#i made them near the end of sophomore year of high school

[rimunagenius]

Would you be down to do a Kate fic where reader is a new transfer and Kate keeps seeing her all over campus and is quickly crushing on her (like she’s down BAD) Then one day when she’s going to meet Caitlin for lunch/coffee/something lol she sees her walking with r laughing then saying goodbye. Kate immediately starts interrogating CC the second she’s within earshot because she wants to find out everything she can about her mystery girl. CC laughs and says she transferred to play soccer and they’re in x class together. Then she’s like as fun as this is I’m starving so can we go eat now. From there she literally sees her everywhere because her and CC start to hang out outside of class, once she finds out r also played basketball in high school and college (focusing on soccer when she transferred) she invites her to pickup games or practice when she knows they’ll be using the managers to scrimmage and this is where Kate finally meets her and is officially smitten. R thinks she’s absolutely adorable and hopes this is the girl Cait said she wanted to introduce her to.

Everywhere

ʚ paring: Kate Martin x reader

ʚ word count: 2.2k words

ʚ warnings: RPF!! , other than that, none that i can think of other than the use of y/n.

ʚ rimunagenius speaks: okay so anon, i love this idea!!…i loved it and im so sorry it took so long to write it and i may possibly consider writing a part two! I love the idea of Kate being so smitten for reader. she’s a sucker for a pretty lady! also i hope it’s okay that i kinda made the reader a ghost to kate..like kate needed to be actively LOOKING so it’d be better for when she actually saw her and i feel like this could’ve have been better so im sorry if it didn’t meet your expectations 😭

Everywhere. You were literally everywhere. She was definitely not complaining about it though. You were actually so beautiful. You were everywhere but near her. You took over her whole mind since this morning.

She saw you on what she assumed to be your first day. You looked like a lost puppy walking around looking for your class. "Hey, you doing okay?" Kate approached you, sliding one of the sides of her headphones behind her ear. God, you looked even prettier up close.

"Uh, yeah? I don't know where the science building is. I've been looking for about twenty minutes and no luck." You sighed, checking your phone, your friend Caitlin texting you while you pulled your schedule up.

"I can help. If you want?" Kate gave you a warm smile, looking down at your phone. She recognized the professor, having had him her sophomore year. It was a general education requirement for her major. "Oh, I've had him before. I can walk you and show you."

"That'd be great, thanks." The walk was quiet, kind of awkward. Kate was nervous to make small talk. She never thought this far ahead. Hell, she didn't even know she was walking up to you until you responded to her.

Kate thought about it the whole way to her next class. She thought about it the whole way back to her home. She thought about you. The way you smiled at her when she offered her help. She didn't know what was happening.

She's seen many pretty girls before and felt attracted to them but not like this. She's barely known you—talked to you for a total of three minutes...It wasn't possible. It wasn't going to be a thing. She'd probably never see you again. This campus was too big.

Kate had thought about you, and she wouldn’t lie and say that she didn’t try looking for you either. She’d take her time walking to classes throughout that day and to Carver Arena. She’d stop to get coffee and snacks she wasn’t going to finish. She just wanted to see you. You were the most prettiest girl she has ever seen. She tried to find you all the rest of the day. With no luck, and her taking her sweet time to get to practice, she didn’t see you.

When she left for a later class, right after practice, after practice had ended at six pm, she had finally seen you and Caitlin walking together. It was the most shocking yet, anxiety inducing thing she’s seen since she left you earlier that morning.

She was a ways behind you both, recognizing Caitlin first, still in her practice uniform. You were both heading the same way she was, so she just decided to stay behind instead of going to talk to Cait. She wasn’t going to go anywhere near you both, scared of being that close again and having to introduce herself. She’d be an absolute mess. It barely worked this morning, and she was not taking her chances.

It wasn’t until she saw you walking away, meeting up with this other girl, and saying goodbye to Caitlin, that she decided to catch Caitlin before she left. “Caitlin!” Her walk speeding up, looking in your direction making sure you didn’t hear her.

Caitlin looked behind her to see her frantic teammate running up to her. “Yes, Kate?” She smiled nervously, watching the blonde dart her eyes between you and her.

“Who is that?” Kate looked to you, blushing. Pointing subtly towards you to make sure Caitlin knew exactly who she was talking about. That’s when Caitlin smiled. “That’s my friend! She just transferred here. She’s playing soccer now.”

“What do you mean ‘she plays soccer now’? What did she play before?” Kate wanted to know everything about you. She already knew you were the prettiest girl she’s ever seen. But she wanted to know more.

“She played basketball too. Got a full ride to UC Berkeley with it.” Caitlin nodded her head, continuing on the path she was headed to. “We were on our way to our class, but her soccer teammate needed her for a minute so I said i’d meet her there.”

“Oh, okay. How do you know her? Has she always been that pretty? How many classes do you guys have together? Maybe I can “walk” you to it?” Kate started to ramble any question that came to mind about you. All of which were about anything and everything besides your name.

“Oh, my god. Kate. Slow down. Why so many questions?” Caitlin laughed, already having a small idea as to what was happening. “Just ask her tomorrow.”

Kate’s throat went dry. What did she mean? “I’m sorry, what?” Kate choked out. Caitlin gave Kate a blank stare.

“I invited her to our pickup game tomorrow. Just talk to her then.” Kate was already so excited but dreading tomorrow.

She really really wanted to see you, but she started to think about how you’d see her play and she’d have to possibly guard you. This was a lot. Kate definitely did not let this go. She was starting to get too nervous. She was getting self conscious. She wanted to impress you.

Kate got up the next morning to a text from Caitlin asking to get there earlier than planned for a shoot around before the pickup game. The reason why was very vague but she decided to go early. Caitlin had asked her multiple other times to meet up and practice shots. That’s where Kate had developed better confidence in her far-range shots. Her three game improving significantly.

But the more Kate thought about it, she didn’t even get your name yesterday. Not even from Caitlin.

Her nerves were through the roof as she walked out the house and set on her way to Carver.

Her face grew hot and red, suddenly her relaxed and otherwise friendly demeanor turned shy and antsy as she got closer and closer to you both, standing on the court while she set her stuff down. That’s why she wanted her early…forgetting to mention the why.

“Hey, Cait.” Kate walked up to Caitlin, her eyes darting between you and her. She was so nervous. You were just so pretty and so close she just couldn’t take it.

“Hey! This is my friend, y/n.” Caitlin looked to Kate, and then to you. You shook Kate’s hand. Immediately recognizing the pretty girl who had helped you find your class yesterday.

You smiled. Yesterday after she walked you all the way to your class, before you had walked in you thanked her and watched her go on her way. She looked nervous but so did you. You walked up to the door but stopped to look behind you. What made it more awkward is you both caught eachothers eye at the same time.

Cait💕

“You find your class okay?”

“yeah! some really nice girl helped me find my class.”

“Oh, awesome! The people here are way nicer than the people from California huh?”

Caitlin and you had grown up together. Two girls who loved the game of basketball. You got a full ride to UC Berkeley. Iowa skipping over you for an offer but getting Caitlin. You honestly wouldn’t have had it any other way.

You got to experience life outside of Iowa. It was a fun experience. You loved California but still keeping in touch with back home. You would’ve stayed if your injury your sophomore season didn’t pull you out of the sport completely.

Tearing your meniscus, ACL, PCL, and MCL. You tore them over a span of a couple years. Your ACL and PCL being the first to go in your junior season of highschool. The MCL your freshman year of college. You had been halfway into your sophomore season at Berkeley when you tore your meniscus.

You were told you were able to recover and go back, but your coach didn’t like that you were getting injured and submitted an appeal to have your full ride taken. That’s when the dean advised you to find a different career outside of basketball. So, you entered the transfer portal, losing your full ride, and ended back up in Iowa for senior year. You had played soccer growing up as well with your brother. You kept up with it outside of basketball only small scrimmages, nothing too serious so you weren’t injured for basketball. But Iowa had a great soccer team and you missed home, so you decided to come back and come back to soccer.

“They’re way nicer for sure…and wayyy cuter😉”

“Ohhhhhh myyyyyyyyyy”

“you laughed at, ‘Ohhhhhh myyyyyyyyyy’ ”

You were excited to meet the friends Caitlin made here in Iowa City after you left. Wanted to meet the women she talked so highly of. So when she texted you last night asking if you wanted to shoot around before doing a pick up game, you immediately said yes. Something about wanted to introduce you to a friend, hence having to get there early.

“Oh, you walked me to my class yesterday!” You stuck your hand out and waited for Kate to shake it.

Kate had been staring at you. She didn’t mean it in a rude or freaky way. She just was in shock. There was no way you knew Caitlin. “Uh, yeah! I’m Kate. I don’t think we formally introduced ourselves yesterday.” Kate giggled.

Caitlin raised her eyebrows. There was no way Kate was the cute girl you mentioned to her yesterday. No way. And there’s no way you had Kate Martin giggling at a handshake. This elicited a random giggle and ‘no way’. You and Kate turned your heads and looked at her confused. It finally clicked to Caitlin.

“Oh! Nothing nothing. Just that—Oh! Look! My ball!” She walked away to the ball she left at half court, leaving you two to stand in awkward silence before opting to get started. You guys were going for about an hour before Caitling and Kate walked up to the small team Caitlin put together. You watched them two walk away, shaking your head before walking over to your team.

That’s when Kate turned to look back at you. Watching you immediately make friends with the girls in your team. Which happened to be her friends too. Kate turned back to the team, a huddle being held…Kate’s face grew even more rosy when she saw her best friend caught on to what was happening. Caitlin had been giving her the biggest smirk when they made eye contact. Was it really that obvious that she had a crush on you? Could she even call it that? She just met you formally seconds ago.

The shoot around is where you and Kate really got to know each other. Exchanging stories and experiences, her asking all kinds of questions of what it was like in California.

How you knew Caitlin, which she was shocked to find out that you grew up here. That you and Caitlin were neighbors. She learned more than what Caitlin had been willing to tell her. Something about “you’ll know soon enough,” or “i’ll let her decide.”

It didn’t help that she had to guard you during the whole game, even though her being absolutely smitten from the moment Caitlin told her your name wasn’t already awkward enough.

The small praises you gave her while playing went immediately to Kate’s head. A pretty girl like you complimenting her. She returned them back, feeling less scared of her antics when she saw how you reacted to them too. It was the most nervous and overall mindfucking pick up game she’s ever played in her life. And she grew up with playing with bigger and stronger boys. Hell, she’s made it to national championship games and this by far took the cake for the most absurd and anxious game.

But you, made her immediately nervous. And she knew you knew. The small smiles and giggles you gave her whenever you saw her reaction to your compliments and praises, your touches to her body when you would pivot around her while dribbling, your hands brushing her hips when trying to blow past her and cut to the basket.

Needless to say, you both knew the effect you had on eachother. Which is why it was the longest yet shortest game ever. Because when it ended, and you had work to do and practice to attend, so you started to say your goodbyes to everyone.

You said goodbye to the new girls you made friends with, getting their numbers and then pulling your oldest friend aside. “Please tell me that’s her.” Your face burning up from the exertion and the thought of the tall blonde you could feel was looking at you from behind Caitlin.

“Possibly.” Cait raised her brows, mischevious smile on her face.

“She’s possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen, Cait. Please tell me that’s her.” You glanced behind Caitlin again, catching those oh, so pretty blue eyes. You both looking away immediately, you both blushing.

“I’ll talk to you after your practice.” She hugged you and you started on your way to your practice. Looking back to catch one last longing look to Kate. It was definitely her.

She was already standing and talking to Caitlin, big smile on her face, hair now down. God, she looked good.

“Please invite her to more of these.” Kate pleaded with Caitlin. That immediately earned a loud chuckle from the brunette. This was so entertaining. Her best friends having the hots for eachother was the most interesting thing to happen to her.

“I will.” Caitlin patted her hand on her best friends chest, starting to walk away. “I fucking knew it.” She said while she was a good distance from Kate.

“What?” Kate asked, already wishing another pick up game would happen or that she’d run into you soon.

“Oh, nothing.” Caitlin walked away, knowing she had to do something to keep you guys interacting. This game of trying to get you both together was more fun than, dare she say, the final four tournament??

[sage-lights]

with you, there's no pretending

word count: 2165 chapter: 1/? Ever since freshman orientation, when Angela first noticed Amanda sitting in the gym bleachers, she’d been head-over-heels in love with her.

Angela was going to kill Arasha.  

Earlier that week, Arasha asked Angela if she could interview her about playing Grace Chasity in their high school’s upcoming production of Nerdy Prudes Must Die. Arasha eagerly volunteered to write this article for her journalism class, hoping that Angela’s insight would help her assignment stand out. Angela knew her friend had been working all year to impress her teacher and secure the position of Editor-in-Chief for the next school year.  

Just for fun, Angela made her best friend beg, playfully acting stubborn and difficult about the request—much to Chanse's amusement, who had a blast recording the whole thing and laughing at the two of them. In the end, Angela agreed, and the girls made plans to meet at their favorite local coffee shop on Saturday.  

That morning, she took Spork to the vet for a routine checkup, which, thankfully, hadn’t taken longer than anticipated. After making a quick stop to drop him off at home, Angela arrived at the coffee shop just in time to find a table near the back before the usual afternoon rush filled the place. She sat facing the door so Arasha could easily spot her when she arrived, then mindlessly scrolled on her phone to pass the time.  

Out of the corner of her eye, Angela noticed a girl with long, wavy brunette hair enter the coffee shop. She looked up, expecting to see her friend rushing over to greet her. But instead, in her place stood Amanda Lehan-Canto.  

Ever since freshman orientation, when Angela first noticed Amanda sitting in the gym bleachers, she’d been head-over-heels in love with her. She remembered leaning over and whispering (a little too loudly judging from the pointed looks the kids in front of them had given her) to ask Chanse who the new girl was.  

“Who are you talking about? There’s like a million people here,” Chanse responded, wildly swiveling his head around trying to figure out who Angela was referring to.  

Angela slapped his arm and pointed discreetly to the girl a couple of rows above them, “Over there, idiot!”  

“Oooooooh, someone’s got a crushhhhhh!”  

“Stop it! Could you be any more obvious?” She sunk further into her seat, “Do you know who she is or not?”  

“Nope, but I could find out.”  

Later, Angela learned her name and that she’d just moved to Los Angeles from Boston. Despite Chanse’s insistence that Angela should introduce herself and befriend her, Angela just hadn’t been able to bring herself to do it.  

That was almost four years ago, and even now in their senior year, Angela was no closer to Amanda than when she first laid eyes on her. Even when they’d been in the same AP Psychology class sophomore year, Angela had always been too nervous to say more than a few pleasantries. She didn’t want to come off as overly eager or that she was scaring Amanda away.

Angela admired Amanda from afar, how she greeted a table of friends with hugs and a “How are you?” and how freely she chatted and laughed with the baristas. The coffee shop seemed to brighten with her presence. 

But then Amanda turned and met Angela’s gaze. Shit, she’d been caught staring. Angela tried her best to recover, her face reddening. She turned in the other direction, pretending to search through her tote bag for something. She fumbled with her AirPods and pulled out a book, quickly flipping it open to her bookmarked page.  

“Hey! Angela, right?” Oh no, Angela recognized that voice. She glanced up at the girl speaking to her. Thank goodness for all those acting classes that taught her how to mask her emotions. She hoped her face looked calm and nonchalant, but also friendly and inviting. Oh, and maybe cool and suave as well. Honestly, Angela would take anything over looking overwhelmed at the fact that her long-time crush was now talking to her.  

“That’s me!” Just be cool.  

Amanda sat down in the seat across from her, and that’s when the panic really set in. “I’m Amanda. We had AP Psych with Mr. Hecox together.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right!” She prayed that her voice wouldn’t embarrassingly start cracking, “His class was definitely an interesting one, especially with the random dark jokes he’d thrown into the middle of his presentations.”  

Amanda chuckled lightly at her comment, and Angela felt her smile widen and her shoulders loosen. But when there was no indication of her leaving, Angela got nervous again.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to sound rude, but is there a reason you sat down? Not that I mind talking to you. Not at all. It’s just, um, I’m meeting my friend, Arasha, here in a little bit—oh, you might know her from Journalism then. Since you’re the Editor-in-Chief this year, right? Well, so you probably know that she’s writing a piece on the school’s musical, and she asked to interview me. So, I don’t think you can stay here for long. Oh my god, I sound super rude right now, don’t I? Shoot, I swear I—,” 

“Angela, breathe,” Amanda leaned forward and placed a hand over hers, interrupting her rambling. A thousand questions began spinning around in her head. Can she tell I’m freaking out? Is my hand abnormally sweaty? Am I making a fool of myself right now? Is she this touchy with everyone? Why. Is she. Touching. My hand?!

So much for keeping it cool.

“Did Arasha not tell you? I’m actually filling in for her. She messaged our class on Slack this morning asking if someone could take over because she woke up super sick,” Amanda explained.

“Oh shoot, maybe I missed that text from her,” Angela opened her texts with Arasha and briefly scrolled through to check even though she knows for certain that this a certified Arasha prank.

angela: you’re kidding me arash no way you’re sick

Immediately, Angela got a response. She could just picture Arasha’s smug face.

arasha: oh yeahhh i’m totally sneezing up a storm rn

angela: arasha lalani more like arasha lie-lani

arasha: lame but you’ll thank me later now go have fun on your date! but not too much fun ;’)

angela: NOT A DATE i hate you sm

arasha: you’re welcomeee

Amanda raised an eyebrow playfully, “Everything good with Arasha?”

“Yeah, everything’s good,” Angela fumbles with her phone again, shoving into the pocket of her zip up hoodie without even turning it off.

“Okay, good.”

“Good.” Oh no, did I just make it weird?

Amanda pulls her laptop out of her purse, “Ready to get started then?”

“Let’s do this thing.”

Amanda readied her fingers over the keys and looked over at Angela, ready to take notes like a professional journalist. “So, what can audiences expect from your performance as Grace Chasity in Nerdy Prudes Must Die?”

“Soup,” Angela answers cheekily.

“I’m sorry, soup?”

“Yep, soup! I mean who doesn’t like soup? A classic chicken noodle? Or a butternut squash soup?” Angela gasps animatedly, “What about a garlic tomato bisque? With a grilled cheese?! Come on, how could anyone hate soup?”

Amanda chimes in with a grin, “Broccoli cheddar though? Very divisive, I will say!”

“Ugh! I do secretly love a broccoli cheddar!”

“So do I! But have to ask again, Angela, what does this have to do with Grace Chasity?”

“You’ll have to wait and see. I will say though, Grace’s preferred soup is definitely dirty.”

Amanda laughs, “I feel like you’re purposely trying to confuse me now.”

“Gotta sell tickets somehow, Amanda!” She winks, to which Amanda laughs again. That sound, the resonance of it, settles into Angela’s chest and fills her with a blooming warmth. 

As the interview progressed, Angela’s initial jitters fade away. Each question Amanda asked felt less like an interrogation and more like a conversation she’d have with friends. By the time they reached the final question, she realized she’d very much enjoyed Amanda’s company.

“Alright, I think that’s everything,” Amanda closed her laptop and slipped it back into her bag. “Thank you again for doing this interview with me. I know I’m not who you were expecting, but I’m glad I got to chat about the musical with you anyway.”

Angela shook her head bashfully. “Of course, it was no problem.”

They both gathered the rest of their things and stood up, though Amanda suddenly moved in for a hug. Angela returned the embrace, even though she was still a little shell-shocked from the whole afternoon. Note to self: Amanda’s a hugger.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Amanda pulled away. “I always forget not everyone’s down for physical touch, and then I go and make it uncomfortable by hugging you.”

“No, it was alright. Don’t worry about it,” smiled Angela, reassuring Amanda. Neither of the girls said anything after that, leaving them staring at each other in awkward silence for a little too long. At least, it was awkward for Angela, given the whole “I’m in love with you” part. She really hoped she wasn’t smiling too much like an idiot. Maybe she should stop smiling. No, that would be off-putting as hell to randomly stop smiling. Maybe she should say somethi—

Amanda cleared her throat, “It was nice talking to you. I hope to see you around sometime.” Phew.

She waved to the retreating Amanda, “Yeah, I’ll see you around.” But there was still a voice inside her that urged her to say something more. This is your chance, Angela!

“Wait!” Angela called out, causing Amanda to turn back around. “You should, um, get my number. You know, just in case you have any more questions while you write the article.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Amanda handed Angela her phone with an amused expression. Angela carefully entered her information on the new contact page and passed it back to Amanda before saying a last goodbye and letting Amanda walk out.

Angela blinked a couple of times, hoping to snap back into the present. It didn’t help—she was too dazed from the whole interaction. Amanda Lehan-Canto had just talked to her. Holy. Shit.

After collecting herself a little more, she hopped in her car and drove home. Every moment of their conversation replayed in Angela’s mind: the answers she had given, the stupid jokes she had cracked, the way Amanda had sounded when she laughed. She pinched her arm over and over again to prove to herself that this all really happened.

As she pulled into the driveway, her phone lit up with a notification from her group chat with Chanse and Arasha—it was unfortunately named “ANGELAAAAAAA!” after the way her friends often called her name in disappointment.

arasha: your location says you’re home angela spill how did it go

angela: wtf are you stalking me

arasha: that’s beside the point

chanse: explainnnn pleaseee

arasha:  i set ang up on a date with amanda lehan cantooooooooo

chanse: A DATE?!

angela: NOT! A! DATE!!! it was an interview that arasha FLAKED ON

arasha: semantics

chanse: HOW DID IT GO

angela: it was chill she asked me about nerdy prudes and i gave her my number in case she had follow up questions

chanse: you gave her your number???? damn ang is finally make some moves took you long enough

arasha: YOU’RE FUCKING WELCOME MAN she would still be sitting on her ass pining away if it weren’t for me

angela: jeez it was just a casual thing calm yourselves

chanse: why don’t you text her and say you forgot to mention something earlier just to get the convo rolling

angela: um bitch i’m tryna play it cool here don’t wanna seem too eager plus i just realized i didn’t get her number…

chanse: angelaaaaaaaaaaaaaa dude you fumbled that big time

arasha: i put in so much work to make that happen and you fucked it wasted effort

chanse: you idiot i cannot believe you

arasha: you got no game fr

angela: Y’ALL I WAS PANICKING CAN YOU BE A LITTLE MORE GENTLE

chanse: no you don’t get a pass for this arash do you have her number

arasha: nah we text on slack also it would be hella strange if ang had her number without asking directly

chanse: ugh true i guess

At this point, she had made it up the stairs and into her bedroom. Frustrated with her friends, Angela tossed her phone onto her bed before promptly flopping down and burying her face into the pillows. And then, she screamed. So loud and so long that she barely heard the “ding” of a new notification.

Angela rolled over and felt around for her phone, already groaning at what she expected to be another annoying message from her annoying friends.

unknown number: hey this is amanda

Her eyes widened.

unknown number: i realized way too late that i never gave you my number so i thought i’d shoot you a text so you could saved it too :)

Angela threw her phone again and went back to screaming.

a lil author's note: i started this amangela high school au a longggg time ago, practically when this blog started because it's one of my favorite tropes to mull around in my mind. funnily enough, this first chapter was written for the smosh girlies week back in feb, but i deleted the whole thing because i hated what i wrote, so the first draft has been lost to time. then, i wrote it again and abandoned it again. it wasn't until my wonderful friend @babychosen asked me about it recently that i decided to revisit it and finally finish it for all y'all to enjoy! this is for @babychosen, @unknownteapot, @poppyfamily, and @shesmore-shoebill. thanks guys for always yelling about amangela with me <3

[fuyuswifey]

|Shy Boy|

Pairing: Souya Kawata x fem! Reader

Cw: Oral (male receiving), handjob, cursing, top! Reader, bottom! Souya, established relationship, modern au, college au, 1.6k words

💫In which your boyfriend is too shy to ask you for help, but you know him better than anyone💫

You learned he wasn’t as mean as you thought, nowhere near it. He was the sweetest boy you had ever met. He ensured you always had lunch at school and stayed on top of your homework. If there was ever a day you seemed upset about something, he was quick to come to your rescue and support you the best he could. If he ever noticed someone bullying you, he quickly put them in their place (and in a hospital). Your days of avoiding him had come to an end, and you guys even went as far as hanging out with just the two of you. Your guy's friendship grew as the rest of your high school days went by. You would have been lying if you said you weren’t growing feelings because boy were you falling fast. But Souya... He was falling faster, and that’s why he made sure to make you his girlfriend on graduation day. The rest was history after that. Now here you are, your sophomore year of college with your boyfriend of a year and a half was amazing. You guys always went on study dates, picnics, or even just relaxing together in one of your dorms. Souya being your first boyfriend, and you being his first girlfriend, you guys experienced a lot of first together. First date, first kiss, first time. First, everything.

As of now, you were lying on his bed, both of you guys spooning as you watched a movie. Nahoya had been gone all day, so you both had the room to yourself. It was one of those days when you both wanted to be lazy, just relaxing in bed while basking in one another's company. You shuffled around the bed, trying to get comfortable after laying in the same position. Amid your moving, your ass rubbed against his crotch, but you paid it no mind, blaming it on the small twin xl bed that gave you minimized space. You could hear your boyfriend's breath hitch, looking over your shoulder to look at him. “Are you okay?” You asked him. He didn’t give you a verbal response, instead just nodding at you. Not thinking much of it, you returned your attention to the TV.

Over the next thirty minutes, Souya continuously shifted behind you, slowly creating as much space between the two of you guys as he could. You tried to ignore it at first, assuming that he was just trying to get more comfortable. After all, you were sharing a small bed. “I’ll be back” He announced suddenly, rolling off the bed and shuffling to the bathroom quickly. You furrowed your eyebrows, wondering what was wrong. You knew Souya well enough to know when he tried hiding something from you. He always would try to distance himself from you. You of course would always try to give him his space, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. However after what felt like forever, but was only 10 minutes you finally got up from the bed and walked over to the bathroom. You knocked on the door softly, not wanting to startle him. “Souya, are you okay?”. When you didn’t get an answer you slowly turned the door handle, opening the door as you peeked in. “Souya?” you called.

Your eyes were immediately met with the sight of him. And oh was it an amazing sight. Souya was sitting on the edge of the tub, his eyes glossed over with tears. You could see the outline with his bulge along with a precum stain betraying his grey sweats. Now it all made sense to you. In the midst of you adjusting your position on the bed, he got turned on. You hadn’t realized the way you were rubbing against him so much, but seeing him now, all pathetic and wanting to be touched, was turning you on too. “Souya… oh baby. Why didn’t you say something?”.

“I-I didn’t want to bother you..” he said in a quiet voice. “M’ sorry”. Seeing him look so pathetic with his cock twitching in his bottoms always got to you. It made you want to take care of him. So that’s exactly what you planned on doing. “Come on Souya” You called as walked back towards the room. “Come out here baby”. He followed behind you and sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes wandering around the room before finally looking towards you. “U-Um… babe-”

You stopped his words by grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him in for a kiss. Souya let out a noise of surprise, but he didn’t fight against the kiss. It was something he had been craving. To be close to you, intimately. As you slowly retracted from the kiss he chased after your lips, causing a chuckle to escape from you. “A little eager huh? Don’t worry, I’m going to take care of you,” you said as you rested your hand on top of his prominent boner, palming him through his sweats. His breath hitched a bit as he watched your hand before returning his attention to you, leaning forward to connect your guy's lips once more. The kiss was messy as both of your tongues sought out dominance, which you so easily won. Your hand moved up to the waistband of his bottoms, tugging them down along with his boxers, releasing his dick that was begging for attention. It stood tall and erected, beads of precum spilling from the tip profoundly.

You used your thumb to smear the precum around the head of his dick, pulling a soft moan from him. Your boyfriend had always been sensitive, so it was never hard to pull any sound of pleasure from him. You slowly started to stroke his length, wanting to help out the boy who so desperately needed it. If it wasn’t for the fact that your guy's lips were still together, the room would have been filled with the sounds leaking from his mouth. His hips started to lift slightly, pushing up into your fist for more friction. “Baby..” he moaned out as he pulled away from the kiss. “I-I need more..”.

You cocked your head to the side slightly at his words. “Well, what do you want? You got to tell me for me to give it to you”. You knew Souya, so you know he always has difficulty telling you what he wants from you. Especially in the middle of sexual activities. It made him shy and nervous. He didn’t give you an answer. Instead, a blush was growing on his face. He opened his mouth to try and say words, but nothing came out. “Souya” You called out in a soft tone. “Come on. Use your words”. “I-I..” His face was flushed red and his eyes were looking everywhere but you. “I want your mouth..” he finally said, taking a peek at your face to see you were wearing a shit-eating grin. He hated how much you got off to seeing him like this. All shy and under your control. He couldn’t help but feel so right when things were this way though.

You slipped off the bed and onto your knees in front of him. You continued to stroke his dick as you placed soft kisses against his thighs, watching his reaction. He was letting out soft gasps and his thighs were quivering slightly. You took the tip into your mouth, swirling your tongue around it before taking more of his length in his mouth. Souya was in no way small, rather lengthy. You could never fully take him into your mouth, so you had to settle with stroking the remaining inches. You were sure if anyone were to walk in on you guys, they would think the sight was filthy. The way your boyfriend's hands were gripping at the sheets, his head tossed back as he filled the room with the sound of his moans and whimpers. You were on your knees, choking around Souya’s dick as drool started to drip down your chin.

“B-Baby..” Souya moaned out, his hips bucking. The feeling of his mushroom tip prodding at the back of your throat made you gag, tears forming in your eyes from both the pleasure and pressure. One of Souya’s hands let go of the sheets, grabbing onto your hair. His hips lifted off the bed more frantically, fucking into your mouth. He was chasing after his orgasm, his hips moving at a sloppy pace. “S-So close! I’m gonna cum!” He groaned, his eyes closing tightly and his hips stuttering as his orgasm washed over him, his cum filling your mouth. You slowly pulled away, swallowing everything in your mouth which earned a grown from him.

Souya panted softly from the orgasm he just experienced. “Thank you for that. You didn’t-” his words stopped when he opened his eyes, seeing the sight of you slowly unbuttoning your bottoms.

“Up for more?”

Networks: @enchantedforest-network | @planetonet

[oggirlboss]

༺ ♰ ༻ sicko fantasies ༺ ♰ ༻

pairing[s]: yandere!janitor!levi ackerman x afab!student!reader

warning[s]: flirtatious behavior, power imbalance, m!masturbation, voyeurism, age gap, and hella weird so read at your own risk.

summary: levi ackerman has to supervise a certain brat in detention. needy little virgin hours ensue before school is in session.

note[s]: no beta, we die like carla.

word count: 3k

art belongs to columbo on twitter (i still refuse to call it x)

levi ackerman is a sick, twisted, little fuck of a man. the exact kind of gross dude that forced schoolgirls to have a dress code. he couldn't stop himself from looking up girls skirts when he knelt down to pick up their trash, or avoid looking down girls shirts when they leaned over to wash their hands in the sink. he didn't even regard his perversion as an awful thing. after all, there are other guys out there who let their obsessions go to the absolute extreme, their crimes delving into horrendous depths like rape and murder. levi could never imagine such things happening, the thought made him sick to his stomach. he wasn't that bad... was he?

 principle erwin certainly didn't think so. he's known about levi's little habit since grade school, but that didn't stop him from writing levi a letter of recommendation and convincing the board of regents to hire him as the primary janitor at shiganshina high school. surely if erwin thought he was so bad he would have tried to protect the girls of the school from him, right?

¿ʇɥɓıɹ

it wasn't like all of his attention was centered on one individual, levi knew that type of behavior was out of the question. he was just liked looking that was all, he didn't have the skills to actually approach one of these girls. despite these perversions, he was disgusted by men that touched girls. the ones who prey on the vulnerable, whose sickly minds allow them to prey on girls and use their positions of power and authority to manipulate these girls into doing whatever they want. to use them however they want. levi didn't think he was like that at all.

but he did take a great interest in you during your sophomore year. you probably got put into detention for a stupid reason, and he couldn't help but sympathize with you. he figured that you got caught doing something mildly dangerous by an administrator and shoved into detention with the rest of the rejects. except since it was nearing the end of the year, all the other teachers didn't even bother to put their students in detention. they dished out more tame punishments to their students and basically took it easy for the last stretch of work until summer break. the teachers were just as fed up with their jobs as the students were with their mundane classes. you, unfortunately, were the unwritten exception to this unspoken rule, and as a result you were the only one sitting in a desolate cafeteria.

that was the first time levi truly paid attention to you. you were a shy kid, you mostly kept your head down and didn't talk much. he had seen you around before and he figured that it'd be creepy if he struck up a conversation before going off to clean the bathrooms in the teacher's lounge. as soon as he saw your silk-smooth skin peeking out of your too short shorts, he knew he'd need to find an excuse to spend more time with you.

"oi! brat." he spoke calmly, feigning disinterest when his heart was beating out of his chest. "i'm your assigned supervisor for detention. you can start by picking up a rag and some disinfectant to wipe down all the tables and chairs." his stomach lurched at the lie, this was exhilarating. he watched you hurry to do as he commanded, feeling pride swell in his chest. you believed him. he was a trusted adult, and his authority in the matter didn't need any questioning.

"i was told professor miche would be in charge of detention today." levi pondered on a good response, but he couldn't stop mulling over the fact that bastard had snatched you up first. miche would have had you all to himself if levi hadn't spoken up just now

"miche couldn't make it on time, so i'm here to cover for him." levi had a teasing tone in his voice, a smile ghosting his fine features for less than a second. "now are you going to stand around looking pretty, or are you going to get to work?" his taunt didn't have much of an effect on you as you marched up to his supply cart and snatched up a rag and some random chemical mix. "no no no. that won't do." levi sauntered towards you, snapping the rim of his plastic gloves as he did so. "you can't use furniture polish for cleaning surfaces. while the lemony scent does have it's perks, a bleach based product would help you much more." your eyebrows furrowed as you nodded. maybe you could learn something from his guidance, after all, he was a professional.

"alright. will clorox work?" you picked up the product by its handle and squeaked as you gripped the hilt, causing a foamy string of liquid to burst from its container.

"hey, hey, no funny business." levi smirked at your playful tenacity. you were so much more fun than he'd thought you would be. "who even taught you how to clean?" he scoffed in a light-hearted manner.

"i guess i'm self taught, but i always get the job done good enough." you smiled at him as you sprayed the different tables and wiped them down with an old blue rag.

"well maybe your good enough isn't good enough for me and my standards." levi hovered over your shoulder, carefully observing your movements. he wrapped himself around you, pressing his chest against your back and helping you grasp your hand around the rag. "move your arm in a circular motion, but don't press too hard into the wood, you'll tire yourself out too quickly that way." you carefully listened to every word he said, this is a learning experience, isn't it? this knowledge came straight from the mouth of a professional, you'd be absolutely daft to not pay attention to him. but it didn't help that he was easy on the eyes or that you could feel his muscles flex through your clothing. he was undeniably attractive and it was hard for you not to entertain the notion. his sharp breath ghosted the skin behind your ear.

"what sort of cleaning products do you use at home?" his question and his proximity startled you.

"um, i use the mr. clean stuff. my mom thought that their super bowl commercial from a few years ago was the epitome of comedy ."

"tch." you could feel his grip tighten on your hand as he shook his head. you frowned at his reaction.

"well what's that supposed to mean?" he sighed before spiraling into a lecture.

"mr. clean, although sexy in his own right, is much too expensive. especially those magic erasers of his. they are outrageously overpriced, and they're not even real magic." your nose crinkled as you snickered at his joke, and his face lit up in a blush. "they're uh, they're made of uh sodium bisulfite copolymer, and it's ridiculously cheap. for half the price, you can buy ten times the amount that damned company scams you with."

"i suppose that's one of the many miracles of capitalism." levi's deep chuckle vibrated through your back. his presence was comforting, and it was beyond a relief to have such a friendly person around, even if it will only last the span of detention.

"you're funny." he leaned into the crook of your neck and lightly sniffed the perfume you'd applied earlier that morning. it's probably for that bastard, miche. levi did his best to shake that thought out of his head, and hurriedly stepped away from you.

"is everything alright, sir?" you threw your rag down, abandoning your place at the table and rushed to his side. your hand rested on the bare skin of his arm, and your eyes widened seeing levi acting so odd. he was perfectly fine seconds ago, it was hard to understand how this change could have taken place so quickly. "you look very pale." before he could blink the backs of your fingers were pressed against his clammy forehead and he was in heaven. he basked in the attention you were giving him, and in this shaken state narrowly avoided lathering you with the same touching care.

"yes, yes." levi cradled his head in his hand, and stared up at you with his hair falling into his eyes. "it's just a little headache, it's no problem." he frequently struggled with migraines, but those were nothing compared to whatever was coming over him now.

"well, i have some extra tylenol in my purse, i can go back to my locker and get some." you couldn't register the speed with which he reached out and held your wrist in an iron grip.

"no." his voice was gravelly, like a frog was caught in his throat. "don't leave. it's really nothing." he smiled to comfort you but it only did the opposite. there was a glint in his eyes that made you want to run away and never come back. you reluctantly agreed to stay with him, and worked through the rest of your detention in relative silence.

the following morning you were called into professor miche's office over the intercom. there were oohs and aahs from your classmates and a resounding thunder of commentary.

"i don't think y/n has ever gotten in trouble before." armin spoke to himself.

"she isn't going to be able to worm her way out of his one." snickered to her friends.

"how much you wanna bet she's screwing him to get a better grade?" reiner joked as berholdt berated him for making assumptions. wrong. wrong. wrong.

ɬɧɛყ'۷ɛ ɠơɬ ıɬ ąƖƖ ῳཞơŋɠ, ʝųʂɬ Ɩıƙɛ ɬɧɛყ ąƖῳąყʂ ɖơ.

you slammed your fists on the table, effectively silencing the chatter. you didn't bother to push your chair back in as you raced down the hallway to pound on miche's office door. you heard a sigh from inside as he beckoned you inside. his menacing figure towered over you

"it's not polite for you to skip out on detention, l/n. where were you for our session?"

"well, you would know if you weren't tardy for detention, sir." you smiled in an effort to brush off the discomforting feeling his stare brought you. miche leaned down to your level and violently sniffed the air around you. "i was with the janitor, you told him to fill in for you. does that ring a bell?" you could care less if you were sounding rude, but his questioning was getting tedious.

professor miche sneered down at you, mulling over the consequences that would be brought down upon you if he discovered this was a lie. "is this true, levi?" your eyes widened as turned around to see levi leaning on the handle of his cart. the hallway was utterly devoid of people, and you didn't understand how you didn't hear his footsteps or the squeak of the wheels on his cart. it's like he was invisible the entire time, appearing silently like a ghost. levi cleared his throat as he stared back at miche.

"quite so, yes. she worked very well under my guidance." he let his gaze drop to the ground as he licked his lips. "it makes me wish that miss l/n could get detention more often so i could have some help keeping this place tidy." he absentmindedly swiped two fingers over miche's name card that hung on his office door. "she worked well, and i'm sure she'll learn from the experience." miche scowled at levi, something was off about him. while the two of them weren't particularly close, he could certainly tell if something was wrong. he'll have to report this to principle erwin, if only to ease his conscience. "well, if that's everything, i suppose i'll be on my way." you gave levi a little smile and mouthed a quick thank you before he set off down the hallway with his cart.

the rumbling of the wheels echoed through the empty hallway as he moved closer and closer to the bathrooms he'd set out to clean. his cart was placed to the right of the entrance to the boy's bathroom and upon entering he was greeted with the welcoming scent of orange spice. levi took great care to make sure he was alone in that bathroom before he retreated into the furthest stall. he undid the buttons of his pants and slid them down his milky thighs until they rested around his ankles. he ran a swift hand through his silky black hair as he gripped the base of his cock tightly, gently smoothing over the thick skin and working to calm his unsteady breathing. he's never been this wound up during his work hours, but he had a feeling that this was soon going to be a normal occurrence. his brain began to wander away from the bathroom stall as he thought back to the porn he'd watched in his car before he came into work. he imagined the movements of the female model's body beneath the man, and how her body shook with every impact of their hips. his manhood twitched in excitement as he thought of her y/h/c hair that laid spread across her red pillows, but that was too perfect. it wasn't dirty enough for him. he needed the real deal, but nobody wanted to touch an old man, and they certainly didn't want to touch someone as creepy as levi ackerman. so he had to resort to doing it himself.

his hand stilled, cock sitting at attention against his pale stomach. he ran a finger over the mushroom-like head and began to roughly fist his cock like a madman. his eyes clenched shut as he tried to think of something that would get him off. the first thought that came to his mind wasn't even erotic, but it gave him a renewed vigor and sent a primal ache coursing through his aching cock. he wondered how you would look sleeping. you have to be the most heavenly creation in existence, vulnerable and at peace while you dream. it would only be too easy to get into the file cabinets that contain thee student records and discover your place of residence, and finally be blessed by the sight of you snuggled into your bed with your stuffed animals cradled to your chest. he could shimmy your cute pajama shorts off your body and press his hot tongue against your cunt. it'd be slimy and wet and lewd and absolutely gross. and he'd love every goddamn minute of it. your face would be flushed red and sweat would bead your forehead as you unconsciously rut against his mouth. he wants your juices to lather his lips and hold your breasts in a death grip as he makes you squirt onto his waiting tongue. he wants to be 𝖘𝖔 𝖌𝖔𝖔𝖉 to you, and spoil you in every way imaginable. he wants to spear you on his cock and bury his head in your breasts, smothering himself and coating the valley between the two mounds on your chest with a mixture of his heavy drool and your wet release. he'll pump you full of his cum until you're absolutely bursting and pull up your panties to hide his mess. he'll sneak out your window and drive home while you lay in warm in your bed with your face shoved into your pillow.

he lets out a heavy groan as he brings his hand to his mouth to bite on his knuckles to stop any sound from escaping his treacherous mouth. he began to imagine what you would look like if you gave him a handjob. would you be slow and tentative? or would you opt to beat his manhood dry? no doubt your delicate fingertips would feel like heaven on earth, and your soft breath would hit his cheek as you focused on bringing him immense pleasure. he heard the door to the bathroom open, but he couldn't break free from his lusty haze. his mind was too focused on the constant phap phap phap of his hand beating against his manhood to register the footsteps that slowly neared the stall he occupied. a hand pressed against the unlocked door to fully expose levi's perversions to the open air. he looks up to see erwin staring down at him, a disappointed look coating the principle's face. no words were spoken as levi continued his assault on his cock. a broken cry left his lips as he threw his head back, eyes clamped shut as he felt his creamy cum shoot out onto his shirt and hand.

"really, levi?" his eyebrows furrowed as levi looked him dead in the eye. "the boy's bathroom?" levi groaned at his question, not bothering to answer before bending over and pulling up his pants. levi had no shame, and certainly not in front of erwin.

levi laughed as he wiped the cum off his hand with toilet paper. "would you prefer i did it in the girl's?" his bland retort left a dumbfounded erwin unable to move from where he stood. levi used that moment of shock to escape from the stall and out into the hallway. he was going to enjoy this newfound sense of freedom.

[life-love-musicaltheatre]

This started more as a self indulgent joke I made in the tags of @unclewaynemunson’s post that I ended up running away with.

I just really like baseball and I think Eddie would agree with me that Steve with a nail bat could convince me to do anything.

⚾️🦇⚾️🦇⚾️🦇⚾️🦇

If you were to tell Eddie Munson that within 3 months he would watch a girl die, become wanted for murder of said sweet sweet girl, steal an RV, almost die himself in a hell dimension, get carried out of said hell dimension by his high school crush, and then have his name mysteriously cleared of all charges and /those/ events led to him playing a sport for the first time in his life, he would ask who sold you the drugs you were on because it definitely wasn’t him. But somehow, there he was, in the middle of a small clearing with Steve Harrington’s chest pressing gently against his back, hands over his own while they swung a bat through the air. Eddie and Steve were both sweaty and the repetition of the motion was actually nice. Eddie felt Steve slip from behind him and he caught himself from sighing at the loss of contact. 

“Alright, think you’re ready to take a swing at a moving target?”

Eddie eased into the stance they’d been practicing and closed his eyes while he drew a steadying breath. 

“Throw it.”

In truth this chapter of Eddie’s life had started a week ago when Steve asked him to grab Dustin’s backpack from his trunk. 

“What the fuck, Harrington!”

Steve jogged over as Eddie gestured to the contents of his car. “Oh! Yeah, that’s my bat.”

Steve said it like it was the most casual thing in the world to own a baseball bat with FUCKING NAILS sticking out of it! Eddie blinked and gestured again, more forcefully since it seemed to him Steve missed the whole point of What The Fuck Harrington-ing him. Steve rolled his eyes and chuckled as if Eddie was putting on just for Steve’s amusement. (Which to be honest, he was, but only a little bit.) 

“It’s /the/ bat, Munson. Y’know, the one I took on those dog things with.” He said it with an almost shy smile like he was embarrassed to be bragging about himself. 

Eddie blinked at him. Yeah, that was something Dustin had filled him in on, but he’s only heard it in snippets till then, and at no point did anyone mention the nails. 

“You still drag that around in your car?” Dustin added as he grabbed his backpack from Eddie’s loosening grip.He’d thought it before, but it never ceased to absolutely floor Eddie how casually his new friends talked about near apocalyptic experiences. He shook himself a little as a hard reset before taking a deep breath and reminding himself he did in fact care about these weirdos, who were now bickering over the merits of being able to swing a bat. 

“I taught Nancy how to swing it, and then I kicked that demogorgon’s ass at the Byers’! You cannot disparage the bat Henderson.”

“Oh you taught Nancy? That explains why she’s crap with melee weapons and sticks to her guns. Literally! She could blow your bat out of the water with her aim!”

Steve put his hands on his hips and leveled Dustin with a glare. “S’not my fault she found something she was better at. Plus, I bet I could teach any one of you how to swing. I was in charge of batting practice Sophomore and Junior year.”

“Then teach me.”

Both boys turned and looked at Eddie like they just remembered he was there. Eddie was even a little surprised he’d spoken up, but he was never one to back down from a challenge and with a chance to be close to Steve on the line there was no limit to the type of fool he’d make of himself. 

“You sure about that?” Steve asked cautiously. 

Eddie shrugged. “If it gets you two to stop giving me a headache then I’ll even let you teach me what order to run the little baggies in, Steve-o.”

Steve looked at him hard for a beat before breaking out into a huge grin. “Alright. You asked for it man.” 

With that Steve slammed the trunk and the three of them went inside. Eddie should have felt nervous, but with the way Steve’s face lit up he was honestly just trying not to swoon. He looked so excited and Eddie would do anything to see Steve’s face light up like that again. So they made plans, next afternoon Steve had off work he was going to teach Eddie how to swing his nail bat. 

—

The day came fast and Steve had given him specific instructions to wear pants and shoes he could run in. They met at Steve’s house and walked out into the woods; Steve carrying a navy blue bag that Eddie was sure was hiding the nail bat from prying eyes. There was a giddiness in the air between the boys as they made their way to a small clearing deep in the trees. 

“Alright,” Steve clapped his hands together as he rounded on Eddie, “time for batting practice, Munson.”

He unzipped the bag and dropped it before pulling out two normal bats and a baseball. 

For a split second Eddie was confused at the lack of nails and a grin on Steve’s face that could only be described as shit eating. It took him a half second longer to realize he’d been tricked by Steve Harrington into playing real, actual baseball for an entire afternoon. 

Eddie’s silence stretched on a beat more and Steve’s smile faltered. 

“I was-“

“Let’s hit balls.”

Steve’s worried look morphed into a smile as he hid a snort behind his hand. “I think you’re looking for ‘Let’s play ball.’”

Eddie rolled his eyes and huffed, “Whatever you say, oh Royal Knight of the field,” bowing low before taking the bat Steve was holding out to him. 

“Ok, I know you’re just trying to make fun of me, but actually the Kansas City Royals won the World Series last year so that’s actually a compliment.”It was Eddie’s turn to hide a laugh as Steve idly twirled his bat in his hands—a move Eddie was sure if he tried to replicate would end up with him smacking himself in the head—as he looked Eddie up and down. 

“Alright now, I want to see what we’re working with.” Eddie started feeling fidgety under Steve’s gaze. “Give me a swing.”

“Ok man, you asked for it.”

Eddie planted his feet wide and leaned over at the hips before swinging fast, almost losing his grip on the back swing. He looked up (when had he started looking down?) at Steve to see him with his brow furrowed, biting his bottom lip. Eddie winced and shrugged. “Like I said...”

“No. I mean it’s not great, by any means, but,” Steve’s brow softened, “it’s not the worst I’ve seen. And you didn’t almost hit me so you’ve got that over Nance.”

Eddie felt something in his chest brighten involuntarily. He smirked at Steve, “So you’re saying I have a shot at making the team, Harrington?”

Steve laughed and Eddie felt like his chest was visibly glowing. “You already made the cut, Eds. We just gotta whip you into playing shape now.”

And as light as Eddie felt, making Steve smile and sharing something he obviously loved so much, so began one of the sweatiest afternoons of Eddie’s life.

They started with his grip, which according to Steve wasn’t too horrible actually, but needed to be more relaxed so it didn’t affect his overall swing. Steve used his own bat to tap at Eddie, moving his feet closer together so they were shoulder width apart, raising his hands up higher and lengthening out his neck so he was actually looking up and not at his feet. All the while he gave instructions about how Eddie should position his weight over his back foot and step into the swing, lead with his hips, and don’t try to end the swing till he finishes following the movement all the way through.

Steve made him do a few more, even doing a few swings of his own so Eddie could see what he meant, but it seemed like both of them were just becoming more frustrated, till Steve ran a hand through his hair and groaned.

“Fuck it.”

Steve dropped his bat and moved behind Eddie, dropping his hands firmly to his hips and pulling them back. Eddie let his bat fall slack, stuck between telling Steve off for not warning him first and melting into his grip. 

“You’re rotating too fast. You’re throwing your hips too much and you’ll get hit by the ball if you’re not careful.”

Eddie could feel Steve’s words like a cooling breeze on the back of his neck. He nodded, not trusting his voice with Steve pressed this close, right behind him.

“You have to let every part of your body flow through the swing.” Steve was pulling his hips, “Bat up Munson,” and Eddie let himself be dragged through the motion. 

Back, step forward, pull through. Again. Back, step forward, pull through. All the while Steve was guiding his body through the motion, it felt hypnotic and fluid. Much better than how Eddie had been doing it before. 

“Good.” Steve moved his arms up and wrapped his hands over Eddie’s. “Keep the bat up higher. You want to let it fall back a little when you wind up.”

They moved through the swing together some more—back, step forward, pull through—and Eddie felt himself sink into the motion fully for the first time that day. It’d only been a couple hours they’d been practicing but his swings were getting surer. The bat was loose in his grip but he didn’t feel like it was going to go sailing into the trees like it almost had earlier. Eddie felt a tingle of something start to well up and spread through his limbs with every swing. Steve’s body was warm behind his. He was just starting to relax into the strong arms around him when Eddie felt Steve slip from behind him and he caught himself from sighing at the loss of contact. 

“Alright, think you’re ready to take a swing at a moving target?”

Steve had gone to stand in front of him, pulling the baseball out from his pocket. Eddie squared up. Weight over his back foot, knees and feet shoulder width apart, knuckles lined up and fingers loose around the bat handle. He closed his eyes, took a final breath to steady himself before looking up at Steve with a sure smile. 

“Throw it.”

Steve matched his smile before jogging back a few paces and taking a stance of his own. He tossed the ball underhanded towards Eddie and he wound up, stepping forward, and swinging sure through the pitch. He only caught the edge of the ball and it soared straight up into the air before coming back down and landing a foot behind where Eddie was standing. Steve’s laugh was bright as it cut through their clearing. 

“Nice! You tipped it!” Eddie was scowling at the ball but looked up as Steve continued. “Toss it back and I’ll throw you another one.”

Eddie wanted to stay pissy but it was hard when Steve was obviously having so much fun. He threw it back the same way Steve had tossed it to him and it rolled the last few feet to where he was standing. He laughed again.

“Maybe next time I’ll teach you how to throw.”

Eddie laughed back, “How about we master one feat of athleticism at a time?”

They were smiling at each other as they reset their positions. Steve nodded at Eddie before tossing the ball, only for him to tip it again, this time landing in front of him. Eddie tossed it back quickly before squaring up again. 

“Come on Steve! Give me a good throw!” He called out. He was long past denying that he was enjoying himself too.

Steve threw his head back, his mirth was palpable and it made Eddie’s face flush. “All right, you asked for it.”

Steve’s stance changed. It felt more serious, standing profiled as he hiked his leg up and let a real pitch go. 

Eddie still swung at it. Of course he swung at it. He felt his hips pull forward and lead his shoulders and hands through his swing, eyes wide as he saw the bat make full contact with the ball and send it flying over Steve’s head and out into the trees beyond. There was a millisecond where the world was quiet before they could faintly hear the ball hit the first few leaves as it went through the canopy and suddenly Eddie felt pride explode in his chest. Steve began cheering as Eddie took off, running where he imagined the bases to be, egged on by Steve’s laughter. 

“Eddie, dude! You’re running the wrong direction!” He doubled over as Eddie made a show of going around base numbers one and two. “Fuck it! Run home, Eddie! Run home!” 

Eddie rounded close enough to base three before turning and sprinting directly at Steve. He jumped at him the last few paces crashing into him with a giant hug, sending them down to the forest floor. Both of them were too happy to care, they continued holding on to each other as they celebrated. 

“Safe! Touchdown, Kansas City!” Eddie crowed from half on top of Steve. 

“I know, you know that’s not right.” Steve said as their laughing died down. Eddie looked down at Steve below him and felt a pull in his gut. Sweaty and still so beautiful, he let his eyes flicker down to Steve’s lips. 

“Is this part of the game too?” He asked quietly. 

“Nah,” Steve’s smile practically sparkled up at him, “but I can still probably show you a thing or two.”

“You’re on.” Eddie grinned as he closed the gap between them and gave Steve a soft kiss. 

He felt Steve’s hands come up and gently thread through his hair, not to deepen but to hold. They lazily let their lips slide over each other’s, Eddie more than happy to stay in their little clearing for the rest of the day, till Steve broke the kiss with a giggle. 

“Y’know, again, I know you were joking but Kansas City’s also got a football team and-“

“You know what Steve? Let’s just stick with baseball for now.”

⚾️🦇⚾️🦇⚾️🦇⚾️🦇

Please let me know what you think. I personally think there needs to be more fics about Eddie getting into Steve’s hobbies too. I love the ones where Steve learns he’s amazing at DnD but please, we also need the reverse because there’s really something so homoerotic about the rituals we have for men to touch other men. 😂

I’ll probably refine this a little more and throw it up on my Ao3 in the morning, if you wanna read it there. In the mean time thank you so much for reading. Ok I love you buh-bye. 💕

*edit: since I finished this at like 3 am I didn’t really give it a thorough read through for spelling and grammar errors. Little bits have been edited. Hope this makes it read a little better! 

[reqxxyt]

strange confession

pairings: jude b. x f!reader

warnings: none (i think??)

masterlist requests are open!

[unedited]

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

Finals week. Dreaded by every single student. Libraries are packed and practically everyone is crying in the study rooms. I had to schedule a study room 1 month before finals and I still just barely made the cut. Having been studying for the entire week for a physics exam, I had to cancel all plans isolating myself from any social gatherings, including one I had planned since the beginning of the semester. 

Jude has been in my life for the past 4 years of my existence, I never held much attraction to him until the end of high school but I blocked it thinking it was just a bluff and me just thinking about how much I was going to miss him but instead those feelings outweighed the platonic ones. Now, my sophomore year with barely any visits to my hometown, it was saddening that I had to cancel plans due to me being an academic tryhard. 

I finished my last practice exam and glanced at the clock to check the time debating whether to stay and risk the chances or leave now and go back to my noisy apartment. I shut down my laptop and started gathering my belongings, shoving them quickly into my backpack as I could feel my stomach grumble underneath me with hunger because of the lack of food I had the past week. 

I heard my phone ding as soon as I turned it on spotting that Jude had texted me sending my insides to blaze, excitement running through my heart hoping I could catch enough time to talk to him. But before I could read the message, it rang with his name on display. I answered it almost immediately holding it against my ear as I started walking towards the door. 

“Hurry up and get to your apartment.” he sounded annoyed and I furrowed my eyebrows even if he couldn’t see me. I asked what he meant. “Just get here” and hung up the phone. 

I hurried my steps a lot faster than I usually would and arrived at my apartment building in 10 minutes. By my door was Jude, sitting on the floor scrolling through his phone. Hearing footsteps near, he looked up and displayed his friendly smile the second he spotted me at the end of the hallway walking towards him. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked very little surprise in my tone. More just tired than anything, needing to take a 10-hour nap after this week. “Why are you sitting on the floor? Do you know how dirty that is? Get up”

“God you sound like my mother” he rolled his eyes, getting himself up while dusting himself off as I unlocked the door and left it open for him to enter behind me. “I came to surprise you” 

I gave him a blank stare not very amused, my insides were the clear opposite wanting to hug and show any type of physical affection and emotions to the man in front of me. “Why?”

Now he was the one surprised, expecting her to be all excited and jump around, maybe even giving him a kiss. But instead, she stood silent, unamused. “Because I thought you would like me to be here” his voice wandered. “I brought food”

Hearing this made me now excited, smiling like an idiot as I asked “Really?” now ready to jump around.  He just handed me the bag filled with my favorite snacks and food in a separate one. I went through it gasping at each product as I took them out, my heart softened at his thoughtfulness. 

“I love you” I blurted out mid-opening my first snack without much thought until the room turned silent. “Like-”

“Yeah I know,” he said, not really needing much of an explanation thinking she would ever only like him in a friendly way. 

I shoved all the possible snacks I could into my mouth, ensuring I wouldn’t say another word about that conversation as he sneaked a couple of my food into his mouth. 

“Did you not get yourself anything?” I asked a bit worried but still in awe about the amount of food he gave me. He just shook his head, grabbing another bite, not really noticing my worrying gaze until making eye contact with me. 

“Don’t give me that look” he said before taking another bite. I only just looked away hating how just given a glance can make my insides twirl. “Anyways, it’s been a couple of months since we’ve seen each other. You have to have a life by now.”

“Strange way to ask what’s been happening” I commentated as I sat on the stool next to his before answering “School is just all I have right now” shrugging but he gave me a bored look.

“What about that college experience? No parties? Crushes?” He asked, the last one in a teasing manner but I made a disgusted look trying to hide the blush that wanted to disperse. I shook my head to all of them biting the inside of my cheek, leaning back on the stool. “Then you have no excuse to not answer my calls,” he says with narrowed eyes. 

“I’ve been busy with school,” I said, half telling the truth. His eyes lingered on me for a second as silent moments passed, my heart skipped a beat with a sudden change of mind, maybe I should tell him now. I was going to anyways. “Jude?”

He hummed, waiting for my question. Hoping his brain was right where it was leading. 

“Can you quiz me for physics?” My mouth blurted out before my brain could process what to say. Jude lifted his gaze, no longer looking at me saying stupid things to himself. Meanwhile, I was cursing to myself.

“Stop worrying about it so much,” he says, getting out of the stool and heading to my couch. “You’ll do fine. You always do” 

“Fine is not enough,” I said, following him to sit down. I bit my tongue not allowing myself to talk about school anymore. “Have you met anyone yet?”

His face changed at the sudden change of topic, one he had been thinking about to himself for the last couple of months. “No” was a simple answer but it made me smile internally knowing he wasn’t seeing anyone and I wouldn’t be hurt. 

That’s selfish. 

“Huh?” He asked as if he heard me until I realized he did. Because I said that out loud. Very bad habit of mine. He stood back up as I was left sitting, staring up at him“It’s selfish that I’m not with someone?”

“What? Oh no. It’s not selfish. Not at all. I mean it would be selfish of me to want you to be single but if you did have someone, great for you I mean. Not so great for me considering uhh it doesn’t matter. I say things out loud sometimes” I stuttered out as I got myself up, rambling almost spilling my thoughts out in the open. He grew a small smile, one amused because somewhere in that ramble had been a confession. 

He now only stood a couple of feet from me now. “Why do you want me to stay single?” He tested the waters, stepping closer. 

This wasn't the way I planned it. “I can’t say the words Jude” I wanted to go back in time. But he was patient enough to stay a good distance.

“But I think you can. Say it” he whispered, barely audible. My heart pounded against my chest as I looked down to the floor only being able to hang my head low as I whispered. 

“I like you” 

“Again” a step closer. 

“I like you” with a tiny bit more volume.

“Again” step closer.

“I like you” a calmer tone.

“Again” he now stood a few inches away, lifting my chin as my breath turned steady although my heart was doing the complete opposite. His eyes searched my own, near praying to hear her say the words he longed for so long. 

“I li-“ but he didn’t let her finish. Pushing his lips onto her own. I stood shocked for the first second before feeling my body melt into his arms. Our lips moved in sync, almost as if having done this millions of times, but it felt like the first with all the excitement exploding internally. 

We separated, letting in small gasps of air as I looked up at him.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for those words”

[vxntagedior]

hii i have three requests, but totally up to you if you wanna tweak them or something. they're all steve harrington x fem!reader, sfw, angst with hea. thank youu <33

1. reader receives gifts or poems or little trinkets with the sender giving hints about his identity and feelings. the thing is, they're from steve - who is reader's best friend. she asks for his help to find out who this mystery sender is and he agrees. but what if there's like a mistaken identity and she thinks they're from billy (and like who isn't attracted to bad guys and stuff) and steve just goes all pouty (loljk i dunno but something along those lines)

2. king steve era where he makes reader fall in love with him as a dare and she finds out about it breaking her trust and all that. but like i also kinda want it to happen when steve knows about the upside down already and reader will be in danger (near death for more angst haha)

3. reader confesses to steve, but he says he doesn't like her. then reader's all 'okay fine, i'm gonna move on' and when she actually does that, steve is 🥺

moving along

summary | after pining after steve for years, and finally getting the courage, steve doesn't reciprocate your feelings

pairing | steve harrington x fem!reader (one-sided), ??? x fem!reader

warning | i did choose the 3rd one, each were amazing but i just love the third one, angst, fluff ending (for reader), king!steve era, bully!steve, mean!steve

word count | 1.3k

It had to be freshman year of high school when you really saw Steve. Though having known him since elementary school, neither of you were close. It wasn’t until you had trouble opening your locker on the first day of school when your locker neighbor, Steve offered to help you.

Not having any classes with him during freshman year, the two of you talked and catched up during passing periods when you were switching out books.

You liked that Steve, you grew to love that Steve.

But King Steve, hanging around Tommy and Carol, you didn’t like him. 

“Excuse me.” Your voice was barely loud enough for Carol to hear. Rolling her eyes, she turned her head to you. 

“What?” She spat.

It was now junior year, you and Steve were no longer friends anymore, your friendship had ended towards the end of the first semester of sophomore year, when he met Tommy and Carol and started to gain more popularity. 

“You’re in front of my locker.” You sighed, it was a daily occurrence at this point. Usually Carol would come up with something to say to you but she just scooted closer to Tommy, turning back to the conversation. 

Turning to look at the group, you saw for a split second Steve’s eyes on you before he quickly casted them back to Tommy. 

Being as quick as you could you just grabbed your stuff, and walked into math. 

Walking into your usual seat, you smiled over at Nancy, the two of you good friends. “Did you hear about the Winter Formal?”

“I did.” Nancy nodded, “My mom wants to take me dress shopping this weekend.”

“Going with anyone?” You asked. You hoped that this would be the perfect time for you to ask Steve to dance with you, and finally confess your feelings for him. 

“No, no one has asked me and I am not going to ask anyone.” Nancy shrugged, “It doesn’t matter to me.”

You wished you had the carefree attitude she had about it, you were stressed out, worried about everything. Would Steve say yes, would your dress fit, would you and Steve be a couple afterwards. 

Coming home that afternoon, you made up the plan that you were going to ask Steve to Winter Formal the next day. Coming up with ideas in your head, you went to bed that night, dreaming of the two of you together. 

Your outfit was more put together than usual, a nicer blouse and a maxi skirt, that covered your legs, tights covering your legs from the freezing weather in Hawkins. Wiping off the nonexistent dust of you, you saw Steve at his locker, alone for once. 

Taking a deep breath, you made your way towards your own locker. 

Hearing the clicks of your shoes, Steve turned to see you coming up to your own locker, looking down, taking in your outfit.

“Hi Steve.” You said sweetly, turning towards him.

“Hey.” He just nodded. The old Steve would have probably loved talking to you but this new Steve, he didn’t know what to think. 

“So uh, winter formal is coming up.” You didn’t know why you were so nervous, you had pumped yourself up all last night and now you were stressing. “And I was wondering if-”

“Wait.” Steve interrupted you, your eyes now lowering to your feet. Feeling your heart starting to break, you already knew where it was going to end. “I think you’re great, but I’m planning to ask someone else.”

“Okay.” You swallowed, just nodding your head, “See you.”

Holding back your tears, you let out a shaky sigh, going into class. The rest of the day went by a blur, now walking out of school, making your way towards your car. 

Opening up the driver's door, throwing your bag into the passenger seat, you rested your hands on the steering wheel. 

Turning your keys, you heard the engine sputter, cursing under your breath. Turning off the car, you tried again, hearing the same sound.

“Are you kidding me!”

“Need a ride?”

Turning around, you saw your neighbor, Billy, leaning against his own car. Billy and his family had moved in towards the end of summer, you heard of his reputation and left him be. 

“It’s fine.” You sighed, “I’ll just go to the office, call a tow truck.”

“Like hell.” He opened your passenger door, grabbing your bag and bringing it towards his car. You had no other choice now, locking up your car and following Billy.

The ride home was quiet, his music filling the silence.

“Thank you.” You whispered, playing with a string on your bag. 

“It’s the neighborly thing.” He smirked, looking over at you. There was another beat of silence before he spoke again. “Saw you with Harrington this morning.”

“It was nothing.” You brushed it off. “I asked him to winter formal, he said no, that was it.”

Billy could tell there was more just by the sound of your voice but said nothing. Pulling into your driveway, you bid Billy a goodbye. 

“Y/n!” You turned, seeing Billy calling out your name, “If it’s worth anything, Harrington doesn’t know what he’s missing.”

You just smiled, and walked inside. 

-

No one had ever asked you to winter formal and hearing through the grapevine, Steve had asked Nancy, who gladly said yes.

After some self reflection, you were over Steve, if he couldn’t see how you felt and ignored it, you didn’t need him.

Staring at your dress in your closet, you sat at the end of your bed just sighing. Your group of friends had invited you to go with them and all their dates and you couldn’t be the only one without a date. 

The doorbell had brought you out of your daydream, blinking a few times before going down the stairs.

Opening the door, you were met with a sight. Billy stood on your porch, all dressed, slacks, button up and a jacket, his hair freshly done and a corsage in his hand. 

“Billy.” You murmured, “You look handsome.”

“Thank you.” It was probably the first time you truly ever saw him smile. “Why aren’t you dressed?”

“I don’t know if I’m going.” You shrugged, letting him come inside, “Your date must be lucky.”

“Well, she isn’t dressed yet, and I’m here to persuade her into coming.” He smirked.

Catching his drift, your eyes widened in shock, “You want to go with me?”

“If you let me.” He said, “I know we haven’t been that close, but Harrington shouldn’t stop you from going.”

You just stayed silent, smiling softly, excusing yourself, running upstairs.

Getting dressed and doing your makeup in under thirty minutes, something that surprised you, you slid on your heels and made your way back downstairs.

“You look beautiful.” He said in awe, seeing you in your dress. Opening up the box that held your corsage, Billy nudged it towards your wrist.

Giving you his arm, Billy delicately tied the corsage around you, squeezing your hand before pulling away. 

“You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Walking into the gymnasium, one transformed into a winter wonderland, you looked around everywhere smiling softly. The dance had started less than an hour ago, the room starting to fill up.

You let Billy bring you to the dance floor, offering you his hand. Smiling, you accepted, letting him wrap his arms around your waist. 

In your own worlds, neither of you noticed Steve looking towards your way. Steve had noticed you the minute you entered the room. And seeing Billy next to you, made him jealous.

After rejecting you, Steve had felt horrible and wanted to apologize but he had let Tommy get into his head saying that he needed someone better.

But that night, Steve came to realize, there wasn’t anyone better than you.

fin.

[fubureaders]

he was a nerd, she did ballet, what more can i say? | joshua bassett au imagine

summary: it's a university AU in nyc, cuz what better place is there for a rom-com moment? lucky for you there's a really cute guy standing up at the podium in the latest student government meeting... who seems to like learning more about pirouettes and lifts. or maybe he just likes the way you look in pink. 🩰🩰🩰

wc: 1.7k

note: happy belated golden (22nd) birthday joshua!!

masterlist

it's your second year of university, and your dance classes are getting more intense than what you've ever done before... and you're loving every minute, even if your feet are killing you. but you're studying your passion in the most beautiful city in the world. even if new york was recently named the most expensive in the world... your grandma's got a rent controlled apartment in harlem that has in unit laundry, a dishwasher, and rooms for both you and your childhood friend to sleep in. plus central air. there's no way in hell you're ever passing it up, regardless of whether or not your downstairs neighbors hate it when you stay up late practicing.

for their luck though, your friend and now roommate is looking to work in diplomacy and international relations, after having seen that queen amelia mignonette thermopolis renaldi of genovia went to the woodrow wilson school in princess diaries 2: royal engagement. she said, and these were her exact words, "it's either i become mia thermopolis and marry a chris pine type, or become an elle woods type and marry a luke-wilson-as-emmett-forest type." she's a sweetheart though, and you both have a love for pink. so when she has these movie-based ambitions, you go with it because this girl will probably end up taking over the political world while you're taking over the dance world.

so anyway, because this girl's plotting pink-filled world domination, she's been getting her start in the university student government, and she's doing a great job. she lost the election for sophomore class president, but she says the guy who won is really nice and working with him as sophomore vice president hasn't made her sick yet, which is high praise from her so you're not entirely annoyed at the idea of attending the next meeting with her. besides, you've been meaning to branch out more and make friends who aren't in the dance program, because let's be real... most of the girls taking ballet are thin, white, wealthy and it can be difficult to have a variety of discussions with them, no matter how much you love talking about the professors with them. hopefully there are a couple more people of color (besides you and your friend) that you can talk to, and befriend.

after a long train ride down to campus and grabbing some food at one of the trucks outside from your favorite vendor who always serves you extra for the same price, you and your friend head inside and rush to catch the elevator. thankfully, a (really cute) guy holds the elevator open for you both, and as the doors close your friend seems to recognize him and so she begins talking to him about some school issue being brought up in tonight's event. while you're looking at your email to check if any professors are suddenly assigning work due at 11:59, you feel the guy's curious and intrigued eyes glancing towards you. in such a short elevator ride, you've never felt so flattered.

so when the cute elevator guy asks for your name, you can't help but feel sad when the elevator doors choose that exact moment to open up. of course the cute elevator continues to be a gentleman and once more holds the doors open for you and your friend, so you tell him your name in a quiet tone as you walk past. not accounting for the chatter going on, you don't realize that he couldn't hear your reply.

the room begins to quiet down as your friend makes her way to the front of the room, so you quickly find a seat near the wall and set your bag to rest on your chair. and as you look up to focus on the meeting that your friend was so excited about, you're happy to see some members of the black student union, and make a mental note to talk to some of them after the meeting. but then your eyes focus on the podium at the front of the room, and are surprised to see "cute elevator guy" standing there, talking about starting off the student government meeting as sophomore class president. so this is the guy who won. does it make you a bad friend to say you would've voted for him too, based on that smile alone? wow, you could get used to these meetings -- and now you feel put on the spot, because all of a sudden he's making eye contact with you.

he's making eye contact with those glittering brown eyes of his (how in the hell are they glittering, bro? that's some magic right there)... and he's talking all pretty and passionate about mental health initiatives he wants to propose for students. and wouldn't you know it, not only is the guy cute but he seems to know what he's talking about. he's got a whole slideshow talking about mental health issues that students are facing, unprecedented issues that this university and many others have never faced before, and how he plans to aid students through his term. he's talking animatedly with his hands, talking about some of his own experiences, and even talking about how he knows that he can't speak on how it impacts each individual because he recognizes his privilege. you're finally understanding why vulnerability and honesty can be so damn attractive in a man.

he then brings up a group of students with whom he's been working on a plan to present to the university, and this group is comprised of majority students of color and those with disabilities. it's a necessary meeting, and you even see some people from the school paper writing down their responses, giving these students a platform to discuss what mental health means to them at a PWI. it's beautiful, and you feel grateful that your friend pushed you to come out tonight.

so when the meeting ends, you're a little sad because the discussion was getting good. only reason why it ended was because "cute elevator guy," or as you've now found out it's joshua, ordered pizzas for everybody. the man is considerate, kind, intellectual, and has money to buy all that pizza for a bunch of broke & hungry college kids? yeah, he's definitely got your vote in more ways than one.

you and your friend regroup, and are talking with some of the students from before about classes and fun things around the city, when you get that same feeling from the elevator that the class president is still checking you out. you feel your cheeks warm, and you start to play with your jewellery, getting your friend's attention as they know it's a telltale sign of you being nervous.

"what's up? you've been weird since the elevator... with josh... ooooh, you finally have a crush!" they exclaim, and you give them your best 'i will cut you if you raise your voice by one more decibel' stare. they grin mischievously as they glance over to joshua, who was looking at you until getting caught by your friend, causing him to blush and go on his phone as a distraction from you. as your friend turns back, you begin to explain to them, "listen, i would totally approach him because, i mean... look at him," you say as they nod along in understanding, "but i'm just so tired of always having to approach guys. especially at this school, not one of them has ever approached me first, i'm always starting the conversation. so if mr. president wants to talk to me, he can talk and i will gladly listen."

you had hoped that was the last of it, and for a minute there it truly seemed like your friend had just let the whole thing go, left it in the past and moved on. until they so innocently said they were throwing away trash, took your plate along with theirs, and quickly walked over to joshua. the other students you've been talking with see this go down and try not to laugh, otherwise they'd give it all away. but you turn around anyway, to find yourself being pointed at by your friend, who's looking all too happy while talking with the lanky student advocate... who's now holding eye contact with you once again. you try to play it off cool, hoping you weren't outwardly drooling and praying your melanin is enough to hide your blushing.

then, a hand gently touches your arm. that same hand that was waving around animatedly while the cute elevator guy was talking at the podium, with the amateur black-polished manicure and a couple rings in addition. your friend reappears on your other side, still wearing that mischievous grin and watching you over the brim of their cup. you turn, and lo and behold, there's mr president now, smiling at you again like he wants you to have a crush on him.

author's note: finishing this off with bullet points, will probably come back to this and rewrite the whole thing so it's fully fleshed out

you guys talk, and people are trying to talk to him about more campus issues, but he's asking you about your favorite restaurants and ballet-related memories

you mention your favorite pizza shop to him, and your friend just so happens to have an exam early tomorrow morning (you're so buying them coffee as a thank you for saying that)

so you take him to your favorite place, while you talk about seeing performances of the dance theatre of harlem and the american ballet theatre growing up, and being too scared to audition for the production with solange's music attached being put on recently

he talks about wanting to go into advocacy for the queer community and in general those who deal with mental health issues (maybe you mentally think "great another broken white boy" like black panther... maybe you even say it, and he actually gets the joke/reference?? either way it's a funny thought and a fun time)

anyway at some point, your friend texts you asking how your "date with mr president" is going, but you don't even notice your phone buzz, because you're just talking about everything with each other. after a little while he sees how few people are left in the restaurant, and you guys see how much time passed. so he pays and walks you home, giving you guys the chance to talk more, and you're loving every minute of it

you get to the doorway of your apartment, and tell him that next time he can show you his favorite music shops around the city that he'd mentioned, and you'll even let him talk your ear off more about advocacy. he laughs, and ends up successfully getting your number

the next day, you wake up and see that he sent a message telling you how much he had last night. you guys end up talking as you make your way to class, but you're not paying too much attention to your professor. only because as you were walking into the room, he sent you a text asking you out for a real date

bonus: real date where he takes you to see the solange ballet, and once you guys get outside by the lincoln center fountain, he tries to recreate some of the moves with you. then you guys go back to the pizza place and talk some more

okay so i don't know how to end these but i hope you like it, and that it makes sense. sorry i couldn't fully finish it out, it's currently 4 am (merry christmas eve by the way, and happy holidays otherwise). but i really liked this idea, and i hope you do too. happy belated birthday joshua (if he ever sees this i want him to say in an interview what his thoughts are on solange)

ok love you bye, happy holidays, drink some water, get some rest (very hypocritical i know)

[loving-jack-kelly]

Yo!! Hello!!! I am like 90% sure I've seen you post about dimension 20 before!!

I just got a dropout subscription and I'm thriving but I am looking for advice for where to start/go with the dnd-verse on it? I'm assuming that the separate campaigns are relatively stand-alone but I would love an opinion (or just input on what the actual chronology is lmao)

hehe sleeper phrase discovered i'm honored you came to me :)

so the first thing to know which you probably already do is that there is a main returning cast for some seasons, and then some campaigns are a different group with an occasional different dm. the Intrepid Heroes are Lou Wilson, Zac Oyama, Brian Murphy, Ally Beardsley, Siobhan Thompson, and Emily Axford with Brennan Lee Mulligan dming, so they play as that exact group multiple times. There's usually one or two of them in a non-main-cast campaign, too, including Brennan sometimes as a player when somebody else is dming.

So! In terms of watch order! I recommend starting with Fantasy High because it's the original campaign and also fantastic. There are currently two seasons, Fantasy High and Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, and they are both masterpieces. We're also getting Junior Year this winter which is extremely exciting for me personally because I Love Fantasy High lol. Fantasy High is a great starting point especially if you're new to dnd/dnd actual play shows (which you may not be so feel free to disregard this bit of advice lol) because multiple players are learning how to play in the first season, so there's plenty of opportunity to learn with them. It's also generally pretty light-hearted and funny, though it doesn't sacrifice story for comedy which I love. If you don't know, the concept of Fantasy High is that these young teenagers live in a world where everywhere else is a stereotypical fantasy world but their country is like. Classic high school Americana. It's silly, the characters are great, the storylines are great and only get better in Sophomore Year, it's an all around great time and great intro to D20!

I went right from Fantasy High to Unsleeping City, which is also fantastic (you'll notice a recurring theme here, I love every campaign I've watched so far lol). If you like the lighter parts of Fantasy High but want a little bit more tension, Unsleeping City is perfect. It's set in modern-day New York with a twist: there's a magical underside to the city. Lots of fantastic commentary on modern life in the storytelling that slaps, I won't spoil but it slaps, and also really wonderful characters! Unsleeping City also has two seasons, so you get to see the characters grow and change a lot over two full plotlines which is very fun!

If you like the more serious side of things, my personal favorite D20 campaign is A Crown of Candy. I watched this third and it made me cry hard enough at work that my boss asked if I was okay lol. The set-up is simple: fantasy world made of food, but make it Game of Thrones. It's intense, the stakes are high from episode one, it's incredibly character driven and everybody plays really, really interesting characters, and because of how high-stakes it is, every payoff is just insane. We all talk about Ally's poetic nat 20s and believe me, they exist, but Mr. Lou Wilson (love of my life) has a nat 20 near the end of A Crown of Candy that genuinely made me feel so crazy when it happened that I had to take a walk lol. Cannot recommend it enough, it's devastating and perfect.

A Starstruck Odyssey is really good again if you like the lighter end of thing but still want stakes and tension! The world is based of comics that Brenna's mom wrote which is really sweet, and it's a very different vibe because is sci-fi instead of pure fantasy, which is honestly really fun. Some of the characters are up there on my favorites list, shoutout to Skipper and Sundry Sydney!

In terms of the campaigns that aren't Intrepid Heroes, the first one I listened to was Misfits and Magic, which is a Harry Potter spoof dmed by Abria Ayangar, who's fantastic, and featuring Brennan as an utterly unhinged in the best way player. There's also Mice and Murder, which is a super great mystery with anthropomorphic animals that was shot on zoom over the first lockdown (a few seasons were so don't be shocked by that lol). I'm a bit more than halfway through A Court of Fey and Flowers which has been great so far, and I'm super looking forward to getting to The Ravening War, which is a prequel to A Crown of Candy, and Mentoplis, as well as the current season, Burrow's End. I have to watch Neverafter first though, which is the most recent Intrepid Heroes campaign.

Anyway! To summarize!

My advice is to start with Fantasy High and Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, and then pick which elements you liked best to decide what you want next! All of the campaigns that aren't explicitly linked are completely standalone, like I'm not missing anything important from the one's I've watched by not having watched some of the others, so don't worry too much about chronology or anything like that! The only ones that need to be watched in a specific order are the two with two seasons already, which are Fantasy High and Unsleeping City, but those are labelled quite clearly with season titles! Also if it's easier to keep track of, Dropout has the campaigns sorted into their own shows on the site so you don't have to choose seasons of D20, you can just choose A Crown of Candy.

PLEASE update me as you watch! I love love love talking D20 lol it's one of my favorite shows like ever!!

[tameila]

if the story's over, why am i still writing pages.... i am 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Ah, this is an AU that is very near and dear to my heart. It's a high school Pikelan AU based off of this prompt that I answered.

The main premise is that, at the end of junior year, right before summer break, Scanlan wrote a letter of confession to Pike. She did not have the time before he left all summer to answer him, but, honestly? She doesn't know if she would have had an answer even if she'd had all the time in the world.

Now, it's senior year, and Pike is taking a creative writing elective...inspired by a certain letter, mayhaps? and Scanlan is in her class. She keeps trying to confess to him via poem. Scanlan keeps thinking that she's asking him to proofread up until he wrongly assumes that she's writing them for someone else.

It's a whole thing.

Can she properly convey her feelings before high school is over? If she confesses, will it even matter as her and all her friends drift in different directions? Why does anything have to change? Pike doesn't want anything to change.

....It is absolutely on the same level of TSAR in the sense that I'm like,"hehe teehee here's a cute lil teenaged romp" and then once I've lulled you into a false sense of security...WA-BAM!!! The grief of growing up, of "leaving" childhood behind, of loving people so much that you may inevitably lose to distance and time. It won't be your fault. It won't be theirs. That's just life. Why does anything have to change? How do you hold on when there's no way to stop it?

As I mentioned, it's a WIP that I cradle very fondly and that I have mostly plotted out in bullet points.

Here's some scenes:

SCENE FIVE (Homecoming week, mid-October)

In middle school, the girls always went as a group to dances. Then, freshman year, Vex started dating and, since then, has never gone to a dance without a date. Pike would have been happy to just go with Keyleth as a dynamic duo, but Vax asked her. As friends. Though there was a whole drama when apparently he hadn’t wanted to go as friends and Keyleth started dating Kash two weeks after Homecoming. But - That’s a whole other thing. With Vex and Keyleth all dated up, Pike agreed to go as friends with Scanlan when he asked.

Some details about her ridiculous hair she got done and the dress she bought

A sense of childhood being “lost”/”left behind” as they ditched the sleepover and girl’s day that Homecoming used to be

Since then, she’s always gone to any dance with Scanlan as friends. It’s an unspoken agreement. Grog tagging along with them if he’s not currently hooking up with someone.

Pike figured this year would be no different.

A naive thought, in retrospect.

In years before, he’s always asked. Even though they're only going as friends, Scanlan loves the theatrics and planning of The Asking. Still, it's an unspoken thing. Pike assumes he’s just been busy.

The girls went dress shopping over the weekend and Pike sends a picture of her dress to Scanlan. He answers in his usual poetic manner. Pike replies back something about what color bowtie/tie she thinks would look best and Scanlan comes back with: “Oh. We’re going together?”

It’s a whole back and forth.

“You don’t want to go?” “I think there’s somebody else you need to ask.” He sends a few more encouraging texts. Pike throws her phone aside, curls up in bed, and has a good ol’ fashion cry about it. Boys are dumb.

[POEM FIFTEEN]

SCENE SIX (night of Homecoming)

Pike does not ask anyone, and no one asks her. An unsurprising fact. Despite the fact that Scanlan and her have always made it clear that they’re only friends, the rumor mill will say what it pleases. She’s lost out on a couple dates because of it. Like, when she had a crush on that girl in her sophomore year, the one with the colored skinny jeans and colored highlights, who later admitted (long after Pike’s crush had gone) that she’d wanted to ask Pike to the dance but thought she was with Scanlan.

She almost doesn’t want to go anymore, figures she can save the dress for something else, but! Scanlan says he’ll be going, so she goes.

She dresses up, meeting with Keyleth and Vex at Vex’s house. She poses for pictures, alone. Stands awkwardly to the side of her friends as they dance with their dates. She constantly checks her phone. Eventually, she ends up on a stone bench at the front of the school, calling him.

Scanlan says that his mom wasn’t feeling well. He stayed home to take care of her and didn’t think anyone would miss him.

“I always miss you, Scanlan.”

A long, emotionally charged pause.

She says she’ll walk over. Scanlan says he’ll come get her. Pike sneaks out some food and gets into the car when Scanlan rolls up

Pike brushes his hair away from his eyes, taking in his haggard appearance. She asks him if he wants to go get some Dairy Queen sundaes - her treat. Scanlan shakes his head. His mom still needs him back at home. She understands.

Scanlan goes to pull away from the curb but stops one last time to tell her how beautiful she looks. Another pause. Pike almost begs him to just DRIVE, but after another second with no answer, he does on his own.

SCENE EIGHT (Friday before Scanlan’s show?, sleepover)

Keyleth’s house. A bit about Keyleth’s house and living situation.

Some dumb sleepover shenanigans

But also getting real talk. Talking about college. Percy’s guaranteed some full ride to somewhere and a spot in his family’s company. Vex plans to go there too. She dreams about leaving her father’s house and the big fluffy dog she’s gonna adopt when she does.

Keyleth remarks that her and Kash are breaking up. Probably. Differing priorities. She’s not sad, really.

Pike thinks about Scanlan. Even if she tells him how she feels, would they endure? It feels like everything’s moving and changing and they’re all gonna forget about each other.

As they lay there in the dark, quietening, Pike shudders a sob

Keyleth and Vex propose a cuddle pile

Pike doesn’t want them to move on

[bradshawsbaby]

Okay, you have me INVESTED in James and Ellie now. Anything you can tell us about them? He was so annoyed to hear Ellie ask if Brandon had a brother, but I'm wondering when HE realized that he wanted to be the one Ellie asked for.

Don't mind me, I'm just tangled up in my feels today. 😂

Aww, yes, I love the idea of Brady Bradshaw and Baby Seresin falling in love!

So James and Ellie are both the babies of their families. James is two years older than Ellie, and when they’re growing up, he sees himself as more of a big brother figure. He always looks out for her and sees her as another sister.

Ellie, on the other hand, has pretty much been in love with James her entire life. When they were kids, she was always following him around and wanted to spend all her time with him. Even during the times when he wanted to hang out with just his guy friends, he was always very gentle in the way he communicated that to Ellie, which just made her love him all the more.

James honestly did not see Ellie in any sort of romantic light when they were in high school. He got a little bit wild during those years, and dated lots of different girls. Seeing him with a new girl all the time broke Ellie’s heart, and she definitely shed a lot of tears during that time. She tried to date, but her relationships never lasted long because none of the boys she knew could measure up to James.

“You deserve to be treated well, El. Any guy breaks your heart, I’ll break his face,” James often told Ellie.

“You mean the way you break girls’ hearts?” Ellie finally got the courage to tell him one day, at the beginning of his senior year.

That sobered James quite a bit, and he realized he needed to make some changes to his behavior, especially if he wanted to attend the Naval Academy. He was always grateful to Ellie for that, but he still didn’t see her as anything more than a sister and friend, especially since she was just a sophomore at the time.

It wasn’t until Ellie’s freshman year of college, when she came home for Thanksgiving, when the lightbulb suddenly went off in James’ mind and he began to see her as more than just the little kid he had grown up with. He didn’t really know what to do with that realization, however, and so he just pushed the feelings aside, figuring Ellie would meet lots of guys in college. Why wouldn’t she? She was beautiful and smart and funny and kind.

From that point on, they kind of had a “Will they, won’t they?” relationship, with lots of close calls and near misses. They took each other as dates to important parties and events, but always “just as friends.”

Mrs. Bradshaw was finally the one who pushed James to make a decision. “If you don’t tell her how you really feel, she’s going to move on with her life and you’re going to lose the chance forever.”

So James jumped in the car and drove to Ellie’s school (it was her senior year of college) and surprised her. He had a big speech prepared that he had practiced during the drive, but in the end, all he was able to get out was, “I love you, El.”

It was all Ellie needed to hear. Throwing herself into his arms, she kissed him soundly and told him, “I love you, too, Bradshaw.”

[not-that-dillinger]

Edcanons: School Ed-ition

(Or: Ed gets an Ed-ucation)

(okay I'll stop with the puns sorry!)

The muses have decided I should hyperfixate on Ed's younger years and what his experiences with school were like (Probably has to do with watching Mean Girls for the first time but who knows). So here are thoughts...

cw for bullying, drug abuse, and suicide (lmk if I need to tag anything else)...

(under the cut because of cws and also because Wall Of Text)

Elementary:

Everyone knew Ed's father was in prison when Ed was in elementary. There was no avoiding it. The other kids knew it and the Teachers knew it. This lead to a lot of bullying from the other kids.

A lot of the bullying was physical and even resulted in a broken wrist that didn't heal right, but there was at least just as much verbal abuse.

Some of the bullies would blame things (starting fights, stealing things, anything) on him, and because his father was in prison, the teachers often believed the bullies even if he denied it.

He ended up in the principal's office a lot.

Ed was the kid that was constantly reading in class, and reading books far above the level most of the other kids in his grade were reading.

Only real friend was the librarian's daughter. By second grade he usually hid in the library during recess and after class to avoid the bullies.

His vision was bad enough that he needed glasses by third grade.

Fifth grade was hell because his parents were going through divorce.

Middle School:

His father kept moving him between schools, from fifth grade through ninth.

Dillinger Sr. often had his assistant look after Ed while he was out on business for fCon.

Ed also got dragged along on his father's business trips every so often when his assistant couldn't be around to watch after Ed. Ed's classmates were jealous but Ed was always miserable on them.

The longest he stayed at a single school was a year, sometimes he got moved in the middle of the year.

The schools quickly got out of walking/bus range which meant that Dillinger Sr. had to drive him to school, which he wasn't very happy about.

This also resulted in Ed being stuck at school until 5 a lot because his father had late meetings and couldn't pick him up or get his assistant to do it.

Making true friends was very difficult for him. He had some that just wanted to hang around him because his father was rich and thought they could exploit him.

There were some toxic friendships, but at least they were 'friends', right?

Moving schools made it difficult to form any actual connections with his classmates.

The bullying only got worse, including some destroying his books, shoving him into his locker, stealing his lunch, and trying to force him to eat peanuts (peanut allergies) or bread (celiac's disease).

He almost died from the latter and his father was more annoyed at being pulled away from work and having to sit with Ed in the hospital than he was concerned for Ed's health.

The library was his safe space and he spent a lot of time there, but it only helped so much.

Despite all this Ed maintained straight A's in all of his classes.

The one time he got a B in history his father grounded him for a month.

High School:

By the time he was in high school his anxiety was so bad from all the bullying that he frequently got panic attacks.

He got sent to the nurse for one once and when he begged her not to call his father, decided he was faking it for attention.

After that he learned to tell when he was going to panic and would excuse himself to the bathroom and deal with it there.

The smaller class size of his advanced courses helped marginally with the anxiety but he still had frequent panic attacks.

Some time near the beginning of his sophomore year (after getting moved schools for the nth and final time) another kid caught him panicking in the bathroom and got the special education teacher to attempt to help him.

The special education teacher walked him to the nurse, which only made things worse when the nurse suggested calling his father.

It turned into a whole thing but eventually resulted in Ed getting accommodations to sit in the special education classroom while he worked on assignments without his father knowing about it.

The bullying did not stop.

He spent the afternoons at the school library while he waited for his father until the teacher in charge of the theatre club invited him to hang out with them while he waited.

As it turned out a good number of the kids in the theatre club were in his advanced classes.

At first he just sat in a corner and read or worked on homework, but eventually some of the others convinced him to help with the set and costumes, and help the others practice their lines.

Which is how he ended up working the lighting for one of school plays.

During the second play Ed worked the set of, one of the main kids playing the main antagonist ended up in the hospital and couldn't do their part for the show, and so the rest of the Theatre club conscripted Ed to fill in.

As it turns out, Ed was really good at it from helping everyone with their lines and memorizing all the cues while doing stage setup and lighting and everything else.

The rest of the theatre club conscript him play as the villain in the next production.

Ed is startlingly good at acting. The rest of the Theatre Club continued to conscript him to play the villains.

Joining Theatre Club and acting in the plays did WONDERS for Ed's self confidence.

He also ended up making real friends with most of the others.

This also helped with his anxiety and panic disorder to the point where it was reasonably managed.

Ed graduated top of his class but his mental health was still absolutely wrecked.

His father never learned that he did theatre.

College:

Ed had his pick of colleges and could have gone anywhere he wanted.

His father expected him to go to a prestigious school, ideally either one in California or MIT.

Ed refused to apply to any of the state schools because he knew he needed to get away from his father.

He applied to MIT and got in but ended up choosing Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh.

His father expected him to do Computer Science, and made it abundantly clear he would not pay for Ed's tuition if he did anything else.

Ed did Computer Science... but also did minors in business and theatre.

Business because his father expected him to eventually run fCon and theatre because he enjoyed it in high school.

He and his freshman roommate ended up as good friends, though his best friend was Hjørdis, Danish Navy veteran who served in Greenland.

Ed ended up adopting her child after she died.

The freedom after living with a very strict parent for so long kinda got to his head and he did a lot of reckless things.

He also did all the stereotypical bad kid things just because he knew it would piss off his dad.

This included doing drugs (heroin?) and he ended up addicted.

Addiction lead to failing classes which lead to a panic attack so bad he attempted suicide by overdose at the end of the spring semester freshman year.

He spent the summer recovering from both the addiction and suicide attempt as well as taking classes.

He stopped doing drugs cold turkey with the help of Hjørdis.

At the end of his sophomore year he had recovered in courses enough that he applied for an internship at Encom knowing the chances of getting it were slim but knowing it was a foot in the door and likely his best chance of getting away from his father.

Someone on the internship application committee saw his potential and was willing to give him a chance despite his questionable record and ties to fCon.

Ed never found out who it was but is ever grateful.

(It was very likely Alan Bradely)

The internship broke anything good about his relationship with his father (if there was anything to begin with).

he impressed the people he worked with so much they offered him the internship again summer before his senior year and then a job once he graduated.

Ed did not graduate at the top of his class because of the stuff that went on Freshman year but did graduate magna cum laude.

[transmogrified-in-the-void]

I'm Not Okay (I Promise) (I'm Lying)

So here's the tl;dr for this essay/creative nonfiction piece. I first heard im not okay when i was at my worst socially, physically, and mentally. it became my gateway into a wonderful community, it was the catalyst for the most fun writing project ive ever been in, and single-handedly saved my life.

there will be discussions of minor eating disorders, suicidal thoughts, self harm, and toxic relationships.

i would also like to thank Joey @space-bones-official Rae @spacingout Naima @ianthe-the-dyke and biz @gayslutraytoro for being the people that helped bring me to where I am today. No matter what happens, I will never forget you.

September 2019. The beginning of my sophomore year of American high school. The small group of three friends I had made in my final year of junior high had increased near tenfold. No longer did we need the end of long tables filling a room that had become obsolete, and instead almost thirty people pushed two large semicircle tables together to sardine themselves in the largest social circle of the cafeteria.

Despite being close to the largest and loudest personalities of the group, it was very rarely that I was heard without acting preposterous or "insane". And even then, I would have to push my vocal boundaries to make a tiny dent in the cacophony of discussion I could barely participate in anyways.

This was the year where it became more apparent the narrow scope of my knowledge. My closest friends were talking about games and movies and music I had never even heard of, and could barely remember due to the amount of noise that took up the space in my head. Even if it was something I understood, I never understood enough to contribute, or I was never loud enough to have my contributions matter.

This special brand of isolation coalesced into a poisonous and slow-killing method of attention seeking. I started to cause small amounts of pain to myself in public. I had been hitting myself and causing myself unseen harm much earlier, but I started to pick and scratch at my skin, or stab a pen into my arm until there was a large and irritated black spot. When that didn't work, I started to not eat. Maybe, I had thought, maybe they'll notice now.

They didn't. Looking back, they wouldn't have noticed if I had said it out loud, but it's hard to see the situation when you're drowning in it.

Then came September. One of my best friends, J, had decided to join us and not sit with the band that day.

I can't remember the discussion, only that I had turned to someone next to me and said something, only for them to start talking to someone else right afterwards. Not even a moment passed where it seemed that I was heard. For the first moment, I felt like I was truly alone.

In the minute that lasted eternity, it felt like everything that was real had started to fall away. If I couldn't be heard, was I even real? Did I even matter?

And it was J's earbud being placed in my ear, and the whispered statement that started my spider's thread escape.

"This song is about having a shitty experience in high school." He had said. "I think you'll like it."

And then I'm Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance started playing. My life would never be the same.

I went home and listened to the entirety of The Black Parade while cleaning my room. It was good background noise, something that I could listen to but not need to focus on because it was new. I remember finding the time that Blood played (1 minute 30 seconds, a discovery that brought me much pride). After that, I put My Chemical Romance to the back of my mind, where I was aware but not truly into it, and wouldn't pick it up fully until early November of 2019, shortly after the reunion.

I can remember the reason why, too. I had, by that point, met Joey and remade my Tumblr to get away from the toxic online situation I had found myself in, and I found a post that said that MCR had gotten back together. I told one of my closer friends this, and their response was along the lines of "Why does that matter?".

The sudden turning down of what I had said sent me into a minor spiral. Why does it matter? Why do they matter to me?

I went back to the first song I ever heard, and it made more sense to me. I ended up playing I'm Not Okay (I Promise) for three days straight, before venturing into the rest of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.

My journey from there was much more intense and streamlined than before. I listened to Danger Days next, and loved the more synth-pop sound and vocal performance (especially as a vocalist). From there, I listened to The Black Parade, and found that, of all the albums I had heard in my life, that was the one that fit my emotional state the best.

It went stagnant, and I wouldn't gain the confidence to listen to Desert Song or I Brought You My Bullets until a month after March 2020, when I started to make some of the most influential and closest friends I will ever have in my life.

Quarantine was what started my deep dive into the My Chem fandom, leading to one very important Tumblr post. I had made a fun post talking about a theoretical coming-of-age school drama TV show without the bad tropes based around the music video of I'm Not Okay (I Promise). My good and wonderfully talented friend Grody said that they were interested, and thus started a very fun writing project.

I won't speak on it long, it's not that important to the overall story, but the I'm Not Okay Projekt was the most fun and innovative writing project I have ever had.

I stopped listening to My Chemical Romance somewhere near the end of 2021. I don't remember why, it just happened, but it does bring me to today.

This past week I've been listening back to most of the MCR discography. I say most because I had been putting off I'm Not Okay (I Promise) because I didn't know how I would react to hearing the song that saved me from living in such isolation, a state where I probably would have ended up dead.

Today I listened to it.

I listened to it through headphones one of my best friends gave me when I lost mine a few weeks ago, running to my first and only class of the day, knowing that afterwards I would be hanging out with my friends.

Listening to a song that resonated with me so strongly that it single-handedly changed the course of my life three years after the fact, in a completely different situation, with completely different context, it still has the emotional weight. Not the same kind of weight, but the same weight nonetheless.

Instead of the weight of isolation and self-hatred and the shittiness that is high school (and that was my sophomore year), it was the weight of an old friend. Still heavy and draped on my shoulders, but this time it was spread out. Warm. The sensation of nostalgia mixed with waking up on a winter day.

Maybe I'm not okay. Maybe I'm lying. Regardless, I am a better person because of the domino effect that this song started.

[agnesandhilda]

the first necktie I ever got came from my dad sometime in 2019. it was red with stripes of dark red and thin gold lines, with the logo (westcott, I think?) printed on the fat bottom end. it always looked kind of wide on me, which is one of those things that sounds like it should be a metaphor.

I believe I convinced him to teach me to tie a tie by just asking. he indulged me. he handed me the red tie, and put another one over his shoulders to demonstrate. he stood beside me in the big mirror that branched off from the bedroom he shared with my mom, and showed me the motions. the wide side goes on your right shoulder---if you're right-handed, and we both are---and the skinny side goes on your left shoulder. you cross the wide side over the skinny one, wrapping it all the way around, forming a loop you tug the wide side down through. tighten the loop and adjust for length to be sure the underside doesn't stick out, and you're golden. 

I still tie neckties like that. it's the only way I know how. 

I got to keep the tie when we were done. he had no issue about giving it to me. I think this was both because he wanted it to be a nice gift, as well as just because I don't think he likes neckties and the business-style masculinity they represent anywhere near as much as I do, because to him they represent an obligation, while for me they're a privilege, something I actively choose even though it can be hard, even though other people don't like it. why would he care about something that's just a uniform to him?

regardless of why he did it, that tie became my first tie. I was already interested in presenting more boyishly, but the unambiguously masculine, customizable necktie (so many prints!) opened a whole new world up to me. I own a full rack of neckties now, because I like them and what they represent so much. I wore a button-down shirt and black striped tie to my final exams in freshman year, paired with my church-girl shoulder-length hair in the same style I'd had since elementary school, because I said it made me feel stronger.

the first time my dad got arrested for abusing my mom, when I ignored the cops outside for a full five minutes before opening the door because I couldn't possibly believe they were here for us, I took that tie out of my closet and tucked it away where I wouldn't have to look at it. it stayed there for months, until I found it again one day while cleaning and tossed it in the Goodwill bag, both because I couldn't bear to wear it anymore and because I was feeling spiteful, and it was either that or I figured I'd destroy it.

anyway I'm writing all this because last week I saw a picture of myself on the first day of my sophomore year of high school, months before all this happened, wearing a little tuxedo that I sweated through almost as soon as I stepped out the door, tie tied the way my dad showed me and long hair in a braid that made me look marginally more tomboyish, smiling and feeling so damn happy and handsome, and thought. oh. that's a picture from when I still owned my dad's tie.  

[rainemjones]

MEET RAINE JONES

[ zazie beetz, cis woman, she/her ] - was that raine jones  i saw by the lighthouse today? i heard that the twenty nine year old who has been in nightrest for a week and works as a producer at nightrest news station has a reputation of being adroit, but also cunning. they reside in low point & people in town usually associate them with tote bags, long coats, hair clips, french nails, gold jewelry, walking everywhere, listening to podcasts, neat handwriting, sticky notes everywhere, a little bit of sadness behind their eyes, oversized sweaters. let’s hope the killer doesn’t go after them next.

tw: teenage pregnancy, abandonment

idk if this is considered a bio....perhaps facts stung together in the most chaotic way...pls enjoy!

raine jones was born in miami, she never knew her father and her mother was kicked out, or so she said when her parents found out their teenage daughter was pregnant. she basically grew up all around the US, her mom taking them from state to state, never staying long enough to have friends, memories, or even a home

some nights they slept in their car and once they made it to a new city her mothers charm would get her a waitressing job and a roof by some boyfriend.

raine hated it until one day they ended up in nightrest, her mom finally coming across a decent man and it became a place she wanted to stay for more then a couple of months. with a million protests her mother obliged that they could remain for raine's time in high school

it had been nearing the end of her sophomore year when raine's mom woke her in the middle of the night, frantic and wanting to leave. raine was adamant to make a stand, to have a choice in her life and refused. her mother never wanting to be held down, even by her own daughter left

raine would get a letter or a phone call every now and then but it was never the same

she left to attend uni where she met a man who had everything she could ever imagine and he didn't even think twice about it. he was the picture of stability raine longed for and when he asked her out she didn't refuse and when he asked her to be his girlfriend she obliged and when he asked to marry her she didn't even bat an eye.

she knew she wasn't in love with him, she'd lost at love before. But Logan was safe and it didn't seem like he'd ever abandon or hurt her

raine began working in tv/film before moving on to news, her husband and her worked together and she made her way to become a notable producer

everything seemed to be falling into place until she had someone asking if she wanted to comment on her husbands infidelity

very quickly things came tumbling down, raine didn't think twice before packing up all her stuff and returning to the one place she had ever called home.

if u read all of that big forehead kiss for u! 😚 anyways here are some headcanons!

raine visited night rest a lot even after moving, even has visited with her ex before

always loved film/editing clips/etc, used to refer to her life pre-nightrest as one big long roadtrip

yes she never loved her ex husband but she was dumb enough to stay faithful, coming back to nightrest feeling like boo boo the fool!

currently crashing at damien's place until she can figure shit out

obv sad/scared bout the murders but is lowkey excited what it will do for her career if she can put nightrest news out there

would love old and new friends, coworkers, and basically everything pls and thank u

[ninjanervana]

Lavender Haze

Inspired by Taylor Swift's Midnights album

I find it dizzying They're bringing up my history But you weren't even listening

Stiles tapped his fingers absentmindedly on the edge of the desk as he proofread his english essay. If he was going to be stuck in detention, he might as well be productive. Maybe having all his homework done ahead of time would soften the blow when he told his dad why he got detention. 'Fat chance,' he thought with a snort, 'maybe he'll work the overnight shift.' Glancing at the clock, Stiles hastily scrawled a conclusion onto the page, making a mental note to double check it later. "I'll see you later, Mr. Yukimura," Stiles called as he shoved his papers into his backpack and headed toward the door.

"Hopefully only in history class and not in detention again," Mr. Yukimura replied seriously.

"I'll try my best, but I can't make any promises," he answered cheekily as he walked out.

"What promises can't you make?" Derek asked from his seat against the lockers, a textbook open across his legs.

"Derek," Stiles exclaimed in surprise. "What are you still doing here? Mathletes practice ended like thirty minutes ago."

"Was waiting for you," he explained, closing his textbook as he stood. "It's my fault that you got detention so the least I could do is wait for you. I told Laura I'd catch a ride home."

"Did you tell her I'd give you a ride? 'Cause she'll kick my ass for being near you," he joked.

Derek bumped his shoulder lightly against Stiles's as they walked toward the exit. "Shut up, Laura likes you."

Stiles hummed noncommittally, thinking back to when Laura cornered him months ago and threatened to disembowel him if he hurt Derek. Though she didn't say he couldn't see Derek at all, so he guessed it wasn't all bad. He couldn't blame his reputation on anyone but himself, but man, did he wish he avoided some of his stupider incidents now.

"Are you in a rush to get home?" Derek asked, drawing him from his thoughts. "Did your dad ground you?"

He shook his head, "He doesn't know yet, but he'll find out tonight. That's gonna be a shitshow."

"I'm sorry you got detention because of me," Derek apologized, a frown on his lips.

"I didn't get detention because of you. Jackson is a bullying asshole who needed to be put in his place," he answered easily. "No regrets."

Derek shook his head fondly, "Well since this might be your last day of freedom you have in a while, do you wanna go get some food at the diner? I know you love their curly fries."

"Curly fries are the way to my heart," Stiles agreed as he started the jeep. "It'll be my last meal before my execution tonight."

"You're so dramatic; you'll be fine," he laughed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Says you," he retorted lightly. "Dad might just throw me into a holding cell."

'Well that's awkward,' Stiles thought self-consciously as the bell above the door chimed, drawing several curious looks from the patrons. The diner was a popular meeting point for high schoolers; it was the place to be when you goofed off after school, finished a lacrosse game, or had a first date. Stiles knew there was a good chance they'd run into their classmates. But he wasn't expecting to see the rumor mills get cranked up, judging by the shocked faces and frantic whispers around them. Troublemaker Stiles Stilinski at the diner with adorably nerdy, absolutely brilliant Derek Hale on what could possibly be a date? That was shocking. Just the thought of being on a date made Stiles's palms sweat.

"Come on, there's an empty booth in the back," Derek commented, grabbing Stiles's hand as he led the way through the crowded restaurant.

Stiles felt his heart race as Derek's hand enveloped his, praying that his face wasn't as red as he thought it might be. But judging by Derek's pink ears, he might not be the only one that was flushed. He and Derek had been dancing around something since they were sophomores and two years later, it finally felt like they were in a good place to move forward with something. He slid into the booth as Derek let go of his hand, already missing the warmth of it. "Are we being stared at? Because it feels like we're being stared at," Stiles commented after a moment.

Derek looked up from his menu, glancing around the diner. "Yeah we're definitely being stared at," he answered in confusion. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, glaring until the people closest to them looked away. "I don't have a stain on my jeans or something, do I?"

Stiles snorted loudly, shaking his head. "No, you're good; I have a feeling that's not why they're staring at us."

"Then I don't get it. Why are they staring at us?" he asked. "It's not like they don't know us or haven't seen us together."

"They probably think I threatened you into coming on a date with me or something," Stiles mumbled, his shoulders hunching. "I'm sure you've heard them talking about me at school before. God, I'm sure people have gone to you to tell you specifically about me. It's not like they made most of those things up."

"I've heard the gossip and the stories," Derek confirmed before shrugging. "But that doesn't really matter to me. I know who you are. I know why you get into fights sometimes but that doesn't make you a bad person for getting into fights with bullies. I mean I'd like you to stop that but I don't think you're a bad person." He reached his hand across the table top, his cheeks tinged red. "But maybe we can prove the rumors right about us being here on a date?"

Stiles gaped at Derek for a moment before flailing to take his hand. "Yeah," he answered, his voice cracking as he laced their fingers together. "Let's give them something else to talk about."