#i tried so hard to not put Basil for everything help

[psychedelic-ink]

𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐒

pairing: joel miller x webcam model!f!reader

genre: no outbreak AU, explicit smut (like very explicit), minors dni

word count: 7k

summary: you and joel continue to see one another, no matter the distance. And finally, you two breach the subject of "what are we".

warnings: joel is still bi in this, minor angst in the beginning, live stream sex, piv, messy titjob, dirty talk, possesive!joel, squirting, a hint of jealous joel, good girl/sir, praise kink

a/n: this work was commissioned by the lovely @trauma-dol 💜 thank you so much for commissioning me, I appreciate it lots!

part two of ravish

There are a lot of things you don’t like. The smell of roasted chickpeas, for instance. While others might find it inviting, it's just an odd scent that doesn't sit right with you. Then there's that annoying feeling of needing to pee right after you've gotten all cozy in bed. The list just goes on. You can think of a million things that annoy the heck out of you. 

However, waiting for someone that you’ve been eager to see for months to arrive at your doorstep might be the thing you hate the most. 

Worry bubbles up within you, and you can't help but sigh as you reach for the phone. Joel was supposed to arrive a good thirty minutes ago. 

Excited to see him, you had spent time chopping up an assortment of fresh vegetables – plump tomatoes, vibrant bell peppers sliced into perfect rings, and red onions thinly shaved and ready to caramelize into sweet perfection.

Besides the cutting board, a bowl of freshly shredded mozzarella cheese sits in fluffy mounds, ready to meld and melt into gooey goodness. Fragrant basil leaves are waiting to be scattered over the final creation. The pizza dough had been carefully prepped and now resting. 

But alas, there’s still no sign of him. 

“Dammit Joel, where are you?” 

You knew you should’ve just picked him up from the airport. You should’ve just ignored his protests and gone. New York is a big city; he could’ve gotten himself lost. Or worse, someone might’ve tried to kidnap him, rob him—sure, he’s a big man, but this is New York City.

It had been a hectic month. After you moved back from your family home, the issue of whether or not the relationship should continue had been a hot topic of sorts. For a while, you both decided to embrace the idea of "not putting a label" and simply being together during your visits. However, that proved to be too complicated. Losing yourselves in each other during every visit didn’t really allow for anyone else to come in between.

Not that you were complaining. You really liked Joel and didn’t really have any desire to date anyone else. Joel had enamored you completely. It was hard to keep it casual when all you wanted was him. But clearly, Joel didn’t want anything serious. He was content with how things were. 

The thought made your heart sink painfully in your chest. 

You tried to visit each other once a month, although most of the time it ended up being once every two months. He still joined your live streams. And when your viewers realized you were more than happy to indulge in JMiller’s requests, they started to get suspicious, commenting and teasing relentlessly. That meant you had to ignore him for a bit, which you hated doing. 

You did enjoy the punishments that followed though. 

A sudden buzz pulls you away from memory lane. Looking down you see a text from Joel, prompting your smile. 

Almost there, honey. You weren’t kidding about the traffic. 

“Dork,” you grin. Your head falls back against the back of the couch. You’ve missed him and now that he’ll be here soon makes you all giddy. Dormant butterflies erupt in your chest. Just the thought of him is enough to excite you. For an entire week, Joel Miller is yours. You had planned out everything. Not a minute will be wasted. Not on your watch. 

Twenty minutes later, there’s a knock on the door. You practically jump off the couch and run toward the sound. When you open it, you’re breathless, the tiny hairs at the back of your neck standing with attention. 

It’s him. 

He’s here. 

His eyes are tired, the crinkles you love to kiss deepening with his wide smile, “Hey there, sweetheart,” he says. “Miss me?” 

You jump towards him and wrap your arms around his neck. You hear the “oomf” that vibrates from his chest as you tug him impossibly close, forcing him to lean over you. Joel’s hands find the dip of your waist, squeezing tenderly, his nose bumps affectionally into the crook of your neck, and heat gathers under your skin. 

“God I missed you,” you say, voice trembling. Desperately you hold his face and bring him to your lips. His tongue traces the seam of your mouth, the movement dripping with a need for authority and control. You happily give it to him, opening wide. He sucks the air from your lungs and swallows your moans. Slick gathers between your legs, the fabric of your underwear clinging to your cunt and asking for the stretch of his cock. 

Joel guides the roll of your hips, chuckling darkly into your mouth when you desperately rub yourself against the denim. A shudder rolls up your spine. His cock firming under his jeans, “Honey,” he rasps. “Maybe we should close the door first?” 

“Why?” you say with a hitch of your breath. You drag your lips down his neck, nip at his racing pulse. “I know the neighbor wouldn’t mind. He watches my streams.” 

You’d said it without a second thought, which might’ve been a mistake on your part. His muscles grow rigid under your palms, the heat melting quickly like ice under the hot summer sun. “Is everything okay?” you ask, cupping his cheeks and forcing his gaze up. 

His gaze stays on you only for a moment before he drops his eyes to your lips. Your brows furrow at the reaction. His eyes are clear like a sky before a storm. Obviously, he has the question he wants to ask already locked and loaded but refusing to pull the trigger. He lifts his hands, the width of them blanketing yours as he pulls them down. 

“Just tired,” he sighs. He’s saved by the loud grumble of his stomach, the tension breaking. “And hungry,” he adds with a crooked smile. You force a smile and ignore the trembling of your bottom lip. Joel’s tone might be playful but it does little in calming your nerves. Moving away, the chill you feel on your skin is instant. 

“I prepared most of the ingredients,” you say. “I thought pizza and wine?” 

“We’re in the birthplace of the dollar pizza and you made it homemade?” 

You giggle at how comically wide his eyes are. “Well forgive me for not wanting to feed you the cheapest thing available,” Joel’s lips touch your temple, warmth blossoming where his mouth brushes against. “And I thought it would be fun.” 

“It will,” he murmurs. “I’m not used to bein’ pampered I guess. Only Sarah cares about what goes down my gullet.” 

“Hmm I don’t recall saying it was due to the consideration of your health,” you tease, fingers tiptoeing from his arm to his shoulder. He shivers at the touch. “Maybe, I just want to see what these strong hands can do with some dough.” 

His mere grin manages to send ripples of pleasure down your spine. Something dark and wicked crosses his face and you let out a shaky sigh. “Brat,” he teases. 

With a cat-like grin of your own, you close the door. 

Joel stands before the kitchen counter, the soft glow of the overhead light accentuating the contours of his figure. His sleeves are rolled up, revealing sinewy forearms that glisten with a slight sheen of flour. The muscles beneath his sun-kissed skin ripple as he reaches for the dough, his biceps forming a subtle bulge with each purposeful movement.

With a focused expression, he takes the smooth, slightly elastic dough in his hands. The material yields to his touch, supple yet resilient. As his strong fingers sink into the dough's yielding embrace, you can't help but admire the way he handles it. His touch is both firm and gentle, his hands a testament to years of construction work that have endowed him with strength and dexterity.

The dough stretches and folds, responding to his guidance with grace. His hands move with an almost mesmerizing rhythm, kneading and pressing, coaxing the dough into a state of perfection. The occasional wisp of flour dances in the air as he works.

You watch, entranced, as Joel's fingers work their magic. The concentration etched on his face, the way his lips quirk up in a faint smile as he loses himself while doing so makes your heart race.

As he works, you find your own fingers involuntarily tracing the outline of your wine glass.

"Enjoyin' the view, honey?" Joel's voice rumbles, breaking through the silence. You quickly set the wine glass down and begin to babble something in response, your words stumbling over each other. But before you can complete your sentence, Joel grips your wrist, pulling you toward him. Your back is flush against his solid chest.

His scent of pine and undeniable masculinity, surrounds you, intoxicating your senses as effectively as the wine you had been sipping. The shift in the atmosphere is palpable, charged with an electricity that sends shivers down your spine.

Joel's hands find yours, and he guides them to rest above the dough, his touch sending a jolt of awareness through you. “I’m the guest why the hell am I doin’ all the work?” His fingers intertwine with yours, his calloused skin brushing against your more delicate touch. Your heart beats in sync with the rhythm of his kneading.

Kneading the dough together, you feel a growing pressure against your lower back. It takes a moment for you to realize – his erection, firm and unmistakable, pressing against you. The realization sends a rush of heat to your cheeks, and your breath catches in your throat.

His hand drops to your waist, guiding the grind of your hips. You feel him as the dress you’re wearing dips between your asscheeks, clothed cock parting the two gently. A soft growl rumbles in his chest, the tremble of it felt against your back. Your focus has shifted. The dough forgotten entirely. 

“You’re makin’ cookin’ really hard, sweetheart.” 

You manage a breathless chuckle, "Oh, and whose fault might that be, Mr. Master Dough Kneader?"

He snarls into your ear, hot breath causing goosebumps. “You really are bein’ a brat today. Is there a special occasion for that?” 

Honestly, being a brat really wasn’t your objective. It just. . . sorta came out. You reveled when Joel took control, be it face-to-face or during streams. There’s always something primal lingering under his touches, his words. You roll your hips, cutting his breath short, you feel the length of him being dragged down between the plump flesh of your ass. 

“I just want to make you happy,” you say surprisingly soft. When you attempt to rub against him once more, he stops you, both hands now on your waist, squeezing you in warning. 

“You do make me happy,” he breathes out. His voice is deep, slivering down your back. Heat pools between your legs and you lean into his warmth. “Why would you say that?” 

“Forget it,” You hadn’t expected him to take it so seriously. Worry begins to inflate your chest, heat rising to the tips of your ears and making you short of sight. You attempt to reach for the tomato sauce, making sure to drag the plumpness of your behind against the heft of his cock in order to eradicate the moment. You don’t want him to think too much about it. Or decide that what you have—whatever it is—isn’t worth it. 

The pads of your fingers brush against the smooth surface of the bowl but you can’t reach it. Not quite. Joel turns you over, hands between your waist and the sharp edge of the counter. Frustrated, you fill your cheeks with air and shoot him a glare. “Seriously, it’s nothing, Joel.” 

“No it ain’t,” he snaps silently. “Why would you stress about makin’ me happy?” 

He scoffs at your silence, “What? You think I’m just passin’ the time by comin’ here? That if it’s not worth my time I’ll just leave?” he asks, baffled. Your gaze drops to the granite floor, bottom lip sucked between your teeth. Joel’s eyes go wide, bushy eyebrows almost touching his hairline. “Wait you actually think that?” 

You remain silent. 

“Sweetheart. . .” he shakes his head and pinches your chin, pulling your gaze back up. He looks concerned. Remorseful. You try not to think about your pulse skyrocketing under your skin, try to ignore the skip of your heart. “You really think I’m that shallow?” 

“No,” you answer suddenly, the need to defend him to himself burrowing in your chest. “It’s not that. I just. . . I don’t know. I’m confused I guess.” 

“‘bout what?” 

His thumb draws slow circles on your cheek, you close your eyes, heart and chest suddenly light as air. You could float if you had the capability. You nuzzle his hand like a hurt animal, begging for more of his touch. 

“I really really like you, you know.” 

“I really like you too, honey,” you ignore the way his words and smile make your skin prickle with delight. “But that doesn’t really answer my question.” 

You sigh, you’re stuck between the constant worry and the comfort he’s providing. Despite being known as a chatterbox, you’re having trouble finding the words. 

“I know that me streaming isn’t. . . conventional but I’m not seeing anyone else. I don’t even do private streams anymore,” your eyes flit between his eyes, trying to get a read of whiskey-colored eyes. Fear coats your tongue upon noticing his lips are a thin line—definitely not a good sign. “And well. . . I don’t plan on seeing anyone else either because. . .” 

You melt in relief when his lips finally crack into a small smile, “Because you really really like me?” 

“Precisely,” you say a bit loud and excited. “And of course, I don’t want you to feel pressure but. . . are you seeing anyone?” you clear your throat. “B—Besides me, that is.” 

“Well. .  . sometimes I watch CammingBravo when he’s streamin’.” 

“Joel!” you huff out a laugh and playfully smack his chest. “You know that’s not what I meant.” 

Adoration dots over his face, the corner of his eyes wrinkling with his smile. You love it when he teases you. Love it even more when he just stares at you with blatant amusement. The expression doesn’t linger long though. Like a small flame under rain, it sizzles out, his demeanor changing suddenly. 

His brows furrow, a crease you so desperately want to kiss away forming between them. Joel’s jaw ticks, the muscle above it twitching. He inches closer until your foreheads are pressed together, snug. Your heart is beating with rapid thumps, your breath caught in your throat.  

“I’m not seein’ anyone else either,” he says, voice thick with emotion. “And I’m not planin’ on seein’ anyone else either.” 

“R-Really?” 

He nods, “I want you, sweetheart. Completely. I don’t care what you do on your streams as long as you’re mine when the camera shuts off.” 

Your smile is instantaneous. It’s not like you planned on streaming for the rest of your life, arrangements could be made to make him more comfortable. And you had stopped collabing with Dieter ever since Joel came into the picture—though, now that you knew Joel watched the fallen-from-grace actor’s streams. . . you were getting ideas. 

Joel nudges you with the tip of his nose, smiling, yet still hesitant, “Say somethin’ will you?” 

“So, we both want to be exclusive?” you grin. “That’s what you’re saying?” 

“Reckon, I am,” he answers with a snort. He parts his lips to say more but you beat him to it, covering his mouth with your own. The kiss is long and sweet. It feels like a first kiss in a way, even though you have kissed Joel many many times before.

“Come on now, let’s get these ready and pop them into the oven,” his grin is wide as he pinches your ass, you jump with a yelp and he laughs. When you fix him a half-hearted glare, he only winks. The simple action makes your insides clench. “I’m starvin’.” 

The next day, you take Joel to your favorite coffee shop. They make the best bagel sandwiches and you’re eager for him to try them out. He gets the classic bacon, egg, and cheese, and you order the avocado BLT. You offer to pay, but Joel being Joel, he quickly distracts you by dragging his lips from your temple to your cheek, swiftly taking out his wallet.

You give him a look of pure betrayal. If you were wearing pearls, you’d be clutching them by now. “Joel Miller,” you say, aghast. “How dare you use your charm for evil?” 

His laughter fills the air as he hands his credit card to the barista, his broad chest rising and falling with each boisterous sound. Your lips twitch into a smile as he cups your waist, pulling you close. His lips touch your ear and heat warms your cheeks. “Sorry, honey. I can’t always use my powers for good.” 

All you can manage is a short nod. Your senses narrow on the way his breath ghosts your skin, warm and soft like a summer breeze. For a second you forget about the bagels and the coffee shop, all you can think of is him; his body, his voice, his scent—arousal pulses between your legs. If you were positive the two of you wouldn’t get arrested for public indecency, you’d let him take you against this very counter for everyone to see. 

“Come on now,” he teases, reading your expression easily. “I got the goods, let’s find ourselves a good table.” 

Alas, he really was holding a tray in his hands. You have no idea when the barista finished making your order. Either you’d been fantasizing for too long or you had one hell of a barista. 

The two of you stand awkwardly in the middle of the coffee shop and look around. You notice a couple of people staring you down, their gazes fixed on you, some of them even being bold enough to do the old-fashioned up-and-down. You quickly divert your gaze and point toward a table right next to the large windows. Frankly, you’re used to the staring. They rarely came up to you since no one wanted to be the one known for enjoying porn. Especially in public. Most of the time they’re harmless. 

Walking towards your table, you cheat a glance at Joel. If he did notice the looks, he didn't say anything. He made no indication of discomfort or anything of the sort. Relief sprinkles over you, maybe the looks weren’t as obvious as you initially had thought. 

Joel took a seat and you sat across from him, he shot you a look before reaching for his black coffee, “Everythin’ alright?” 

“Yeah,” you clear your throat, trying to keep your nerves in check. “Why wouldn’t I be?” 

Just as he opens his mouth, you notice someone approaching in your peripheral. You hold your breath, eyes dropping to the bagels. The person, whoever it was, just stands at the end of the table. You feel the stranger’s eyes eating you up. Fuck, of all the times why now? 

“May we help you?” you hear Joel say, his tone the complete opposite of his words. When you look up at him from between your lashes, he’s staring at the stranger, the look dancing on the line of being a full-on glare. You take a slow breath and turn. 

It’s a young-ish man with blonde hair and brown eyes. Your first expression of him is that he seems kind. He doesn’t acknowledge Joel’s presence at all which you find impressive. Even across from him, you can feel the heat of his stare. 

“Hi,” the man says kindly. “S-Sorry to bother you but are you Honeysuckle? On Ravish?” 

Joel visibly bristles at that. And, despite your better judgment, it turns you on. 

“Yup, that’s me,” you let out an awkward chuckle. He extends a hand and you quickly take it, wanting this to be done as soon as possible. 

“I love your streams!” 

“Thank you,” you smile with tight lips. “I appreciate your support.” 

“Can I get a picture?” 

Briefly, your gaze flits to Joel, a shadow crosses his face, eyes dark in warning. Your breath hitches a bit, skin prickling, some part of you wishes the hardened gaze was directed at you instead. 

You turn back to the man, “Sorry I don’t do pictures,” he seems visibly heartbroken by that so you quickly add. “But I can give you an autograph if it’s all the same to you.” 

Oh god, you hate when you have to put it like that. It makes you sound so full of yourself. You’re not a movie star. 

His eyes sparkle, “Thank you!” he pulls out a small notebook and hands it to you. “Can you make it out for Alex?” 

“Sure.” you quickly sign your name—well, not your name name but your stream name; Honeysuckle. You add a little heart next to the name and return the notebook. 

“Thank you!” he repeats, his genuine glee spreading in the air and caressing your skin. Your stomach does a small somersault as he walks away, clutching the notebook close to his chest. 

“Well, at least he was nice about it,” Joel grunts, finally taking a sip of his coffee. You’re not sure what to take from his response, or expression for that matter. Is he mad? You don’t think he is. You nearly jump out of your skin when his focused gaze suddenly snaps to you. “You alright?” 

“U-Uh, yeah,” you wave your hand in dismissal. “This kinda stuff happens. Most of the time they don’t say hi though.”

“So they just stare at you like a piece of meat?” 

“Pretty much, yeah.” your voice is uncaring. Honestly, you’re used to it by now. It’s not like you had the most respectable job, at least, not according to most people. You can only imagine the comments you would get if you had Instagram, or if Ravish didn’t have a tight-proof system that allowed you to ban people on sight. You reach for your sandwich and take a bite, you chew slowly. 

Joel snarls, “Assholes.” 

“I was hoping you didn’t notice,” you smile around your second bite. He seems almost offended by what you said, crossing his arms over the expanse of his chest. 

“Of course I did,” he huffed. “And why wouldn’t you want me to notice?” 

“I don’t know,” you truly didn’t. “I guess I didn’t want any hiccups to happen right after we decided to be. . . exclusive.” 

“Honey. . .” he gives you the tiniest smile, eyes full of care. “Don’t worry, people starin’ ain’t gonna get me packin’. Don’t you. . . don’t you know my feelings run deeper than that?” 

Joel's words hang in the air, his gaze searching your eyes for any sign of reassurance. The last thing you ever wanted was to make him feel like he was the source of your worry, the reason for your unease. Yet, here he was, looking like he believed he was to blame for your discomfort.

You lower your gaze to your sandwich, suddenly feeling a weight on your chest that has nothing to do with the bagel. It's not that you doubt his feelings for you, but you've carried the weight of your own insecurities for years, and it's hard to let go of them all at once.

Tears threaten to well up, and you quickly blink them away, not wanting to appear vulnerable in the middle of the coffee shop. You take another bite of your sandwich, chewing mechanically as you try to compose yourself. The flavors of avocado and bacon mix on your tongue, but they seem tasteless compared to the swirl of emotions within you.

Joel's hand finds yours on the table, his thumb rubbing soothing circles over your knuckles. When you finally muster the courage to meet his gaze, you're met with eyes that hold a storm of emotions. Concern, understanding, and a vulnerability that mirrors your own.

"You're not alone in this, you know?" he murmurs. 

You let out a shaky breath. You're not used to showing this side of yourself, not after so many years of self-preservation and guarding your heart and yourself.

"I guess I’m still not used to this yet" you murmur, your voice barely above a whisper. "It’s not your fault at all, it’s just been so long since I’ve been with anyone. . . emotionally. I'm sorry if I made you feel responsible."

He leans across the table, his warm hand cradling your cheek. His touch is gentle, his thumb caressing your skin. "I get it, sweetheart. And you don’t need to apologize. We’re the same in that aspect, I haven’t been with anyone for a long time either. Just. . .  know that I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. We'll figure this out together."

You lean into his hand, you’re feeling lighter already. 

Joel's lips curve into a tender smile, and he leans in to press a soft kiss to your forehead. "Besides," he mutters, sitting back. “I don’t run away from what’s mine.” 

Mine. 

One simple word. A noun of all things, is what makes you melt in your seat. It’s sobering. Waking you in a way that no amount of coffee ever could. Mine. He said that. You heard the possessive lilt laced with the word, almost daring you to object. You nearly do if you’re honest, shadows dance in his eyes, draw you in like a bunny rabbit sniffing a tempting trap. You want to take the bate. Sink your teeth into that carrot to see how he’ll react, the things he’ll do to prove just how true his words were. 

Instead, you clench your thighs together and propose something else instead. 

“Let me prove to you that I’m yours then,” you say. Eagerness caused Joel's eyes to widen, his jaw betraying his emotions with a subtle twitch. “In fact, let’s show the world.” 

No matter how vivid your imagination was, no matter how long you prepared and checked the equipment over and over again, nothing—absolutely nothing—could have prepared you for Joel walking through your bedroom door.

You had picked out a form-fitting black button-up shirt for him to wear. The fabric hugged his biceps, the seams barely holding on. The shirt stretched over the expanse of his chest, the buttons doing a better job compared to the seams in holding everything together. However, you were certain if he stretched even a little, the shirt would rip with a satisfying pop. 

That isn't all, though. Your eyes move up from the shirt, your gaze tracing the lines of his body until they land on the striking green mask he's wearing.

The mask is a deep shade of forest green, with intricate gold detailing that seems to dance in the light. Swirls and patterns weave across the surface, accentuating the gilded flakes in his eyes. 

His brown eyes peer out from behind the mask, a slight awkwardness to his gaze that seems to lessen with the hunger of your stare. The contrast between the vibrant green and the warmth of his gaze draws you in like a moth to a flame. The mask frames his face perfectly,  showcasing his strong jawline and the facial hair that clings to his skin.

"I feel dumb," he mutters, his voice a low rumble that sends shivers down your spine. “Isn’t there a way you can just make it so that my face is out of frame?” 

The mask had been his idea, he didn’t want to be recognized—rightfully so— and since he still wanted to stream. . . he bought himself a mask. 

Too bad he doesn’t realize the effect it has on you. Only if he could feel how wet you were for him, that’ll surely put him in a better mood. 

“Not really, we are going to be moving after all,” you answer. His gaze drops. “Joel, you look devastatingly hot right now.” 

His ears perk at that, eyes lifting to meet yours instantly. “Really?” 

"Come here," you manage to murmur, your voice laced with a mix of playfulness and longing. He obeys without hesitation, closing the distance between you in a matter of heartbeats. His hand reaches out, fingers curling beneath your chin as he tilts your head up. His eyes, those deep pools of honey, lock onto yours with an intensity that steals your breath away.

"Tell me," he whispers, his thumb brushing lightly over your lower lip. "What's on your mind?"

You swallow, your words catching in your throat for a moment before you manage to answer, your voice barely more than a breath. "You... the mask... everything. I can’t wait to feel you deep inside. Can’t wait for you to ruin me for everyone to see."

His lips curve into a smile, and he leans in, his breath mingling with yours as he murmurs against your lips, "Oh, don’t worry. I don’t plan on leavin’ an inch of you not clingin’ with my come, darlin’.” 

Oh, fuck. 

Fuck fuck fuck. 

Your lips part with a soft gasp and he slips his thumb into your mouth. Your tongue eagerly laps at his thumb, drawing circles, begging for him to press deeper. Heat radiates off of him, suffocating you in the best way possible. Your eyes drop to his crotch, the outline of his cock visible despite the dark blue denim.

Joel grins and shifts his hips closer, teasing you with a promise of more. You close your lips around his thumb and swallow. You’re in a trance. Body and soul bewitched by his presence. Your breasts feel full and heavy, nipples tingling. 

“Go and start the stream, honey.” 

Tingles. All you feel are tingles as you get up and desperately head toward your setup. Your legs are shaking. His eyes burning holes into your bare back. A second later his palm is on your ass, stroking the plump flesh and teasing the elastic of your panties. You sigh, the fabric sticking to your folds. 

With practiced efficiency, you start up the stream, the familiar hum of your equipment filling the room. Almost immediately, comments begin flooding in, your "hive" eagerly joining the live broadcast. The chat scrolls rapidly, filled with excited greetings and bee-themed emojis, a testament to the unique community you've cultivated.

"Hey there, my busy bees!" you greet, your voice filled with enthusiasm. "I hope you're all buzzing with excitement, because tonight we've got a special guest joining us."

You let a mischievous smile tug at the corner of your lips as your eyes flicker to the monitor. There he is, Joel, standing just behind you, his presence towering and captivating even though his head isn't visible on screen. The comments explode with excitement, the chat inundated with messages about how good he looks, how lucky you are, and playful exclamations about your "hunk of a guest” and how they can’t wait for him to “pump you full of his come”. A bit crass, but you can’t say you disagree. 

You continue, "But first, let's give a warm welcome to our newbies! Welcome to the hive, where we celebrate all things sweet and sticky." you wink at the camera and bend slightly over, wiggling your ass. Joel doesn’t waste any time moving directly behind you, hands on your waist as he pushes forward, making you feel the heft of his cock between your cheeks. A small moan escapes you, breasts swaying with his shallow grinds. 

“And now, without further ado,” you say breathless. “Let’s start the show. Our guest is an impatient one,” you hear Joel scoff behind you, the voice making your pussy bottom out. “Am I wrong, sir?” 

His nails bite into your flesh, showing you just how much he enjoys being called that. You smile as you stand up, giving one last look to the monitor to check everything is in place, you face Joel. You lean closer for a kiss, hoping that it’ll soothe his nerves. He must be nervous. 

But before you can close the distance, he grabs your chin and pushes you back, just proving how wrong you are. Your eyes widen, the pressure he applies to hallow your cheeks emptying the oxygen in your lungs. “Not so fast,” he grunts. “On your knees, honey. Only good girls get kisses.” 

Your insides pulse with a vicious throb. His voice takes on a tone you've never quite heard before. It's deep, a resonant rumble that seems to vibrate through the very core of your being. His voice, deep and resonant, like thunder during a storm and wraps around you like a velvet cloak, warming you. As you slowly sink to your knees, your pulse quickens in response. 

A desperate, hushed rustling fills the room as a zipper is lowered and briefly, you steal a quick glance at the streaming setup, ensuring that everything continues to run smoothly. Joel’s head is still out of view, which you regret because you want everyone to see how good he looks in his mask—

His touch is a sudden and deliberate pull, “Eyes on me,” he growls, the bulbous head of his cock pressing against your lips. His fingers are wrapped around his impressive length, and instead of notching the head between your lips, he smacks your parted lips with it. A drop of precome stains your bottom lip, a string of it following the tip as he holds it above your face. Your eyes are glued to the masked figure above you. Despite the tone and the roughness, they’re just pools of soft honey, internally searching your face for any discomfort. 

Joel begins to stroke himself and with a heavy gaze, you part your lips wider and stick your tongue out for him to use you however he pleases. 

His dark chuckle makes your skin prickle with need. You come closer, dragging your tongue between his balls, nuzzling him sweetly. Joel curses above you and grips your shoulder, holding you back. 

“Sir, please,” you gasp, attempting to get close but his hand keeps you at a small distance. 

He doesn’t acknowledge your pleas, “Push those pretty tits together, sweetheart.” 

Desperate and dripping, you press them together with your arms. His cock comes from under, the head piercing your tits as it pushes from between them. Joel hooks his thumb in your mouth and you obediently suck around the digit as he begins to thrust. Neither of you breaks eye contact. 

Joel pushes himself further into you, driving his hips forward. His cock slides between your tits, filling your already open mouth with vigor as he rocks in and out of your ample cleavage. You moan around his thumb, the warmth of his precum dripping over your tongue. 

Your body rocks with each stroke, the pleasure radiating through your chest with each thrust. Your nipples throb with arousal, hard like diamonds, as he slams his rigid cock into your tits. Sweat beads on his forehead and he grits his teeth, “Keep them together,” he grunts as he pulls out, with the head, he smears drops of himself over your heated skin. 

Your eyes roll back at how possessive it is, the fact that everyone is watching already forgotten. “Good,” he says, pleased. He pulls away his thumb and drags it over your bottom lip. “You’re already so dumb for my cock, aren’t you. Eager to show your viewers how badly you want to be good for me hmm?” 

God, the tremors in his voice, that southern drawl. He’s going to be the death of you. 

“Y-Yeah,” you pant, chest heaving. Ignoring the ache it causes in the back of your neck, you lean forward and manage to taste him on your skin. You moan as your eyes flutter closed, your own breath warm against you. “Want to be your good girl again, sir.” 

He pulls away from you completely, heading towards the bed. You stare at him blearily as he takes a seat, only coming to your senses when he hits his thigh, gesturing you to come over.  

Just as you’re about to sit, he stops you, clicking his tongue while lifting a hand. “First strip, darlin’. Turn to the camera,” you don’t miss the way he smiles as you turn on shaky legs, staring directly into the lens. “Have you already forgotten how to stream? My poor sweet dumb girl.” 

His words send you into a haze of submission. Needles stinging your back, you peel off your panties and bra, dropping them to the floor. “Good,” he hums. “Now sit on my lap, spread those legs so they can see how wet you got just from gettin’ her tits fucked.” 

Joel scoots further back and gives you space on the bed to place your feet. With heavy lids, you spread yourself for him—and the people who’re watching at home. Your front facing the camera. To expose yourself in such a way, it’s different compared to what you normally do. You have fun with Dieter but it’s never like this, never as intense. A shaky breath escapes you when Joel places a hand on the inside of your thigh, pushing your legs further apart. He’s staring at you through the monitor, jaw slack. Meanwhile, you’re just happy people can see his mask, those brown eyes. 

“Fuck, sweetheart,” he mutters, his role forgotten. “Look at you. Fuck,” his lips touch your ear, whispering the rest of the words so it’s only you that can hear. “You never stopped bein’ my good girl. Just sayin’.” 

Your vision blurs with tears and you nod, his lips now on your cheek. He drags his mouth to your forehead and lays another kiss. “Now let’s give them a show.” 

Joel cups your ass as he helps you lift yourself, aligning himself against your sopping core, he slowly lowers you, filling you inch by inch. Your head falls back, mouth agape, you’ve forgotten how big he is, how satisfying it is to take him so slowly. His breath is hot on your nape. “That’s it,” he purrs. “Just like that, show them how good you take cock, honey.” 

 “‘S big,” you slur. “S–So big, sir.” 

He shushes you, lips moving over your cheek. “I know, honey I know,” he licks the salt off your skin. “But you’re my good girl, aren’t you? You can take it.” 

Joel rears up, slowly pushing himself into you. His hands guide your hips to the right angle to let him slide deeper, your soft cries echoing through the air. 

“I am,” you gasp, delirious, his cock completely sheathed inside. “I am. I–I’m your good girl.” 

You twist around, straddling Joel as he takes both your hands and draws you close. His lips crash against yours, and you moan into his mouth as you grind your hips against him. Heaven help you, how can you take him like this with an audience? Images of all the people watching on your live stream dance in your mind, but it makes it all the hotter.

Your body rocks up and down as you ride him, your inner walls clenching around him. You’re panting and moaning, your body shaking as you pump harder.  You feel Joel shift beneath you, his grip tightening as you take him even deeper, arching your back and pushing your breasts out. You can feel his eyes on you, as well as the eyes of the viewers watching you live stream. His cock glistens with your slick, every time you lift yourself, the light catches against it, everyone watching seeing how worked up Joel gets you. 

You can feel Joel's warmth radiating throughout your body as he slides back and forth, gaining momentum as he thrusts harder. You stifle a moan, your eyes fluttering as pleasure overcomes you, your head humming with pleasure. Your body starts to slow, your muscles aching and trembling. 

Suddenly Joel grips your waist, fingertips leaving dents in your flesh. He growls in your ear, drops of spit hitting your neck. “Who told you to slow down?” he pulls your body against him, forcing himself deeper into you. Every inch of you is shaking as Joel's hips slam against yours. His fingers find your clit, drawing gentle, quick circles around the sensitive nub. You cry out, clenching around him. “Look into the camera,” he groans. “Want them to see your fucked out gaze when I make you squirt.” 

Your hands find purchase above his knees, the coil in your stomach tight, it’s too much. Too fucking much. Your head is swimming in a lavender haze, and before you know it, your cunt is pulsing around him, gushing and slowing his thrusts. You hear the faint pitter patters of a rain-like sound. 

You barely register the liquid spraying from you, your body hot and burning while Joel’s fingers continue to move. Your drip down his length and down the inside of his thighs, and he rips another, albeit calmer, orgasm from you.  

“Shiiiiiit,” he drawls. “Shit shit, honey, fuck, don’t move—” he makes a choked-out sound and spears you down flush on his cock. The sounds you make are completely debauched. A series of sir’s dropping from your lips, tongue aching to moan his name. You feel him spilling inside, so much, you think, so much of it filling you up. He’s still throbbing when he pulls out, gripping himself and ringing the last of it over your glistening cunt, drowning it in come. 

“Oh fuck,” you murmur as he pushes it back in with the head of his length, you shudder around him. “So full,” you say, eyes dropping where you two connect through the reflection in the monitor. 

“Not done,” he mutters and helps you lift yourself over him, cock slowly softening. “Push it out darlin’. Show them how much there is to keep you satisfied.” 

“F-Fuck,” you let out a whimper, eyelids fluttering as his seed trickles out of you and drips over his length. You feel faint of heart, this probably being one of the filthiest things you’ve done on camera. 

“Good girl,” he says, eyes glued to the camera. “My good girl,” he repeats, cupping your mound and slipping one finger inside with ease. 

Joel gently lays you down on the bed, your body too weak to do anything. He walks up to the stream set up, his eyes flashing toward the camera one last time. “See y’all next time.” he taunts before shutting the entire thing off. 

He throws the mask to the ground near your discarded clothes. 

You don’t know what to think when he climbs onto the bed, mattress dipping with his weight before he pulls you to his chest. He kisses you slowly, taking his time as he tastes you. “Sorry,” he whispers into your mouth. “I think I might’ve gone overboard.” 

“No,” you sigh dreamily, still in a haze. “That was perfect. I—I don’t think I can walk for a while.” 

You let out a low chuckle and he smiles, pressing his lips into your forehead. 

“Well, good thing I’m here then.”  

[changetyre]

Not like this (P6) II Charles Leclerc x Reader (Mafia AU)

SUMMARY: After losing everything you seek out your biggest and longest-standing enemy to finish it all.

WARNING: Violence, blood, mentions of death

A/N: Thank you @s-awturn for the inspo on the next part which is teased at the end of this part 👀

You had decided to drive back with one of Charles's men, you needed space and that was as much space as you were getting right now. In the other car, Charles pondered over your words, putting himself in your shoes and realizing how impotent you must feel. 

He wanted to talk to you but he didn't know what to say, how to start. This dynamic between the two of you was new and awkward and he had no idea how to handle it. What was once a relationship filled with pure hatred and rage was now a relationship of unexplainable trust, dependence, and patience. 

He meant to reach out to you once you got back to his place but you had given him no time to say anything before you locked yourself in the guest room. 

Charles took it upon himself to make dinner that evening, or at least attempted to knowing he was useless in the kitchen and he could never make something half as good as your cooking. But he hoped this would help him find the right words to talk to you and perhaps tell you more about his plans.

He had gotten as far as boiling water and putting pasta inside before things started going wrong. The tomato sauce he was attempting to prepare had somehow solidified and was smoking, he would've surely panicked if you hadn't come out of your room right that second. 

"What the hell are you doing?!" You screamed at Charles as you walked into the kitchen that was filling up with smoke. 

"Making dinner." Charles stated unwilling to admit defeat just yet. 

"Turn that off you idiot." You screamed at him as you went over to open the windows of his house to let some of the smoke out. 

Charles begrudgingly did what you said turning off everything on the stove. "I was trying to make Spaghetti alla Napoletana." he pronounced the name of the dish perfectly. 

You scoffed walking over and grabbing the burnt pan and letting water run over it as you carefully scraped off whatever substance Charles had made. "Right you fucked up probably one of the easiest pasta dishes in the world." you laughed. 

"The spaghetti is okay." Charles tried defending himself earning a glare from you. 

"Right, you know you're actually supposed to measure ingredients right?It's not just a suggestion." You brought back the now-washed and dried pan to the stove. 

"You don't ever measure out anything...I've seen you." Charles pointed out defensively. 

"Yeah, that's because I know how to cook." You replied cockily. 

Charles rolled his eyes. "I can do this on my own." He tried pushing you away. 

"Yeah, no way...I want to be able to eat something tonight." You huffed pushing him back. 

"I can cut the onion." Charles reached over as you were about to do it. 

"FINE!" You admitted defeat letting him do it although knowing he was going to regret it. 

You proceeded to cut up the garlic and pick some basil all while holding in your laughter at the way Charles struggled to cut the onion without sniffling and crying.

"Is this enough onion?" Charles asked, avoiding your eyes but you knew they were probably bloodshot. 

You couldn't contain your laughter this time. "You cut far more than we needed." You revealed making Charles turn to you in offense. 

But you noticed the way his lips wanted to curl into a smile. They truly did, Charles hadn't realized how much until now but your laughter was truly contagious and it reminded him of how long it'd been since he'd heard such raw laughter in his home. 

"And you wonder why it's so hard to admit I don't hate you." Charles muttered as he rinsed his hands. 

Your laughter died down as you processed his words. Grabbing some paper towel you let run under cold water before approaching Charles. 

"You just admitted it, Charles." You reached up blotting the towel around his eyes and you could see his eyes and body fill with relief. 

Charles realized what he said, he had in fact admitted he didn't hate you and although he initially felt panic the fact that you had so calmly accepted it brought a weird sense of relief to him. 

It took you a few seconds of silence to realize how close you were to him, you don't think you'd ever been this close to him before but as you continued dabbing around his eyes you appreciated the beauty in them.  "Hmm, your eyes have a little green in them." 

Charles's heart skipped a beat, the way your smiled softened as you looked at him made him question everything he'd ever thought about you. Why did you make him feel this way, suddenly the proximity was too much. 

"Uhmm let's finish this up, It's getting late." Charles stepped away, turning back to the counter to turn on the stove. 

You too were taken aback, you had completely lost yourself in the moment and the quick distance made you dizzy for some reason. "Yeah let me handle it, you just clean up a bit." You gently shoved Charles aside taking over the space of the stove. 

Charles nodded simply doing what you asked as he began gathering things. You continued cooking in silence, the only thing heard was the sizzling of the pan and the water running from Charles cleaning up some dishes. 

"There's a masquerade ball for the neighboring circles tomorrow night." Charles broke the silence. 

You were just finishing plating up the dishes. "Where?" You asked excited about the thought of getting answers. 

"Avolire Palace." He revealed. "I thought maybe you'd want to come." 

"Yes!" You replied a little more eagerly than intended. "Yes, please." 

"Okay." Charles nodded. "I'll go out tomorrow to get you a dress and more importantly a mask. If whoever is involved in what happened is there, they can't know you're alive." 

You nodded, knowing he was right. "So you'll take me as a plus one or-?"

"Yes you'll be my date...for the night." He quickly added. "Hopefully we can get some answers." 

[tinyundercover]

pepper & felix

part eleven

the aftermath of last night

MASTERPOST word count: 2.5k

Felix stared at the ceiling, vaguely aware of the alarm beeping on his nightstand.

It was grating to his ears. Internally, he knew that he needed to get ready for class, but the events of last night simply refused to leave his mind. Stressful memories weighed down on him like a rock, leaving him motionless in his bed.

Pepper is my soulmate.

The voice in his mind and the borrower in his walls were the same person. It was comforting to finally have an explanation for his strange feelings towards Pepper, and why he always felt so drawn to him… but at the same time, it was hard not to feel absolutely terrified.

A month ago, he didn’t even know that borrowers existed. Worry fluttered around Felix’s chest as he wondered how they would possibly further their relationship, considering their vast size difference and the uncomfortable power imbalance between them. He had only held Pepper a few times, and he had been wracked with anxiety every single time. Now, he wasn’t just putting the life of a borrower in his hands, but his soulmate’s. 

…And what was he supposed to tell his friends and family?

Felix sighed heavily, drawing his blanket further to him. Part of him wished he had stayed at Alice’s place yesterday to explain everything to her, but he hadn’t wanted to keep the borrowers there any longer. Today, he would have to talk to Alice alone and explain the situation without putting Pepper and his sister in more danger.

A sleepy, familiar voice suddenly floated into his mind, disrupting his thoughts. “Your alarm is going off.”

Felix sat up abruptly, finally registering the consistent beeping that filled the room. With a flush he leaned over, shutting off his alarm, then brought his hands to his chest. “Sorry. I was thinking.”

“About me, I hope,” Pepper said sleepily. A second later he added, “Basil says hi.”

It took a moment for Felix to register who “Basil” was. He drummed his fingers over his chest, curious, wondering if Pepper had meant to share his sister’s name or if it had slipped out by accident.

His lips twitched into a smile. “Tell her I said hi.”

“Mhmmm.”

Pepper’s voice had already drifted off into exhaustion. A warm feeling swirled around Felix’s chest, and as he got out of he bed, he tried to remain quiet for his small, sleeping guests.

—— 

Sunlight filtered through the window, dappling the floor of the hallway in yellow. Felix waited against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, checking his phone every few minutes.

Alice had agreed to meet him here, but as time stretched on, Felix was beginning to doubt her. His stomach twisted in a mixture of fear and guilt, and he prayed that Alice would at least be willing to listen. They had been friends for almost three years. He wanted more than anything to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“Hey.”

Felix glanced up, heart skipping a beat when he caught sight of Alice approaching. Her expression was empty, but Felix couldn’t help but notice the tightness of her hand around the strap of her bookbag.

“Alice,” Felix said in relief, straightening up. “Hi.”

She stopped a few feet away and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. Her blue eyes danced over his form before meeting his gaze again. She said nothing, clearly expecting him to talk first.

“Did you tell anyone about them?” Felix asked before he could stop himself.

Dark lashes blinked. “...Why would I do that?” Alice responded after a moment, tilting her head. Felix still couldn’t read her emotions. “No one would believe me.”

Relief rushed into Felix’s chest, and he exhaled, nodding. “Good. Thank you. They’re not supposed to—”

“What the hell happened last night?” Alice cut him off, exasperation seeping into her tone. “Seriously, what the fuck?”

Felix immediately faltered. He supposed that was a fair reaction, but he still wasn’t prepared for her sudden frustration. “It’s— it’s a lot to explain.”

Alice raised her eyebrows.

“They’re just people,” Felix clarified, fiddling his thumbs and frowning. “But… a lot smaller. They’re not, like, dangerous or anything. Just people.”

“Well, obviously,” Alice pointed out. “I just want to know what they were doing in your apartment.”

Felix found himself at a loss for words. How much was he allowed to share with Alice without putting the existence of borrowers in any more danger? 

“They’re my friends,” he said slowly.

Alice stared for a moment, eyebrows lifting. “You’re… actually friends with them?”

Felix frowned and nodded, and Alice crossed her arms, brow furrowing again. “Oh. When they said they were your friends, I… I thought they were lying. It’s not like you’ve ever told anyone about them.” She peered closer at Felix, eyes icy. “Why didn’t you tell me? Or Breanna? Owen?”

Warmth spread through Felix’s chest, a bit flustered to hear that the borrowers had referred to themselves as his friends. He then hardened his expression as he processed Alice’s other words, the warmth fading. “They’re a secret,” he pointed out. “Humans aren’t supposed to know about them because when they do they put them in jars.”

The anger entered his voice without meaning to. Alice stepped back, hurt etched in her expression. “What else was I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know– talk to them?”

“I tried to!” Alice exclaimed. “They just freaked out!”

“Alice,” Felix exhaled, momentarily pressing his fingertips to his temples, “they’re three inches tall. Just think about what we look like to them. Of course they would freak out– they were probably scared of you.”

“I barely touched them.”

Felix blinked, processing her words. Heat filled his chest, hot and angry. “Are you serious?”

“I mean– I put them in my pocket for a second, and then I put them in that jar, but that’s–”

“You hurt them!” Felix retorted before he could stop himself. Alice jumped. “Didn’t you see the bruise on Ba– on that girl’s face?”

Silence stretched between them for several seconds. Alice’s face fell, blinking rapidly. “That was an accident. She fell when she was in the jar.”

“That you put them in,” Felix objected, features sharp.

Alice stared at him, lips slightly parted, brow furrowed. Felix could sense the frustration floating off of her, and guilt instinctively crept its way into his chest past his own anger. He hadn’t meant for this to turn into an accusation. 

It was hard for him to truly believe that Alice would intentionally harm either borrower beyond repair. As difficult as Alice was being, Felix understood that she was just confused about last night’s events. He couldn’t exactly blame her for acting irrationally towards the borrowers when she didn’t even know that they existed until twelve hours ago. (It’s not like his first interaction with Pepper had gone smoothly, either.)

Alice tended to maintain a tough, closed-off persona, which Felix usually found admirable. Unfortunately, Alice’s attitude meant that strangers tended to think she was cold-hearted– so Felix couldn’t even imagine how a borrower might perceive her, with every one of her actions amplified tenfold. Honestly, if Felix was three inches tall, he would be positively terrified of her. 

Felix took a deep breath, focusing on Alice again. “Just… just please don’t tell anyone about them,” he said finally. “That’s all. I’m sorry you got mixed up in this.”

Alice said nothing.

—

“But did she say sorry?” Pepper demanded.

The borrower had his palms pressed to the back of his neck, pacing back and forth across the counter, mindful of the large knife being wielded only a foot away. Felix was chopping tomatoes on a cutting board, and although his eyes were focused on the knife, he was paying attention to what Pepper was saying.

“I think she feels bad,” Felix responded after a moment, brow furrowing. 

“She should feel bad,” Pepper grumbled. “She could have killed us.” The memories of being shaken around a jar flashed through his mind, and he instinctively dropped his hands to hug himself, shuddering at the distant feeling of his joints slamming into solid glass.

Felix spared him a glance, eyes searching his small form, before turning back to the cutting board. “Ah… is your sister doing okay?” His voice was light.

Pepper stopped pacing and peered up at Felix. “She’s okay. She’s been sleeping all day, actually, but she’s overdue for some rest.” A miserable thought entered his mind, and he frowned, registering for the first time this evening that he was holding a conversation with a giant. “You know, yesterday was the first time she’s ever been seen by a human.”

Worry crossed Felix’s face. “Oh. That… that must have been awful.”

“It was.” Pepper nodded dejectedly, unable to sugarcoat it if he tried. “I mean, I was terrified, and I actually have experience with humans.” He gestured vaguely to Felix, who had abandoned the cutting board and was now giving Pepper his full attention. “But it was all new for her. It had to be so… overwhelming.”

The borrower sighed, gaze wandering to Felix’s hand, which was resting on the handle of the massive knife. “Being grabbed is not fun.” He shuddered at the memories of being trapped in an unrelenting grip, arms painfully pressed into his ribs. “You’re— you’re completely helpless, and when you’re against someone so much bigger than you it’s terrifying. It’s— it’s just…”

He trailed off at Felix’s wide-eyed expression. A twinge of guilt entered Pepper’s chest at the memory of their first meeting, and he shifted on his feet. “I’m really lucky that you’re nice,” Pepper added as an afterthought. Felix said nothing.

Felix remained quiet for the remainder of the cooking process, occasionally nodding or humming in response to Pepper’s rambling. Part of Pepper felt guilty for insulting Felix’s friend over and over again, but in his defense, she had literally kidnapped him.

In all honesty, it was just nice to spend some time with Felix alone. 

“What are you making?” Pepper asked finally. Felix had moved further down the corner to where the stove was, turning the heat on. The occasional click or clang of Felix’s cooking equipment made Pepper a little dizzy, but he ignored it.

“Pasta,” Felix replied, holding up an uncooked piece of rigatoni before dropping it into a large pot. A flush crossed Felix’s face suddenly. “I, um, I thought these pieces might be easier for you to take home with you.”

Something fluttered in Pepper’s chest, warm and surprised. A small part of him— his defensive, primal instinct— hissed at him for taking handouts from a human. 

But at the same time, it was a nice feeling to be considered in something as insignificant as dinner.

“Thank you,” Pepper said breathlessly. 

As Felix stirred a wooden spoon into the pot, Pepper began his trek along the counter. Felix had moved the cutting board away after he had scraped the diced tomatoes into a pan, opening up Pepper’s path towards the stovetop.

As he approached, the heat from the humming stove was startling. Pepper had watched Felix cook for a year, but he had always been hidden away in the walls. This was the closest he had ever been to the stove while it was on.

A small gap, about half an inch long, was nestled between the edge of the gray countertop and the smooth white surface of the stove. On the burner closest to Pepper was a wide black pan, and although Pepper couldn’t see the pasta sauce within it, he could certainly smell it. Past the pan was a tall pot, bubbling with water.

The cooking process had become surprisingly loud in the last few minutes. Unable to quell his curiosity, Pepper stood up on his toes at the edge of the gap, trying to peer into the pan which contained the pasta sauce.

Felix caught his eye, and although Pepper trusted his own instincts, Felix certainly didn’t.

“Wh— hey,” Pepper objected, suppressing a flinch as Felix’s large hand suddenly approached. Alarm bells rang in his mind, and on instinct he dropped back into his heels. 

Felix hadn’t touched him all day, hadn’t even tried. The last thing Pepper had expected at this moment was for Felix to grab him, especially after what happened last night.

But Felix didn’t grab him. The human barely even looked at him, blue gaze distractedly shifting from the small borrower back to the stovetop. Pepper blinked in surprise as the back of Felix’s knuckles bumped into his chest, slightly curled inward, gently nudging the borrower away from the stove. Pepper’s small hands landed on Felix’s forefinger for stability.

“Careful,” Felix murmured, withdrawing his hand and turning his attention fully back to the boiling pot of water.

Pepper blinked. His own hands floated in the air, empty and useless. He hadn’t expected the gentle touch from Felix, nor had he expected it to vanish seconds later, feeling strangely empty.

So much power resided within Felix’s hand. Pepper had felt the sheer force radiating from those fingers, each one surpassing him in height, and inwardly he knew that Felix could have done anything he wanted. Felix could have snatched Pepper up or swatted him away without even batting an eye, but the knuckles against Pepper’s chest had been soft, careful, gentle.

Felix was humming to himself, clearly not aware of how significant his action had appeared to Pepper. The borrower stared up at him, heart fluttering, suddenly in awe of the calculated way Felix was moving his hands around as he cooked.

It’s not like Pepper had actually been in danger. As a borrower, he knew better than to stand at the edge of the counter without paying close attention to where he placed his feet.

Still, as he stared up at his soulmate, he felt incredibly touched.

——

The empty jar was still sitting on Alice’s counter, sticking out like a sore thumb. She hadn’t touched it since last night.

It was hard not to stare at it. She leaned against the wall opposite to the counter, a glass of water in hand, the room silent aside from the faint hum of the kitchen light. 

She couldn’t sleep. 

She hadn’t been able to sleep last night, either, not since Felix had left her apartment with two tiny people in hand.

The jar seemed to taunt Alice. It was on its side, left there after Felix had tipped it to free the tiny people inside. If Alice looked closely, she could see the smattering of tiny handprints on the glass, each one smaller than her fingernail, and she could only wonder what the tiny people were doing now. 

Her phone was in her hand before she could think about it, her thumb hovering over Felix’s contact, and she briefly thought back to how it had felt to hold two entire people in a fist. Her nose scrunched, and she stared down at her phone’s glowing screen, unable to move a muscle.

With a heavy breath she finally turned her phone off and slipped it into her pocket.

She’ll see Felix tomorrow at their first rehearsal, anyway.

------

tysm for reading!! <3

@smallsday @compact-katrina @satethesatelite @taters169 @entomolog-t @gtzel @gt-newbie @da3dm

[fae-that-rambles]

OMORI AND STORYTELLING THROUGH CHARACTER DESIGN

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I think it’s a very fun detail to over analyze.

SPOILERS AHEAD‼️‼️‼️

HEADSPACE

Upon first meeting the headspace gang Omori and Basil stand out very sharply. Omori with his lack of color, and Basil with the unique color of his hair and eyes. The two are clear foils; Omori is silent and keeps himself as far from focus as possible- While Basil is the group glue and focus before and after his disappearance.

Through the character designs and personalities, we are primed to connect and focus on Basil rather than Omori. Basil is pastel colored, a pacifist and a lover. Omori’s vacant eyes and silent knife-wielding nature are less inviting. Very often with RPG horrors, silent protagonists are overlooked in favor of supporting cast. Omori actively uses this as an aspect of its story. We’re supposed to focus on Basil- Sunny is supposed to focus on Basil

THE HORROR

This all lends to our first bait and switch- and our first of Basil’s complex role in the narrative.

Basil is our first glimpse into the horror themes of Omori- and this actively betrays the players trust. Again- Basil was our lovable safe character- We are primed to trust him. Then everything goes wrong (Sounds familiar).

The red eyes are obviously unsettling- again, betraying our trust by subverting the innocence of Basil’s appearance.

Furthering this! With Basil’s disappearance arrives Stranger

A shadowed figure resembling Basil leaving bloody footprints- Basil’s design has been completely subverted into something known and comforting- to a Stranger.

Omori and Stranger are an inverse of Omori and Basil’s design foils. Omori is white with black accents and eyes. Stranger is a full black silhouette with glowing white eyes. And they are of course just as much personality foils. Omori is danger and escapism under an innocent mask. Stranger is a frightening and cryptic individual who only aims to help Sunny. The bloody footprints are foreboding and unsettling- But they’re guides helping Sunny.

Adding on to this, Stranger and Omori’s design’s aren’t foils in the way of being opposites- they’re foils in the way of being compliments. They’re reflections of black and white- two sides of the same coin.

REAL WORLD BASIL

The introduction of real world Basil once again subverts previous expectations- I think for both the audience and Sunny. Setup as foils- opposites throughout the entirety of headspace, the Real World Basil and Sunny could not be more similar design wise. Their outfits are near identical; and their pale frail physiques are the same- even down to the height.

Despite everything set up in Headspace- Basil is by far the character most similar to us in Faraway town. As much as Sunny tries to deny it in his mind- he and Basil were heavily shaped by their shared history. They’re not opposites. Both have become reclusive in the days since Mari’s death, they both lost connections with the group, and both are riddled with guilt, fear, and self loathing. Sunny tries so hard to sever his connections to Basil in his mind, they’re in the exact same position.

Through the final fight with Basil, all of Sunny and Basil’s parallels are put to light. Both in the same clothes, living with the same crippling fear of what they both went to together. Both of their Somethings heightening their fear and crippling any rationality. Basil’s weapon- garden shears are an easy parallel to Omori’s knife.

Their only major design difference is their eyes and hair. Sunny’s eyes still their empty black (or sharp red when stressed out) and Basil’s an eerie glowing blue. Even if they’ve developed in the same circumstances, the two have reacted very differently because of their personalities. Sunny avoidant and stoic, Basil desperate and erratic. Once again, the two are complimentary foils. No matter what form Basil takes, he and Sunny are tied together as reflections of one another, and the shared experiences that molded them.

BONUS- HIKKIKOMORI

In the Hikkikomori route you fight Stranger instead of Real life Basil. The Hikkikomori route illustrates a complete refusal from Sunny to acknowledge the truth of the incident, and this means erasing Basil as a person. Destroying every one of these parallels I’ve discussed.

Basil and Stranger lose their depth. Basil is resigned to the picnic basket with Mari and kept out of the way. He’s lost his right to focus and autonomy, rather staying a shallow memory vague enough to protect Sunny’s repression.

Stranger is treated as an enemy. He is solely Omori’s opponent and will be eliminated as such. All of Basil’s complexity wiped away with his death. Leaving that cardboard cutout- Headspace Basil.

Furthermore, the fight with Stranger (obviously) has direct parallels to the final fight with Basil. Basil and Sunny wear their identical clothes and fight as two parallels. Stranger and Omori are black and white enemies, as Omori refuses to acknowledge Basil’s connection and similarities to Sunny. He refuses the complexity Stranger represents.

[pineappleciders]

Could I ask RW! Gang x reader where the reader is SUPER kind and understanding and always says to them that they will always be there for them and that they can always trust them and also a peacemaker?

RW OMORI gang with an S/O who's incredibly kind and understanding

includes: SUNNY, AUBREY, KEL, HERO, and BASIL

probably slight angst/spoiler warning?

SUNNY

definitely thinks he's unworthy of kindness, and gets flushed whenever you reassure him. he doesn't want to accept it but he will, as he never wants to take someone for granted again

he appreciates you deeply, and he feels like if it weren't for you the group would fall apart again

he worries about you, and tells you that he's there to listen as well,, the last thing SUNNY wants is you to get burnt out over him

SUNNY is super shy but he has an incredibly kind heart, so he'll always be there to listen if you need an ear

it probably makes him tear up whenever you hold him in your arms with reassuring words. it reminds him of MARI and how she was always there for him no matter what. he holds your hand a little tighter at this thought

AUBREY

she deeply appreciates how you always de-escalate fights and banter between her and KEL

she has a hard time showing it though, so she expresses her appreciation through gifts and acts of service

AUBREY has a hard time learning to trust people, but it makes her comfortable knowing she has you in her corner to turn to when things get rough

she tries to talk to you about how you shouldn't put other people before yourself, and generally tries to get you to rest and think about yourself for once,, she has a hard time getting the words out though and might get embarrassed

it honestly makes her want to burst out in tears sometimes, how kind and soft your voice is. she's so used to everyone treating her with harsh words and ignorance that any sort of kindness makes her break down

KEL

KEL really likes your kind nature, but it'll confuse him sometimes especially if you tend to sacrifice your own needs for others

expresses his gratitude and worry through acts of service and physical touch, like massaging you after a long day or just spending the weekend with you

it doesn't happen often, but sometimes cracks will start to show in KEL's smile and he'll probably start crying if you tell him it's okay

he really only shows that side of him with people he's close to, and it immediately makes him feel bad for bothering you

he is very,,, aggressive when he believes what he's doing is right?? like he doubts himself sometimes but if he thinks he's fighting for justice he isn't scared to fight for it. so maybe it'll help if you talk to him about the topic or just take him away from the scene to cool off

he really doesn't understand why you're the way you are but he loves you anyways

HERO

he deeply appreciates your kindness, but he also tries to get you to take care of yourself. it's always a battle of who can be kind and do the most favors for each other

it honestly reminds him of MARI to an extent, especially if you like to pull pranks or be silly.

it makes it hard for him to keep acting like everythings alright. sometimes he breaks down behind doors and if you just hold him in your arms and comfort him, it creates a sense of trust between you two afterwards

always insists he's there for you as well, and tries to be a gentleman to pay you back

he has some abandonment issues due to the sudden loss of MARI, so a consistent relationship is what he prefers

BASIL

despite being an intense people pleaser and super kind person, he thinks he deserves the worst of the worst treatment

gets nervous and flustered if you're sacrificing yourself for him or just being super nice

BASIL has bad abandonment issues. he might get a little attached to you. just a bit .

tries to do acts of service and give you little trinkets to make up for being a burden (or at least, that's how he puts it)

really appreciates how trustworthy you are. he doubts a lot of people often so having someone like you around brings him stability. remind him often that you're there for him and he swoons!

[roseofdarknessblog]

Vanilla and cinnamon | Levi Ackerman

Your cozy little apartment was full of the most delicious scents that people usually associate with Christmas. Scents like cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, orange, honey, and chocolate were lingering in the air, while soft Christmas music was playing in the background.

It was shortly after noon and you still had too many things to do. At seven o’clock, you were expecting all your friends to come over for a little Christmas get-together. Today, time was your biggest enemy. Since Levi was still at work, preparing everything was your responsibility.

The gingerbread cookies and cupcakes were done, but they all needed decorating. But first, you wanted to take care of the mini pizzas. It was a silly little recipe you once found on the internet years back. All you needed was pizza dough, marinara sauce, mozzarella, basil and olives. Each little pizza had a cute snowman on top, put together from the ingredients.

You were pretty stressed, to say at least. Even if this party was only for your closest friends, who would never dismiss all the effort you put into it, everything had to be perfect. You wanted everybody to have the best time possible and enjoy an evening full of love and happiness.

As you were putting the tiny bits of olives on the mozzarella snowmen as their eyes, mouths, and buttons, you heard the front door opening. „Levi?“ you called out to him. „What are you doing home already?“

„Took half a day off. I suppose you need help.“

With a smile, you looked over your shoulder and waited for him to come to the kitchen. As the temperature outside dropped to below freezing, you could see snowflakes drifting from the heavy grey clouds throughout the entire day. Last night it was snowing so hard, that when you woke up in the morning, the outside world looked like the perfect winter fairytale.

„You’re amazing,“ you said and hurried to him for a hug. With a slight smile, Levi wrapped his arms around your waist and gave you a tender kiss. „I truly need help. There’s just so many things to do.“

„I’m surprised you agreed to host the party this year. You’re always so busy and everything. Maybe you should have let Hange or Erwin take the initiative.“

„No, Hange did the party last time. And Erwin was helping out Miche the year before. It truly was our turn this year,“ you tried to explain, while Levi’s hand was slowly rubbing your back.

Suddenly, being in his arms and breathing in the familiar scent of his body wash made almost all the nervousness disappear. So close to him, you always felt safe and at peace, even if the world was crumbling around you.

„Now, tell me what I can help with.“

„Can you mix the frosting for the gingerbread cookies and cupcakes? I’ll need a simply white one, dark and light green, and red.“ Levi knew a lot about baking since he loved to help you out almost anytime. So when you told him what do to, you didn’t have to worry about him not being capable of doing exactly what you needed. „I’ll finish the mini pizzas and then we’ll start decorating.“

With a quick kiss, he squeezed you in his arms one more time and then hurried to change into comfier clothes. When he came back, he had his matching green and red pajama pants on with a black hoodie just like yours. While you finished up and put the pizzas into the oven, Levi skillfully prepared the frostings you asked for.

„I’ll start with the gingerbread cookies, okay? You can do the cupcakes,“ he said, already taking the big tray with the gingerbread cookies to the dining table.

Working side by side, with music playing in the background, you were done in no time. Because Levi finished his part of the work first, he slipped back into the kitchen and made you both some hot chocolate in one of your Christmas mugs.

„Here you go, take a little break. We’re almost done,“ he said, kissing the top of your head as he put the mug next to you. „Is there anything else I can help with?“

„All that’s left to do is prepare the Mack and Cheese. The baked one with bacon, which Moblit and Nanaba love so much,“ you said, taking the hot mug into your hands. The hot chocolate smelled more than delicious and you couldn’t help but smile over the tiny snowflake sprinkles Levi put on top with the whipped cream.

„I love that one.“

„I know that that’s why I decided to make it instead of the classic one. The others will all bring some of their favorite dishes as well, so we should have a ton of options.“

With a loving smile, you leaned over to Levi and gave him a long love-filled kiss. Levi’s fingers grazed over your cheek, gently taking your lower lip between his teeth as soon as you wanted to pull away.

„You did such a great job with all of this food, I’m very proud of you,“ he whispered, your lips still touching. „They all going to love this.“

„I really hope so,“ you said quietly and gave him one more kiss before you went back to the delicious hot chocolate. While you were drinking it, you looked over the gingerbread cookies Levi decorated – traditional gingerbread men, trees, snowmen, angels, candy cane, and much more. Since you had tons of cookie cutters in your collection, you loved doing as many shapes as possible. With the white, red, and green frosting, they looked adorable and very appetizing.

„The house looks nice, right? I quickly cleaned the living and dining room in the morning. Oh, and also the bathroom of course.“

Levi smirked and reached for one of your cupcakes, which were decorated as little Christmas trees and snowmen. The snowman one had a sweet vanilla frosting on top, while the Christmas tree ones tasted like cinnamon. You knew they were Levi’s favorite flavors, so you combined them into some type of pastry every single year.

„Everything looks more than amazing, love. You really turned this place into a Christmas fairytale.“ Hearing his words made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You really did try your best and now could only hope, that your friends will see it as well.

Fairy lights were everywhere you looked, just like other smaller or bigger pieces of decorations. You never went too over the top, even if you loved the holiday season more than any other time of the year. Even Levi learned to love all of this – the festive throw pillows and blankets, string lights, bows, garlands, candles, wreaths, and snow globes.

„I’m so tired,“ you sighed and hugged Levi once again, resting your head against his, while he was eating the snowman cupcake, seemingly enjoying it. „But it’s going to be a very nice evening I hope. It’s been a while since we all met up and just sat down for dinner.“

„Adult life is busy.“ You nodded, running your fingers through his silky black hair and closing your eyes for a moment. „But... I have tomorrow off and I know you do, too. So we could go ice skating if you’d like.“

„Yes, please. That would be perfect. We could go in the afternoon and stay until sunset, so I could take a couple of nice winter photos.“

Levi chuckled quietly and kissed the top of your head. He then very generously smeared a bit of vanilla frosting on your nose. Before you had time to complain, he kissed the tip of your nose and licked the frosting off, making you laugh and forget about all the tiredness.

„You go rest for a while Y/N, I’ll do the Mac and Cheese. It won’t be the first time.“

„No, no. Together.“

Levi rolled his eyes with a smile, finishing up the cupcake. But that was all the complaining he did. So in the end, you ended up cooking together. After that, it was time to set the table and get everything ready for the evening. Only then you had a couple of minutes to take a break and cuddle on the sofa by your lit-up Christmas tree, while you talked about what you’re going to wear later on. It took you a few minutes, but you ended up convincing Levi to match the color of his shirt with your dress.

[143htg]

Hey, pal! So, do you have any fun facts about Of Red Thread's Mari and Hero's relationship? And what does Sunny think of Aubrey and the boy in the Church (Basil-)

Also, I want to ask you, are you doing alright?

hihi!!!

Hero and Mari's relationship is about the same as what canon would be. Hero is loving and affectionate and brings his fiancé gifts every now and then, like flowers and cute little trinkets he finds.

I like to think that Mari, in her little bakery, likes to put on display the tiny trinkets Hero brings her, and they just adorably clutter on a shelf. Maybe even hide some trinkets she finds on her own into cakes she gives to him, and it's Hero's responsibility not to choke on them (probably almost fucking died a couple of times but it's okay because it's Mari)

Nowadays Hero has been very busy with his work at the graveyard, so Mari brings him food at work or sends Aubrey to do that task for her if she's especially busy, as Sunny usually is in the kitchen helping out. I decided that Aubrey now has a little delivery work for the bakery! I think that's cute

About Sunny, he thinks quite highly of Aubrey.

She's sweet and nice, and while can sour up, be too blunt and menacing at times she's a good friend that would drop everything if anyone of her loved ones needed. A nice girl. She's a bit secretive, too, and Sunny wishes she could open up to him more, but everything at its pace.

Sunny tries to show that he cares for her in little ways like letting her take the yummy bits Aubrey really likes of his food. He likes those too, but Aubrey likes them better.

He thinks her crush on the churchboy is silly, and funny, sometimes even very quietly teasing her about it, not as much as Kel does though.

He's neutral about him, not really having spoken a single word to him and knowing only his looks and overall exterior demeanor from observing him so much. Sunny let's his mind race though, so he has kinda a fictional idea of what he could be like: he looks creepy. In a bad or good way he doesn't know, just a bit eerie, there's also the other persona of him that's the typical flirty man with a rose in his mouth Sunny decided could be plausible. He mostly looks like he eats bugs to Sunny though.

About how I'm doing, I'm doing absolutely terrible and want everything to end but eventually I will get better hopefully. So no need to worry about it!

Everything have just been especially hard lately

[lenathesingingcat]

Part 2 of my Enjoltaire/Dasil crossover afterlife fic!!! (AKA the part where they actually get together!!)

I wanted to write this sooner, but uni work and family loss over Christmas combined had me a bit burned out, so I decided to do it for Barricade Day instead! So, finally, here it is!!

You’ll need to read Part 1 (here) first to understand this. Again, warnings: major spoilers for both books and discussion of canonical character death.

“Do you mean that? After everything, you’d forgive me?” Dorian hardly dared to believe what he’d heard. He tried very hard not to let the tears in his eyes fall, but knew it was hopeless. It was strange; the harshest words would have had little if any effect on him at this moment, but the kind words of forgiveness he had just heard from a man who somehow still loved him had been enough to move him to uncontrollable tears.

Basil rushed to him, wanting to embrace him but unsure if Dorian would want that, so instead he put his hands on his shoulders in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. “Oh, Dorian, of course I forgive you! Part of me wishes I could say otherwise, but… I love you. I always loved you.”

“How can you still love me?” Dorian’s voice shook, and was barely above a whisper. “How can you still love me after I - after what I did to you? And forgive me when you haven’t even heard me say I was sorry?”

“You can say it now, if that would help…”

“I’m sorry.” All traces of the cruelty had taken over Dorian for the last eighteen years seemed to have disappeared. He was the same innocent young man who Basil had fallen in love with. “I’m sorry for - for everything. For every cruel thing I ever did or said to you, Basil, I’m sorry. And…” he hesitated, unsure if he should say what he wanted to, but took a deep breath and continued, “And seeing you here like this, I think I… I think I love you too…”

Basil’s eyes widened in surprise. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but he certainly hadn’t expected Dorian to love him back. At a loss for words, he threw his arms around him and pulled him close, which Dorian reciprocated, and they both stayed there in each other’s arms for quite some time.

After a while, Dorian pulled away slightly and caught sight of Hades. “I think I have to face whatever punishment there is for what I’ve done now. But I heard you talking about it as I arrived here, it’s not eternal, not for people who are truly sorry. I’ll find you afterwards, if you’ll still have me.”

“I’ll stay with you.”

“Don’t. I have to face it either way, and seeing that would only upset you.”

“My love, I want to be there for you…”

“Basil…” Dorian held back more tears. “I’ve hurt you so many times. Please, let me spare you this, not just for you but for my own peace of mind - ” He suddenly stopped and shook his head. “I’m still being selfish.”

“I don’t think you are.” Basil reassured him. “But if you’d prefer me not to see you until afterwards, I’ll respect your wishes. And, Dorian, I understand if you’ve changed your mind by then, but if you still want to find me afterwards, there’s a café not too far downriver from here with a French flag on the door, just follow the river and you can’t miss it. My friend and I will be there.”

“I’ll be there, then. I don’t know how long it will be until I can join you, but I will. I promise.”

There was a moment of silence, as nothing more needed to be said, before Dorian turned towards Hades, and Basil finally found himself able to step away and join Grantaire again.

“He really does look like Enjolras…”

“I know.”

“That café you told him about, that’s where Les Amis de l’ABC live now, or not live exactly, since we’re dead, but that’s where they are. Did you know that?”

“I did.” Basil admitted.

“Why did you tell him we’d both be there? I can’t - ”

“You can. I may not be able to be with my love yet, but I certainly can reunite you with yours.”

“But Enjolras doesn’t love me back!”

Basil couldn’t help smiling as he countered “A few minutes ago, I thought Dorian would never love me back…”

“You know Enjolras doesn’t, Basil, you’ve read about us!”

“I’ve read about him smiling as he took your hand.” Basil said, and Grantaire was stunned into silence, allowing Basil to continue. “And… I have to confess, I did meet him…”

“You met him? When?”

“Not long after you told me where Les Amis de l’ABC were. I was sad for you, Grantaire. I always had a feeling, or maybe just a hope, that he loved you too, and yet you’re keeping yourself away from him. I went to the café myself, and was shocked, as for a second I could have sworn I’d seen Dorian…”

Despite the situation, Grantaire couldn’t help but be happy to hear the smile in Basil’s voice when he mentioned Dorian. Before meeting him again, he had always sounded sad when he mentioned him, but now he knew his love was returned. It was such a joy to finally hear him truly happy, Grantaire almost didn’t feel envious of his friend’s love being reciprocated.

“Once I realised it wasn’t him, I knew from the description in the book that this must be Enjolras. I knocked on the door, and he was the one who answered.”

“What did he say?”

“Well, he didn’t say anything at first. He stared at me in shock for a moment, then embraced me passionately, and said something about having missed me more than I could possibly know. It was quite awkward when he realised that I wasn’t who he’d thought I was…”

“Marius.” Grantaire said. “Marius survived, so none of them have seen him in a long time, and according to you, who’s read about all of us, Enjolras was impressed by him at the barricades. Which I slept through, by the way. That’s someone who it would make sense for him to have missed.”

Basil sighed. “Grantaire.” he said patiently “Look at me. Do you really think I look like Marius?”

“…A little?” Grantaire attempted to justify. “I mean… you both have dark hair?”

“So do you.”

Grantaire knelt by the river and looked at his reflection, then back at Basil. He was right, they did look very similar. But that didn’t mean… did it?

***

Enjolras gasped as he opened the door of the café. “Grantaire… is it really you?”

He looked as if he was holding back, afraid to assume it was really him. Grantaire tried not to read too much into that. Could it be that Basil had been right, that Enjolras had missed him?

He realised he hadn’t answered. “It’s me.” he said quickly.

“Where have you been?”

“I’m surprised if anyone realised I was gone…” Grantaire tried, and failed, to play this off as a joke, but the words came out sounding miserable. It was as if he’d kept all his feelings about his friends - and about Enjolras - bottled up for all this time, and now they were finally flowing freely.

“Everyone noticed.” Was it Grantaire’s imagination, or did Enjolras’s tone match his own? “I know I wasn’t exactly kind to you, in fact, you must think I’m cold and heartless - ”

“I don’t think that…”

“You don’t have to try and spare my feelings, Grantaire. I know you must think that. But I do have a heart. I put all of it into the revolution, and when I died - when we died - I thought perhaps it didn’t have to be that way anymore.” He turned his head away. “As if one touch and one smile would even come close to making up for harshly ignoring and dismissing you for years…” he muttered.

“Enjolras…” Grantaire reached towards him, barely able to speak, but Enjolras backed away slightly, shaking his head.

“Don’t make this harder than it already is. You left us, and I accept that. I understand why. When I think about the last thing I said to you…” he broke off, hardly able to bear thinking about it. “I try not to think about it. It was easier when it was just Les Amis de l’ABC. They saw how I spoke to you, so at least they didn’t need to ask why you’d left us. They knew. But when Marius found the rest of us and asked me where you were, I could hardly contain myself…”

“But… that’s impossible…” Grantaire said. “Marius survived.”

“He survived the barricades.” Enjolras nodded. “He lived a long, happy life. I’m glad one of us did…”

Grantaire’s confusion lasted a moment, then it hit him. “Has it really been that long?” he whispered.

Enjolras nodded again.

After a few moments of silence, Grantaire finally admitted “I left because I didn’t think I was worthy.”

Enjolras’s brow creased in confusion. “You didn’t…?”

“I didn’t think I was worthy to be with Les Amis de l’ABC. After all, it’s not as if I fought on the barricades. I really didn’t think you’d be upset… I’ve been helping to welcome souls to the Underworld - though I suppose I don’t see everyone who arrives. The truth is, well… I don’t think there’s anything you could do that would make me want to leave you…”

“I thought you held it against me… how things were between us, and how things ended…”

“Never.” Grantaire promised. “And even if I had, I made a friend who was murdered by the one he loved, and he still forgave him. That really puts a few harsh words into perspective…”

“It was more than just a few - ” Enjolras stopped as the rest of the sentence caught up with him. “The one he loved?” He dared to wonder if there was a reason why Grantaire would mention love…

“Yes.” Grantaire whispered. “Just as I love you, Enjolras.”

There was silence for a moment, and Grantaire wondered if he’d made a mistake by confessing, but then Enjolras pulled him close and kissed him. Grantaire kissed back, decades of pining on both sides finally being released. Enjolras pulled back slightly, still holding Grantaire close to him. “I love you too, in case that didn’t make it obvious…”

“Yes!” Basil couldn’t help cheering from a short distance away, then felt a little embarrassed, until he heard the cheers of the rest of Les Amis de l’ABC from inside the café. At least he hadn’t been the only one listening.

***

“Well, it looks like you were right, Basil!” Grantaire smiled. “Would you like to stay with us? Enjolras says there was a room for me with Les Amis, but you can have it. I don’t think I’ll be needing my own room!” He blushed at his own forwardness, and was about to try and backtrack, until he saw the way Enjolras was smiling at him. He wanted him too, and Grantaire would remind himself of that until it became natural to him. Enjolras loved him too.

Basil smiled, but shook his head. “I’ll stay in the café for now.”

At this, Grantaire’s tone turned more serious. “Basil, he won’t be here tonight…”

“We don’t know when he might be here, and I have to be there when he arrives.”

“Alright…” Grantaire knew, after all, that he would have done the same thing for Enjolras, and it would be impossible to persuade him otherwise. “Try and get some rest.”

“I’ll try. I’ll see you tomorrow. And, Grantaire…” Basil gave a knowing smile that he wouldn’t have dared to in life. “Have fun.”

***

Souls in the Underworld didn’t need things like food or sleep, but it often made them feel more comfortable to keep a human routine. Basil hardly slept, though. Not that the cushions in the café were uncomfortable, but he couldn’t shake the worry that Dorian would arrive the second he allowed himself to sleep. It had been a long time - he didn’t know how long exactly - since he had brought Grantaire back to Les Amis de l’ABC, and every day he waited, he thought, made it more likely that this would be the day Dorian would arrive. And Basil had promised to be there.

He sighed, turning over on the cushions. Maybe he should try and sleep. Surely any knock at the door would wake him anyway…

There was a tentative tap on the door.

Forgetting his tiredness, Basil sprang to his feet and ran to the door. Dorian stood there, smiling at him.

“Dorian… I’ve missed you…”

“I missed you too! Oh, Basil, I never want to be away from you again!”

Basil embraced Dorian and pulled him close. “Then you never have to.”

“I still can’t believe I’m so lucky…”

“I could say the same thing…” He put a hand to Dorian’s cheek and held his face tenderly. “May I - ?”

“Yes.”

Basil leaned in even closer and gently kissed Dorian on the lips.

It was everything he’d ever dared to dream it would be. Finally, everything was perfect.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Daily Planet Classifieds

Fandom: DC Comics, Superfam, Young Justice 98, Titans

Summary: Laney Hausler is currently attending classes at Metropolis University when he sees a boy with his face in the library. At first, he thinks he's seeing things. Later, he starts to realize something strange is going on.

Conner Kent lives off-campus with his friends, but he sees a boy who eerily resembles him, and he hires a private investigator to look into the life of his doppelganger.

Chapters: 4/?

Characters: Jonathan Lane Kent, Conner Kent, Eddie Bloomberg, Rose Wilson, Bart Allen, Cassie Sandsmark, Cissie King-Jones, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Meloni Thawne, Vic Sage, Slade Wilson

Relationships: Past KonBart, Clois

Additional Tags: Father-Son Relationship, Father-Daughter Relationship, No Powers AU, Found Family, Stalking, Family Secrets, No Powers AU, No Capes AU, Complicated Relationships, University AU, Roommates, Private Investigator, Twins, Multiple POV, First Person POV, Obsession, Psychological Drama, Complicated Relationships, Unrequited Love, Platonic Relationships

Chapter Four: The Nightmare (Conner's POV)

I woke up from a nightmare. It was the last night of the first week, and I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I climbed out of bed and looked out the window. The sun hadn’t come up yet, so I dressed. I put my shoes on in the living room. “Hey, Conner,” Cassie smiled. She sat at the counter eating a breakfast burrito. It was bigger than her head. “Want half?” I nodded and sat beside her.

She took a knife and sliced it in half. I wrapped my half in a napkin. “Goin’ out?” I asked.

“No. Couldn’t sleep… Same as you,” Cassie replied.

“Wanna walk around campus for a little bit? I was gonna walk through the garden by the dorms. It wouldn’t be like-.”

“I get you. Hey… There’s this girl in my class on masculinity, right? She’s completely insane,” Cassie interrupted with a full mouth. I tried not to giggle while she spoke. “She said I’ve got an aggression problem. That’s rich coming from a spaghetti strap-wearing army brat.”

“What’s wrong with spaghetti straps?” I asked. I didn’t care, but I figured it’d be funny to get on her nerves.

She struggled to find an explanation for her insult before shooting me a violent glare. “Shut up,” Cassie replied.

“You didn’t like Cissie when you first met her. I bet you guys will be best friends by the end of the semester,” I smiled. Cassie shook her head. “Aww, come on, Cassie. Are you scared of a little female friendship?” I squeezed her face, and she swatted my hand away.

“What could I possibly have in common with her?” Cassie snapped.

“Your major for starters… And who knows, maybe more,” I replied. I liked being sensible when she was irritated. It took everything in me not to laugh. “Wouldn’t it be funny if you guys had the same career goals? You might end up being coworkers. Or teammates.”

“Yeah, and I would sooner choke to death,” Cassie replied. I knocked on the legs of the wooden chair.

“Can’t be too safe, Cassie-pillar,” I grinned as I kissed her cheek. I loved Cassie even though I liked to give her a hard time. We were like family. “Did you wanna come with me?”

Cassie nodded as she took an abnormally large bite of her burrito. I grinned and covered my mouth with my hand. She finished eating before me and downed a glass of milk. “What’s bothering you?” Cassie asked. I pushed my glasses up with my wrist and shrugged. I didn’t know how to explain my twin to people, so I kept it a secret.

*

The sun rose while we walked to the juice bar across the street from the school. “I’ll have a white chocolate latte with a triple shot of espresso, a Blue Moon, and two orange basil smoothies,” I ordered, “Oh, and two breakfast burritos and a panini.” Cassie pinched my cheek.

“So, how long are you gonna intern at the Planet?” Cassie asked.

I chuckled. I wasn’t an intern, but I helped by bringing my parents' breakfast or lunch or helping Jimmy move camera equipment to and from the van. It gave me an excuse to check in without seeming homesick. “Not long… Just-. Maybe until-. Until my parents don’t need it anymore,” I replied. She pouted playfully, still teasing me about sticking close to home. It wasn’t malicious. It couldn’t have been… It’s not like she knew. The barista called our names after a few minutes, and Cassie helped me carry breakfast to the Daily Planet.

“I thought your mom was cutting down on coffee?” Cassie asked.

“She is. She used to get four shots of espresso,” I replied casually. Jimmy caught me first.

I handed him his smoothie, and Cassie sat the bag on the counter so I could give him his breakfast burrito. “Hey, Kiddo,” Jimmy smiled, “How’s school?”

“School’s good… Is Pop working on a story this morning?” I asked. Jimmy shook his head. “Good. I need him to proofread a paper for me. Is he in a good mood?”

“I’m in a great mood. Hi, Conner. Hi, Cassie. You’re early,” Pop smiled. I grinned at him. “Share the file with me… I’ll read it right now.”

I looked at Cassie, and she nodded. “I’ll stick around,” Cassie replied, “Your mom’s probably working on something cool.”

She followed me and my pop to the office, and I gave my mom her drink and burrito. “Morning, Mom,” I smiled.

“You kids look cute this morning. I thought you didn’t have school on Fridays,” Mom noted.

“I don’t. I wanted to see you,” I replied. Pop logged into his computer, and I pulled up a chair. He never made a big deal out of it, but I always felt self-conscious about him reading my papers. He always skimmed my essays first, then a deep read, followed by a third in-depth read, where he corrected everything I did wrong.

I hugged my knees and waited for the last part. “Conner, this is great. You need to switch the last two sources, but other than that, this is perfect,” Pop explained, “A little alphabetical disorder.” I laughed even though it was a horrible joke. Seeing Pop smile was worth it.

Mom and Cassie discussed the article in progress while I used Pop’s computer to print a physical copy of my film analysis. I finished my smoothie and sat closer to Pop than I usually would. I yawned without meaning to. “Tired, sweetie?” Mom asked. I shook my head. The stupidest lie.

I finished my smoothie and tossed it out before asking if Cassie was ready to go home. She said no, but I decided to leave on my own. There was no reason to wait because I didn’t want her to know what I planned. I walked home and took my car to Mom and Pop’s. I let myself in and went straight for my old room. I tossed my jeans on the chair, climbed into bed, and fell asleep. It was the first real night of sleep I’d gotten all week. I probably would’ve slept most of the day if I hadn’t woken up to the sound of my parents having a five-alarm freakout. “I called Bart, and he said he hasn’t seen him,” Mom half-yelled.

Pop sounded like he was crying and hyperventilating. I realized it was dumb to sneak into the house to nap, but I didn’t think they’d find out so fast. I climbed out of bed, still rubbing my eyes as I opened the door. “I wanted to take a nap,” I announced. Pop ran toward me at full speed and picked me up. I didn’t expect to feel so small in his arms. I lost my footing and held onto him for dear life, feeling painfully guilty over my little white lie. He set me down, and Mom pulled me in for a hug.

“You didn’t have to lie… This is your home,” Mom whispered, “You scared us half to death.”

“I know… I’m sorry. I just-. I haven’t slept much this past week and thought no one would worry if I went M.I.A. for a few hours,” I explained, “I’m sorry… Now, please text my friends and tell them there’s nothing to worry about.”

[dogtierz]

How would you classpect Omori characters?

IM SO GLAD I CAN TALK ABOUT THIS!!! okay i’m putting a tldr at the start but warning for long post ahead of my reasoning (this is very much so me rambling) — also apologies for answering this ask so late ive spent the last like . 4 days thinking about this

sunny: mage of void

basil: sylph of life

mari: seer of heart

kel: heir of hope

hero: page of heart

aubrey: maid of rage

explanations under the cut !!!!

starting off with sunny ofc:

im gonna be so real i do Not have an explanation of why i chose mage . it just made sense in my head !!! i think it is a fun little interesting parralel to mari having the passive version of the knowledge class,, as for aspect,, i feel like void is pretty self explanatory. idk! i dont have much to say for this one but trust me it made sense in my head,!! i would like to hear if anyone else has a sunny god tier headcanon cuz yeah this is the one i am least confident in tehe

alright basil i feel like i can answer very easily:

i’d say he is definitely a sylph — and part of this may or may not be me projecting as i am a sylph and i really relate to basil’s character ;D

sylphs at their core are a passive, creation class. i think its a given basil would play a more passive class, i cant explain it but it just objectively makes sense to me. basils whole deal is that he wants to fix things, and feels inclined to heal and go back and fix his past mistakes, making sylph pretty much a given.

i was kinda torn between choosing the life or hope aspect for basil, as both objectively make sense in canon - but i wanted to sort of limit choosing multiple of the same aspects for characters. i think the life aspect makes sense for basil more, especially due to the plant symbolism n stuffs

ANYWAY,, sylph of lives whole deal are to allow for emotional growth in other people. i think the rest of the group very much so see basil as a person to look up to, someone who always tries to see the best in things and allows and encourages others to undergo personal growth.

alright mari time:

okay mari was kind of an obvious choice for me. i think seer very much so makes sense for her character, she’s very emotionally intelligent and being the sort of leader in their group, she has a lot of knowledge and serves as someone the rest of the group looks up to.

seers are very likely to slip into depressive states and have a pessimistic outlook on things, even though mari seems very optimistic to everyone else around her, we know as an objective fact that she is an overworker, overthinker and has the tendency to slip into states of perfectionism - i guess in a sense this can be compared to rose and her tendancy to slip into unhealthy coping mechanisms and behaviours too

seers are pretty much an essential for a successful sburb session - and i think this fits well with the fact that mari is an essential to the friend group.

heart is a given, i feel i dont have to explain why mari has the heart aspect — seers of hearts are a classpect who invites knowledge through heart. and again mari suits this very very much imo!

okay! kel!!

alright. classpecting kel was kinda difficult — the hope aspect was obvious but finding a class for this dude,, man,, was it hard but in the end i decided to settle on

the base definition of a heir of hope is someone who influences and inspires the hope of others - allowing change from hopeless to hopeful, this defintely applies to kel in canon.

kel is very much a hopeful optimist, his reaction to maris death compared to the others was to hide his own emotions and remain hopeful (even though he did react badly, he just repressed it), he always was the one to hold out hope that the group would get back together, be friends again and everything would be fine! he just wanted his friends to be happy and tried to turn them from hopeless and lost to hopeful! — i think this is very well shown in the church scene w aubrey and how so badly kel just ! wanted to help !! ahhhggh i love him

heir of hopes are a motivational rock to their session, which acts like how kel is to the group

also i feel like kel kind of reminds me of john a little bit - i suppose this perhaps maybe a tiny lil bit influenced my descision u_u

for hero:

i chose page of heart,, i liked having hero and mari share an aspect bc they are just . they are both so lovey and heart to me ;3; and man obviously hero would have the heart aspect, i mean, nothing else would suit his character more.

a page of heart is someone who invited exploitation through heart, the passive counterpart to the knight class. pages are a strong and smart class, as is hero. a page of heart is passionate and thinks w their heart, again, as does hero.

pages are STRONG, and i feel like hero as the ability to play a very strong and important class. hearts and pages are both prone to being sensitive people, loving, caring and i suppise charming too (again!!!! as is hero!!! :P) — also if this makes any sense to literally Anyone else,, hero kinda reminds me of jake in a sense i Cannot explain why PSNDHDJ

and lastly, aubrey

like sunny i struggled a lot classpecting her but i got there in the end and - i actually have an explanation !!!

firstly, rage being the parralel counterpart to the hope aspect (which is what i classpected kel) is very funny to me, i think in game they have a very fun relationship and exploring that through them having polar opposite aspects is silly

maids are an active creation class, aubrey creates rage as a way to deal with the grief of losing mari. i think she does this more by self destruction but she very much so also takes her anger out on others and utilising her emotions for her class is something i feel is very interesting. aubrey creates rage through herself and takes it out on those around her

thank u for reading if u read all of this.. i enjoyed v much so writing this (i wanna draw em now too -__-) + i apologise if i got anything classpecty wrong.. pls correct me if so!!

[welldonebeca]

Miss, PhD (XIII)

WC: 1.4k words Warnings: Fluff. Slow burn. Mutual pining. Cooking. Some tension, but not bad.

If you like my work, consider buying me a coffee or subscribing to my Patreon. It’s just $2 a month and helps a lot while I go through these hard times.

Masterlist

Steve watched with the corner of his eye as you shed your jacket, stepping into his home, and placed your big suitcase - a heavy thing that apparently held a lot of mechanical stuff he never heard of and didn’t understand the littlest bit about.

“You can make yourself at home,” he took off his own jacket. “The bathroom is the first door on the right, in front of my studio.”

You turned to him with big curious eyes, and he smiled. Something he had noticed about you was that you really liked art - or at least, enjoyed it a little bit, considering how you always seemed to be looking at the stuff he hung on the walls outside his classroom.

Something in him - a little side of himself that he liked to call an inheritance of the cavemen from hundreds of generations ago - wanted to show off what he did to you. The paintings and sketches, his greatest talent for you to look at and be impressed.

“You can look if you want to,” Steve offered. “It’s just a little messy.”

You nodded along.

“I might,” you smiled.

His heart skipped a beat, and he watched as you moved a little, rubbing your hands on your jean pants.

“Is it alright if I take off my shoes?” you asked, a little timid.

“Yeah,” he answered quickly. “I told you, you can make yourself at home.”

You nodded, and he stepped onto the kitchen, looking for the ingredients.

You liked pasta, so Steve was going to make you some broccoli pesto with walnuts, grilled salmon and white wine.

He was just boiling the broccoli when you walked into the kitchen, barefoot and with your hair tied up, away from your face, with your curls straightened out. You were very - very - pretty, and he would never comment on something so personal, but he really liked seeing you with your hair natural that other night, damp and curled.

He couldn’t help but wonder how it’d look dry, framing your face.

“So, what do I do?” you asked.

Steve looked around the kitchen. He wasn’t planning on having you even touching anything in the kitchen - you’d been the one to do everything that night when he showed up at your house, he wanted to make you something too.

“You can get the food processor,” he decided. “And the rest of the pesto ingredients.”

You nodded along, humming with yourself, and he pulled the pasta options from the pantry, taking the three varieties and showing you.

“Penne, fettuccine or…” he looked at the weirdly shaped one. “Uh… this one I don’t remember the name?”

Your lips curled in a little smile as you chuckled.

“That’s called campanelle,” you told him. “And fettuccine, please.”

Steve confirmed, putting the other two packs away and placing the pasta beside the oven, taking the basil and looking around for the olive oil, stopping and watching when you took the bulb of garlic to your nose, taking a deep breath, sniffing it.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

“A lot,” you confirmed. “I usually boil it soft to add to my mashed potatoes.”

It did sound like a delicious idea. The stronger taste of garlic would be mixed up with the bland potatoes, and make into something very interesting.

You peeled the cloves, humming softly, and he couldn’t help but get distracted by it, and felt his face warming up when you looked at him.

“What?” you asked.

Steve tried to shrug.

“You just…” he looked for words. “I… uh…”

You waited, and he swallowed down.

“Just… beautiful,” he confessed. “You’re beautiful.”

Your lips curled as you flushed and looked away.

“Thank you,” you whispered and looked at his face again. “You too.”

He confirmed, nodding, and the two of you continued to move together, getting the ingredients ready, and he placed everything in the food processor before taking the broccoli and putting it inside it, watching as you skipped out of the kitchen with your hands covering your ears from the loud sound, and he tried to make the process as quick as possible.

Five minutes later, you were both sat around the small table in his kitchen, and Steve was pouring white wine into your glass, watching as waited for him.

“So,” you raised your chin to look at him as Steve sat down, plate covered with basil leaves and a little bit of the cheese he used in the sauce. “I told you half of my life story that last time we had dinner together. Tell me something about you.”

Steve held his fork, and thought for a moment.

“I’m 33, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York,” he told you. “I got no siblings, and my friends think I’m the dumb kind of stubborn.”

You smiled, watching him.

“My dad used to say I’m the anxious type of stubborn,” you confessed. “I don’t think I am, but that’s what he says.”

Steve chuckled, and you reached for his wine, sipping it.

“Why did you move out of New York?” you asked.

He nodded slowly along.

“Well, I lost my mother right after I got my Master’s Degree,” he explained. “And my best friend, Bucky, found out Stanford was hiring around then, and they liked me, so I’m here.”

Your smile gave away to a mixture of embarrassment and sadness while you cast your gaze down.

“I’m sorry,” you said quickly. “I didn’t mean to bring in bad memories.”

Steve was quick to shake his head.

“It’s alright,” he assured you. “It’s been a while, and I was expecting it for some time.”

You watched his face.

His mother had developed breast cancer right when he finished high school, which was why he had ultimately chosen to study in New York, so he would stay with her. She had all the possible treatments, but it spread to other areas.

“She was the one who told me not to root myself in New York before exploring other places,” he told you. “She always wanted me to travel the world, to get out of my comfort zone.”

You tilted your head, watching his face quietly.

“And have you ever?” you asked.

Steve shook his head. He had thought about using his last summer break to visit a different country, but never quite did it. He had too much to do, students to help, new artists who needed his help even during the school breaks.

“I don’t have time,” he explained. “Maybe I’ll take a break at some point and spend a few days in Paris, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon.”

You nodded, and he cleared his throat.

“Now you,” he asked. “Tell me something.”

You chewed on your food, swallowing down before looking at you.

“What do you want to know?”

Steve thought for a bit before asking his question.

“Why a second PhD?”

You watched his face silently, and Steve felt himself becoming tense when your shoulders fell and your face gained a sad shade to it.

“I didn’t know what to do,” you shrugged.

He frowned, confused.

“You didn’t know what to do?” he repeated.

You confirmed, nodding.

“I finished my first PhD a bit over a couple of years ago, and I loved doing it, I love the power generator I came out with. But then I realised I had nothing to do after that,” you explained, looking at your food. “I had nowhere to go, a few job offers I didn’t know if I wanted to take… so I just started a new PhD and told everyone that was what I was doing, that I was studying fluids.”

You took a hand up and pinched the bridge of your nose.

“I hate fluids, Steve,” you told him, laughing a bit. “It’s so boring!”

He laughed along, and rested his elbow on the table, watching you. If you hated it so much  - and you did, he’d seen it and heard it from you - there was no logical reason for why you couldn’t just stop. You were already a doctor, and a very accomplished one, at just 25, you didn’t need another PhD.

“Then why do you keep studying it?” he asked.

You shrugged, watching him with a half-smile.

“Why not go to Paris now?” you asked.

Steve closed his mouth, falling into silence.

Touché.

“Yeah,” you smiled softly at him. “Exactly.”

He nodded a little bit, taking some of his pasta, and watched as you continued to eat.

“Do you want to watch something after that?” you offered. “I heard about a new show, we could watch the first episode together.”

“Sure,” he agreed, happy for the change of subject. “That’s a good idea.”

. . .

"Miss, PhD" was posted on my Patreon back on January! To read the full story before anyone else and have early access to all of my works, subscribe to my page! It's just $2 a month!

. . .

Forever Tags: @emoryhemsworth​​​ @amythyststorm33​​​ @shaelyn102​​​ @yknott81​​​ ​​​​​ @maximofftrash​​​ @kgbrenner​​​ @thefridgeismybestie​​​ @magpiegirl80​​​ @mogaruke​​​ @shadowhunter7​​​ @musicalcoffeebean​​​ @megasimpleplan4ever​​​ @deemoriarty​​​ @05spn18​​​ @malindacath​​​ @kdcollinsauthor​​​ @random-fandom-fangirl2112​​​ @widowsfics​​​ @frozenhuntress67​​​ @averyrogers83​​​ @notyourtypicalrose​​​ @nerdypinupcrystal​ @giruvega

Marvel forever tags: @its-daydreamer23​​​ ​​ @random-fandom-fangirl2112​​​ @tayrae515​​​? @indecisiondecisions​​​? @afanofmanystuffs​​​? @patzammit​​​? @thevanishedillusion​​​? @widowsfics​​​? @alexisshoto​​​ @princess-evans-addict​​​ @dreams-of-feysand​​​ @xoxabs88xox​​​ @dragonqueen0606​ @izbelross @isabelle-faith Miss PhD: @cosmic-darikano

[charismabee]

Whumptober Prompt List (OMORI)

Prompts/Summaries for my collection of omori fics for Whumptober.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50472622/chapters/127519975

Day 1: Sick - Sunny

Sunny finds out that living off microwave steak can have some negative side effects. Luckily Kel isn't opposed to breaking a few windows to help a friend.

Day 2: Overworked/Exhaustion - Hero

Aubrey, Kel and Basil realise how much work really goes into caring for them when Hero passes out from exhaustion. 

Day 3: Sensory Deprivation - Basil

Basil is trapped in Blackspace for three days before Omori rescues him. During that time he can not see, hear, or feel anything but the dark.

Day 4: Hiding An Injury - Aubrey

Aubrey believes strongly in keeping family business private. It's not like she can't handle a few hits. The hooligans disagree.

Day 5: Kidnapping - Hero

Hero has to do what he’s told. With broken legs and a broken spirit he’s well aware the only reason he’s still alive is because they like how warm he is. Dolls don’t need to breathe, after all.

Day 6: Mind Control - Rococo 

Rococo never did love Sweetheart as a child. Upon further reflection he realises he can't remember when he started. Maybe he never did.

Day 7: CPR - Kel 

Sunny panics when he sees a spider, and ends up pulling Kel into the water with him when he falls. Kel inhales a lot of water.

Day 8: Disassociation - Hero

Sometimes Hero can't remember his own name. He’s been struggling to remember a lot of things recently, it's just so hard when nothing quite feels real.

Day 9: Presumed Dead - Spaceboy 

Spaceboy was never located on Snowglobe in the true end.  By the time he comes down his crew are gone and there's a grave with his name on it. Maybe he can get a second chance like this.

Day 10: Collar - Spaceboy 

Spaceboy realises his relationship might be toxic only after he wakes up wearing a shock collar. By that time it's already too late for him.

Day 11: Paralysed - Mari

Mari didn’t die immediately after being pushed down the stairs. She hears everything. Suffocation is a horrible way to go.

Day 12: Sacrifice/Character Death - Basil

Basil loses everything to keep Sunny safe. Then he loses Sunny. It’s too much for him to bear. He can't keep lying anymore.

Day 13: Mouth Stitched Shut (ALT) - Hero

Medusa firmly believes that Hero is prettier when quiet. Unfortunately he just keeps whining. Marina gives her the perfect solution.

Day 14: Bleeding Through The Bandage - Aubrey 

Aubrey sees Sunny for the first time in four years and the first thing he does is stab her. The injury is much worse than first thought.

Day 15: Experimentation - Mutantheart

Mutantheart is a failed experiment, made to love and be loved. Marina wants to use her for spare parts.

Day 16: Chronic Pain - Mari

Ever since she was little, Mari has been in pain. A lot of her time was spent watching, unable to participate with a leg that tended to buckle beneath her. It hurt in more ways than one.

Day 17: "You Look A Little Pale" - Kel

Kel doesn’t get sick. He’s strong and fit and he eats well. He’s fine. He can go and do his basketball practice no problem! Hero disagrees.

Day 18: Warm Soup - Kim

Kim gets sick and all she wants is her girlfriend to cuddle with her. She guesses soup is alright too.

Day 19: "Why Wasn't I Enough?" - Kel

Kel lost everyone when he lost Mari. He doesn’t understand what he did wrong. He tried so hard. At least the stars were pretty.

Day 20: Dehumanisation - Hero, Kel, Aubrey

Jawsum wins the fight and everyone is put back to work under strict supervision. They discover the true extent of Jawsum’s questionable business practices.

Day 21: Near Death Experience - Basil

Basil stabbed himself with shears in his bathroom. He wakes up. He learns that Sunny is gone. He has to live with the consequences of everything they've done alone.

Day 22: Punishment - Mari

Mari is perfect. Anything less is not acceptable. Anything less deserves punishment and Mari is the only one who can give herself what she deserves.

Day 23: Begging - Rococo 

Rococo begs the gang not to leave him alone again (he is so lonely), not really expecting them to stay. They do. Rococo leaves the walls for the first time in four years.

Day 24: Failed Escape - Aubrey 

Aubrey makes her escape. She made a grave mistake in trying to escape with what's left of her friends. Her punishment for failing is certain to be gorey.

Day 25: Nightmares - Hero, Kel, Aubrey, Basil

A year on from Mari’s death, the kids are having nightmares. They all sneak out and end up meeting at their old hang out spot. They talk.

Day 26: Came Back Wrong - Hero, Kel, Aubrey, Basil

After the True End Headspace is destroyed, but it has always been more than a piece of Sunny’s imagination. Now stuck in a strange combination of Headspace, Blackspace, and something else entirely, the kids try to navigate their world that came back wrong.

Day 27: Locked Away/Immortal Whumpee - Unbread Twins

Biscuit and Doughie have been locked down in the kitchen for so long. Never dying. Names discarded as they become nothing but legend. 

Day 28: Hair Pulling - Kel

Kel is bullied for his long hair. When Kim shows up he's sure she'll join in. Her helping him out is a shock to the system, and they both end up learning a bit more about each other.

Day 29: Forced To Choose - Omori

Omori has to choose between his bestest friend and his god. Saving Basil or protecting the Dreamer. In the end, it wasn’t much of a choice to begin with.

Day 30: Disowned By Family (ALT) - Aubrey 

Aubrey’s mother kicks her out of the house. With no other options she turns to Kel, and she begins to learn that her family was never much of a family at all.

Day 31: Crying - Basil 

What if Basil couldn’t keep what happened a secret? What if he was just a little weaker, and when Aubrey pushed he broke? What if he cried a lot? 

[ithastogosomewhere6]

Plants and a Garden

(Credit: Aaron Menezes)

What you see before you is the result and culmination of 7 years of gardening. This was taken in 2022, and there are over 50 pots, both small and big, nurturing and cultivating various different types of vegetables, herbs and fruits. Some of the plants here are brinjal, bhindi, chili, tomato, basil, mint, aloe vera, tomato, pumpkin, carrots, and spinach. 

All of this began with my elder brother, who during his afternoons after school 2016, would go up to the terrace for 2 to 3 hours sometimes and work on his garden. When he was starting off, he had only basil, mint, mustard, aloe vera and a date seed in a few pots. 

The basil, mint, aloe vera and date plants that are present in the previous picture are from his garden and care. They have survived and even flourished despite the mishaps and neglect that I had shown them when I took over. 

After a while, he started forming a compost pit and added more soil and pots to his now thriving garden. The date seed that he was growing had outgrown its pot. My brother decided to transplant it down by the building. But that required both me and him to go break the ground, add good soil and compost and only then, transplant the date plant to that patch. 

(Credit: Aaron Menezes)

The plant on the left in the picture above is the date plant that my brother and I took 2 days to transplant. We did it in the summer holiday evenings, when it was cooler and easier to work. While it was hard work with a shovel, pickaxe, water and music, it was rewarding to just help my brother with his passion. I am years younger than him and won't always be able to help with much in his life. Now it is even more fulfilling to see a small plant become bigger and taller than both of us. 

When I took over his vibrant garden in a desert country, I was basically learning as I was going along. My dad also got into gardening because of my brother and so he took over. He would plant seeds, harvest, tend and look after the garden while I would usually water the plants everyday. Soon, it grew from 10 or 15 pots to 50 plus pots. It was my dad's pride and joy, and whoever would come over, he would show them the garden if he got the chance.

He even inspired our neighbors to start their garden and with our help, expand it as well. He also became our community's go-to person for validation on gardens, plant requests and advice. 

He even planted drumstick plants near the date plant. The soil and ground was once more dug up by me, but I enjoyed it. I had my music, and hard work to go along with it. But this time, it was faster than the previous time with the experience I had. And finally, after so many failed tries with the drumstick, this one came through. It began with the leaves and then in 2022 with actual drumsticks. 

However, my dad also tried to grow curry leaves, but that never worked. Even though a close friend has a blooming curry leaves tree by their house, we could never get it to grow. But everything else that my dad tried with the garden, we got it to grow, flourish and bear fruit in due time. 

Having and tending to a garden meant that I would learn the meaning of hard work, dedication, success and failure all in just one garden with many plants. It also meant that nothing good just happens easily, you have to put in the work, dedication, have patience, some luck and be ready for failure.

But even more significantly, taking care of this garden is, for me, continuing my elder brother's legacy. Even though I sometimes would not meet him for years, I could just stand in the midst of the garden and remember that this is something that he began and created, and remember the good memories we had building this garden on the terrace of our home. 

[pineappleciders]

omari au sunny and hero designs?

here are the realworld designs for my omari au!! i will post headspace ones soon (which will include sunny) but for now here's a quick breakdown of their characters!!

MARI

she puts on a facade and manipulates herself into believing everything is fine. she acts like her normal self but a lot more hollow and dead. she gets angry at herself and becomes enraged whenever she makes a mistake, sometimes even throwing or breaking things. she lives in her own head, similar to SUNNY

she's a shell of the girl she used to be. even college and reunion with her friends and loved ones couldn't bring a real smile back

HERO

similar to MARI, he's pushed everything down so far so that nobody can dig it back up. unfortunately for him, everything always comes back when he sees MARI.

he kept his charming and helpful personality, but he's a lot more on-edge and strives to be perfect. often, he finds himself breaking down when he's alone, but most of the time he sucks it up and continues like nothing happened.

his self-esteem is rock bottom, but he acts like it isn't

AUBREY

she's similar to how she is in the game, but she's more in touch with her childish and feminine side. seeing as BASIL (sunny) never destroyed the photos, her and BASIL are on kind of good terms now, but have still separated from the best friends they used to be since SUNNY went missing. she still faces her problems with anger, and is a delinquent, but she's more open-minded.

her relationship with MARI has been complicated. she still loves MARI dearly, but she truly misses the warmth MARI used to provide for her as an older sister. no matter how many times MARI is by her side, her voice and eyes are emptier than ever.

KEL

KEL has tried his best to keep his optimism, but everyone notices how hard it is for him to get out of bed and take care of himself. he starts doubting himself a lot more.

despite the fact that SUNNY went missing 4 years ago and could very well be pronounced dead atp, KEL is determined to see him alive. him and AUBREY still have a rivalry, but not a full-on resentment for each other, but it seems the two grow apart more and more every time AUBREY tries to keep him from his delusions.

BASIL

BASIL seems to be coping well with his best friends disappearance, although nobody is for sure whether or not he's delusional or just got over it.

it's both, really. BASIL always has a nagging voice at the back of his head, wondering if SUNNY killed himself, or something. he hates himself for not being there to save him.

on the outside, though, he still loves his plants and photos and art. he hasn't changed. but, his #1 goal is to honor SUNNY, whether he's dead or not. he carries around a tulip and wears darker clothes. nobody can really tell if his mind is empty or swarming. maybe both?

please note this AU is still in the making,,, my idea for the incident that killed SUNNY being that MARI failed to save him when he fell in the lake and HERO witnessed it,, bla bla it goes from there they buried him yada yada

[blunky]

ok, you must tell about your omori blorbos now

@crimpeeeko You already know my blorbos, you cheater.

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

hnnn.... bbbbasil. I really love Sunny as well, but because I've been musing a lot about Basil through rp stuff, he's on my mind a lot. He's just a little guy, you see, and also has his mental illness and severe trauma that he has to work through. We don't see a lot of his thoughts in game, so that leaves a lot of room to fill in the blanks with endless headcanons for me to get attached to. He's a little guy with emotions too big to contain.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

Mewo!!! Oh my god, Mewo... She...

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

Captain Spaceboy for sure. He's got such good themes and powerful kicks. He needs to get far away from Sweetheart. Also he's got his dissociative identities, which has me rapidly making the eyes emoji.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

Keeper of the Castle. There seems to be so much symbolism going on with this thing, even if I don't understand every aspect of it. They're such an interesting and mysterious creature. What they expand on in the Hikikomori route is just really neat, especially 'cause it's not something you'd ever see in the main route.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

Basil is the very obvious choice, so I'm gonna pick Omori. He doesn't hate Sunny. He's not a malicious entity. He's protective, he was made as a coping mechanism to keep Sunny safe. Sunny is self destructive, and so that's how Omori is. It's not some struggle for control over Sunny's body, Omori isn't an evil split personality. He's an avatar. He's a construct. He cares for Sunny, because that is his role. It's such a good dynamic that I haven't really seen talked about in this way.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Hero. He's gone through so much as a teenager, and then gets destroyed again when he learns the truth. Very tasty angst there. It's fun to think about what would cause the face of mr. perfect to crack in front of everyone, not just Kel.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

Goodbye, Basil.

[omosntn]

Brothers (OMORI Fanfic)

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: Gen

Characters: Kel (OMORI), Hero (OMORI), Hero and Kel’s Mother (OMORI), Hero and Kel’s Father (OMORI), Hero and Kel’s Parents (OMORI)

Additional Tags: Angst

Summary: Kel tries to comfort Hero after Mari’s death.

Alternatively, it can be read here! (Or under the cut)

Kel cracked the door open ever so slightly, the familiar routine of floorboards creaking. He leaned into his front foot to peer into the room’s darkness.

“Hero?” he called into the darkness before opening the door just enough to slide himself through the crack. He gently pushed the door shut, then gave his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness that now enveloped him. There, he saw the all too familiar form in front of him; a bundle of blankets upon the bed adjacent from his, stirring from the sudden light that leaked into the room.

He called out again, “Hero? Aren’t you going to brush your teeth? It’d be really awful to get a cavity… been there, done that.” he joked as he rubbed his cheek at the unpleasant memory of a numb and swollen cheek, a well needed visit to the dentist after eating too much Halloween candy one year.

But Hero didn’t respond. At this point, Kel knew that it was too much to expect a response from his brother, but it didn’t stop him from wishing for one. He wished for something, anything from his brother he could spin a conversation out of. It had been months since he had seen the normal Hero; the Hero that would jokingly scold him when he told him about the daily trouble he would find himself in at school or the Hero that would chuckle at what stupid argument Aubrey and him had got into that day. But the normal Hero was gone. He died when Mari did.

He maneuvered his way around the piles of clothes and other items that littered the floor of their shared room, making a stop along the way to turn on the lamp on his nightstand to make the journey to Hero’s bedside a lot easier for himself. Hero was the one who had always made sure the floor of their room was spick-and-span, clothes neatly tucked away in their proper drawers and everything was put away on the right shelves or in the right place, but when the meager task was left to Kel, this was the result.

He licked his dry, cracked lips, and placed one hand on top of the blanket lump, giving it a little shake as he spoke. “Everyone misses you, y’know?” He started. “Everyday, Aubrey asks me how you are. I haven’t seen Basil or Sunny around recently, but you know they’re probably thinking about you too.”

Not a single reaction. So Kel continued. “We all want you to get better. And…” The words escaped his lips before he could catch them. “If Mari were alive, I don’t think she would want to see you all sad like this, either. I’m sure if she were here, she would scold you for being all down in the dumps like this-”

“Shut up, Kel.” Hero broke his silence, his voice demanding and stern. Kel’s stomach dropped. That was the first time in his life Hero had ever told him to shut up.

“But I was just trying to help-“

“No Kel,” Hero threw his blankets off of himself and swung his legs over the bed, standing up to meet Kel’s gaze with his own. The older brother that was once taller than him was now the same height as him. In the gentle lamp light, the bags underneath Hero’s eyes were more than noticeable. They sunk his face in, aging him older than he actually was. He looked tired, his eyes red from his overused tear ducts. Kel pretended not to notice the sobs and sniffles he heard before he fell asleep for the night, but it was hard to forget how each sniffle was like a tiny needle pricking his heart. He wished he could do more for his brother. “Every single day, you come into our room and tell me about how everyone misses me, how everyone wants me to come back…”

“Do you think saying all of this helps me?!“ he shouted, “Do you think this brings Mari back to us?!”

Kel shrunk in on himself. He noticed how the tears in Hero’s eyes threatened to spill over. “I know it doesn’t-“

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!” Hero screamed, his voice cracking. Tears streamed down his face as he cried, “YOU WERE NEVER AS CLOSE TO MARI AS THE REST OF US WERE!”

Kel’s mind blanked at what he wanted to say when those words left Hero’s mouth. It felt as if something in his heart had snapped. Maybe Hero was right. Maybe Kel wasn’t as attached to Mari as Aubrey or Basil. Kel wasn’t dating Mari like Hero was, nor was he her little brother like Sunny.  

Kel was always just there.

He tried to laugh off the words as if he were just told a funny joke. He wanted to show Hero that he was bigger than the words he spat at him, that he understood that they were only coming from a place of hurt. But the smile on Kel’s face betrayed him, being the first to crumble before the tears clouded his vision. Hot wetness poured down his cheeks. The lump in his throat stifled anything he wanted to say; he choked on his words.

Hero continued, “Don’t you ever think before you speak, Kel?! This is what I’ve always hated about you!”

Kel let the full weight of Hero’s words crash into him. He stood there, unsure if he should wipe at his never ending tears. He never thought Hero would say something like this to him. As much as he tried to understand the hurt Hero was enduring, he began to wonder… how long did Hero feel this way towards him? How long had he been holding back these words?

“Hero…” his voice barely came out a whisper. “Calm down, please…” he begged.

Suddenly, the door flung open, the worried faces of their parents in the doorframe. A wave of relief washed over him, hoping they would de-escalate the situation for them.

Without a single word, his parents passed by him and ran straight to Hero, enveloping him in their arms.

Oh.

Kel wiped at his eyes, refusing to look at the loving scene he wasn’t a part of.

Even in his own family, Kel was just there.

He didn’t know how much more he could take. It felt as if a ton of bricks weighed on his chest, crushing him entirely. He could hear the hushed whispers of “it’s okay” as their mother ran her fingers through his hair. There were no fingers in his hair, no parents by his side. Even if both of them were crying, this confirmed Kel’s deepest darkest fear that Hero was always the favourite in their family. He was the reliable one, he was the responsible one. And.. Kel was just Kel. What good qualities did he have? All he did was act before he thought, and hurt people by speaking before he did.

As Kel’s knees buckled from the thoughts spiralling inside his head, Kel felt a pair of arms around him. It was Hero.

Hero’s shoulders shook and his voice trembled. He whispered under his breath over and over again,  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Kel.”

Kel sank into his arms, reciprocating the hug.

“It’s okay,”  Kel sniffled. “Everything’s gonna be okay...”