#i promised id release it tonight so....

[feariteriu]

𝐃𝐫𝐮𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲 — 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬

—MasterList!

𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗬: y/n gets a late night call from the boy that has her completely whipped, she’s confused as he rambles on drunken thoughts to her.

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦: cursing, under age drinking? lol just really fluffy tbh.

𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚: miles morales x female y/n

𝗔/𝗡: sorry it’s kinda long hope you like it!

—

Collapsing on your bed, you moved your arm to rest over your forehead. You were exhausted. The party you'd just gotten home from had completely drained you. You were moments away from falling asleep when your phone rang. Groaning, you lazily reached across your bed for it. "Hello?" you murmured, answering without bothering to check the ID. The sound of pounding music and muffled chatter echoed through the speaker. "Hello?" You repeated.

"Y/N!" Sitting up, you quickly checked the caller, "Miles?"

"Where are you?" His voice sounded slurred. "Are you drunk?"

"No-maybe-that's not the point."

"Are you still at the party?" you questioned, checking the time. "Do you need to be picked up or something?"

"No," he denied. "I need to know-" he paused for a moment. "I need to know where you are."

"Why? What's wrong?" Miles muttered something incoherent under his breath.

"Just tell me where you are!"

"I'm at home," you told him, confusion filling your face. "What's wrong?" He released a deep breath of relief, "When did you-when did you leave?"

"I don't know," you sighed. "Maybe half an hour ago?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I hadn't seen you for a while," you explained. "I didn't even know if you were still at the party. I thought maybe you'd left with someone."

He snorted, "As if I'd leave with any of these people," he muttered, trailing off into something you couldn't understand.

"Miles," you sighed, "you're drunk."

"So?"

"Can we please just talk tomorrow?" you requested, rubbing your temple. "Are you safe?" he asked you, his voice turning serious.

"What are you talking about?"

"I thought something had happened to you, I was looking everywhere," he explained. "No one could tell me where you were and I-I was really worried and I just-" he fumbled on.

"Miles, calm down," you instructed. "Take a breath." You held back your laughter as he followed your instructions, the action being much more dramatic than necessary. "Now, why were you worried?"

"Because I couldn't find you! I was looking everywhere," he repeated. "I'm sorry you got so concerned," you told him. "I promise you I'm okay."

"You promise?" His tone was much softer now, his voice so quiet it was barely audible over the background noise. "I promise, Miles," you smiled. "How much have you had to drink?" you inquired. "Just a little bit."

"A little bit?" you repeated, lying back down and turning onto your side. "Are you sure?"

"Maybe-maybe a little bit more than a little bit," he replied. "I take it you're still at the party?" you asked him, though you already knew the answer. "Mm-hmm."

"Did you need a lift home?" you offered. "I can come get you."

"No," he denied. "I'm crashing here tonight. A few of the others are too."

"Are you sure?" you asked, toying with your bedspread. "You sound like you're ready to go to bed," you told him honestly. "I don't think you'll be able to get any sleep there at the moment."

"I guess not," Miles agreed. "What are you doing?" you questioned, the background noise changing and becoming more muffled. "I'm going outside," he said. "There's a pool."

"Miles no! Don't get in the pool. You're probably too drunk to remember how to swim."

"That's not true," he muttered. "Oh shi-"

"What did you do?" you sighed. "Someone left their shoe in my way," he groaned. "Are you sure it wasn't your shoe? Did you fall?" you asked, unable to hide the amusement from your tone.

"Maybe."

"I'm going to ask once more, are you sure you don't want me to come back and get you?" There was silence from his end for a moment and you felt your heart pick up the pace.

"Miles?"

"I'm here," he whispered.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. Keep talking," he instructed.

"Talking?"

"I like your voice." You could hear the smile behind his words. "It's a very nice voice."

"Thank you?" you laughed, not sure of how to respond. "I can't say I've ever been complimented on my voice before."

"You should have been," he responded. "It is a very nice voice," he said again. "With a very nice face to match.”

You and Miles had known each other for a very long time. You wouldn't ever admit it aloud, but he had always been the one who was able to make you smile and who was able to make the butterflies in your stomach come to life-especially when he said stuff like that. He definitely wasn’t aware of the effect he had on you if he did he would stop saying things like that right?

"Why aren't you talking?" From the tone of his voice, you could tell he was pouting. "Sorry," you smiled. "I'm talking now. Will you be okay tonight? I really want to come pick you up," you sighed out.

"I'll be all good," he responded, dragging out his words. "I've found myself a nice chair," he laughed, his laughter soon turning to giggles. "It's so comfy."

"I'm sure it is."

"You sound tired," Miles commented.

"That's because I am," you told him. "And I think you are too."

"I think I am, too. You're so smart. Did you know that? And very pretty. And you have an amazing voice."

"I think you should probably go get some sleep, Miles," you sighed, trying not to read too much into his words because of the state he was in. "I'll ring you tomorrow to check on you, okay?"

"Okay," he mumbled sadly. "You promise you'll ring me?"

"Of course."

"Pinky swear?"

"There's no other promise," you insisted. "Goodnight Miles."

"Goodnight (Y/N)!" Shaking your head, you rolled onto your back-opening your messages to text your friend who was still at the party, asking them to go check on Miles. Once they had replied, you tossed your phone to the side before sliding under your covers. You understood that Miles was under the influence of alcohol and that probably wouldn't remember the conversation you had just now.

You didn't want to get your hopes up, have any form of expectations. Pushing certain thoughts out of your mind, you hugged your pillow to your chest, closing your eyes-ready to fall asleep. Tomorrow you would ring Miles to check on him and you hoped by then your head would be clear.

. . .

Entering a small little cafe of his choice, you cast your eyes around trying to find Miles. Unable to find him in the cafe, you made your way towards the counter. "Hey," you greeted.

"Hi," she smiled. "What can I get for you?"

"Something strong and sweet please," you answered. "Has a black guy with dark curly hair and a dopey smile been in here yet?" She shook her head, "Sorry, haven't seen him. Go take a seat and I'll bring this out to you."

"Thanks," you told her, following her instructions. Taking a seat at the table with two chairs, quickly looking over at the door to see if Miles was nearby. You'd rang him earlier like you had told him you would do last night and you'd both made plans to meet up here.

The conversation hadn't lasted long, Miles had only just woken up when you called him and he was getting ready to go help clean up. He asked you to meet him at the cafe and you jumped at the chance. Pulling your phone out, you spent a few minutes replying to a friend before a steaming mug was placed in front of you.

"Thanks again."

"Let me know if there's anything else you need," she replied, heading back to the counter. You weren't sitting alone for long when Miles sat opposite to you. You jumped slightly in surprise at his arrival. "Hi," you chuckled, taking in his appearance. "You don't look..." you trailed off.

"Yeah I know," he sighed. "I think I may have gone over my limit a little yesterday," he admitted. He took a deep breath before resting his arms on the table, "Hi," he smiled finally.

"Besides the obvious...are you doing okay?" Miles nodded, "I guess, just a little embarrassed," he told you, his cheeks flushing. You raised an eyebrow, "What do you have to be embarrassed about?" you asked him.

He sent you a knowing look, "Last night," he clarified. "I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"Miles," you groaned. "You're one of my closest friends," you told him. "You weren't disturbing me, I'm just glad that you're okay."

"Right," he said, his tone almost sad as he muttered something under his breath. Before you could ask what was wrong, the waitress from before placed a drink in front of him, "You look like you need this," she laughed, walking off once more.

His hands immediately wrapped around the mug, "She's like a mind reader," he mumbled, taking a small sip. "Can I ask you something?" you questioned, almost hesitantly.

He nodded, confusion crossing his face for a brief moment. "You don't usually drink so much," you began, "and I was just wondering..." the boy sighed, "Why I ended up as smashed as I did?" You gave him a short nod.

"It's a little...stupid," he confessed, you could tell he was reluctant to divulge his reasoning to you. "It's okay," you said. "You don't need to tell me, I just hope nothing's wrong," reaching across the table to rest your hand on his. Noticing how his body tensed at your touch, you retracted your hand immediately. "Sorry," you squeaked.

He shook his head, "No, it's not-don't be," he insisted. "I uh-you rang because you were worried about me...do you remember?" He brought his hand to rest on the back of his neck, rubbing at it awkwardly, "Yeah...I remember. I thought maybe you'd left with one of the guys," he admitted.

Your brow furrowed, "Why would you think that?"

"I overheard-actually it doesn't matter," he told you. "I'm sorry about all that. Ringing you I mean."

"It's okay," you admitted. "It's good to know someone cares," you joked. "Of course, I care," he said softly. Smiling down at the table, you moved your hands to wrap around the mug in front of you. "Do you happen to remember what else you said?" you dared to ask, your face heating up at the thought.

Miles laughed, "Now I think you're just trying to embarrass me."

"So you don't?" you questioned, trying to hide the hurt from your tone. His expression turned serious, "No I-I do remember," he confirmed slowly. "All of it." Miles leaned back in his seat, "Last night I learned that I become very...vocal and honest when I drink."

"Honest?"

"Well you do have a very nice voice," he replied playfully. "And an equally pretty face." You could feel your face redden further, making him laugh. "It turns out drunk me has more confidence around you than sober me."

"What do you mean?" The boy's smile turned shy, "It seems I'm much more likely to spill certain things," he hinted. "I don't understand," you replied.

"Don't worry about it."

"Okay..." you drawled. "Did you end up sleeping out on the pool chair?" you questioned. Miles shook his head, "F/N helped me find an actual bed, thank you for that by the way," he said, giving you a knowing look.

You shrugged innocently, "A pool chair is not a good place to spend the night," you commented. "I owe you for that," he continued.

Scoffing, you take another sip of your drink, "That's not necessary. Like I said, we're friends." The hurt that flashed across his face matched the feeling that had risen within you at your words. "Friends," he sighed under his breath.

Miles seemed to be in the middle of a debate with himself. "Are you okay?" you asked, the concern evident in your voice.

"Actually," he announced, "I want to ask you something...I was talking with F/N last night, and she kind of helped me realize a few things," he admitted. "And if I read into her words correctly... then I think..." He found it hard to finish what he was trying to say.

"What is it?" you laughed nervously. "I'm just going to say it," Miles told you. "Right now. Out loud." Not wanting to interrupt his thoughts, you both fall into a small period of silence.

"I like you," he blurted out.

"What?"

"I like you," he repeated, meeting your eyes.

"I like you too, Miles," you insisted, tilting your head.

"No," he smiled, amused at how oblivious you could be, "I like you."

"Oh." Miles suddenly grew nervous, "That's your only response?" he asked. You moved your hands to rest on your lap, "I don't really know what to say," you said slowly.

He took your words as a sign that you didn't feel the same way. "Right, I'm sorry," he laughed. "Just forget I said anything," he said, averting his eyes from you. "No!" you shouted, feeling your cheeks heat once more-not meaning to be so loud. "Sorry...I just-you took me by surprise. I was just...not expecting you to say that."

"Is the concept of me like you so hard to imagine?" he joked, but the nerves behind his eyes were still there. "No...what's hard to imagine," you told him, "is that you feel the same about me as I do about you."

The boy's mouth parted slightly, "Wait..." You laughed at his expression. "You like me too?" he grinned. Nodding, you wrapped your arms around yourself loosely, "For longer than I think I want to admit," you told him bashfully.

He beamed at your words, "So...does this mean you'll go on a date with me?" he questioned hopefully. Chuckling, you found yourself staring into his eyes, "I would love to go on a date with you, Miles."

…

“I just realized we never paid for our drinks.”

[tillthelandslide]

Go Get Your Man - Ross Macdonald One Shot

A/n: welcome to something that randomly got stuck in my head after watching that Livestream... Now I'm not going to talk about Finsbury too much because it hurts too much because I really wanted to be there but the tickets should out in like seconds.... Buttttt I wrote this (not to do with Finsbury but that show just had ideas boiling, mainly because I realised I love Matty but like NEEEED Ross). I mainly wrote this as it perfectly describes how I feel about Matty and Ross. Anyway rant over, enjoy or not. Love you regardless - L p.s I have not proofread this so heads up

The house is loud, far too loud for her liking and despite the demands from her friend for people to smoke outside, a cloud drifted through the room, smoke visible in the air. The music was still audible over the voices of everyone in the room.

She's sporting the same glass of champagne as when she arrived, constantly being pulled left right and centre by people who wanted to talk to her.

The party was thrown on her behalf by her good friend Amber. They were celebrating the release of her new album (which she found a bit silly considering Japanese house had just released their own album too).

She was insistent at first "why can't we celebrate you too amber?" She asks and she remembers the eye roll her friend gave her before she went on about how "you know id hate that... That's not me... Besides I want to celebrate you".

She was worried at first when she arrived, knowing a certain someone would be here. She wasn't worried about seeing him, more worried about what he would say, afraid of upsetting him or making him angry.

She felt overwhelmed at one point, excusing herself from the conversation and walking outside, lighting a cigarette as soon as she steps through the doors.

"Still smoking I see?" She hears behind her, recognising the voice and almost immediately turning around and seeing a tall man, hair tied back in a bun, adorning a pair of black slacks, a black button up shirt, of which the top two were undone and a jacket.

"Ross... You came" she says, smiling a huge wide smile. She drops her cigarette instantly, walking over to the tall man, wrapping her arms around him and sighing into his chest.

"Wouldn't miss celebrating you for the world" he says, smiling a wide one which matches his. He missed having her in his arms. Now I know what you're probably thinking, but they were not in fact together. She pulls back, smiling up at him before her face drops.

"Weren't you guys at Finsbury... Like literally yesterday... And then Sweden before that?" She asks and he nods down at her.

"You must be shattered..." He doesn't let go of her just yet, still holding her in his arms.

"As I said... Wouldn't miss celebrating you for the world" he says, making her heart flutter, her eyes glinting with sheer happiness.

"sorry I wasn't there yesterday... I wanted to be... To support you... And g... And Hann and amber and everyone... Just didn't know if I'd be welcomed you know?" She asks and Ross nods, understanding completely.

"He would've been fine y'know?" Ross asks, the pin finally dropping.

"Really? I haven't seen him... At all to be honest since everything went down" she says and Ross sighs.

"You didn't do anything wrong..." He says and she nods.

"I know... But... We broke up a long time ago but... I promised I'd still see him and then I didn't... And then I still saw you and G and the rest and .... I dunno, just kind felt like a bitch" she admits and Ross nods.

"Well he came tonight... So you can't be that much of a bitch" he says and she laughs.

"oh thanks" she jokes making him chuckle. They finally pull away from each other (much to his dismay).

Ross' hand presses against her lower back, leading her back into the room and she immediately spots him, his curls tamed by gel, dressed in black suit trousers and a white button down shirt, standing with their friends. George smiles and waves at her as she sees her, drawing Matty's attention to her too. She's surprised to see that he smiles widely too, the conversation the group were having, immediately halted.

"There's the woman we've all been waiting for" George says as she draws closer. Ross' hand drops and she feels sad that it does, it leaves a tingly sensation in it's wake and that alone makes her breath falter and her head turn to check he was still there.

"Hello G" she says as she turns back to the group, the tall man pulling her into a tight hug.

"Oh I missed you" he says, squeezing her, her face being squished into his chest. She mumbles a "missed you too" before they pull away.

Hann is next to hug her saying a simple "really good to see you. Missed you. Congrats on the album" before Carly hugs her and then Charli and then she's face to face with Matty.

"Hello stranger" he says, but she smiles when there's no sense of bitterness in his words. He pulls her towards him and the two hug tightly. She thought it would feel weird to be in his embrace again but she just feels comfortable.

"Missed you" he admits and she smiles, closing her eyes she breathes him in for the first time in years.

"Yeah... Missed you too" she admits. They pull away and she feels herself get teary.

"seriously guys you really didn't have to come... You must all be so tired" she says, referring to the events of the previous days.

"We wouldn't miss it" she hears Matty say and she smiles at him. The group then get talking, catching up on everything that had been going on in each other lives. Of course she knew about parts of it, having still been seeing the guys and their partners when she could.

She goes for another cigarette at some point, leaning against the balcony, she hears the door open behind her and once again Ross is at her side.

"You look beautiful tonight by the way" he says as he stands next to her, placing a hand at her lower back again. She turns her body slightly so she's open to him, her waist pressing against his side.

"Thank you Macdonald..." She adorns a black dress which has a criss cross back and a cowl neck front, she wears boots as always. His hand is pressed against the crosses, the warmth of it radiating her bare skin making her shiver, realising how cold she was. His hand disappears for a moment and he shrugs off his jacket, draping it over her shoulders. She leans her head into him, which with the height difference leaves her leaning against his arm.

"Really missed you, you know" he says and she lifts her head slightly, eyes finding his soft brown ones. She sees immediately that he's sincere.

During the time Matty and her dated, her and Ross became very close, the closest out of any of Matty's friends, which was saying something because they all adored her. Ross was her go to person when Matty was being a bit mean or withdrawn. Looking back everyone is aware of why that was but at the time no one quite understood.

Ross found himself often angry at his friend for treating her the way he did, he knew Matty was fighting his own demons but Ross believed she deserved better, better than even he could give her.

"I really missed you too... When was the last time we saw each other... Seems like ages ago now" she says, trying to think back to when it was.

"the week of the London show? We went for ice cream and looked in that hidden record shop" he says and she smiles at the memory.

"oh yeah, you bought my album... 4 months is an awfully long time to go without you macdonald" she says and he smiles down at her.

"Won't happen again, I promise" she feels hopeful at that.

They then begin talking about all sorts, laughing at old memories. She jokes with him and teases him about this and that.

"The ross girlies were going absolutely feral for you yesterday... Finally giving them what they wanted when you let that hair loose" she says, they had somehow gotten even closer, her back was against the railing of the balcony and he had his hands either side of her. Her hands were resting against his collar. They didn't know how they got themselves into this position and she wishes she could pull herself away from it, not because she wanted to but because she felt guilty. He was her ex boyfriend's best friend, but he was also more than that, he was her best friend too, her go to person, her safety net, her comfort blanket, the person who in recent years had been the reson her soul was alight and she secretly wanted him to become ever more.

"You're ridiculous" he laughs, shaking his head down at her.

"Dunno Ross... I'd have to agree with them on this one... You looked good" she admits and he smirks down at her, one hand leaving the balcony to rest against her waist. His eyes scan her features, a shit eating smile pulling at his lips, cheeks and eyes creasing and the dimple she had missed a little too much making an appearance.

"I'm interested in you" he admits, and her smile drops. She scans his features now, trying to make sure he was deadly serious. She thinks it's an odd way to word it but it's appropriate for the circumstances. Saying he liked her would be too obvious, saying he loved her (although the truth) would be telling too much too soon and he truly couldn't think of another way to say it.

"Ross... We can't" she says, hands dropping from his collar , her stomach and heart sinking.

"Matty knows...." He says, the words leaving his mouth before he even had time to process them.

"Know what exactly? What is there to know?" She asks and it was a genuine question. Sure they flirted, spoke for hours on end after shoes, shared things that couples shared but neither of them had made their intentions obvious or clear.

"That I like you... That I've always liked you" he admits and she opens her mouth at the confession,lost for words for a second.

"liked you before he did... Before you even got together" he says. Amber had known Matty for years and she had introduced her to the group several years ago, she then became friends with the group so this piece of news was particularly shocking for her.

Matty was always flirty but at the beginning they were just friends, she did actually fancy Ross but she didn't think he liked her back. Matty started showing interest and she found herself falling for him, one thing led to another and they started dating. Never did she know that Ross had a thing for her.

"And Matty knew that?" She asks and Ross nods.

"That prick" she chuckles, hands finding his shoulders again.

"Yeah what a prick..." Ross says making both of them laugh "Na I'm joking... Wouldn't have changed anything if he didn't try with you and would you have wanted it to?" He asks and she ponders his question.

"Na you're right... I loved him" she says, no sadness, no reminiscence to her words, just the truth.

"Exactly..." Ross says.

"I did fancy you though" she says and he laughs.

"Fuck off... As if" he says, pulling away slightly before she pulls him back.

"I did!" She says raising her eyebrows at him "ask Amber if you don't believe me"

"Na I don't need to... I believe you" he says and they stare at each other for a bit, neither knowing what to say or do.

"Always wondered why it didn't work out with Matty.... Don't get me wrong, it was amazing, I loved that man so much... something always felt off though" she admits and Ross nods.

"Matty said the same thing... Sorry if that's a dick thing to say" he says and she shakes her head.

"Na don't worry... He told me" she says and that makes Ross raise his eyebrows.

"He called me once, last year... Drunk... Said he was sorry that he couldn't love me the way I deserved back then but he did love me... Said that it never felt quite right and that I was meant for someone else" she explains and Ross nods.

"So Matty knows you like me huh?" She asks and Ross nods.

"How did that conversation come about?" She asks and Ross chuckles, sighs and then begins to speak.

"Remember that night you called me on tour... Think we were in... America? Somewhere in America. You called and you just started singing these lyrics and i was thinking... Why is she calling me and singing? And then I realised that you were running the lyrics by me and I thought... You know what? I always wanna be the person you run lyrics by" he admits and she smiles at that, heart fluttering.

"I got off the phone to you and we were about to go on stage and I had this huge smile on my face... And Matty knew we were still friends at this point but he asked me why I was smiling so much and for some reason I couldn't tell him" he sighs, her grip on his shoulders tightens slightly before she eases her hold.

"And then this really good mood was just ruined and I was in a shit mood the whole show and then the next day and I was being so grumpy and tetchy with everyone and Matty just sat me down at one point and was just like man what the fuck is up with you and I just... I spilled. Everything" he explains. She could listen to him talk for hours and often did. He'd call her on tour or she's call him on the road or in a studio somewhere and they'd talk for hours until eventually they'd have to go to bed.

"What did Matty say?" She asks, but as she does, the door is opening and Ambers face is peering round the corner.

"sorry to interrupt... We want you back in here if that's okay... Your manager wants to say a few words" she says, not before raising her eyebrows at the two of them. Ross peels himself away from her, entering to room, leaving amber and her on the balcony.

"You look good together" Amber says before she leaves too.

She sighs before following behind them, everyone in the room cheers as she enters and her manager does a speech, everyone raising their glasses.

"Thank you... And don't forget to stream the album" she says making everyone laugh.

She drinks with a few of her friends, eyes always managing to find Ross'. She's back on the balcony soon enough, this time the door opens and Matty is revealed.

"You've been out here a lot today" he observes as he comes to stand next to her and she nods.

"Feeling a bit overwhelmed?" He asks and she nods again, taking a puff of her cigarette.

"But also look at that view" she says, gesturing Infront of her. They can see most of London from where they stand, the lights twinkling as the sun sets, casting hewes of orange and pink over the skyline.

"You always loved a good view" he says and she smiles at him. After all this time, he still managed to see right through her.

"I did... I do, that hasn't changed" She says, looking back out over the skyline. His eyes hover over her features, her eyes, the beautiful green ones that used to make his heart flutter were glistening in the sunlight, her lips turned up into a smile, painted a nude colour, different from when they were together. Her hair was longer and was in loose curls, she had her nose pierced now, that was new. She had a fair new more tattoos, and he smiles as he slots her box tattoo, directly opposite his. He remembers the day the band begged her to get it. She had changed in some ways: she was more confident, happier. But in some ways she was exactly the same.

"You look lovely" he says and she smiles, not look at him.

"I'm really proud of you" he says, noticing that she's wearing Ross' jacket, something that makes him smile.

"Thank you matty... I'm proud of you too, you guys are smashing it still"

They're silent for a few moments, the both of them staring at the view.

"So Ross tells me he had a thing for me before you" she says, thinking it's better to just come out with it rather than tip toe around it.

"Yeah... Still feel awful for that... Didn't mean for it to happen... You kind of just captivated me" he admits and she can't help but blush. Matty always had a way with words and although they don't make her heart flutter anymore, she still feels privileged that they're directed towards her.

"Wouldn't change it though right?" She asks, properly looking at him now. His hair had sprouted some grey's and he looked more mature than when they were together but he was still the same old Matty.

"Never" he says and it makes her smile.

"Only thing I'd change is the way I treated you..." He says, fiddling with his thumbs.

"I wouldn't" she admits and it confuses him.

"You were an arsehole sometimes sure.... But you were also the best boyfriend I had ever had... I broke up with you not because of the way you treated me when you were going through hell but because it wasn't right... For either of us" she admits and he nods agreeing with her.

"Think Ross is right for you?" He asks and she shrugs.

"I don't know... But I want to see" she says "would you be alright with that? Won't hate me for it?" She asks, turning her body so she's fully facing him. She looks sad and scared she'll hurt him and it reminds him of the days when they used to fight.

"Of course not. Could never hate you' he says and he can't help but pull her towards him.

"I think he's right for you... That man will love you exactly the way you deserve that's for sure" he says as he hugs her. She pulls back to look at him and her hand finds his face. It doesn't tingle like it used to, electricity doesn't strike as she holds him, her hand is soft and instead he feels a dull buzz, not completely fizzled out (both of them knew it never fully would). He can't deny it feels nostalgic and comfortable though.

"Thank you Matty. Really... Thank you" she says and he smiles.

"I'll always love you. You know that right?" He asks and she nods. She would always love him too, not in the way they once did, but they'd always have a piece of there souls entertwined.

"Now go get your man" he says making her chuckle. They share a look and Matty leans down to place a gentle kiss against her lips. A farewell, a thank you, an "Ive missed you", a platonic kiss. They wouldn't ever be able to describe why they needed it, maybe it was years of not seeing each other, maybe it was closure.

She leaves him to finish his cigarette, a huge smile resting against her face as she finds Ross, who smiles down at her as she comes to stand next to him.

His hand finds her waist as she tugs him towards her, making him tumble into her hold.

"You okay?" He asks and she nods. The people who he was having a conversation with were looking at the pair of them, almost expecting something to happen.

"Kiss me" she says and he smirks down at her.

"Right here? In front of everyone?" He asks, looking around the room, but he knew as soon as she said, he'd be leaning down to her.

"right here" she confirms, sighing a blissful sigh when his strong hand grasps her jaw lightly, leaning down towards her slowly. His lips hover over hers and she closes the gap by standing on her tip toes ,lips now flush against each other. His were soft and full against hers, the kiss was firm but undeniably soft, she felt him against every fiber of her being. The whole room seemed to be silent and all she could focus on was him.

She didn't notice their friends cheering them on, or the fact Matty was smiling at the two of them. She just felt Ross pull her closer to him, his hand holding her face gently as his other hand hooked around her waist, practically pulling her off the ground. She notices the way his lips move against hers, taking in her bottom lip, tongue peeking out to run across it before he's fully pulling away, their foreheads touching.

"I've been wanting to do that ever since I met you" Ross says, pressing another peck against her mouth.

"Me too"

"What changed?" He asks and she pulls away, turning to find Matty. Ross sees him, sees the way he smiles at them, raising his glass towards them.

"Thank you" Ross mouths to him before she turns back to him and she's caught his attention again.

"What did he say?" Ross asks and she smiles.

"Nothing I didn't already know" she says, pulling him back to her, their lips meeting again in another passionate kiss.

Note: I'm well aware this will probably get 0 notes but I dunno... This fic makes my soul happy and I love it so please reblog if you love it too, it would mean the world to me.

[greazyfloz]

can you write 16 on the smut list for jamie drysdale;)

Smut: 16. “No one has to know” w/ Jamie Drysdale

Job Perks

I’ve been interning with the Ducks for the last month now. I became friends with the other interns fast, tonight, one intern suggested we go check out this nightclub that is so dumb with fake ID’s so we all got ready and went out together after work. We are all taking a break at a booth when Trevor Zegras sees and intern from production and comes over to say hi. He introduces himself to the rest of us interns along with a couple other players behind him. 

“Hi, I’m Jamie” he smiles at me

“Hi, Y/n” I say smiling back 

“Nice meeting you” he says holding the same intimate stare and smile before turning to introduce himself to the whole table. When the boys leave, we all just sit here sipping on our drinks. I notice Jamie staring at me from across the nightclub, definitely not insecure that I am watching him stare, rather eye fuck me. The group decides to go dance, but I decide to go over to the bar to get another drink. 

“That’ll be $6” the bartender says but someone comes beside me handing the bartender a $10 bill. 

“Keep the change man” I look up to see Jamie, “Hey” he says smirking down at me. He doesn’t seem as confident as a person as he is acting right now. So I’m guessing liquid courage maybe.

“Thank you” I say before trying to slip away from me. 

“Wait” he says grabbing my wrist, “Wanna get out of here?”.I turn to look at him

“So subtle, does it usually work?” I laugh

“Never tried before” he says laughing with me

“I can’t, how fucked who I be if someone found out at work” I say

“Well look around” he says “If we leave now, no one has to know”. I look around to see the team of boys hanging out at a booth and the group I was with dancing. 

“Let’s go” I said giving in to temptation. We hop in an uber out front and I pull my phone out to text an intern that I’m heading home now.

We arrive at his apartment and he unlocks the door. He presses me against the door once we are inside attacking my lips with his. 

“You are by far the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen” he mumbles in the kiss. He begins kissing down my neck then sucking. I pull away.

“No hickies!” I say sternly and lift my shirt of throwing it in the kitchen

“Promise” he says smirking at me before taking his shirt off too. He attaches his lips to mine and guides us to the couch. Before sitting down he reaches behind unclasping my bra and I let it fall to the floor. He undoes his pants and kicks the to the side along with his boxers. I take that as my que to go down on my knees. 

I hold his shaft in my hand stroking it feeling get harder and harder in my hand as I look up at Jamie. I put his in my mouth only sucking on his tip while I kept stroking his cock. I begin going farther and farther as I bobble my head on his cock. I can hear him groan as I grab on to his balls massaging them. He throws his head back before looking back down at me as I release his cock from my mouth. 

“Such a pretty girl sucking my cock like that” he says and he pulls me up throwing me back on the couch, “lift up” he says wasting no time taking both my pants and panties off at the same time throwing them to the side of the room. He leans on top of my pressing his lips on mine as we begin to make out. He enters one finger inside on me pumping in and out before added another finger continuing pushing it in and out, he stops kissing me to makes his was down. He continues to finger me as he stops on the way down to suck on my boobs and nibble on my nipples then kisses down my stomach all the way to my clit.

He then enters a third finger and begins curling them as I let out a breathy moan. “Such a pretty pussy” he says before attaching his lips to my clit so he can suck while is is curling three fingers inside of me. 

“So good!” I moan out. He releases his finger and reaches over to his pants back pocket pulling out his wallet and ripping open the condom package inside before sliding it on.

“Want something better” he says smirking before making out with me again. He bites my lip while pulling it back then lets it go so I can answer. 

“P-please fuck me” I breathe out. Without warning Jamie pounds deep inside of me earning a loud moan to escape my mouth. 

“So fucking sexy” he breathes out while thrusting hard inside of me. “I can’t hold much longer” he says, starting to get sloppier with his thrust before cumming in the condom groaning out loudly. He bends down kissing my lips before pulling out. “Fuck that was hot” he says. I stand up looking for my clothes and putting them on. I make my way to the door to leave until I hear he yell out after me. 

“Wait” I turn to see him, “What’s your number?” he says holding his phone out for me, I take it entering it as a new contact and add it back. 

“I have to go now” I say slipping outside the door. 

“You will be hearing from me” he says smiling at me before I smile back shutting the door behind me.

[projectbluearcadia]

I May Have Usurped Lord Diavolo?

[ NSFW Rating - Highly Suggestive - Dia being a perv and listening to Anne/Lucifer "having coffee" together. Minors DNI.

Reader Discretion Advised. ]

Diavolo passes Asmo’s bedroom and stares at Lucifer’s door. 

Annelie: Haha. Lucifer, you don’t have to rush; we have thirty minutes. 

Lucifer: Not enough... Mn. 

Annelie: That’s plenty of time. Besides... we still have tonight, don’t we?

Lucifer: I won’t let you walk tonight. 

Annelie: You’d better keep that promise.

Diavolo reaches out his hand to the door before he slaps himself and takes it back off again. 

Annelie: Did you hear something?

Lucifer: I heard you screaming. 

Annelie: Wha—AAAH!

Diavolo sighs and turns his back to the door, his demon form coming out as he pants and closes his eyes, covering them with his hand. 

Diavolo: Gloxinia... it’s so overpowering, I can’t think...

Annelie: Lucifer, AH! 

Lucifer: Taking your attention off me... I thought I taught you better than that. Where’s your apology? 

Annelie: Sorry! Sorry! More! Don’t stop!

Diavolo shudders, his hand reaching downward. 

Lucifer: I wouldn’t have stopped even if you begged me. You’re mine, Annelie. 

Diavolo: Fuck. Anne, don’t moan like that...

Annelie: I know. I know I’m yours...

Lucifer: You’d better, or that hickey I gave you is going to be joined by a dozen more. You’ll have to wear one of my shirts just to cover them all, but you’d love that, wouldn’t you?

Diavolo groans.

Diavolo: Fuck me... 

Annelie: Let’s just up it to an hour. 

Diavolo: Haha. I’m going to die. 

[ timeskip ]

Annelie: Hm? Why is Lord Diavolo on the floor?

Satan: That’s what we’d like to know. 

Solomon: I have a fairly good idea.

Lucifer: Which is?

Solomon: You mean he didn’t join you for your extended coffee break?

Join us? Diavolo? Was he not cured after all?

Lucifer: No. 

Solomon: Well, that’s both disappointing and a cause for relief. 

Annelie: Dia, did something happen?

Diavolo: Yes. 

Annelie: Well that doesn’t sound good. Are you okay?

Diavolo: No. 

Annelie: Do you want a hug?

Diavolo: ...yes, but I don’t deserve a hug. 

Annelie frowns and walks over to Diavolo, kneeling next to him. 

Annelie: What are you talking about? There’s no “deserving” a hug. Well, I say that. There’s a lot of people that have signed away their right for a hug from me, but you’re not one of them. Dia, tell me what’s bothering you, or at least tell me why you can’t tell me. 

Diavolo sits up and covers his face in his hands. 

Diavolo: I was fantasizing about my best friend’s girlfriend. I was getting off on what he was doing to you. How could I do that to Lucifer? How could I do that to you? 

Annelie: Diavolo... 

Annelie hugs him tightly. 

Annelie: I’m sorry. This stupid outbreak is my fault, and you’ve violated your morals because of it. 

Diavolo: No one thinks it’s your fault, Annelie. My willpower should have been stronger. I shouldn’t have lost control. I’m sorry. 

He’s not going to accept any argument I give him, is he? 

Satan: You said you lost control, but it seems like you’re in your right mind at the moment. And for that matter, it doesn’t seem like Lucifer is going to rip you to shreds. 

Lucifer: Of course not. I know that none of you would make a move on Annelie unless you wanted to be hung from the ceiling. 

Annelie: He’s less grumpy after he has his coffee, isn’t he? 

Lucifer: Oi.

Annelie chuckles. 

Solomon: Yes, he is... 

Annelie: Solomon? What’s the matter?

Solomon: No, it’s just... Anne, tell Diavolo to do something. 

Annelie pales. 

Annelie: What? But we didn’t...

Solomon: There was still a magic release, wasn’t there?

Annelie: ...Diavolo, take Lucifer’s cup of coffee. 

Diavolo: But he likes his coffee. 

Diavolo stands up and grabs Lucifer’s cup from his hands. 

Diavolo: Sorry. 

Annelie: Give it to me. 

Diavolo hands it to her, and she gives it back to Lucifer, even as Diavolo’s D.D.D. rings, the caller ID reading “Barbatos.” Diavolo answers it.

I have a very bad feeling about this.

Barbatos: I’m terribly sorry for my blundering, my lord, but the castle is finally clear again. Though, I must ask... how exactly did Lucifer cure you?

Diavolo: ...he didn’t. 

Barbatos: Have you done something you regret?

Diavolo: Yes. 

Barbatos: You didn’t ra—

Diavolo: No, no, of course I didn’t do that. 

Barbatos: Then it was Annelie’s fault?

Oh... oh no. He sounds mad. 

Diavolo: It wasn’t her fault. 

Barbatos: It doesn’t matter. She can control you, can’t she?

Diavolo: Well...

Barbatos: Then I’ve heard enough. 

That doesn’t sound good. 

Annelie: Barb... are you going to kill me?

Barbatos hangs up.

[saintchrollo]

im in cleaning tonight but im enjoying some 19 crimes cab sauv so. im releasing this from my gdocs

The liquor store’s electricity hums through the lighting. Kuroro stands in the wine aisle, frowning at the options before him. He couldn’t help but feel like he’d tried all of them, and none of them were truly memorable. Plucking up one with the image of Michael Harrington on it, Kuroro can’t help but be amused by it. Perhaps in a few centuries someone would be selling cabernet sauvignon with his own face on it. 

Kuroro gently places it back on the shelf. 

“I didn’t see you come in, otherwise I would have said hi,” Comes the shopkeep, an older woman with mascara slipping down her lower lashline. 

“You were with another customer,” Kuroro says. He gives her a gentle smile. “I didn’t want to disturb you.” 

“Well, it’s good to see you. Lookin’ for anything in particular? Another red?” 

“Perhaps,” Kuroro sighs. “I think I’ve tried just about everything.” 

“Eventually you’ll settle down with something. Cooking tonight?” 

What an odd choice of words, Kuroro thinks to himself. “No. I’m... Entertaining tonight.” 

“Oh?” She checks her watch. “Late night.” 

Kuroro shrugs. “I don’t mind.” His phone begins buzzing in his pocket, and he extracts it, glancing at the caller ID. Feitan. What could he possibly be calling me about? Kuroro looks at the shopkeeper, “I’m sorry, I have to take this. I’ll be up shortly.” 

The shopkeeper nods, and leaves Kuroro to himself and the call. 

He watches her walk away before answering the call on the last ring. He picks up a different bottle to examine the label. “Did you know they sell bottles of wine with criminals on them now?”

“Machi not answering her phone. Walk me through closing artery.” 

“I’m in public right now. And I don’t know how to do that. I thought Machi was with you?” 

“Went on beer run,” Feitan says. 

The bottle in his hands advertises a faint hint of wet leather amongst a muddling of vanilla, blueberries, and clove. 

“Who wanted beer?” 

“Phinks. Need to close artery.” 

Kuroro pauses, his nonchalance slipping. “Is everyone okay?” 

“Yes. Phinks wants man to die, but he still has information. Wait.” There’s some shuffling on the other end. With the hand holding the wine bottle, Kuroro presses his thumb between his furrowed brows, up under the bandana around his forehead. “Still alive.” 

“Just apply pressure until Machi comes back,” Kuroro whispers. “And have her teach both of you how to do this. I have to go. I’m in the middle of something. Or cauterize it.” He drops his voice even lower. “If you do that it’ll hurt too.” 

There’s the sound of gas clicking. “Got it. Talk later.” 

The phone clicks off. Kuroro takes a deep breath. He looks back at the bottle of wine in his hands, reading over the label again. His phone begins to ring again. The tension leaves his shoulders upon seeing the contact pop up— Your contact. 

One more deep breath to remove the rest of the tension from his shoulders. 

“Hello, darling,” He says, voice as smooth as could be. 

“Coucou,” Comes your voice through the phone. Kuroro glances back at the bottle of wine. “Are you still coming over? I know it’s late, so if—”

“I’ll be there soon, I’m just picking up some wine,” Kuroro says, cutting you off without hesitation. “There are quite a few options here.” 

Your laugh is light and airy through the receiver. Kuroro’s heart skips a beat. “Well, if you take much longer, I’ll have eaten all of the snacks I have out for us.” 

On the phone with you and not his murderous counterpart, Kuroro heads towards the counter. “Well, I’ll be there soon. Save something for me?” 

“Course I will, see you soon,” You say, before hanging up the phone. 

Kuroro places his phone back in his pocket, and the wine bottle on the counter. The shopkeep picks it up and scans it with interest. It’s a nice bottle, a 2019 from a small winery. “You’ll have to let me know how it is.” 

“Absolutely,” Kuroro promises, handing over a wad of cash in exchange for the bottle. He prays you’ll like it. 

[stachebracket]

alright so i finally got around to checking on the polls i posted yesterday and it looks like we will not be reopening submissions, and will hold a losers bracket after the finals of the winners bracket.

for round 3 im gonna start including image IDs. i think i did it fine on the eggman/wily/neocortex meme i made but if i anyone notices an issue, pls lemme know. ill do the same format on poll images and will do my best to be unbiased in stache descriptions

my hours at work have been nearly doubled for this week and the next so i cant promise round 3 releasing any sooner than Tuesday March 14th. but i might be able to get it out a day or two earlier. ill letchall know if that happens

tonight ill update the pinned image to the round 3 matchups, and this time around ill make a lil' graphic for it ^_^

[hummingbird-games]

Dev Daries

Feb 3, 2023

IT’S (me again announcing) BLACK HISTORY MONTH AYYYYYYEEEE!!!!!!! 

Okay, some updates of the Crushed variety???

[image ID: a screenshot of the Itch.io page for the visual novel Crushed. end ID]

There are a few things I’d like to tweak before making the page public this weekend, one of them involving 1-2 more/different screenshots. Maaaaaybe some cute little graphics made via Canva?? But I’m starting to get an idea of the visual theme for this project. And it’s happening a lot faster than it did for HSD 😂

[image ID: a screenshot of a cell phone with an ongoing text conversation. end ID]

If this conversation looks familiar, that’s on purpose. I just want to bring your attention to what I’ve accomplished since last time LOL! All that’s left now is to replace the white bubbles with a different color, which is annoyingly not simple??? I also keep putting it off because that requires making A Decision. And I’m decision-ed out 💩 

As y’all are aware, this is for the Black VN game jam. The original plan was to have a small enough project that could be done by or before Feb. 28, but this thing kind of ballooned and I’ve scaled back to “release 6-7k word demo with completed art and graphic assets, music, and text”. 

As of the time of this post, the full 20k something words are coded. I can technically play through the whole thing including the three endings and it’s quite a thrill. I cannot wait until y’all get the same opportunity!!! (Ending 2 still makes me sob like a baby, wheeeeeeeee!)

The plan is to have the game out Summer 2023, but that is dependent on 1) how fast the art is finished (because ya girl is thinking unlockable CGs, but also there’s the sprite art which ahaha is the highest priority...ugh) and 2) how I’m doing health wise. But I will keep y’all posted, and of course I’ve got fun things to share as we wait for the full game to release!

CGs might be up in the air but...voice acting is a thing that’s happening??

Just tonight I had my first live direct with a voice actor y’all and now I see why so many game devs become addicted to incorporating it?!?!? (It’s partial VA so don’t get too excited but get a lil excited because the finished product is gonna sound so cool.)

At this point you’ve maybe seen the character reveals?? Or you’ve seen me Crying On Main and missed the self-reblogs 😭 y’all, I did not want to do a m!MC game!!!! I even went as far as making a post saying I wouldn’t make a BL game (note to y’all, back up ya shit AND never say never). But one of my unwritten mottos for this studio is to tell stories. Tell the stories that won’t let me know peace until they’re out.

And Crushed wouldn’t have worked with an f!MC. And I quickly found out it this story wouldn’t work unless it was bi Black boy. 

the biphobia out here is something I’m going to fight until I’m 6ft under

Black boys and their stories are not a monolith, and I’m sick of teen media being written for adult consumption while disrespecting the teen demographic

one Black teen is going to play this game and it’s my hope, my desire, that they will feel less hollow inside when they finish...

So anyhoo. That’s your update.

If you’re looking for my “special brand” of game reactions and uncensored thoughts, I promise I will make the side blog public sometime 😭 I’ve been switching energy to books and I’m still trying to prove an author I adore wrong! When I asked her how does she balance gaming and reading, she looked into the camera and told me ‘you don’t’ and I hate that years later she’s still right...

And that’s that! I’m off now 🤪

- Gemini

P.S. I still plan on doing the bad endings for An Everyday Love and making it everyone’s problem, and that’s like half the reason I’m dragging my feet, so forgive me 

[wickedlehane]

@halfreaks gets a pre-Sunnydale starter from a troubled Faith

In the dark of night outside the club, the girl almost looked eighteen. Almost.

As long as the bouncer didn't look too long at her youthful doe-eyes and soft cheeks, which she was currently biting the insides of in an attempt to make her bone structure look slightly more defined. As long as the bouncer looked at the numbers on her fake ID and then maybe at her chest in a low-slung top, maybe Faith would get in.

She held her breath until he asked for her hand -- a marked X on the back of her right to prevent her from ordering anything alcoholic from the bar. Faith's promise to be a good girl -- scout's honor she wouldn't order anything. (But the X said nothing about getting guys to buy drinks for her, namely the ones who sought out the underage girls in the first place.)

"Thanks, man," she said, releasing the tension in her face. The girl snapped her gum and grabbed the ID back, pocketing it in the tight, tight pocket of her leather pants before submersing herself in the dark of the club. Neither of her parents knew where she was tonight, but that was fine -- she didn't even know where her dad was these days. And mom was face-down in the living room with Jack, Jim, or Jameson in her arms. Tonight, Faith was her own caretaker, cruising on $20 she'd stolen from her mother's underwear drawer.

She hadn't made it twenty feet into the venue before walking straight into a woman she hadn't seen just moments ago. In fact, this woman totally wasn't watching where she was going, and now part of her drink was dripping down Faith's shirt. "Eugh. Really, lady?" The girl started to brush the tangy smelling drink from her front. "I would offer to buy you a new one but I got branded," she said, flashing the back of her palm.

"So that one's on you."

[stanknotstark]

A Little Pain (And A Lil Glory)

i have to thank @high-functioning-lokipath​ for helping me with all my questions about migraines. Thank you SO much, you’re amazing 💜 Anyways! I made the reader go through all four stages of migraines (prodrome, aura, attack, and post-drome!)

Summary: REQUEST. Loki helps with your migraine.

PRODROME

You open the fridge and lightly hum as you search through the contents. Loki walks in and sees you which in turn makes him change his decision to make coffee and to instead come up to your back and hug you from behind. He rests his chin on your shoulder. 

“What is my beloved searching for?” He asks, his lips finding your neck and leaving pecks there. You sigh and tilt your head so he may continue kissing with easier access. He notices the movement is strained, as if your neck is a bit stiff.

“I’m kind of craving moon berries.” 

Loki heeds no thought to the craving and pulls from you. “Moon berries? I don’t think Thor brought many back the last time he made a trip to Asgard.” Loki finishes the sentence with a small hum. He gently moves you aside and waves his hand in front of the refrigerator. You gasp when a secret shelf appears from nowhere. 

Loki chuckles at your excitement as he opens the newly appeared drawer. “I do not share everything we bring back and if you dare tell a soul-”

You hop on your toes with excitement coursing through your body and smile at Loki. “You’ll kill me, I know!” 

Loki sputters but laughs. “No, I was going to say I will punish you. I could never kill you, my love.” 

You let out a small, embarrassed oh but gasp and hop up to kiss Loki when he pulls two moon berries from the drawer and gives them to you. 

AURA

Next, Loki becomes suspicious when you’re talking to him but keep glancing away to a specific spot in the room just over his shoulder. 

“Darling?” He questions when you glance away once more. Your eyes are quick to snap back to him at his question. 

“Sorry, I keep seeing something flashing over there, Tony must have left a tablet where the sun could shine on it or something.” You wave off Loki’s concern. 

When you’re both done talking and you have returned to your floor Loki still sits there. He gets up and makes his way to the area you had been looking at. Nothing is there but a bare ottoman. Loki realizes what is occurring because he had read up on migraines so he could better attend to yours that had grown from rare to often occurring. 

Loki wants to wave this off with doubt just because he really hopes you don’t have an oncoming migraine. He hates when you’re in pain. 

Loki can’t deny the evidence anymore because the next day you claim you must have slept on your arm wrong, it has pins and needles all day. 

ATTACK

You groan and shift further under the blankets of your bed when the lights switch on. 

“Darling, it’s two in the afternoon, you need to get up and at least eat something.” Loki chides softly as he walks through your room and comes to rest on the edge of your bed. 

When Loki slowly lifts the covers to see you, you look at him with squinty eyes, your hand coming up to shield them and practically hiss.

“Migraine.” Is all you supply Loki. Loki nods with understanding and climbs under the covers with you. When he drops the covers you both look at each other in the dark lighting. 

You wince at a particular throb on the right side of your head. It feels as though someone has hit you over the head with a rock. The pain starts from the base of your skull and climbs up towards your eye. Loki brings his hands up, between the both of you, and rests his fingers on each of your temples. You close your eyes and he begins kneading with moderate pressure. You sigh and melt into his calloused hands. 

“Have you taken medicine yet?” Loki whispers into the enclosed space. You whisper out a no to which Loki responds with a disappointed sound. 

You nearly whimper when Loki pulls his fingers from your temple. You can’t stop the way your body leans forward into his receding hands. Loki hushes at you then he’s waving his hands in the enclosed space, the blankets wavering with the movement, and a bottle of menstrual medicine appears.  

You let out a strained smile. “Do you keep menstrual medicine on you at all times?” 

“Perhaps,” Loki opens the bottle with ease and tilts the bottle. Two pills fall into his hand and he hands them to you. All these movements come off as awkward considering you’re under the covers. “You have been having more migraines recently, and I read these really help migraines...do you need water?” Loki asks you with a small frown on his face. 

“No.” You grab the pills and swallow them with practiced movements. 

“Well, I pride myself in being prepared for everything.” Loki continues as he watches you settle back down. He quickly magics the bottle away and looks at you again from his side.

“Always ten steps ahead…” You mutter as you close your eyes again. 

“Precisely.” Loki replies satisfied as he brings his fingers to your temple and begins massaging again. This time his fingers stray from your temples and knead through your hair. 

“Which side is it?” He asks softly. 

“Right.”

Loki moves his hands, one supporting the left side of your head and the other kneading into the right side. It feels amazing, so much so that you let out a relieved groan. “Thanks.” You murmur. 

Loki lets his hands work on you for a minute before he is pulling away again. “I apologize. I feel like I might actually suffocate in this heat.” Loki chuckles out. He waves his hand and you see your room’s lights flash off. Loki yanks the covers from over your heads and takes in a deep breath. “Norns.” He huffs out causing you to lightly laugh but it’s cut off when you wince and bring your hands up to hold your head.

Loki is quick to turn back to you and rests his hands over yours on your head. His face is etched with concern and bewilderment. “I will never understand why you will not just let me use magic to remedy your migraines.” 

“That’s cheating.” You spout out petulantly. You open your eyes in time to see Loki rolling his. You giggle. “I need to learn to deal with them because what if I become dependent on your magic and then one day you’re not there?” 

Loki gives a slight raise of his eyebrows, as if silently admitting you might be right. “Have you ever considered that I’ll always be there for you?” 

You can feel a dopey smile split across your lips. “Don’t make promises like that Loki.”

Loki frowns. “Like what?”

“Promises you can’t possibly keep.” You explain. 

Loki lets out a huff of breath that sounds close to a sigh then looks at you with endearment. “Darling, I promise to always be there for you.”

You look at Loki with wide, doe eyes. “For all time?”

Loki smiles. “Always.” 

You lay there with Loki for some time, time you don’t keep track of. The medicine you took earlier is not helping a lot or at least isn’t working as well probably because you don’t have food in your stomach. The nausea you felt earlier is growing stronger. Your legs begin shaking and your mouth begins producing more spit than necessary. You sit up with a swallow. Loki is quick to sit up with you, his hand fanning across your lower back. Before he can ask what’s going on you’re hopping out of the bed and rushing to the bathroom. 

Loki hears the retching begin and sighs. He had really hoped it wouldn’t get bad enough to make you physically ill. He untangles himself from the bedding and enters the bathroom. You’re quick to throw a hand up and shake your head. A bad decision because you gasp and grab your head. 

“Don’t look at me.” You plead. 

Loki considers leaving you be but it’s not even a choice. He comes behind you and kneels. He grabs your hair and holds it back so you don’t get sick in it. 

“I feel as if we are past the point of being disgusted by each other considering we’ve ingested each other's bodily fluids before.” 

Loki smiles a little when you let out a shocked laugh. “You make giving you head sound so clinical-” You gag as you speak and hurl into the toilet. 

Loki brings his free hand up to rub across your back as you heave. 

“You will have to take more medicine considering you most likely just vomited it all up.” Loki mutters as an afterthought.

When you tell Loki you’re fine and not going to get sick anymore he helps you stand, slowly, and hands you your toothbrush with toothpaste already on it. 

As you brush your teeth he moves through the bathroom. He grabs a hand towel and wets it, wringing it out so it isn’t dripping, merely damp. 

You both move back to the bed. He hands you two more pills that you swallow quickly, then you lay down. Before he lays down with you he uses a blue hand to make the damp towel cold. He lays it across your forehead and smiles when you let out a grateful moan. 

Your eyes are closed so when your hand reaches out for him it reaches aimlessly. He is quick to grab your hand and kiss it then he lays down next to you. 

“You need to eat something.” Loki speaks into the silent room as he stares up at the ceiling in thought about what you need and how to take care of you.

“I just threw up everything though.” You whisper with whining resistance.

“I know. Meaning you have nothing on your stomach. Taking medicine without food could cause things to get worse.” Loki explains in a gentle voice. He had done plenty of research for you. 

“Can we just start with drinking something? My stomach is still queasy.” 

Loki hums thoughtfully. “I’ll make some tea, perhaps the caffeine may help.” 

You pat Loki’s arm. “You’re a lifesaver, babe.” 

Loki flushes at your term of endearment. Loki is usually the one to use endearments, not you. He clears his throat and sits up. “I shall be but a moment.” 

POST-DROME

Loki finally gets you to eat some soup and bread before you lay back down and go to sleep. 

The next day you sit up and hold your breath. The pain is gone. You quickly turn to Loki who is blinking his eyes open groggily. You wince when there is slight pain at your fast movement. It’s minor compared to what was going on yesterday though. 

Loki slowly sits up and you flush when the sheets fall down his bare chest and pool in his lap. “Feeling better?” He asks in a sleep roughened croak. His hand comes up to trail up your arm and land on your shoulder where he rubs it in a soothing circle. He rubs the sleep from his eyes with his other hand. 

“Loads better. I just feel some pain if I turn my head too fast.” 

Loki hums thoughtfully then yawns. He turns and checks the time from the clock on the nightstand. “It is seven A.M. sweetheart, do you have somewhere to be?” Loki looks back at you with a raised eyebrow. 

You shake your head and throw yourself into Loki who lets out a grunt at the impact before he falls back into the bed with you now on top of him. He squeezes you in a hug then lets his hands rub over your back. You both lay there with your eyes closed, enjoying the embrace, breathing in each other’s scent. 

“Thank you for taking care of me.” You murmur, already half asleep. 

“Of course. Anything for my beloved.” Loki says, kissing your forehead. 

“I know you really love me ‘cuz you watched me puke ‘n still look at me like I’m the prettiest woman in the world.” You slur out making Loki chuckle. 

“Go to sleep, darling.” Loki mutters. The vibrations of his words emitting from his chest make you snuggle into him more and sigh. 

“Love me, right?” You ask in a drowsy tone. 

“I do.” Loki says. He snickers when you pinch his arm. “I love you.” He whispers. 

You let out a happy noise then let sleep take you for a few more hours, wrapped in Loki’s warm embrace.

Tag list: @justfangirlthingies​ @biancablack2474​ @creeping156tin​ @ajeff855​ @high-functioning-lokipath  

[summercourtship]

Hiya! I read your recent Pinhead one-shot and adored it, your writing is so good. Can I request a Ghostface NSFW one-shot where he call’s his next victim but she happens to be masturbating? And they end up having phone sex. I would really appreciate it and if you do please let me know if you take payment or even if I can give you a tip! <3

Oh my gosh thank you so much! I actually gasped when I read this request, I fucking love this idea I hope I did it justice lol. I still get kinda insecure when writing smut even though I've read some not-so-great erotica and still be turned on by it so does it matter? Either way, practice is practice haha.

delicious (nsfw, 18+)

danny johnson x reader | warnings: phone sex, dirty talk, degradation, | note: the title comes from the charli xcx song, somehow not a tswift song for once! | word count: 1.8k

Perhaps your mother had been right in not allowing you to have a phone in your bedroom growing up.

But perhaps it was that very same denial that made you determined to have one in your room when you lived on your own, living out a childhood dream of being able to chat to friends on your own phone in your own room. Not that it got much use, with you rarely being home enough to answer calls and it being even rarer for your friends to even bother calling.

The phone became more like a bedside decoration than serving any real functional purpose in your life, except for when you wanted to call in sick to work or order takeout from the comfort of your own bed. You forgot, it seemed, that phones could actually be kind of a nuisance.

It had been a slow week of long hours at your work, and every class you took seemed to have major assignments due within the past three days. You could’ve cried from relief when you finally got home and had the freedom of the weekend in front of you. You didn’t envy the students pouring their way into parties and bars, though you might have felt a twinge of nostalgia for when you were one of them.

But just because you weren’t going out didn’t mean you couldn’t enjoy the rest of your night and have some fun with yourself. Once you were out of your work clothes and into your chosen sleepwear for the night (which was simply a big t-shirt), you plopped onto your bed, all the stress and tension leaving your body as soon as you hit the soft surface.

You roll over onto your back, lazily running your hand down your body. You don’t waste time messing with your chest, instead moving directly to your underwear, slipping your hand inside. There was no need to tease yourself, after all.

You had just begun to slowly circle your clit, feeling a bit more sensitive than usual, when the phone started ringing.

Your eyes snapped open, hand still in your underwear. At first, you barely recognized the sound of it, only knowing that the piercing tones had interrupted your alone time. But once your tired and horny brain fog cleared- if just slightly- you glared over at your bedside table.

From where you were laying, you could see the caller ID display, though it only provided you with “UNKNOWN CALLER” on the tiny green screen. You shifted your gaze slightly to your alarm clock, which dimly displayed 11:37 PM. That’s a bit late for a salesperson to call, and your friends would have been announced through the ID display, had they decided to call this late.

Ignoring the sinking feeling in your stomach and the nagging itching in the back of your brain to remember something you saw in passing on a newspaper at the store, you waited for the phone’s ringing to end.

Settling back in, you slowly get back into the proper headspace for touching yourself, resuming your slow movements. You wanted to both take it slow tonight and really enjoy it, and seek your pleasure as fast as possible, needing the release it promised after the week you’ve had.

As a compromise between the two desires, you started to pick up the pace, feeling yourself get slightly wetter from your touch.

The phone rings again.

You curse, this time sitting up and snatching the phone off the hook, but not before seeing that this, too, was from an unknown caller (likely the same one from before, you thought in the back of your mind).

“What?” Normally you would never answer the phone this way, but it was way past decent calling times, and you were fucking tired.

But in response, there was nothing. You were starting to wonder if you had somehow not picked up the phone in time for the call to go through when you realized you could faintly hear someone breathing on the other end.

Great.

One of these calls.

You were hardly ever in the mood to deal with prank calls, let alone when you were just trying to destress after a long, exhausting week. You just wanted a fucking break.

“Listen, asshole-”

“I can see you.”

You manage to catch yourself before you’re able to vocally react, instead somehow calmly looking over at your window. The blinds are shut. You don’t doubt that someone, if determined enough, could find a way to peek inside, but you doubted that the man on the phone was that pervert.

“Liar.”

On the other end, the man lets out a chuckle. And you realize, despite yourself, that his voice is kinda attractive, at least for a creep.

“Made you look.”

Scratch that. Very attractive.

Biting your lip, you lay back down, the horny side of your brain pushing you to start your movements again. You have no plan- ideally he would hang up and you would be able to fully indulge yourself, but as the seconds pass without the telltale click of the line being cut you figure this won’t happen.

“What do you want, weirdo?” You can’t help but throw the insult in, figuring he deserves it for interrupting you twice. Not that he knew he was doing it, but either way it didn't matter to you.

“You wound me.” His voice is deep and expressive, and you are definitely getting wetter listening to him speak.

“Good.” You chuckle, but it’s breathless in the way that only someone who was currently masturbating (as you were) would sound.

He’s silent for a moment, and you begin to pick up your pace, adding pressure to your movements, the occasional jolt of pleasure running through your body distracting you from the fact that it was definitely louder than you realized.

“Are you fucking yourself right now?” He doesn’t sound offended (thank goodness), but he does sound confused. You, on the other hand, are suddenly too mortified to examine his tone and you only realize this fact after.

“Shit!” You pull the phone away from your face, as if that lessens the impact of the fact that you were just caught masturbating by a stranger. “I’m sorry, fuck-”

“No- keep going.”

You definitely did not hear that right. You put the phone back to your ear.

“I’m sorry? No-”

“I said, keep going.” Oh boy. If his voice was attractive before when he was just casually talking with you, it didn’t compare to how hot it was when he gave you a command. “You had no problem being a slut before, so you shouldn’t have one now.”

“I- okay. I just feel awkward now.” All of the bravado you felt earlier had quickly dissipated once you were caught.

He hums on the other end of the line and you wait impatiently for his response.

“Would it help if I told you what to do?”

This was certainly not how you had anticipated your night ending up, but you weren’t complaining. How often would you get the chance to have consequence-free phone sex with a complete stranger?

This could very well be the only time in your entire life you would have this thrilling opportunity, and you weren’t going to let it pass you by.

“I think so.” You could hear the man getting comfortable, the rustling of fabric faint in the background on his end. You wondered if it was him getting his cock out.

“Are you still touching yourself?”

“...Yes.” You’d slowed down after you’d been caught, but never fully stopped.

“Play with your clit for me.”

“O-okay.” It was a simple and vague instruction, but something that you could quickly comply with, given that your hand had barely moved from its earlier position. You resumed stroking it, noticing that you had gotten significantly wetter since you’d first picked up the phone. Not quite dripping, but enough to signify that you were definitely turned on by the situation you had found yourself in.

“Good girl.”

Fuck. Your hips jerked at the praise, and you bit your lip to hide your moan. But you clearly didn’t do a good job of it, because the man on the other end chuckled, the sound once again going straight to your pussy.

“Oh, did you like that?”

“Y-yes.” If you were of sound mind you would be embarrassed by how quickly this man had managed to reduce you to the stuttering mess you were now.

“Put the phone on speaker, and don’t even think about holding back any of those little noises.” You rush to comply, fumbling slightly with controlling your non-dominant hand.

“Done.”

“Good. Close your eyes.”

“...Okay.”

“Are you still touching your clit?” You hum in response.

“Just how fucking wet are you right now?”

You gasped, rhythm faltering. “Very.” Your voice is breathy, shaking as you stumble over the single word. “Fuck, please tell me something- anything. Wanna hear what you want.”

“Yeah?” You can now hear the distinct noise of him jerking off on the other end, and you’re certain he must be able to hear the sloppy noise your own movements are creating. “I wanna to fuck you so hard you won’t be walk right for a week, every movement you make a reminder of how much I fucking own you. You’re mine, got that? My little slut, just a fuck toy for me to fill up.”

You shuddered, turning your head against your pillow.

“You want that, want me to fill you up?”

“Yes, please, I want your cum, oh my god,” you’re mumbling, words you don’t truly mean but your brain is far too gone to think about the things you’re saying.

Plus, he’s just a stranger, someone you’ll never meet. You can say whatever you want, it doesn’t even matter.

“I wanna make you cum on my cock, feel your tight little pussy around me-fuck,” You wished, briefly, you knew what he looked like, so you could properly imagine him fisting his cock, the muscles in his arm straining as he made himself go faster, chasing his release.

“I want it, I want it, please,” You were just saying the same thing over and over again, too close to your climax to think of anything sexier to say.

“Are you gonna cum?” His voice was strained, almost muttered out.

“Yes, yes- please I need it, fuck-”

“Then do it. Cum for me like a good little girl.”

And with his permission, you comply, continuing your litany of curses and pleas as your back arches, your orgasm crashing through your body. Gasping, eyes and mouth open, continuing to touch yourself until your body screamed at you to stop from the overstimulation on your clit.

On his end, he lets out a long, low groan as he reaches his climax in the midst of your own. In the back of your mind you wish you were more present to fully enjoy the noise he’s made, to revel in the fact that you did that to a total stranger.

Once you both have come back down from your high, the line is silent. You have no idea what to say, how to even continue a conversation from here. For a moment you contemplate just hanging up and going to sleep, but he beats you to the chase with a line that turns your racing blood to ice.

“See you soon.”

___

ao3 link | part two

[danielfuckingricciardo]

Lying is the Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off

Pairing - Daniel Ricciardo x Reader

Word Count - 2.7k

Content Warning - swearing, masturbation, oral sex, unprotected vaginal sex, daddy kink

Synopsis - The reader pleasures herself to the thought of Daniel Ricciardo, who is hell-bent on proving that he is better in real life than in any of her fantasies.

Author’s Note - I had two fics in mind; a super fluffy, wholesome one, and this one. The horny bitch that resides within me definitely won this day. This is probably my last smutty fic for the next few days as I’m going away with the fam and don’t fancy writing porn in the same room as them lol. Enjoy!

Inspired by the song Lying is the Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off by Panic! At The Disco

You look up at the ceiling and sigh, finding it almost impossible to sleep with the constant bass of the music outside making the entire hotel room shake. Normally, several cocktails in the hotel bar and a cheeky cigarette out on the balcony is enough to knock you out until the next morning, but you were distracted. You couldn’t help but think of the way you’d been touched tonight, the sensation of his hand on the small of your back as he squeezed past, the grip on your arm as he led you to the dance floor, and the eventual caress of your hips as you had swayed to the music together. Your hands weave their way through the sheets, resting on your hips to attempt to replicate the sensation. It wasn’t the same. You craved his touch. All of it. More of it.

Your hands made their way down towards your panties, lifting the fabric of your nightgown to gently brush your throbbing flesh beneath the lace. You caress yourself through the material, exhaling a few breathy moans as your finger circles your clit. You promised yourself you’d never do this, never touch yourself while thinking of him. It would only make your obsession with him deepen, and your desire intensify in a way that would surely drive you insane just to be around him. But you couldn’t sleep, and you needed release, and the only thoughts in your desperate brain were of him.

You push the sheets away and slide your fingers beneath the dripping wet lace, running your fingers through your damp folds, teasing your cunt. You lay your head back and close your eyes, filling your mind with the filthiest thoughts you could possibly think. His hands sliding your panties down to your ankles, pushing you against the wall and aggressively taking you there and then, filling you up with his thick cock. You groan with pleasure as you imagine him filling your mouth with his fingers, sucking and biting on them as he thrusts into you. “Fuck!” You moan, as you push your fingers inside of you, curling them against your sweet spot. You imagine yourself riding his thigh, the friction of your clit against his tattooed skin, his hands tangled in your sweaty hair as he watches your face fill with ecstasy.

You feel your orgasm creeping up on you as you thrust your fingers deeper, imagining them to belong to someone else, as your phone begins to vibrate on the table beside you. You sigh and sit up, removing your fingers from your pussy, now achingly close to your completion, as you look at the caller ID - Daniel. “Fuck.” You say, sighing slightly as you make the move to answer your phone, “hey, what’s up?” You ask “(Y/n)” He says, and you feel your hole tighten in response as your orgasm rips through you. You fight against it, but the pleasure rushing through your body causes you to whimper into the phone, a moan escaping your lips that you’re just too distracted to censor. You’re immediately stolen from the moment as you realised just what had happened. Daniel Ricciardo had just listened to you cum through the fucking phone. “Occupied, are we?” He asks, his smirk almost audible in his voice. “Fuck, no, I uh…” You stutter, your head still spinning. “So, who’s the lucky fella?” He asks. “No one, I wasn’t doing anything.” You say unconvincingly. “Sure.” He laughs. Asshole. “I’m alone, I promise, now why did you call me? It’s literally 2am.” You ask, tugging the discarded bedsheets around your still quivering form. “Couldn’t sleep. Bored. Needed a distraction and fucking hell did I manage to find one.” He says, chuckling slightly. “Shut up.” You say, a deep blush rising in your cheeks. “Tell me, do you always answer the phone like that?” He questions, and you wince. “I don’t make a habit of it, no.” You say, laughing awkwardly to ease your own feeling of tension. “I hope you were thinking of me.” He says, and you grip the sheets beside you in frustration, letting out a silent scream. “No, I wasn’t thinking of you, Ricciardo.” You lie “Are you sure? Only you came as soon as you heard the sound of my voice.” He says, a dark tone in his voice. “Unfortunate timing, I’m afraid.” You lie again, and you slap your forehead with your hand. “So if I was to come to your room right now and offer to make you come so hard you can’t help but scream my name this time, you’d say no?” He asks, and your mouth drops open, unable to speak. You stay silent, unsure of what to say. “I’ll take that as a yes then. Leave the door unlocked and get dressed in something sexy. I want you ass up on that bed by the time I get there, babygirl.” He says, and you gulp, lost for words. He hangs up and you drop the phone beside you on the bed. You lie there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, just trying to process exactly what the fuck had just happened.

You glance over at the clock, 2:23am, still wide awake and filled with anticipation at just what might be coming your way. Shakily, you stand from the bed, walking to the door and unlocking it. You glance at yourself in the mirror, your eyeliner still lingering around your eyes in smudged dark circles, just a hint of red lipstick staining your plump lips. You take this opportunity to re-apply the lip product he had once complimented, and adjust your bra, praising yourself for choosing the one matching underwear set you owned when you had dressed for the evening. You throw yourself onto the bed, ruffling your hair and arching your back into the position he had precisely requested, your nightdress riding up to reveal the frilly lace of your red panties. You hear the handle being turned and take a deep breath, thoughts running through your mind at a million miles an hour.

“Aren’t you a good girl?” He says as he enters the room, locking the door behind him. “Only when I want to be.” You reply, turning your head to get a glimpse of him. “You’d better be good for me, or I’ll have to punish you.” He responds, laying a firm slap on your ass from behind, causing your to flinch. “But what if I like to be punished?” You ask, a sultry tone to your voice. He responds with another slap to your ass, your soft skin stinging from the contact. “Then I’ll have to punish you harder.” He responds, grabbing your hips and swiftly pulling you towards him, his fingers immediately finding your dripping core. He begins to rub your clit in small circles, teasing you through your panties. “Now tell me what you were fantasising about as you fingered yourself.” You push back into his touch, your core aching for more contact with his fingers. “I was thinking about you. What I wanted you to do to me.” You moan, your voice weak from pleasure. “And what do you want me to do, babygirl?” He responds, his fingers pushing your panties to the side, making contact with your wet folds for the first time. “I wanted you to fuck me, hard against the wall. Make me scream.” You say, pushing back against his touch. “What else, babygirl?” He asks, his spare hand migrating up from your hip to your chest, diving into your bra and playing with the sensitive bud of your nipple. “I want you to choke me. Make me gag.” You manage to say, your heart beating out of your chest with desire. “I can do all of those things, babygirl, and I promise you, I’ll be even better than you could possibly imagine.” “Cocky bastard.” You chuckle, and his hand jumps from your breast to your throat, squeezing gently. You moan at the contact and he laughs. He pulls you upright, his hand on your throat making you gasp for air, so you’re kneeling before him on the bed. He places a kiss on your shoulder and removes his hands from your body which immediately misses his touch. You turn around and watch as he sucks each of his fingers clean. “You taste so fucking good, babygirl.” He says, the use of the pet name making your walls clench in response. “What do you taste like, daddy?” You ask, looking up at him through your eyelashes. “Ask nicely, babygirl, and you’ll find out.” He responds, already in the process of unfastening his trousers. “Can I suck your cock, daddy, please?” You ask, your cherry-red lips parted slightly. “Since you asked so nicely.” He responds, releasing his dick from the constraints of his underwear. You gasp at the sight of it, you had imagined it to be big but he had somehow surpassed your expectations. A very good sign for the night yet to come.

You run your hand along his length, allowing your other hand to take his bare hip, squeezing it gently. You use your tongue to gently play with the tip as your hand begins to to gently alternate between strokes against the top and the bottom of his shaft. “No teasing, babygirl.” He commands, returning his hand to your throat, tangling the other in your hair. “Sorry, daddy.” You speak against his tip, allowing your lipstick to transfer against it. You take him in your mouth, the tip reaching your tonsils as you gag against him. He grunts at the contact, his hips bucking into you, causing him to graze the back of your throat. You start to suck him off, taking slow movements at first, returning your hand to the base of his shaft to gently caress his balls. “Fuck, babygirl, you’re so good at this.” He groans, pulling your hair to bring you closer to him. A string of breathy moans and quiet curse words leave his mouth, arousing you even more as you feel your juices begin to run down your thighs. You gag every time he hits the back of your throat, his own thrusts pushing himself deeper and deeper as he fucks your mouth. You look up at him, his sweat-filled hair clinging to his face, his cheeks red and eyes dark. He was somehow even more gorgeous like this, especially knowing that you were the one to make him this way. This was a sight just for you, no one else, and it made your core ache just thinking about it.

He pulls his cock out of your mouth, now covered in your red lipstick. “What a mess you’ve made, babygirl.” He says, withdrawing his touch from your body once again. “Don’t worry, daddy, I’ll clean you up.” You say, leaning forward, using your tongue to remove every trace of the cosmetic from his shaft. “What a good girl you are.” He says, using his hand to caress your face and neck. “Will you fuck me, please, daddy?” You ask, a sense of desperation in your voice. “Tell me why. Why do you want me to fuck you?” He asks, gripping your chin and pulling your head up towards him. “I want you to fill me up with your cock, daddy, and I want you to cum inside me.” You beg, your eyes wide with want. “On the bed or against the wall, babygirl?” He asks, and you sit up on your knees, reaching your arms around his neck. “Against the wall, please daddy.” You respond, pulling yourself up from the bed, placing your jelly-like legs on the floor. You take a few seductive steps forward, pushing him back against the wall. “Don’t forget who’s in charge here, babygirl. I think I might have to punish you for that.” He says, spanking you again on you already tender asscheek. “I’m sorry, daddy, I just want you so badly.” You respond, offering him a sexy smile. “It’s okay babygirl.” He says, tearing his shirt from his body before grabbing you by the ass and lifting you up, pushing you forcefully against the wall. You wrap your legs around him and pull him close to steady yourself. The cold sensation of the wall against your back, and the warmth of Daniel’s chest against yours overwhelms your senses, making your body tremble.

The tip of Daniel’s cock presses against your wet cunt, and you wish your panties had already been removed, the lace preventing him from caressing your entrance. He pushes the material to the side and presses into you, causing your eyes to roll back in your head as he fills you up with his thick shaft. “Fuck.” You manage to choke out, his tip grazing your cervix as he bottoms out within you. “You okay, babygirl.” He asks, adjusting his grip on your body, moving up to your neck, looping one hand around your neck and the other around your throat. You nod, unable to speak in the moment, and he squeezes your throat, causing a moan to escape your lips. “Is this what you wanted? When you were fucking yourself with your fingers?” “Yes, daddy.” You say, your head dropping back against the wall with a bang. He begins to fuck into you, the aggressive motion of his thrusts causing your head to hit against the wall with every movement.

You moan loudly as he hits your sweet spot and he chuckles, connecting his lips with your own in a sinful kiss. He explores your mouth with his tongue, tasting himself on you and smearing your lipstick even further across your face and onto his own. He pulls away, examining the mess he had made. “I always liked that colour on you, babygirl.” He says between moans. “I wear it always, for you daddy.” You say in a dirty voice, your lips sore and puffy and messed up from the kiss. “I want you to wear it every day from now on, babygirl.” He says, his thrusts into you becoming sloppier as he feels his release coming closer and closer. “Yes, daddy.” You whisper in his ear, eliciting a deep guttural moan from him in response. “Fuck, I’m close.” He says, focusing his movements on achieving his own orgasm. You bury your head into his neck and nip gently at the exposed flesh with your teeth, sucking and biting your own perfect mark on his body. He hits your sweet spot again and you throw your head back against the wall, a filthy moan falling from your lips. He trails his hand down your body from your neck to your pussy, caressing your clit with his finger. You moan his name into his neck, repeating it over and over until you feel your orgasm wash over you, the electric sensation rippling throughout your body. The tightening of your walls against his cock brings about his own undoing, as he fills you up with his seed. You feel his legs begin to shake as he cums, and push him down against the couch beside you, straddling him against the cold leather.

You cuddle into him, wrapping your arms around his torso and burying your head in his neck, seeking to be as close to him as possible as the two of you catch your breath. “Did I live up to your fantasies, babygirl?” He asks, dropping his head against yours. “Fuck, daddy, you were better than anything I could have dreamed.” You say into him, and you feel his smile against your cheek. In that moment, you feel your tiredness catching up with you, your eyes becoming heavy and almost impossible to re-open with every blink. You fall asleep in his arms, his cock still buried deep within you, and he pulls you close, before closing his own eyes and letting his head rest gently against the arm of the couch.

[uwusenpaiuwu]

Sleepovers At The Baji Household feat. A Fed-Up Chifuyu

Summary: Chifuyu just wants to sleep, man, but Baji wants to be a jealous crackhead at 2 AM.

Pairing: Sano Manjiro | Mikey x Male Reader

Note(s): I had a little free time and wrote this. So, please enjoy! ALSO, to the anon that sent me a request a few days ago, I saw it and have it filed on my to-do list!!! I will definitely get to it as soon as I get a break in my schedule :)

"Chifuyu, ya wanna see some real discrimination?"

No. No, Chifuyu does not want to see what Baji means by 'real discrimination.'

Does he tell him that, though?

Yes, actually, because it's 2 in the fucking morning and, as much as he respects the other boy, he wouldn't put it past himself to smother him with a pillow after having his dream of cuddling with a sea of puppies suddenly destroyed.

Unfortunately for his sanity, Baji either doesn't hear him or, more likely than not, doesn't give a fuck, because he's already flopping onto his belly and whipping out his phone to do God knows what.

The dial tone that sounds from the speaker a few seconds later makes Chifuyu cringe, especially since it's only ever been a calm silence fit for a good night's sleep prior to Baji bulldozing through it with his absurd question. (At the very least, he's thankful that the latter has half a mind to keep the brightness on the lowest setting, otherwise, Chifuyu would have had to fight.)

On the far end of the row of carefully-laid futons, you shift in your sleep, eyebrows furrowing together at the noise. Rotating onto your side, you unconsciously reach for Baji, and just when he thinks you're being cute and trying to cuddle him, you smack him in the head.

Baji doesn't flinch, instead, takes his pillow and shoves it in your grasp to keep your unconscious self occupied, so that he can focus on getting through to the person who reuses to pick up (understandably so).

Releasing a frustrated groan after being redirected to voice mail for the fifth time, he dials the number again, muttering an impatient, "Pick up already."

Chifuyu feels sorry for the poor soul on the other end. He would've blocked someone following the first call, because again, it's-

The blond has to squint his eyes up at the digital clock on Baji's nightstand, which confirms that it's already 2:22 A.M, further solidifying the fact that he shouldn't be awake right now. And this also applies to the ever persistent first division captain, who insists on bothering who Chifuyu soon discovers is Mikey from the contact ID that flashes across the screen.

Why Baji is so keen on bothering him is a question he doesn't have the mental capacity to ponder over. The most energy he'll expend is to listen in when the call miraculously connects.

"What...?" comes a muffled voice from the receiver, tone laced in an irked grogginess birthed from a slumber rudely interrupted.

There's an absurdly loud, almost angry, roar of Mikey's name, one that has Chifuyu curling in on himself in a futile attempt to escape a sound that should be illegal at this hour.

But you know what else should be illegal?

The fucking whiplash Chifuyu gets when Baji's deep voice takes an abrupt 180°, switching from its normal gruffness to a squeaky, ear-piercing shrill as he screams, "I love you, love you, love you! Do you love me, too, Mikey-kyun~♡?!"

The room is dead silent.

Not a word. Not a murmur. Not a breath.

Just pure, unadulterated silence as both Chifuyu and Mikey process the words that hang in the air, permeating it with a goosebumps-inducing eeriness from having heard such a...a girly, overtly cutesy screech from Baji.

Then-

"What the fuck? He hung on me!"

Chifuyu opens his mouth, thinks better of reacting to the cursed scene he had the misfortune of bearing witness to, and promptly closes it.

Other people may have sleep paralysis demons.

But Chifuyu?

Chifuyu has Baji.

With both hands partially raised in prayer, he begs for the shenanigans to be over and done with.

They are not.

While his eyes remain closed in a last ditch effort to convince himself that it's all a bad dream, he hears a lot of grumbling happening on your side of the room, courtesy of Baji, who's scrambling around in search of...something. One quick peek reveals him fiddling with a phone - yours, to be exact, as evidenced by the distinctive phone charm of your favorite anime character hanging from it.

"(Y/n), wake up for a second," he hears him whisper. It takes a bit of prompting, until he's able to successfully rouse you enough from sleep to elicit any kind of response, which is, essentially, nothing short of an incoherent, slurred mess. Although, Chifuyu is pretty damn certain he heard you call Baji a 'dickhead' for the trouble.

Unperturbed, he continues shaking your limp form, coaxing you into wakefulness with, "Repeat what I tell you, and I'll let you go back to asleep. Deal?"

You squint your eyes at him, only able to make out a vague outline of his visage in the lightless room. "Promise?"

"Cross my heart, hope to die," he automatically responds with the same phrase he's become accustomed to saying whenever you two made a promise, something done purely out of habit, formed when the two of you were just kids and he wanted to get you to do something absolutely ridiculous either for him or with him. And just 'cause he knows you're more susceptible to complying if he does it, he also interlocks his pinky with yours.

"...Fine."

The approval is his cue to proceed, and it's as he's putting the phone on speaker that he turns back to a regretfully wide awake Chifuyu, mouthing a wordless, 'Watch.'

The phone rings, loud and clear, precisely once and only once.

"(Y/n), what's wrong?" It's important to note that even though Mikey still sounds tired as hell, his tone is much lighter, much happier really, than when it was Baji, which is an offense in itself to the said teen that's off to the side, attentively listening to the conversation unfold.

Then, it strikes Chifuyu, what Baji is trying to do, and fuck does it give him an instant headache.

Meanwhile, your mouth morphs into the dopiest of smiles with the pleasant surprise of hearing your boyfriend's voice, chest instantly overtaken by a warm fuzziness that never fails to make an appearance whenever he's involved. Sappy, you know, but it's true!

A light but firm nudge to your shoulder reminds you of your mission. It's too bad that, teetering along the edge of sleep as you are, the words Baji whispers are barely repeated correctly.

The initial phrase from before, the one Baji greeted Mikey with, is shortened to a simple, "You wuv I...?"

But, without missing a beat, you receive Mikey's confident reply of, "Mhm... I wuv you a lot."

There's a sleepy giggle then - a fucking giggle - before your voices drop to sweet whispers that the third and fourth wheels can't fully comprehend from where they are.

"Where the fuck was my 'I wuv you,' huh?!" Baji whisper-shouts, considerate of your conversation even when ranting and raving. "Shit, I would've taken a simple 'I love you,' too! I've known that bastard way longer than (Y/n), and this is what I get?!"

Okay. Toman's president answers his boyfriend's late night calls faster than he does anyone else's and openly expresses his love for him. So what? Chifuyu wouldn't exactly call it 'discrimination,' per se. 'Favoritism,' maybe if you wanna stretch it, but using as strong a word as discrimination, especially taking into account you two are dating; it's normal? Nah.

"You wanna say 'bye' to them? Mm. Baji and Chifuyu." A pause. "Fuyu, Mikey says 'bye.'"

"Bye, Mikey-kun."

The other person in the room waits, and waits, and waits, and when it's clear that there is no intention to address his presence whatsoever, Baji turns to Chifuyu with an almost scandalized expression, making wild gesticulations with his hands, clearly distressed. "See?!"

Blank blue eyes stare back at him, unblinking. Honestly, it's a common occurrence - Baji spiraling in a nonsensical rage - so it's easy for Chifuyu to block out the muted, jealousy-driven temper tantrum as he takes his pillow in both hands, raises it as high as he can, and-

Sigh.

-lets it flop right back onto his face.

He can't suffocate Baji. Shouldn't. Wouldn't. Couldn't. After all, they're best buds, meaning he has an obligation to put up with shit like this once in a while. (Plus, he'd probably get his ass kicked before he succeeds anyway. Totally not worth the beating.)

"Did you hear? Mikey said he wuvs me," he hears you drawl dreamily as soon as you hang up, sounding very close to clocking back out for the night.

"Yeah, yeah. Cute shit. Happy for ya, dude," Baji huffs. Thankfully, he sounds like he's in a similar state to yours, if the yawn that follows his sarcastic comment is anything to go by.

"...He soooo ignored you."

That warrants a punishing punch to the arm, dulled only slightly by the combination of the thick quilt you're swaddled in and the raven-haired boy's fatigue.

"I'll fucking throw you out right now, (Y/n). Don't test me."

"You won't."

"I will."

"Won't."

"Will."

The conversation gradually dies down shortly after, the exhaustion that took its sweet time getting to both of you having reached its peak with the help of the childish bickering. It takes 10 minutes, maybe 15, before two sets of light snores fill the room.

Finally.

Let it be known that there is a lesson to be learned from tonight's events. Really, there is. Y'know, something along the lines of 'Don't agree to a sleepover with Baji, if you plan on actually sleeping,' or whatever.

Alas, Chifuyu's consciousness fades before he realizes what it is.

~~~

"Mikey, be honest. Who do you love more? Me or-?"

"(Y/n)."

"But-"

(Y/n)."

"I-"

"(Y/n)."

Baji is only momentarily discouraged, sharp eyes glaring at the blond that lays his head on your lap after hi-fiving you. He didn't want to do this, but he's left with no choice.

"(Y/n) or Babu?"

From the way Mikey stiffens up, refusing to look at either him or you in the eyes, Baji knows he has him right where he wants him, has him torn between a cute face or a sweet ride.

"Oi! Don't pretend to be asleep! Answer the damn question! OI!"

(After hours of serious contemplation - even though you told him it doesn't particularly matter - it's revealed that, of course, Mikey loves you more. Babu just happens to trail behind as a very close second.)

[whisker-biscuit]

The Birds, The Bees, and The Bottles

Fandom: Psychonauts

Rating: T for mild language and discussions of underage drinking

Summary: Two teens are caught trying to sneak into a bar. Bob finally has a conversation he’s held off for far too long.

Because herbaphony is not the only thing that runs in the Zanotto family.

-------------------------------------

Bob’s phone rang at two in the morning. Judging by the jolly ringtone of Helmut singing Strawberry Fields Forever, it was his personal phone instead of his work one, and that was the real tip off to things being very, very wrong.

He woke up and groggily pulled out of his still-slumbering-husband’s arms to answer the little thing going off on his nightstand.

“H’lo?”

“Bob!” Truman’s voice came out far too loud for the time of night, and far too stressed. “Bob, I’m so sorry to wake you, but something happened with Lili. I need you to pick her up for me, please.”

The older man sat up, much more awake as worry and fear immediately rolled in his gut. Helmut finally began to stir beside him, sensing his partner’s agitation.

“Truman, what’s going on? Pick Lili up from where?”

“The city’s police precinct on Abbey Avenue. She – she called me, but I’m out of state and I wouldn’t get there for hours at least even if I left this instant. She’s not in danger!” He added hastily, hearing the concern before Bob could even voice it mentally. “She didn’t get hurt! She’s just…”

The way he tapered off, the way he hesitated, said more than words could.

“She just got herself into some trouble, and she needs someone to go get her.”

Helmut was sitting up now, and Bob felt the question cross their mental link.

 What happened?

 Truman needs me to pick Lili up from the police station.

“I’m up, I’m on my way right now,” He responded to his nephew verbally, heaving himself out of bed. His husband followed suit despite still looking extremely puzzled, bless him.

“Thank you so much, Bob. I’ll make it up to you as soon as I can, I promise.”

“Don’t worry about it.” The older man waved a dismissive hand even though Truman wasn’t there to see it. “Family is s’pposed to do that for each other anyway.”

“Did I hear that right? Our peppy petunia had a run-in with the law?” Helmut asked as soon as his partner hung up. He paused, and in a lower tone – “she didn’t kill anyone, did she?”

“I don’t think it’s that serious,” Bob said, pulling a coat on over his sleep shirt. “But something tells me we still have a few things to worry about. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Ohohoh, no, don’t even think about hoofin’ it without me. We both know I’m the better driver.”

“Neither of us are very good drivers, Helmut.”

“Exactly! That little bit makes all the difference!”

The herbophanist sighed, charmed despite himself and the situation. “Alright, alright. Let’s not keep her waiting.”

The police precinct was nearly dead at this time of night. While it would’ve felt eerie to anyone else, Bob was grateful for the lack of people, and not just because he was still an introvert of the highest degree.

Two teenagers awaited them in the lobby, sitting on a bench together. One was hunched over and burning a hole in the ground with his downcast eyes. The other sat straight up, defiant, holding a glaring contest with the officer standing over them. When Bob entered the room first and met his great-niece’s eyes, her self-assuredness wavered for a brief moment. She hid the slip-up behind a wall of indifference.

“Lili,” he said softly. Then, just as softly but with a gruff tinge of surprise; “Razputin.”

There was no accusation in his voice, but the former scowled harder and the latter looked like he wanted to employ his invisibility. Bob studied them both a moment before his husband appeared and broke the tension with his mere presence.

“We’re here to bust you out, kiddos!” He announced with spread arms, cheerfully ignoring the looks he received from every person in the room.

“Are you Truman Zanotto?” Asked the officer who finally broke his gaze away from Lili to give them a disapproving once-over.

“No, I’m uh, I’m Bob Zanotto, and this is Helmut,” came the awkward reply. “Truman called me to pick Lili up. She’s my great-niece.”

A few seconds of silence passed as the officer made no move to do anything with that information. Bob cleared his throat.

“We’re, uh, listed in her emergency contacts for school?”

“I see. If you can just fill out some paperwork first, we can release her into your custody.”

The herbophanist watched the way Raz seemed to sink further in his seat at the mention of family contacts. The Aquatos were also out of state right now too, if he remembered correctly. Perfect timing for two minors getting up to mischief.

Well, up until they were actually caught.

“And…Razputin, too?” He asked, catching the teen’s startled gaze and giving him the mental equivalent of a thumbs-up.

The officer raised a brow. “Is he related to you, too?”

“Well, uh –”

“Yep!” Helmut interrupted, strolling right up to Raz and giving him a merry clap on the back. The teen had a physique comparable to most adult Olympic athletes, but even he nearly toppled forward from the force of such a big man. “He’s my third cousin, twice removed. Big family. Very close. Holidays are an experience, lemme tell ya!”

“Fine,” the officer pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine, okay, I’ll make sure he gets cleared for release too. I’ll be right back.”

He stalked off, muttering something about it ‘being too damn early for this’, and the older couple turned to face Raz and Lili. Helmut steepled his fingers together to rest against his mustache.

“So! Now that Officer Spoil-Sport is gone, are we allowed to know what heinous crime has been committed in the night by my favorite pair of mischief-makers?”

The two glanced at each other. Raz was the one to break their silence.

“We, uh…got caught sneaking into a bar.”

Cold heat rushed through Bob’s core. Helmut blinked once, twice, then let out a boisterous chuckle.

“That’s it? Jesus! From the way you two were acting I thought you’d robbed the First National Bank.”

“…Helmut.” His husband murmured. The psi-king lost his mirth as he caught Bob’s eye.

“Ah…w-well, y’know, while I’m certainly glad we won’t hear about a righteous homicide in the news tomorrow, forgery ain’t exactly a humble hobby either.”

“It was just two IDs,” Lili muttered under her breath. “Not a big deal.”

The ice in her great-uncle’s heart turned frigid, but before he or Helmut could say anything to that, the officer was back. He shoved a handful of forms under Bob’s nose and the herbophanist fumbled to grab them before they all tumbled to the floor.

“Uh, uh, thank you.”

“Alright, we’re putting the pause on this conversation to make you free citizens again, but don’t think that means we’re done with it.” The Psi-King gave the teens the sternest look he could manage. “As soon as we get in the car, you two will have a lot of explaining to do.”

“O-Okay.”

“Uh-huh.”

------------------------------------

No one spoke a word as they got in the car and started the drive back.

Raz seemed content to continue his efforts to blend in with the background of his seat, still not meeting anyone’s eyes, and Lili stared out the window with her chin in her hand, leaning against the car’s backdoor and letting the lights of the city bathe her in neon sickness.

Helmut, bless his soul, dutifully kept the radio going while he drove, changing the station to something more mellow whenever a song started getting a little too upbeat for the collective mood of the vehicle. Bob sat in the passenger side with his arms folded awkwardly. His brain was buzzing, dreading the inevitable conversation he needed to have with his great-niece and trying to figure out how he was going to go about it.

It surprised them all when Raz spoke over the music.

“It was my idea.”

The two adults glanced at each other, then through the rearview mirror at the fidgeting teen.

“Your idea to go looking for a drink? Or to sneak into a bar to do it?” Helmut asked, turning off the radio.

“Both.”

He still wasn’t meeting their eyes. Bob sighed through his nose.

“I don’t believe you.”

Razputin’s head finally snapped up to stare at him in shock for the fast call on his bluff. “I’m telling the truth!”

“I think you’re only telling part of it, kid.”

“No! I’m telling all of it.”

“Razpu-”

“Oh, come off it, Raz,” Lili snapped a little too loud, making the whole car jump. “Quit trying to take the fall for me. It was my idea to try the stupid fake ID thing, okay? Happy now?”

“Wh – uh, who said anything about being happy about it?” Helmut asked, legitimately confused.

“Look. Neither of us had anything to do tonight, and we were bored, so Raz suggested getting a drink somewhere, but Adam and Lizzie are out of town so we couldn’t ask them.” She crossed her arms and spoke without any inflection. “So, we went out but no one would let us do anything cause we’re minors. I thought that was stupid, because we’re agents same as any of you, so I came up with the sneaking-in part. We only got caught cause one of the bartenders recognized Raz from a show.”

There were a lot of loaded things to parse through from that explanation, but Bob’s mind stalled on one particular detail.

“Adam and Lizzie give you two alcohol?”

“Not…often,” Raz admitted. “Just once or twice, when we asked.”

“Do you mean like, a literal once or twice, or a…an estimated once or twice?”

“Did Dad put you up to this?” Lili shot back. “It was just a few times, like he said. What’s with the inquisition?”

“…Lili –”

 “Raz.”

“Okay!” Helmut proclaimed as he slapped his hand against the steering wheel in boisterous aggression. “Who wants some ice cream?”

Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Cause I’m really feeling some chocolate-vanilla swirl right now. Basic bitch style. Right? Who’s with me?”

Silence.

“Great! Look at that, open Dairy King right there, better take advantage of this opportunity before it slips through our fingers like the melting ice cream we’re all gonna have in about five minutes!”

The psi-king swung into the parking lot in a frenzy and herded the car crew inside before any of them could come out of their shock long enough to protest. It was only as Bob was staring up at fifteen flavors of oversaturated sugary goodness that he realized what had just happened.

He couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief over his husband’s diversion. The tension that had been boiling over was cooled significantly by the sudden non-sequitur, and while the teens were rather half-hearted about picking out their sweet treats, there was no longer a risk of an explosion happening.

Metaphorically and literally.

Helmut caught his spouse’s eye with a meaningful look at Lili the moment all of them had their orders in hand, then slung his arm around Razputin’s shoulders and steered him away. “C’mon my lad! Nothing like the cool night air of three in the morning to keep your Hurricane ™ properly chilled!”

The poor boy had no choice but to let himself be pulled outside, leaving the two Zanottos standing awkwardly in the dingy restaurant. Bob gave a nervous scratch at his chin under his beard.

“How about we, uh, find a seat somewhere?”

Lili couldn’t fully cross her arms while holding ice cream, but she did a good job of making it work anyway. “Sure.”

They sat in a booth in the farthest corner from the front counter. Both great-niece and great-uncle stared at their respective sweet treats as if they could teleport them out of this situation. Bob glanced out the window and saw Helmut and Raz standing outside of the car. The former was on one knee with his hand on the teen’s shoulder, speaking earnestly but inaudibly, and the latter was scuffing the toe of his sneaker against the asphalt.

“Are you going to lecture me?” Lili finally cut through the silence.

Bob turned back to her. “No. Not really.”

“No?” She broke her gaze away from her ice cream just a little bit, eyeing him with surprise. “Then why did Helmut take Raz and leave us alone?”

She was so perceptive, so smart. And yet, still so young.

“Well, I… I still want to talk to you about what happened. I’m just not very, good, at this kind of thing.” He took his spoon and absentmindedly began drawing a flower in his soft-serve. “You already know what you did wasn’t a good idea, right? So I don’t think a lecture would help things any on that front.”

She didn’t respond. He continued.

“It’s less about the fake ID and more…the reasons you made the fake ID. Does that make sense?”

“I guess so, but I know what I’m doing, Uncle Bob. I’m not going to drink irresponsibly.”

The herbophanist shook his head. “But you’ll do irresponsible things to be able to drink in the first place.”

“That’s not –” Lili didn’t have a good rebuttal. She folded her arms and grumpily started eating her cherry chocolate delight. “Whatever. It’s two different things, anyway.”

Against his better judgement, Bob began picking at his own food as he thought about how best to bring the subject back up without making the teen defensive again. Spoons clicking against teeth was the only sound between them for a solid minute.

Finally, an epiphany.

“Did Truman ever…tell you anything, about your great-grandma?”

The girl paused with a bite halfway up to her mouth. She frowned, confused. “Grandma Tia? Not much. Just that she died when he was a baby.”

“Yeah. Yeah, she did.” He ran a tired hand over his face. The ache in his heart might have long-since healed into a scar, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt when pressed. “She passed away when I was nineteen. The doctors told me it was liver failure.”

He didn’t have to say anything else. Lili’s mouth thinned and she put her spoon down, uncomfortable.

“When I…found out the reason behind her death, I was horrified by it. It didn’t make sense to me why she would willingly do something that hurt her so badly, especially when I was right there to love her and help her. It felt like a betrayal that she never got help or made herself stop. I was…disgusted by the mere thought of doing anything like that.”

Bob took a moment to breathe and wipe his eyes. He wasn’t crying, but better safe than sorry.

“It sounds pretty hypocritical when I say it now, doesn’t it?”

His great-niece only gave him a hesitant look.

“Anyway, uh, where was I…” He worried his lip. “Oh, right. I told myself that I’d never touch the stuff after that. I was angry at what she’d done, and I was determined not to have the same ‘weakness’, so to speak. As you know, it, uh, it didn’t last long. I was at a college party barely a year later when I was invited by some friends to drink with them. I didn’t make human friends very easily back then – actually, I still don’t – so I was a little desperate to keep them. It turned out to be pretty hard whiskey, so I got hammered.”

The man leaned back in his seat, staring at the patterns in the booth table.

“Back then, no one really knew how alcoholism could run in a family. Everyone thought it was a personal choice to keep drinking. It wasn’t even classified as an addiction yet. So I didn’t know how susceptible I was, or how careful I had to be. I’d spend months not having a single drink, thinking I was fine and could handle myself, and then I’d get plastered for a week at parties and bars and God knows what else, and it would take me even longer to get myself to stop again. It was like that even when I was with Ford and his gang. It wasn’t until I started dating Helmut that I started trying to change those habits. I’d never met anyone who loved me so unconditionally that I wanted to be a better person for them, until him. And it worked for a while.

“Well, barring our wedding, of course. I got shitfaced at the reception. It was embarrassing afterwards, but Helmut told me it made our cake-eating ceremony a hell of a great time.”

Lili snorted, and it was accompanied by a tiny upturn of her lips. Then it dropped as her expression became solemn. “And then…everything with Maligula happened, right?”

“Yeah. I think you know the rest of that story.”

“Uh-huh.”

Great-niece and great-uncle sat together for a while, just thinking about it all.

“I know I have to be more careful drinking than a lot of people, Uncle Bob,” Lili finally said at length. “My dad warned me about it when I was old enough to ask.”

“Truman is a good dad,” he murmured in response.

“The best dad.”

“Definitely the best dad.”

More silence.

“I didn’t mean to worry you and him,” she continued. “Or scare you. I know it was dumb to do what we did tonight.”

Bob looked at her, and she gave a conceding sigh.

“Okay, it was dumb to do a lot of what we’ve been doing with this stuff. That doesn’t mean I’m not being careful.”

“Kid, it’s not always just a matter of being careful. I thought I was being careful. I thought that for years and years, and when I finally realized I wasn’t, I convinced myself I could stop any time I wanted to, and kept up the same patterns anyway. That’s what I’m trying to get you to understand. I just don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did. I’m just worried about you.”

Lili closed her eyes with a grimace. “I know. I’m sorry, Uncle Bob.”

“Hey, kiddo, look at me.” He waited until she did so. “I’m not mad at you. I’m not disappointed, either. That’s your dad’s job. I get it, is what I’m saying. It gives you a buzz, and it’s fun and exciting, and you just wanted to have a good time with your, uh…”

Bob leaned in a bit, and dropped his voice to a stage whisper.

“Is Raz still your boyfriend?”

“Wha –” her cheeks went red. “Yes, he is!”

“Alright, sorry, I’m just always out of the loop. No one ever tells me when these things change or not. Anyway,” he continued before she could get brighter than the cherries in her ice cream. “I’m just saying that you gotta be more than careful with this kind of thing. Everyone should be, really, but especially people like us. Plants aren’t the only thing that runs in the Zanotto family, unfortunately, so we just have to be aware of it and act accordingly.”

The teen turned this over in her mind. He could practically see the gears moving. When she looked at him again, it was with a slow, contemplative nod.

“No more late-night bar-hopping?” Her great-uncle asked.

“No more late-night bar-hopping.” She answered, sincere.

“Good.” He looked outside. Helmut and Raz were both lying on the front of the car, pointing out stars to each other. The sight made him smile. “Come on, we’ll work on that whole thing about Adam and Lizzie giving you alcohol another time, when it’s not three in the morning. For now, let’s rejoin our boys again and go get some rest, okay?”

“Okay.” Lili slid out of the booth and tentatively took her family member’s hand. His fingers squeezed hers in reassurance. “And...thanks, Uncle Bob.”

“Well, what can I say. Us weird Zanotto plant people hafta look out for each other, right?”

“Right.”

They walked out together, hand-in-hand.

------------------------------

A/N: I knew from promotional material that we'd be going into the mind of someone struggling with alcoholism, but Bob's Bottles punched me hard in the gut. It's probably my favorite mind in the game, both because it's visually gorgeous and because it hit a little close to home with some of the themes, like generational alcoholism and how the addiction can make someone a shell of themselves.

I wrote half of this three weeks ago and then found myself really struggling to finish it because it brought up a lot of old feelings I thought I'd sorted through a long time ago.

Psychonauts, man.

[scmediafest]

HAPPY FRIDAY! Today's release drop brings several works of art that are larger than life and an absolute treat for your eyes and ears! If you’re following along with the daily releases and want to track your progress, you can find the latest updates in this Google Sheet!

🎨

I'm surprised (that you've never been told before)

[David/Patrick, Alexis/Ted - T - 32,646]

When his friend Ted asks Patrick for a favour, he knows it isn't the type of thing he should agree to. After all, asking out a guy so your friend can date his sister isn't the most morally sound of choices.

But Ted's his best friend. And he's been crazy about Alexis Rose since the first time he saw her.

It helps that the brother is David Rose and David Rose is... intriguing. Even if he seems to want nothing to do with Patrick.

10 Things I Hate About You AU

*🎨*

Two Tears in a Bucket

[David/Patrick, David/Sebastien - E - 24,023]

“Well, I guess it’s just like my mama always said. ‘Two tears in a bucket. Motherfuck it.’”

- The Lady Chablis

Patrick Brewer is in Savannah for three days, covering David Rose's legendary Ides of March Gala. At least, that's the plan until he finds himself entangled in a messy murder investigation and head over heels for the man who pulled the trigger.

*🎨*

wish i was the moon tonight

[David/Patrick - T - 7,102]

David begrudgingly accepts that if there’s no option for pharmaceutical intervention, maybe this stupid Calm app is his best next choice. Ted never needs to know that David took his suggestion. He skips over the guided meditation options; he tried meditation in New York and found it impossible to not engage with every thought that crossed his mind. The sleep stories, though, sound not promising, exactly, but reasonable enough.

David suffers from insomnia after moving to Schitt's Creek and turns to the sleep stories on Calm to help him fall asleep. Brewer's Baseball History is the only thing that helps, but what happens when the voice behind those stories shows up in town?

*🎨*

teenage dirtbag(s)

[Ruth/Stevie - T - 6,055]

"I think her name is Noelle."

"Hm?" Stevie grunted around her slushie straw, tipping her head at David in question.

"The new girl," he clarified, and Stevie tore her eyes away from the unfolding scene in front of her to give him an affronted look. "I heard someone call her that yesterday."

"Why would I care what some asshole prep's name is?" Stevie stirred her slushie aggressively – she'd taken a chance on the cafeteria's new flavour and was not impressed.

David snorted. "I don't know, maybe because you've been staring at her like a starving dog."

Stevie flipped him the bird and stole a french fry from his tray.

**

A sapphic Schitt's Creek High School AU of Teenage Dirtbag.

*🎨*

Once More With Feeling

[David/Patrick, Alexis/Ted, Stevie/Twyla - T - 5,107]

When a musical spell is cast over the residents of Schitt's Creek, Patrick the Vampire Slayer and his friends are forced to reveal truths and feelings that they have carefully kept hidden to each other.

*🎨*

Selling Schitt's Creek

[Alexis/Twyla, Ruth/Stevie - T - 4,547]

The elite agents at The Butani Group sell the rural Ontario life to buyers in the Schitt’s Creek and greater Elmdale area. Relationships are everything, and that often means major drama.

Inspired by the Netflix series, Selling Sunset.

*🎨*

[podfic] and by tomorrow i'll be on my way

[David/Patrick, Stevie & David - T - 01h:35m:45s]

In real life David and Patrick wouldn't want to be in the same room as the other, online however they're close friends.

or

a You've Got Mail AU

[podfic of and by tomorrow I'll be on my way]

*🎨*

CREATORS: If your works were released today, please don't forget to update your posting date!

[a-reader-and-a-writer]

Up in Smoke (Pure Angst Edition)

Day 3: Candlelight, Failed Escape

Fandom: DC, The Suicide Squad, Rick Flag

Word Count: 2318

TW: language, reader death, smoke inhalation, heart break

Note: Angst with no happy ending

I wrote 2 different versions of this same idea.

Both start the same but do take a dramatic shift after a few paragraphs so I would suggest reading both if you are interested.

This current one is extremely angsty with no happy ending.

The other one has angst, but also ends with comfort and fluff and can be found here.

@amonthofwhump, @reysorigins

Rick sighed, glancing at the clock on his dashboard as he waited for the red light to turn green. It was 11:47 pm. Shit. He had promised he would be home early tonight to take you out to dinner. Just add it to the ever growing list of ways he let you down lately. Fuck Waller for forcing him to run drills with the team all night. She must have heard him talking to Economos about his big plans for tonight. That woman was the biggest cock-block he had ever met. First with June, now with you. If she even caught the smallest hint that he had something going on in his personal life, she did everything in her power to derail it. She didn’t even give him the chance to call or text you and let you know he was going to be late. And when he finally was able to check his phone as he was leaving the prison, he had half a dozen missed calls from you. When he tried calling back, your phone had gone straight to voicemail. Fuckin’ Waller!

He finally turned down his street still muttering under his breath, but his anger quickly shifted to confusion and panic as he saw three fire trucks parked outside his apartment. Smoke was still billowing out of the top of the building, but it seemed like the firefighters had managed to get the main blaze under control.

Rick quickly pulled his truck into the first open parking spot he saw and jumped out even before the engine had shuttered to a stop. There was a large crowd of people huddled around the barriers the police had set up and Rick recognized most of them from around the building. Spying Ms. Thompson, the friendly older woman who he sometimes cat sat for, he approached her.

Her worried face softened slightly when she saw him. “Ah, Colonel! I’m so glad to see you! We were all hoping you hadn’t been left up there. But seeing as where the fire started and all, we couldn’t be too sure.”

“No, I’m fine ma’am. I actually just got off of work. Can you tell me what happened?”

Her face dropped even further as a dark shadow passed over it. “Oh… I thought you knew. I’m sorry, Colonel, I am so sorry…but the fire started in your apartment.”

Rick’s face twisted up in confusion. “My apartment? How did that happen?”

She hesitated, placing a hand softly on his arm. “Your young lady stopped by.”

Rick’s blood ran cold. “No… she wasn’t supposed to be here tonight. I told her I would meet her at her place.”

Ms. Thompson saw the panic cross his face and she just shook her head. “I don’t know what happened, Rick. I haven’t seen her but…they just carried out a body a few minutes ago. They brought it over by the ambulances.”

Rick gave a quick nod of thanks then hurried up to the cops guarding the barrier. Pulling out his military id, he flashed it at the men.

“I am Colonel Richard Flag, Special Ops. This is my building, and I was just informed my girlfriend was involved in the fire. I want to see her. Now.” Rick barked the orders gruffly.

The two officers glanced over at each other hesitantly but stepped aside. Rick pushed past them and stormed over to where all the emergency vehicles were parked. But he stumbled to a stop when he saw a gurney with a body on it. The body was mostly covered in a thin white sheet, but the right arm had slipped out from under the covering, exposing it to the world.

Rick fell to his knees as he spied the familiar tattoo just recognizable through the burns on the body’s wrist. He folded over, forehead pressed tightly into the concrete as he released a wail of agony. This wasn’t supposed to happen, not to you. He had done everything he could to keep you away from the dangers in his life, yet you still had been taken from him.

A concerned looking cop approached Rick slowly. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, he asked, “Hey, are you okay? Is there anything I can do?”

Rick sat up slowly, tears still streaming down his face. He managed to ask in a gravely, hoarse grunt, “What the hell happened?”

“Um, do you mean with the building?”

“No…her.” He jerked his head in the direction of your body but was unable to look at it again.

The cop understood immediately. He tightened his grip on Rick’s shoulder, giving it a rueful squeeze. “Ah, I’m sorry, son. We’re still trying to figure out what happened but the best we can figure, it seems she had some candles lit in the apartment and one of them must have fallen over. The fire spread quickly, and we don’t know how much time she had before…” He stopped and sighed. “Are you sure you want the details?”

Rick nodded stiffly so the cop continued. “I’m not supposed to be telling you this, but I heard you say you were special ops and all… We found her curled up by the front door of the apartment. She had burns on her arms and legs, but they weren’t too serious. It appears she…died… from smoke inhalation. There was a heavy chest of things next to her that we think she must have tried to go back for. But it’s all just speculation.”

“She wasn’t even supposed to be here….I was supposed to meet her for dinner tonight, but I got stuck at work.” Rick muttered robotically.

“One of your neighbors talked to her this afternoon when she arrived.” The cop shifted uncomfortably, but Rick once again nodded for him to continue. “Apparently, she said she was planning on cooking dinner for her boyfriend to surprise him when he got home from work. I’m assuming that's you.”

Rick squeezed his eyes closed tightly. He thought back to the conversation he had with you last night just before you headed home… your last conversation.

“Rick, we don’t have to go out tomorrow. We can just stay in and I’ll cook.”

“No, darlin’. I haven’t taken you out in weeks. You deserve to be shown a good time.”

“You show me the best time when we’re right here. Plus, you’re always exhausted when you get home from work. You don’t have to drag yourself out to some restaurant just because you think that’s what I want.”

“I’ll be fine. And we’re going to do things right. We’ll get dressed up all nice, you can wear that red dress I love so much, and then when we get back, I can take it off you. How’s that sound?”

“A little like overkill. I can just wear the dress over here and then you can still take it off.”

“Can you please just humor me for once? I get off at 5 so I can pick you up around 7. Is that okay?”

“It’s perfect, baby. I’ll see you tomorrow at 7. I love you.”

I love you. Those had been the last words you had said to him. He could tell you still weren’t happy with the situation as you left so it really didn’t surprise him that you would have snuck over to surprise him. You would have wanted to prove to him how wrong he was thinking they needed to go out to have a good time. This was all his fault….

“I need to see her.”

The cop sighed. “Son, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you think. I. Need. To. See. Her. Now.” Rick practically threw the words at the other man. The cop hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

As they approached your body, the cop motioned for the other men to leave the area. Rick deserved some privacy for what came next. Rick slowly trudged toward the gurney, each step making his feet feel heavier and heavier. And then, he was at your side.

At first, Rick didn’t have the strength to look at your face. His gaze got as high as your neck before he had to stop. The sheet that had been draped over you was pulled back and was folded at your collar bone, covering everything below that point. But Rick could see just the smallest bit of red sparkling from under the cloth and his heart seized. You were wearing the dress he had asked you to. The red one that always took his breath away.

He couldn’t put it off any longer. Rick followed the beautiful curve of your throat until his eyes settled on your face. Half of him was disappointed your eyes were closed as he was desperate to see them one more time. But the other half thanked God that they were. He didn’t think he could bear to see the blank, glazed look he knew would be staring back at him. Your face was slightly red, assumedly from the heat of the fire, and soot coated your skin, but besides that, you could just be sleeping. It was the same sight that had greeted him on countless mornings as he got up for work. But this time, you wouldn’t be rolling over, begging him to come back to bed for just a few more minutes. This time, you wouldn’t be sneaking up behind him to trail kisses down his bare back as he brushed his teeth. This time….you wouldn’t be waking up.

He could just imagine what had happened in the apartment. You crawling across the floor, desperate for air. Scratching frantically at the door when you finally managed to reach it, only to discover the doorknob was too scalding hot to turn. He knew you, and he knew that even up to your last moment, part of you would have believed that he would arrive in time to save you. That the man who swore to never let anything happen to you, who would always protect you, would swoop in and carry you to safety. And it was crazy he knew, but he could almost see his name imprinted on your lips, left when you whispered it with your last breath.

He lightly cupped your cheek, tilting your head down slightly. Then he leaned over and placed a last, long, lingering kiss to your forehead. You tasted of smoke and sweat but Rick didn’t care. He put everything he felt for you into this kiss. His love, his devotion, his sorrow, his regret, his guilt. He hoped that wherever you were now, you could feel all of it.

Finally, he had no choice but to pull away. Brushing his hand across your cheek one last time as he tried to memorize every pore on your face, Rick whispered, “Goodbye, darlin’.” And he turned his back on you.

The cop from before slowly approached Rick, a large chest in his arms. “We found this on the floor next to her. We think she was trying to carry it out and that is why she didn’t get out in time. We didn’t open it, so I have no idea what is inside. But it was in your apartment, so I see no reason you shouldn’t be able to take it now.”

Rick nodded and took it from the man. He had instantly recognized it as the one he kept stored in his closet. It was normally empty so he had no idea why you would have been trying to carry it with you. But it didn’t matter. If it was important enough for you to die over, Rick wasn’t going to leave it behind.

He walked back to his truck, ignoring the words of sympathy and condolences from his neighbors as he passed. He climbed into his driver’s seat and slammed the door shut, tossing the chest on the seat next to him. He sat there in silence for a moment before his dam burst. He slammed his fists repeatedly into his steering wheel as an animalistic howl of grief tore from his lips. It wasn’t fair! You hadn’t done anything wrong! All you were trying to do was do something nice for him. If he had just called, or demanded Waller let him leave like he had considered, you would still be here. If everything had gone according to plan, by this time tonight, the two of you should have been curled around each other after a night of passion.

Instead, he was sitting here alone with just this stupid chest. What could have possibly been so important for you to not flee the apartment immediately? What in his apartment was worth your life? He pulled the chest into his lap and opened the lid. What he saw inside took his breath away.

It was everything he would have wanted to save from his place. His military medals, the flag he had been given when his father was killed in action, the photo album that contained the only picture he had of his grandparents. It was all there, perfectly protected within the sturdy case. You had known exactly which irreplaceable items he would have mourned the loss of the most. Though nothing compared to the loss of you.

The last thing he pulled out, smushed at the bottom of the box, was the stuffed monkey he won for you on your first date. The one you snuggled with every night when you stayed over. The one that still smelled like you.

Rick curled himself around the ratty toy, smashing it so deeply into his chest it felt like part of him. And sitting there in his truck in the parking lot of his apartment building, the smell of smoke and ash still filling the air, he allowed himself to fall apart.

[keiichikuzuryuwu]

Place Your Bets

Implied (Future) Keiichi Kuzuryuu x Reader

Summary: This is a reimagining of the manga’s version of the Four of Clubs game, featuring a very stubborn, very smart mother hen Y/N instead of a gentle girl.

A/N: I have literally never seen anyone write for Kuzuryuu and that made me sad, because I love him. Also I know very little about how to actually take care of a baby so please be forgiving.

TW: Blood, leg injury, a crying baby

Walking along a deserted street, a man in a hat was making his way toward tonight’s game. Based on his body language, you would think he didn’t want to go, but in honesty, he was tentatively looking forward to it.

“Oh my god, another person!!” The voice of a woman caught his attention, pulling his gaze away from the lights in the distance. As he looked over, he took note of how clean she was, all glow and innocence compared to the world around her- a new arrival, clearly. But what truly surprised him was the fact that she was carrying a sleeping baby in her arms. It was rare to come across a child here, much less a baby. Perhaps it was her’s, which was why she hadn’t abandoned it yet, “You wouldn’t happen to be this baby’s father, would you? Or at the very least have seen anyone who could possibly be their parents?”

So it wasn’t her’s. The man wondered how long it would be until she gave up on it.

“No, sorry. I’m on my way to a game, so if you’ll excuse me,” He tipped his hat and took a step, only to feel his arm grabbed.

“Wait, what game? Should I be heading there too?”

“You… don’t know about the games? Are you new here?” He already knew the answer, but no point in signaling that to her. She may end up a Heart Specialist and get into his head, after all.

“Yes, actually! One moment, I was going to meet up with my friends, and the next, the entirety of Shibuya was powered down and empty except me and this little one here,” So she’d walked all this way from Shibuya in just a few hours? Maybe a Spades Specialist, then.

“Well then you should come with me. We need to get you registered for a game so you don’t end up a day one victim.”

“Woah, what?? Day one victim??” The color drained from her face, before she grabbed his hand and began walking, “What and where is this game? Is it Trivial Pursuit? Because I’m really good at Trivial Pursuit! Wait, but that’s a one winner game and this is looking more and more like the set up for a death game manga but in real life,” She looked back at him, “Did I get stuck in a death game manga but in real life?”

“Um…” He didn’t really know how to respond to this woman. Regaining his wits, he caught up to her brisk pace and pointed in the direction of the lights, “See those lights? That’s where the closest game is. And, yes, you unfortunately did…”

“Brilliant, let’s go,” She still held onto his hand as they walked, confusing the man. They were complete strangers and he’d just told her that she was walking towards her probable death, yet she continued to hold his hand as though they were allies.

Walking up to the glowing tunnel, the man spotted the registration phones on a table, three of them already missing. The already registered participants were scattered nearby, looking at them strangely. Did they perhaps think he, this woman, and the baby were a family? The thought almost flustered him.

“So what do I do?” The woman asked him when they got over to the table, “Just take one of these phones?”

“Yes, here,” Handing her one, he watched as she tapped to turn it on.

“I don’t like the fact that this facial recognition already had me registered with an ID number,” She scoffed, putting the phone in her skirt’s pocket before hesitating, “Wait, do I need to register this baby too? I mean, obviously I’m not gonna abandon it, but… they’re a baby, they can’t really play a game.”

“No, unfortunately they need to be registered… Here,” Picking up another phone, he held it up to the face of the babe, the ping of the completed registration sounding a moment later, “You keep hold of this one too, since you’re holding the baby.”

“Alright, sounds good to me,” Placing the other phone in her pocket, she cooed at the baby, “You better hope this isn’t Trivial Pursuit or I’m gonna have to kick your butt, baby~ That’s right, that’s right~”

“Please don’t taunt the baby like that. It’s… unnerving…” Nervously pulling on his collar, the man was surprised when she just laughed.

“Sorry, I cope with stress by joking around…” She placed a hand on the back of her neck as they walked over to the others, “The only way this baby isn’t surviving is if it’d be better to do a mercy killing. Other than that, I’m fighting tooth and nail to make sure they get through this with me.”

“You for real??” One of the men closest to them, with spiked, pitch dark hair, scoffed, “You really think you can keep a baby alive here? Put yourself first if you wanna live, lady!”

“Come on, don’t say that!” The woman snapped back, before taking a breath and calming down, “Here, how about we start over and introduce ourselves?”

“This could be a Hearts game, or the rules could state we need to kill each other,” The only other woman there, a stark, gothic contrast to the Mori girl aesthetic of the woman with the baby, stated coldly, “I’ll pass.”

“One minute until registration closes,” A calm, female voice suddenly came from all of their phones, startling the woman with the baby.

“Huh?” Taking out her phone, she looked it over, “Guess it speaks too… These are my least favorite part of this nightmare so far,” Then, she took note of the camera app, “Ooh! Hey, wanna take a selfie?”

“You want to… take a selfie with me?” The man she’d arrived with questioned her, utterly befuddled by this woman.

“Yeah, come on! This might be the last chance we ever get to take a good picture!” Moving in close, she held up the phone, making sure to get both them and the still sleeping baby in the shot, “Awesome! Thanks for indulging my possibly last request!”

“You are way too chipper, lady,” A new man spoke as he walked up. Short cropped hair with designs buzzed into it and a mean face, this man screamed gangster. In reaction, the woman held the baby tighter.

“Entry has now closed,” The phones spoke again, “There are a total of seven participants. Please proceed into the tunnel.”

“I just hope it’s not Spades… I’m not very good at physical games…” The man in the hat grumbled, causing the woman to raise an eyebrow as they walked into the tunnel. About 100 feet in, the woman suddenly stopped, “What’s the matter?”

“I hear something…” Straining her ears for a moment, she suddenly looked up at the top of the tunnel’s entrance.

“Wha?! What the hell?!” Just as the words left spiky haired man’s lips, a barrier fell from the ceiling, creating debris and, more importantly, blocking them in.

“UWAAAHHH!!!!” The baby had woken up due to the world shaking from the force of the barrier’s impact with the ground, only for the woman to pull out a pacifier from her purse and stick it in the infant’s mouth.

“Thank goodness I thought to grab that…”

“W-We’re trapped in??” Goth woman shouted, panic taking over, “But that isn’t the standard!!”

“Guess they really don’t want us to be able to choose the coward’s way out this game…” Gangster guy placed his hand on the wall.

“ARGHH!!” Everyone’s attention was directed to the man in the hat, who was sitting on the ground, blood gushing from his leg, “Some rubble… it went into my leg!!”

“On no!!” The woman with the baby was the first to react, rushing over to him, “Hold the baby, we need to wrap this up and restrict the blood flow!”

“O-Okay…!” Carefully, he took the baby, doing his best not to shake as she took an extra baby blanket out of her bag and used it to create a makeshift cotton bandage.

As she worked, their phones chimed again- “The game will now commence. Difficulty: Four of Clubs. Game: Runaway. Rule: Endure the four trials and reach the goal within the time limit. Clear condition: Reach the goal safely.”

“Trials? Goal? What’s it talking about?” The goth woman mumbled.

“It looks like these are the trials it’s referring to…” At a man in glasses words, everyone turned around and saw what he meant.

In the floor, walls, and ceiling were various doors and hatches. The first door was in a wall, marked ‘Trial One,’ with a timer stating the lock released in fifteen minutes. Next to that, several round hatches labeled ‘Trial Two’ were going to release in thirty minutes. Trial Three’s vents in the ceiling were releasing in forty five, and Four’s hatch on the floor was set to release in an hour.

Spiky haired man noticed a placard on the wall by Door One, and walked over to inspect it.

“The distance to the goal is written here… But I can’t read the most important part. Damnit…” Sure enough, where the number should be, instead was worn down metal.

Looking down at the ground somberly, Glasses stated, “A conjecture… ‘Runaway’ means to flee… Something will come out of each of these four doors after a delay. Perhaps it means we should run towards the goal while running away? If the fourth lock opens after an hour, and we were to run for that amount of time, then the distance to the goal is around ten kilometers…”

“Ten??”

“Game… start.”

At that moment, the timers started counting down, and their phones switched to an hour long timer as well.

“Ten kilometers in an hour is cutting it too close! We can’t afford to waste a second!” With that, everyone save the woman with the baby and the man in the hat started running.

“Can you stand?” The woman asked him as she took the baby back, genuinely concerned about this stranger.

“With help, I think I should be able to…”

“Hey, you lot! Care to help a lady out??”

“I make no promises that I’ll hold on to you till the end…” The gangster helped lift the man to allow the woman to continue carrying the baby safely.

“Thank you in the meantime…” The man got out through labored breaths as they walked.

Within the first five minutes, everyone reached a bus covered in graffiti, the first car they had seen since the game began. By the time the man, woman, and gangster got there, it seemed their fellow players had exhausted it.

“There’s nothing here except junk, and it’s not going no matter how hard I hit the gas!!!” Spiky hair complained as glasses looked underneath the bus.

“The belt is cut, that’s why. Looks like this isn’t meant to be our method of transportation…” Getting up, he began running, “Looks like we have to run! We lost time here, so let’s hurry!”

“Gaaah!! I’m at my limit… There’s no way I could run…” The man in the hat groaned, “Don’t worry about me anymore, you all should hurry on ahead…”

“But-!”

“It’s like he says,” Goth woman cut off the other, “The first trial is about to start… In order to survive in these Borderlands, sometimes we have to do callous things. If you don’t learn that quick, you won’t be long for this world,” With that, she began running as well.

For a moment, the man, woman, and gangster didn’t move, until the gangster helped the man over to the first step of the bus and set him down before walking away.

“You too??” The woman angrily called out after him, “You’re going to desert us??”

“I tried helping… But now, things have changed…” He picked up speed, quickly catching up to the others.

“Selfish cowards!!” She yelled, shaking her fist at them. Sighing, she turned to the man, “Guess it’s just you and me, huh?”

“Are you sure? You should go run-”

“Nuh uh. I’ve decided I’m staying here, so I’m staying here,” Scooting around him, the woman gently placed the baby into the dip of the driver’s seat before helping the man up and to a seat so he could prop up his leg, “Let’s see…”

“What are you doing?” He raised an eyebrow as he watched her go up and down the bus.

“In order to slow the flow of blood more until we can get you help, we need to raise your leg. By doing that, the blood will- Here-” She took the baby and handed them to him again before looking around more, “The blood won’t be able to pump up there as fast, and it should give us some wiggle room.”

“You seem awfully knowledgeable about this. Are you perhaps a doctor?”

“Hah, no, I just remember a lot. Picked this up from a medical book I read when I was sixteen for fun. I’m actually a Masters student working towards simultaneous degrees in Psychology and Religion with a focus in cults,” Before the man could comment on how impressive that was, the woman sighed, “I’ve found a Japanese to English dictionary, a space heater, a set of keys that turn on this motionless bus, and a gum wrapper, but nothing to prop up your leg,” Sitting in the chair across the row from him, the woman took the baby back and gently bounced it, “Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens…”

“I’m sorry I’ve dragged you down with me…”

“Nonsense!” She waved her hand dismissively, “I’m not much of a runner, and I’ve got this little angel to look after. There’s no way I could run to some mysterious goal even if I wanted to. Besides…” Her eyes shifted back and forth before leaning in and dropping her voice as though they were being watched, “Something about this game is striking me as odd.”

“What do you mean?” The man leaned in as best as he could, voice dropping as well.

“Before I tell you my theory, could you explain what exactly the card level of this game means? You said you hoped this game wasn’t Spades because you weren’t good at physical games, while the woman stated we shouldn’t tell each other our names in case it was a Hearts game. That means the different suits represent different types of games, while the number represents how hard it is, right?”

“You picked that up quickly. Most people don’t realize that their first game, it generally takes someone explaining it to them their second or third game for them to get it,” Thinking for a moment, he nodded, “Very well, since we’re going to be here for at least an hour, I’ll tell you. Yes, the number on the card connotes how hard the game will be, with Ace being the easiest, while King is the hardest. As for the suits- Spades represent physical games, lots of moving around and exertion. Diamond games are intelligence and wit based games, and are the least physically demanding. If you were to find a game of Trivial Pursuit here, it would fall into that suit.”

“I see,” She sounded enraptured.

“Hearts,” He paused, considering his words, “They’re psychological games…  They mess with your mind and your morals, and are widely regarded as the most brutal of the four suits. If possible, you do not want to join a Hearts game.”

“And Clubs?”

“Clubs games like this one refer to team battles and a mix of the other’s elements. It’s an unofficial rule that there is always a total win scenario, that it’s possible for all participants to make it out alive.”

“Then that puts us at an advantage!” She nodded decisively, “If Clubs are a team battle, then by sticking together, we have a better chance at survival!”

“But we’re just sitting in a bus?”

“Look mister, I’m trying to remain positive here, so if you could work with me a little?”

“Alright, alright,” The man put his hands up, chuckling. From the sound of it, it was an unfamiliar noise to come from his mouth, “We’re at an advantage because we stuck together while the others are only thinking of themselves.”

“That’s the spirit!” She held out her hand for a fist bump, which the man would have returned, had it not been for the bus suddenly lurching forward, “The hell??”

“UWAAHHH!!!” The motion woke up the baby again, but neither the man or the woman had time to calm them down again, as water was quickly rising around their enclosure and leaking in through some gaps in the windows.

“Oh no, you take Yuuji, I’ll stop the water!” Handing the baby to the man, the woman began to shed layers of clothes, using her jacket, cardigan, tights to plug the gaps. In the end, she was left in just a camisole and her torn up skirt, having even used parts of that to slow the water, “There, that should keep us relatively dry as long as the water goes down soon.”

“You called the child ‘Yuuji,’” The man commented, a bit surprised.

“Huh? I did, didn’t I?” Laughing sheepishly, the woman sat back down, “Don’t know why, they’re not my kid. I don’t even know if they’re male or female.”

“Well, I suppose they do look like a Yuuji,” He looked down at where he was bouncing the slightly calmer baby on his shoulder, “Can I ask why you chose to take this baby with you? You even grabbed their diaper bag.”

“Guess I felt bad about them being abandoned by their parents,” She shrugged, “Something just told me I needed to hold onto them and protect them; which makes no sense, given that it’s not like I grew up with great parental role models.”

“Maybe you just possess a natural maternal instinct, bad parents or not.”

“Who knows? Maybe you’re right.”

For several minutes, neither of them said anything as the man calmed down the baby, lulling them back to sleep.

“It seems as though the water is going down,” The man finally commented, the woman looking out the window to see that they were no longer surrounded.

“Yeah, but now it seems like the temperature is dropping fast!” The woman was right, the air was indeed getting colder, “I’ll go turn on that space heater before Yuuji wakes up again!”

“Sounds good to me.”

With the space heater on, the bus quickly warmed back up, keeping the baby asleep in the man’s arms.

“This cold must be the… how much time has passed?” Looking at her phone’s timer, the woman's brow furrowed, “Forty five minutes?? When the heck did the first trial happen??”

“We must have missed it somehow while we were talking.”

“Weird. Maybe it just passed right by us,” The woman didn’t let it bother her too much, just grateful to have not had to deal with it. Silence passed for a few more minutes as the woman held the baby, before she spoke again, “Okay, something’s been on my mind for the last half an hour, and I gotta know before we die… You were totally faking your personality when we got here, right?”

“H-Huh??” The man’s eyes widened, and he could feel his pulse quicken.

“Acting timid and stuff. Fake, right?”

“I… I…” Sighing, he looked her in the eyes, “How’d you know?”

“I sorta guessed around the time you told me about the suits. Your speech pattern started getting more eloquent, your sentences became longer, and you didn’t bat an eye at the fact that I’m working towards two Masters degrees at the same time. That last thing doesn’t really have to do with the timid thing, but it did tell me that you’re smarter than you seemed. That accident with your leg was very real, something you didn’t account for that truly did leave you near helpless; but before that, it was all strategy so we’d underestimate you in case this turned out to be a single winner game.”

“That’s… phenomenally impressive,” He stared at her in awe, “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

“Because I’ve been having fun talking with you and didn’t want to make it awkward,” Laughing, she shrugged, “But my natural curiosity got the better of me. I want to die with as few regrets as possible, and I’d regret not getting to see your actual personality,” Tears welled up in her eyes, and she kissed the top of the baby’s head, “I hope however this ends is clean and painless. I doubt it would happen, but if my family were to ever find my body, I wouldn’t want their last image of me to be tainted by something like decapitation, y’know?”

“Yes, I… I understand,” Moving closer, the man took the woman’s hand and squeezed it gently, “I promise you, if we survive this, I’ll do whatever I can to help you survive long enough to reunite with your family.”

“Aww, thanks,” She smiled sadly at him, “That means a lot. You’re a really nice guy, even if you are a crafty strategist.”

“I-”

KABOOM!!!!

An explosion violently shook the bus, causing the baby to once again wake up and cry.

“Quickly, on the ground!” The man pulled the woman and baby into his arms and got on the ground, shielding them with his body as the bus continued to shake. It seemed to go on forever, the shaking, as the bus grew warmer and warmer, far warmer than the heat the space heater would have been able to produce. But, finally, the shaking did stop, and the world became quiet outside of the baby’s cries, “Are you two alright?”

“Y-Yeah, I think so,” After she was helped up by the man, the woman grabbed the baby’s pacifier and returned it to their mouth, “That was the fourth trial, right?”

“I believe so,” He nodded, looking out the window, “All I can see are scorch marks, so I can’t tell, though.”

A little fanfare like tune emitting from their phones answered them, however.

“Game clear. Congratulations! To the survivors of the game, we will now supply you with a Visa.”

“G-Game clear?” The woman’s eyes widened in surprise, “You mean… we won? But that would mean…” Handing the baby to the man, she threw open the door to the bus and hopped out, running around the bus, almost immediately spotting the confirmation she sought, “The goal… It was the bus…”

“It was the bus??” The man limped out of the bus, handing the woman the baby due to feeling shaky as he saw what she’d found, “The graffiti… G-O-A-L… Dear lord…”

“Your injury saved us,” Tears flowed down the woman’s cheeks as she suddenly hugged the man, laughing almost manically, “It saved us! I don’t normally believe in luck, but tonight I think I’ll make an exception!”

“I can’t believe it, though! You were right!” The man laughed as well, “We stuck together as a team instead of only thinking of ourselves, and we survived!”

“Wait- oh no!” Pulling away, the woman frowned, “Those poor people that ran on ahead!! They… If the trials didn’t kill them, then… what did?”

“Anyone who breaks a rule like leaving an arena before the game is over or doesn’t achieve game clear… They’re struck down by a laser from the sky…” His words cause the woman to gasp, a hand covering her mouth, “I hope for their sake, their deaths were as clean and painless as the one you had wished for…”

Taking his hand, she squeezed it gently, “I’ll carry their memories with me, and push forward. As ill as they treated us, I can only hope that wherever they are, they find peace.”

“You’re an incredibly kind woman, Miss…?”

“Oh wow, we never did introduce ourselves, huh? If we’re gonna be sticking together, we should probably at least know the other’s name,” Wiping away her tears, she laughed, “My name is Y/N L/N, Y/A years old, Masters student, and guardian of this little angel until further notice. It’s nice to meet you, Mister…?”

“Kuzuryuu. Keiichi Kuzuryuu, 37 years old, attorney at law, and Diamond Specialist here in the Borderlands. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Miss L/N.”

“Please, we just nearly died together! You can call me Y/N. Mind if I call you Kuzu?” She looked at him so hopefully that he couldn’t find it in himself to refuse her.

“Alright, you may call me ‘Kuzu’… Y/N.”

“Excellent! Now let’s get out of this place! I’m tired and we need to get you off that leg.”

“I believe I saw a furniture store near here that we could use as shelter before finding something better tomorrow,” He offered as she helped him limp out of the tunnel, the barrier to the outside having been blown off in the explosion.

“Perfect, let’s go there. There’s some supplies to take care of Yuuji in this diaper bag I grabbed, but we’ll need to find some more tomorrow as well.”

“Sounds good to me.”

An hour later, as Y/N and Yuuji slept soundly in one of the spacious beds on display in the furniture store, Kuzuryuu stood outside and pulled out a walkie talkie.

“HQ, please respond. This is Four of Club’s observer, Kuzuryuu,” Taking off his hat, he pushed back his hair and slipped on his glasses, “Surviving players- two of six. Dispatch the cleanup squad to deal with the disposal of tools and materials.”

“Copy that, sir. Anything else?”

“Yes… Tell the others I won’t be back for a while,” He looked back through the doors to where Y/N and Yuuji slept, a small smile on his lips, “I have a player I’d like to place my bets on.”

Y/N L/N

Clubs Specialist

End of Day One of Sojourn