#i worked hard on this and have a lot of doubts about the final product so be nice to me please

[katatonicimpression]

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What is Bennet doing? What is he looking for? Who is this doctor Essex anyway? No - Wait. That's not what's going on, is it?

Of course not. He's here to catch the ripper.

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Rating: Mature

Words: 7,464

Ao3 Link

[roosterforme]

The Younger Kind Part 48 | Rooster x Reader

Summary: Bradley is just trying to make it to the weekend. When he realizes he needs to visit Meredith, he's starting to feel like his sanity is hanging on by a thread. At least he has you, and he knows he can trust you implicitly. And maybe this will give him the kind of closure he didn't know he needed.

Warnings: Swearing, angst, fluff, mention of abortion, and age gap (18+)

Length: 4800 words

Pairing: Single dad!Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x babysitter!female reader

Check out my masterlist for more! The Younger Kind masterlist.

Afternoon rain clouds had rolled in, making the city look darker than normal. You noticed right away that the usual sunlight wasn't coming in the windows at work, and it was putting everyone in a strange mood. Even the tiny patients you were taking care of seemed to be crying a little bit more than usual. 

You needed to leave soon to pick up Noah which required you to cancel your nail appointment. Bradley didn't even tell you why he'd be late, he just said he would be. It wasn't that you didn't trust him, you just wanted to know that he was okay, but you hadn't heard from him again.

As soon as you walked outside and headed for your car, it started pouring rain. It was so unexpected, you started laughing. You couldn't even remember the last time you'd had a rainy day. Maybe if the lightning and thunder held off, you could take Noah outside to play in it. But as you opened your car door and ducked inside, a streak of jagged light went shooting across the sky. 

"Damn," you muttered, carefully driving through the parking lot. You thought about Skittles home alone in her crate. She must be terrified all alone right now, and at this rate, it was going to take you longer than usual to get to Noah. Traffic was backed up like crazy, because nobody knew how to drive in this. You sat at the same red light for three cycles before you were finally able to move at all, and by the time you reached Noah's daycare, it was almost time for them to close.

You dashed out through the rain and inside the building where you were confronted with Casey while you looked like a drowned rat. "Common sense would tell you to use an umbrella when it's raining," she said sweetly as you started to shiver in the air conditioning. 

"It's San Diego," you replied coolly. "It never rains here."

She made a production of leaning past you to look out the door. "I think you're wrong, but I can't be certain." She set the clipboard down on the counter and turned away from you as she said, "Poor Noah is going to get completely soaked."

You rolled your eyes as you signed your name a little bit aggressively. It's not like the child would melt. If Bradley came to pick him up instead of you, there was no doubt in your mind that Casey would have bent over backwards to make sure there was an umbrella for him to use. But since it was you, she just stood there with her arms crossed as you scooped Noah up.

"You ready to get a little wet, sweet Noah?" you asked him, kissing his cheek. "It's really raining hard."

He squealed in delight as you ran to your car with him, but you ended up getting a lot more soaked than he did. Your scrubs were clinging to your body when you finally closed the drivers' door behind you. "How about we go home, get dried off and snuggle under a blanket while we watch Mickey Mouse?"

"Yes!" cheered Noah. Maybe you'd just order a pizza later when Bradley got home. You were wet and tired and just wanted to relax. 

"Okay. Here we go."

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

Bradley was a nervous mess on his way to see Tracy. "Come on," he groaned, trying to fight his way through the traffic downtown to get to her office in the rain. He should have left base as soon as he was grounded for the rest of the afternoon, but everyone started talking shop, including the admirals, and he didn't want to leave too early. 

The array of invasive thoughts plaguing him at the moment was making his stomach churn. Every image in his mind was worse than the last. He was itching to call the First Bank of San Diego, but he thought he'd better talk to Tracy about it first. Reeking of jet fuel that was only made worse by getting his flight suit soaked in the rain, he rode the elevator up to her office. It was kind of late, and the building was mostly empty, but sure enough, the lights were shining brightly in her suite. 

When he walked through the first set of glass doors, Tracy leaned out of her office door with a completely neutral expression on her face. "Hi. Come on back."

Bradley closed the distance in a few long strides. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I really didn't want to have to see you today. And I don't have my checkbook with me."

Tracy shook her head and gestured toward the small conference table before she grabbed a Red Bull from her refrigerator. "I'm not billing you for this."

Bradley's heart took a nosedive as he sank down into one of the chairs. If she wasn't even collecting payment, this must be worse than he thought. "Just get it over with, please. What's going on? Did Meredith open an account in my name or something?" he asked. Then he gripped the edge of the table. "In Noah's name? Fuck! Did she figure out a way to fucking bankrupt me?"

He was about to be sick. Once again, he was kicking himself for never taking all of these precautions earlier, right after Meredith left him with a three month old. There would have been ways to safeguard both of them from this sort of thing, but he would have never believed Meredith was capable of doing what she did before. She probably took out a mortgage or opened a credit card. She would have had easy access to Bradley's banking information and social security number. It had been ages since he checked his credit score.

Tracy was offering him a Red Bull, but she slowly pulled it away from him like it was the last thing in the world he needed as he gripped her table so hard, the whole thing was vibrating a little bit.

"Take a deep breath, Bradley. It's nothing so extreme," she assured him in a calm voice as she pried his fingers away from her furniture. "Meredith opened an account right after Noah was born and put a few thousand dollars into it."

Bradley clasped his hands in his lap and thought back a few years. Meredith had been happy for a little while. She seemed to warm up to the idea of Noah, and after he was born and they had a tiny newborn at home, she was very involved. But as the weeks wore on, Bradley noticed her involvement slipping while he was the one picking up all the loose ends and working full time. 

"I don't remember anything about a bank account," he told Tracy. "What does this have to do with me exactly?"

She took a drink before she said, "You're listed as a custodian on the account. Technically the money was put in Noah's name, but since he's a minor, he can't handle it himself."

His brow was furrowed as he shook his head. "I'm still confused. Isn't it Meredith's account?"

"Yes and no," she replied. "Once she put your name and social security number on the line below hers, she made you liable for the money, too. And the bank must have uncovered that Meredith is incarcerated. This happens from time to time. When they couldn't reach her, they found her lawyer's information on the court docket. And then her lawyer called me. Apparently your address wasn't listed."

Bradley felt like his head was swimming with information. "So you're telling me I can go to the Coronado branch of the First Bank of San Diego tomorrow and get this money out?"

"Potentially," she replied mildly.

He thought for a beat before he asked, "Is Meredith still entitled to the money? Even though I have sole custody of Noah?"

"Sure. Her name is also on the account." She shrugged and checked the time. "It's not quite six yet. Should we call the bank and find out exactly what's going on?"

"Yeah," he agreed, reaching for his phone. It would be better to do this with her here so he could make sure he got all the information he needed. "Should I just put it on speaker?"

She nodded as she finished her drink and tossed the can into her already overflowing recycle bin. He tapped on the number of the missed calls from earlier and waited while it rang. "First Bank of San Diego corporate offices, this is Belinda. How can I help you?"

Bradley cleared his throat. "Uh, hi, Belinda. My name is Bradley Bradshaw, and I missed some phone calls earlier? I... was hoping you could answer some questions about an account?"

"Please hold."

He looked at Tracy who seemed completely unfazed by all of this as she examined her manicure. It was great that she was always able to stay so calm, but his heart was thundering up into his throat. He wasn't about to believe there weren't a thousand credit cards maxed out in his name until he investigated it all for himself.

"This is Barry."

Bradley didn't know quite what to say as he cleared his throat again. "Hi, this is Bradley Bradshaw. I'm actually here with my lawyer, and I missed some calls earlier?"

"Right, yes," came the man's voice along with the sound of him typing on a keyboard. "We were trying to reach you regarding an account that was opened with your minor child listed as a beneficiary. Information would have been mailed to you, but we did not have an associated address on file."

"Can you tell us more about the account?" Tracy asked, and Bradley was relieved that she knew what to do.

"Well, I can tell you that once an account reaches over $15,000 without any activity in the prior three years, we make a courtesy phone call to see if the owner wants to move any of the funds."

"Fifteen thousand?" Bradley asked, running his fingers through his hair anxiously. "That account has fifteen thousand dollars in it? And she never touched it?"

Barry was silent for a beat. "I really can't provide much more information unless you visit one of our branches in person, sir."

"Shit," Bradley muttered, leaning back in his seat and staring at the ceiling. 

"Sounds great, Barry. Thanks for your time," Tracy said before she ended the call for him. "You need to go to the bank. Can you go tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Bradley grunted. "So... there's money just sitting there that potentially belongs to Noah through me?"

"Sounds like it."

Bradley met her eyes. "And I can just take it out? And move it into a different account?"

Now she looked a little apprehensive. "I wouldn't advise you to do it quite that way."

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You let Noah play out in the rain with Skittles for approximately five minutes while you stood inside the backdoor and watched. He had bugged so long and so hard, you caved. But as soon as you heard a rumble of thunder, you ran out and picked him up where he was splashing in a puddle in his dinosaur rain boots while the tiny pup barked. You got soaked all over again in the process, but you carried him inside as lightning flashed across the sky. 

"It's getting too stormy!" you told him over all the noise. "Time to go in!"

You grabbed a towel from the stack you left on the kitchen table, and Noah let you fuss over him. You wrapped Skittles in a towel when she started to shake from the cold air conditioned temperature inside, and eventually all three of you ended up on the couch under a blanket with cartoons playing. There was no sign of Bradley, but when you texted and asked him to bring pizza home, he agreed right away. 

Anything my Princess wants.

You smiled at your phone as you sat with Noah on your lap and Skittles on his lap. Every few minutes, you buried your nose in his fresh smelling hair and inhaled as you gave him a squeeze. "When's Daddy coming home?" he asked as the sky outside just got darker as the evening wore on. "I'm hungry."

"Soon," you promised him, but it had gotten so late, you were about to make Noah a snack when you finally heard a key in the front door lock. 

Skittles was the first one who jumped down from the couch. "Daddy!" Noah launched off of your lap and ran to the door as Bradley kicked it open. His hair and flight suit were basically soaked, but he was holding a pizza and a container of salad with a coffee cup balanced on the top. His handwriting on the cup was wet, and the marker was starting to run, but you could still read Princess. And he looked absolutely exhausted. 

"Hey, Bub," he mumbled, kneeling to kiss Noah while he balanced everything in one hand. "You having fun with Mommy?"

Even Bradley's voice was laced with fatigue that you could practically feel as you stood and went to him. You kissed his wet cheek and whispered, "Thank you," as you took the food and your coffee cup from his hand. He just looked at you and nodded, and you gave him a minute with Noah and Skittles as you took the food to the kitchen and got more clean towels. He was just taking off his boots when you returned and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

He grunted as he took the towels from you and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can we wait until Noah's in bed?"

You really did not want to wait another hour, but you agreed anyway, and Bradley kissed your lips before he ran a towel over his face and hair. "Thanks, Baby," he whispered as you gave him a minute to get changed. You took Noah into the kitchen and started to cut up a slice of pizza for him. You were just adding a liberal amount of dressing onto the salad when Bradley walked in wearing gym shorts and a black undershirt that hugged his perfect torso, fresh from a quick shower.

"I love that about you," he crooned next to your ear, his hands soft on your waist as he nodded at the salad.

You laughed and said, "I know you do, Daddy." You were tempted to crawl onto his lap and try to make him feel better while he ate, because he'd clearly had a stressful day. With a quick glance at Noah where he was getting sauce all over his face, you decided to settle into your own seat with a piece of pizza and half of the salad. Bradley stacked two slices together and ate them at the same time in about ten bites. 

"You really had a bad day, huh?" you asked, breaking off a piece of your crust and eating it. 

He shook his head, brow scrunched in something like concern as he watched his son eat. "Not exactly. Just very long."

Once all the food was gone, you sipped your coffee while you cleaned up. Bradley would have normally done that, but when Noah asked to play blocks with him, you sent them into the living room. You could hear the block towers go clattering to the floor over and over again as Noah giggled. The rain hadn't tapered off, and you were already starting to yawn by eight o'clock. That's when Bradley poked his head into the kitchen with Skittles held in one big hand.

"Hey, Baby. I'm going to get Noah ready for bed, and then we can talk in the living room?"

You nodded and finished loading the dishwasher before curling up with the blanket on the couch. Bradley brought Noah in for a goodnight kiss and then vanished again. By the time he returned empty handed, you were half asleep, but you climbed onto his lap after he sat down. "What's going on?" you asked, your cheek cradled on his shoulder and your lips brushing his neck. You could feel his soft length against your thigh through his gym shorts, and you let your hand settle low on his abs.

He cleared his throat softly and whispered, "I need to go to Las Colinas Detention Facility either tomorrow or Wednesday." A chill rippled through your body even though you were tucked in his warm embrace. You jerked yourself back so you were looking him in the eye as he added, "I need to talk to Meredith."

All you could picture was the stress you saw on his face months ago when she dragged him through the court battle over Noah. You grabbed at your arm where you'd gotten all cut up when you fell in the parking lot at Meyer Park. You could practically still feel and hear all of the pieces of broken glass crunching beneath your feet when you found that your apartment had been broken into. 

"Why?" you gasped as tears stung at your eyes. A sick feeling settled into your belly, and all you could do was repeat the question, "Why?"

"Shh. It's okay, Princess," he promised, kissing your cheeks and the tears you weren't even aware you'd shed. "I'm going to make sure it's okay."

You were nodding and shaking a little bit as you listened to him explain that Meredith had opened an account when Noah was a baby. Apparently there was a substantial amount of money now, and Bradley's name was also on the account. "It makes me feel like, even just for a little while, Meredith actually cared about Noah," he whispered, and now you saw tears in his eyes too before he tipped his head back against the couch. "I have a lot of mixed feelings about this, but I guess it's not all bad."

You swallowed down the discomfort you felt and whispered, "You loved her then. And she loved you. And Noah. I mean... she was his mom."

Bradley lifted his head up and tightened his grip around your waist. "You are Noah's mom," he insisted, and you immediately burst into tears. "That's how I want it. That's how Noah wants it. That's how you told me you want it. And that's not going to change. But I just feel like Noah should have this money from Meredith."

You nodded as he wiped at your tears. "He should," you sobbed. "But why do you have to go to Las Colinas? Why can't you just withdraw it?"

Now Bradley let his forehead come to rest on your shoulder, like he needed the comfort associated with being close to you. "I could do that, but I stopped to talk to Tracy, and she thinks that would do more harm than good. There's a simple form I can get from the bank tomorrow after I talk to someone about the exact amount in the account. The plan is for me to take the form to Las Colinas myself, talk to Meredith, and ask her to sign it and effectively forfeit the funds over to me. That way there could be no questions asked."

"And what if she won't sign it?"

He kissed your cheek. "Then you and I can decide if I should withdraw the cash and move it to a different account or just leave it there and pretend it doesn't exist."

You were struck once again by the way Bradley made all of his decisions for you and with you. He treated you with respect when he made plans, and he valued your opinion. "Do you want me to come with you? To the bank or to see Meredith? So you don't have to do it alone?"

His lips and mustache were tickling your jaw as he said, "No. Tracy and I agreed I should go alone. And I really want you to take care of Noah after work so that's one less thing I have to worry about." He kissed you softly. "But thank you for offering."

And that's how you fell asleep, on his lap with his lips pressed to your skin.

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Bradley couldn't be sure if it was his khaki uniform, but it definitely seemed to help his cause. When he got to the bank after work on Tuesday, he was called right back to a small office where an agent started helping him. "Okay, Lieutenant Bradshaw, let's check this account balance for you," she said as she typed in his social security number. "You are looking at $17,271.28. Would you like to transfer it to a different account?"

He just gaped at her. That could pay for a year of college for Noah. "Actually... I'm going to need to think about it," he replied, and a little while later he left her office with a single piece of paper. 

He started the thirty minute drive out of the city to the women's correctional facility. You were probably leaving work right now. Maybe you were pulling into the daycare parking lot. Either way, he didn't have to worry about his son when he was with you. Instead, he could focus on what he needed to do right now, because he was having some mixed feelings about taking this money at all. But if it was actually intended to be used for Noah, then he wanted to give Meredith the opportunity to do the right thing. 

After he parked, he waited in line to be searched before entering the building. Here, his uniform did absolutely nothing. In fact, he had to remove his belt and all of his pins and leave them in a little tray in the front office before going though another metal detector. When an officer asked who he was there to see, she looked surprised when he said Meredith's name. 

"Right," she replied, leading him toward a small waiting area. "Sit in here, and I'll call you in if she wants to see you."

He eased himself down onto a metal chair that was bolted to the floor and started to sweat. If Meredith wouldn't even talk to him, then he was going to have to leave the money where it was. He wouldn't be able to bring himself to touch it. He was starting to resent even coming here, because this week was supposed to have been a fun one with the air show coming up on Saturday and the hospital tour on Friday night. He could have just told Tracy and everyone at the bank that he didn't care about the money.

"Bradshaw?" called a different officer, and Bradley stood. Well. Apparently she was willing to talk to him after all. A door was held open for him and then another one. He was scanned into a narrow hallway, and once that door closed behind him, he was scanned into a room with a large number '3' on it. 

And there sat his ex in a gray jumpsuit with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her sleeves were rolled up her forearms, her hair was longer now, and frankly she looked a lot better than he was expecting. Her eyes tracked his every move as she crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Bradley."

He sat in one of the two chairs that were once again bolted to the floor, and his knees almost hit hers as he did so. "Meredith. How are things?" he asked for a lack of anything better coming to his mind.

"What are you doing here?" she asked immediately, leaning a little closer to him. "What do you want?" When he hesitated with his answer, she laughed and shook her head. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't need something from me, so just spit it out."

He shifted in his seat and withdrew the sheet of folded paper from his pocket. "You opened a savings account for Noah right after he was born? I had no idea it existed. The bank just started trying to reach out to me, because you put my name on the account as well," he stated as he tried to hand her the paper. 

She stared at him, eyes wide as her cheeks flushed pink, but she said nothing, and she didn't move at all. 

"I'm assuming you forgot about it," he added. 

Meredith finally took the paper from him as she said, "Why didn't you just take the money then?" She seemed to begrudgingly move her icy stare from his face to the page as she unfolded it and started to read. Bradley knew if she signed it, she would be willingly forfeiting the funds. She would know the exact amount of money and offer it up on her own. He knew he shouldn't feel guilty about asking her to do this, but he kind of did anyway. And now that he was looking at her, he knew he couldn't just do it behind her back if she didn't sign.

"I wanted you to know about it before I did it," he told her softly. "I wanted to ask you why you put the money in the account in the first place."

She refolded the paper and once again met his gaze. "I originally opened the account so someday Noah could go to business school like me instead of joining the Navy like you."

Bradley nodded and almost wanted to smile. "Makes a lot of sense." He took a deep breath and whispered, "You were excited when you were pregnant. You were excited when he was a newborn."

Meredith closed her eyes and shook her head as she held her hand up in front of her. She didn't look at him as she said, "I tried, but I couldn't do it. You were better at all of it than I was, and I fucking hated it more and more every day. I hate being at home. I hated having to feed Noah and change diapers while you went back to work. I hated it so much. The four months that I took off completely ruined my career, and I was never able to recover. And that's where I was happiest."

Bradley nodded and clasped his hands in his lap. Her next sentence hurt him to hear, but she had every right to say it. "I think it would have been better for me if I'd had abortion. I think I could have been happy right now if I did." She kind of shrugged, barely looked at him and then turned toward the corner of the ceiling. Bradley followed her gaze as she loudly said into a camera, "Can somebody bring me a pen? I swear I won't stab him with it."

Bradley was afraid to say anything yet, and nobody appeared with a pen right away. Meredith read over the sheet of paper again, and eventually she said, "This was the only account I added your name to. Don't go sniffing around my bank for more, because you won't get it."

"Right," he replied, finding her words almost comical since she was the one trying to fleece him earlier this year. 

"And every cent goes into a savings account for college tuition for him. A university or a trade school or something. Anything except the Navy. And none of it goes to that disgusting little slut you're living with now."

Bradley had to bite back his response as the door opened, and an officer walked in with one black ink pen. She handed it to Meredith and stood next to her while she signed the form, and then the officer collected the pen once more before leaving the room. He was honestly a little shocked, but he accepted the paper when she handed it to him.

"Thank you," he told her, deciding not to mention that you were going to be his wife and Noah's legal parent sooner rather than later if he had anything to say about it. She really didn't need to know about that, because she didn't have any say in the matter. "I'll save it for Noah for school. And if he wants to join the Navy like a real idiot, then I'll donate it all to your alma mater. But just... thanks for signing for it."

She nodded. "You were going to be able to take it anyway. At least now you'll cooperate with its original intended purpose."

Once again, he wasn't going to waste his time arguing with her by trying to say that he would have left the money untouched. He didn't need her to believe anything he said except that he'd save her money for Noah. "I will absolutely do that."

"I know you will."

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Well, well, well. What do we have here? Proof that Meredith cared at one time? Please ignore any financial inaccuracies, I tried my best. Aaaaand, onward to the air show. Thanks @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls

PART 49

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[artificial-transmutations]

Friday Friendship

Hey there! This one is kind of a spiritual successor to Calling the Plumber - and as such, it is one of the rare gay to straight stories of mine. While I do try to keep it friendly and without any homophobia or hate, feel free not read the story if you don't like g2s!

It was hard to overlook Montgomery and Archibald. Of course, that was always the case. But here, on the dirty construction site of their new home, the expensive silk suits of the couple stood out even more than elsewhere. Yes, the two of them were together - and they made sure everybody knew it. Not only were the two gentlemen standing in a tight hug whenever possible, but their flamboyant and colorful clothing left little doubt about their sexuality.

They were those kind of gays that conservatives were afraid of. Both were old enough to have been alive during the stonewall riots, although only Montgomery was actually there as a teenager. Still, the aged couple embodied everything the gay community prided itself on having achieved during the last decades.

Their house, too, would be a statement. The mansion was the largest construction in the area, and the most expensive one. It was going to be built on a large hill, overlooking the town, and its style was... extravagant. The house was to be built in a modern architectural style, but the two men had insisted that the walls would be entirely covered in rainbow colors, although that was still in the future by now. Surrounding the mansion would be a magnificent garden, a park even.

"My dear, are you satisfied with the construction?" Archibald asked his husband in his lime green suit. Montgomery had dyed his hair in an orange-pink tone today and wore a purple tie to his green suit. It was hardly the first building site he visited, since he had made a fortune in real estate.

Archibald, on the other hand, was a bit more conservatively dressed. His suit was a more subdued shade of beige, although his tie was of a bright sky blue color. He usually didn't dye his hair, and today was no exception: He wore the gray with pride, although he spent a fortune on hair and skin care products. He, too, had a respectable job as a top manager in a logistics company.

"Well, darling, I'm not sure yet." Montgomery replied. "I want it to look great, and the work has been good so far. But frankly, it feels that the workers motivation is somewhat underwhelming."

"I think I know what you mean, my dear." Archibald commented as they walked through the empty shell. "It is barely three in the afternoon on a Friday, and there isn't anyone around anymore. The workers must be out partying already. I can't fault them for that, but it is rather annoying, isn't it?"

"Indeed. It would have been nice if they were a little less lazy, though. The garden is behind schedule, and I believe the electrics are going to be delayed by another month."

"That is quite unfortunate."

Montgomery nodded and they walked a bit in silence. It was true. There was still a lot to do, and it looked like the workers left early for the weekend.

Finally, Archibald sighed.

"I guess I could take a look at the progress the electricians are making. I do know a bit or two about this. Maybe then we can talk to the foreman about their work. It's a pity that we cannot supervise every little thing here, but our jobs demand a lot of our time. If only we had a bit more hands-on control."

"My, what a fabulous idea! I will take a stroll through the garden then, to get a better picture there."

The husbands kissed each other on the lips as they split up and Archibald opened the fuse box. He had indeed done a bit of electrical maintenance in his prime, so he knew that what he saw in the box was nothing less than a mess. He sighed and was about to close the box again, but hesitated. No, he couldn't leave the mess like that. He would just tidy things up a bit, to show those inexperienced workers how it was done.

Carefully, he began to work on the wires, but before long, he felt uncomfortable. The fuse box was located in the bright afternoon sun, and it was just positively hot here. Still, not wanting to leave his work, he slipped out of his jacket and hung it over a nearby wall. He didn't notice that the piece of clothing disappeared once he turned away, nor did he notice that his hands became nimbler as he rearranged the wires.

Montgomery on the other hand found the garden construction even less advanced than he had hoped. Even worse, someone had left a few plants out in the heat. They would surely be dead by the time the construction continued on Monday. Montgomery couldn't let that happen. This garden would be beautiful, and no plant would die under his watch.

He carefully carried the plants to the place they were supposed to be. Of course, he knew - he had planned the park all by himself, so he knew where everything was supposed to go. As he arrived at the shady place, he understood why the plants hadn't been placed yet. The ground was wet and muddy, and there weren't any holes yet. He would need to talk to the foreman about that, but the man was surely already in the weekend as well. There was, however, a shovel nearby. Now, aside from ceremonial groundbreaking, Montgomery had never held a shovel. It wasn't that he didn't understand the concept, but he was just not the type for physical labor.

Well. He looked over his shoulder to his husband, who was apparently still busy looking at the fuse box. It seems like he had some time on his hands, so he might as well. Grimacing, he grabbed the shovel and carefully stepped on the soil, trying not to ruin his expensive shoes or pants. That worked well, for about two steps. But as soon as he tried to break the ground with the shovel, a big clump of wet soil splattered on his lime green silk pants.

Montgomery frowned. Well, that suit was ruined anyway. No reason to stop there. Determined, he pulled the shirt out of his pants and opened his vest. He wasn't going to ruin his custom tailored suit for no reason.

Meanwhile, Archie was getting into his work even more. From time to time, he had to wipe his brow, though, as he was sweating like an animal. His dress shirt was stained with multiple sweat stains already and didn't really *look* like a dress shirt anymore, but more casual. The same could be said for the rest of Archie as well. A certain youth had returned to his face, as he was concentrated on his work. This way, he didn't notice when his hairstyle dissolved into an unkempt mess or when a bit of stubble grew in on his chin. His shirt clung to his body now, drenched in sweat. It had long ceased to be a dress shirt though but had become a plain - although rather filthy - beige t-shirt. His tie was nowhere to be seen.

Due to the wetness, the shirt didn't leave much to imagination regarding his body. Not just his face had rejuvenated, no, his entire body had. He was leaner and his muscles firmer now. Out of the V-neck of his sweaty shirt poked a few golden hairs, and before long, his main hair had turned into a Nordic blonde, as well.

Meanwhile, Monty was digging like crazy. He had to get those plants in the ground, or the foreman would... Wait, what was he thinking?

He stopped for a moment, to scratch his head. Thinking was not his strong point, and Monty knew that. But he had other qualities, that made up for that. When he grabbed the shovel again, to keep digging, he heard a ripping sound that made him stop again. The shoulder of his shirt had ripped. His boss was going to kill him! Although, it appeared somewhat strange to him that he was wearing such a colorful and impractical shirt. Perhaps there weren't any other shirts left?

He looked around and saw only one of the electricians still on the site. He knew the guy, he was friendly enough. He surely wouldn't mind if Monty went shirtless for a bit. With an effort not to damage the clothing even more, he peeled out of the garment. He was only half successful with that, and a few more rips sounded before he had finished taking it off.

Monty looked down at his muscular and hairy torso. The cold air was good, and he wasn't afraid to get dirty.

With every movement of the shovel, his arm muscles tightened, and his frame filled out more. A short beard sprouted on his chin, and his now full earthy brown hair shortened to a more practical cut. It wasn't like he had money for an expensive hairdresser, after all.

Finally, he had the holes ready and wiped his hands on his sturdy pair of work pants. Now, he only had to put the plants in. Despite his impressive physique, Manny was always very careful with the flowers, and he made sure that none of the roots got damaged or that he didn't break the stem.

He looked at his work. Good, that would look great, once the plants grew. Someday, he would have a garden of his own, and a house like that. And a beautiful wife and two, no, three children. But that was still a long way to go, with his poor pay.

Someone behind him cursed and Manny looked back to the electrician.

Chad was still sweating like crazy as he worked the wires. His mates had all gone to the clubs by now and he was stuck here and had to fix the mess he had created. That was only fair, but he wished the foreman wouldn't have noticed until Monday. He had to hurry up, though. He didn't want to spend his Friday night on the site, after all. Perhaps he would even get lucky and find a guy... No, what was he thinking? Working on these fruits' house had made him all confused. No, perhaps he would find a busty bombshell to take home tonight. Chad felt his cock growing hard at the thought, creating an obvious bulge in his work pants. Great, more distraction.

Chad tried to readjust himself, just in time as he sensed the big burly gardener approach. He knew the guy loosely but had forgotten his name already - if he even had known it at all.

"Hey, everything alright with them wires?" the low voice of the brute asked in a friendly tone.

"Yeah, I just need to finish up here... Should be done aaaaany minute now..."

Manny watched Chad connect the last wires. Poor guy. His t-shirt was soaked with sweat, and he looked like he was really hot and stressed out.

"Cool. It's no fun working late, and on a Friday. Hey, do you want to hit a bar after that? I could go for a cold one."

Chad looked over his shoulder at the bear of a man. Was that guy hitting on him? Na, his face only showed dumb innocence.

He shrugged. "Sure, why not, eh..."

"Name's Manny." Manny said.

"Great. Manny." Chad said and closed the now somewhat better looking fuse box before wiping away his sweat once more.

"I'm Chad."

Manny and Chad left the building site together this Friday afternoon. Neither of them knew that they were going to become best friends over this and many more beers. Manny turned out to be a great wingman for Chad, and Chad even ended up as Manny's best man during his wedding and godfather for his first child. Sometimes the closest friendships are forged in the Friday afternoon sun of a construction site.

[sp0o0kylights]

Still working on the BB fic but have another snippet of that Stobin Timeloop AU. This can be read as stand-alone.

Steve Harrington snaps on a completely random Friday.

Well--not completely random. It's both the day of the Big Sportsball Game as well as Hellfire’s grand finale--but neither of those things should matter to Harrington.

Not that he needs a reason to lose his shit--Eddie’s long used to being threatened, insulted or outright attacked out of the blue. 

It’s the whole reason he built up the persona he had--because the scarier he was, the more people left him alone. 

Unfortunately it would appear that Hawkins fallen king hadn’t gotten the memo, given he seemed hellbent on kicking Eddie’s ass. 

"Come on Harrington, we can talk about this." Eddie says, as he’s shoved back, scrambling for a way out, as the former jock gets up in his face. 

The guy had called out his name the second he pulled into the parking lot (sans Buckley or any of the freshman they shared, which has Eddie's back up instantly) but Eddie had simply ignored him.

It was too early to deal with whatever had Harrington sounding like his ass was on fire.

Pity Steve had charged over instead, a look in his eyes that said whatever happened next was going to hurt.

Eddie carries a switchblade, but hes never had to use it before. 

Had instead made an entire production about having it, including cleaning his nails with the blade or stabbing it into the cheap wood desks when a teacher stepped out of the room. 

Had shouted that he’d pull it even when Harrington had charged him, but the guy didn't even blink.

Thus forcing Eddie to confront the fact that he really doesn’t want to stab someone.

Particularly not someone whose family has the police in their pockets (or did with Chief Hopper, though Eddie doesn’t doubt that the Harrington Hoard won’t immediately grab onto the next pig to get promoted.) 

His panic leaves him flailing but somehow, (and unfairly Eddie may add) Steve seems to expect this. 

Knows how to navigate it.

Eddie's back hits the metal of the van and he winces, expecting the hit, the pain. 

If he can duck, if he can make it so the first punch only grazes him, he can grab his fucking knife and wave it around, see if that gets the asshole off him, except--

Instead of hitting him, Steve reaches past, to yank one of the van’s passenger doors open. 

Herds Eddie inside, slamming the door behind him before snatching a fistful of Eddie's shirt and hauling him forward. 

"What--" Eddie asked, confused, right before Steve smashes their lips together. 

It's a hard kiss, practically a claim. 

Steve kisses him like a drowning man gasps for air and Eddie can only fall into it, stunned. 

(The stunned portion only lasts long enough for Eddie to blink before he's kissing back, hot and heavy.

He's been horny for Harrington since the asshole did a trick shot that showed off his ass and involved flipping Hagan off at the same time, sue him.) 

Thinks as he does, that this is probably a trap.

That even if it isn't, then whatever it is Steve will make him regret it--even if he started it. 

(Not like Eddie can claim he wasn’t enjoying it, either. He’s giving as good as he gets, dick quickly overwhelming any rational thought in his brain. 

He clings to Steve like a lifeline, gasping when the jocks takes his bottom lip between his teeth and lightly drags it out, begging to be let into Eddie's mouth. 

This isn't reality.

 Cannot be reality, must be the start of a wet dream or some…vivid hallucinations because when Eddie grinds himself upwards into Steve, cock chasing friction, Steve presses back.) 

"Fuck." Eddie moans when Steve finally releases him, panting up at the ceiling. 

"Do I have your attention now?" Steve asks, voice raspy and Eddie finds himself able to die happy, because that tone is downright possessive. 

"Yeah big boy, you have me--it." Eddie corrects himself fast, the words practically blending together. 

Steve gives a strangled sort of laugh at that, and instead of getting up, presses his face down onto Munsons shoulder. 

Eddie expects him to spring up at any moment. Declare insanity maybe, or far more likely threaten him about telling anybody.

If past bar hookups were an indicator, he'd  throw a few slurs in for good measure. 

(And those men had been at a gay bar, not Hawkins high school parking lot.) 

It's nothing Eddie can't handle, but Steve…isn't doing any of them.

Instead his breathings gone weird, body trembling--and Eddie can see how Steve is holding himself up.

Like he's worried about Eddie taking his weight.

Slowly, carefully, he raises a hand to the back of Steve's hair.

He presses in slow, waiting to be yelled at, waiting to be rejected but never is. 

"You can lay on me, Harrington, I won't break." Eddie tells him and knows his voice is too sweet when he says it.

Too lovey dovey, too awed. 

Too late, for him to recover into a normal voice but fuck it. Not like Eddie was known for making smart decisions. 

Nothing could have prepared him from the wounded noise Steve makes in return. 

"Hey--hey." Eddie says, in rising panic. "I've got you." 

"I know." Steve raises, and head coming up at last, cheeks red and tear stained but his eyes are clear.

Clear and fucking haunted.

 "I know you do, Eds, but we don't have time. Which is why I need you to listen to me, because I'm not the Steve Harrington you know."  

Utterly reeling from being called "Eds" it takes Eddie a moment to digest what was just said. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Steve sighs, a blast of frustration, and Eddie finds himself automatically scritching at Steve's head. 

For some reason that seems to help. 

"Your D&D finale’s tonight, right?" 

"Yes." Eddie says slowly, his mind spinning uselessly, every coherent thought derailed by something new. The moles on Steve's neck. The way he shifts, how his leg is tangling with Eddie's, awkwardly because it's cramped as shit back here. 

"I'm way past this. I've lived this. More than once." 

Aha. 

So it's a mental breakdown Steve's having. 

"I'm still waiting for you to make sense, Harrington." Eddie says to buy himself time to think. 

"Steve." The younger man corrects and he's holding Eddie's gaze. "And I'm not making sense because saying it sounds stupid." 

Eddie can't help the little derisive laugh that breaks out of him. "I hear a lot of stupid things, one more won't kill me." 

"I know, you're famous for your rants about them." Steve snarks back, but it's teasing. 

Friendly and familiar, like he's used to bantering. 

Not just that, but bantering with Eddie, specifically.

He doesn't know what to do with that, so he tugs a little on Harrington's too perfect hair. 

Demands an explanation with that little jolt--and somehow, Steve doesn't haul off and punch him for it. Instead a shudder rollers through him, eyes closing just a touch and--Oh.

Oh, Harri-Steve, likes it.

"I'm from the future." Steve says, which does indeed sound stupid. 

Eddie blinks. "What?" 

"Robin and I are stuck in a time loop-- we keep living this week over and over." He continues, only now he's leaning his head against Eddie's arm. 

"Every single time, you take the longest to get on board and buy in, and every single time I fail to get everyone out alive so fuck it. Fuck all of it--I'm speedrunning this part." 

Oh this is beyond breakdown. 

This is 'took something he shouldn't have and then some' and Eddie knows how to trip sit. 

He just…doesn't want to get punched for being the first person Steve released his repressed homosexual urges out on, drugged or not. 

(The fact Steve's still letting Eddie pet him like a cat absolutely does not have anything to do with it, no sir.)

because his mouth bypasses his rational mind most days and today is no exception. 

"Okay." Eddie says. "Let's say you are from the future and not shot up with what I'm assuming you were told was steroids and was very much not."

 Steve rolls his eyes. 

He never bothered to dry his cheeks and Eddie does it now for him, with the hand that's not in Steve's hair.

Steve leans into it, which somehow feels like the craziest part of it all.

"Prove to me that you're from the future." Eddie challenges.

"Oh the kissing wasn't enough? Fine." Steve bitches, before rattling off facts like he's blowing through answers on Jeopardy. 

"You call your guitar sweetheart and apologize for cheating on it anytime you use your other guitar, who is named Arwin. Your favorite mug in Wayne's collection is the Garfield one and you can play Master of Puppets by heart even though the album came out last month."

"And this is coming from the future and not one of the freshmen we somehow share custody over…?"  Eddie says, even while alarm shoots down his spine.

Had he told the kids about his Garfield mug? 

That his acoustic was named Arwin…?

He suddenly couldn't recall but that made the most sense. Had to make sense.

Steve huffs, annoyed.

Its very cute, and Eddie bites his own lip hard to keep himself focused. 

A finger dips under Eddie's collar, wrapping gently around the chain that sits there before he can react.

 "This," Steve emphasizes with a gentle tug, "was your mom's. She gave it to you the morning of the accident." 

Eddie's world stops.

Not the same way it stopped when Steve kissed him, it stopped in a way they felt like ice had been dumped over his head. A flash freeze that squeezed his chest, claws digging into his exposed heart.

The only person who knew about the pick was Wayne. 

No one else, not even his band, his closest friends, knew the origin of it. 

To tell someone that, to say it was not only his mothers but that shed given it to him the morning before some drunk asshole t boned her shitty, shitty car and killed her-- was akin to handing over step by step instructions on how to hurt him. 

Eddie would go to the ends of the earth for that pick, and he had never let anyone know just how important it was to him.

Except Steve Harrington, apparently. 

"Okay." Eddie says, "Okay, you're from the future. You said--" He pauses, swallows. 

Fights down his disbelief even as the dots connect, because why else would he tell anyone about his pick? 

The only reason he can possibly conjure is if he needed someone to give it back to Wayne, because he, for whatever reason, couldn't.

 "You said you're reliving this because you can't get everyone out alive?" Eddie managed to get out, grappling with the knowledge that "everyone" included him. 

"Yeah." 

 "Are you also my boyfriend or something?" 

"If we can make it there, then yes." Steve says, slightly hysterical. "And really? You're finally gonna believe me?" 

"Are you arguing here for me to believe you or not, Steve, you're giving conflicting signals--" 

"No it's--you've fought me on this man. I've tried every method of getting you with us and every time you argue until the bats show up but one kiss and you're all for it?" 

"Give yourself some credit, it was a grand slam of a kiss.” Eddie replies, because it was by far and large the best kiss of his life. 

He’d follow Steve to hell and back if more kisses like that were on the table, mental breakdown or no. 

Steve snorts at him, a half-hysterical sound. “Noted.” He says. 

Then; “You believe me though?”

“Not at all!” Eddie chirps with a wobbly grin that betrays him.  “But on the off chance you’re right the uh…the thing about my pick…” He trails off self consciously. 

“I should have guessed that was what it. You only ever tell me that when you’re dying.” Steve fills in for him, and it’s weird, to know that for two seconds Steve Harrington apparently read his face and correctly guessed what he was thinking about. 

Abruptly decides he doesn’t want to think of his impending doom any longer. 

“So how about we skip the dying part and focus on the boyfriend part?” He says, poking at Steve’s cheek. 

Steve makes a face at him, before grabbing a his hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. 

“We gotta fix this mess first, Munson.” He tells him gently, looking up at him through his lashes and oh, that is a look Eddie will keep for the rest of his life. 

“Lead on, lassie.” Eddie tells him to hide how dazed he feels. “Let’s go save the world and shit.” 

With one final kiss to the palm of Eddie’s hand, Steve does. 

[tender-emotional-music]

Guys, I truly do not get byler doubt over things like this. Some leaker said “Mike and Will do not have a romantic relationship in Stranger Things 5.” Okay, let’s look at that, because I know the tag will go into a frenzy anyway.

This guy has been right about Marvel leaks in the past. He has also been wrong. The vibe I get is that a lot of leakers build up credibility by saying things which are correct or easily predictable, meaning they have more leeway in the future to make things up for clout and still have people believe them. The byler plot is very contentious and is guaranteed to get attention if you post anything about it, so I don’t really believe people who are being loud and open about it on twitter with broad, unspecific claims. A good example is the RejectedScooper guy, who had the Will’s love interest leak. He also made claims like “Will’s love interest is a boy” (duh), “the UD merged with Hawkins” (popular theory given that’s what the final s4 shot indicates), and “the military is still after El” (another popular theory). He makes believable claims that might end up being right, but that doesn’t mean he ever had inside knowledge. A lot of leakers are like this

The very phrasing of this is weird. Thanks @merth-or-nothin for pointing it out, but legit leakers will give information on what IS happening, not what isn’t, since they often lack context and filming isn’t even done, so there’s half a season missing. If byler truly wasn’t happening, they’d say “Mike and El are still together in episode 4,” or “Will meets a new boy.” They wouldn’t make a broad “this doesn’t happen” statement. They would provide a scene that DOES happen which leads them to that broader conclusion

I don’t have my own direct confirmation on this, but I’ve seen many people say that everything is extremely locked down this season, and that’s why it’s hard for people to get leaks. I think I even saw a screenshot where someone asked Noah on tik tok for a video on set and he said they’re being extra strict this season. There have been other claims, like cast and crew members getting redacted versions of the scripts that only contain their parts (standard practice in productions like this) people being instructed to leave the set as soon as their part is done, and the Duffers overall being very tight-lipped. Even Millie had to beg the writers to know what El’s ending is. The only people who know the ending of the byler plot are probably the main cast and writers, and high-up members of the production team. Their NDA’s must be so tight. I don’t see how some random leaker would have that info just because he had marvel leaks in the past. If I had info about a sensitive spoiler, I wouldn’t be yelling about it on twitter either. I’m not sure about how the legal process works here, but I feel like you’d get into some sort of strife.

I’ve seen byler-positive and byler-negative leaks. Chances are a lot of them are wrong. Maybe some are right. Who knows? They’re very contradictory, so I think the only conclusion I’m taking away from it is that people like the attention posting byler “spoilers” gets them, and no one has a straight story (no pun intended) regarding what is happening next season, so I’m likely to take most things as fake, especially broad claims like this one

[floriwoo]

I don't know this leehan guy but that little thing you wrote about him smelling your shampoo is sooo good. Imagine using really expensive hair products that you take care of a lot because they're really special for you and noticing how you see less and less of it with each shower you take. You first think that maybe you're imagining things because you only live with him, and it doesn't make sense that he steals from you when he also uses a really good brand. To prove to yourself that nothing is happening, you put a little piece of paper on the opening, if it stays there, nothing is happening, if it moves, you know he did it. The piece of paper is not there, so there's no doubt he IS using it, and it's not much he uses, but for you, it's still a lot. You start to get closer to him, waiting for the opportunity to confront him (which he enjoys a lot since he loves to have you near), but then one day you two are on the couch, side by side, and he leans to brush your skin "by accident". You notice his weird behavior and leave him alone thinking that perhaps you were making uncomfortable. Then, because he doesn't have you near and needs to have something yours around, he goes and takes a shower, which makes your blood boil with the idea of him using your precious shampoo. When he leaves the shower you finally confront him, "I know what you were doing inside" to what he blushes, "you-you know?" he asks. "Oh, I know". He feels so ashamed but so fueled by the thought of you knowing he was jerking off he can't help but feel hard again "I'm sorry" is the only thing he can say while your hand moves to his hair to feel how soft it is and he takes this move like an invitation, to what he can't contain himself anymore, pushing you to a wall and giving you such a hard, brute and intense kiss he leaves you with shaky legs, and to apologize even more, he goes down on you until you're crying for him to stop making you cum.

Well, just a little thought.

that’s so funny that you wrote all of this without knowing who leehan is lol

i like the whole idea of you confronting him for using your shampoo and him thinking you know he’s jerking off, that’s a really funny scenario 💀

i think this whole idea would work great as a little drabble or something!

[ravenstargames]

✦ Lost in Limbo Devlog #10 | 04.01.24

And just like that, March is over! We are heading into a very busy April, but as nervous as we are about it, we are also pretty excited. This month has been full of newly accomplished goals, new challenges, and wonderful milestones! Let's jump into it, shall we?

<<There’s not much information about the figure that greets you in a mysterious occult shop. The only known thing is that they were the beginning of everything…and also the ending.>>

This month we finished the rework and the sprite of the first character you'll meet in the demo! They're as mysterious as they're charming, which makes them specially dangerous...

Also, we finished March with a boom! We opened a casting call to add some voiced lines and soundbites to the demo. We have received a lot of wonderful auditions, more than we expected! It has been overwhelming (in a good way) and so exciting to finally get to this stage of the demo's production! ; v ; Also, as always, Raquel has outdone herself with the artwork—just look at these two! 💜

Another background finished by our wonderful Airyn! 💜 This is one of my favorite ones (I'm afraid I'll say this about every background Airyn works on, but oh well), so now the only step left is to animate it! There's three backgrounds left (all of them in progress), so we hope this month we can make good progress on them!

Coding-wise, the script is almost fully coded. Almost. Ten pages left. Then, I'll start polishing everything—transitions, animations, sprites, some finishing touches on some screens...But honestly, seeing everything finally come together is quite moving. Being super positive, we'll start looking for beta testers at the end of the month for windows and mac. Sadly, I'm not sure if we'll be able to test mobile at the same time, but we'll see! I'm going to work so hard to achieve it!

We are soon starting the legal process to make Ravenstar Games official. We have been looking for information and professional advice these past months to make sure we do the whole process right, as it's a huge (and scary) leap for all of us. As you may or not remember, we started this as a passion project to be able to work the job of our dreams. Everything we have is either made by ourselves or paid with our personal savings, as only one of us has a steady job. It's terrifying to think we are going to do this, to invest what little we have in something we are passionate about but that could sadly not bear any fruit. Of course, we are staying positive and will work as hard as we have been working to make it happen, but doubts and fears arise every now and then! 💜

Also, our masterpost has been updated! Now it matches our itch.io page. There's more info I'd like to tweak here and there, but the important stuff (the premise, duh) has successfully been updated!

We have also started to think about the Kickstarter, as we are getting very very close to the demo release and we want to take as much advantage as possible of the momentum the release may give us. I don't dare to give a date yet, but we are very, very close ; v ;!!!

What a wonderful month! I'll never get tired of saying that. Everything is going great for us and the success of the casting call has given us the little confidence boost we were lacking. Well, at least when it comes to me—blame it on the OCD! As the director and the one who manages all social medias, I'm always worried of my performance, but the team has been there for me whenever I have doubted my abilities. I can only hope April proves to be as fantastic as March has!

Thank you as always for reading, for supporting us, for being there. It means the world to us. Take care, stay hydrated and healthy, and let's see each other next month! 💜

[1galaxia369]

CAPRICORN RISING♑️

You have been very hard on yourself, I understand the purpose of it but you are doing it all wrong. Self reflection and shadow work is completely different from bullying yourself. You're going through an awakening right now, the universe is calling you out, you guys have a higher purpose in this world. Some of you guys have secret plans that you have been working on and some dreams that you are about to entertain that know one knows. I know you are very protective of your ideas and desires, but being ruled by saturn isn't easy, always working extra hard because the whole thing might fall apart if you don't focus & put your all in oryou'll have to start over. Not to mention having envious people around you that silently sabotage all your projects. Add a mind that is your biggest enemy and you have the recipe for an extremely exhausted human. When will you address that and put an end to it? All those voices in your head, whether it's you valuing your worth based on your productivity or the voices of people who can't see your vision. The best way to stop the noise is by first acknowledging it's there, then you have to find out why you allow those thoughts in, Ask yourself do you think they're right, ask yourself again if you or your talents and skills fit into that low bar that everyone else is setting for you, when did these other people whose drive and skill could never match up to yours have the power to convince you that you can't succeed at all your goals? It's literally judgement time, you are being pushed to cut that behavior out, allowing negativity to cloud your mind and breed self doubt and self sabotage. It's time to become YOU. Reflection, renewal and reckoning is your energy. That plan that you've been working for the past couple of months or years even is finally coming in to play, there's a major turn around coming. You've been tending to your garden well and you'll be harvesting the fruits of your labor very soon.

Overall, success is coming in whatever field that has been your focus for a while now. If you been waiting on an answer this is it, if you are actually about to start something now is a good time. Plant the seeds and wait patiently, the success is guaranteed with consistent care and effort. Celebration is store for you guys, party and go out have fun, you've been working too hard. You give yourself no breaks and you don't treat yourself enough, there's nothing in this world more important than you. Stop putting yourself last in every situation. There are also people that don't mean you well, as you progress and evolve you'll be removing and rearranging a lot of things in your life and finally setting BOUNDARIES. Them people not gonna like that! You have to stand on business though, NO means NO. You plan out your day, if it ain't life or death then you have to prioritize your self and your projects. I feel like a lot of people who aren't dependent on you, always depend on you to show up regardless of what you got going on. You have to discern if they are more important than accomplishing those daily goals. Procrastination is a big issue for Capricorns, no matter the placement, always allowing yourself to be drawn away from your work routine. You set that plan up so that you can properly show up for yourself and have time to handle your other responsibilities. It's wasted if you keep having to remake your plans and routines to accommodate others, leaving simple work that can be done today for tomorrow, now tomorrow is thrown off and now you're burnt out. This cycle always opens the door for you to start beating yourself up. I understand that people need your help and you're the jack of all trades but it can be done whenever you are free, you don't drop everything to go help someone with something they can wait to do or pay someone to do. All humans were born with their own physical capabilities no need to fuck yourself up to show for them. Have strength and enforce your boundaries and do not waver, they can wait, finish your stuff first.

You are safe to move forward with your plans, invest your time, skills and money. You'll have a return on investment WHEN it is successful ( take the word 'if' and change it to 'when'...change 'I think' to 'I know'). Be excited, you escape and find solace in your work and creative endeavors, you complicate that flow by being hard on yourself. You are supported too, remember that. You'll be noticing that all of a sudden you'll have more money in your hands to spend on yourself and invest into you projects. The universe and your spirit guides are handing you support and opportunities, take them and don't hesitate. You know what a good opportunity looks like trust yourself to pursue them and watch the success come true. Movement is happening, this is exciting, changes will be happening all around you! Be happy! Some of you will be travelling really soon, or moving away from where you are or even relocating internationally. Be happy for once and trust that good things can happen for you.

I recommend spending time in nature, you need peace and quiet,observe the animals and the ecosystem. Smudge your surroundings (and yourself) you need to get rid of all that negative energy.(sage,palo santo,sweet grass, incense) Breathing exercises are needed 15 deep breaths for release. Close your eyes and visualize the things you want accomplished, manifest more. Be delusional about your goals.

12:12 12:22 12:34

[novalizinpeace]

Oh that sucks well. Technically, you r being productive by talking to people. Also, I'm new to writing fanfic, and I'm worried about upsetting anyone, especially onyx. As I want to ask onyx questions about lore and others about their ocs, but I don't want to bother anyone and asks get lost easily or people don't have ask open. So any advice

'm not a expert in all the social thing stuff, but i think the first right step to work with other stories/ocs is asking them directly for permmission via dm, and asking for input there.

yeah you don't want to bother anyone, but i personally believe is better ask first for permmision and ideas from the source, 'cause yeah i may give you all permmission to use Sunny and Lizzy in riders related stuff, BUT that between the lines of their characters.

Yeah you can draw/write Sunny getting shy at someone flirting with him, that in character. No, you can't draw/write Sunny flirting back/been interesed in someone, any relationship for him/with him need to be talked with me (i would gladly talk about how Sunny would interact with a new friend or even to someone having a crush on him, just ask me about it).

The same with Lizzy, 'm slowly showing her story, so there not a lot to share of her, that why i hadn't make canon all interactions of her with other ocs (the only one i had accepted is the one with Asahi, 'cause even some fanarts with North crew could fall into noncanon territory due the final 'm looking to give her). So you can use her, but most probably it going to be a non-canon interaction, since 'm trying to piece her story right.

NOW that on me! Other users could be less strict with their ocs, and others be more strict, but that why is important to ask first!

And about Onyx, they seems really nice to interact with as an audience, they probably have asks closed for the same reason i sometimes stop answer to asks: spams and uncomfortable asks tend to invade our kind of blogs. That make it hard for us to interact in a comfortable way with our audience, but that doesn't mean we don't want to interact with them! you just need to look for a right way to approach them, been by a comment in the right post, or directly send them a dm asking if you could make them some questions related to their au (this option AFTER you make sure you looked at all their posts and confirmed that the info you're looking for isn't in there, this show you already made your work into learning about the project), sure, maybe some things Onyx wouldn't be able to share 'cause it could be spoiler, and that's okay, you can work with that idea once the oficial info get out, or work with hcs (like i did with Lizzy in the beggining, were i hc that the cult used poppy flowers for the red smoke like in the original game, later Onyx confirmed that, but if they would end up denied it, i would had to change my hc, 'cause i decided to take the risk on it.)

conclution? send via dm a simple ''hello! i wanted to know something about your character/au/story, is okay for me to ask?'' or a variation of it if you want to use others's ocs for your fanfic, and if you have any doubts about how a characters is going to act in x situation, is better to directly ask the owner of the character that risk making the character OOC.

[killerlittlerejects]

“J-Jeff, sto-“

“Well, princess, I need you to do one more thing for me…”

I didn’t think I’d finished this tonight, but @nathantheauthor said he was hyped for the final product when I showed him the WIP and that encouraged me to finish the piece sooner then later. I’m super proud of how this turned out! Despite the more eerie/disturbing atmosphere of the piece.

As you know, I’m doing a Needles and Smile’s AU for Nina and several other characters. Though the AU was originally supposed to be Nina centric, so there has been more ideas in the works for our favourite scene queen then the others. And that got me thinking: what happened between Nina and Jeff that prompted her to go from serial killer to slasher hunter?

Thanks to a unique pose on Pinterest, I found my answer.

Warning: I’m going to go into some pretty graphics detail, so if you don’t think you can handle that, don’t read under the cut.

Because of her encounter with Lazari during the night of the asylum break/attack on the town, seeing how scared and helpless this little girl is makes Nina begin to have doubts about destroying the entire town. Was it all really worth it? Eventually, she catches up with Jeff and timidly expresses her concerns.

Of course, Jeff simply concludes that the solution is to get rid of Lazari, so “his love” can be brought back to her “right state of mind” again. However, for the first time ever, Nina has the courage to stop him and tell him no, she doesn’t want that. This leads to a long, tense moment of silence with the two simply staring at each other. She can see the processing in his eyes, but has no idea what he’s thinking, and that makes her nervous. Anxiously waiting…

Her answer is a harsh slap to the face. Unfortunately for Nina, Jeff concluded that he can no longer make his little puppet do his bidding. She’s useless in his eyes, no fun anymore, that’s no good. So, there’s only one thing left to do.

Weak pleas fall on deaf ears as the next thing Nina knows she’s in horrific pain as Jeff brutally stabs her repeatedly. Leaving her to bleed out on the ground so she can “think about what she’s done.”

Luckily, it seemed that the universe decided to grant some mercy upon the secondary smile killer. As the sun began to rise, a bruised up Toby and Jane come across an inconsolable barely breathing Nina and a sobbing Lazari who’s desperately trying to stop the bleeding. Despite being a big part of the incident, all they see her as now is another one of Jeff’s victims. Toby gently picks her up and carries her off as the three of them go to get her medical aid. And that was the start of a newfound family!

Nina has a lot of regrets to overcome, but this was a night she considers both the best and worst day of her life. To this day, it’s hard to talk about.

Someone please give this woman hugs, she needs them. A lot of my Nina’s do lol.

I can’t wait to work on more for this AU!

[xoxosimp]

20 Minutes Left

Pairing : Mike Zacharias x Reader

Synopsis: Doing your laundry at 2 am never felt so rewarding. 

A/N : This fic is for @chaotic-nick One Night Stand Collab! This was beta read but I did not proofread this LOL.

CW: car sex, unprotected sex( wrap it before you tap), size kink if you squint, fast paced

There was a certain type of peace when you did your laundry at 2am. 

There were no children running around the laundromat or elderly ladies trying to make conversation. It was just you and the machine swishing your laundry. 

“What is an angel like you doing up so late?”, a new voice chimed. 

You turned your head to the most handsome man your town has ever seen. Mike Zacharias. He had beautiful emerald eyes with disheveled blonde hair. His huge arms filled with beautiful geometric patterns made of ink 

This man was panty-dropping, drop dead gorgeous.

“I’m doing my taxes,” you said dryly. 

“ May I sit  while you do these taxes ,angel?” something twinkled in his eyes when he noticed you were staring for a second too long.

Gosh, his voice was rich and deep. He made sure to enunciate every letter, every syllable of his pet name for you. Like he’s tasting it. 

You gestured toward the empty chair next to you. “What are you doing up this late, Mike? You don’t have any laundry with you.” 

He took a seat. “ I was nearby meeting with a friend when I saw you through the window. And I will say angel, I like what I’m seeing.”

His eyes are doing that again. They take in your body, no doubt appreciating your work uniform that left little to the imagination. You wore a crop top and fishnets under your denim shorts that ended right where they needed to. 

“ I’m pretty sure I’ll be wearing less come next week,” you rolled your eyes.

“How so, angel?, ” he questioned. 

“Apparently someone bought the bar I work at. Probably some middle aged loser who wants to turn it into a strip club.”

“ Aren’t you judgmental, angel?” He teases.

“I’m not being judgemental, It’s a prediction,” You state matter of factly. 

He chuckles, and gosh you think your pussy fluttered around nothing. Everything about this man was heavenly, it was sinful.  

Then he gave you that look. Those eyes that conveyed he knew every single dirty thought running through your mind. That grin that said he wanted to fulfill every single dirty thought. 

“ You have 20 minutes left of your cycle,angel,” he pointed out. 

“ And?” you raised an eyebrow. 

“Can’t just have you sitting here, angel, when you could be doing something much more productive.”

–

“Take it all, angel,” he huffed, “be a good girl.”

In a matter of minutes both of your clothes were discarded and thrown in the back of Mike’s car. It was like he planned this, since he was conveniently parked in the darkest corner of the laundromat parking lot. 

“Take it all, angel,” he huffed, “be a good girl.”

Gosh, you thought you were taking him. You don't dare look down at your tiny cunt trying to take his length. You take a deep breath and slow inch down on his dick. Your cunt was spasming on him. You held his shoulders so hard it would leave bruises. 

Mike clenched his stomach in an effort not to finish so soon. You were barely inside him yet the silkyness and heat of your pussy was overwhelming him.

“That’s a good fucking girl,” he groaned, “ Take all of me.” 

You sink down slowly, until finally- he bottoms out.

You’re so deep in your haze of arousal to truly understand how crazy this is. You’re about to ride Mike in his car, in public, where anyone could see you.But, the way you felt him in your stomach, the way his cock kissed your cervix without pain, any sense of rationality went out the window.

Once you adjusted to his size, you slowly grinded on Mike, leaving no space between the both of you so you could grind your clit until his pelvis. His warm hands found purchase on your hips and encouraged you to keep dragging yourself back and forth on his dick.

You lean on your knees and start bouncing on him. He was so deep inside of you, you were sure you were going to feel him even after you finished. Skin slapping skin and your loud moans filled the air as the car shook.

“ Fuck, angel,” Mike groaned. “ Keep bouncing angel, be a good girl.” His praise made your clit throb.Your thighs were burning but you were so close. Your perfect tits in his face. Your head is thrown back in pleasure. You, moaning his name while you rode him.

You were picturesque.

“Mike ‘m close m’ close,” you babbled mindlessly. You, fucked out on his cock. He wants more of this. 

“ Then be a good little angel and cum on my cock,” he commanded softly. “Cum for me, angel.”

The base of your spine was tingling in pleasure. Your high was going to come crashing down, and his words were all you needed.Your cunt clenched down hard on him, squirting on his cock.

Mike didn't stop. Your cunt was spasming in overstimulation as he bucked his hips into you at a fast rate. He’s going to leave bruises on your hips depending on how hard he’s gripping them. You arched your back as his balls slap against your skin.

‘ Take me so well, angel,” his words are slurred, “ ‘m close angel”

The warmth of your cunt became too much and with three thick spurts,he painted your cunt white. 

You were so cock drunk you couldn't determine how much time really passed. Mike slowly pulls out of your cunt, and he’e delighted to see his cum spill out of your messy cunt.

“ You okay, angel? “Mike asked softly as he rubbed your back. 

You nodded as you rested on the crook of his neck. “ Give me words, angel”

“‘M okay” you mumbled. He was so warm you didn't want to leave his embrace yet. Or ever.

“ You should probably check on your laundry,” Mike quipped. 

You picked up your head and gave him a “ oh so it’s like that face”. “Are you trying to say this one night stand is officially over?”

“ Not in the slightest, angel,” he chuckled.

~~~~

Somehow you and Mike mentioned to get cleaned up and put your clothes back on. You didn't even bother putting your clothes to dry. You just needed a hot shower and sleep. 

Your legs ached from last night’s tryst with Mike, you contemplated calling out of work. But Pixis insisted everyone be there so the new owner could meet his staff. 

You sat at the bar with your coworker , Hitch, resting your head on your palm.

“Girl, you look like hell,” she stated, wiping the bar, “ Rough night or somethin?”

Well, Mike was rough with you last night.

“Or something,” you mumbled.

“Here are two of my best bartenders,” Pyxis’s voice boomed through the empty bar. 

He says that about all his bartenders, you rolled your eyes internally.

“Mr.Zacharias, meet-” his voice drowned out as you picked your head up and made eye contact with the new owner. 

Heart melting green eyes. Beautiful messy, blonde hair, and a panty dropping smile.

Oh Fuck no.

“ Everything alright?” Mike asked. His tone was level but his eyes were teasing. Pyxis and Hitch couldn't see his lustfulness, no doubt remembering what happened before the sun rose.

You rubbed your eyes and snapped out of your trance “I’m fine, just tired is all.” you said.

“Something kept you up?”

“ Laundry took forever,” you answered, “ more than 20 minutes, to be precise.”

[sussysatann]

Guys, I am geniunely so sad about the Yuri on Ice movie. We were waiting for such a long time. People were having their doubts with the lack of news but I wanted to have hope anyway. Hope that their story would continue. Hope that we would finally get to see all the years of hard work, passion and dedication that went into making this film. Hope that even after years of mostly radio silence, maybe we could still actually get something. Especially after the pandemic years.

MAPPA cancelled the film due to "various reasons". I feel like after all this time since they started production back in 2017, we deserve a more concrete reasoning. Especially the animators and everyone who worked tirelessly on this project from the very beginning to end.

I remember going to a local anime/cosplay convention years back and met the English VA for Yuri, Jessie James Grelle. It was super cool to meet them. I remember asking if there was anything confirmed for season 2 and them saying there was actually an entire MOVIE in the works. I remember feeling so ecstatic about it, especially since this was just before the official announcement released.

I really loved Yuri on Ice, the characters and the story. I really wanted to see it continue and let the characters and world grow.

To the writer, Mitsurou Kubo, Thank you for this show. Thank you so so much. Thank you for these beloved characters. Thank you for this story. I want to hope that this isn't the end of Yuri on Ice, but I fear it most likely is. I remember feeling so excited, waiting for the episodes to drop every week. It became a routine and my teenage self found a lot of joy through this show. 8 years later and I'm now an adult who's almost Yuri's age. I was really hoping we'd get to see them one last time but, If this truly is the end of Yuri on Ice- Thank you for everything.

but also fuck you mappa.

[p-redux]

You know, I am stunned at the lack of logic and critical thinking in this fandom. It’s like those with extreme opinions have such strong confirmation bias that they can’t get out of their own way. When I read some of these posts on lots of different blogs, I am struck at the logical questions that are never truly answered- well except by ad hominem attacks and logical fallacies and extensive conspiracy theories.

1. Wouldn’t a TV show that’s not on a well-known and popular streaming service love the PR they’d get if their costars were actually in love and in a real life relationship? What value does the production company gain by keeping them hidden for almost 10 years? I can’t logically see that it would bring more profits. So we’re supposed to love a loyal, brave, committed, and family-oriented Jamie, but we need a single, sexy Sam to sell the show?? Cognitive dissonance anyone?

2. Now that it’s well established that Sam and Caitriona essentially ARE Outlander and are EPs, wouldn’t they have the power to say no more if this “ narrative” was true? If they quit, there’s no OL. Couldn’t they refuse to film anything else if they aren’t allowed to tell the truth (if it’s hidden)? It’s interesting that Ron and Terri are married, Maril and Matt have twins together, but S and C were forbidden to be together? I would think that could be a legitimate lawsuit. Didn’t they renegotiate new contracts since the first season?

3. Do people actually believe that Sam and Caitriona are good people, philanthropic people, hard working entrepreneurial people, wonderful human beings but at the same time think that either of them would actually lie about their own children? With Sam’s childhood, people honestly think he would deny his kids AND be away from them for months? That they both would lie and deceive us about her father’s funeral?

4. So it’s been 10 years and NOT ONE person associated with either of them has publicly and clearly stated, with no doubts or other possible connotations, that they are really together? No costars? No personal friends? No teacher of their kids? No hospital personnel where the kids were born? No extras on OL? No crew members- even those that have been gone long enough that any NDA they signed about the production would have expired? No hotel staff where they may have traveled with their kids? No former “fake gfs” who might be pissed? No friends of “ fake gfs” that want to defend their friend and set the record straight? Not one person who has been associated with OL who might just think this is harmful to children? No photos of them with kids in public- clear photos, not reflections or someone in the background that we cannot clearly identify? Not videos where we cannot tell who is actually there? Wouldn’t someone somewhere have gotten a photo of them together as a family? In ten years? Have you P, seen evidence that I haven’t? I have seen nothing but reflections, blurry images, unidentifiable people in the background. Am I missing something?

5. About their chemistry- they aren’t the only actors I have ever seen that have great chemistry but no real romantic relationship. There are lots of them. It’s like people don’t know what actors actually do. So much of chemistry in acting between actors is about trust and respect for the work. Even some of the best chemistry has been between actors who didn’t really like each other in real life, but were able to use their chemistry and their talent to create characters we believed loved each other.

6. Lastly, I can’t wrap my brain around liking and respecting these two actors for their work and for their real lives, while claiming every day they are lying to me.

People see what they want to see or what they need to see to support their position.

Occam’s Razor tells me that the simplest explanation is often the best one.

Hopefully when OL finally ends, these two will get some peace.

Now, watch the “but what about ______? “start.

Bless you Anon for summarizing everything I and countless other SANE fans have been saying in the Outlander fandom for the last 9 years. The thing is...some Extreme Shippers continue to ship for a few reasons. I put them in these categories:

1. OG shippers who have invested SO many YEARS in their SamCait fantasy ship. They want to "save face." It's embarrassing to acknowledge that you were fed and believed a LIE for so long. Their egos can't handle it, so they'd rather double down, and find a way to pretzel their brains around things that are obvious facts to the rest of us. They don't want to feel like they "lost." So, they just keep on denying the TRUTH and the mountains of evidence showing that Sam and Cait are not a couple in real life. The alternative is too painful to them. It's been too much time, too much energy, too much of themselves invested in the ship, and they are missing something in their real lives. The ship fills that void.

2. New fans to Outlander who have recently discovered it. They've gone down the rabbit hole of shipper Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter X accounts and they haven't climbed their way out yet to blogs like mine, and other Non-Shippers.

3. The Fake Shippers who pretend to be shippers to MAKE MONEY off those still clinging on to the life boats. There are still bloggers and shipper groups who know they have a captive audience in shippers holding out hope that some of what the original shipper leaders sold them might actually be true. These fake shippers manipulate gifs, pictures, videos, SHOW shippers what they WANT to see. They keep them hanging on with podcasts, magazine, subscriptions. They sell them trips to Scotland, conventions t-shirts, mugs, daily "proof" that Sam and Cait secretly live together with their 5 bairns. And because con artists are experts at conning people, they make everything believable...and some poor souls buy what they're selling. Literally BUY 💵 what they're selling. Sadly, this fandom is filled with a lot of retired women with disposable income, who are lonely or disillusioned with their own lives. And they are easy pickings for the money hungry fake shippers.

So, in summary, the reason there are still some SamCait Shippers is a combination of fake shippers SELLING them the fantasy AND women needing to STILL hold onto the fantasy. With a few actually mentally unwell women thrown in here and there, who have diagnosable mental health issues.

It's actually quite sad. If only they had gotten off the ship with the rest of us years ago, they could have been enjoying celebrating REAL love. Instead, they're on a constantly rocky ship that causes them disappointment more often than not. Here, on terra firma, no one needs Dramamine. It's lovely. Because it's REAL. 💞

[avatar-anna]

Do you think the reader would feel insecure if she started dating harry, and being aware that most of the songs on the Fine Line album are for Camille?

“Say something.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Is it that you don’t know what to say or that you think I can’t take it? Because I can, Y/n.”

Harry looked at Y/n pleadingly, urging to say something. Anything.

“Oh for God sakes please, Y/n, I want to know what you’re—”

“It’s a shrine! To her! To the relationship you had with her!” she shouted, letting her deepest insecurities come to light.

She knew that this album would be about Harry’s previous relationship, that when she and Harry started dating, said album was in the final stages of production. He was completely smitten Y/n when they first met, anyone around him knew it, and while she’d been wary, he was quick to dash all her worries away.

But hearing this album, hearing just how deeply he felt for his ex-girlfriend, it worried her all over again. And he couldn’t even fathom why.

Camille was a model, she was well-liked—by his friends, family, and his fans—and they had clearly been very in love. How did it end? Did he still have feelings for her? What’s to say things wouldn’t be different? That he wasn’t still hung up on her? Y/n knew she didn’t necessarily have a right to know some of these things, but Harry was putting it out there for the whole world to hear. People were going to think she was an idiot for being with someone who was so clearly in love with someone else.

But in front of all that, the one thing she couldn’t shake was what she heard in undertones and insinuations within the music.

“Did—Did you cheat on her?”

Harry had been begging Y/n to speak, but she was sure he hadn’t been expecting that.

“What? Why would you ask me that?”

“Because it’s not just your heart you’re putting on your sleeve with these songs, it’s mine,” she said, voice cracking. “People will think I was the one you cheated on her with, or that I’m stupid for being with someone who—who dresses like his ex—”

“Y/n, baby, please let me just—”

“Perfect! Another thing I’ll be questioning! All the little pet names you shared,” she said. Wiping at her eye, she said, “It’s just hard. You normally don’t know all the details like this.”

Harry was a good guy who had a lot of love to share. Perhaps a bit too much. Y/n wasn’t like him, she was terribly guarded, something Harry didn’t mind. And over time, he managed to break down her walls, but hearing this album brought them right back up.

“Y/n, come here. Please,” he said. His hair was disheveled and looked genuinely upset to see his girlfriend so unhappy.

He knew this album would be cause for questioning on Y/n’s part, but he never expected this. This album was a way for him to pour his heart out, bleed every last drop of his love for Camille so he could move on from her.

He was proud of his work, but he was also falling in love with Y/n, and the two seemed to be at odds. Funny how Camille still haunted him, even after all this time.

“I don’t love her anymore, Y/n. That’s a promise.”

“Darling,” Harry said, taking a couple steps forward. “I know this all seems like it’s in the present, but it’s not. I’m with you. I want to be with you. Please don’t doubt that.”

She sniffled, willing to believe him after a little more reassurance. “You mean that?”

Y/n looked in his eyes, read every little expression lined there. He looked sincere, he sounded sincere, so it was only a matter of choosing to believe him.

And she realized she did believe him on that front. He’d been nothing but perfect since they started seeing each other. He bought her gifts and took her on surprise trips and joined her to watch her younger sister’s volleyball games. He not only cared about her, he cared about the people close to her too, and that was the thing that made her fall for him. Seeing Harry with her sisters, her parents and grandparents, holding and spoon feeding her little baby niece. He was the one, she’d been sure of it, and she had to be now too.

“I know, I’m sorry. I probably sound crazy,” she finally said.

“Not crazy. I think you just like me a lot,” he said, smiling just enough to let his dimples indent his cheeks. His forehead was against hers, his hand on her cheek, caressing her skin gently. “It’s just you and me. I promise.”

Y/n believed him, but she had to ask one last time. Even if the answer was one she didn’t want. “And did you? Cheat?”

It was funny to feel Harry’s head as he shook it against hers, but all Y/n could feel was relief that he said no.

“We drove each other crazy the last two months we were together, but no, although I understand why you would come to that conclusion.”

Y/n felt better. It would be an interesting journey the next few months as the album finally came out, but she believed Harry, and that had to be enough.

“It’s a good album, though,” she said quietly as he hugged her against his chest.

“Yeah?”

“Mmhm. I think I liked ‘She’ the most, even if it was written about your ex.”

Y/n felt the rumble of Harry’s chest as he chuckled. Tilting her head up, she asked him what was so funny.

“That one’s about you, actually.”

“You’re lying,” she said, looking at him in disbelief.

“I’m not, I swear. We wrote it accidentally. It was a couple days after we first met. Mitch and I were high on mushrooms.”

“You’ve done mushrooms?”

Harry held his hands up in mock-defense. “Listen, we were just experimenting—”

“Without me?” Y/n said, a knowing grin on her face.

Harry’s smile was full this time as he picked his girlfriend up and spun her around, leading her straight to bed. “You continue to surprise me,” he said, kissing her all over her face and neck.

Y/n just grinned. It seemed they were going to be just fine.

[amazinguu-sekai]

Being the producer of his first solo song

kasumi: im on my writing spree again. sena is the first target sorry:3

reader: (gn) ; requested: nope ! ; proofread: cari ; type: headcannon (w/ lil scenes) ; wc: 333 ; era: !!

summary: You were the music producer in charge of Izumi Sena, a member of the popular unit Knights. Sena is a blunt and straightforward person, but over time, his carefully constructed facade began to crumble as he became more comfortable with you. Despite his tough exterior, Sena harbors self-doubt about his solo songs, which he is hesitant to admit.

Izumi Sena 📷

When you heard that you're the one who'll produce the first album of one of the members from the popular unit— Knights, you can't help but feel nervous. (honestly, who wouldn't?)

The moment you saw Izumi, you can't help but fall in love with his handsome and pretty face, but when he talked and his personality was shown, you were horrified and nervous of his blunt personality. But you guessed that's probably what happens when you belong to a popular unit. Oh, the facade of each idol..

The production of the single solo album was going pretty smoothly, having been in charge of the proper instrumental, timing, tempo and the vocal pitches of the song as well as the proper vocal ranges of Izumi's voice.

At first, you can't happen to approach Izumi, at all! He looks way too focused on his job, but as time passes by, you slowly warmed up and got accustomed to his personality and his usual traits of being serious and blunt. But a few days later, Izumi also began to get used to you, just a tinyyyy bit.

“Yeah, yeah, I'll work on my pitches next time..” Izumi muttered, without giving any attention or looking your way. As he drank his water, you can't help but notice that his voice was a little bit shaky the way he said it. Was he tired from the practices? Most probably.. You didn't give much attention to it, though.

One time, while arriving early at the studio, you glanced at the dressing room. Only to see Izumi gripping the chair hard while he stares at himself in the mirror. You can see that he looks like he's in pain and misery, hearing a few curses under his breath. You tried to approach him, but he immediately went back to his facade, “It's none of your business! Prepare the instrumental version of my solo, I wanna hear it." in a harsh and demanding tone, changing the topic of the conversation. You didn't try to talk and pry more into it, as he might get uncomfortable. After all, you were just his producer. You can't help but worry about him, though..

You somehow finally realized when he opened up to you about his problems after taking weeks of trying to hide it-- that Izumi had lots of uncertainty to his solo, thinking that he's probably better if he's with the other Knights members. You can't believe that under the tough and blunt facade, he had been going through lots of self doubt and anxiety, thinking that maybe he just didn't agree on the contract of making a solo song for himself.

But, you proved him to be wrong! Absolutely wrong!! You tried your best to comfort him and tell him that he's better and that he should have more confidence just as what his personality truly is. After talking with him for a few minutes, he thanked you for being there for him and he's grateful. Just a little bit.

“...Thanks, I guess, for listening to me.. I'll try to have more faith in myself, producer. You're a great friend outside work premises.” Your heart sort of broke, when he only sees you as a friend, to you who developed a romantic attraction to him over the weeks of being with him.

Once the solo was released and your contract with him is finally over, you can't help but feel defeated at the sight of him with his unit members and the glasses guy from Trickstar— Makoto, who you presumed. He's more happy around them and it feels like you're only a nobody for him.

Well, it's the bitter truth. It's just a contract, once the contract ends, you'll cut ties with him and probably never talk to him ever again.

Unbeknownst to you, Izumi still has this kind of hesitancy, but this time, it's more different.. He's having self-doubt and insecurity not on the solo song he released, but on how he can confess to you. With the confidence and blunt personality he usually puts up with everyone. But when it comes to you, it easily shatters.

What have you done to him?

[gingerylangylang1979]

I shipped Carmy x Sydney hardcore based on season one but I’m putting my shipping on leave until further notice.

There was so much that happened this season that just left me cold about them. We got a few cute bonding moments but overall Sydney and the restaurant was an afterthought to Carmy. I’ve been wanting him to heal and have a personal life. I would have preferred it with Sydney but I was open to this new girl if they really sold it for me. 

There was obviously a lot of emotion between Carmy and Claire but it did seem very sudden and not built up in a way to make me invested. First, the character seemed pretty one dimensional. All the people from Carmy’s old life rooted for them but we didn’t get to see those relationships or why beyond they all knew each other. She just seemed like the ultimate “nice girl”. That’s great but give me some depth. They tried to frame it production wise like this epic pairing but I wasn’t getting that. I did mildly enjoy seeing romantic Carmy but it seemed a bit hollow and a bit Hollywood let’s have a romance in execution. Like, it for real felt like an FX exec was like we need to do this for a bigger audience. I was endeared by them at times but I felt the dialogue was lacking and it was all very cliche. 

It also dominated most of Carmy’s time. I missed Carmy being Chef Carmy with the crew. It did do what many feared would happen if this show did romance. It became more important than anything else in Carmy’s life and weighed down the season. We also lost the sense of Carmy being a fish out of water with relationships. There were a few nods to this being new for him but honestly everything seemed very smooth. I wanted to see him struggle more with intimacy and just doing the normal things yet still finding his way. They could have made it spicier, way more nuanced, way more dynamic in presentation. But it wasn’t that. And the extent to which Carmy was captivated by her it would be hard to match that with Sydney and I’m afraid she would seem the second choice. Like, would Sydney get the swooney declarations of beauty and him telling everyone gushingly how he loves her? Would we get the kisses and bed cuddling? I want that for Syd. I’m not even sure I could buy Carmy being attracted to Sydney now if she doesn’t get some grand declaration of her beauty and loveliness.

But it wasn’t necessarily that another woman was introduced. If I was more sold on the pairing I would give a pass. It’s that Sydney as his professional partner was so sidelined. They have already been through him leaving her in the lurch and expecting her to pick up the pieces without a lot in return. At this point is coming across very navel gazing white dude taking advantage of a black woman’s ambition with no end in sight and that makes me not into it. It may not be intentional on his part but in effect that’s what we are seeing. Sydney is still loyal to him even in her frustration and she is getting very little in return, not much more than she would get with any other Executive Chef. There seemed to be promise beyond that based on how last season ended. He seemed to be inviting her in as an equal but all we saw was her being the committed one and covering for him yet again. Her only reward is maybe The Bear’s success but their dynamic is still very I’m the owner. 

We also never got any bonding aside from the rare meaningful touch bases about work. There was no light hearted banter, not any intense menu planning genius. I was excited for those scenes but they were brief and kind of not that impactful to the process of them creating together. The final menu work seemed to be done in isolation from each other. The opportunity to go explore cuisine was wasted with Syd going it alone. 

If they ever do try to pair them, I seriously doubt it now, they would have so much work to do to rebuild Carmy as a character and their dynamic. It seems they did try to pair her with Marcus. She doesn’t seem into it. Is she not into him? Does she think it’s a bad idea professionally? Does she hae repressed feelings for Carmy? She did seem a bit jealous in a weird way, which I hated. But yeah, if they were to have any intention of pairing Carmy and Sydney they missed a lot of opportunities this season that could have been epic. It should have felt like their restaurant, not his, and she’s just there for the ride and a line on her resume.

I will finish my fic, but being invested in the ship isn’t big for me. I know a ship doesn’t have to be canon to ship but I just am not even a fan of Carmy enough right now to like him for her. It even affected my attraction for him a bit. He’s still fine but I wasn’t as lusting for him this season because of his behavior. I was also sad JAW as an actor didn’t have a lot to work with that was challenging.