#i’ve seen reviews bitching that ‘well if we don’t see how it works how do we know’ if u don’t know how the camps worked at your big age

[thewingedwolf]

the pushback against the zone of interest as “holokitsch” feels a lot like the pushback against son of saul, wherein a lot of people just don’t like holocaust movies that refuse to give you a cathartic, happy ending and instead force you to confront the actual horror that happened through some clearly well thought out camera styling & cinematography. which is like, the complete oppose of “kitschy” and it’s why i think the argument is stupid as fuck.

[hotchs-bitch]

Fluffy Feb Day 5- Words of Affirmation

Warnings: platonic relationship, BAU reader, brief mentions of case involving kids (no details)

Pairing: Hotch x blank slate Fem!Reader (no use of y/n)

Word Count: 902

Your performance review couldn’t come at a worse time, in your opinion. You’re fresh off of a hard case; those involving children are always the worst. Everyone is exhausted, not helped by the late hour that you land back in Quantico, but reports need to be written and files need to be filed, so you end up back at the office right from the airstrip.

Halfway through your second cup of coffee and squinting at the folder in your hands, you look up to see Hotch standing near your desk. He shoots you an apologetic smile, then lifts the folder he’s holding. Your name is written on the tab, and you groan when you realize what it is.

“Performance reviews. I hope you don’t mind, but they’re due by 9 AM,” he explains, and you get to your feet. “We can do it in the morning if you prefer.”

That’s almost laughable because it’s nearing 1 AM already, so you just shake your head and start in the direction of his office. “Let’s get it over with.”

Your attitude isn’t exactly stellar, but you know that after the week you’ve had, he’ll understand. Hotch follows you up the steps to his office, seating himself behind the large mahogany desk before he sets the file down.

“Are you okay?” He asks, his voice gentle, and you know that this isn’t part of the review. “I know this case wasn’t an easy one.”

‘I’m fine’ is on the tip of your tongue, ready to be said so you can get on with the review, but instead, you sigh out a tired, “I’ve been better. How are you doing?”

“I’m alright. Thank you.” Hotch opens the folder and removes a few papers, but you narrow your eyes at him. 

He’s got a shield up, as he so often does. Especially now, on those days that he feels the need to appear strong for the sake of the team. It makes something in your chest ache for him; the rest of the team can bitch and moan and whine all they want about the workload and long hours, but Hotch’s shield never falters. Who can he talk to, about the things you’ve seen and the lives you live out in the field?

“I’m serious,” you insist. “That was probably the worst week of my life since I’ve started here, and I don’t even have a kid. Hotch, talk to me.”

The smile he gives you is half-placating, half-grateful. It gets on your exhausted nerves more than it should. “I am. I’m trying to do your review, remember?”

His light tone doesn’t lend itself to your good graces. “The sheriff was a dick,” you tell him, and his smile becomes a little more genuine at that.

“We’re supposed to call that ‘unreasonable’.” His correction comes quickly, as you knew it would, but there’s no mistaking the amusement in his eyes.

“Fine. He was an unreasonable unreasonable-head, and you dealt with him more than anyone else did, and I don’t know how you didn’t rip his head off.”

Hotch’s head ducks slightly, as though he’s unused to the recognition, and it makes you frown. Case after case, he commends your efforts and those of the rest of the team with little comments made here and there. You’re no stranger to hearing that you’ve done well in an interrogation, and you’ve heard Morgan complimented for his takedown of an unsub more than once.

So, who’s saying that stuff to Hotch?

He clears his throat and looks down at his paper, but you’re not done talking. “You did really well handling the victim’s family, too,” you add, if only to see his lips press together into what has become a repressed smile. “I could see that they felt safer after you spoke to them.”

“Yes. Well,” he clears his throat, “Thank you. The family is one of our top priorities.”

“I know that. I’m just saying; you’re good at your job, Hotch.” You shrug one shoulder, trying to play off your words with nonchalance for his comfort. It works, and you can see the moment he relaxes slightly and some tension drains from his shoulders and their stiff posture.

“That’s kind of you to say,” he says, and you can tell that you’ve flustered him. It’s almost time to back off, you can tell, but you’re not quite done yet.

“Honest.” Your correction comes as swiftly as his earlier one did. “You’re in charge for a reason. We wouldn’t be half the team we are without you.”

This time, when Hotch clears his throat and looks down at the paper, you don’t interrupt. His cheeks are tinted with the lightest pink, and he seems intent on not looking back at you.

“Okay, Agent.” When he speaks after a minute, his tone is final but it’s also more casual. Relaxed. “We should get on with the review; it’s getting late.”

“Of course.” You relax into your chair in turn as he leafs through a couple of pages, and the moment gives you time to profile him despite your silent agreement that you never would. 

His head is ducked, but not enough to hide the upturned corners of his mouth, and you make a mental note to compliment him in the field more often. He deserves it more than anyone, and you’re happy to be the one to give it to him.

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Fluffy Feb tags: @doctorsteths-fluffyfeb @iammirrorball @hausofwhores @allthefandomstogether @myweepingangel @hotched @spacecowboyhotch @chibsytelford @honeybrowne @formulapierre (send me a dm or ask to be tagged!)

[medea10]

My Review of Peter Pan no Bouken

Nearing the end of watching Little Lord Fauntleroy, instead of airing the preview for the next episode there was a preview for an upcoming anime that was going to air in it’s current timeslot. When you watch these World Masterpiece Theater animes in their original video format, you come upon that. In the past, I saw previews for other series I have yet to watch like Heidi and The Bush Babies. What do we have here this time?

Peter Pan?!

Peter Pan is an anime?! For real?! Okay, we’re watching this.

All I can say is, who hasn’t heard of Peter Pan? How many movies and television shows have been made that was loosely based off this fairy tale? Too many to count! Hook, Finding Neverland, Pan, Walt Disney’s Peter Pan, Peter Pan starring Mary Martin, Tinkerbell, the live-action Peter Pan in 2003, Return to Neverland, Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Peter Pan and the Pirates on FOX Kids, Once Upon a Time…It’s just endless! Add to that a new Disney live-action reboot to the tale starring Jude Law. So, this story is never going to die. And it shouldn’t! I grew up with the story. I’ve watched several plays. I’ve seen many movie adaptations. Because I have a boomer parent, I watched the Mary Martin Broadway version. But as we all know, the one I know front-to-back would be Walt Disney’s 1953 animated feature film starring Bobby Driscoll, Hans Conried, and Katherine Beaumont.

I know this film is canceled eight ways from Sunday and I don’t care. Disney+ has advisory notices everywhere with this one. And if I’m not mistaking, if you’re under 7 on Disney+, you’re not even allowed to watch this without parental permission. I’ll save the bitching about that for a different day. I liked this film. Disney’s Peter Pan is one of my guilty pleasures despite outdated stereotypes and major sexism. At least I know the Japanese version won’t sing a song called, “What Makes the Red Man Red”. I’m curious to see Japan’s take on this tale as these World Masterpiece Theater classics seem to be very accurate in their telling of the stories. And they’ve got 41 episodes to do so.

I do have to wonder though. Aren’t the main characters of the World Masterpiece Theater animes supposed to deal with heavy subject matter? The Darling children have it easy compared to nearly every other character from the other animes. They’re not orphaned. They’re not put to work in slave conditions. They're not escaping Nazis. Their home was not burned to the ground by Confederate soldiers. That’s a foreshadow to what I watch after Peter Pan. These kids get to hang out in Neverland with a boy that never grew up. Then again, it is a literary classic and I suppose they wanted to change things up with a more light-hearted story.

The story was created by Scottish playwright/novelist J.M. Barrie. Peter Pan is the story about a free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows older. Peter Pan lives in Neverland with a fairy named Tinkerbell. He spends his days hanging with other kids who didn’t grow up named the lost boys, conversing with the mermaids, dodging danger from the Indians, and occasionally fighting against the notorious pirate, Captain Hook.

But as we all know the story truly begins with the Darling family. Wendy, John, and Michael Darling are spirited children who are well taken care of by their loving and strict parents and a watchful dog named Nana. The children have recently been having dreams about the titular character. It’s an uncommon phenomenon for children their age to dream about a boy that never ages named Peter Pan. It’s just that there’s no book to prove his existence. But Peter Pan has found a fascination with the Darling household and shows up several times. After losing his shadow, Peter ends up meeting Wendy, John, and Michael. Peter tells them all about the place he lives, Neverland. Next thing you know, they’re covered in pixie dust and they’re flying from the UK all the way to Neverland.

Here, Wendy and her brothers spend their time hanging out with the lost boys, conversing with the mermaids, dodging danger from the Indians, and…okay, you get the idea. The Darling children are getting the Neverland experience.

BETWEEN THE DUB AND THE SUB: You ain’t gonna believe this. This anime has a dub. Not just one, but two dubs. In 1993, Sky One in the UK aired this anime (under the name Peter Pan: The Animated Series) and gave it a dub. Not to be confused with the other shows that went as Peter Pan: The Animated Series. This, I’m okay with. Real British people voicing real British characters. Thank you! Yeah, I praise that here, but when the UK dubs for Crayon Shin Chan and Urusei Yatsura, I make cringe faces. The other dub was done by Saban. Wow, how dated can you get with that company? Due to the limited data, I can’t really talk about the dub here. As usual, we get a few veterans from the World Masterpiece Theater animes and a few well-known voice actors early in their career. One more addition, it’s quite clever that Chiako Otsuka not only played Captain Hook here, but he was also the Japanese dub voice for many Disney movies that feature Hook (as well as some of the Kingdom Hearts games) and continued to do so before passing away several years ago. The more we know!

*Peter Pan is played by Noriko Hidaka (known for Kikyo on InuYasha, Akane on Ranma ½, Near on Death Note, Soujirou on Rurouni Kenshin, Ursula on Little Witch Academia, and Bellemire on One Piece)

*Wendy is played by Naoko Matsui (known for Misora on Death Note, Noriko on Itazura na Kiss, Monet on One Piece, Shikamaru’s mother on Naruto, and Bridget on Little Lord Fauntleroy)

*John is played by Kyouko Hamura

*Michael is played by Yuriko Fuchizaki (known for Anthy on Revolutionary Girl Utena, Hiro on Fruits Basket, Cyprine on Sailor Moon S, and Megumi on Ah My Goddess)

*Tinkerbell is played by Sumi Shimamoto (known for Ishizu on YGO, Kanata on Lucky Star, Sara on Princess Sara, and Mitsuba on Gintama)

*Captain Hook is played by Chiako Otsuka (known for Gol D. Roger on One Piece, Arthur on Hellsing, and Tao Pai Pai on Dragon Ball) [R.I.P.]

SHIPPING: Wait…what?! There should be no talk of shipping here.

Oh, but in episode six John has a crush on Tiger Lily. And then John continues to be all blushy around her throughout the series.

John and Tiger Lily? What sick fan-fiction tripe is this?! I’ve never seen any poppycock related to what I just wrote anywhere. Tiger Lily is supposed to have a crush on Peter and hate Wendy. Not on a yandere level like Tinkerbell, but still. Japan, do better!

To be honest, there is one ship I support in the Peter Pan universe and no, it is not Peter Pan x Wendy. That was never something I supported, not even as a kid.

I actually support Captain Hook x the crocodile. Yes, I am pro this. Even three-year old me would support this.

ACCURATE OR NOT: Time to see if this adaptation stacks up well compared to the original source material.

*This adaptation has fewer Lost Boys. Many of the adaptations are pretty loose when it comes to the lost boys in terms of how many there are and their names. Originally, there were six. So, we seem to be missing Nibs and the twins. I guess that’s one thing Disney’s Peter Pan got right and they didn’t even say their names.

*Not sure if all of these places in Neverland truly existed in the original text. Because here, it feels like there are a lot of places that even Peter Pan has never heard of or been to. Pretty sure Peter Pan has been in Neverland since God farted out the solar system. So, why would he question any part of the land he’s lived in his whole life? And don’t get me started on Tinkerbell’s situation. That’s a fairy-hole I don’t feel like traveling down.

*There was potential of a really threatening antagonist for this series with Darkness and her ambitions of stealing dreams from children. And it’s up to her granddaughter Luna to save this woman and show her the right way. Too bad Darkness and Luna do not exist in the original material. Hey, if this series is gonna be 41 episodes, you’ve gotta stretch it out as much as possible.

*Yeah, little Rascal here doesn’t exist outside the anime. Just like every other cute animal featured in these animes. Okay, go join the rest of the animals like Chouchou, Milky Ann, Piccolo, and Caesar that never existed.

*Mama Hook. Surely, she existed. I mean, Hook was originally a fellow who studied at the best schools of England including Eton and Oxford. It’s just that I don’t think she was ever mentioned in the novel. Other adaptations, very rarely. Even Disney didn’t have a Mama Hook until 2011 where they got Sharon Osbourne of all people. In the anime, it is always implied that Hook’s mother passed away, but he loves her so dearly. Every so often, he will talk about her.

THIS GODDAMN ANIMATION: I swore I would never yell about the Nippon animation for the World Masterpiece Theater collection. And it’s great that many of the Nippon animators went on to do greater pieces including movies for Studio Ghibli. But I can’t hold it in with this one. This is just bad. The animation quality went down after Little Lord Fauntleroy and it really shows. I keep wanting to wipe away Peter Pan’s mouth because I think he has a chocolate milk stain. And this might be bias on my part, but most of the Captain Hooks I’ve watched were (for a lack of a better term) PILFs. This Captain Hook looks like he belongs in that Oingo Boingo ending theme from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Pt. 3.

ENDING: Depending on what Peter Pan adaptation you watch; chances are the ending will be different. Some will end with the Darling children back home with their parents, some end with the Darling children bringing the Lost Boys with them back home, and other endings show the future where Wendy is all grown up with her daughter Jane. And most of the non-Disney live-action ones will do something way out of left field, I turn off the TV in disgust and howl at the moon.

While I’m on a tangent, why did Pan have a scene where they’re singing Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit?

While most adaptations will showcase a Peter Pan vs. Captain Hook showdown, this series has Darkness and Luna. Darkness has plans for her granddaughter and Neverland. She plans to use this Black Mirror that will destroy Neverland. But of course, Darkness is too old to carry out anything and is missing a few things to make this come true. That’s where Luna comes in as she tries to groom her to become her successor. Luna has been hesitant and defiant against doing her grandmother’s bidding. Unfortunately, things do not go well when Captain Hook and the pirates get involved in this family squabble as well. Peter Pan and Wendy are friends with Luna and help her when she’s around, so yeah, they’re caught up in this mess too.

The pet raccoon Rascal was holding this special key that Darkness needs to make her dream into a nightmarish reality. Once everything was in place, Darkness was able to use her granddaughter’s body as a vessel in order to take over. The Luna that Peter and Wendy knew no longer exists. She’s out to destroy Neverland. Captain Hook is one for destruction, but even he knows to not fuck with the natural order of Neverland. Thankfully, Wendy was able to break through to Luna. The black mirror that Darkness has been harping about for several episodes is now the white mirror and peace can continue across the land. Okay, we’re at the final episode at this point. Is that all?

Wendy and her brothers feel like their time in Neverland is over after everything that has just happened. Yeah, just randomly bring up going home now. Absolutely no talks about leaving prior to this moment. Sure, they mention their lives in London every now and then while in Neverland but never talked about wanting to return. In this version, Wendy, John, and Michael leave without bringing back the lost boys.

After returning from Neverland, Wendy and the boys would always remember their time in Neverland…at first. In time, they will gradually forget what transpired there until it felt like nothing more than a dream. Peter promised to come visit. But days turn to weeks. Weeks to months, months to years. But one night, many years later, Peter Pan returns to the nursery to find Wendy’s daughter Jane. Better late than never!

Ehhh…not my favorite Peter Pan adaptation and right now my least favorite of the World Masterpiece Theater collection. I think for me, when it comes to Peter Pan, I prefer it to be in movie form and not a 41-episode trilogy. Frankly, this series bored me more than you would think. The addition this anime made with the black mirror, Darkness, and Luna piqued my interest slightly. It’s new to the Peter Pan story and stepping into unfamiliar territory, but it caught my attention for a short while. But to be blunt, I would rather stick to the movies I’ve grown up to enjoy.

Does that mean you’ll watch Disney’s latest Peter Pan & Wendy now?

Fuck naw. Disney can suck on a huge tray of dicks with their live-action reboots. After what they did to The Lion King, I wash my hands of that.

But if you are curious about the Peter Pan anime…good luck finding it.

Now that Peter Pan is over, it’s time I pick up another World Masterpiece Theater classic where we go back to America.

Way back when in 1863, now part of the American lore.

(psst...It's Little Women)

[legendaryoikawa]

haikyuu boys and your moments with them

note: female reader insert

warnings: tooth rooting fluff, slightly nsfw, mentions of alcohol, some grammar issues because I didn’t proofread this, sorry 😔

starring: bokuto, semi, matsukawa, tsukishima, sakusa, kageyama and goshiki

thank you for 1,7k!!!

bokuto kotaro: unplanned dates + things he do for you

“hey hey hey babe”

“why?”

“let’s go on a date, i miss u”

The little moments with bokuto is something that you will never forget. Those unplanned dates with just him in his sweats and unruly hair. Those date with him at the park with just him lying on your lap, admiring your face with a cheeky smile painting his lips. Or the way his hands playfully trace small circles on your lap playfully.

Those moments with him that’ll make you neglect your schoolworks in an instant because he pulled out a shenanigan on you (with the help of akaashi, so it’ll look convincing that bokuto is really in pain, but surprise bitch, it’s a prank) but truth is he just want to see your face because volleyball has consumed his time. And you’ll just smack him off for scaring you but he’d just kiss you in return. Kisses that are too strong with passion and desire. He gives more to the point you would be drowning with his passionate spirit.

You love it when he does this small thing where he tugs your stray away hair behind your ear. You always ask him why, but instead of answering your inquiry, he’ll just pull out a bouquet of handpicked flowers from the park and will hand to you.

“You ask why? Is it wrong to admire how absolutely stunning you are?”

sjDJHDBJSB DEAD

semi eita: when he invited you to a nearby gig

beautiful boy invited you and you thought you were just dreaming so he flicked you on your forehead 🥰💀

One thing that you should be taking with you especially when you’re going for a gig is a fucking jacket. Regardless of the event being indoors or outdoors, a fucking jacket is a must.

But you might be someone who lives under the rocks and decided to wear a full glam without taking a jacket to warm you off.

Yet, the night is already starting. Night sky is deep with velvety clouds and twinkling stars. Going back would be such a pain and Semi might be annoyed if you’d pull out a grand entrance because you’re so late. Heaving a sigh, you pulled over the venue where the gig is at. You saw him at the entrance with his signature grey hair styled perfectly and his hands stuffed into his jeans.

He gave you a quick look. “Hey.”

You let out a breath, “hey.”

You noticed that there were no people. No noise. Hell, there weren’t a gig to start with. “Semi?”

“I know. But this is the only thing i could pull of just so i could ask you on a date.”

sakusa kiyoomi: when you know you both share mutual feelings but there is something holding both of you back

you and sakusa both know you share some deep seated feeling towards each other yet neither both of you decided to talk about it.

you fell hard for him even more when you were dead shit drunk (yet, you are still aware of everything around you, however you have the guts to act carelessly even around sakusa) and you decided to tease him by sitting on his lap, when you barged into his dorm room after going hom from a sorrority party.

It really took him by surprise at how vulgar you are with your words. How straightforward you were around him. When in reality when you’re sober, you’d never dare to talk to him, let alone straddling on his lap. Or the way you look at him slowly beneath your lashes. No matter how hard sakusa tries to shut his thoughts, but he wishes to see more of this side of you.

He could smell the reek of alcohol on your breath yet he made no complains whatsoever because it’s you. It’s fucking you. And, he’ll never throw a fit even if it disturbs his personal confort zone, because it’s you that we are talking about here. And, you are in a state of vulnerability because of alcohol, now isn’t a time for him to be a brat about hygiene or whatever.

You whispered, “why are you such a stone, sakusa?”

He didn’t quite understand what you meant by that, but he chose to shut up and stare at your deep, tired eyes. Those eyes that captivated him. Those eyes of yours that he wishes to stare more at.

“I like you so much,” you slurred. “You and your bitchiness about people around you. Y-you..” you paused, shifting yourself comfortably on his lap while you gripped on his shoulders.

Sakusa could hear his own frantic heartbeat. Did you really mean it? But he knows, every shit that a drunk says, is nothing but the truth.

“I l-like you l, ya know that?” You grinned and tumbled but sakusa was fast enough to hold you on you waist. He burried his face onto the crook of you neck and whispered but loud enough for you to hear, “i like you too, but you’re disgusting right now.”

The next day was a beautiful disaster. With him and you in bed.

tsukishima kei: a study date with him at the library

having kei as your tutor could be really cold but what choice do you have?

Kei isn’t the type to sugarcoat things just because he wanted to be the type to give sympathy. But no. He will lash out if your essay is shit and he’ll even rub it onto your face that your choice of words aren’t passing his high standards. Not even a bit. That is how Kei is.

Yet, he knows when to stop with his venomous words. Especially when he knows you were having a bad day and so he decided to act more docile so he wouldn’t hurt more of your feelings.

Study dates with him isn’t too romantic because he prioritizes both of your academic success. But there will be time where he will let you snuggle close to him when the library’s air condition is making you cold. Or when he lets you doodle little dinosaurs on his forearms while he watches you under his stern, golden eyes.

“Why do you keep on playing with my hair? You should be studying your biology, dumbo.” He isn’t annoyed. In fact, he doesn’t want you to stop, he’s just too tsundere to admit.

But you know it well that he loves it so you play with his locks even more while leaning over to place a chaste peck on his cheeks.

Kei flipped his book and whispered. “Why do I love a fucking goner?”

kenma kozume: when he immediately hugged you after his stream

Kenma isn’t the type to be suave with words. But he expresses his affection through action because according to kuroo, that is much more cool.

He just finished a stream and gave away his honest review on how this palace dungeon game is. But is didn’t fazed him at all. In fact, he didn’t liked the graphics at all. A solid five for gamer!kenma

What made him scared is that it is already eleven in the evening yet you were nowhere to be found.

But his anxiousness subsided when he heard the familiar clanking of the front bell. And there you stood at the door, looking gloomy and kenma made sure to act up immediately.

It took you by surprise when he stood up from his seat and immediately wrapped you around his body. The familiar whiff of his cologne mixed with his warmth. This is more than you asked for.

kuroo tetsurou: when he makes fun of you because he likes you so much

King of provocation and chemistry nerd kuroo always love to mess up with you. And you can’t find a way to get to him back or?

“You know what?” Kuroo began.

You raised a brow, “what?”

“You’re small.”

“You’re just tall, Kuroo. Now,” you raised a pencil towards his direction, “leave me alone.”

Kuroo clicked his tongue. Now is the time for him to continue on further to pester you. He isn’t being a jerk though, but he just finds it cute especially when you get agitated with just him and his presence. The way your fist curling and he can’t help but to admire your annoyed face. You’re so damn cute but you just don’t even notice the notable fucking obvious.

Kuroo decided to play with your hair but you had other things in mind. To get back at him just for him to get a taste of his own medicine.

You exerted a lot of effort to pull his collar down just to match you eye level with his. You smiled, “is it just playing with my hair that you could pull off, kuroo?”

You’re donw with him concealing his feeling because he has no guts to come up to you. So you did him a favor. Something that’ll distract him for the rest of his day.

matsukawa issei: 3am dance with him

You were washing the dishes at night when you felt two strong arms encircling your waist.

“Hey.”

Matsukawa’s arms encircled your waist as you washed the dishes one Thursday night. The way he hummed the familiar tune of ‘close to you’ while swaing both of your bodies gracefully. You missed him, especially his familiar scent that smelled like home.

He shuffled his feet so he could have more grasp on the hem of your shirt. His thumb caressed the soft skin that showed from his hold.

You grabbed the sponge and lathered it with soap as Matsukawa clinged onto you. It was a peaceful night, with him on your side, the splashing of water and the sound of his lips kissing the crook of your neck.

You smiled as his kisses grow more playful. But Matsukawa wanted to see your face and so he twirled you so he could plant a kiss onto your lips.

You grinned. “Well, well, well, fancy seeing you here Mister Matsukawa.”

He gave you a cheeky smile back, “well, well, well, too, it was a pleasure seeing your beautiful face, Mrs. Matsukawa.”

You decided to play along with him as he swayed both of your bodies in a slow dance. “I doubt. You have plenty of companions at work, right?”

“Oh please. Among all that I’ve seen, i will always choose you.”

kageyama tobio: late night dates with him at the downtown convenience store

He would act like he just wanted milk but truth is, he wanted you more than the milk he’s addicted to.

“You’re such a dumbass, y/n.” Kageyama scolded when you tripped on your feet but good thing he was there to catch you. He resisted the urge to smile as you gave him a cheeky smile and brushed off the incident like it didn’t cut your self esteem. Humiliation? You don’t know her.

You immediately plopped onto the familiar stool of the convinience store after you grabbed ome of your favorite sponge cakes.

“Stop eating the poor cake like there is no tommorow, baka”

You made a face. “Call me a glutton, but these are the best among all sponge cake made.”

Kageyama raised a brow. Confused, he leaned in but you raised the empty container to his face. You suppresed a laugh, “Told you, I’m a glutton.”

He frowned. “I really don’t need to take a bite of that cake just to have a taste.”

“Wha—?”

He kissed you. And you were right. The sponge cakes were tasty.

goshiki tsutomo: walking home with him from the late academy

Nothing’s more enjoyable than having goshiki’s presence with you after going home from a hellish class from the academy.

“I am the future ace! You heard that, y/n?” Goshiki proudly yelled while both of you were walking home from the supplemental classes. You tried to match his energy. Yet, no matter how hard you try, you were just too drained to yell with him.

Goshiki had managed to read you even when you didn’t said it to his face. No words were needed because he knows you well like you were his very own diary. He pulled you by your cardigan to enclose you in his lean body.

He heard him whisper as he burried his nose on your hair. “You can always rely on me, idiot. If you’re tired, then tell me so i could somehow make you happy.”

—

Hello!! Sorry if this was tOO LONG I GOT CARRIED AWAY HAHAHAHAHHA but i hope you enjoyed this as much as i enjoyed writing it!! Also, thank you for 1,7K U GUYS ARE THE BEST! Love you all!! 🥺💖💖💖

[beananacake]

Snapshot (Richard Madden x Reader)

New Tradition

(Headcanon 1)

Synopsis: Your story time Twitter thread of how your grandparents thought you were dating Richard Madden becomes viral and you get the chance to meet the man himself.

Headcanon summary: You make this Christmas memorable.

Word Count: 593 words (and two IG posts)

Warnings: Flufffff, mention of the word bitch, someone flipping you off, that's it?

A/N: Happy Holidays, everyone! Bet ya thought you've seen the last of Snapshot? Ha! You thought wrong! Enjoy this little Christmas gift courtesy of Snapshot!Richard :) As always, reviews, comments, suggestions (and reblogs) are super welcome! I hope you Enjoy New Tradition!

Also faceclaim for reader is Jenna Coleman (so it ties up with the tweets in the Bonus Contents) but you can imagine yourself in ;)

Masterlist

Bonus Content 1 | Bonus Content 2 | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | One shot 1 | Part 5 | One shot 2 | Headcanon 1 | One Shot 3 | Headcanon 2

• It was Richard’s fifth Christmas with your family.

• His third since he married you.

• And, as always, Gramps had lots of puns and jokes for everyone.

• This year, it was Christmas-themed.

• “What don’t you ever see Santa in the hospital? Because he has private elf care!” was a joke he specifically told for you.

• “How do you know when Santa’s around? You can always sense his presents!”

• “What do you call a broke Santa? Saint Nickel-less.”

• “What’s every parent’s favorite Christmas carol? Silent Night.”

• Gran could only shake her head at Gramps’ antics.

• Y/S/N was still the butt of the joke.

• Dinner was long and fun.

• You ate lots of turkey.

• And mashed potatoes.

• And pecan pie.

• Especially pecan pie.

• “Take it easy on the pecan pie, Y/N.” Gramps said.

• You replied by shoving more into your mouth.

• The gifts were amazing.

• Gramps and Gran got you and Richard matching pajamas.

• Your parents bought you tickets to the play you had been wanting to see but couldn’t because the tickets were always sold out.

• Y/S/N got you another bottle of Moët, again, for the sixth time in a row.

• “I’ve been busy with work! I didn’t have time to get you something else! Be thankful I got you something, you bitch.”

• You only chuckled and tossed her gift to her.

• It was an ugly Christmas sweater with a wine holder made out of a Christmas stocking in front.

• “Since you’ve always been giving me wine, I figured you’d appreciate this.” You said sweetly.

• She only flipped the bird at you.

• Richard gave your gifts to your parents.

• They were Gucci Christmas sweaters that he bought for them when he was in Italy for a press conference.

• And you parents loved them.

• You got Gran a red cardigan with a crocheted Christmas tree on the right side and crocheted cats on the left.

• And Gramps laughed out loud when he got a pun-ny Christmas sweater from Richard.

• On it were the words: when I think about you, I touch my elf.

• There was a plush elf attached on the lower hem of the sweater, in line with his crotch.

• “I was thinking we start a new tradition,” you said to them.

• “How about we take a photo of the first time we’re wearing our Christmas sweaters?” you suggested.

• You and Richard got changed into your matching ones.

• A 3D T-Rex ugly Christmas sweater because why not?

• (Well, obviously because your husband loves dinosaurs.)

• Everyone got into position in Gramps and Gran’s living room.

• Gramps and Gran sat in the sofa.

• Your parents stood on their left side.

• Your sister sat on the floor.

• You and your husband stood on Gramps and Gran’s right side.

• You took three photos with your sister’s phone.

• “Wait! We need some for us too!” You said as you put your phone on the tripod.

• You took two photos with yours.

• “One last photo!” You said.

• “Say WE’RE HAVING A BABY!” Richard exclaimed.

• The look on their faces was priceless as the camera went off.

• You and Richard were beaming widely, each holding an arm of the baby Christmas sweater towards the camera.

• Gramps and Gran looked at you both like you gave them the shock of their life.

• Your mom looked like she was weeping in the photo.

• Your dad almost leapt out of his seat.

• Your sister looked confused.

• And that was the story of how you took the most hilarious Christmas photo you had in your phone (so far).

• (It was also your baby announcement on Instagram.)

BONUS:

[hakasims]

The Most Important Review of Every Single Marwan Kenzari Film

If you’ve seen this one about Luca, you know the drill.

Now, Marwan’s brand is a little less defined than Luca’s but I managed to find similar tropes in a lot of his films. Also, rather than copy myself and give you a redundant Marwanmeter, I decided instead to recommend which Luca character best pairs with each Marwan character for your crossover pleasure. Let’s see if we ship the same things! Some of them are crack. You’re welcome.

(all gifs again by the awesomely amazing @weardes​ who did not ask to be my gif factory but life’s a bitch)

Het zusje van Katia (2008)

Will you miss him if you blink? Kinda. They talk about him a lot but his actual screen time is like 43.7 seconds. Also can I just say... he’s supposed to be from Italy?? The boy says literally one (1) Italian word, and you’ll never guess what it is. (Obviously, it’s “bella” like there’s a chance he could’ve said anything else.)

Is he hot? Painfully hot.

Is he naked? There’s this one scene where he’s wearing the sluttiest pair of speedos I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

Does his hair look great? Actually, yes. Perfect hair, perfect beard, he looks amazing.

Does he fuck? Yes, a lot - off screen, including an M/M/F threesome he presumably, probably, most definitely initiated.

Best paired with? From what I’ve gathered, this hoe ain’t loyal, so the best course of action is to find him a Luca that would benefit from a one night stand with no strings attached and wouldn’t fall in love with him. The obvious choice here is Valerio from Slam - Tutto per una ragazza. They meet, they fuck, then Giac makes his 4-hour drive back to Pisa, and they don’t see each other again until the next time he’s in Rome. Everybody’s happy, especially the two sluts in question.

De laatste dagen van Emma Blank (2009)

Will you miss him if you blink? Yes, absolutely.

Is he hot? Very.

Is he naked? Almost constantly.

Does his hair look great? He’s got those cute short curls, he looks so good.

Does he fuck? That’s literally why he’s there: to fuck and to die.

Best paired with? Man, I wish I had something to work with here. The only thing we know about him besides his sexual prowess is his affinity for white suits and toy helicopters. And as far as I know, those might be the exact things Fabrizio from Nina finds hot in guys. So like, why not?

Loft (2010)

Will you miss him if you blink? He’s the fifth most important character.

Is he hot? Yeah, sure.

Is he naked? There’s a scene where he’s wearing underwear and a tank top but it somehow makes him look like a kindergartener.

Does his hair look great? It looks quite nice.

Does he fuck? Yes, though I wish he didn’t.

Best paired with? Tom is a very violent person and a drug addict. He does messed up stuff to his sexual partners I’d rather he didn’t do to any of Luca’s characters. Feel free to use him for your sadistic fantasies or as a villain or whatever.

Rabat (2011)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s one of the three leads.

Is he hot? Oh yes! And cute!

Is he naked? He’s at the beach wearing nothing but boxer shorts.

Does his hair look great? He’s got this extreme undercut thing that would look ridiculous on anyone less pretty, so like no, he doesn’t have great hair, but also like it’s Marwan, you know what I mean?

Does he fuck? Before he embarks on a road trip with his friends, he has an offscreen threesome with two girls he picked up at a wedding. Slut.

Best paired with? Gabriele from Waves. They’re both sweet guys who could meet in some Tunisian port and decide to sail the Mediterranean Sea together.

Black Out (2012)

Will you miss him if you blink? Not unless your blinking is very deliberate.

Is he hot? Not really. He’s a dirty cop with a shitty moustache and oral fixation.

Is he naked? No, but I wish he was: his clothes are awful. Marwan is 29 in this movie and he looks 50!

Does his hair look great? Nope. They took Marwan’s usual short hair and made it not work somehow.

Does he fuck? No.

Best paired with? The one thing Luca’s characters all have in common is that none of them come off as bootlickers. All of them are either too soft for such a relationship or wouldn’t waste their spit on a cop.

Wolf (2013)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s the protagonist.

Is he hot? *gestures wildly at the gif*

Is he naked? He’s got quite a few shirtless scenes.

Does his hair look great? It’s nothing special but suits his character well.

Does he fuck? Oh yes.

Best paired with? Hear me out. I know that some people ship him with Fabio, but in my opinion that pair, while hot, doesn’t work. Here’s my pitch: Cesare from Non essere cattivo. The drug connection is still there, but in this case Majid’s problem-solving skills won’t fall on deaf ears. Cesare needs a daddy, ok? Majid can be a daddy when he needs to, especially when he has a soft boyfriend to care for. And Majid needs soft, not psycho.

Hartenstraat (2014)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s the protagonist once again.

Is he hot? Painfully.

Is he naked? There’s that iconic scene where he’s wearing nothing but black boxer briefs and boots while carrying a tray...

Does his hair look great? He’s got Joe-like curls and looks like what every male romantic lead should aspire to look like and then cry because they all fail.

Does he fuck? There’s one very unfortunate sex scene played for laughs. I’m pretty sure he’ll need therapy afterwards. I certainly do.

Best paired with? Paolo from Il padre d’Italia. Paolo deserves the best boyfriend, and who’s better than Daan, an extremely hot man who cooks? They both have daughters, so they can talk about that, I guess, and Paolo can finally have a family. Honestly, this is so wholesome I just made myself cry.

Lucia de B. (2014)

Will you miss him if you blink? For sure.

Is he hot? He’s a cop. Again. But he looks good.

Is he naked? Fully dressed, but man are his clothes ugly. Is that a cop thing?

Does his hair look great? He has slightly longer curls, which is fine and the best thing about this character.

Does he fuck? ACAB. (I know this doesn’t answer the question, I just wanted to make it clear.)

Best paired with? See my bootlicker comment from earlier. While Detective *checks notes* Ron Leeflang isn’t explicitly corrupt, he’s obviously a dick, so the best I can do here is recommend any Luca character that has ever been in trouble with the law for any fics about power imbalance you want to write but aren’t comfortable with a nice Marwan playing the villain.

Bloedlink (2014)

Will you miss him if you blink? Oh no, he’s there the entire time.

Is he hot? In a weird way, yes.

Is he naked? So, so, so naked. Like, leave nothing to the imagination naked.

Does his hair look great? I’d say that little rat tail is the exact opposite of great.

Does he fuck? Probably more than is good for him. I should also add that he’s canonically queer in this.

Best paired with? Rico is a pathetic loser in need of someone who’s got his life together and has a lot of experience dealing with fuckups. Enter Loris from Il mondo fino in fondo. He has a stable job and a savior complex, and with his little bro gaying it up in Chile and not needing him anymore, all he wants right now is someone to fix. I should be a fucking matchmaker in real life, for real.

Pak van mijn hart (2014)

Will you miss him if you blink? Undoubtedly.

Is he hot? No. The whole point of his character is to be the lesser choice compared to a guy who looks like a completely ordinary bland white dude...

Is he naked? ...so of course he isn’t naked! What, are they gonna take this poor woman, show her Marwan Kenzari’s post-Wolf body and expect her to choose her deeply mediocre ex? Please! They’re gonna dress him in the dorkiest clothes possible...

Does his hair look great? ...and make him wear the most awful wig that was clearly run over by a truck.

Does he fuck? No. As you can observe, they tried really hard to make him unfuckable, but honestly, he seems like a perfectly nice guy.

Best paired with? You know what? Mattia from La solitudine dei numeri primi is in desperate need of some sweetness and normalcy. I’m sure Richard will treat him with kindness and respect.

Collide (2016)

Will you miss him if you blink? He’s the fifth most important character. Out of five.

Is he hot? Very hot.

Is he naked? Not for a second! What’s up with American movies where people aren’t just casually walking around naked without any plot necessity???

Does his hair look great? His curls are so cute you guys! Look at them!

Does he fuck? Not explicitly.

Best paired with? Fabio from Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot. Again, the drug connection is there, but Matthias is soft enough not to butt heads with Fabio and, by the end of the movie, rich enough to satisfy his cravings for good living and fame. Also look at how good their color coordination is with those dark wine red clothes! Sometimes planets just align, okay?

Ben-Hur (2016)

Will you miss him if you blink? Yes, especially if you aren’t watching the background.

Is he hot? Your usual Marwan hot.

Is he naked? No.

Does his hair look great? His typical short curls with a twist. I think the forehead area is supposed to invoke the Caesar cut? I don’t know. It looks fine when not hidden under that dumb helmet.

Does he fuck? No.

Best paired with? A better script and a much better director. (Seriously, what is this blocking?)

The Promise (2016)

Will you miss him if you blink? He’s there a decent amount in the first half of the movie and then almost completely disappears in the second half.

Is he hot? Very much, yes.

Is he naked? Unfortunately, no.

Does his hair look great? He’s got short curls again, but this time they’re fashionably styled, it’s magnificent.

Does he fuck? Oh yeah! And there’s no way he isn’t bi or pan in this. No way.

Best paired with? Roberta from L’ultimo terrestre. Listen, Emre Ogan may be a slut but he’s a gentleman, okay? He’d treat Roberta right and he’s got daddy’s cash to spare on hundreds of gorgeous white dresses for her.

The Mummy (2017)

Will you miss him if you blink? He’s there, but barely.

Is he hot? Dangerously hot.

Is he naked? Not once! Instead we get a naked Tom Cruise literally no one asked for.

Does his hair look great? It’s your basic professional short hairdo.

Does he fuck? No.

Best paired with? Malik is a member of an organization tracking and destroying various monsters and historical artefacts related to them. Guido from Tutti i santi giorni speaks four languages, including Latin, and is a literature and ancient history nerd which makes him a valuable asset. Malik can fight and protect; Guido is bumbling and in need of saving. Guys, this writes itself.

What Happened to Monday (2017)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, especially not in the third act.

Is he hot? He’s okay.

Is he naked? Very naked.

Does his hair look great? They shouldn’t have greased his curls back. He looks like another victim of Fabio Cannizzaro’s stylist. Also I wish he’d either shaved or finished growing out that beard.

Does he fuck? He fucks and he fucks good. He’ll go down on you, he’ll deflower you slowly and gently, he’ll choke you if you want him to, he’ll spoon you all night, he’ll give you emotional support, he’ll murder people for you - he’s down for whatever.

Best paired with? There’s one Luca character who needs a lot of sex and even more emotional support. Alright, most of them do, but I’m thinking of Ettore from Lasciate andare. He needs it, okay? Good dicking, good spooning, a good ear, a fine piece of ass to cry into - you get the gist. Most importantly: someone who’d love him for who he is and with whom he could relax and be himself. (Also, I see you, people comparing him to Fabio. Shame on you for sleeping on this soft boy and judging him based on his appearance.)

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Will you miss him if you blink? He’s kinda always present, being very French.

Is he hot? Very hot.

Is he naked? No, but I’m willing to forgive that because he looks so good in his conductor uniform.

Does his hair look great? He never takes off his hat.

Does he fuck? No.

Best paired with? Mickey Miranda. They’re both murderers morally dubious characters who would look hot together. What else do you need? (Again, I see you, people who want Pierre for Roberta because he’s a “nice guy”, and I know for a fact you didn’t watch the movie. Spoilers, I guess.)

The Angel (2018)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s the protagonist.

Is he hot? Oh yes.

Is he naked? Not once, but you won’t regret it because he’s wearing excellently stylish 1970s clothes.

Does his hair look great? It looks fantastic. The sideburns (not yet seen here) are a good touch.

Does he fuck? He can definitely get it, but he’s loyal to his wife.

Best paired with? As the most aesthetically coherent and fashionably hot pair in this post, Ashraf and Primo are a no-brainer. Can you imagine Primo calling him “Angel” in different contexts? When he’s being intimidating, not realizing how palpable the sexual tension between them is, and later not even hiding his arousal? Sometimes things just work because they’re hot. That’s all, folks.

Aladdin (2019)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s the main villain.

Is he hot? It’s not like he went viral for being the “hot Jafar” or anything.

Is he naked? No! Fucking thanks a lot, Disney.

Does his hair look great? He has a buzz cut under that turban but he looks good in the turban, so that’s something.

Does he fuck? It’s a Disney movie, so he doesn’t fuck - explicitly or otherwise - but he still comes off as a thirsty bitch.

Best paired with? Jafar ends the movie as a genie who’s obligated to grant his master three wishes but is enough of a petty bitch to exploit the hell out of the “gray area” and screw them over Wishmaster style. My unconventional pair for him is Lui from Ricordi? So many scenarios with distorted memories and magic-induced mindfuck. So many possibilities for awesome and messed up crossover gifsets! Don’t say I never give you guys anything.

Instinct (2019)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, he’s very prominent.

Is he hot? I hate myself for finding him hot but I do.

Is he naked? He’s playing basketball shirtless in one scene, shaking his sweaty boobs everywhere.

Does his hair look great? His weird mohawk-like thing is honestly terrible, but if anything can make it work, it’s Marwan’s bone structure.

Does he fuck? Um, I’m pleading the Fifth on this one for the sake of good taste.

Best paired with? Prison. A very lonely, Luca-less prison.

The Old Guard (2020)

Will you miss him if you blink? No, unless blinking in your case means sleeping through the gloriousness that is the first ever canonically gay couple in an American action film.

Is he hot? Painfully.

Is he naked? Shirtless in one scene.

Does his hair look great? Soft curls courtesy of Luca Marinelli’s tireless lobbying.

Does he fuck? Not on screen, but you can just tell by the way he looks at his husband and reads impromptu poetry right to his face. And everybody knows nothing kindles the fires of passion quite like murdering homophobes together.

Best paired with? If you have to ask, you’re clearly reading this by mistake. In which case, kudos for finishing such a long and confusing post, now go watch The Old Guard and cry at the beauty that is The Immortal Marriage.

[poguesofthebau]

paranoia

summary: meeting dylan einstein, a genius forensic scientist from indianapolis, musters up some unknown insecurities about your relationship with reid. however, morgan-- and reid, once he figures it out-- isn’t willing to let you think that way. warnings: mentions of bombings (as pertaining to the case)

word count: 3k pairing: spencer reid x female!bau!reader

a/n: set in season 10, episode 14, this one was requested by @koc-help! as per usual, it took me forever to write, so i hope you can forgive me for that and enjoy what i came up with!! 

bombing cases were stressful. it always seemed harder for you; figuring out a motive, pushing down the overwhelming sympathy for the victims, convincing yourself that all of your team members were safe. because of your unshakable paranoia in the wake of those cases, you were already on edge by the time the team was boarding the jet to indianapolis. and, of course, spencer caught on to the way you were feeling almost immediately.

with the limited information the team had at that point, conversation about the case was reasonably brief. the file was reviewed and discussed, and hotch delegated a role for everyone to take when the jet landed. when the conversation came to a lull, you slid out of your seat, tossing the manilla folder onto the leather before moving to the back of the jet to make a cup of coffee. jj and derek’s voices were audible as they continued to spitball off of each other, masking the sound of spencer approaching where you stood. “hey,” he called to you as he neared. having been enveloped in the chatter your other friends were creating, you jumped at the sound of your boyfriend’s voice. when you looked up at him, his eyebrows were raised in concern at your reaction, immediately making you recoil into yourself. “you okay?”

“yeah,” you breathed, pulling the coffee pot out of its place to pour the liquid into your empty cup. “i’m fine.”

“that’s not very convincing, you know.” you turned to face him then, sighing and internally shaking the dread away. “what is it?”

“i’m not a huge fan of bombings,” you said sarcastically. spencer scoffed a laugh at that, reaching out to tuck a stray hair behind your ear as you continued with a bit more seriousness. “just a little worried. it’s nothing, spence.”

“i’m not used to seeing you worried in this way. are you sure you’re okay? i mean, do you want to talk about it?”

the soft-spoken concern in spencer’s tone along with the expression he was looking at you with warmed your heart. if there was one thing that could take your mind off of a murderous bomber, it was spencer. your eyes flickered over to the rest of the team, making sure no one was paying any attention to you and your boyfriend huddled up in the back of the jet, before you leaned up and pressed your mouth to spencer’s. the kiss was quick, but it was also just the reassurance that you both needed. “i promise, i’ll tell you if i need to talk. for now, i just want to get this son of a bitch and go back home.”

being present for the disarming of the second bomb only worsened your initial paranoia. the thought of an explosive device made you anxious enough; having to stand your ground and comfort an intended victim while a bomb was armed less than a foot from you was a whole new feeling. you trusted morgan to clip a wire without killing you, but the adrenaline in the heat of the moment was hard to shake. it had been a few hours since the scene had unfolded, but you still felt like your heart could possibly jump out of your chest at any moment the morning after the disarming. despite the underlying terror running through your veins, you were critically analyzing everything going on around you. your focus was completely dedicated to the case unfolding around you, because the sooner you cracked it, the sooner your thinly veiled fear would dissipate.

you were digging around in the bed of the pickup truck while einstein, the local forensic scientist, examined the bomb itself. out of your peripherals you saw reid and morgan approaching, but the bulk of your energy was going into analyzing the scene as best you could. your boyfriend’s eyes lingered on you for a few seconds as he neared, immediately gauging the nerves you were trying so hard to conceal. reid made a mental note to address that as soon as he could get you alone, but fought the urge to do so right then. spencer knew you well enough to know that, no matter how freaked out you currently were, your mind was concentrating on the scene before you, and anything else would simply be considered a distraction. he swallowed down the lump in his throat that formed at the thought of not being able to help you before tuning in to the comment einstein began to make. “he really went for a bigger boom this time.”

the short conversation that ensued between the two following that comment was something that shouldn’t have bothered you. you knew it meant nothing; reid wasn’t the only genius in the world who memorized excerpts from anarchy cookbooks or mathematical theories. just because some young, brilliant, beautiful girl knew the same book as spencer didn’t mean you had anything to worry about.

nonetheless, you became very worried about it.

you strolled around to the passenger side of the truck, sliding into the empty seat with a quizzical look on your face. “you know, it’s a wonder that he even realized he triggered the bomb.”

opening the driver’s side door as he spoke, reid slid into the truck next to you. “maybe he heard something when he stepped on the pedal.”

“and knew not to move? i mean, what’s this guy got, an ex-paramilitary background we don’t know about?”

the back and forth continued a few more times, and within a minute you and reid had developed the idea that allen archer, the bomb’s target, could potentially be your unsub. upon this conclusion, einstein spoke up again. “that’s what you guys do. you just talk a lot.” her voice was joking as the words left her lips, and a bright smile graced her face as she spoke. regardless of the playful tone you immediately identified, the words triggered something in you.

“well, there’s also a lot of kicking down doors involved,” morgan interjected from outside the passenger door, shaking you out of your internally-mortified state. you watched as einstein announced her departure then, mustering up a measly close-lipped smile in return to the courteous and friendly glance she offered you before leaving.

as she walked away, her words repeated in your mind. it was so simple for her to summarize; you just talk a lot. a woman so young and so intelligent had just condensed your entire career into a five-word sentence so simple that you couldn’t even disagree. was that truly all you were capable of? talking? bouncing ideas off of your coworkers’ ideas and hoping you’d end up catching the killer that way?

you spent the rest of the day arguing with yourself. in all honesty, your own inner monologue was starting to get on your nerves. despite your most sincere attempts to focus on the case in front of you, you couldn’t shake the feeling that  einstein was right. and maybe she was-- maybe your job was nothing compared to hers, and maybe she was a better match for spencer than you could ever dream of being.

this new uncertainty of your career and relationship definitely didn’t help to settle your previously established fear of being blown up at any given moment.

given the circumstances, it was only a matter of time until someone on your team noticed how uneasy you were steadily growing. they knew you. you were y/n-- sometimes stubborn, oftentimes overprotective, and always capable. sure, you had off days at work, just like everyone else. you weren’t always the one to solve the case, but you were always present and attentive, engaged in the investigation with your mind and body. however, right now, your mind was in two places at once. for that reason, you weren’t surprised in the slightest when morgan approached you at the station.

as you walked toward the conference room to find hotch, you were stopped by the familiar voice calling out. “hey, hold on little lady.”

“what’s up, morgan?”

morgan shook his head at that, a knowing look crossing his features as he began to speak. “nuh-uh. what up with you, y/l/n?” you threw him a falsely quizzical look, trying (and failing) to get him off your back by playing dumb. sadly for you, morgan was too good of a profiler and friend to fall for it. “don’t play with me, girl. i know cases like this always get to you a little, but i also know how badass you are. normally you would’ve bounced back from our brush with death by now, so what’s the problem?”

you squinted at him as your face morphed into dismay. of course you couldn’t fool morgan. your mind flickered to penelope, suddenly relating to one of her more commonly made complaints: damn profilers. “my first problem is that you might know me a little too well.” derek scoffed at that, waiting for you to continue. “my second problem? well, my second problem might be that i’m not smart enough, or maybe that spencer is too good for me, or maybe that our job is too easy, or maybe--”

“woah, woah, woah. slow your roll, little missy. ‘spencer is too good for me?’ where’s that coming from?” you blinked slowly in response, not quite willing to give up any more information than you already had. “fine-- i’ll figure it out myself. let’s see: you’ve been acting weird since we got this case, but that’s not what this is about. i’ve seen you on bombing cases before, and this ain’t that. so... oh, i know. is this about a forensic scientist, maybe? maybe one who has the same name as a very smart, very famous--”

“okay, morgan. i get it. you’re a great profiler, and you know my thoughts better than i do. that doesn’t really change the way i’m feeling right now.” your tone was a little sharp, but the look in your eyes was a mixture of sadness and contempt. “and, in case you needed me to put it simply, i’m feeling like shit.”

a look of pity overtook morgan for a moment. he knew what you were going through. sure, he wasn’t dating a genius with an iq of 187, but he knew how it felt to doubt yourself, and especially how it felt to feel belittled for your work. “y/n,” he said, placing his hands on your shoulders and crouching a little to get on eye-level with you. “don’t do that to yourself, kid. don’t forget how hard what we do is, and how important it is. you save lives every day. no matter how you do it, or how much brainpower it takes, there are people all around this world who are alive because of your work. whether they admit it or not, everyone has respect for that. especially our resident pretty boy.”

“i know, morgan,” you sighed. his hands slid from your shoulders as you finally gave in, looking him straight in the eye as you spoke. “sometimes it just feels like he deserves better.”

“just because it feels that way doesn’t mean it’s true. and i can promise you, reid has never felt that way. not about you.” after giving a comforting pat on the arm to go along with his final words, morgan was walking away.

damn profilers, you thought again. why are we always right?

before you got the chance to speak with reid, the team was off again. instead of splitting up this time, you were simply spreading out; hotch and rossi were scouring the crowd of civilians and news crews at the staged ceremony for allen archer, and the rest of you were divided into two suvs with morgan and kate in one and you, jj, and spencer in the other. your talk with morgan had lifted your spirits a bit, but there was still a tightness in the air as you sat beside your seemingly clueless boyfriend.

unbeknownst to you, spencer wasn’t all that clueless. not only had he caught on to your behavior long before anyone else on the team, but he’d also spotted you and morgan’s secretive moment from across the police station. (and, yes, morgan may have whispered “check on your girl” to spencer when you weren’t paying attention. he just wanted to help.) so, while you thought he was in the dark about your current insecurities, reid was very much aware of what was going on in your head. as much as he hated it, though, he was hesitant to acknowledge it with jj in the backseat and the rest of the team on comms. so, like the considerate boyfriend he was, he waited.

it wasn’t until you got back to the police station that spencer got the chance to catch you alone. everyone else was busy preparing to leave for the jet, the bustle of having solved yet another case causing an uplifting distraction for the team. while your friends were distracted, spencer grabbed you by the hand and pulled you into a nearby empty conference room. the surprise on your face was evident when he looked at you, and he couldn’t help but smile. you laughed nervously at his expression, not completely sure what he had taken you aside for. “hi, spence. you okay?”

“i was actually going to ask you the same thing,” he admitted. “except, i already asked you that once during this case, and you weren’t very willing to share, so i was going to approach it in a more insistent way.” although you were amused by this mysterious behavior of his, you were still confused about what exactly spencer was implying that he knew. “did you really think i wouldn’t notice that you were upset?”

“no,” you said unconvincingly.

“y/n, why won’t you just talk to me?” the desperation in his voice almost shattered your heart. the whole time that you’d been in your own head, spencer had been in his. all because you were scared to talk to the one person you trusted more than anyone in the world.

“i’m sorry,” you breathed, taking a step toward him. spencer’s right hand slid around your waist once you got close enough, and your forehead dropped onto his chest as you sighed. when you looked back up to him, spencer was already anticipating eye contact. “i’m sorry i didn’t say anything. i just didn’t want to worry you, or to make you feel like you’d done anything wrong, because it’s not your fault, i just-- i don’t ever want to feel like i’m holding you back.”

“holding me back from what? you could never hold me back.”

“i could, though! you’re this amazingly brilliant genius, and there are so many people out there who are so much smarter than me, and i--”

“is that what this is about? you think you’re not smart?” you felt his hand tense from its place on your lower back, his disbelief clear in his voice.

“no, no-- i mean, i know i’m smart enough. but sometimes when we have cases like this we meet some really, really smart people, and i can’t help but wonder if you would be better off with someone on your intellectual level. someone like einstein.”

“y/n,” spencer seemed stunned at this revelation, and you realized then that morgan had been right. the idea of you not being enough had never crossed spencer’s mind. “you are the person that i’m better off with. you. i don’t-- i’ve never even thought of anyone else as a possibility since i met you. there isn’t anyone else. i mean, before i knew you, i wasn’t even sure that i believed in love at all. the only reason that i know it’s real now is because of you. i can’t think of any statistics of mathematical theories or scientific discoveries to explain or defend it, but i have always known that there isn’t anything for me aside from you. i mean that. no matter how smart anyone else is, or how cool anyone else is, or how compatible anyone else’s intellect is with mine. i love you, y/n.”

and, just like that, your fears were gone. your inner monologue went silent, and the serenity that spencer’s words brought you washed over your entire body. spencer’s arm tightened around your waist, pulling you closer into him. his free hand moved to the side of your face, brushing back your hair as he waited for you to reply. the anticipation on his face sent another rush of absolute love through you, and you quickly closed the gap between you. as your mouth met his, your hands found their way to the sides of his neck, slowly wrapping around until they were laced together behind his head. for what could’ve been an hour, you stood there, melting into spencer as his words of reassurance replaced the chants of uncertainty that had filled your head hours prior. you were forced to pull back from him eventually, but even then your hands remained around his neck and the distance between your faces was minimal as you reopened your eyes. “i love you.”

a knock on the door suddenly interrupted the moment, causing you to release each other as a third party entered the room: morgan. “hey, lovebirds,” he grinned. “nice to see that you’re back to normal. it’s time to head home.” you smiled knowingly at the man, lacing your fingers through reid’s as you followed morgan out of the room. grabbing your belongings on the way out, the three of you headed toward your designated suv, where jj was waiting patiently in the driver’s seat. “so, you finally confessed, huh?”

“of course i did,” you laughed. “no secrets in this relationship.”

“yeah, and i would’ve figured it out eventually anyway.” at spencer’s interjection, it was morgan’s turn to laugh.

“oh, yeah, 187?”

“he is a genius, you know,” you added smugly.

“well, apparently so am i, because i figured it out before he did. oh, and by the way, pretty girl, i told you.” and with that, morgan was jogging off (in a fit of giggles) to the suv, hopping in the passenger seat before you had a chance to jokingly scold him.

damn profilers.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Suicide Squad Team A

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS! Seriously, as soon as you click that read more, you’re gonna be smacked with SPOILERS! Don’t say I didn’t give you ample warning this time!)

The world’s in danger yet again, and Amanda Waller is in need of some expendable forces to take on some dirty jobs in the name of preserving peace. Last time she did this, it seems like she hired the wrong people. Nice guy Will Smith Deadshot? Bland, boring Killer Croc? El Diablo, who became attached to a bunch of reprobates after spending a couple hours with them? The only one who was useful in that squad was Katana. She had their backs, could cut all of them in half with one sword stroke just like mowing the lawn, and her sword traps the souls of its victims. Unfortunately, she was decidedly not expendable, so what is a girlboss like Waller to do?

Easy: Assemble a brand new squad of criminals to do the dirty work. Harley and Boomerang are the only ones she brought back, because let’s be real, they’re the only ones we give a damn about. Filling out the rest of the squad are the stoic, craggy crackshot Savant; the handsome, German spear-thrower Javelin; the alien warrior Mongal; the frothing, psychotic animal Weasel; the confident and all-powerful TDK; and Blackguard, who is literally just a guy. Together, this team gets deployed to Corto Maltese to do what no one else can do, and with skills like theirs, they are absolutely unstoppable!

They all fucking die before the opening credits.

Motivation/Goals: Considering the goal of the squad is to shave time off their prison sentences by going on the mission, it’s ostensibly the reason every single one of these goons accepted the job. Savant and Weasel are pretty well established in this regard; we get to focus on Savant for much of the opening, so we can get a sense of him, and Weasel is stated to have murdered no less than 27 children. So, yeah, they need to do this mission.

The rest, though? Who knows! Why are Mongal, Javelin, and TDK in prison? How did they even get an alien like Mongal? What did they do to land in the position they’d need to go on a suicide mission? Why doesn’t this movie have flashy, intrusive cards explaining everything to us in a throwaway gag in a montage?!

Blackguard, at least, has some other motivation. He sold out the entire squad to the military of Corto Maltese, which is why they’re ambushed. Now, there’s actually some ambiguity here: Did he do this of his own volition, and was this a complete surprise, or is it, as it is heavily implied, all part of Waller’s plan and she let this happen as a diversion for the other team to get in unnoticed?

Honestly, though, it doesn’t matter what their goals are. They’re all dead within five minutes of the movie starting, with one exception.

Performance: So, the reason these guys are even worth talking about is because, despite their minuscule screentime, all of their actors manage to cram in enough humor and characterization that they’re all pretty fun and likable. Michael Rooker is as stony and stoic as ever as Savant (until he hilariously isn’t), Flula Borg’s Javelin is really sweet and charming in his interactions with Harley, and Pete Davidson’s Blackguard is just amazingly douchey and pathetic. Special mention goes to Nathan Fillion’s TDK, who has an utterly endearing and unwavering faith in his astoundingly crappy ability to… detach his arms. It’s honestly kind of beautiful. Then there’s Weasel as portrayed by Sean Gunn, who is just a hilarious crackhead of an animal man.

Final Fate: Literally every single one of them die horribly thanks to Blackguard’s betrayal. He’s the first to go, because as soon as he walks out saying “Hey guys, it’s me, the one who contacted you!” he literally has his face blasted clean off. The rest go soon after. Mongal, in one of the most astounding moments of idiocy I’ve ever seen, leaps on a helicopter despite Rick Flag telling her specifically not to. Her weight and strength send it careening out of control, which leads to it shredding Captain Boomerang to bits before exploding, burning her alive as she painfully screams and writhes in agony. TDK gets his arms shot into Swiss cheese, leading to him bleeding out since even detached they still are part of him. Javelin is also shot, but gets a dying moment with Harley where he passes her Checkov’s Javelin. Finally, after witnessing all of this carnage, Savant completely loses his shit and tries to swim away, leading to Waller blowing his head up.

You may be wondering what happened to Weasel. He appears to drown as soon as the Squad deploys, because despite being actually smart in this movie, Waller forgot to make sure everyone on the Squad could swim. Thankfully, this lovable child-murdering crackhead rodent was just sleeping, and wakes up in the first credit scene.

Best Scene: Obviously, it’s their one and only scene. It’s a magnificent slaughter that puts the X-Force scene from Deadpool 2 to shame.

Final Thoughts & Score: I’ve gotta hand it to James Gunn. Even though these losers are only onscreen for a few minutes, they all get to cram a lot of charm and personality into that time, to the point it’s actually kind of sad seeing them all die. It’s a beautiful mix of comedy and tragedy. Since their screentime is so limited, though, I’m mostly going to be grading them on style, performance, and so on rather than on villainy like normal. They are all bad guys, as they don’t really get a chance to redeem themselves like the other Squad, so I’m still counting them as villains, which means they could potentially score above an 8 (which is the highest score I’m willing to give heel-face turn villains, because they end up being better as characters in general than as villains).

I’m also not going to talk about Boomerang (I’ll talk about him when I review the original Squad) or Harley (because she not only lives, but deserves her own solo Psycho Analysis). Now here we go, from best to worst:

TDK

If you thought anyone but TDK would get top marks, you’re sadly mistaken. Seeing Nathan Fillion proudly wield the insanely lame power to detach his arms to lightly tap soldiers on the head and gently grab their guns is a sight I never knew I needed to see until this movie. The fact he just seems so darn proud about this power that he doesn’t even bother to use in any way that would be remotely useful is honestly really endearing. Frankly, the sheer fact they adapted Arms-Fall-Off Boy in any way is enough for me to give him a 10/10.

Weasel

Weasel is just disgustingly delightful. He’s just a horrible, nasty, ugly little bastard… But he’s kind of adorable? He clearly has no idea where he is at any given time and is just so goddamn freaky that I can’t help but love him. The fact that, despite being a character who in the comics is noteworthy only for dying on his first mission with the Squad, he manages to survive the entire movie is pretty impressive. Hopefully he comes back in the future, but either way he gets an 8/10 from me.

Javelin

Honestly, aside from Boomerang, his death stung the most. He’s just so cute and charming, and he doesn’t even get to fling his javelin at anyone! Thankfully, he passes it on to Harley, and boy does she ever get to use it! He’s so cute, I have to give him an 8/10. I just wish we got more of him.

Savant

Savant is just an absolutely hilarious bait-and-switch. We follow him through the prologue, with everything seeming to point to him as our main character and the Squad leader. He’s stoic, he’s cranky, and he has impeccable aim… and then we get to the beach and he just freaks the hell out and starts screaming and crying and running away like a little bitch. Seeing Michael Rooker act like he’s shitting his pants after playing a badass like Yondu is just the sort of hilarious subversiveness that James Gunn loves to do when you let him loose. The fact that he looks like, to paraphrase the TVTropes YMMV page for the movie, a “cyberpunk Tommy Wiseau” is the icing on this 7/10 cake.

Blackguard

I was prepared to hate this guy just based on how lame Pete Davidson’s costume was, and you know what? I do hate him. But I love to hate him. He’s just an utterly pathetic scoundrel and a coward, true to his name. The fact he is the first to die, as just about everyone predicted, and is killed absolutely gruesomely makes any annoyance he could provide moot, and his freeakout over being seated next to Weasel on the plane is actually kind of funny. I was originally going to give him a 6, but you know what? He can have a low 7/10. He’s like the only member of this particular Squad to actually do anything evil, so I gotta give him props for that.

Mongal

Let me make this perfectly clear: I do not blame James Gunn or actress Mayling Ng. I’m not actually mad at either of them for what they chose to do, because it is ultimately hilarious and sad. It suited the narrative of the film, and I’m not actually, genuinely mad.

With all that out of the way, Mongal is one hell of a stupid cunt. It is one thing to cause your own death with your stupidity, it is something else entirely to cause the death of a beloved character with your poorly planned attack. The fact she didn’t take into account how her weight and strength would effect an airborne helicopter makes one wonder if she is really supposed to be based on a character who can take on Superman and live to tell about it.

Let’s compare her to two similar characters to really show how bad she is. Like Blackguard, she is directly responsible for a death on the beach, Blackguard being responsible for everyone by selling them out and leading them into an ambush (and yes, I’m including him as well), and Mongal killing Boomerang with the chopper. The difference is, Blackguard’s betrayal was deliberate, he meant to sell the team out, he was actively doing something evil there, while Mongal killed Boomerang out of sheer idiocy.

Now, let’s compare her to Zeitgeist from the similar bloody massacre that occurred during X-Force’s deployment in Deadpool 2. Like Mongal, he accidentally kills a teammate. The difference is, in the case of Zeitgeist, he only accidentally melted Peter, it was a freak accident, and ultimately it does get undone by the end. Meanwhile, Mongal made a conscious, stupid decision and ended up killing her squadmate with her own idiocy. She sucks, hardcore. I don’t do this lightly, but I’m giving her a 1/10. Villains just don’t get much stupider than her.

I will giver her this, though: the makeup work on her is good. She’s lowkey kinda hot if I’m being honest. But being hot and having good makeup does not a good villain make.

[thiserichann]

cookies and cream - lee jeno

reader x jeno

genre: smut, strangers to fuck buddies, humor if you squint hard enough

word count: 4k-ish

warnings: recklessness (she met with a stranger online, don’t do it kids) excessive lying, 18+ scenes that includes: oral (f receiving) face riding, soft dom!jeno?

This is merely a work of fiction and is not meant to hurt the image of Jeno and NCT. Again, don’t be as reckless as OP. This was just a fantasy of mine that I’ve been dying to get out of my system.

Holy fuck.

That's the only word that you've managed to utter when you decided to check your messages that morning.

You got bored in the middle of the class and decided to sneak a peek on your phone to pass the time. The class is recorded anyways so you can always just go back to the parts of the lessons that you've missed.

But holy fuck.

You never expected to see THAT so early in the morning.

"Miss Y/N?"

You snapped back to reality and stopped malfunctioning for a second when somebody called your name. Everyone including your professor remained quiet and all eyes are on you.

"Oh. Sir what’s the question again?"

You answered nervously as you tried to review your notes and backtrack on what he is discussing a few moments ago.

"I see that you're distracted in the middle of my class again. Mind sharing what you're occupied with?"

"Uhm. I was watching KPOP fancams, sir."

"Fancams won't get you into law school, Miss Y/N. Phones off please."

You tucked your phone back to your pocket and never picked it up again since. The professor started blabbering again but no information is being retained on your head. It stayed that way at your other classes.

You wished you were looking at some KPOP fancams earlier. You’ve watched fancams at class before and got away with it unscathed.

Oh no. It was a goddamn dick pic.

A good one, too.

It was from a guy that you met in a kink site a few days ago. You created the account out of boredom and expected nothing to come out from it. It’s all the flirting and sexting without all the unnecessary commitment

It only took you a few minutes to set up an account. For some privacy, you made a random birthdate and a random nickname, because like hell would you share your real information to these people. You also picked a racy picture of a lady that looked a bit like you and passed it off as your own.

Within minutes, your inbox is flooded with messages. Most of them, however, are from men who are old enough to be your father.

Well, you were bored, so you entertained everyone and then went on back to your boring, vanilla life. A few political history and theory books later, you went back to see which ones messaged you on the site.

And that's where you've met him.

The most gorgeous piece of meat alive.

He seems like a nice guy. He introduced himself as LJ and your age aren’t that far off from each other. LJ is the only one who actually engaged in conversation besides "want to fuck?" or "are you horny?"

As soon as you started messaging back and forth, you scrolled on his profile to see what he looks like. The only thing is, his profile looked a whole lot like those high fashion male underwear photoshoots.

It was an array topless pictures (presumably his, you just can’t be bothered to check if it is actually his). It featured his sculpted abs and biceps, cropped up all the way to his full lips. Despite not seeing his whole face, you knew very well that he’s a hunk. To say you were intrigued is an understatement.

Since then, you've been talking back and forth through Snapchat (your secret one because you're not stupid) and sent him actual pictures of yourself, completely omitting the face. You took one from your bed, your bathtub, and probably every part of your house that you felt is sexy enough to be included on the pics.

You can't tell him if it's him or the repressed sexual urges finally manifesting itself after more than a year of not getting laid, but every text to and from him made your heart race. It was something that you looked forward to every hour everyday.

Hours went by that you totally forgot leaving him on read. You climbed up to your bed to rest your back to the headboard and opened your unread messages.

You: Hey svlr. School stuff.

  He opened the chat and started typing right away.

  LJ: Oh good. I thought I did something wrong to upset you.

You: Not at all. I loved the pic by the way. It literally knocked my socks off.

LJ: Just the socks?

You: You can take the rest of it off yourself ;)

You scoffed. The flirty banter has always been there ever since you started talking but nothing really came out of it.

LJ: If only I could :(

You: I know. Covid’s a bitch.

You set your phone aside for a second to go to the bathroom. On your way, you picked up some snacks at the fridge and sat back down to your bed, only to find your phone blowing up.

LJ: If you're down maybe we could meet

LJ: It's totally fine if you don't want to

LJ: I just made it weird, didn't I?

LJ: I'm so sorry I brought it up in the first place

LJ: I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable

LJ: Hello?

LJ: I'm really sorry

You: Chill. I'm right here

You: I just went to the bathroom

LJ: Oh

You: I'd be lying if I said I don't want to meet you as well

You: Well... I wouldn't write off the idea

You: But with the Covid

LJ: Thoughts?

You: I don't think it's a great idea

The screen says Seen right at the bottom but it took him a couple more minutes before finally replying.

LJ: I understand

LJ: But in case you change your mind, I'll leave the time and place up to you

LJ: I’ll take care of the rest

LJ: Deal?

You: I'll sleep on it.

You: Speaking of sleep, I gotta go. Morning class.

LJ: Okay. I guess this is good night then

You didn't, in fact, talk to him the day after.

You'd be lying if you said that you didn't want to see him and his abs in real life. But as someone who overthinks a lot, you just can't shake off the risk.

You: Good night. Talk to you tomorrow.

What if he's not really the guy in the pics? Or he’s psycho in real life? What if he's infected the virus?

You sighed.

Why must some global pandemic ruin your sex life?

You waited until the end of the day before you finally replied to LJ. The last thing that he texted was a brief good morning from earlier in the day and nothing else. He’s actually a pretty sweet guy, totally not worth ghosting, and you actually liked talking to him as a friend that you can share your sentiments with.

With your guilt finally eating you up, you took a break from your assigned readings and sat back at your bed to rest for the day. Your fingers hovered over the keyboard for a minute, thinking of something to say to him. It took you a few tries before finally hitting the send button.

You: So, I thought about it

LJ: And?

You: I need to know I can trust you

LJ: Okay. How?

You: I don’t know. Send me a proof that you’re real. Get tested?

You: Is that fine with you?

Within a split second, he sent his reply.

He actually did it.

You couldn’t believe it but he actually did it.

LJ: Consider it done.

He got tested for physical, including the virus test, and passed with flying colors. He even sent you a vid of him inside a medical clinic.

He just sent the uncensored results this morning where you can clearly see his real name.

Lee Jeno.

LJ.

Seems legit.

Well, the uncreative nickname shouldn’t matter now because the results meant only one thing.

You’re gonna have to push through with your promise.

You got ready around noon that day. You can’t remember the last time that you actually got ready to meet someone that’s not a delivery guy or a relative passing on something to your family.

As someone who overthinks a lot, you actually got everything covered. You picked a place near a restaurant to eat. The police station is just a few blocks away just in case something happens, and right in front of a library…

“Where’re are you off to?”

You raised your backpack to show to your mother.

“I’m off to the library. I needed to get these renewed. Maybe pick up a novel or two.”

She looks at you from head to toe, eyeing that incredibly loose hoodie, faded denim jeans, some worn out sneakers that looked like it’s supposed to be thrown away years ago and a medical mask that covers about ¾ of your bare face. It’s just your usual attire whenever you go out for errands.

She just nodded and went back to watching her favorite soap opera.

“It’s nice that you’re out of your room for once. Take some cookies from the kitchen so you’ll have something to eat in case you get hungry.”

… as an alibi to get away from your strict parents.

As soon as you left the door and made sure that you’re out of sight, you found the nearest public toilet and grabbed a whole other outfit from your backpack. The hoodie is replaced by a white, ruffled see-through blouse and you ditched the jeans for a tight skirt that’s at least four inches above your knees. You tousled your hair a little bit and put on some powder and tiny hint of lipstick before putting your facemask back on again.

It’s been a while since you’ve done an elaborate scheme like this. Your skills got a little bit rusty, but they always work.

Sometimes you wonder if you’re really meant to be lawyer or a criminal instead.

You stepped out of the toilet and blended right back into society.

Now all you have to do is find wherever the hell LJ is.

Jeno sat anxiously as he waited for you right inside the café. He’s on his fourth cup of coffee but it didn’t do anything to calm his nerves down (geez I wonder why).

You: I’m almost at the café.

He’s been staring at his phone the whole time. Once he received your message, which is a pic of you in the bathroom after the outfit change, he almost choked on his drink.

This message sent him on a panic as he turned his camera on to see how he looked. He did some minor adjustments to his hair and he wiped off his eyeglasses clean with the sleeves of his hoodie (which did nothing for him by the way) and then casually sat down and played it off cool like he hasn’t been waiting for you for over an hour.

On your perspective, you walked inside the café and looked around for LJ. Fortunately, there was only guy inside the café, twiddling with his phone on his hands and as he kept on peeking through the glass windows as if he’s looking for someone.

From afar, he actually looked really cute. His appearance, a shy, nerdy dude with glasses, looked way off from the fuckboy image that you expected him to have in reference to the messages that you’ve been getting from him.

It’s always the quiet ones that are kinky. You should know, you are one.

You walked over to his table and tapped his shoulders to get his attention.

He froze for a moment before he finally managed to turn around and face you.

“You’re actually here.”

“I know. I’m just as surprised as you are.”

tap tap tap tap

The room is so quiet that the only thing you can hear is the sound of your heels tapping against the tiled floor. You can say that that is one of your observable annoying habits tapping your foot on the floor when you're a nervous wreck.

Sighing in retaliation, you removed your hoodie, fanning yourself as you tried to relax and get comfy on the hotel couch (which should be comfortable enough since you paid a shit ton of money on that room), switching the TV on to get your mind off of things. The lackluster array of shitty sitcoms didn’t distract you at all, but it instead reminded you of the reasons why you’re in that room in the first place.

Having nothing to do to pass the time, you paced back and forth in the room, finally sitting down once you realized that it looks way worse than you just tapping your foot. You folded your arms right across your chest, looking at the watch from time to time but the hands of the clock seem to be moving slower the more you stare at it.

Quarantine started almost a year ago and it's been very hard for you. Sexually. It's been almost a year since you've been touched by a man and you’re more than ready to jump on anyone’s dick at any this point,

Too bad that that dick is taking his sweet time in the bathroom.

tap tap tap tap

Your foot found its rhythm once again, only this time, you’re not nervous anymore. Your patience is wearing thin.

As if summoned by the constant tapping, the guy comes out of the bathroom, just casually drying himself while wearing nothing but the towel dangerously hanging on his waist and a boyish smile on his lips.

No biggie.

"Hey."

Suddenly, you’re not tapping anymore.

Head empty, just thoughts of a hot guy patting down a towel all over his toned body.

“I hope I didn’t make you wait for too long.”

He spoke, tossing aside the towel on his hands on the sofa, finally giving you a full view of him and all his glory.

You must admit, you’re skeptical at first. The guy that’s been sending you faceless thirst traps just days ago, telling you how he’d fuck you senseless looked a lot different from the guy who entered the hotel room just a moment ago.

He came in wearing those black oversized hoodies that did a great job in hiding his best features. His hair was a bit long for your taste, covering half of his face while the face mask hid the other.

But this man right here in front you, he’s Adonis.

You unconsciously bit your lower lip, earning a chuckle from the guy.

“I’m guessing that you’d like to start now?”

You nodded, the tension and awkwardness rendering you unable to speak.

He smiles as he takes the remote from you, turning off the television because the main show is about to start.

You started to tense up again, eyes wide as you realized that he’s now right beside you, wrapping his arms around you as soon as he sat down. He leans over, soft lips coming into contact with your exposed neck and shoulders, landing small pecks all over.

You sat there breathless as he slowly ran his fingers to the side of your thighs, tracing circles at it while giving small, reassuring kisses on your neck and shoulders. It’s as if he’s asking you for your consent, waiting for you to open up to him before he makes a move.

He got his answer when you turned around to face him, running your fingers into his cheeks before cupping his face, your lips finally touching his. He moved in the same pace as earlier, slow and calculating. You got a bit impatient once again, biting his lower lips gently to let him know that he can do more.

He grabbed you by the waist and successfully placed you on top of him. The kiss got even more sloppy as you ran your hands through nape, then into his soft locks. His hands travelled once again, finger running through legs again, stopping as soon as he reached the hem of your skirt, flipping it up to reveal the thin lace material that barely covered your core. You took that as initiative to remove the towel on his waist and grinded against his growing member, the friction and heat enough to earn a groan out of him.

He held your waist once again, firmly this time, halting your movement completely.

You broke away from the kiss, staring him in the eyes to read his face.

“Something wrong?”

“Hold tight.”

You were about to ask about what hold tight mean, but your arms cling unto him involuntarily as he lifts the both of you out of the sofa.

Jeno laid you gently in the bed, making sure not to break eye contact as he does so. He looked like he's about to eat you alive, which is enough to send flush to your cheeks.

“I would’ve loved to bend you over that sofa, but I think it’s just proper that our first time will be on the bed.”

"God. You're beautiful."

He then ran his fingers towards the thin fabric of your blouse, feeling every part of your torso like he's memorizing every detail of it. His hands then travelled in your chest, squeezing the swell of your breasts on each hand, fingers shaking as he does so. It felt like an artist admiring his delicate work of art.

He situated himself between your legs, taking a moment to admire you first before doing anything else.

He started to run his hand on your cleavage and stopped on the uppermost button of your blouse, taking his time to remove all of them and placing a kisses at the exposed skin. After all of the buttons are taken care of, you lifted your body up and slid off the fabric. Your black lacy bra finally made its appearance. You took the liberty of taking that off too, as slow and as you possibly can.

 Jeno just stared at your body in awe, breathing heavily as his eyes scanned your naked glory.

 "Gorgeous."

He said under this breath before leaning down to claim your lips once again. You're turned on by how much attention he's giving your body now. You're usually loud in bed but his gestures are making you bashful. You've never felt this beautiful before.

You can feel his hands trembling as it travels all over your body, his kisses getting even more needy. There was moans of satisfaction every time he would lick your lips. Jeno was kissing you like you were oxygen and he needed to breath.

His hands travelled south, running across your thigh and your now aching core. You're about to remove your skirt and underwear but he stopped your hands midway.

"Keep it."

He took your hands away from your skirt and placed them just above your head.

"Just sit there and relax baby. Let me treat you."

You did just like he told you and gave him full control of your body.

"Good girl."

His lips brushed your ears, whispering sweet nothings about how beautiful you are under him. His kisses then went down to your neck, using his tongue and teeth, marking everything he can get his mouth on with his saliva. Meanwhile, his hands finally touched you down there, massaging your still clothed wetness.

His middle and index finger felt your slit, moving it in swift motion in search for your clit.

"Oh my god. That's it."

You gasped as his fingers finally hit the right spot, tossing your head back as his fingers made circles at your bundle or nerves.

You opened your legs more, leaning on your arms on your back, head tossed back and eyes closed as you feel your impending orgasm.

He dipped his hand inside your underwear and collected some of your essence with his fingers. The mental picture of him licking his fingers deliciously is enough to get you off for weeks.

It didn't take long before he took your panties off and his ducked his head down. He opened your legs once again and licked one long stripe on your core, making sure to taste all of you. You sat there and watch as he hungrily takes all of you in his mouth, acting like your pussy is a full course meal and he's been starving for years.

Within moments, you've become a moaning, toe curled mess. You ran your fingers to his blonde hair, guiding him on how to move his tongue and fingers on you. At one point, he bit some of your sensitive skin, making you scream a string of curses under your breath.

"Stop stop stop."

You grab a fistful of his hair and he paused from what he was doing. You pushed him gently away from you, leaving him staring at you confusedly. The confusion didn't last long when you flipped your current position, you're now on top.

"Can I ride your face?"

At this point, you're bold and horny enough to use your words and ask him. He just nodded, sliding himself from underneath you and went back to eating you like a champ. You grabbed his hands and placed them across your chest, squeezing your breasts to send him a message. He was quick to pick up and followed suit, pinching your nipples right in between fingers while your ride his face to orgasm.

"Shit. I'm coming..."

  You writhed from above him as you come undone. Your body felt cold all over. Your eyes are ringing, feeling dizzy as you almost passed out while you bucked your hips a few more times to milk your release.

You didn’t have time to recover when you heard your phone ringing from outside. Your legs felt a little shaky and you almost tumbled and hit your head in the wall if Jeno didn’t help you get up. You  sat down on the floor, butt-ass naked as you frantically searched for your phone from under all of your stuff before you finally pressed the answer button.

“Yes mom?”

“Where have you been? Your father’s been looking for you at the library. He’s picking you up on your way home.”

You buried your head on the couch to shake off the buzzing feeling on your head. You placed a pillow on your body while you searched for your discarded clothes all over the hotel room.

“Oh yeah. I went to the café and got something to eat. Tell Dad I’ll meet him outside the library.”

“Okay sweetie. Can you pick up some groceries on your way back? I’ll text you the list.”

“Yeah mom. Bye.”

You breathe a sigh of relief as you started putting on the outfit that you wore when you left home.

“Where are you going?”

Jeno reluctantly got dressed as well, his shy demeanor came back as soon as he wore his glasses and fixed his hair.

“I got to go, Jeno. I’m sorry that I’m leaving in such a bad time…”

You went over to him and placed a sweet kiss on his lips.

“I promise to make it up to you next time, okay? I’d love to meet you again.”

You grabbed a paper bag from your backpack and handed it to him, waving as you bolted out the door.

After fixing his things, he sat down for a moment and took a quick peek inside the package that you left him.

It was a ziplock bag of full of cookies and a whole other treat.

You left him your two-piece lace lingerie.

To be continued.

[clearlydiamondz]

Who Are You?

Erik!Stevens x Black!Reader

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

(Y/N) and Erik have known each other since they were kids, they have been fooling around with each for the past few years. After leaving her for months with no contact, he pops up with a not so settling surprise. 

Warnings: Blood, Cursing

(Y/M/F/N) : Your moms full name

(Y/D/F/N): Your dad’s full name

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

Erik!Stevens x Black!Reader

“It was a nice time seeing you again.” Sean said licking his lips at her as she smiled at him. This was the 4th date they been on, things starting to get a little more serious with him and honestly she was enjoying herself. It’s been five months since she broke up with Erik, and honestly she was enjoying herself. Sure, she missed him. Wondered where he went. She warned him the next time he up and left her, she would move on. She stood by her word.

“Thanks Sean, I really enjoyed myself.” she said biting her bottom lip. “Maybe next time we can have a little more fun.” she said stepping a little further towards him. She most definitely hit the jack pot with him. He owned two dealer ships out in L.A and two in Oakland. He was a gentlemen, kind, freaky. Didn’t leave her on read, it was like he was sent down from heaven.

“What kind of fun you tryna have lil mama?” he said gripping her waist and pulling him towards her as she giggled. “Lemme come in now, show you something real?” he said as she rolled her eyes pushing him away as he smacked his teeth.

“Boy I have work in the morning. I have to be at the office at like 8 in the morning.” she said as he shook his head.

“Yeah, I’ll let you get away with it this time but next time that ass is mine, you understand me?” he said biting her exposed shoulder as she moaned a bit.

“Yes sir.” she said. After they said their goodbyes, she walked inside the house with a huge grin on her face as she took off her heels.

“Who the fuck is that nigga?” she heard. Her head shot up, as she slowly turned around and saw Erik walking towards her with a glass of, assuming Crown Royal. His favorite drink. Next to Hennessey.

“The fuck are you doing in my house?” she asked walking past him, His head turned towards her direction as she placed her purse on the kitchen counter. His eye twitched when he saw that she wasn’t excited to see him. 

“(Y/N), answer my fucking question. Who the fuck is-”

“He’s my boyfriend.” she snapped turning around looking at him. Erik busted out laughing, putting his hand out on the counter closing his eyes. 

“Yeah okay. I’m going to ask you again. Who the fuck is that bitch ass nigga, (Y/N)?” he snapped as (Y/N) rolled her eyes. 

“That’s my boyfriend, Erik.” she said taking off her heels. “You know, significant other. Lover. Someone I fuck on the regular.” she said looking at him dead in the eye. Erik soon saw that she was serious. 

“Are you fucking serious?” 

“As a heart attack. I don’t know what you expected. I warned you that this was going to happen. So you can kindly get the hell out.” she said pointing towards the front door. “And leave the key.” 

“You must have lost your mind.” he whispered. “(Y/N), I’m sorry that I left. Really. You know I can’t tell you where I go and-”

“And you know what? That’s fine. You don’t ever have to worry about telling me shit because I don’t want anything to do with you, or whatever the fuck you’re doing.” she snapped at him. “Just-Just leave. Now.” she said.

“You know I can’t do that.” 

“Why not?” she said walking over to him pointing her finger into her chest. “You do it all the fucking time. Months on end. Well I’m putting my foot down. Maybe some other bitch can deal with it but I can’t.” she said to him, her nostrils flaring in anger.

“I understand. I really do but-”

“If you understood like you say you do, you would understand why I cut you loose and moved on. I played along with this for way too long and I need to look out for myself.” she said. Something that she said triggered something in him. 

“(Y/N), no offense but I have a lot of shit in my life personally. I have shit to do and you can’t know that. Yes, I be gone. For a long time. But what I do I can’t just, just say out and about because I-” he stopped himself before saying something. 

“Because you what?” she backed away crossing her arms over her chest. “Well I know damn well you’re not going to say because you don’t trust me because I’ve known you since we were kids.” she said shaking her head. She was hoping that he would contradict but he just sat there looking at her. 

“You really don’t trust me.” she said quietly, looking at him with so much defeat it almost broke him in half. “Get out, Erik. Or I’m calling the police.” 

“(Y/N) wait.”

“Erik! Just shut up! You don’t understand how hard and stressful it is not to hear or speak to you, thinking that you moved on with someone else, or hurt or even worse! That shit took so much of my mental state that I couldn’t eat or sleep. You don’t understand! You think that you can come up in here, dick me down, buy me some shit and tell me what I want to hear and all will be well but no. I can’t do it anymore. And if you don’t trust me enough to tell me what the fuck you have going on then I don’t want nothing to do with you or whatever the fuck you have going on!” she yelled at him. 

“(Y/N), listen to me.” he said grabbing her hands. “Look, I know what I do to you ain’t right. You don’t have to tell me because I already know it’s true. There are so many things that I want to tell you  but I can’t.” he said as she looked down sighing. 

“I can’t, do this.” she let his hands go. “Just go, please.” she said, tears rushing down her face. 

“(Y/N) please. I-”

“No Erik. Just go.” 

He gave her one last look before walking out.

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

“Good morning everyone!” she exclaimed to her staff. “So as you all know, I will be opening a store in Miami. That means that I’m going to need a manager there to run the store. So I am sending out an email, you can apply and we’ll go from there.” she announced to everyone. Chatter spread through out the room, as she made her way to her office. 

“Hey, so I sent out the invoice about inventory check list. They should be emailing it to you by the end of the week.” her assistant Tonya said. 

“Thanks.” She walked into her office going to her desk and opening up her Desktop. 

“Also, Erik came by this morning.” she said as her hands clenched into a fist. “He said to call him when you get the chance.” she said as she rolled her eyes. 

“Yeah right.” she laughed to herself before opening her email. 

“Everything alright? It’s been a while since he stopped by the office.” she said as (Y/N) looked up at her. 

“That’s because I haven’t seen him since June.” (Y/N) told her. “No text, no call, no nothing.” she snapped. 

“Jesus, that’s five months...” she trailed off as she nodded. 

“He came to my house last night when Sean dropped me off. Questioning me about Sean and shit. Like nigga you have no room to be questioning me, questioning me in my house at that.” she scoffed, hearing her phone ding to see it was Sean texting her. 

“Forreal? The audacity.” she chuckled sitting on the seats that sat in front of the desk. 

Sean: Hey, you free for lunch this afternoon? I know you said you wanted to try out that new BBQ place on 21st street...

She smiled at the text before texting him back. 

(Y/N): Yeah, I’ll meet you there around 1:00?

Sean: Sure thing beautiful.

“Anyways.” she closed her phone placing it on the desk. “Erik came by the house last night, telling me he couldn’t tell me because he didn’t trust me. A-And that he wanted to tell me but he couldn’t tell me. Like what am I suppose to think about that? It makes him looks sneaky.” she admitted as Erik nodded. 

“Have you ever thought about him being like a... you know. Drug Lord? Or like, a gang member or something?” he said as (Y/N) paused, than laughed. 

“A drug dealer? That’s a good one. I’ve known Erik my entire life and trust me, I would’ve noticed if he was hiding something like that from me.” she said shaking her head. 

“I mean- think about it? Do you know what he does? Like, career wise. Nigga be driving the newest cars, dripped down in designers, spoiling you with money and shit and you haven’t even thought about it just once.” she said as (Y/N) sat back in her chair. 

“I mean, it’s crossed my mind but like I said, it’s just so far from what I know.” she said as Tonya stood up. 

“Well, just a thought to think about. I’m going to go down to customer service and get their weekly review.” she said as she nodded.

There is no way that he could be a drug dealer...

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

(Y/N) walked into the restaurant, looking around and seeing Sean sitting there looking at the menu. She walked over to him as he saw her, smiling at her. “Look at you, you look good.” he smirked standing up as she smiled. She gave him a hug, and pecked his lips as she smiled. 

“Thank you, same to you. Sorry I was late, my last meeting with a little longer than I wanted too.” she said sitting down on the other side of the booth. 

“No worries, I ordered you a sweet tea with a slice of lemon.” he said to her as she smiled at him. 

“Thank you.” he nodded closing the menu. 

“There is something that I actually wanted to tell you.” he said as she nodded. “Someone reached out to me, by the name of... Killmonger? Said that he knew you.” he said as she tilted her head to the side.

“Killmonger...” she trailed off before shaking her head. “I’ve never heard of them before.” she said as he nodded sitting in his back. 

“Really?’

“Nope.” she said shaking her head. “That’s a cool name though..” she trailed off looking at her own menu. 

“That’s interesting.. because he said you were his ex.” he said as she put the menu down on the table looking at him. “He knew a lot of things about you, that you lived on South Viker Elm,  what cars you drive, your full name...” he trailed off as she looked up at him, scared to death. 

“What the fuck..” she whispered. 

“You sure you don’t know who that is? Because I’m having a hard time believing you.” he said to her leaning forward as she thought about it before her eye twitched.

“What did he say?”

“He knew your mom name was (Y/M/F/N) and your dad’s name is (Y/D/F/N),  you were born in (H/C).” she was freaked out until she realized it was most likely Erik. “Hell I didn’t even know you’re parents name was-”

“Actually, I might have an idea. We aren’t really exes. Just.. just someone that I used to mess around with. He left me a couple of months ago.” she said to him. 

“Oh.. it’s that dude.” he said as she nodded. 

“Yeah. I swear I don’t mean to put you through this. He came by the house last night and we got into an argument, but that’s about it. I have no idea how he got your number.” she said as he chuckled. 

“He didn’t only know my number. He knew my name too.” he said looking at her.

“Sean, I swear. I don’t know how the hell he got that information. I would never do that to you. Did he threaten you?” she asked him as he chuckled.  

“Something along that line.” he said taking his drink to his lips. “But don’t worry about that, I handled myself. I just want you to know that ya little ex-fling is tryna check me and that just don’t sit right with me.” he said as she sighed closing her temples. 

“I’m sorry, I-”

“I’m just fucking with you ma.” he said as she threw a napkin at him as he laughed. “But I’m serious about the ex thing.”

“Don’t worry, I got something for him.” 

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

She walked into the building, to not only be surprised to see Erik reading one of the magazines that was in the waiting area. ‘(Y/N) can we-”

“You. In my office, Now!” she exclaimed quietly. He looked shocked about her outburst, confused she followed her instructions. She put the stuff on the table before looking at him. 

“The fuck is wrong with you!?” she yelled at him as he stared at her. 

“There are a lot of things wrong with me. For starters-”

“Erik, I’m serious. Why the fuck are you calling him threatening him?” she asked as he still stared at her confused. 

“The fuck are you talking about?”

“Sean! He told me you called him using this name Killmonger, a-and that you were telling him shit about me?” she snapped. “Now I don’t know what the fuck you have going on but leave me and him alone.” she said pointing a finger at him. 

It felt like his entire heart stopped. “(Y/N), I swear on my mother I didn’t call no one. What’s his name?”

“Are you seriously going to sit there and play stupid?” she laughed shaking her head. “Erik he knew my mom and dads name! The only person in my life who knows that is you!” she exclaimed. 

“Fuck!” 

“(Y/N), listen. You can be mad at me for whatever reason. I don’t care about that right now? Tell me what his name is?” he said walking over to her. If there was something about (Y/N), she knew when Erik was in distress. Or scared. The look on his face showed nothing but pure fear. 

“Erik, what is it that you’re not telling me?” she asked him. It looked as if he was in deep thought about something, something in which had his mind racing. Like he was debating. “Erik, please talk to me. Be honest. I need to know because if it’s not you someone out there knows shit about me and I need to get that shit dealt with. ASAP.” she said as Erik looked at the door biting him lip. 

“Lock the door.” he said as she nodded. She walked to the door locking it before walking back to him.

“The reason why I go out for months at end isn’t because I’m cheating on you, or I’m hiding from you. I get paid.. to do things. Bad things to people.” he said as she backed up a little. 

“Do what?” she asked him as he sighed. 

“People pay me to handle their dirty work. They pay me to top people off.” she stared at him in complete shock. “Look, it’s not just random people. It’s people that do bad things.” he said as she looked at him. “So all this time, I’ve been fucking a murderer.” she said as he groaned rubbing his handsome his face. 

“It’s not like that I swear, it’s just- you know my background. I was good in the military and now I’m good and it pays good.” he said as she scoffed. 

“Yeah it pays good until you mess with the wrong people. Erik, some dude name Killmonger got ahold of my shit and-” 

“Killmonger is me. That’s what I’m called.” he said as she scoffed. 

“So you did call Sean, right? Wow-”

“No, can you shut up? Let me talk.” he said to her. She was taken back by the outburst but he continued. “Whoever that is knows about me, and knows enough about me to get to you. This dude you been messing with, knows too much information (Y/N).” he said stepping in front of her. 

“You need to trust me, I need to know everything. I really don’t give a fuck if you’re mad at me or you never want to see me again. I just need to know you are safe.”  he told her. She was scared shitless out of her mind. There was so much on her mind at the moment that she couldn’t quite gasp the fact that someone was out to get her. Never mind Erik being an assassin. 

“(Y/N), look at me.” he grabbed her chin to make him look at me. “Please, you need to trust me.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Why would he lie about that if he knew I was going to confront you about it..” she trailed off as he shrugged his shoulders. 

“Maybe to throw it in my face...” he said as he looked at her. “But I gotta plan for his ass.”

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

“Come in.” She smiled at Sean grabbing his hand. He looked her up and down licking his lips. 

“All this for  me..” he whispered looking at her. It was a new set she bought a couple of weeks ago, it was emerald green with rhinestones along the bands, her hair was in a slick back bun, her makeup was perfectly done. 

“Yup. I told you I wanted to have a little fun.” she whispered starting to unbutton his shirt. 

“Sheesh, you ain’t gotta tell me.” he said as she smirked at him. She grabbed his hand leading him to the spare room as he stared at her ass the entire time. “You got in touch with that nigga yet?”

“Killmonger?” she asked tilting her head. 

“Yeah.. him.” he said rolling his eyes as she chuckled. 

“No. Not yet. I tried to but he ain’t answering my phone calls.” she said as she pushed him on the chair that she had in the room. “But let’s not worry about him... I want my focus all. On. You.” she said pecking his chest. She got on her knees in front of him.

“Oh you a nasty lil bitch ain’t you...” he smirked at her as she smirked back at him. She grabbed the handcuffs as he looked at it laughing. “Oh shit..” he whispered. (Y/N) handcuffed him to the chair. That’s when she saw Erik come out of the closet, putting the pistol to his head. 

“So your Sean.” he said as (Y/N) stood up. She grabbed her black robe slipping it over her body as she looked at Sean, Sean giving her the dirtiest glare. 

“You been working with this nigga the entire time?”

“Actually no. She cussed me out thinking I called yo bitch ass.” Erik said. “But don’t worry about my girl. Worry-”

“Um, I’m not your girl.” (Y/N) cut in as Erik looked at her. “What? You think you can just say that shit after everything. No.. hell no.” she said looking back at Sean shaking her hand. “I don’t want a relationship with no one.. at all.” she said. 

“We’ll talk about that. You.” he said looking back at Sean. “Talk.” 

“Man fuck you, ain’t saying-” Erik punched him in the nose, knocking the chair over as she gasped. 

“Erik chill!” she yelled as he turned to look at her. “That chair was hella expensive. You think I want his blood all over my shit.” 

“Bruh, I’ll buy you another one.”

She rolled her eyes sitting on the bed. Erik sat the chair back up. “Talk nigga.” 

“You remember Kingston?” he said as Erik nodded. “That was my brother.”

“Kingston don’t have no brother named Sean.”

“No shit dumbass. You think I’ma use my real name fucking with y’all. I wanted you dead. And it seems like the only family you got is her.” he said nodding his head towards (Y/N). “By the way, (Y/N), at first it was just a get up to get to him but I really do like-” And another punch sent to his face. 

“You really think you can just sit up here and confess your feelings to her in my face nigga!” he yelled at him as he coughed up blood. All over her floor. 

“Who is Kingston?” (Y/N) asked Erik as Erik sighed. 

“A target. He was trafficking girls in Uganda. One of the girls died and the mother offered to pay me a good 10 Thousand to get his ass. Guess what?” Erik said lifting that nigga off the floor. 

“I did that shit for free.” he laughed in front of Sean or whatever his name was.

“You get paid that much?” she asked as Erik laughed. 

“Nah, that’s probably one of the lowest bids I’ve gotten. The highest I’ve had was like... 10 Million plus an extra 2  million if I could get the target and his crew.” he said as she looked at him in shock. 

“Anyways, just know that I killed that bitch ass nigga with no price.” he said. “Like I’m gonna do you.” he said taking off the safety on his pistol making her flinch.

She was scared out of her mind to see him like this. Was he really about to kill him in her house? All that blood and-

BANG!

She looked to see Sean's body lumped over in the chair as she stared at him in shock. “Well we don’t have to worry about that nigga no more.” he said putting the gun in his waist band. “I know some people who’ll come and clean this up. Make it look like someone was never killed here before.” he chuckled. He noticed she wasn’t saying anything before looking at her as she stared at the dead body in horror. 

“Oh fuck. I should’ve done this without you in the room..” he trailed off. “Let’s go.” he said grabbing her as he took her to her room. 

Erik saw this look before. He knew what was happening. She was going to be scared of him. “You want me to run you a bath?” he asked her as she looked outside the window. 

He went to her bathroom, filling the bathtub with bubbles and water. After setting it up he walked to the room to see in her in the same position. He took her undergarments' off before carrying her to the bathtub and placing her in. He bathed her as she stood at the wall. 

“(Y/N), baby. Look at me.” They heard the people coming in making her jump as he grabbed her. “(Y/N), it’s just the people here to clean up the mess.” he comforted her as she relaxed some more. He grabbed her make up towel, putting on some of the makeup removal solution she has and rubber the makeup off her face. 

About an hour later, she was in the bed as Erik was out in the hallway talking to the people. “Aye, thanks man. I owe you.” he heard Erik say. 

“No worries. We gonna cremate the body and throw the ashes somewhere along the river downtown. So don’t worry about it, okay?” he heard a voice say. After a few more minutes before he came back into the room, as she laid in the bed. 

“Hey, I’m gonna go. I’ma give you some space.” she heard him say. She sat up before looking at him. 

“Can you, can you stay please?” she asked him as he nodded. He stripped from his clothes getting into the bed with her. He wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer, tracing her arms. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked her. 

“No.. I don’t.” 

“Fair enough.”

[waynedunlaptheorgandonor]

watched s11ep1

i will provide you with a quick review before i disappear back into the ether of twd avoidance

lots of spoilers under the cut. also i wrote way too much and i worked all night and haven’t slept so i didn’t bother to reread literally any of it, so it might be completely nonsensical, tho if you don’t expect that from me by this point idk whose blog you’ve been reading

enjoy:

hokay, first off, i’ll start by saying that i enjoyed it more than i expected to. i’ve been avoiding any sort of discussion about stuff, but my google algorithm is so fucked at this point that i still get recommended articles and stuff every now and then, so i was already pretty aware of what i was walking into, and was expecting it to be eh, but actually i prob enjoyed it more than i enjoyed the finale

(don’t get too excited tho, the finale was rly boring lmfao)

anyway

episode starts off with a tense scouting mission

it takes .005 seconds into the episode for caryl to exchange a look of longing, establishing that they are still having weird conflict and are both too fucking stubborn to do anything about it even tho they hate it desperately

i imagine that will continue for a while

rosita, kelly, carol, maggie, what’s her face with the bad hair, and lydia (i think that’s everyone?) lower down to some army bunker or something, where a bunch of walkers are taking a snooze, and the girls are very respectful of walker naptime, and do their best not to wake them up

obviously they eventually wake up, but i’ll get to that in a sec

as they’re tiptoeing through the walker tulips, there’s this split second where carol spots a machine gun, and looks at maggie with a face like, “can i plzzzz, i am mad horny for that machine gun,” but maggie tells her no. (i 110% expected her to defy orders and accidentally wake up all the walkers, but she actually behaved herself for once. well. mostly)

never fear, tho, after the girl gang collects a bunch of MREs they go back to wait for the dudes waiting up top to pull them up, and bc men ruin everything, one of the ropes break, and daryl catches it before it falls, but then a slow motion drop of blood falls on a walker’s face, and just like that, walker naptime is over, and carol uses her bow and arrow for two seconds before she is like “fuck this” and whips out the machine gun

yes, she is super hot using it

yes, daryl watches her do it

anyway, all the other girls get rescued, and carol is about to be pulled up, but bc she is a #girlboss, she first makes a beeline for one more crate full of MREs. daryl covers her while she gets the loot, and when she gets back up top they have another charged moment as carol hands him back his knife

just fuck already, jfc

titles!

cut to alexandria where everything is still not smilestimes

BUT, we do get to see uncle daryl run and hug rj and judith (and dog), and FUCKING HERSHEL JR, LIGHT OF MY LIFE is also there

istg, they could not have casted a better child, i a d o r e him

oh, and some friends of maggie’s show up too, idk

cut to a staff meeting where everyone is like, whomp whomp, we’re all gonna starve to death unless we figure out something quick

cue maggie going, “oh, i know where food is, but it requires me to tell you my tragic backstory, in case anyone didn’t watch my bottle episode”

she tells her dramatic backstory about all her friends getting slaughtered by the reapers for no apparent reason, and then she’s like “anyway, let’s go back there!”

no one thinks it’s a great idea, but a group of people decide to go anyway, including daryl and gabriel. rosita is super pissed that gabriel is going, and carol doesn’t go, probably partly bc it’s a shitty fucking idea, and also bc they have to keep caryl apart bc otherwise they’ll fix their problems ahead of schedule and they won’t be able to drag out the needless angst

daryl looks kind of annoyed that carol doesn’t volunteer to go 

bitch, i thought you wanted her to stop putting herself in the line of fire! make up your damn mind!

moving on

cut to a thunderstorm, where, if you look closely, you’ll notice daryl is wearing the STUPIDEST hat i’ve ever seen. just get an umbrella, jfc

for some reason negan is with them, bc ig he knows his way around washington dc, and no one in six years has bothered to figure out how to get around the city and/or get a map, and he is like “hey guys, maybe we shouldn’t try to walk in this fucking hurricane,” and everyone is like “FUCK YOU NEGAN, YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF US!!!” 

this will be a common occurrence 

but eventually daryl is even like “actually, it’s rly unpleasant out here, and my hat is mad stupid, can we go inside plz?”

so they go inside an old metro station, which is actually a rly cool cinematic choice. i rly like the idea, and they executed it rly well

speaking of executions

there are some fucking RULL CREEPY walkers. idk why they bothered me so badly, but they were what they at first assumed were corpses wrapped up in tarps, but turns out none of them had been properly put down, so they go through killing these rotted bodies that had supposedly been there since The Fall, and it’s very gross and cool

this entire time, btw, negan is like “hey, i know i’m a shitty person, but i have some rational arguments about why we shouldn’t be doing this right now,” and everyone is like, “FUCK YOU NEGAN, YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF US!!!” and he’s just like “god fucking damnit”

(i forgot to mention that at one point, when they’re headed into the metro station, negan is trying to warn ppl of the potential danger, and everyone is ignoring him, and he tries to talk to daryl, and daryl is like “fuck you, you think we’re BUDDIES?” and negan is like “oh, ok, so you’re gonna be like that too? fanfreakingtastic” and it’s very funny)

anyway. a fat monster zombie escapes its tarp at one point, and tries to eat some npc, and negan saves him, again is like “hey, anyone else realize that this is a FUCKING BAD PLAN?”, and everyone is like “we don’t care, you’re still shitty and we’re not listening to you, and you don’t actually care about random npc i would literally not be able to pick out in a lineup bc his face is so generic, you’re not the boss of us!!!”

it’s at this point that negan finally is like, “why am i even here? bc i know how to get around washington dc? do none of you have a map?” and i was like, “right?! that’s what i said!” 

it’s then revealed that maggie only brought negan along to murder him under the guise of “oops, he got hurt in the line of duty, it wasn’t my fault,” and daryl has this look on his face that says, “i seriously need to stop hanging out with lethal women bent on revenge bc it’s gonna give me high blood pressure,” and maggie has a badass moment where she points a gun she has for some reason at negan and is like “i have like, one shred of human compassion left inside of me, and if you keep pushing me i will fucking kill you without a second thought, so shut the hell up”

(in her defense, negan had just dropped glenn’s name to purposely antagonize her, which was rude as hell)

(for the record, i’m completely on maggie’s side here, but negan still is right that trapping themselves in a metro station is a bad call)

anyway, moving away from that briefly

i think this jump cut happens sooner, i don’t actually remember, but whatever who cares, point is, we get to the part of the show that actually matters, and that’s anything involving my love, juanita “princess” sanchez

and also eugene, yumiko, and ezekiel

they are being asked increasingly invasive questions by commonwealth ppl, some of which i wish they actually would of answered (what do they use to wipe their asses with?? surely toilet paper has long since become extinct)

zeke, who is so much more tolerable as a character now that he’s not larping as a king, has this incredibly weird and sort of sexually charged moment with a dude in an orange stormtrooper costume, where he’s like, “i bet you were an asshole cop back before The Fall, you stupid fascist, #fuckthepolice, mb literally? idk, this moment has a lot of pent up aggression that could easily translate to hate sex, it might just be the intense eye contact, but w/e, let’s just move along,” and then he has a coughing fit to remind the audience that he’s currently dying of cancer, and orange stormtrooper is like “lolz, loser, drink some water you dumb piece of shit”

cut to the wholesome foursome sitting at a picnic table in a guarded courtyard eating gruel, and yumkio, who finally has a personality, and princess are like “hey, this place fucking sucks, can we leave?” and zeke is like, “yeah, i met this orange stormtrooper who i think might be dtf and/or murder, so we should probably bounce”

but eugene is like, “but i want some hot stephanie ass, and also some bullshit excuse about how mb commonewealth will save alexandria” which, they left before things went super downhill, right? idr. it was after hilltop fell, but they don’t know alexandria got fucked either, if i recall? w/e, not important

two seconds after he says this, they talk to some people who are like “we’ve been here for four months, or maybe it’s been nine, i don’t actually remember, i’ve stopped processing the passage of time,” and the wholesome foursome takes this as a bad sign, tho that’s just the life i’ve lived as a night worker during a pandemic, so i was like #mood

but then they watch some guy get dragged away screaming to get “reprocessed” and eugene is like “ok, nvm, let’s bounce”

(my theory on what “reprocessing” is, is that they’re stuck in a room and have to watch hours and hours of customer service training videos on vhs from the 90s)

i definitely got my jump cut scenes mixed up bc i think the negan accusing maggie of a murder plot thing happened in between this scene and then the next commonwealth scene, but w/e, i’ll just finish what happens in the commonwealth arch

the wholesome foursome are trying to hatch a plan to escape, except princess, my love, is distracted watching some stormtroopers flirt, and the other three are like “wtf, dude, how can you even tell any of them apart?” and princess then tells them every stormtroopers backstory bc she is brilliant and pays rly close attention to shit, and the other three are like, “this is useful information, thank you for being an insane person”

their plan involves yumiko and eugene dressing up as stormtroopers and leading princess and zeke out of the place, which works fine actually, except on their way out they come across the Depressing Wall of Probably Mostly Dead Missing Loved Ones

they’re about to leave, when princess is like, “wait, yumiko, you’re on here, that’s weird huh?”

sure enough, yumiko  is on the wall, with a note from ig her sister 

the scene ends with yumiko going, “guys...i can’t leave...i have tragic backstory to unveil”

tragic backstory to be continued ig

back in murder metro town, npc and some other npc have stolen all the supplies, there’s a train blocking the track, and a horde of walkers are coming towards them, so things are not going fantastic

they horde is too big to take down, so they start to climb on top of the train car to get away

but dog runs away!

and daryl, being every pet owner ever, is like “gotta go get my dog, guys, try not to get killed while i’m gone, c u soon!” and he ducks under the train and disappears

#priorities

the episode ends with maggie climbing up the train car but getting grabbed by a walker and dangling off the edge, and negan is there and they have a lion king moment where maggie is like, “scar! help me!” and negan is like “long live the king, bitch” and walks away into the shadows, leaving maggie to a potential death

which, while i know isn’t actually going to happen, would be a really fucking funny move on the writers’ part

like, “look, lauren’s back! and now she’s dead, bet you didn’t expect that!”

anyway

my assumption is negan will actually end up helping her up or something, continuing his ambiguous morality bullshit that actually isn’t ambiguous bc he BEAT GLENN TO DEATH WITH A FUCKING BAT WRAPPED IN BARBED WIRE IN FRONT OF HIS PREGNANT WIFE

the maggie/negan arch is kind of dumb, but whatevs, i’ll tolerate it, as long as my boy glenn gets justice in the end

anyway, cue credits!

final assessment: good episode. i’m much more interested in commonwealth than the reapers, tho i am hoping that daryl’s personality-less ex turns out to be a monster killing machine with no conscience, that’ll be fun. princess is a gift from god. hershel jr needs his own tv show. needs more carol (and caryl)

the end! going back into my walking dead free chamber! see you next episode!

-diz

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 19, part one

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Chilling in Yiling

We start off with Wei Wuxian hanging out in a busy area of Yiling, which is a really dumb place to pick for a fugitive rendezvous.  

He's wearing a fashionably distressed brown robe, and a woven disguise hat, that makes him invisible to his enemies until the moment he takes it off, kinda like the mask he wears in his second life. Unfortunately he is a polite boi so he takes off the disguise hat when he goes indoors to get a bite to eat, and promptly gets smacked down by Wen Zhuliu. 

Xiao Zhan's stunt double is really good at this wire-pull+table-smash move; this is the second time Wei Wuxian goes crashing through a table (the first one being when Yu Ziyuan was beating him). This time he clutches his now core-less abdomen, in a move we're going to be seeing a lot of, going forward. Abdominal surgery is a bitch. OP can personally attest to this.

Wen Zhuliu provides some comic relief by looking at his hand in puzzlement; he clearly can tell Wei Wuxian has no golden core, but he isn't going to bother telling Wen Chao that.

Wen Chao gloats and steps on Wei Wuxian's hand while Wei Wuxian stares at his shoe and OP wonders, not for the first time, how they make rubberized zig-zag treads in Ancient Fantasy China.

(more after the cut)

This is all happening in the Yiling Wine house where Wei Wuxian will later share the most important meal of his life, the one in which A-Yuan lays claim to Lan Wangji, ultimately giving LWJ a reason to live long enough for Wei Wuxian to be resurrected. If that doesn’t deserve a good Yelp review, nothing does. 

Dream a Little Dream of Me

While Wei Wuxian gets ready for his big whump scene, Jiang Cheng is dreaming, and looking absolutely breathtaking in this deceptively simple robe, that's made of a really complex fabric, that catches the light all over its surface.  The lighting here is warm and romantic, giving everything a nostalgic glow.

He looks around the courtyard in his dream, and sees Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian come running in the gate carrying kites. 

A child fetching a kite was the first casualty of the Wen attack on Lotus Pier, so this image may already be a little fraught for Jiang Cheng. In this initial image of his family, Jiang Cheng isn't present as a child, but then his junior self comes running up, to be warmly greeted by his mother.

Jiang Cheng's reaction to the scene playing out in front of him is not a simple one. We've seen him externally expressing his trauma at the fate of Lotus Pier and his family - his anger and his despair - and this dream shows us his private, interior trauma. 

His body has been repaired by Wei Wuxian and the Wens, but his psyche has not.

This family interaction can't possibly be one that ever happened. It's too lively, too affectionate, too comfortable. The family he was part of as a young adult was cold, angry, cracked.  Families don't change that much in 10 years, unless there's a major trauma that alters things in a fundamental way.

Even the glimpses we got of his childhood contradict this image. This warm group is not the family of "I sent your dogs away" or "wait in the cold until Jiang Cheng lets you in" or "I won't tell Clan Leader Jiang what happened" or "I'm only 11 but I'm in charge of soup and bedtime already"

Jiang Cheng smiles at the affection he sees enacted in front of him, but quickly moves to grief. When a toxic person dies, you don't just lose the relationship you had with them; you lose the hope for a better relationship. Perhaps Jiang Cheng has always imagined this version of his family; now nothing like it can ever come to be.

The pleasant scene vanishes into nightmare, as his mother starts bleeding from her eyes, ew. This is like Nie Mingjue when he qi deviates, but dream Yu Ziyuan is perfectly chill about it. 

Jiang Cheng is not perfectly chill about it. 

He turns around to see Lotus Pier burning. When he turns back, his family has been replaced with Wen Zhuliu, who is particularly gleeful as he reaches into Jiang Cheng's chest and melts his core.

Jiang Cheng wakes up on the mountain, alone (as far as he knows), and quickly stands and boots up his new golden core.

It's purple, because of course it is. King. The nightmare is gone and he smiles, maybe for the first time since the attack on the pier.

In a moment that is probably going to feel really embarrassing in hindsight, he kneels and bows toward the mountaintops to thank Baoshan Sanren, who is totally not there. 

Wen Ning, on the other hand, is there, although we only see a little bit of his belt and robe as Jiang Cheng walks off to Yiling to meet his brother.  This entire plotline walks a very weird line in which the audience is told just enough about what’s really happening to be confused, but not surprised.

Do the Whumpty Whump

After some initial roughing up, Wen Chao has his dudes stand Wei Wuxian up so he can question him without actually getting any information out of him at all. They take turns calling each other dogs, with Wei Wuxian saying that when Wen Chao talks he just hears a dog barking. (Of course if he really heard a dog barking he'd be terrified) 

Then he says "isn't that right" to Wang Lingjiao, and Wen Chao gets super pissed; don't disrespect me to my woman. 

He has his minions do a Nancy Kerrigan to Wei Wuxian's knee and then kick him for a while.

Then they kick the shit out of the camera operator.

Wen Chao is really not about fighting his own fights.  He also keeps threatening to have Wen Zhuliu melt Wei Wuxian's core, and Wen Zhuliu keeps popping up his hand and then putting it back when Wen Chao changes his mind, which gets more hilarious every time I watch it. Feng Mingjing’s physical embodiment of Wen Zhuliu is endlessly entertaining, even in scenes where he has literally no lines. 

I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghost

Wei Wuxian continues to goad Wen Chao, telling him that more torture is good because then he'll die with loads of resentment. He says that after he dies, he will come back as a ferocious ghost, which is...almost exactly what happens, except he stays alive for the ferocious part. 

They go back and forth about the feasibility of this whole haunting plan. Wang Lingjiao is the voice of reason, for once, arguing the "ghosts aren't real and anyway fuck this guy" position.

Wen Chao thinks that he can’t haunt them because of cultivator security hardening procedures soul-calming rituals, but Wei Wuxian wasn't born into a gentry family so didn't have the anti-fierce-ghost treatment that other cultivators get.

This is the only time in the whole of the show when Wei Wuxian says, himself, that he's the son of a servant. He's using his reputation as a commoner to bolster his threats. 

Wei Wuxian is working hard to put on a scary-guy persona, which works pretty well on Wang Lingjiao but not as much on the rest of the group. Three months from this time, however, he will have become the scary, vengeful creature he's currently spitballing about.  He will also become way, way better at torture than the people who are currently mistreating him. 

Wang Lingjiao and Wen Chao go through a whole sequence of ideas about what to do with him. For whatever reason Wang Lingjiao doesn't insist on chopping his arm off even though she's been craving it for ages. 

She does gleefully burn his burn some more, causing it to bleed directly into the giant obvious bag he has hanging from his belt leaking resentful energy. Which the Wens do not take away or search.

Wen Chao, incidentally, starts calling him Wei Ying during this encounter, which is rude of him. Tch.  Finally Wen Chao decides on a plan, which involves sword-flying effects so terrible that no soul can survive them.

Jiang Cheng is looking for Wei Wuxian in town, wearing a woven hat like Wei Wuxian’s.  This...is not a disguise. If you want to be inconspicuous, maybe take that giant piece of silver off of your head.

He hears random people talking about the Wens being in town, and then he apparently looks up at the sky and sees the Wen dudes flying on their swords with Wei Wuxian, but it looks so ridiculous that Jiang Cheng's mind cannot process what he is seeing.

While they "fly," Wen Chao delivers a massive brick of exposition about the burial mounds, while Wei Wuxian looks genuinely frightened. The VFX of random, undifferentiated mountaintops and clouds do nothing to sell this menace, but the exposition is actually pretty good, creating a real sense of disturbance and threat.

Then they toss him in, and we go from the terrible VFX of sword flying to a visual effect that they mercifully did really well throughout the show - the black resentment smoke. This time it catches Wei Wuxian and holds him for a few moments, before dropping him the rest of the way to the ground. It also apparently pulls the turtle sword out of his belt bag, but we don't see that part.

They Say That Every Man Must Fall

Having seen Wei Wuxian at his lowest point (so far) and dream Jiang Cheng also in deep distress, we go to the Dafan Wen sibs, who have also reached a breaking point. Because they helped Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng, they are traitors to their clan - unquestionably so - and are being punished for it, with Wen Ning having been tortured in addition to being locked up.

I see my light come shining From the west down to the east Any day now, any day now I shall be released

You know how Lan Xichen successfully argued for Wen-Clan-Member Meng Yao's life and status, because Meng Yao betrayed Wen Ruohan to help them? Even though Meng Yao killed a bunch of Nie guys? Wen Ning and Wen Qing also betrayed Wen Ruohan and helped the Sunshot Campaign, without killing a bunch of guys. They should have been treated as allies by the four other clans, but they got diddly.  

I’ve Been Dead Once

We return to Wei Wuxian in the burial grounds, where he's lying on the ground surrounded by resentful energy and by strained, desperate voices calling his name. This whole sequence is remarkable, since it effectively communicates the horror he's experiencing, through little more than Xiao Zhan's face and good sound design.

I hang around dying to be tortured  You'll never be alone in the bone orchard

The voices call four versions of his name. A variety of voices call him Wei Wuxian, Wei Gongzi, and Shixiong, which (I think) is what the young Jiang disciples would have called him. And in the midst of those voices, Lan Wangji's voice, low and calm, saying "Wei Ying." Upon hearing that Wei Wuxian starts to drag himself up.

For a show with definitely no zombies in it, they sure do use the visual language of zombie films for Wei Wuxian's first motions after hitting the ground. Starting with twitching fingers, then gradually pulling himself halfway up and crawling, lurching across the ground. Wei Wuxian comes slowly back to life, the very first member of his army of the dead.

He makes his way across the ground toward the floating turtle sword. Along the way he accidentally grabs the world's most bowlegged thigh bone; the lack of sunshine in the burial mounds puts the skeletons at risk for rickets.  All of the skeletons in the show are exactly what you would expect from the practical effects team that made the demon hand and the animatronic dog.

The turtle sword is roiling with resentful energy, and is talking to Wei Wuxian as he crawls toward it, asking if he wants revenge. And what a coincidence, he DOES want revenge. 

He grabs the sword and plunges it into the ground in an explosion of resentful energy. (Ground: why you gotta take it out on me?)

The sequence ends with the most compelling, ominous shot of Wei Wuxian's face...a new man. 

Soundtrack: 1. I Shall Be Released by Bob Dylan 2. Beyond Belief by Elvis Costello  

Writing Prompt: The Day Wei Wuxian arrived, from the POV of a Burial Mounds ghost. 

[moldisgoodforyou]

the screenplay

hello i am splitting these up tried to put them together but wasn't working

one scene wonder !!

wordcount: 2k short n sweet

________

Sophie had been begging for months now to see the project Rafe had been working on for one of his classes, especially with how often he added to it. He was constantly jotting down notes in his phone when he thought of something to add - at dinner, when they were hanging out, or the second he’d wake up. He’d always shift to the side whenever she tried to peer over and see the screen, nudging her aside.

All she knew was that it was for his screenwriting class in his minor that he took in the spring, and she swore she’d never seen him so invested in school before. He kept editing it after the class finished, working on it a little throughout the summer, but finished it before he went out to see Sophie in Spain.

When they were back to school in mid-August, she’d mainly forgotten about it - until the end of the month, when he strolled into her room and dropped a bound stack of papers on her desk.

She glanced up from her planner, confused. “Hello to you too, Rafe Cameron. Did I know you were coming over?”

“No, I invited myself. It’s done.”

“It?” She picked up the papers and read the first page. It read “UNTITLED,” BY RAFE CAMERON. Once she realized, she lit up, grinning at him. “Is this what I think it is?”

He flopped onto her bed and locked his fingers behind his head, glancing over with a grin. “Dunno, what do you think it is?”

“Your screenplay? Can I read it?”

“Yeah. Go ahead. It’s only twenty minutes or so, just a short film, so don’t expect too much, but.” He shrugged. “You can read it.”

She beamed and moved to the bed to read, facing the opposite of him. As she read, he was buzzing with nervous anticipation, trying to look over when she laughed or grinned at the page, or when she bit her lip - she’d just nudge him away to finish it. When she finished, setting the papers down, she raised her eyebrows at him.

“Do you like it? Is it okay?” He asked eagerly.

Sophie beamed, nodding slowly. “It’s familiar.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed at being caught. “Is it?”

“I mean -” She laughed, running her finger over the main girl’s name, Sloane. “If you were trying to be more subtle, you probably wouldn’t have used my middle name here. Where’d the guy’s name come from?” She cocked her head curiously, hoping to make him blush yet again.

“Uh.” He scratched his head, giving her a sheepish smile. “My middle name’s Asher, actually.”

A grin spread across her face, slowly. “You told me you had no middle name.”

“No, you asked if I had a middle name, and I said no. I have two. Asher and Clifford. Clifford’s my mom’s maiden name.” He corrected, fishing out his driver’s license and handing it to her, with Rafe A. C. Cameron on it.

She glanced it over, then glanced back at him with a teasing smirk. “Rafe Asher Clifford Cameron. That is the most pretentious name I’ve ever heard -”

“Hey!” He nudged her shoulder. “Watch it, that’s your boyfriend you’re talking to.”

“My boyfriend, who wrote our love story into a screenplay.” She beamed as he blushed even harder. His character had confessed his crush on the girl to his friends much sooner than she began to give way, something she’d always suspected for a while, but never confronted him about it.

He tapped the bound pages again. “Did you make it to the end? You missed my favorite part.”

“Yeah, I finished reading…” She furrowed her brow and flipped back through to what she thought was the end, then one page further. There was a dedication inscribed to her in the middle of the page: “inspired by a true story. for my favorite.” She bit her bottom lip hard, tearing up a little.

“Oh. Rafe.”

“Is that okay?” He took the screenplay out of her hands, gently setting it aside, and rolled on top of her to kiss her, slow. “I know it’s kind of cheesy, and you don’t really do cheesy. But I figured you played a part in this just as much as I did, so I wanted to give you some credit.”

“It’s perfect.” She reached up and threaded her fingers through his hair, smiling as she kissed him back. “My sweet boy.”

“Keep your voice down, you’ll ruin my rep.” He joked, laughing when she scowled and bit his lip gently in retaliation. “Hey! Hey, play nice.”

“Did you get an A?” She asked, kissing him again with a little more heat behind it. “Can I keep it?”

“Not sure yet. Yeah, I bound that copy for you, it’s all yours.”

“It’s really good, Rafe. I’m serious. I know I don’t know about movies like you do, but the writing, the directions - I’m really impressed.” She complimented, loving the way he looked away out of embarrassment and blushed red. “You only started this in April or something, right?”

“Uh...yeah.” He lied, rolling off of her to look up at the ceiling when she narrowed her eyes to catch him. “Okay, fine. Um, you know that navy journal I carry around? I’ve been writing notes in there.”

“But I’ve seen you with that since last December.” She furrowed her brow, confused. “We didn’t say I love you for months after that.”

He shrugged, casting her a grin as she climbed onto him and pressed her head to his chest, snuggling close. He wrapped his arms tight around her, tracing patterns on her back lightly. “When you know, you know, I guess.”

“You sap.” She accused, poking her finger against her chest. “My character’s a bitch for the whole first quarter of the screenplay, I can’t believe you wrote that in.”

He laughed, tugging gently on the ends of her hair. “Asher argues right back, I guess it’s how you look at it. The character growth is important, though, they can’t just fall in love like that without conflict. Rule number one of storytelling.”

“Are you gonna produce it?”

“The screenplay? Nah. Well, I don’t know, my professor picks two out of the ten and then we produce them in the spring semester. He did, um, encourage me to enter it in some contest for students, so I submitted it recently, but yeah. Doubt he’ll pick it though.” He dismissed himself easily.

“Hey.” She flicked his chest. “Be more confident. I want someone really hot to play me. Like Megan Fox-caliber.”

He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, okay. I’m sure she’s in the film department’s tiny budget.”

“You have money.” She pointed out, smirking, and leaned up to kiss him.

“Not hire-Megan-Fox money. Besides, you’re hotter.” He met her lips first, shifting so his leg fell in between hers.

“We both know that’s not true, baby.” She raised her eyebrows, skeptical.

“It is true. You’re fucking gorgeous.” He kissed her again, hard, smiling against her lips. “Prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. 10/10, would bang.”

“Thanks for the Yelp review.” She giggled and rolled her eyes simultaneously. “For the record, I always thought you were hot, even if you were arrogant and annoying when we were growing up.”

“I’m glad we waited, both of us.” He threaded his fingers through hers and kissed the tip of her nose. “If we had just one hate fuck and then you got over me I think I’d be so sad.”

“You wouldn’t get over me?”

“I haven’t been over you since junior year of high school, sweetheart.” He pointed out, making her blush bright red.

“What happened with Brooklyn then?” She asked point-blank, feeling bold.

He scowled, pressing his hips against hers. “Do we have to talk about her? Because I have other ideas for topics of conversation. Literally anything else.”

“We don’t have to, no. I’m just curious.”

“I dunno. Good timing, I guess. It kind of started out of convenience, knowing both our families would get along, then turned into a little more.” He shrugged, teasing his thumbs over her hip bones and along the hem of her shirt. “Longest mistake of my life.”

“Hey. You didn’t know she was going to end up that way.” Sophie frowned, then her frown gave way to a smug smirk. “It’s fine, I was sleeping around back then anyways -”

“You’ve slept with one other person, Sophie -” He started with an exasperated sigh, laughing when her jaw dropped in indignation. “Technically, your body count is just two.”

“So’s yours!” She retorted, sitting up on top of him and crossing her arms.

“No. Still four.” He corrected. “And I’d like both of ours to stay that way.”

“So that’s a no to a threesome?” She teased, punctuating her question with a roll of her hips.

“If you think I’m letting another person touch you like I get to, you’re delusional.” He scowled, gripping her hips a little tighter to keep her firmly in place. “I don’t even like other guys looking at you at the bar.”

“You’re too jealous.” She chastised with a flip of her hair. “People are gonna look at me. I’m hot. Bangable, in your words.”

“First off, I was joking, and I’m pretty sure I did not say bangable -”

“You absolutely did! Might as well have called me a slut -”

He raised his eyebrows at her teasing tone, unamused. “Why, do you want that? ‘Cause if you do you can just ask.”

“No.” She pouted, moving off of him.

“Where are you going?” He reached out for her, tugging at the hem of her shirt. “C’mere, I want to snuggle.”

She smiled, endeared by the 6’3” boy in her bed asking to cuddle. “Okay. Just that though, we have that dinner reservation soon, the one downtown.”

He grinned when she crawled back into bed. She looped her arm around his waist, spooning him, and he sighed contentedly. “I’m so excited for those fancy drinks.”

“We can make fancy drinks at home, y’know. Just buy the alcohol and we can try it.” She nudged her nose against his neck, making him flinch and wiggle away for a moment.

“Not the same. $18 cocktails in the fancy glasses just hit different.” He flipped over so he was face to face with her and rested his arm over her waist, scratching little circles on her back.

“Mm.” She closed her eyes but gave him a nod. “Are you gonna order a dumb whiskey drink again then drink half my fruity drink?”

“You like whiskey.” He protested. “We were sharing.”

“Free alcohol is free alcohol.” She replied, her voice taking on a sleepy tone. “How fancy do I have to be for this place?”

“You can just throw on a dress.” He continued to scratch her back, loving her little hums of contentment. “We can take a nap before we go. Twenty minutes. You can do eyeliner and lipstick and whatever in the car.”

“Ideal.” She murmured. “Rafe?”

“Yeah, angel?”

“I really love that screenplay. You’re very talented. I mean it.” She squinted one eye open just so she could see his blush and shy smile.

“Yeah, well. I had good inspiration. Thank you, Soph, that means a lot.” He reached out and stroked his thumb over her cheek as he reminded himself how lucky he was to be with her.

“Always my favorite.” She whispered, leaning forward to peck his lips and cuddle closer into him. “I’m gonna sleep.”

“I love you too.” He murmured back. “Sweet dreams.”

taglist: @drewstarkey @lemur46 @jjmaybanksbaby @edgeofgr8 @quxxnxfhxll @obxtess @hoodpankow @vtgirl802 @outerbankies @messagesinthesky @nicolecarsley @svechnikolan @ilovejjmaybank @obxtess @abbyj1822 @oopsiedoopsie23 @g4bster @jjmaybankzz @freddymaybank @dontjinx-it @illbesafeforyou @moniamaybank @tovvaa @jailcalledlife @sunshineitsfine44 @randomficsandshit @outerbankspreferences @outerbanksbro @karsinner @kkmaybank @whoeveniskendall @lemur46

[thran-duils]

Lost In Zero Gravity (P.12)

Title: Lost In Zero Gravity (Part Twelve) Summary:  Fem!Reader x Mob Boss!Tony Stark x Mob Boss!Steve Rogers.  Reader is a call girl who runs high end parties. She catches the attention of Tony Stark who invites her back to his room with his friend. She might have performed too well because she becomes their new favorite play toy and they don’t like to share. Words: 5,997 Warnings (for the fic in entirety): Smut, prostitution, infidelity, angst, domestic violence, stalking, possessive behavior Author’s Note: This is longer than normal, my b. And did I also just watch Iron Man 2 recently? Maybe. Also, I can’t help but to mention Pepper because I love her so much. Even if it’s off to the side. She’s still a queen. I also apologize for the French because I used google translate.

Part Eleven || Part Thirteen || Masterpost (mobile) || Fanfic masterpost

One of their guys – Dasco, you had been briefly introduced to, you had not seen him before tonight – was waiting outside the car since he was sitting in the middle row of seats and had to put the seat forward to let you into the back. You had no desire to sit in between Steve and Tony again after what they had just subjected you to. As you approached the car, you did not break stride as you shoved the seat back so you were able to maneuver your way into the middle set of seats in front of them and you settled into the center one.

Dasco made no move to get into the car beside you you saw out of your peripherals as you reached to grab your seatbelt. You heard movement from your left side where Steve was sitting but it stilled all of a sudden.

“Y/N,” you heard Tony start dangerously from the right. “You’ve got ten seconds to rethink that and get your ass back here.”

You considered ignoring him and buckling your seatbelt. But you thought of Dasco – or even worse, one of them – dragging you from the car in front of your grandma who could still plainly see the SUV in the driveway. Exhaling annoyed, you stiffly got up and got back out of the car. Dasco flipped the seat forward again and you peered into the back where Steve and Tony were waiting. Steve’s hand on his knee was taut, his stare hard; your first obstacle into the back seat was getting past him. You crawled in, him not moving an inch, causing you to have to drag your ass across his legs in the process. You plopped into the center seat between them, snug as a bug.

Tony patted your leg, “Good choice. See? Goes so much better when the rules are followed.”

You said nothing not trusting yourself to be calm, digging your hand down by Steve’s thigh to grab the seatbelt clicker. He was still unmoving, and you held back a scowl having to dig deeper, brushing his ass. Clicking your seatbelt in place, you sat back, staring at nothing. You wiped at your eyes again, trying to clean up your mascara.

Tony was already on his tablet, working on something. You could not make heads or tails of what he did, so you did not even bother trying to pay attention. You snuck a look and saw Steve was looking at his stocks. Typical. Bending forward, you grabbed your purse and got your phone out. Opening up your décor app, you set to trying to distract yourself with it.

“Y/N, I think you also owe Terrence an apology,” Steve told you firmly. “Just so you make all the amends you need to for your stupid actions as of late.”

Your gaze snapped to the review mirror where you saw Terrence peering at you from the driver’s seat. He was not going to move the car until you did as you had been told.

“I’m sorry for drugging you,” you said stiffly. “You were an innocent bystander.”

You noticed Tony’s lips twitch like he was going to smirk, amused. He hid it though when he saw he had drawn your attention.

A few moments of silence passed before Terrence replied, “At least you gave me some good vodka to bring me down.”

<><><>

You fell asleep along the drive, waking up with your head resting on Steve’s shoulder, much to your annoyance. You had purposely fallen asleep with your head back on the seat, but you must have rolled to the side. You rolled away from him, trying to make as much space as possible which was virtually impossible, but you tried, nonetheless. Steve cracked his eyes open to side eye you, having dozed off himself.

Looking out the windows, you noticed you were back in the city, very close to home.

Picking up your purse, you dug in. Your brow furrowed as your hand searched not finding what you were digging for.

“Looking for something?” Steve asked dryly, eyes fully open now.

Settling back into the seat, you asked tightly, “Can I have my phone back?” On cue, Tony handed you a phone, but it was not your phone. Irritated, you said, “This isn’t mine.”

“It is now,” Tony answered. “Your SIM card is in this one now, it’s just under my plan. It was hell tracking you down with your other one. Thankfully, Tatiana doesn’t like her shit being broken and your grandma was nice enough to tell Daryl what club you were at. But I will not be wasting my time or energy like that again even with that help.”

You rounded on him as much as you could in the confined space and demanded, “What did you do to Tatiana?”

Tony shrugged, “Nothing to her. Just broke some shit. Like I said.” Clenching your teeth, you stared down at the new phone. Tony reached over tapping it, “Like I said, everything’s in there from your old phone.” Tears stung your eyes and you sat back defeated. “Love, come on. It was just a phone.”

“I liked my old phone case,” you said pathetically. That was true and it would not fit this new phone. But it definitely went deeper. Your phone was one thing that had been yours and yours alone. You had paid for it yourself, you had your own plan, it was something independent.

“Then order it again but sized to this,” Tony said flippantly. “It’s not that hard, Y/N.”

“I don’t want to do that! I want my phone!” you exclaimed, on the brink of absolutely losing it. You tossed the phone past your legs onto the ground in frustration.

“Stop being a brat. It’s not cute,” Steve snapped from beside you, his hand coming to your thigh and his fingers digging in painfully. “Now pick up that damn phone and stop with the dramatics. I’ve frankly had my fill of them. You’ve reached your quota, Y/N. Reel it back in now.” Steve was burning a hole through you with how he was staring at you and you tore your gaze away from him, bending forward and swiping the phone off the ground. His voice was taut when he spat, “Thank you.”

Tony picked up your purse for you from the ground and held out his hand. You handed the phone to him and he placed it inside and tossed the purse onto your lap.

Thankfully, Daryl pulled up along the sidewalk outside of the apartment building to end the situation.

Steve let go of you as the doors to the sidewalk opened, Dasco and the other, Raphael, getting out before Raphael let the seat up to let Tony crawl out. You began to follow him, but Steve grabbed you roughly again, stilling your movement before you could get fully out of the seat.

“Lucky for you and that pussy of yours, I’m needed back at home,” he fumed.

You were silent, seeing the anger swimming in his eyes. He was furious about the whole ordeal, that was apparent.

“Behave for Tony.”

You only had a moment to ponder what that meant before the back opened where your bag was and Daryl dug in, invading the bubble Steve and you had been holding. He let go of you and settled back in the seat, his glare still directed at you. You inhaled sharply before resuming your exit of the car.

Tony led you inside the apartment building past the doorman and the front desk to the elevator. He was carrying your bag, Daryl stopping in the lobby at the desk to flirt with the front desk receptionist as he usually did. You were sure he was banging her. Terrence got into the elevator with the two of you. Again, Tony’s hand was at the small of your back leading you down the hall from the elevator to the apartment, keeping you on the path. His keys jangled as he let the two of you into the apartment, pushing you in ahead of him. Your eyes scanned the room – nothing had changed. It had only been a few days, so that should not be much of a shock. But you certainly felt trapped again, knowing you were stuck back in here. There was no way they were going to give you your apartment key back.

Luna meowed from one of her cat towers at you, drawing your attention. Tony was at your back and he said, “Oh yeah, got her back. That cat is also mine, so maybe consult me next time, yeah?”

He left your back, moving down the hallway towards the bedroom. It was early in the morning and you just wanted to go back to sleep. You turned, following him down the hallway to the bedroom lethargically.

There was a travel bag on one of the side chairs by the window and you furrowed your brow because it was not yours. Tony was holding yours as he placed it on the other chair.

Tony turned around, spotting your confused look. He cleared his throat and then said, “Oh, right. Sorry. I’m staying here for a while. Giving the missus some space until she decides to stop being a bitch. Looks like we are bunking together.”

The last thing you wanted to do was to sleep next to him.

“I’ll take the couch then,” you muttered, turning around tiredly.

You heard him coming up behind you quickly and his hands closing in on your waist and arm stopped you, pulling you flush to him. Nuzzling into your neck he said, “Come on, love. Cross my heart, won’t touch you once we are in there settled in. We can both sleep in the bed. Soundly and sweetly. I won’t even complain if you wake up in the middle of the night and turn the TV on because you can’t sleep.”

You hated he knew you so well.

He laid a soft kiss on your cheek and you went rigid. He noticed, sighing heavily. His hand at your arm left, but his one at your hip lingered, his fingers circling softly.

“You’re upset. That’s okay. But you can sleep in the bed with me. There’s enough space. Right? It’s a king.”

Remembering Steve’s threat, you gritted, “Yeah.”

“Good girl,” Tony praised softly, letting his other hand fall. He moved around you towards the door. “I’m going to get ready for bed. I’ll join you shortly.”

He left the room and you turned back towards the bed, staring at it. He must have been already staying here because the bed was unmade – you had left it made, a habit. His wife must have kicked him out the day of and he had come here for safe haven. Your eyes fell to the end of the bed, thinking of you cowering there when his wife had assaulted you. You could not think about that. Tearing your eyes away, you moved towards your dresser, going to fetch some clean boxers to change into.

You got onto your side, your back to him trying to be as far away from his as possible whenever he got back from the bathroom.

When he walked back in, he turned the light off, shrouding the room in darkness. The bed dipped with his added weight on the other side, the comforter shifting as he covered himself. He was keeping his word though, staying on his side of the bed, adjusting the pillows. You relaxed only slightly, hoping it would stay that away, that he was not going to force anything onto you. Especially not after all the shit that had happened earlier tonight.

The room was quiet, the two of your breaths filling the space. You shifted, burying yourself further into your pillows, trying to will yourself to fall asleep. For how tired you were, you had worked yourself back up again.

Tony broke the silence, “I am sorry.”

Your eyes popped open at the sentence, your brow furrowed in confusion. Unable to help yourself, you turned your head to look at him. His hands were folded behind his head, his upper chest exposed. When he felt you move, his head turned to meet your gaze. “About my wife being a psycho and having you in that position. And with your grandma. That went… a little far.” You refrained from saying anything despite all the expletives you wanted to hurl at him at the emotions all of those memories brought up. He respected your silent treatment and did not press you to respond, “Just thought that needed to be said. Feels it was owed if you know what I mean.”

Not knowing how else to respond to it, you said quietly, “Thanks.”

He nodded, turning his head back and closing his eyes.

Confused immensely by that turn of events, you slowly turned back over, tucking your pillow back underneath your head. Silence blanketed the room again and you knew that was really the good night.

<><><>

Groggily, Tony walked into the kitchen, shirt still missing and in his boxer briefs, finding you working already on food for dinner. You pointed at the counter and said, “The jam and peanut butter are already out if you want to make yourself some toast.”

“No, too early,” Tony grumbled walking over to the counter. He furrowed his brow and asked, “Where’s the coffee?”

“In the bag.”

“Then what roused me from sleep?”

“Probably the cold bed,” you quipped not turning around as you poured more spices into the bowl you were using to collect them all.

You felt his eyes burning into the back of your head as you moved to pull the chicken from the fridge. As you approached the island again, you looked at him, finding him staring at you as you suspected. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said before moving to go make himself coffee.

He poured out his serving into the coffee filter and pressed start. Coming back over to the island, he watched you put the chicken breast into the bag and pour some soy sauce, fresh garlic, and vegetable oil over it.

“What are you doing?”

“Making a marinade.” Tony looked surprised and you said, “You tell me to buy groceries and then are confused when I do something with them?”

“Love, attitude,” Tony tsked. He peered towards the spice bowl you were working with. “What spices are you using?”

“Cloves, fennel, cinnamon, anise, cayenne, nutmeg, salt, pepper, thyme. It’s not the exact recipe but I like it more.”

He rose his brows and muttered, “Jesus. Who knew you were a little chef?”

“Happens when you have a parent who has cooking for a hobby. Rubs off on you. Do you want me to thaw you a piece in the microwave – cause sorry, I thawed mine in the fridge overnight – and add it to the bag for dinner?”

That comment amused him and he cracked a smirk, leaning on the counter. “You sound like a proper housewife, dear.”

“Well, it would be rude of me to not offer to make you some when I’m already making it for myself,” you told him honestly as you moved the wet ingredients around the chicken already in the bag.

His fingers traced your hip lightly watching you. “Are you going to poison me?”

“What good would that do me to poison myself as well in the process?” you deadpanned, looking at him.

Tony’s lips stretched into a smile and he chortled. “You’re lucky I’m not as high strung as our friend Steven.”

Swallowing your pride, you turned your body more towards him, pressing against him. “Is that a yes or no? Just so it can all marinade together in the same bag. I wanna throw the spices in over all the chicken I’m going to be cooking with.”

Tony’s gaze fell to your cleavage exposed through your silk robe before trailing back up to your face. He smiled again, leaning in and giving you a slow kiss. You were tense but tried to force yourself to relax.

“Impress me,” Tony winked before pulling away to go pour himself some coffee.

“Where’s Steve?”  you asked, your curiosity getting the better of you as you moved the spices around now.

“Busy wooing his wife. He took her on a trip,” Tony answered you honestly.

So, the trip he had mentioned to your grandma had not been a lie. You were just not invited. That made you even more upset with him if possible. You made a disgruntled noise as Tony poured his coffee.

“Well, I’m gonna wanna grill these upstairs tonight. So, when are you going to be home or can one of the guys take me up to the roof to do so?”

Tony took a drink of his coffee and shrugged. “If you’re actually going to make me dinner, I’ll be home whenever you tell me to.”

“Seven then.”

He winked again, “Seven it is” before he turned, taking his coffee back down the hallway. “I’m gonna lay in bed and watch the news.”

You watched him leave, your eyes narrowing. He was acting normal… like nothing had happened. That set you on edge, but you decided it was better to play along with it. Maybe he was really trying to make amends.

<><><>

The following evening, you heard the bathroom door open as you were showering, and saw Tony enter. The shower was an open one, only a pane of glass on half, the opening walk in. The glass pane was fogged up but you could still see him as he began to strip as soon as the door was closed behind him. You walked over to the opening, running your hands through your wet hair to greet him but you stepped back seeing the blood on his shirt as he took it off.

He noticed you were staring, and he shrugged the shirt off, tossing it onto the ground.

“That was a long time coming for that complete waste of space,” Tony told you, sounding unperturbed. He offered, “Would it make you feel better if I washed my hands first before getting in?”

“Yes,” you said warily.

He shrugged and turned towards the sink, turning the water on. You watched his back muscles work as he scrubbed at his hands, washing them not twice but three times for you. Your eyes fell to the shirt again, taking in the blood splattered across it.

“I’m gonna burn it, don’t worry,” he told you catching your attention again as he wiped his hands on his trousers to dry them. Those went off next and he kicked off his socks. He must have left his shoes at the door. He gestured at you to move back and you did, allowing him access into he shower. He hissed against the water temperature and said, “Do you like to feel like you’re in hell?”

He pressed flush against you, his gaze burning into yours as he reached behind you to adjust the water temperature.

“That’s better. Jesus,” he muttered, lingering against you. “It was like you were trying to melt away.”

“I like it hot,” you retorted.

“Me too,” he chuckled, leaning down and kissing you. “Just in different ways.”

You rolled your eyes and turned away from him, but his arms wrapped around you, pulling you back to his chest.

“You were made to be worshipped,” Tony husked, his lips trailing along your shoulder, ending at your neck. His hands ran up between your breasts, cupping them tightly. He squeezed at your nipples as he sucked at your neck.

How hands that had murdered someone were so compassionate with you was beyond you.

“Tony, I need to condition my hair—” you started to argue, trying to free yourself from his grasp.

“You have dry conditioner. And don’t lie to me, I’ve seen it in the cupboard above the sink,” he argued back, his hand slipping down to your sex, his fingers pressing past your folds. “And if it’s that important, you can finish cleaning up after. I know I’m going to have to.”

Knowing he was not going to relent, you yielded to his touch, falling back into his embrace. He hummed in approval, his fingers diving deeper, squeezing at your clit gently. You pressed back against his pelvis and he chuckled, his lips trailing soft kisses up your shoulder. He played with your sex, dragging his fingers up and down, working you up.

“Gotta get you good and wet for me, right, baby?” You nodded in approval and he laughed, nipping at your neck, his other hand taut around your throat. “But not too much. I want that pretty pussy clenching around my cock, not my fingers.”

Tony shut the water off. “Don’t need any slipping hazards here.”

Pressing back, you presented to him, hating giving into your desire so soon, but also wanting the release he had started to press you towards. Tony let out a throaty chuckle, his hand trailing up your ass before he smacked, causing you to gasp. He smacked again and you let out another noise. “You’re so adorable, love.”

His cock dragged up your ass, pressing your cheeks against his cock. He slid up and down, exhaling shakily. “How are you so perfect?” he breathed, his hand coming back up to snake around your neck, the other at your hip.

He entered slowly and you breathed steadily as his hand flexed on your neck as his cock slid deeper. He was fully seated inside you and you shuddered, dipping your head. You clenched around him, trying to will him to move but he ignored it. He was still, holding you in place as you held him inside you.

“You like that? Being full of my cock?” he husked, his hand tightening on your hip. You nodded fervently, just wanting him to move, to do anything. His chest pressed against your back and his lips brushed your ear, “Say it.”

“Yes, I love it. Tony, Jesus, please just fuck me!”

He let out a laugh before he pulled out, his head almost leaving you before he slammed back in, jolting you against the wall. Your fingers dug into the tile as he drove up into you repeatedly with all his force. You were not quiet, falling into the rhythm of him thrusting into you and feeling his cock brush your g spot. You adjusted your hips trying to get him to hit it more and he laughed, getting the gist of what you were doing.

“Oh baby, you know the best angle for that is you face down.”

In a fluid motion, his hand fell from your throat and he pulled out of you. You whined in disapproval.

“Don’t be disappointed yet, love,” he told you, his hand coming to your shoulder and forcing you to your knees. “Get that ass up for me.”

You immediately did as he asked, and you felt him prodding at your entrance before he slipped back in. You cried out as he hit you full on and he groaned in approval hearing your praise. His hands were gripping your hips as he plummeted, impaling you against the tile of the bed of the shower. He was unrelenting, as if he was letting out the last week’s of pent up lust right into you. And you were relishing in it, racing.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you gasped feeling yourself spiraling quick.

“Come for me, baby,” Tony demanded, his hip snapping quicker.

That was all the permission you needed. You did as he ordered, your walls constricting and animalistic cries leaving your lips. Tony growled in approval, his thrusts becoming shallow. And he released, holding up your limp frame as he emptied inside you.

His grip laxed and you collapsed further into the tile, still trying to bring your own heart rate down.

“Shit,” he breathed after a minute, fully pulling away, leaving his cum dripping out of you. He stood up, stretching his body out.

You followed his lead and he helped you get to steady grounding. His nose nuzzled into your neck again and he walked with you towards the front of the shower, you letting him guide you. He pulled the handle, turning the water back on, thankfully at a reasonable temperature.

“Let’s clean ourselves up,” he murmured, kissing at your cheek, still holding you tight.

Tony pulled you back into the line of water, still holding you close. He reached behind him, grabbing the bar soap and he foamed his hands in front of you with the soap before placing it back. His hands ran up and down your frame, cupping and dipping, lathering you up. You relaxed, letting him clean you. His hands snaked between your legs and he cleaned himself from between your thighs.

Turning around, you looked up at him and he smiled, his hands coming around to massage at your ass. The water dripped around you, cleansing the soap from your frame. He rinsed his hands of the soap.

He broke the silence by saying, “The trip got moved up. We’re going to leave tomorrow.”

“Excuse me?” you asked confused.

He wiped at the water running down his face and said, “The trip. The one Steve told you about at your grandma’s – sorry, I know, still a sore subject. But the one planned for you.”

“But… he’s on a trip. Without me.”

Tony cocked an eyebrow and asked, “Yeah, he is. Which is why you’re coming with me on mine. Just to keep an eye on you and all, love.” He did not trust to leave you here by yourself apparently. So, not only were you not allowed to have your key again, you could not spend copious amounts of time here alone if they were not in the city. He grabbed the soap and lathered up his hands again, for himself now you guessed. “It’s gonna be four days. Although, about 26 hours will be spent on a plane. But Monaco.”

“Monaco…?”

Washing his chest, Tony nodded. “Mhmm.”

“Where is that?”

“Oh, southside of France. Little country.”

“For what?”

“That’s not anything you have to worry your pretty little head about,” Tony purred, his lips meeting yours again sensually. He pulled away and started washing himself down. “When we get back though, I will be going on another trip but that’s with the kids. So, you’ll stay here but Steve will be back by then. And I’ll tell him to be nice to you like he should be. He’ll behave himself, trust me, love.”

He winked at you before adjusting the shower head to aim more towards his body.

<><><>

You walked through the bar, Tony stopping you to pause at the camera. “Smile, baby,” he ordered you through his teeth and you did as he asked, trying to be natural. He guided you along further and whispered, “Well, that’s not going to make the missus happy. But, I should have assumed paparazzi would be here. I mean it is a highly publicized race.” Your eyes moved to the windows, looking out over the racetrack. “I did come here to speak business though.”

Since you had arrived in France, it had been getting off Tony’s plane, into a car, driving here, and sleeping. When you had been roused, it was to get ready and get yourself preened for this event. Tony had given you a bodycon red dress to put on for the event and he had winked at you when he said it was his color.

He brought you to the bar and his hand was flat against your hip, holding you to his side.

“Mimosa?” he asked quietly. “It is only 10:30 and that won’t draw too many suspicions.”

You met his gaze and said, “Vodka.”

His face broke into a smile and he chuckled, “That’s my girl” as the bartender came in front of him. “A screwdriver for my lovely date here and bourbon straight.”

When the two of you turned around, there was a man standing there with two men behind him.

“Laurie, I didn’t expect to see you but what a wonderful surprise,” Tony said politely, not being one to be caught off guard so easily. “You do have a racer today though, do you not? What a coincidence, so do I.”

The man he addressed, Laurie, shot a look at you before meeting Tony’s eyes again. He said something in French to Tony that you could not understand. They had a small conversation that got tighter the longer it went on and you were growing uncomfortable with each passing second with the growing tension. You took a long drink of your screwdriver.

Laurie’s eyes ran over you again lewdly and he said something to Tony that had Tony smile but there was no humor in his eyes. His fingers held tighter at your hip at it. His tone was frigid when he responded, “Vous pouvez parier que je ne perdrai pas car c’est mon jouet préféré.” (You can bet I won’t lose because its my favorite toy)

In response to Tony’s cold response, Laurie’s lips stretched across his lips in a challenging smile.

Turning his gaze back to you, Laurie said, in English, “You should hope Stark wins.”

Shooting Tony a dangerous look, he snapped his fingers at the men behind him before walking off, them following him.

Tony let out an annoyed breath and took a long drink of his bourbon, smacking his lips. “Fucking prick,” he muttered.

“Something wrong?”

“No. Nothing. Rival boss. He owns Blanchet Industries.”

“You’re lying. Something went wrong,” you accused him.

Tony turned his head to look at you and you stared back expectantly. He could not lie to you about that, it was plain as day something had transpired.

Seeing your defiance, he shrugged. “He’s mad I’m meeting with the man I am meeting with later. And he wanted to bet on the race.”

“Okay?”

“It’s not a big deal, love,” he said. “I’ll win. I’ll make sure of it.”

You did not like the sound of that but you followed his lead as he began to walk. He took a long drink of his bourbon again. The two of you approached a table with three people you had not seen before. You looked over your shoulder, not seeing any of Tony’s men in the room anymore. They had left the two of you at the door; were you to be that protected in this room? You felt some relief though the moment you saw Daryl coming through the crowd towards the table.

Pulling one of the chairs out from the table, Tony gestured for you to sit, tapping your ass.

“Nice of you to finally show up,” one of the men said, sitting rigid in his chair.

“Nice to see you too, Rhodey,” Tony responded as you sat down. He pushed your chair in and finished off his bourbon before placing it on the table. “I need to use the restroom. Love, this is Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy. Just sit tight with them. I’ll be back before you know it.”

He kissed the top of your head and strode off before you could even get a word out. Gaping like a fish, you watched him walk off. You felt the air shift beside you and Daryl was sitting down at the table.

“Daryl,” the other man – Happy, you assumed – greeted him.

“Happy,” he said in return.

You looked around the table and found Rhodey was the only one giving you a friendly smile out of the three. You settled back into the chair, putting your clutch on the table. You took another deep drink of your screwdriver.

“How are you enjoying Monaco?” Rhodey asked you, trying to make small talk. You leaned into it, trying to find some comfortability about being thrust at this table with people you did not know.

And it went well enough until Pepper gasped from across the table, leaning onto it. You followed her gaze to the TV, seeing Tony was on the TV. Your eyes bugged seeing he was in a racing suit. He had not told you he was going to be racing and you watched in shock as the roster flew up on the screen and the original driver’s name was replaced with his.

“Did he tell you he was going to do this?” Pepper demanded at Daryl.

Daryl shook his head, “No, ma’am.”

On the TV, Tony was telling the interviewers, “What’s the use of having and owning a race car… if you don’t drive it?”

“I’m gonna kill him.” Pepper breathed from across the table. “If he doesn’t kill himself, I’m going to kill him.”

You sat there in shock watching him getting geared up and into the racecar. Spotting a waiter, you reached out, stopping their movement. “Um, can I get shots for the table? Two for me, actually.” The waiter nodded and walked off. You looked back at everyone and saw their expressions. “What? He drives me insane too. Just let me handle it the way I do best.”

You looked back at the TV seeing him pull away from the pit stop.

Laurie’s words from just a handful of minutes before came back to you.

You should hope Stark wins.

Your fingers were digging into the back of your chair as you were glued to the screen. You only turned away when the shots came back and you rifled one down your throat. Your knuckles were pale the whole race, your hands gripping the chair. You only relaxed when you saw him come in third, two cars before Blanchet Industries’ car.

Tony hopped out of his car, waving at the cameras, looking triumphant. You turned back to the table and took the other shot. You noticed everyone else’s original shot glasses were empty too and at least you had done them that solid of giving them some liquid relaxation even if they had not taken the shots with you.

When he came back up to the table, he was back in his suit.

Pepper hopped from the table and got in his face, hissing at him, pushing him away from the table, and he was talking quietly back to her. The two of them were suspended in argument and you watched curiously.

Daryl leaned over and said, “She’s CEO now of Stark Industries. She’s gonna have to do some PR on this.”

Tony did not seem to calm her down, but he found an avenue to get out of the conversation which looked like basically just walking out of it. He came over to your chair and said, “Come on, Y/N. We have a private pool back at the villa. I need to relax. I got pretty tense during that race.”

Stumbling out of the chair because he was pulling you, you steadied yourself, throwing a look back at Daryl who shrugged as he got out of the car to follow the two of you. You matched Tony’s stride, moving past the paparazzi.

Out on the patio, you demanded, “You really threw everyone off guard and for what? Why did you have to win so badly? Why did you race?”

“Because he wanted to win you if I lost,” Tony responded out of the corner of his mouth as you walked down the stairs.

You stopped, causing him to stumble for once. He turned back to look at you as it clicked he had put your ass on the line because of his fucking ego? He could have told the guy to fuck off but he had accepted that bet? And then just raced?

Scoffing, you pushed away from his side, glaring up at him, rage tearing up inside you.

Tony’s expression melted to vexation, knowing the contempt rising up in you, “Y/N, sweetheart…”

“You’re an asshole!” you snapped at him before turning sharply and storming away from him towards the car where Terrence was waiting.

~~~

Forever tags: @coconutqueen21 @undecidedsworld

Fic tags: @icant-hangout-imdrumming @oceaniamaddness @multifandom-superlover @imsonick @holl2712 @here4thefanfics

[pankowbabe]

Hello, and welcome to my Outer Banks: Lights Out book review that absolutely no one asked for.

I want to start this off by saying that I had so much hope for this book when I first seen the previews and the description. It made me feel as if we were going to get some answers to JJ’s backstory and what led up to the Pogues’ friendship. I also had no idea of who the author was before preordering, and I jumped the second it was mentioned, not taking the time to research to see if this is directly correlated with the series. (Which it isn’t— the author literally paid the creators to use the characters and plot info.)

First and foremost— the characters of John B, Pope and Kiara do not match the energy of their real characters that we have grown to love. We all know that Pope is passionate about school and his scholarship, but we also know that he’d never pass up the opportunity to go on an adventure with his best friends— especially considering this all takes place during spring break. Kiara hates working at The Wreck, and would use any excuse to leave if she had the chance. So when the author decided to have Pope and Kie stay back from the trip, it just didn’t add up to me, but I continued to read anyways.

John B was really fucking passive aggressive towards JJ almost the entire book BECAUSE HE FELT AS IF JJ ROBBED HIM OF SPENDING MORE TIME WITH HIS DAD BEFORE HE WENT MISSING. Like, WHAT? That isn’t John B. Idc. Our John B knew of JJs home life and would NEVER blame him for tagging along with him and his dad. That pissed me off, almost to the point of where I stopped reading.

So, John b and JJ head out to the Frying pan shoals to spearfish. Savannah shows up on her fancy boat with her shitty boyfriend and their shitty friends, and the chick begins spear fishing. She snags one and it pulls her underwater, and JJ saves her ass. Well, long story short, she gets stuck on the boat with JJ and John b in a storm and her dumbass boyfriend takes off and leaves her. They head to an abandoned lighthouse and then they’re confronted by pirates, yada yada blub blub

Now for Savannah. I was so fucking excited to finally see JJ happy for once. Of course, I didn’t like her character at first because she came off as a preppy touron, but further in she started to have more and more character development. Her dad died and her mom married a rich man. The chick could swim and new how to work on cars and shit. She hated her life, her step dad and claimed her life was boring and that she was with her rich boyfriend HUNTER 🤭 because it was easy being with him. I was straight up digging her. Then BOOM! Her and JJ kiss. There was absolutely no tension build up, the author was just right to it.

Well, after they fight off the pirates, they go to sleep and head back out to OBX the next morning. Lo and behold, hunter is there waiting for her as soon as they get there. THIS BITCH STRAIGHT UP ADMITTED TO CHEATING ON HIM WITH JJ AND HES ALL LIKE “ok, say sorry and I’ll forget it ever happened.” The bitch says sorry, and drives away with hunter— forgetting baby jj even exists. The fuck? Well, JJ decides he’s gonna be all “knight and shining armor” and sneak to her hotel room and shit that night. I was totally expecting for her to run into his arms and them be together, but the bitch. Still. Chooses. Hunter.

I was pissed. So fucking pissed. The book ends with the Pogues eating at The Wreck, and then Savannah and hunter showing up. Jj screams “SCREW THE KOOKS POGUES FOREVER” and then boom. The book fucking ends. I’ve read better stories on wattpad by 12 year olds. I feel robbed. I feel VIOLATED

10/10 do not recommend, don’t waste ya money. The author is a piece of shit anyways. She’s white and the book is focused on… you guessed it… only the white characters. Pope and Kie deserved better. JJ deserved better. This book sucked and so does the author.

K bye.

[everlarkficexchange]

The Barrier

Author: @hutchhitched

Prompt 77: Married Everlark are coworkers and their marriage is on the rocks. They’ve been sleeping in separate rooms. Divorce looks inevitable. On a business trip, there is *dramatic pause* only one bed. Does the forced closeness lead them to really talk for the first time in months or does it drive them further apart? Smut not required. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Ratings/Warnings: M; allusions to infertility, divorce, self-loathing

  “What do you mean there’s only one bed?” Katniss hissed at her husband. “We were supposed to have our own rooms, and now you’re telling me we have to share a bed? Did you do this on purpose?”

Peeta glared at her, fury flaring in his blue eyes. If she weren’t so furious herself, she’d push a little harder, but the flint-like nature of his glower convinced her that she needed to steer clear, if only by shutting her mouth once she’d voiced her opinions.

“What kind of idiot do you think I am?” he practically spat at her. “It’s not like I want to spend time with you. I get enough of that at home.”

“A big one.”

“A big one, what?”

“You asked what kind of idiot I think you are. I think you’re a big idiot.”

“Enjoy sleeping on the street,” he said with unnatural calm and turned sharply on his heel. He’d only taken three steps before she crumbled. She had no interest in sharing a bed or a room with the man she’d married a decade ago, but she definitely didn’t have any desire to sleep in the hotel lobby, or worse.

“Oh, come on!” She called after him and hurried to catch up before he made it to the elevator. “You’re not going to leave me hanging. We’re here for work, and neither of us can afford a bad performance review this year.”

“It’d be worth it,” he groused.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Peeta stood to the side so those inside the elevator could clear out and then stepped into the box with his suitcase. He punched the button for their floor and leaned against the wall without bothering to glance her way as she struggled to get inside with her bag.

“Can we not?” he asked tiredly. “You can yell at me all you want in the hotel room, but it’s unseemly in public.”

“Unseemly?” She almost said more, but bit the inside of her cheek instead. She could wait until they reached their room to see how bad the situation was going to be before she said anything else. This whole thing probably wasn’t fair in any way, but she couldn’t help but feel like this was somehow all his fault.

The elevator ride concluded in silence, as did the walk from the elevator to their room. Peeta fiddled with the lock for a full minute and cursed as the red light flashed several times before finally figuring out how it worked and popping the door open to allow them to enter. He flipped on the lights as he entered, and she almost smiled at the familiarity of him scanning the corners for someone hiding in the shadows. He’d started that habit on their honeymoon when they’d not bothered to look before going at it against the door as soon as they closed it behind them. An errant cleaning lady who’d only been dropping off extra towels and pillows had gotten quite a show, very likely one she’d had absolutely no interest in viewing.

The honeymoon was a long, long time ago. So long, in fact, that Katniss wasn’t even sure if she even liked her husband anymore, let alone loved him. They hadn’t been intimate in forever, it seemed, and she hadn’t missed it at all. Well, that wasn’t true. She did miss it. She just wasn’t interested in doing anything with him. All the sexual tension, passion, and lust that had existed between them had simply dried up as real life got in the way. They’d taken out their frustrations and irritations on each other instead of looking for comfort in the other’s arms.

“Do you want to use the bathroom first?” Peeta asked as he set his bag on the edge of the bed and unzipped it.

“First, yes. If it’s okay with you.”

“I don’t care. Knock yourself out.”

He turned his back on her and stripped off his tie before unbuttoning his shirt. He got it over his shoulders and was working on his belt before she shook herself out of her daze and closed the door to the bathroom behind her. Taking her time, she showered and re-braided her hair before brushing her teeth and applying moisturizer. She was just about to pluck her eyebrows when a pounding sounded on the door.

“Can you hurry it up? I’d like to go to sleep sometime tonight.”

Irritated, she jammed her beauty products back in her toiletry bag and ripped open the door. Haughtily, she glared at him and swept by to head to the bed. When she saw what he’d done, she froze.

“What’s this?”

“What’s what?”

“Why are all these pillows in the middle of the bed?”

“They’re making a barrier.”

“Yes, I can see that, jackass. Why is there a barrier of pillows in the middle of the bed?”

“To separate us.”

“But you’re sleeping on the floor.”

“Why the hell would I sleep on the floor?”

“Because we’re not sharing a bed right now. We don’t even sleep in the same room at home anymore. Why would you think we’d do that here?”

Peeta gaped at her, completely dumbstruck. It took a while for him to put words together, but when he did, she wanted to smack him.

“Katniss, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you’re crazy if you think I’m going to sleep on the floor of a hotel just because you decided you don’t want to be married to me anymore. I’ve tried to be understanding, but this is bullshit. I’m not a puppy you can kick.” Peeta shook his head and squeezed his eyes closed and his lips together. She knew that expression because it was one he’d shown much too often in the past several months. That was the look he made when he was about to lose his temper. “Now, I’m going to shower. If you have shit to do, I’d suggest taking care of it while I’m in there because I’m tired, and I’m going to sleep once I’m done.”

She waited until he’d closed the door to the bathroom before ripping the pillows off the middle of the bed. Hell if she was going to sleep in the same bed with him. He’d made a mistake to leave her alone if he thought that was going to happen. She piled the pillows back up against the headboard and then climbed into bed. Once she was directly in the middle, she pulled the covers over herself, set an alarm, and turned off the lights. If she tried, she might actually be asleep before he came back out, and then he’d have to take the floor. They’d barely seen each other in the past few weeks, let alone touched. She certainly didn’t want to start that the night before a big meeting.

It felt like she’d hardly closed her eyes when Peeta exited the bathroom and walked over to the bed. Smirking to herself, she rejoiced in her petty victory. Except… The mattress dipped under her, and she jumped as her husband climbed in behind her. With a shriek, she sprang from the bed and stood clutching the sheets in front of her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Indignant, she wanted to smack his face. His eyes shone wide and blue with faux innocence that quickly shifted to a self-satisfied sneer.

“I’m going to bed. I told you that before I went into the bathroom. Really, Katniss. You should pay closer attention when I tell you what I’m planning. Someone might think you don’t listen. Not very good for a relationship, you know.”

“I was there!”

“And I put up a barrier, which you demolished. Seemed like an invitation.”

“You are such an asshole,” she sputtered. “Get out the bed.”

“And you’re being a total bitch. Get back in bed, and we’ll stick the pillows back between us. I’m not sleeping on the goddamn floor because you’re too stubborn to actually talk about what’s wrong between us.”

“I’m not sleeping in the bed with you!”

“Then, have fun on the floor.”

Infuriated, she fumed at him with a slack mouth and a hollowed out chest. He knew exactly what to say to hurt her, and maybe that was the problem. He knew her too well, knew all her vulnerabilities and insecurities and disappointments. Because of that, she could hardly look him in the face. If she did, she’d have to admit all the flaws she had, and if she did that, he’d know the same way she does that she doesn’t deserve him. Not in a million lifetimes.

Gutted, she ducked her head as tears pricked at her eyes. He reached for her, but she flinched away from him. She couldn’t handle his compassion, which he offered even when they were at their worst.

“Don’t touch me,” she ordered as strongly as she could, which was a pathetic attempt at regaining control. “Don’t touch me. Just put the pillows back. Please.”

He nodded, and it was almost her undoing. Turning her back, she waited until the rustling stopped before climbing back under the covers and settling on her side. The silence was louder than any noise she’d ever heard. It was matched only by the rush of blood in her ears. She stifled a sob and squeezed her eyes closed as tightly as she could. It wasn’t until she was almost asleep that she heard him.

“Goodnight, Katniss.”

She didn’t bother to answer.

****

Katniss woke to a streak of sunlight on her face and a warm fuzzy feeling that stretched from the pit of her stomach to the tips of her fingers and toes. Safe and warm, she nuzzled into the pillow, only to realize it was hard muscle covered in soft cotton, and there was something stiff poking into her thigh.

She didn’t want to move, didn’t want to risk losing the feeling of being loved and protected and cherished. There’s been so little of that in her life. Since her father died, the only person outside of her family who loved her was Peeta. Peeta Mellark, her childhood sweetheart turned fiancé who became her husband way too young, loved her. Maybe he still did, but it was hard to cling to the possibility. More likely, he wanted a divorce. She’d probably face the rest of her life alone.

She closed her eyes and floated in the sensation of being cared for by someone who didn’t have to want her. The press of muscular thighs and cut hips and…hell, she wanted that. She needed it. Desperate, she ground against the thick shaft and moaned low in her throat. It was matched by one just as frantic and eager.

“Katniss,” he whispered, and she tipped her head back to accept his kiss. He’s a dream, someone who could see past everything she couldn’t accomplish, every failure, every disappointment. “Sweetheart, you feel so good.”

He rolled on top of her and hitched her legs around his waist. They rutted against each other, groaning and whimpering at the pleasure they received from their connection. He made her feel so much better. He made her feel like she wasn’t a failure. He made her feel worthy.

“I’ve missed you so much. Missed you so much.”

Hands scrabbled at her sleep shorts. Heat flooded between them and deep in her gut. She wanted him, craved him inside her, longed for acceptance. Something about him—

“Stop!”

Peeta froze on top of her. His reaction was immediate, which only made her feel worse. She’d lost herself, forgotten who it was in bed with her. She’d led him on and allowed him to think their marriage could survive this when he’d be a million times better off leaving than staying with someone who couldn’t give him what he wanted.

“Katniss?”

“Don’t,” she warned. “Don’t talk to me like you can fix things if you only talk slowly and calmly enough. I’m not a child.”

“Sweetheart, please. Please let me in. I don’t want to lose you,” he whispered fiercely. “Please don’t do this to us.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“Tell me what’s wrong. Tell me what I did. Why did you pull away from me? What did I do that was so terrible?”

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breathe evenly, but sobs choked her. He hadn’t done anything. He’d only ever been a wonderful husband, and all that did was remind her that she couldn’t ever live up to what he should have. He was loved and respected and admired by everyone, and she was suspicious of the world. He could make anyone laugh, while she stood by awkwardly with an uncomfortable expression on her face. There were a million things like that, but the worst was what she couldn’t quite process enough to allow herself to embrace what he wanted to give her.

He wanted children, and she couldn’t give them to him.

She burst into tears, which she knew was the only guaranteed way to get him to back down from the brewing confrontation. He wasn’t so much of a masochist that he’d purposefully provoke a weeping woman, particularly not his wife, no matter how strained their relationship. Like she knew he would, Peeta released her and flopped onto his back on the mattress next to her. He didn’t try to comfort her. Instead, he allowed her to sob as her tears quickly converted from fake cries to full-fledged howling.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, and he accepted her apology without even demanding to know anything else. She knew he was frustrated, but he held the space for her, without pushing, as she worked through her outburst. Finally, she quieted, and he rolled onto his side and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

“Better?” he asked with such gentleness in his eyes and voice and touch that she broke again.

“No!” she wailed. “It’s not better. It’s never going to be better.”

Exasperated, he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Without a word, he stalked to the bathroom, and she heard the shower turn on and the unmistakable sound of him stepping into it. Embarrassed, she closed her eyes and tried to still her rapidly beating heart. Nowhere in her plan for this trip did she anticipate break down in front of her husband, but she also hadn’t foreseen that they’d have to share a bed. It wasn’t like they’d been doing that at home. Not for months.

“Shower’s free,” he announced as he re-entered the room with a towel slung low on his waist.

His hair, usually ashy blonde and wavy when it was dry, clung to his head as water droplets traced down his chest. A jolt of lust shot through her, something she hadn’t felt for a long time. Without a word, she passed by him to get ready. When she was done, he’d already left for their meeting. The day passed quickly, and too soon they were back in the room together with an awkward silence hanging between them. Peeta didn’t even bother to talk. He simply got ready for bed and curled up on his side with his back to the wall of pillows between them.

Katniss attempted to fall asleep for what felt like ages, but the only thing she could do was listen to the steady in and out of Peeta’s breath. The sound was so familiar to her, and it was even more dear than that. She missed him so much, and, if the morning was any indication, he wanted her as much as she needed him.

“Peeta,” she hissed. When he merely grunted, she moved one of the pillows that separated them and reached across the barrier. “Peeta, wake up.”

“What do you want?” he grumbled without turning toward her. “Sleeping.”

“I want you.”

Peeta rolled over, but he didn’t make any effort to touch her. Pillows still separated them, but the wall they’d built between them was much worse than the temporary barrier. They needed to talk, but she didn’t intend to. She could distract him, she knew. She’d always been able to with a smile and a kiss and her body.

“Talk to me first.”

“Why? What good will it do?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it would fix everything. Maybe, just maybe, we could save our marriage. If nothing else, it might make me think you want me and not just a night of meaningless sex. It’s not like we’ve exactly been jumping each other for the past several months.”

She sniffed at his sarcasm, although she couldn’t blame him. He’d put up with a lot from her, but he’d been kind of awful, too. His kindness earlier in the day didn’t make up for some of the cutting remarks and nasty actions he’d resorted to when he was frustrated. Still, his desperate plea for her to let him in struck at her heart, and she didn’t want to lie to him anymore. If she could just get started, the barrier between them could be dismantled.

“You wanted a baby.”

Her voice waved, but it was out there now. She knew it wasn’t her fault, had gone over the medical issues repeatedly, had processed all of it. Still, she felt like a failure. Knowing and feeling were almost never the same thing when it came to pain and disappointment.

“So did you.”

“It’s not the same.”

He signed loudly. Shifting away from him, she curled into herself at his irritation.

“Sweetheart, I love you. I’ve always loved you. Yes, I wanted a baby, but I want you more.”

“You don’t mean that,” she protested.

“I really, really do.”

“How am I supposed to believe it?”

Peeta sat up and grabbed the pillows between them and tossed them to the floor before grabbing her arm and tugging her toward him. He put his mouth next to her ear and hissed, “I want you more than anything else in the world. Do you feel that? Can’t you tell how much I crave being inside you?”

She shivered at the feel of him hard and plastered against her thigh. How he’d gotten there so quickly, she had no idea, but it gave her ideas, especially since she did some quick math in her head and realized it had been over six months since she’d slept with her husband. They still had a million things to talk about, a thousand misunderstandings to navigate, and a ton of baggage, but the removal of the barrier had begun.

“Peeta?”

When he hummed, she leaned in to kiss him. They had one more night in their shared hotel room. Katniss decided to take full advantage of it, and it didn’t take long before Peeta let her know how enthusiastically he agreed with her plan. Maybe they couldn’t fix what was between them, but it couldn’t hurt to try.