, some grin cut down, and Bruce curses in his mind.

"Um. Your father let me in. Did you forget,-"

"...Sure. I'd love some."

Was it just Bruce, or did this report carry a note of amusement in those words? Bruce scrambled for the first cupboard he could see, " NO!"

" We're out of coffee," he hissed, muttering a ' damn it, Tim, I TOLD you to replace it' but no matter. He had to find Clark something else. " Uh... Water? Juice? Do you like orange juice?"

He could see it, the corners of Clark's lips tugging upwards,

" Orange juice is my favourite drink. But it's fine, really. I'm here to unbury your deepest darkest secrets, not have lunch," he smiled, then, most likely noticing Bruce simply froze in place, he added, " That was a joke!"

Clark nodded, endlessly patient, this saint of a man, " I've had my share of that. Don't worry, Mr. Wayne."

" Oh, just Bruce. Mr. Wayne was my father...And my grandfather too."

Even if Clark blushed to be polite and thanked him quietly, Bruce wanted to dive off a building without a grappling hook.

" Uh... Bruce? You're murdering your orange."

" Okay." Nodded Clark, clear, perfect blue eyes fixed on Bruce and his hands. Bruce only prays his fingers won't tremble like his heart is.

He stabs the orange.

It squirts all over his hoodie, and Bruce offers no reaction.

It's almost worth it, this pit of mortification slowly, tortuously devouring his body, to see Clark's impressive frame shake with laughter behind his giant hands, goofy glasses crooked on his nose.

" I'm sorry," he sounds as dead as he feels. " The orange has retaliated."

That did it; Clark was full on laughing now. Humiliation burned like liquid fire over Bruce's face.If Dick were here, or Alfred, he'd hide his face into their chests like a shameful child.

But neither are there, so all he can do is slowly place the knife on top of marble, and stand there like a statue.

Coming off his high, Clark watches him closely, a speckle of mirth shining on blue. " You know, you're nothing like I thought you'd be. As much as I enjoy this, you should change."

" I'll try. I don't want to be like this, either."

Clark grinned. " I meant your clothes, Bruce."

" ... Yes. I should. I have a large collection of clean clothes. Because I do my laundry regularly. I know how to do laundry."

Why are you still talking?

"... Please?" He squeaked.

Twin steps went inside his bedroom, and they didn't come out for a long time.

#batman #bruce wayne #clark kent #superman #superbat #bruce x clark #soft bruce wayne #good dad bruce wayne #batfam #jason todd #damian wayne #text post #dc #dcu

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