#its a habit i picked up from my discord days

[scribeofnight]

⸝⸝ ꒰ 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔. 🫧ㆍ₊⊹

✦ 𝗉𝖺𝗂𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 ;; rafayel x afab!reader ✦ 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝗋𝖾 ;; slightly suggestive, slight fluff - mostly brainrots ✦ 𝗍𝖺𝗀𝗌 ;; clothed grinding! slight making out! spoilers for + heavily based off of raf's myth! ambiguous ending! reader is in denial! reciprocated love! sadistic rafayel! slight demeaning / derogatory tone! mean rafayel! ✦ 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗍 ;; 2.9k ✦ 𝗌𝖼𝗋𝗂𝖻𝖾'𝗌 𝗇𝗈𝗍𝖾 ;; my first ever proper rafayel fic. i really tried to write smut but i was and never will be one - for now, at least. it's been so long since i wrote something but, the rafayel girlies in the LADS official discord server and i were talking, and i just HAD to write this out, you know? i rushed this out in like 3 days in between classes and studying, so not my best work... t-t anyway! enjoy~

You supposed that it was a good thing - after all, the ocean was loved by you, as though it was real, and true. You imagined what it would be like, to be loved by the ocean (and you refuse to believe the image of him appearing in your mind as soon as you think it).

It was yet another sleepless night - you could tell. The sands from the bay billowed into the air, mingling into the ocean’s scent as though in a romantic waltz, the howling barely audible yet so loud to you. You did not know what to do; for you were never this sensitive to the  ocean’s gaze and touch until before…him.

You swing your feet down to the carpeted floor, cashmere wool tickling your bare feet imperceptibly as you make your way towards the window, praying to the stars that the marble flooring beneath the carpet was not too cold. It had been chilly of late, more so with his absence, you realised. You try to push away these foreign feelings, dawning on you like a stormcloud, fogging over violent seas. It made sense not to indulge in them - a princess falling in love with a Lemurian? That would be unheard of (you dare not say you wished it was just).

Pulling open the door to the balcony carefully, so that it would not creak, you peeked out, finding dark clouds rapidly looming in the sky, a big mass of darkness. You sighed softly, dejection almost visible in your bodily language as your shoulders drooped lightly, a mirage of exhaustion creeping into your features. If Miss Natasha saw you as such, she would be berating you for your ‘unlady-like posture’. You could almost hear her, you realised, giggling to yourself quietly as you made your way back to your bed, the short distance from the balcony to your bed covered in a few mere strides.

Miss Natasha only meant well ever since she had found you unconscious near the ocean. Without a second doubt, she had taken you in and fed you, gave you shelter and some work to keep yourself occupied with - along with a name. She would press a warm towel to the red mark of a koi fish - that she found burnt just under your left breast, on your ribcage - whenever it burnt. You did not realise it before, but Miss Natasha knew what it was; and for your safety, she had to keep quiet.

You gingerly sat down on your bed, looking out the window through the fluttering gaps of the billowing curtains, the moon illuminating your room, bathing it in its romantic glow. You fiddled with your fingers, picking and pulling at the skin around your nails - one habit that always warranted you a harsh reprimanding and an earful, as well as a manicure from Miss Natasha.

A flash of purple caught your eyes as you spotted the fishtail beacon next to you - one that he had given.

You knew he always smelled like the ocean from the infrequent times that you both have met - sea salt, with a hint of lavender and burnt sugar. Oftentimes, you wished you could bottle it up and store it away. A little reminder of him, locked away in a part of your chambers for you to use whenever you missed him - which was often, but it is not like you would admit it out loud.

“Holding it like this, I’ll sense Your Highness’s presence.”

His voice echoed in your ears from that night; the warm timbre, that look he gave you when teaching you how to use it, the warmth from his hands as they enveloped yours… you shook your head to clear the thoughts. Hesitantly, you reached out to hold the fishtail beacon in your palm, tracing the detailed fins and tail, a smile worming its way to your face as you sighed softly. You could almost feel it - feel him - if you closed your eyes.

Thinking of, there are a lot of things you would not admit out loud - especially about him. You rubbed your eyes carefully, the revelation somehow exhausting you.

“Your Highness has been harassing my fishtail beacon for quite some time now. Did Your Highness wish to see me?”

Your head snapped up, all sense of weariness gone as you gaped at the purple clad man in front of you, leaning against the wall next to your window. You swallowed harshly at the realisation of how he looked like he belonged there, in your bedchambers, your head spinning.

You asked dumbly, despite you gripping the fishtail beacon tightly in your hands, your fingers still fiddling with its end. You pretended to not notice Rafayel’s full body shiver as you caressed the fishtail beacon, and you certainly did not notice his breath hitch, nor his voice get deeper.

“Rafayel, what are you doing here?”

“Imagine my surprise when I found Your Highness daydreaming while grasping my beacon as so. Tell me, Princess…”

“Your Highness is caressing my beacon so tenderly. I inferred that perhaps Your Highness was in danger and came rushing over, as a good companion would,”

Rafayel remarked smugly, his voice dripping with confidence, words rolling out like warm ocean waves under the glittering sun. He clicked off his mask, placing it on your bedside table before taking a seat next to you, gently pulling the beacon out of your hands, his voice taking on a raspier edge.

His face moved closer to yours, the fishtail beacon discarded somewhere in the folds of your satin sheets, his breath ghosting over your face lightly. You could feel his gaze weigh heavy on you, eyes glowing slightly in the dark as they bore into your eyes, his lips pulled up in a light smirk before he pulled away slightly, placing a few more inches of space between the two of you.

You cleared your throat carefully, reaching out to grasp the sleeve of Rafayel’s robe, tugging on it and pulling him closer to you as you stood up as well, guiding him to turn to face you.

“What is it that you were so preoccupied with while my beacon was in your hands? Was it perhaps… me?”

Rafayel murmured, his voice saturated with a lilt you could not quite identify before he cleared his throat, standing up quickly, his back to you as he sighed. His shoulders were drawn together, clearly tensed as he hunched into himself. You could hear him muttering illegibly to himself, only catching the words ‘shouldn’t have’ and ‘what was I thinking’. 

You murmured, gently brushing his hair back. You watched his eyes widen in surprise before his body stiffened, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed harshly, a light blush coating his cheeks at the proximity, his breathing slightly erratic.

“Rafayel.”

His voice broke off into a whimper as you tugged him closer, your fingers threading through the hair at his nape, effectively silencing him. You felt his arms gingerly rest on your waist, neither pushing nor pulling as you nudged your nose against his cheek, sighing quietly.

“Your Highness, I- I apologise; it seems as though the waves tonight are slightly uncontrollable tonight- i must retur-”

He parted his lips, his tongue darting out to wet them lightly as his eyes flickered from your lips and back to your eyes. He turned his face away, a hint of shyness evident as his crimson shaded ears made his feelings obvious, maybe perhaps his thoughts as well.

“Tell me what it is that you are thinking of, Rafayel.”

Your voice, albeit hushed, held a lot of power over him, you realised. You would not blame him - after all, if he spoke to you like this, you would react just as he is at the moment - trembling slightly beneath your touch, his breathing erratic as his ears burn red. His body was so warm, so warm that it burnt through your clothes, seeping into your skin and warming your bones.

He started quietly, inhaling sharply as you pressed closer, your head tucking into his neck as you sighed quietly. You could feel his pulse thrumming rapidly under your cheek - your only solace to find out it was just as fast, if not faster than your heartbeat. His grip on your waist seemed to tighten as he sighed audibly, gently pulling a few inches away from you.

“Your Highness- this is hardly appropriate-”

His voice resounded in the room, shaking you to your core despite the confusion. You blinked up at him, your arms still loosely wrapped around his neck, your lips parted in slight confusion. He stared down at you, a small smirk playing on his lips as he realised your innocence. Quickly clearing his throat, he ignored the burning of his ears, bending his knees slightly as his hands slid from your waist to the back of your thighs. Pressing a kiss right on your left rib cage, he tapped the back of your thighs gently once more, as you shivered while entrapped in his arms.

“Jump.”

With a soft, low chuckle, he guided you to a nearby wall, his breath fanning over your face carefully, barely breaking a sweat as he carried your weight. You stared up at him, taking in his features, getting drunk almost, as you counted the number of his beauty marks that you could see, swallowing the saliva that pooled in your mouth at the sight of him so close to you.

“Jump for me, princess.”

Unsure of what his intentions were, yet blinded by all you had, you followed his words, hopping carefully, yet hesitantly. In that moment, as you gasped, he gripped your thighs tightly, guiding your legs to wrap around his waist, one hand sliding to the small of your back, pressing your upper body against his as his other hand held you up from under our thighs, his fingers brushing your butt lightly.

He murmured as he propped you against the wall, his head dipping down into your neck as he pressed a chaste kiss there, his hand sliding up from your back to your waist, his grip on your waist tightening as he shifted such that his knee was between your legs, digging into your skin deliciously.

“You’re staring, Your Highness,”

You sound so utterly wrecked, and nothing had happened at all. You felt his knee jerk slightly, pressing into your core once more, pulling a strangled moan out of your lips. Panicking, he quickly looked up at you, covering your mouth with his hands, his knee rocking back and forth as he watched your eyes roll back in pleasure.

“Rafayel…”

He murmured, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he dipped his down towards your ear, nibbling your earlobe sensually, a soft groan escaping his lips as his hot breath fanned across your ear, shivering from the feel of how close he was to you.

“Quiet now, Your Highness. We can’t have everyone finding out how debauched and indecent the princess is when around her Lemurian companion, can we?”

He continued, pressing feverish kisses down your jaw and neck, gently biting down on your collarbone, licking the bite soothingly as he smirked at your muffled whimpers, his hand still firmly clamped over your lips. You had not registered that his knee had moved away from your core, and that he was grinding against you, his erection so prominent as it dug into your core through the layers of fabric, broken gasps and moans tumbling off your lips, barely muffled by Rafayel's slender fingers, his hand on your mouth pressing down further, fueling your pleasure as your eyes rolled back, the drag of his erection and both of your clothes so delicious.

“Unless you’re into that - then I’d be happy to oblige.”

“Awww...~ Awh, you're so adorable, princess... What, can't handle a bit of pain? Have I spoiled you too rotten, my dearest jewel? Maybe I should increase your pain tolerance. What do you say to that, Your Highness?”

“I have no problem in showing off what is rightfully mine.”

A jolt of electricity went through your spine as you heard his words, a gasp tumbling out your lips, barely muffled by the Lemurian’s slender hand. Your fingers once again threaded through his hair, tugging him up to meet your face as he rocked his body against you, soft moans and grunts falling from his red lips, as he brought a finger to the mark he had left on the junction where your neck meets your shoulder, pressing down on it slightly, watching you squirm as you try to shy away from the pain.

You groaned at his words, your toes curling as he seemed unaffected by the way you writhed under him, a small pout gracing your lips as your tongue darted out to wet your lips, tugging the purple-haired man closer. He could see the desperation in your eyes, and you were sure as hell that he could feel the damp stickiness between your thighs through your clothes. He watched patiently, a predator tracking its prey, watching a shaky exhale falling from your plush lips as his eyes darkened imperceptibly.

"Already so wrecked? You sound so debauched, Your Highness. Do you have no shame? Letting your Lemurian pet given to you as a gift have his way with you... I suppose I really should protect you, hm..?"

“Rafayel,”

Your voice sent a shiver down Rafayel’s spine as he grinded particularly roughly against you, his hips jerking violently into yours as you both moaned out in unison before Rafayel pushed you up further against the wall, clamping both hands down on your lips before shuddering once more, grinding into you slowly, carefully, his teeth gnawing on his bottom lip.

He groaned into your ear, his voice getting rougher as desire tinged his voice with saccharine, timber dripping with sugar-sweet honey a sharp contrast to the drunken lilt of pure heady, unadulterated pleasure seeping into both of your veins. The air was hot, so excruciatingly hot - so tense and you could not think of anything else except wanting to feel him deep, deep inside of you, quenching a never before known thirst that sparked and ebbed from your core, through your whole body, tingling with need, and want, and so much more that you just could not put into words.

Rafayel obliged, bending down and slotting your lips together in a frenzied, sloppy kiss. He panted against your lips, his body rocking into yours slightly rougher; more desperate, as he bit your lower lip, his tongue sliding into your mouth as he twirled it around your tongue, his hand moving to hike your nightgown up, both of your desperate, poorly muffled moans reverberating around the room and travelling between your lips, eyes squeezed shut and fingers tangled in hair and squeezing hips, squeezing so hard you were sure you could see faint red imprints tomorrow. You could feel his bulge rubbing onto your core deliciously, the friction and roughness making your toes curl as you moaned into the kiss, helplessly holding on to Rafayel as your nails dug into his shoulders, his clothes only getting in the way. The heady scent of lust and sweat clouded the room, creating a deliciously suffocating atmosphere that only fueled the need for him to be closer, closer, closer.

“Rafayel, please.”

You begged, your voice so broken, so utterly filthy sounding to Rafayel, and oh, did his head spin. Who was he if not a weak man to his princess’ desires?

He groaned in frustration, breaking the kiss, his eyes trailing a string of saliva that followed as he parted your lips gently, his tongue coming out to wet his lips - more so lick off the remnants of your kiss as he pressed his forehead against yours, pants leaving his mouth as your breaths intermingled, his hands carefully slipping out of your nightgown as he sets you down gently, still trapping you against the wall.

“I would love nothing more than to be yours for eternity, Your Highness.”

“Your Highness… are you…?”

His voice trailed off, filled with uncertainty and yet equal amount of desire as he looked at you, his eyes shimmering with want, ocean blue overshadowing the stiff peaks of pink dotting his irises, the mole on the left side of his nose very much distracting you. You gulped, feeling heat pool further to your core but you shook your head, cupping the taller’s cheeks gently and tugging him down, guiding his lips closer to yours.

“Would you let me have you for myself tonight, Your Quintessence?”

Rafayel froze, his body stiff against your tender hold, ensnared by your words as he gazed at you with wide eyes, his mouth slightly open, clearly not expecting his formal title to fall from your plush, red-bitten lips. You giggled softly, caressing his cheek gently and he gaped at you, admiration, awe and love swirling with the pure want in his eyes, concocting an addicting potion - befitting of a siren, you think, to cast a spell with just his eyes - before he surged forward, pressing a multitude of kisses across your face, suppressing his laugh as he swallowed harshly, audibly, your eyes trailing to his Adam’s apple as it bobbed with the gesture, quickly flicking back to his eyes as he flashed an impatient smile, his eyes storming over with clouds of desire, his grip on your waist tightening as he presses close, tilting his head such that his lips are brushing against yours, his canines catching on your earlobe.

♡₊˚ 🪼・ copyright @scribeofnight all rights reserved ;; do not copy, steal, plagarize, reword or repost to other platforms without proper permission || all credits to original owners and creators of the characters from the media + pictures that are not my own.

[dr-docktor]

Ok I have an outline for a swap au/curt falls au

I've had this SaF au rotating in my head for a hot minute and I got some details down and I want to write it all down somewhere so here! Fair warning: it’s pretty underdeveloped but as I get suggestions and stuff I hope to develop it more:-)

Quick thanks to @randeeznuts for letting me yell at him about this in Discord <3

Its a Curt Falls au where, of course, Curt is the one to fall instead of Owen. It's still Curt's banana peel, however.

After the incident, Owen retires. Mourning the fact that he and Curt never got to run off together. Instead he picks up what little he has left of that fantasy and tries to pull it together.

A tiny cottage on a lake, a hairless cat named Penelope, a vegetable garden... You get the idea.

And all things considered, he could be doing so much worse. Penelope is spoiled rotten and the vegetable garden looks gorgeous no matter the time of year. Ignore the thousands of abandoned hobbies scattered across the coffee table and carpet. Ignore how he hasn't cut his hair since he chopped most of it off in some grief-driven rage 3 years ago. Ignore how his back porch reeks of cigarettes as his smoking habit has gotten so much worse. Ignore the fact that all he can think about some days is how efficient the little pronged rake in his hand is just as efficient at tearing up weeds as it is tearing through flesh.

Admittedly, I'm not 1000% sure how or why he decides to go back into the field for this one mission. My best guess is Cynthia finds his ass and is like "Hey bestie, I need a huge favor." I will expand on that later, I swear.

I imagine the main plot points of the show continue. You got Tatiana, the casino, etc. etc. etc. (once again I will expand on specific changes later) I also imagine most of the comedy with Owen comes from him being the sort of straight-man (haha) in most situations.

Being able to bounce off of whatever insane event is happening around him with utter seriousness and sarcasm. Because he just wants to get through this and get back to his cat. (the cat-sitter doesn't even know her favorite food! Much less her routine oh how will she live happily???).

He also never clarifies to anyone if Penelope is an animal or human so people are just consistently arguing about if he's talking about a child or a cat. Tatiana and DMA keep interrupting BVN's speech to debate this. Tatiana claims that its clearly a child, that Owen's eyebags and stubble indicate a stressed-out single father while DMA firmly thinks she is a cat for reasons he will not explain.

SPEAKING OF DMA :-) I think the guy needs no further introduction. There's still a lot of gaps in development, specifically centered on why Curt would ever join Chimera. I very firmly believe that they didn't torture Owen. But given how loyal and stubborn Curt is, I don't think they'd be exactly gentle while trying to persuade him. This might change later on, who knows.

Curt's version of the DMA is so interesting to me because I think he'd be a lot more reactive than the Owen DMA if that makes sense? Like very quick to explode with anger. Like he acts all smug while insisting Penelope is, in fact, a cat and not a human child. But as soon as he's asked why he thinks this, he fires back with a "Because I can just tell, okay?!?!??!" and then awkwardly trying to redirect the conversation.

I also think Curt's DMA accent would be along the lines of New Jersey or Boston. Mainly because it's an accent he can mimic SUPER well (thanks Ms Mega!). I've always had the headcanon that Curt is really good with languages and accents which sort of contributes to this.

In terms of physical appearance I don't imagine this DMA to look like Joe Walker. But I don't really have a solid grasp on what he does look like. However, I really like the idea of him wearing these black goggles on his head that he finally puts over his eyes during the torture tango.

Just imagine the light of electricity getting reflected in these bad boys during the torture tango. While Curt's got this massive grin that, in any other context, would come off as friendly and dorky (if not a little bit smug). Scary!

Also, because it's Curt, I imagine he fidgets a lot. Maybe in the background of scenes where he's not doing things he'd be practicing tricks with a butterfly knife or cracking his joints.

Ok back to plot stuff.

I like to think Owen figures out the identity of the DMA at some point shortly before the reveal. There's a clear moment where the clues click together (Like those jigsaw puzzles sitting abandoned on his coffee table). But Owen sort of shrugs it off just out of sheer denial. He knows its true, but it's not until the reveal where he's forced to confront it.

I know realistically this would end in only one of them walking out of the staircase scene alive (I couldn't even tell you which one). But my heart really wants for there to be a happy ending. Like most of this, I'll figure it out eventually.

[sirwow]

Hello once again RD tumblr. I recently went on an extreme discord ramble about Cocole in my au and its so long i feel it be a waste not to put it here! usual me warning of yeah its reallly long under the cut. anyways have fuuun

(PS im not editing this from the discord messages cus im eepy so might be a bit messy!)

So to start before rhythm doctor even starts some background on CC Cole and Nicole. Cole first:

Cole was a single child that grew up a VERY privileged life style. Rich neighborhood and spoiled rotten at the expectation that he would be like his parents. (be a CEO or high ranking individual like his dad n have a stay at home wife like his mother) Cole however ended up with a music obsession ever since he was 12 and started playing the piano. At first his parents encouraged this, giving him lessons and everything but when they realized music was the only thing he did care about, they were more hesitant on supporting him n tried moving him on a different path. This does work well on a rebellious spoiled teen so Cole just ended up becoming more obsessed out of spite. Spending all of his allowance on his electric guitar, synth and microphone. Cole was still being a freeloader off of his parents money by 22, never having actually gotten a job and just barely finishing highschool. His parents kicked him out when he refused to get a job n this lead him eventually to Middlesea after many long train rides across the countryside. Got admitted to the hospital basically as soon as he got to Middlesea due to a lack of sleep and an extreme amount of caffeine drinking. Doesn’t mind too much because it gives him company and he wanted to stay in Middlesea anyways since it was told to him by a chance encounter with miner that it was the capital of music.

Now Nicole:

Much less privileged growing up in comparison to Cole. Moved to Middlesea when she was just 1 from Norway since her dad got a job offer. Unfortunately said offer fell through and now they were stuck in North America just trying to make do. Nicole grew up with all brothers- 1 older, 2 younger. Picked up the guitar after begging for a full year for her parents to get her one for her 14th birthday. (which they did) Nicole grew up with dreams of grandeur- being a famous enough player to help her family and be know more then the awkward lanky gameboy girl in class. Her dreams of that were half crushed though when she entered a high school talent show that she was planning on playing at but when she was actually on stage she completely froze up and had a panic attack. Got bullied pretty relentlessly for it and the nail in the coffin was seeing how poor her family was in comparison to others and how she was just putting more stress on it trying to be a musician. Gave up on music at 20, moved out into a small apartment, got her barista job, and started getting check ups by 22 due to her sudden smoking habit from stress. Met Cole when he stumbled into the Cafe the same morning he was admitted n they started up their daily routine of chatting with each other

SO! Everything is basically identical to what happens in game till after act 5. When Lucia proposes the idea of a talent show, Cole reeaaally wants to get Nicole to play with him and Samurai. Nicole is pushing him off due to her past trauma of the last talent show she tried to preform at. Using the excuses that she got rid of her guitar and she can’t even play anymore anyways. Meanwhile only a few weeks before this, Nicole had started teaching Logan how to play the guitar to confess his love to Hailey with music. Nicole had been spending the whole day dealing with Cole coming in every 30 minutes to try and convince her but Nicole repeatedly shut him down. Cole was making a final plea to her at the end of her shift n just as she was gonna tell him one last time she didn’t have a guitar anymore- Hailey and Logan suddenly barged in. Turns out Logan had confessed to Hailey not more then 10 minutes ago and when she found out who taught him how to play guitar, Hailey wanted to return the relationship favor to Nicole. Handing her back the guitar right infront of Cole n thanking her for teaching Logan before running off dragging a very apologetic Logan behind her. Cole and Nicole were silent as she held her guitar before Cole asked if she could now that she had her guitar. Nicole put it away and told him to get out so she can close shop. Cole tried staying but got pushed out and locked out by a very flustered Nicole

Nicole was. Kinda mixed in her feelings. Angry that even happened, guilty that she was called out for her lie and wondering if she should take Cole’s offer. She was still thinking it through for the next 2 days n her completely ignoring Cole asking about it was enough to make him give up n just start planning with Samurai. Samurai came into the cafe when Cole admitted defeat to him n very roughly questioned Nicole if she still enjoyed music or not. When she said she did and had actually been playing more before this because of Cole, Samurai told her she should show him that. Nicole didn’t really respond but that night while Cole and Samurai were song writing- Nicole showed up with her guitar after work, ready to join them. Cole jumped up to quickly hug her excited before catching her up on what they were doing. She never had her heart jump so suddenly

So the trio started practicing for the talent show, writing a song together and practicing together. As the day of the show started approaching, Nicole’s nerves started getting the better of her and smoked more as a result. Smoking more made her SVT worse so now during practice she was even more fidgety and nervous then before. Cole eventually took notice when she kept getting pissed at missing her cords n turned a practice night into a gaming night with the three of them to calm her nerves. Over games, Nicole admitted to Cole and Samurai why she was so damn nervous about this and how stupid her first attempt at a talent show went. Cole offered to shove her if she froze up n though she laughed and pushed him calling him a dick, Cole meant it in a caring sense. They would be by her side in this dumb idea so if she felt embarrassed she could blame them for it. Nicole still laughed at the idea but felt some calmness in the idea. Regardless- the day of the show was there and Nicole still had a shift to finish so they were going last. It was a quiet day in the Cafe n so her thoughts were racing while watching the clock occasionally. She began drifting off into nervousness again by the end of her shift and only snapped out of it when an exhausted Lucia broke into the cafe sweating and huffing. She was surprised to still see Nicole there as she pointed to the clock showing it was only about 5 minutes before she played. Nicole FREAKED out n asked Lucia if she could close for her in a panic n as soon as Lucia said yes, Nicole handed her the keys and apron thanking her, before dashing down to the parking lot the show was being held at. When Nicole got there, she froze before the backstage seeing how many people where there to watch but quickly ran again when she saw Cole and Samurai signaling her over. Cole reassured her one last time it be okay before they went up there n to just keep her eyes on him. No other time was left for anything else to be said but Nicole gave a nod

Cole Nicole and Samurai all went up to the stage but right before they were going to play, got cut off by Richard waltzing in trying to use this massive crowd as a publicity stunt. Some shenanigans later and Insomniac running at Richard with his sword to scare him off, the three got to play their hearts out. Nicole and Cole sing together. N as she kept her eyes on Cole as he suggested, she realized he was looking right back at her just as they did in practice when it was just the two of them. Playing like no one was watching. The trio finished and ended up winning 1st place in the show with much cheering. Everyone afterwards headed back to the cafe for an after party n Nicole got to properly close up n got Lucia comfortable with a blanket. Cole sat back with Nicole behind the bar counter as the little party chatted about. Suddenly through a light whisper, Cole thanked her. Nicole was confused but Cole just showed her his still shaking hand. He was just as if not more scared of going up there but her looking at him gave him the strength to push on. Nicole didn’t say much in response but ruffled his hair calling him a doofus.

Now then it’s only gonna get rough from here!

Cole and Nicole return to their usual routine and banter after the talent show but something seems very off with Cole one day. He came in for the usual morning chat but in the afternoon he was far more nervous n off and tried to ask for some caffeine. Nicole declined of course, asking if he wanted to get himself back into an addiction n he obviously agreed he didn’t but seemed to be unsure of his own answer. Nicole did her best to try and burry the thought thinking Cole was just having an off day but then the same thing repeated the next 3 days. Him getting more and more pushy about getting some caffeine and Nicole getting progressively more frustrated with him. Nicole was planning on confronting him completely on the 4th day but he didn’t even show up that day at the Cafe. Nicole wondered if he was just going to a different Cafe to get caffeine but was much more shocked with the actual answer. Cole’s parents walked into the cafe that evening n spoke to Nicole if she had seen Cole. They told her that they had found out he was admitted here only a few days ago from a recording of the talent show n were coming to her after seeing her with him in the show. Nicole found out she hadn’t seen him today because he was hiding from his parents and refusing to see them even after they paid off all of his medical bills for his discharge. Nicole was flabbergasted by this. 1. That he was refusing to see what seemed like wonderful parents if they were just willing to pay off that debt and 2. This is how she found out he was attempting to get caffeine to avoid his discharge. Nicole couldn’t help his parents anymore and they had to get home for work so the conversation fell off quickly. Nicole however was PISSED

Cole meanwhile all this had locked himself up in his hospital room, petting Loafy to destress from the situation. He refused to be dragged back home by his parents and lose all the genuine friends he had gotten there. Besides he was so close to realizing his music dreams n giving in now would be ridiculous. Those friends he had made though were all now trying to talk to him since all of them had met n talked to his parents before they left n believed he was just being crazy and rash again. He didn’t let any of them inside either.

Night came n Nicole got off work. As soon as everything was closed up, she made a beeline for Cole’s room. Cole didn’t wanna let her in at first but didn’t miss a beat to when he realized that it was Nicole n gladly let her inside before locking it again. Cole immediately acted like everything was normal and fine to avoid the inevitable conversation but that just sent Nicole off. She called him for what he did to his parents n how she would of done anything to have something like that just covered instantly. Cole’s demeanor changed again into defensive annoyance with her. Cole still hasn’t told anyone his past at this point and he sure wasn’t now. Just called his parents out for trying to control what he was doing with his life and didn’t care what they tried, he wasn’t going back to them. This hit Nicole right in the heart with rage- she had given up her dreams to help her struggling family who never could help her much but he was just willing to throw that all away out of spite of not wanting to work. She knew he didn’t have a job n was broke but this was insane behavior. Nicole exploded at Cole, yelling that he was one hell of a selfish freeloader if he was willing to hurt himself just to get what he wanted. Cole backed off out of surprise but bit back yelling that she had no idea what he went through. They continued yelling at eachother for a minute-loafy hiding under the couch and a few other patients passing in the hall listening in

Cole snapped suddenly when Nicole refused to hear him out, telling her that at least he wasn’t a pathetic miserable minimal wage worker who gave up on his dreams because of other people dragging him down. Nicole stood still staring agasp at what he said and processing it. Cole seeing her expression immediately tried to back track his words but Nicole just told him to fuck off while stifling tears n left for the hospital balcony to cry and smoke. Nicole stayed up there for almost a full hour comprehending everything that just went down untill she got a grip on herself n lost her anger and just wanted answers from Cole. He might be an idiot but she knows he had to have some reasons. He always did.

Nicole headed down from the balcony after another 20 minutes of thinking through her words and finishing her second cigarette but found the janitor cleaning Cole’s room instead of Cole. Nicole, confused, asked where Cole had gone if he was cleaning out his room and Janitor told her Cole had taken his discharge early immediately after their fight. The one thing Janitor could point to where Cole had gone was seeing him searching up train times as he was packing. Nicole looked at the clock. 20 minutes till 11 pm. Nicole wordlessly walked out of the room and looked down the hallway. She broke into a sprint.

Cole’s feet dragged across the ground to the major train station platform. Hood up and hat spun back forwards, he was going through his contacts and deleting all of the ones he had. He hesitated with Nicole’s contact but ultimately ended up deleting it when he started getting notifications from her. Just shut himself down and pulled out his ear buds being sick of music. Wondering if his parent were right for a moment before shoving down the thought and just focusing on the train signs to look up what town he’d end up at next. He looked down the open track and spotted the lights of a train only a few minutes off so gathered his things in preparation to leave. A loud thumping and trip against stone caught his attention from the tracks though and saw Nicole standing there at the end of the stairs.

Nicole was horribly winded but regained her strength as she stumbled over to Cole and pulling him into a hug before he could say a word. Cole stumbled over trying to apologize to Nicole while she held him but Nicole just told him to shut it before falling into a ramble. She confessed everything openly to Cole, how he had gotten her into music again, how she had honesty been smoking less because of him, how brighter her days were with him around, ect. She told him she wasn’t angry anymore but was instead begging for him to stay- not just for her but for himself too. She was scared what might happen to him alone out there- and openly admitted her love for him and everything about him even if it was a mess sometimes. The train to leave rushed by while Nicole still held onto him and it left him to make the next decision.

Cole struggled to muster his words through tears but clutched Nicole back, swearing to her he’d stay. Telling her that he loved her too in much more plain words as his tears choked him out. They kept holding onto each other crying till the train was gone and they separated from their griphold. Nicole took Cole back to her apartment and both collapsed. They were too tired to talk that night and Nicole had another shift that morning so they agreed to talk about this the next night before Cole crashed on the couch and Nicole crashed in her bed.

SO! Cole stays at the apartment for the day while Nicole goes to work for the morning. Nicole wasn’t expecting much that day but it turns out most everyone Cole was close to have been thrown into a panic since they can’t get in contact with them and didn’t say goodbye to anyone. Hailey and Samurai especially aren’t doing so well after Cole disappeared. Nicole finds all this out through a distressed Samurai getting a caffeine drink with a shot or two in it. Nicole tells him that Cole is alright and at her apartment so Samurai immediately goes to tell everyone else. Hailey is pissed as hell that Cole was willing to scare them that badly n shows up to the cafe to tell Nicole that. Samurai is just sad, worrying that Cole didn’t actually care about him that much. Nicole swore that she’d bring Cole back tomorrow to sort things through n left after her shift with more questions for Cole.

Once Nicole does get home, she finds Cole actually cleaned the entire apartment while she was gone n was just sitting at the dinning table waiting for her and doom scrolling socials. He stopped as soon as Nicole came in n once she got herself comfortable they basically immediately started having the talk they said they would. Nicole demanded some fuckin context for all his actions at this point and Cole relented. Told Nicole how he didn’t want to be near his parents since all they wanted from him was to drop his dreams of being a musician and instead get a big business job like his dad. Nicole could understand that but then asked why he removed all the contacts of his friends because they were all distraught because of it n Cole just kinda sat back processing that. Cole admitted quietly he didn’t think he’d be missed that much before going quiet again thinking. Nicole stared at him with sympathy but sighed that was a can of worms they needed to sort another time- but for now there was something more pressing.

Nicole told Cole pretty plainly that if he was gonna live with her, he had to start paying rent too and that meant getting a job. Cole was still adverse to the idea, mumbling that he thought music was a job but Nicole pretty bluntly asked how much he was making. Cole said 30$ a month. Nicole stared at him unimpressed. Cole conceded and agreed he needed a job but frankly had no idea where to start. Didn’t exactly have connections or a great resume to use n him getting along with someone is a 50/50 coin flip of them getting along or them hating him. Nicole agreed that it was rough n buried her head in her hands in thought trying to come up with something. Both sat silently thinking till Cole sprung back forward from the wooden chair almost falling over with him in it. Cole warned it might be insane but maybe he could start working at the cafe too? Nicole could use another hand, he was already used to the layout of everything and it be alot easier for him to get in. Nicole called him crazy but when taking a moment to think about it she agreed it was kinda the best bet they had. A few calls later- Nicole was able to convince her mostly absentee manager to interview Cole in a few days much to his excitement and extreme anxiety of getting an actual job.

Nicole ruffled his hair assuring he’d probably be fine there n to worry about it when it’s actually time to. Cole agreed and both were suddenly left wondering what to actually do for the rest of the night. They still never properly had really thought of themselves in a relationship yet but the thought was now pressing on them. Nicole just excused herself to make them dinner and just told Cole to turn something on the TV. She eventually joined him on the couch n one attempted cuddle later, things felt a lot more natural now that they were past the overwhelming fluster of knowing they were in a relationship. They ended up passing out in bed together cuddling

Now then- next day Nicole dragged Cole’s ass back to the hospital to apologize to everyone. Hailey smacked him with a nearby magazine before hugging him, telling him with a bit of a shakey voice to never do that again. Cole swore not to and hugged back. Samurai on the other hand was more nervous to talk to Cole then Cole was to him. He was scared Cole didn’t actually enjoy his company but Cole spent the next 30 minutes swearing that no, he did really care and promising to play drums and base with him again to reassure him. Also got hugged by Samurai but Samurai wasn’t really paying attention to his strength and nearly crushed the boy. The rest was pretty much the same, angry at Cole in the moment but happy to have him back. Things move relatively quickly and in the background after this point for them- Cole got the job and learning how to work hyjinxs insue but things in the story for them settle for a little while after this.

The two mostly play a supporting role for the next month or so. Nicole also dropped smoking when they started dating. Cole understanding the plights of Ada Ian Nicole and Janitor now that he works himself and it acts as a major ego check for his usual antics. Cleans up after himself, thanking and uplifting Ian n Ada when he gets the chance (especially to Ada after feeling guilty for literally throwing hands in 2-2 when she was just helping) n having a general more respectful attitude to everyone. Only playing with samurai on free days and never at night, n being less of a genuine shithead. He’s got a good heart just not the greatest lessons learned from being spoiled rotten by entitled parents.

Nicole during this whole break though ended up in contact with Cole’s mom behind his back. She reached out to try and check in on Cole more but slowly got more and more info out of Nicole about his life- including them being in a relationship. Nicole was still kinda hesitant of believing Cole’s words completely after how much he lied before and his mother really did seem to just want the best for him so she continued contact. Eventually his mother asked Nicole if she could bring Cole back home just for the holidays to talk to him. Nicole was incredibly hesitant trying to figure out what to do about it. She eventually decided through her own values that it would be a good idea for Cole to make amends with his family. Nicole agreed to it before telling Cole n well. Cole was angry to say the least. He told Nicole that his parents were nothing but bad news but she defended herself that she spoke to his mother for a month and she saw no red flags in the slightest. Cole was even more elated at that admission but Nicole begged him to please just give them one more chance. Cole’s new mellowing out lead him to agree with Nicole just to keep the peace in their relationship as much as he hated it and quietly hoped maybe she was right.

So! Cole and Nicole get their holiday break n head out on the long train ride to his hometown. Cole was brooding most the ride but Nicole kept holding onto his hand as reassurance. After the 6 hour ride there they arrived and Nicole was a bit shocked. It was fancier then anything she had ever even seen let alone stepped foot in. Not exactly a neighborhood for a minimum wage worker to belong. Regardless they were able to be taxied to the house after Cole gave his Id for passage into the gated neighborhood and arrived at the house. A grand moderately sized home kitted out with everything you could imagine, Cole’s mother, Holly, came outside first to greet them. Cole accepted her hug hesitantly n Holly went ahead and hugged Nicole too making her just as awkward feeling. Shortly after Holly was his dad, Cresso (are these both coffee puns? Yes). Cole just backed up without interacting outside of a strained hi but Nicole shook his hand when Cresso offered it. Both were welcomed inside and told to just go ahead and make themselves comfortable for the night since it was pretty late. Cresso didn’t say anything exact but lead Nicole to the guest room while telling Cole he could stay in his own room for the night. Nicole didn’t wanna piss off his parents so just relented to sleep in the guest room without Cole even when Cole tried to push it. Cresso seemed satisfied with Nicole shutting down Cole’s rebelling n though that left a pit in Nicole’s chest she just blamed it on train exhaustion n went ahead to clonk out without another word.

Now I’ll be frank im still rewriting the details here but the important stuff: -Nicole obviously finds out how privileged Cole was -Cole when he gets the chance to speak to Nicole alone tells her he hates it here- not the comfort of money, but the social sense. He’d rather live on the streets then be stuck here -dinner the next day. Ohboy dinner the next day. Over dinner there’s essentially a blow up when they find out Cole is still doing music and Nicole is too along with encouraging him. It starts light but eventually devolves into Cresso calling Nicole a lowlife service worker n that Cole could do better then this. Holly tried to damage control but it was too far now and Nicole n Cole packed their things to leave immediately.

The late night train ride was tense to say the least. Nicole tried to apologize to Cole after a long silence but he just told her he didn’t want to do this right now but he was angry. Cole just cuddled up to Nicole’s side and fell asleep for the rest of the ride. Guilt ate her up on the way back n handled Holly texting her after the whole thing. Basically telling her off, Holly understanding n agreeing to not speak again. Nicole stayed up the whole ride just watching the stars and snow n they still didn’t talk once they got back home at 4 am other then Cole choosing to sleep on the couch that night. Nicole wanted to give him the bed but chose not to stress him more with a pointless argument.

Things do not go swell once they’re back. Cole and Nicole aren’t talking n everyone can tell so eventually someone (Ada) asks Cole what’s up n he vents the whole situation out bluntly. Ada asks Nicole if this is seriously what happened n Nicole didn’t even try to defend herself anymore n said yes. Ada was shocked and appalled what Nicole did all because she didn’t believe Cole. Ada told Ian, Ian told Cinny- and eventually the whole story got spread around the whole hospital. No one was happy with Nicole and frankly all became hesitant to confide in Nicole after that leading to silent shifts and nothing to break up the monotony of it all. The added social stress brought Nicole to start smoking again. Cole stopped being as cold with Nicole just wanting to move past now but the damage had been done to her by herself. Nicole wasn’t okay with just being forgiven quietly like this or forgiven at all.

A week into this when Cole finally said it outloud that he forgave her and just wanted to move on, Nicole refused it. Cole tried to get through to her more forcefully with yelling but Nicole just ended up misinterpreting it as her fucking up again- the combination of meltdown and smoking sent her into a really bad SVT attack making her faint. Cole rushed her to MSH for care and stayed by her side till she had to be taken back for urgent care. Nicole woke up the next day sore and breathless n a note left by her bedside. Cole was taking over her shifts alone but wanted her to know it was okay and to please just rest for his sake. Nicole didn’t have much choice in the matter anyways being bed bound but took his word to heart. Cole visited every break he got from the rush n though he looked exhausted n a mess he still told her it was okay. Nicole while he was gone started writing a song for him as some sort of apology. However when she did play it for him a week later n got to the line that she didn’t deserve him, Cole shushed her up.

Cole was already a bit teary from her being so thoughtful to write a song for him but told Nicole he was the one who didn’t deserve her. They went back and forth with sad laughs that they didn’t deserve each other but Cole eventually stopped it n made Nicole a deal. If he stopped saying it then she had to stop saying it too. Nicole thought he was still joking but when he wasn’t she gave an exhausted sigh n smiled before agreeing. Cole thanked her n hugged her tightly. Nicole joked that she’s glad he didn’t hear the rest of the song cause she wants to rewrite it to be perfect for him. Cole didn’t quite care if it was perfect but as long as it was her it was alright. Nicole called him a goof for that one n he just giggled saying he was being honest. They ended up cuddling n passing out again even if it fucked up Coles sleep schedule

After this mess part 3, they get back to their normal groove again n do their usual routine n chilling in the bg. Unfortunately this peace after the winter holidays would move into a blooming disaster in the start spring. The two were off work but over at the hospital after doing their morning baseball workout with everyone else. Cole n Nicole were just hanging out with loafy n after throwing a bone for him outside n watching him struggling to find it in a bone, the lights suddenly shut off, old metal gates shut on the outside door n emergency lights were the only thing lighting up the halls. Nicole and Cole ran down to the main hall hearing something going on n joining a group of other patients they saw CT dropping Edega and turning to them. Lucky yelled at them all to run so they followed without another word. Once they were able to get a safe distance away they all listened in on Logan’s phone to Ian explaining the situation. Frankly Nicole n Cole didn’t understand half of it other then they were all in danger and to protect Hailey n Logan the most. The call cut off as the phone’s screen shut off from Connectifia before Ian could help them get out. Lucky took command of the situation n told Cole and Nicole to get Logan and Hailey as far away from CT as possible. They didn’t hesitate, nodded, and took the kids by the hand to get away from this horrible situation.

Nicole and Cole course couldn’t go as far as they wish they could but honestly they were trying to not freak out from the distance screaming n keep Hailey and Logan calm. While Cole was trying to calm Hailey from a meltdown, CT began stomping towards them n they all froze. Cole watched CT with baited breath before telling Nicole to hide them without turning around. Nicole barely got out a whispered “what?” Before Cole asked her if she trusted him. Nicole looked at him, still turned, and back up at the slowly approaching CT and said yes. Cole told her to go then and started running down the hallway to distract CT. Nicole hesitated to go and stop him but turned away n ran to take Hailey n Logan somewhere safe much to their chagrin. Cole grabbed a left behind baseball bat and though he was no hitter, just used it get get CT’s focus on him before dodging for his life. He couldn’t run forever though in a place like this and inevitably got trapped in a room and tripped over equipment before CT got a grip on his chest and sent him straight into a paralyzing SVT attack with its electrocution. Cole was left on the floor of that room once CT left to find the last 3.

Nicole knew that scream. But it was twisted and mutilated from the fun moments she had heard it before. Logan n Hailey were clutching to her hand still but knowing what was coming, Nicole took both of them and put them inside a empty cabinet to hide before running out herself. What more did she have to lose anyways? She followed the same steps as Cole with CT to get them away but her running into a room was stopped by all the fallen over equipment making her hesitant to go in. The moment of hesitation gave CT enough time to pin Nicole against the wall by her back and zapped her without a second to react.

Nicole sat delirious, the repeating blaring of the alarm slowly deafening in her mind and was slipping away till she moved in the slightest and all the pain hit her again. A voice cut through the monotony of it all. Cole had crawled out on his hands from the room he got trapped in and was using what little voice he had left to call out to Nicole. They couldn’t see each other much at all in the darkness and slipping conciseness but kept each other company with their presence. Talking hurt too much so they just sat listening to each other’s quivering breath till they passed out entirely.

If utter darkness was the one thing Cole had seen before the soft florescent light he woke up to might as well of been a flashbang. It was definitely still MSH but everything seemed tidyer then when just Ian and Ada handled things. Cole sat up slowly feeling his breath still burning but looking around realized Nicole was right by him with her eyes still closed and laying on her chest. It took a bit of willpower to do but enough bugging her sleep by saying her name managed to wake up Nicole as well. Neither could really do anything once they were awake but seeing each other still there was enough reassurance.

They recovered relatively well after the incident other then being self conscious about their new scars but uplifting each other about them. Talked the most to the 3 kids when they couldn’t sleep n just wanted to make sure everyone was okay and were the first ones to start walking around on their own again. Mostly stuck together when they were recovering after that whole ordeal. Generally avoiding talking about all the heavy implications and thoughts that traumatic event caused n seemingly getting through it the easiest. (when in reality they’re keeping all that fear in the back pocket for later when it’s gotten worse )

and well. Honestly that’s kinda where they end off for the main plot of CC before they start going on their own life story together.

If you managed to read this far, thank <3 i hope you enjoyed the straights simplifed

[eleanor-bradstreet]

These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You) (Benedict Bridgerton x Reader)

Benedict Bridgerton x gn!Reader Modern AU Rated: M for mild suggestiveness Word Count: 1.1k

Summary: While Benedict is away, you admire the little things that bring him to mind. Dedicated to my Discord friends! I thought I was making a joke, but then this took over my brain and a few hours later, here we are. Just for you. 💙

You woke just before dawn, a habit leftover from all those years when your stepmother would slam the door open to signal the start of your daily chores. You didn’t mind today though. You had been fitful for the past few hours, ever since you said goodbye to Ben. He had left in the middle of the night to catch an early flight, and had kissed you sweetly as you slept, murmuring his farewell against your temple, not wanting to fully wake you. You had felt him leave, stirring groggily and kissing him back with some mumbled reply. But it was only when you heard the door close downstairs that you fully came to, then immediately regretted that you hadn’t been more present to see him off.

The emptiness and silence of the flat settled on you like gauze in your ears. You had spent so much of your life alone, you had once been accustomed to it. But since finding Ben, any prolonged period of solitude made you feel uneasy, bereft, because now you knew precisely what you were missing. You had tossed in semi-consciousness for the rest of the night and were grateful the grey morning light finally arrived to wake you.

But it was a cold day and you didn’t want to leave the warmth of the covers just yet. You nestled into your pillow and ran your palm over the sheets beside you, Ben’s side, that was now empty. You were excited for his trip, a meeting with a gallery in Paris, but hated that it meant two nights without him. You had asked to go with him, but he had insisted that you could not see Paris for the first time as a tagalong on a short business trip. He promised to take you back for an extended holiday when he could give you ‘the genuine experience’. A grin tugged at your lips as you remembered the devilish little flame in his eyes when he had said that. 

There was nothing on your bedside table, but there was a book on Ben’s. You pulled yourself across the mattress and picked it up. William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books. You should have known. Beside the book were his reading glasses. Square with dark frames, they made him so horrendously handsome, especially when he grinned at you over the top of a book, reading you something cheeky. More than once, you had sighed at him and wished aloud that he would wear them all the time. Then he’d raise an eyebrow at you and ask why you’d wish even poorer eyesight on a visual artist and you’d have to kiss the smirk off his face. You picked up the frames and rested them gently back on top of his book.

This was going to be a long two days. You fretted as you rolled onto your back and stared at the nearby window. You contemplated spending as much time as possible outside the flat so that you wouldn’t have to face his blatant absence all day. As the light began to lift in the room, your hands wandered aimlessly over your torso, lifting your shirt to enjoy the warmth of your skin against the sheets. As your hands glided, you wished they were Ben’s. Nothing could mimic the strength and size of his grasp and its almost paradoxical tenderness. The first ray of sunlight hit the window and glinted off the silver latches. 

You thought of Ben’s silver ring and the cool trace of it when it slid down the length of your body, an added exhilaration coupled with the heat of his fingers. You remembered the day you found it, shining amidst a bunch of bric-a-brac at a poky little gift shop in the Scottish highlands. That was the trip when you had both confessed your love to one another, and you knew that this was much more than an average relationship. You had playfully slid it onto his thumb, expecting him to roll his eyes or grow sarcastic, but he had just looked at you quietly, smiling as something shined in his eyes. It wasn’t until you were back home days later that you realized he was wearing it, having bought it when you weren’t looking. And he hadn’t taken it off since.

You felt your hands travel lower, seeking some physical distraction from the aching tug in your chest, but stopped yourself. Once you started down that path, you wouldn’t get out of bed for hours, and you doubted it would do much to improve your mood for the day ahead. You could indulge in pleasure to try and lull yourself to sleep at night.

With a resigned huff, you pulled the covers back and got out of bed, walking to the window and hugging yourself against the chill. The sun was half crested over the horizon now, glowing pale orange-yellow but not casting any heat on the streets below. You moved to the closet and pulled it open. There, hanging on the hook inside the door was Ben’s most beloved hoodie, precisely the same color as the new rising sun. That wasn’t its usual spot, it was hung up almost as if waiting for you. He knew. Of course he knew you would have gone looking for it while he was away. Your breath caught, overwhelmed with the perfection of this man, his thoughtfulness, the way it seemed he could read your mind. 

You pulled the hoodie down and slipped it on, wrapping the fabric tight against yourself, trying to imagine his embrace. The cuffs and hems were going threadbare, a testament to how long he had owned it and how often he wore it. It had become such a quintessential symbol of him, you’d never allow him to get rid of it. Despite yourself, you ended up back on the bed, curling up in the warmth of his shirt, appreciating his gesture in leaving it for you. You bunched up the collar and inhaled the scent - sandalwood and something musky, so absolutely Benedict. You felt closer to him and immediately your spirits lifted. This was precisely what you needed to help you get through the next couple of days without going mad from missing him. 

As you rolled onto your side, you felt something slip like a weight in the pocket. Reaching inside, you pulled out a small packet of paper wrapped around something. Unfolding it, the object fell into your palm. It was a stone, one from his adorable little collection that he kept in a bowl in his studio. It was one of his most treasured finds, the one shaped like a heart. Looking at the paper it was folded in, you saw there was a note.

Hold onto this for me until I get back.

It was going to be a long two days indeed.

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

The question was posed to the Vice Discord "what kind of Pokemon would Sonny have," and as it turns out, that was my sleeper phrase, and now I've been activated.

Sonny Crockett doesn't consider himself a Pokemon trainer, but the Pokemon of the Floriami region don't seem to agree with him on that. Regardless, it would be a stretch to argue that any of his Pokemon are "trained," and in the traditional sense, has not caught a single one of them.

His partner Pokemon is Krookodile, whose criminal reputation helps him keep his cover. In reality, Sonny rescued it from an unhappy life as a sports team mascot when it was a Sandile-- other than the unfortunate habit of smoking it picked up from its owner, it's a real softy. (…it's Elvis.)

Sonny and Flamigo-- who provides both surveillance and defense-- began as enemies. Flamigo used to kick holes in the St. Vitus' sails before Sonny helped it defend its extended Flamigo family from poachers, after which it refused to leave Sonny's side. Sonny will not admit that he and Flamigo have exactly the same temperament. (Sonny is NBC's prettiest peacock, after all.)

Both Sandygast and Corsola crawled onto the St. Vitus one day and never left. Corsola helps with underwater repairs as well as tailing other boats, but would prefer to sunbathe. Sandygast enjoys lurking and consuming souls. (A sandcastle that eats souls seems like exactly the right friend for a cop in Miami. So many souls to eat. And I picked Corsola partially because under the wrong circumstances, it can become a doomed Cursola, and like. That's Sonny.)

Varoom used to race Sonny down the highway; when it learned what happened to the Daytona, it demanded Sonny catch it so it could protect the Testarossa from coming to similar harm. Sonny often finds it sleeping in the trunk. (I couldn't not give him the engine Pokemon)

Honedge followed Sonny home one night not long after he met Tubbs. Sonny chooses not to think too deeply on this. (Honedge represents his white knight tendencies. Also it's Pokedex entry mentions it being possessed by the soul of a previous owner… wonder who…)

[box-architecture]

This was my birthday gift to me that I finally finished. An incredibly indulgent My Little Pony AU (Gen 4)

Fun lore if you'd like it:

Dream:

Earth pony. Considered the most common and sturdiest type of pony, often depicted as unremarkable.

pony name is Peace Parley (meaning "betting on peace.")

Cutie mark is an ouroboros, representing unity and his special talent, diplomacy.

Despite his talent, he's not actually good at politics. He's good at making people join together for a common cause, but there seems to be a distinct difference between mediating a fight between two quarreling farmers and rubbing elbows with the nobles of Equestria.

Elected of the mayor of an incredibly small village, the kind where everyone knows everyone. Was known for being fair and willing to listen to both sides. Twilight Sparkle's ascension caused a shift in where ponies and business lived, and in the process, major gentrification spread to Ponyville, hitting Dream's little village along the way. Initially, he tried his best to be kind and welcoming, but became furious as his hometown was overtaken and many ponies displaced or forced out, and resorted to hostility and destruction in a desperate attempt to ward the outside forces away.

As things become worse for him and rumors among the nobles start to spread, his cutie mark begins to be given more negative associations: rather than the harmony he strives for, others see it as a endless cycle of discord that he brings upon others. Ostracization is the best of what he receives.

Dream, back when they did manhunts, used to tie up his tail so as not to give the hunters the option to pull on it. Its habit now.

Has lost faith in destiny and harmony, but desperately wants to find a reason to believe again.

Punz:

Bat pony. A history of stigma has left them preferring their own communities. Considered nocturnal, but they can choose their sleep schedule just like any pony.

pony name is Whittlewhistle (a reference to his talent and to the sound he can make if he's flying fast enough)

Cutie mark a bejeweled knife. Special talent is whittling and/or woodworking.

learned to whittle with a stolen knife and a broken chair leg as a child, and would sell his creations for coin, which would then be used to feed his little brother. Is very proud of himself for how well he's provided for the both of him.

Has come to dislike abstract sculptures, but finds they sell well among the nobles of Canterlot and charges immense amounts for them.

Is still in contact with the batpony community of Luna Bay, but has left for the big city to take on more clients. They pay well, but he's increasingly bitter about how different species are treated among the supposedly accepting ponies of Equestria, and fights the urge to stab people every single day.

Is a slightly above average flier, with the potential to be better, if he cared enough to focus on it. Excellent at dive-bombs.

Doesn't have faith in destiny or harmony, and certainly not in other ponies, but he has faith in Dream.

Sam:

Sphinx, technically. He's a hybrid, but his mother is a Sphinx, so that's what he considers himself. His name is Sammy.

Sphinx and other felines hail from Abyssinia, a region far, far south of Equestria. Sphinx in particular are known to be rigid, fierce, and masters of word games.

Sam's mother fell in love with someone outside her station rather than with the match picked out for her. The love ended in heartbreak, and left her heavily pregnant. Not wanting to face her family after campaigning so hard to be allowed to choose her partner, she went north to Equestria.

Sam grew up without a lot of his culture, surrounded by ponies rather than cats. Their family and homeland are a difficult subject for his mother, so he finds himself lost, longing for purpose and connection. He has no cutie mark, and the concept of magical destiny is both bewildering and something coveted.

Grew up being stared at, told he looked strange and weird and exotic. He has gone the route of treating these comments as if they are normal and fine, but the stares make him uncomfortable.

He is an average flier, and often uses his wings to glide rather than take off. His tail rattles when he wiggles it.

Is easily led into believing the worst of Dream from the ponies around him, but Punz's brutal honesty and cutting takes have shaken a lot of Sam's initial ideas.

[swiftscion]

TOA anniversary munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

tagging: you. yes, you.

Name: Orokara

Pronouns: he/they

Birthday (no year): February 3

Where are you from? What is your time zone? Canada; EST

Roleplay experience: I have no idea but probably something like 7 or 8 years at this point

Got any pets? Just a few fish, if you can count those

Favorite time of year: Spring! It feels really nice when the days start to get longer

Some interests and things you like: Mythology, music and playlist making, reading, animanga, cooking, random video essays, biology

Some fun facts & trivia about you: I used to moderate a few roleplay groups and a Pixelmon server myself, though those interests all died. I share a birthday with Hilda Goneril. I have an awful habit of starting things and then never finishing them. I like wearing bracelets and golf clothing. I crack my neck like all the time.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Currently, Honkai: Star Rail, League of Legends, and Flight Rising. I'm also a big fan of the Pokemon series (and fan games), Project Moon games, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Ultrakill, and Omori. Currently looking for people to play Stardew Valley with me ehe

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: Ghost and Grass. I used to be a grass-type gym leader on the Pixelmon server i helped run, and Appletun was my ace. Did you know that due to its ability thick fat and partial dragon typing, it actually resists fire moves? Many of my challengers didn't ;) my other faves are Hisiuan Zoroark, and Altaria!

How did you get into Fire Emblem? I liked Ike from Smash Brothers Brawl and on a whim decided to play Path of Radiance one day. It was one of my first emulator experiences. I let Rhys and Soren die on the first map they were available and never reset for them. It was bad.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? All mainlines at least once, plus feh

First Fire Emblem game: Path of Radiance!

Favorite Fire Emblem game: Blazing Blade, Binding Blade, and Genealogy in no particular order

Any Fire Emblem crushes? Kagetsu, Shannan, DIECK, Tibarn, Gerik, Selena/Severa

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Awakening - I don't remember but most recent is Chrom. Fates - Selena. Three Houses - Marianne. Engage - Mauvier

Favorite Fire Emblem class: Swordmaster but I use early game pegasus knights and thieves religiously. Dodgetanking is my favorite thing ever

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? Navarre archetype myrmidon

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Fear the Deer baby!

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? Emblem Ike so I can run into an entire pack of enemies and slap the great aether button

How did you find TOA? Got invited after i was struggling as like. the only fe4 fan in a discord group that mostly wrote modern fe titles

Current TOA muses: Larcei, Owain, Sain

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Larcei! Though she has come and gone

Have you had any other TOA muses? Ough I might not remember them all but I think the list is: Lewyn, Elm, Sirius, L'Arachel, Ryoma, Idunn

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? This might sound crazy considering my muselist but edgy swordsmen... I think people who grapple with feelings of revenge, hatred, and guilt are so interesting to delve into the psychology of. Lif is probably my all-time fave, if that says anything about me

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? Slow and steady character growth. I like it so much when my muses become long-term friends with other ones. Owain and Julius, Larcei and Edward, Sain and Caeda, etc etc. Gaining a new reason to wake up in the morning and all the implications of that is always a joy to hash out over the course over multiple posts

Favorite TOA-related memory: The time Sirius and Est kept being forced to attack eachother by an arena boss, but whiffed all their rolls. Darcy and I wrote it with this little tongue-and-cheek bit where they kept saying "now isn't the time for sparring" before misdirecting yet another attack and writing Sirius' feelings regarding her, his past in Archanea, and the present state of that arena was real fun. Shoutout to N's Leif for the incredible setting of a really dark cave, too!

How do you pronounce TOA?: Sometimes I pronounce each letter individually and sometimes I say "towah". I am mad inconsistent sorry

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? Fuck it have my whole delusion list: Rutger, Fergus, Lif, The Vaike, Lewyn (again), Osian, Melady, Orson, Zihark, Louis, Kagetsu, Libra, Lon'qu

[uchihashisuii]

seasons change (and so do we). | Kakashi/Obito

Summary: Autumn, Kakashi thinks, is a rather terrible time. or: Kakashi and his complicated relationship with the season.

Pairing: Hatake Kakashi/Uchiha Obito

Rating: Gen

Author’s Note: this was the result of a discord server exchange! I was lucky enough to write for my dear friend @kanekolinkk​ I hope you enjoy this slice of introspection x

Ao3

---

Autumn, Kakashi thinks, is a rather terrible time.

The turning of the season brings with it a dip in temperature, swift and uncomfortable enough to have him sighing behind his mask.

People are quieter in the colder seasons, something he picks up on more and more as the years go on. Though he wouldn't classify himself as anything even approaching the concept of an extrovert, Kakashi notices the collectively soured moods and overall easily exhausted masses when the season shifts. It's colder, and darker, and the rain drips incessantly to blot against the pages of Icha Icha. It makes for a abhorrent time for any shinobi, not enough sunlight to get things done (too much darkness to linger in) and the dismal weather has the nasty habit of washing away any footprints or otherwise perfectly tangible clues to follow on any basic mission. He's already a bit of a workaholic, but in those first few weeks following summer giving its hasty farewell there's always a dozen or more shinobi coming down with the sniffles or something worse, the sudden change of weather disagreeing with just about everyone. As such, their numbers thin, and Kakashi is only too happy to pick up any slack. Miserable weather makes for miserable missions, as one of his kohai used to say; but at least the incessant noise for autumnal storms is almost loud enough to drown out his own thoughts. 

That doesn't mean he's altogether thrilled about it. 

Autumn brings with it a certain melancholy for different reasons. The much too short and long-since-gone days spent beside Minato-sensei and the rest of his genin squad return to rear its head when he most expects it. That is to say: always, though awful weather and somber days drag it all to the forefront much easier than he likes. Memories cling like frost, digging and dragging tiny pinpricks of awareness to the base of his spine, demanding attention Kakashi is more than happy to give. Autumn, after all, is when things went right. And wrong.

He remembers - he remembers. The first licks of autumn rains, pelting down on him the first day he trained with them. The afternoon ending in yelling and Obito's bloodied nose, Rin's disappointment and sensei's frown. The laughter of children who weren't afforded the luxury of being children, running rampant. Obito and Rin, and their game of jumping between every fallen leaf in their path. To hear the crunch, to make leaps and bounds without slipping across rain-dampened terrain. Maples, from brilliant red to dull brown to muddy gold. Kakashi remembers their joy grating to his ears, thinking them immature and making far too much noise for a shinobi. It would only be much later that he realized he was envious, of their free and clear laughter, or their unmitigated joy. Frustration bubbling deep beneath his ribs from his own stubborn refusal to join in their games, though hands were always offered. 

He remembers Rin laying in a pile of leaves, uncaring of the grime and the damp. Hair askew and eyes closed as she basked in it, smile breaking across her face like the dawn. Cushioned comfortably, a bouquet of fallen red leaves gathered over her breast. The smell of petrichor clogging his throat, and the red painting her chest turning brighter, thicker. He blinks the memories away, shuts it tight in the box of regrets beside Obito's last smile.

An argument could be made that autumn possesses the notable date of his birth, something which any normal and well-adjusted person would consider as an overall positive. But for Kakashi it merely serves as a grim reminder that he has, despite all relatively half-hearted attempts to the contrary, made it through yet another year coasting along the long journey of life. Hooray. He's thrilled, truly, to wake up with the dawn on his thirty-something turn around the sun and feel a startling lack of anything. Ponders on his mother, who shares his birthday with the anniversary of her death; slips into his sandals as his thoughts turn to his father and his eyes take in the rain-soaked morning that feels achingly familiar. Rain is a reminiscence of things he'd rather forget but is too much of a coward to allow to slip free of his obsessive grasp, and even if he grumbles to anyone who would listen about the weather making it impossible to flip through the well worn pages of his favourite novels, he supposes the rain helps him hold even tighter to years gone by. Nothing jogs the memory quite like the familiar feeling of soaked palms and the taste of ozone lingering on his tongue; with eyes closed the rain could be blood, the blood could be rain.

Mah. Too early in the morning for his usual bout of self-imposed suffering. He's truly getting more and more maudlin as the years pass.

-----

Autumn, Kakashi thinks, might not be quite as terrible as he once believed.

The weather cools, the leaves fall. He gains three students, loses one, and again gains so much more. He sneezes into his mask -an altogether unpleasant experience, made the slightest bit more bearable at the sound of Naruto's laughter- and gratefully accepts the rough pat on his arm from Sakura. Family, friends - the years pass, and he has bright little lights following him around and reminding him with every turn of the season that there might just be a reason for him to see another autumn.

 -----

Autumn is as dismal as it's ever been, made even worse by the promise of war. Made infinitely worse when war comes for them all, and Kakashi finds himself staring down the endless and inescapable hall of responsibility. Lives, too many to count, linger in the fringes of his awareness. No matter the strife, no matter the cost - he'll see them home. He'll guide them, as he always has, to a brighter future.

The weather cools, the leaves fall. Autumn is quiet in its timely melancholy, when the sun rises on a still and grave October morning. The world is silent, locked away in Tsukuyomi; he watches Naruto make his goodbyes to his father, and for once Kakashi hasn't had to make one of his own.

Obito's hand is comforting, wrapped around his own. Warmer than the morning chill, keeping him present and here and alive. Gloriously, wonderfully alive.

The weather cools, the leaves fall. Kakashi does not witness it alone.

 -----

Autumn, it turns out, might just be his favourite time of year.

Winter is too frigid, too dark. Summer too hot, making him itch and sweat beneath his layers. Spring too rainy, though he has found a bit of a soft sport for gentle February mornings. But autumnal winds bring with it its remembrances, and Kakashi cannot find any true fault in it. They shine like gold in his memory, much like the fallen leaves that dot that path to the future; the smell of petrichor calming to his sensitive nose. Autumn, after all, had taken much from him over the years. His mother, his sensei, his friends, his innocence. But it gave something back - something infinitely precious that Kakashi has no plans to let go of anytime soon. Obito came back to him on an austere autumn day, chasing away the cold and the dark. Months, years, pass them by - but not apart. Never apart, not again.

[ot3]

first of all, i am violently in love your ace attorney fancomic. that one panel of mia in the elevator and edgeworth on the stairs sitting back to back lives rent free in my head, i think abt it every 3-5 business days and go feral. tysm <3 second, would you ever consider showing us ur process behind it? like how you plan it, the dialog + composition, etc? id personally love to get that insight !!

thank you so much!!!

i actually do have a TON of behind the scenes/process stuff up on my patreon for $2. every thumbnail/color rough/scrapped page comp i've done is up there, and i've been writing detailed commentary on the comic as a whole because it's something people expressed an interest in reading. there's a decent amount of it right now and ill have a new batch of commentary up sometime in the next few days

as for more generalized stuff about process ill stick that here under the cut but unfortunately it is going to be EXTREMELY unhelpful because my process habits are very bad.

so as for prewriting/pre-planning i do almost none of it. i've been trying to get better at doing that but i get so so so bored of that so fast. here's a screenshot of my first outline, cropped to just show everything i've drawn so far.

as you can see this all means pretty much nothing and i also didnt quite follow it. we didn't get the mia and greg postmortem and swiss rolls stuff for turnabout samurai because i later decided to scrap it. later down in this document there are slightly more detailed notes about some specific scenes, but really its all super lose.

Recently i tried to write a more detailed outline for the upcoming parts of the comic, and the stuff that happened in this most recent batch of pages was documented there pretty well

but already the stuff i wrote in this outline for later batches is not accurate to what i want anymore so to be honest the outlines are kind of a wash for me. what's really the meat of my pre-planning process is i just have a private discord server where i dump notes.

the reason i use a discord server for this is because its super easily accessible from every device i have, and doesnt require backing up between locations. i also just dump chunks of canon text in there that i want to pull exact dialogue from when i'm doing my transcript rereads.

a lot of these notes are completely useless and redundant

most of them are snippets of dialogue i want to put in on later pages. almost none of this dialogue will ever be used. for starters, a lot of it is different takes on the exact same handful of scenes and so by default are mutually exclusive bits of content. i like to just dump as many ideas as i have in there even if theyre contradictory, and then just read back through and pick my favorite/most appropriate ones as i get to actually drawing whats coming up.

every now and then ill dump all this in a google doc and arrange it roughly chronologically so related takes go together, but i havent done that in like six months so its all just a huge mess right now.

the reason i can get away with such bare bones planning is because i have a very strong mechanical understanding of how this story is supposed to function. in the two and a half years that has gone by since i came up with the idea and started working on it, almost nothing has fundamentally changed in my big picture narrative goals. knowing the exact shape of what i'm building towards makes it really easy to let the more minute details come to me in the moment. they either are congruent with that end goal, in which case they can stay, or they're more extraneous/irrelevant in which case they get cut.

when i get stuck, more often than not i just slide into mia @demonkix's dms and make her hear out my rambling. thanks mia. shoutout to mia.

now, here's probably one of my biggest sins: i do not script anything. there is no finalized dialogue until i am writing it directly onto the page. unless i'm directly lifting from the text, that is. ill have a rough idea of what needs to be said in each page when im drafting, and sometimes i'll write in rough dialogue on the draft. but most of the time ill just sketch out the approximation of the speech bubble andd either leave it fully blank or jot in one or two keywords in to remind me of what the dialogue should be. then the actual dialogue gets written in once the art is finished

do not do this. i can not stress how frustrating this is for myself. i do this every time and i always hate it.

the reason i dont bother with any proper scripting is because the dialogue bends to the art. not the other way around. a massive amount of my process is dictated by what im in the mood to draw, and by keeping the actual character interactions as flexible as possible until the art is done, i can ensure i dont get stuck at key points because the thing that has to happen is something i dont feel like drawing.

in general, my process for drafting pages is just rough thumbnail -> color rough -> go actually draw the damn thing

however there ill be times when i just do not bother drafting at all and jump immediately into drawing a page. if you go look at the stuff on patreon youll see that in the beginning i pretty much just drew everything after the first batch straight through.

this comic is a lot of work so the most important thing is that hte process is fun for me. i really hate granular planning and itd just slow me down a ton so the process is really just vibes from point a to point b. hope this somewhat answers your question

i talk about my general approach to comic composition in my big composition writeup too, which is pinned, if thats something youre interested in.

[belltrigger]

Hello, hi! A fic I wrote as a gift for someone who has been feeling down the past few weeks. I showed them on Discord when I first wrote it, but now it's time to share!

Warning for Ingo having vision issues! Enjoy (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Title: Double Sight Word count: 2,058

When Ingo had finally returned to him, Emmet thought everything was going to go back to normal. Sure, Ingo looked a bit older than him now, but he’d certainly gotten less tired looking, less haggard with proper sleeping and eating habits. Sometimes, what would have been regular teasing was taken seriously, with an overly formal apology following behind, but Ingo was remembering things each and every day. They fell more and more in step with each other, and although they hadn’t quite gone back to their former familiarity, Ingo was comfortable with the nature of their relationship.

They hadn’t slept together yet, but his brother was reaching for his hand, offering gentle kisses, and calling him sweet pet names. He had winced quite notably when Ingo had called him ‘Sir Emmet,’ and it seemed Ingo had curbed that habit with words that showed his love instead. It was charming, in its own way, and he kind of liked the reverent way Ingo said his name sometimes. 

All in all, his brother had picked up a few quirks, and some extra scars, but their life could continue as it had before. 

On an otherwise completely ordinary day, they were going about their business through Gear Station. People no longer stopped Ingo to ask what had happened, returning to cheerfully waving to him, or offering him tidings. The frequency in which the other depot agents checked in on Ingo slowed back to a normal level, only increasing when they thought Ingo was overworking himself outside of Emmet’s awareness.

Heading to their respective trains, Ingo suddenly gripped his hand tightly, his customary half-step ahead position dropped as he fell behind. Crisply stopping and turning to inquire on the unplanned halt between stations, he was greeted with Ingo’s hunched forward form, free hand inches from his face. Their two-car train’s normal order hitting a sudden switchover was strange enough, but the panicked look on Ingo’s face instantly choked his words in his throat. An attempt to ask his older brother what was wrong tripped out of his mouth. He could only squeeze his hand back as his brother’s eyes refused to focus. 

“E-Emmet…” Ingo’s hand in front of his face shook, and he could see the tremor hit his brother’s shoulders. “Something is wrong with my eyes.” 

Trying to contain his own steadily rising panic, he gently guided Ingo to the ground. Their coats fanned out around them, and the flow of commuters spread to pass by them like water. The respect of the passengers for the Subway Bosses granted them a space in such a busy place, but no one stopped to check on them. Just as well; Emmet didn’t think he could stand to talk to anyone else when he was so focused on Ingo, and his brother was in no shape to control the situation, like he usually did when Emmet struggled to talk.

“You can't see?” His twin brought his eyes up to him, and he clung tighter still, as if begging for confirmation that Emmet was there. His eyes wavered, as if struggling to focus, even with Emmet so close to his face. Lifting his free hand, Ingo touched his jaw, the tap of his gloved fingertips harder than usual as if misjudging the distance he had to move.

Even in the hectic din of the station, he could clearly hear Ingo’s voice, as if his ears were made only to listen to his beloved older brother. Even though Ingo’s voice was quieter than he’d ever heard before, the words he said were clear. “I see too much. I can see both at once.” 

Hearing him didn’t mean understanding him.

“W-What? What does that mean?” 

Ingo pulled him closer with the hand on his face, their hats tipping back to almost fall off as he insistently put their foreheads together. Shutting his eyes with a shuddered breath, he answered the best he could. “You are here in front of me and also not. I see Hisui in front of me as well as the station. I do not know how to explain otherwise.” When Emmet tried to pull back in confusion, he kept him close. 

“Nii-san, let’s go back to the office! We can figure it out there.” Ingo nodded, only releasing his grip when Emmet rubbed their noses together. When he tried to open his eyes, Ingo immediately squinted them closed again. There was no way that Ingo could keep them open to navigate his way back through all of the people while maintaining safety rules. Emmet blamed the tension in his brother’s frame on the lost memories that Ingo struggled to regain even now, and gave him a smile even if he couldn’t see it. “I’ll lead.” 

Time apart had not diminished their deeply ingrained connections, and Ingo followed smoothly behind him, intimately trusting the tracks that Emmet chose. When they were children, it had been Ingo’s role to be his conductor, and he would return the favor now. Crossing paths with Ramses, Emmet asked him to tell all the other depot agents to defer to Cloud for the rest of the afternoon, and that their train battles would need to be rescheduled. Keeping Ingo’s plight to themselves for now, the best he could come up with in the moment was that his brother felt nauseous and would be taking a rest in their office to determine their next stop.

Leading his brother to their couch, Emmet took their hats to rest on his desk. Returning to Ingo’s side, his twin turned to face him, eyes still closed. “Emmet,” Ingo called out with hesitation, and he scooted closer, leaning against his twin to give him a physical anchor. Relief caused Ingo to sag against him, and his own tension eased somewhat as well. The problem still existed, and hopefully Ingo would explain what he was experiencing, but now that they were together again, they could get through it. 

They stayed like that for a while, but when Emmet started to fidget, Ingo took both of his hands, pulling them into his lap. “I’m sorry I scared you, Emmet.” Tugging his older twin’s hands into his own lap, he scoffed. Ingo still couldn’t see, and he was the one apologizing? “I am just very disoriented right now, and I will admit I am quite worried. It came out of nowhere, and it has never happened before–”

“Nii-san. It’s okay. I am Emmet, and I will take care of you.” Voice firm, he had told himself the same when Ingo had first come back without any of his memories. The idea kept him going when Ingo was missing - he had to stay healthy and strong for Ingo, because when they found him, what if he had been hurt. No matter what, they would protect each other, and he would do it for the rest of his life if it was for Ingo.

Another attempt was made by his brother to open his eyes. Now that they were away from the noise of the station, it was easier to think, to mull over what Ingo had said earlier. His brother’s eyebrows knitted together, trying to focus on their linked hands. Frown deepening, Ingo flexed his fingers around Emmet’s hands. “You are here with me,” he affirmed, hesitatingly, as he himself did not even believe it. 

“Yeah! I am here for Ingo.” Wriggling his fingers in his twin’s grip, he smiled again now that Ingo could see it. Sort of. Ingo leaned towards him carefully, slowly, so they didn’t knock into each other. Making up the distance, Emmet pressed his lips against Ingo’s, letting his brother control the pace. The kiss was exploratory, like their first kiss back when they were younger, and Emmet was happy for it. He’d gone so long without any physical contact from his brother, so even the most clumsy intimacy was met with joy and unending affection. 

Between the distressing situation and still being at work, neither of them were feeling particularly frisky, but that didn’t stop him from peppering kisses all over his brother’s face. It had become a habit to show his brother open affection more frequently, pausing only when they were in the public’s eye. Before Ingo had disappeared, they had discussed a more obvious display of their love for each other, maybe sharing rings. But it seems that memory had disappeared along with many of the others. Emmet wouldn’t be discouraged, and they could just build up to that point again! 

In between kisses, Ingo described what he saw, trying to mesh the double vision into one understandable image. His description was as messy as his sight, and eventually they decided that Emmet leading Ingo home now would be the best course of action.

As the days progressed, there were some days where Ingo’s double vision subsided completely. Most days, however, he saw one world blurrier than the other, and it was a good day if it wasn’t Hisui in focus. On the worst of the days, Ingo would wear a blindfold, specially designed for longer stints of wear, and be guided around by Emmet. With a little bit of practice, and adjustment of the space usually between them, Ingo was capable of following Emmet without always holding his hand. It was an understandable circumstance to hold hands, but they saved the contact for when it was particularly crowded, or when they were in their office. Ingo just felt more comfortable that way, and Emmet would always do what he could to make his beloved twin feel good.

One thing Emmet began to notice, however, was that when Ingo wore the blindfold, he was verrrry sensitive to touch. The sensitivity was heightened even more when he wasn’t expecting it. He found himself coming up behind his twin quietly, whispering whatever he wanted to say into Ingo’s ear, and enjoying the shiver that tickled along Ingo’s whole body. It was cute, and quite unexpected. 

At the moment, Ingo was deep in thought, knuckle up to his mouth and coat off. The blindfold was an elegant, stylized design based on train tracks made out of velvet, with a soft, replaceable padding to protect Ingo’s closed eyes. Ingo had chosen silk as the fabric that rested against his face, and Emmet found it all very beautiful. It was a shame that he only wore it because it was unbearable to do so otherwise.

But for now, he made his footsteps as silent as possible, and when he was within reach, he traced his finger up from Ingo’s tailbone to in between his shoulder blades. The thin fabric of their button-up shirts added to the tickle, and Ingo jumped with a soft “A-ah!” He had no choice, after that sound, but to press himself up against Ingo’s back, wrap his arms around his brother’s waist. “Emmet?!” Ingo sputtered out, even though it could be no one else. 

In response, he brushed his lips against his older brother’s nape. He could feel Ingo’s undershirt move beneath the button-up as he circled his fingertips over his twin’s sides. The sensation made Ingo writhe in his grip, and red tinted the tips of his ears. “Nii-san~” he all but purred against the back of Ingo’s neck, encouraged by Ingo’s voice catching. “I did all the paperwork. I’m verrrry good!” 

Ingo turned to face him, as if that would stop his light touches. In reality, it just brought his lower back more into Emmet’s range. He ghosted his lips against Ingo’s chin to his jawline. “You were most efficient before lunchtime, Emmet. Bravo!” Ingo’s statement would have sounded casual, if not for the little huffs of breath that were beginning to catch on his words. They’d set alarms for Ingo to reference the time, and he took to it quite well - while he was not exact, he was usually within a few minutes of the correct time. 

“I should be given a present. For being a good boy.” Making to pull back from Ingo, he slid his fingertips from Ingo’s back to his front, lifting his touch away from the skin in irregular intervals as he did. 

“Y-yes, I think you should.” With the blindfold on, Ingo couldn’t see Emmet’s mischievous grin. And with the blindfold on, Emmet’s present was going to be just as much Ingo’s present.

[mutatedangels-a]

@packagecfgirlyevil // madison x soleil

Today These days I wear my body like an uninvited guest I turn it around and around right and right and right Instead of turning left But boy girl, your patience is a magical >>kind of<< medicine 'Cause every spiral brings me Back to you into your arms again

Soleil gnawed on the clicky-side of her pen, a bad habit that reared its nasty head whenever she was deep in thought. Or, at the very least, attempting to be deep in thought. After all, it was difficult to concentrate on writing songs; the girls' cheer routines and the boys' play-calling on the field created a discordant amalgam of sounds.

But she was here for one reason and one reason only, and that was the girl tossing her pom-poms around on the field.

Soleil's eyes wandered and naturally landed on the girl in question: Madison. Looking cute despite the heat. When the two caught each other's gazes, Soleil didn't hesitate to give the girl a peppy wave. Maybe it was undercut with a little bit of sarcasm, since Soleil didn't have the greatest track record with cheerleaders (Miranda from high school was one of her biggest bullies), but she knew Madison would be a good sport about it.

Sitting on the bleachers, Soleil was about to turn her attention back on her sheet of lyrics when a blunt object struck her notebook, knocking it out of her hand. She groaned.

"Sorry 'bout that, sunshine!" called out one of the football players, using her namesake against her. It was clear she was his target. Even though they were all in college now, they still liked to pick on her.

With a roll of her eyes, she got up to chuck the football back to him. It unceremoniously landed near his feet. "Fuck off, Eugene!" she yelled back, doxxing the douchebag's real name. They knew each other back in high school. Now, in college, he was Gino. Yeah, right. It was like going from a piece of garbage to a piece of shit.

[crescentcityhellmouth-rpg]

Out Of Character

Name/Alias: Koya Age: 29 NSFW Personal Preference: I’m comfortable with smut, but I prefer to keep it short and sweet under most circumstances or we can fade to black. Series/Season: S6. Canon Changes: Never turns into a heretic. Activity Level: Mostly on afternoons. Time Zone: EST. RP Experience: 17yrs on various sites. Best Mode of Contact: Discord.

In-Character

Desired Character: Malachai Parker Age: 22 OTP / NOTP: Malachai x Bonnie Housing: Hyperion Hotel. Room 222.

Interview questions.

01. Give us your thoughts on New Orleans?

☆°•》 "Overrated... Too many tourists and prop magic shops. The parties do get pretty wild though, I'll give it that." 《•°☆

02. Tell us how you feel about your species, and if you could change it what would you choose to be and why?

☆°•》 "I'm a witch with no magic. Do you really have to ask?" 《•°☆ ?

03. Please describe the most important person to you and why?

☆°•》 "Me, of course... I know, shocker." 《•°☆

04. Detail a specific point in time that has detrimentally changed you?

☆°•》 "I think it was more a series of events really. The day I found out I was a siphon, the day my parents and the rest of my coven found out, the day I learned I would never be allowed to merge with Jo, the day I killed my family... y'know.. The usual." 《•°☆

05. Explain (a few) bad habit(s) in detail that you’ve picked up over the years, if you remember when you started it describe that pivotal moment as well as what you’ve tried to do to cope with it?

☆°•》 "Compartmentalization. Which innately my therapist said wasn't such a bad thing. Until around eight years old when I started repressing all of my emotions. Then when mom and dad found out what I was counseling was no longer an option to try and fix me. So, y'know, I didn't really care to cope anymore." 《•°☆

Playlist.  

• Blood // Water — grandson • parents — YUNGBLUD • I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE — Måneskin

Paragraph sample.

Malachai was intrigued by the big easy. As far as he could tell it was nothing like Portland or Mystic Falls. Magic seeped from the earth and there was a shop on nearly every corner. He wandered into quite a few, but none held quite the legitimate stockpile of goodies like the Magic Box. & the owner, a petite little blonde thing, radiated something of a magical energy herself. One in which he never quite encountered before, what struck him as odd though is that she hardly seemed bothered by his mannerisms and as she hurriedly made her way into the back room to grab a restock of low inventory items, he briefly thought on how these damned emotions caused him to lose his touch. Minutes after that someone else made their way into the neat little shop, but he was almost too distracted to turnaround. That is, of course, until he heard her voice. & for a moment he stood there almost too stunned to speak. As if struck by some kind of a feeling he couldn't even quite accurately describe to turn around and face her, his heart racing as small beads of sweat pooled at his temples. ☆°•》"Bonnie," he breathed out her name, an inaudible whisper before he managed to muster up the courage to face her now. "Wolfsbane, huh," He mused weakly at first. "Regular fencing not doing its job? You decide to take matters into your own hands and put down that aggressive dog? I could help, y'know.. If you want me to." 《•°☆ 《☆°• 'If you want me to?' He thought. 'Dammit.' The swell of unidentifiable emotions now whirling inside him as he looked down at her, his cobalt blue eyes now bore into her emerald, green ones. Hoping she could see what he was struggling to feel. •°☆》

[emetheuhtitle]

I think I'll be posting more here, since I deleted my IG (reel brain rot + plus it fueled a pretty unhealthy habit of mine), I was always tempted to document my time on discord rp and about my ocs, beyond just my art accounts. Maybe this is the place for it.

So to start, the community I started with was Standoffs, to my knowledge the biggest jojo Rp server, long before it had 100 members let alone its current 1000. This was the weird pipeline r/fanstands -> discord Fan Stands -> Standoffs.

Standoffs was the weird brain child of Moose, a mod who in a wildly unhinged act faked his own kidnapping, made a halo faction irp and was pretty weird and Juniper Pengold, one of the current admins, she's great. A bunch of people that joined never really tried discord rp (myself included) we just had these high concept charachters we loved, and we just, made shit up and trew them at echader. There was a genuine 'Child playing with toys they don't know the lore to' energy.

I had a few fights, my stands at the time were I think Lonly is the Word, Sign of the southern cross, Sabbath bloody Sabbath and there was one stand named after a constolation. Than. I joined the 'clans rp' just a generic faction based role play. What I joined with, was Angry Again, a stand which made a target hear a spacific ticking noise from a choosen location with no way to avoid it. That's all. I'd write

*The ticking noise continues*

and leave it at that. Annoying. Funny. Neat. The user was this, wildy depressed homeless guy called Vain George, his whole thing was he tought of himself as annoying and useless and thus choose to reduce himself to nothing but a part of the background. He was f i n e. He became a part of a duo with a charachter by HeyZell, at the time Cookie, later Dice, her name had some growing pains.

We both joined kinda late and picked the clan with least members, to be honest we were the only active ones for the time. We tried to do some detective work, but honestly we knew way too little about the Rp to ask the right questions... So here's the world.

Modern Day New Orleans.

Crystal Vipers- Nicknamed Sitcom assasins, 'the good guys' they are your usual misfit found family criminals. They had Moses the profoundly gentle and wholesome individual. They had a guy with 2 completlely broken stands becuase these were the wild days with no real approval system ran by Thomas, he's... We're going to talk about him :). Icy and J were in it with pretty standard charachters, note those two they're consistently chill and cool with everyone no matter the time period. Jake was in it too! And it was ran by JRD. He's chill I think?

Weird Mafia... Thing? - What you need to know first is it was ran by Moose, the owner who faked his own kidnapping. And this clan was whole hardely stupid. They had just random over powered bullshit and they, and I'm not kidding avoided the events of the Rp by hiding in an elavator.

House of the rising Sun/Men without hats. These. These were the cool villians, they were silly and insane and there was so much to it. The main villian who was a priest who's village got hit by a meteor and felt spited by god spacificly and went on a crusade using a gambling house and a stupid over powered 3 act stand Bible Black -> Tear of a Godess -> Lateralus. Alot of them were genuinly cool. Except every Scrungo charachter. Scrungo we'll talk about extensively, soon, even.

Bizzare Agency. They were ran by Riux, he's chill, they just never had the members to pop off, until me and Hazel (HeyZell) popped in. It had, 3 time stoping vampires, a way to share stands and some other bullshit we didn't bother with. Also a way to auto upgrade stands I think? Honestly by the end which is the point where we joined everyone had some over powered bullshit as a way to upgrade everyone.

So alot was happening when we joined, alot of moving parts. Next blog I'll go into everything that was happening. It was, alot. I'll sleep now, re read the channel archive and tell you all the stories and legends of old.

[withtheghostofblue]

its been so long, here's everything you've missed.

i'm actually on here without being sad. i need to tell someone how far I've come. it needs to be out there- even if I'm talking to myself. i fell back into old habits. pretty deep n pretty hard. but- this time I spoke to my friends. my family. they're helping me out. the boys and I call nightly. last night they asked me if I was comfortable with them meeting keenan. we all have a discord together now. we all talk a fair bit. i have a few new friends. we have dis- he's 12 hours ahead but loves to be with us so he's messed up his sleep schedule to see us a bit more. he's a flirt. then we have justin- or ustin because j names are stupid. he's a sweetheart, he knows how to make anything less hard to deal with. he flirts with all of us non stop and tells everyone I have a foot fetish. its really funny actually. he's the one who asked to meet bub the day he was over and laughed at the fact that we dipped for three hours and came back to a mess with the rest of the main group. there's midge, who we have a million names for. he's high a lot but he's seriously the sweetest person. he's one of those chill till you hurt someone he's close to then he'll lose his shit. then we have star in this little group again- she'll open up a bit. our other group is kinda distant again and i felt like star deserved more people to care for her. bub is in this mini group too. these are the ones I'm with all the time. then there's the larger group with mad- she doesn't really like me that much but that's okay. she called me a "pick me" because i jokingly flirt with the boys. they boys went AFTER her for it. they then invited me to boys night and didn't let mad come. there's Nov, who is in love with mad. its really funny because nov is 17, so is bub. so they're the only minors left in our group. the fact we all joke around so much we all call each other pedos because most of us are 18 and 19 flirting with these two 17 year olds. justin is 21 though- he's a problem child. we have tommy whos an aussie so we don't really see him that much. he has his own world. he doesn't seem to notice whats happening and doesn't phase him. i think i wanna know him a bit more but who knows. there's phoe whos busy flirting with everyone all the time (aside from in our group she hates flirting with our group). i think that's the whole group though. its still pretty new, but i really like it. they're all really supportive with everything. they communicate a lot as well. the minute something goes bad they're all there. n its like that with everyone.

while all of that is going well, I've fallen into some bad old habits, but this time I spoke up. my ed is back and its to the point where I'm losing hair again, getting sick if I eat and passing out almost. mum asked if something was up with it and I told her the truth. I'm on a meal plan again like I was in highschool. but this time its because I asked for help. i think that's crazy improvement. I've not heard anything from k since he left. i think that's okay. rap*sts never change. anyway. midge wants to call again so I think ill go there with him n see whats up. I'm happy life's turned around a bit.

i hope whoever is reading this has a good day. you're worth it. n if you want to be in my life? I'm ready for you. <3

[sunlight-moonrise]

Sugar, Spice, and Everything (Not So) Nice (Reid Imagine)

Summary: Being a Barista and falling for a regular is as cliche as it gets. Having that customer become your new professor? Not so much. 

A/N: *Peeks head out* Hello everyone. I have come back from my unannounced hiatus to show off this baby. Major thanks to @definitelynotkatesblog​ and @clean-bands-dirty-stories​ for helping me put this fic together. This was written for the lovely @httpnxtt​ for the secret-fic-swap in the Discord (thanks @imagining-in-the-margins​.) I hope you all enjoy this smutty goodness. 

Category: Smut

Content Warnings: Face Slapping, Degradation, Slight Hair Pulling, Oral Sex (male receiving), Fingering, Spanking, Penetrative Sex, Unprotected Sex/Creampie

Word Count: 6.4K

Masterlist

Being a barista is pretty awesome. Sure, there were bitchy customers and super early mornings but it had it’s redeeming perks. We got free coffee, tea, and snacks during our shifts, which served the caffeine addict in me. I also learned how to make popular lattes, mochas, and frappes that I ended up making at home for myself one too many times. While there were the occasional assholes who couldn’t appear human before getting their hands on some caffeine, there were the regulars who made it worth it. Most of the regulars were so sweet, I appreciated a familiar face when they came in. Some.. more than others.

“He’s baaaaaaaaack,” my coworker Hazel whispered to me in a sing-song voice as she scribbled a customer’s name on a cup. I turned to see who she was talking about, but I already had an inkling about who it was.

My suspicions were correct. I turned to see one of our kindest regulars, my personal favorite customer, Dr. Spencer Reid. Is it weird to know the full name -including the honorific- of a customer? Possibly. But when I’d asked for his name to write on his cup the first time he came in, he accidentally gave me his full name. 

“Dr. Reid- uh, Spencer. Sorry, work habit.” He stuttered, avoiding my eyes after the mistake.

“No worries! What can I get started for you?”

As a Criminology major,  I learned to study the people who catch my attention before indulging them. Call it an old habit. 

Dr. Spencer Reid had earned his title and then some. He’d joined the FBI at only 22, having six degrees under his belt by the age of 27. He’d written several dissertations and co-wrote novels with his colleague, David Rossi. Someone with his reputation could be a pompous ass and have a leg to stand on, which is what made his humbled demeanor so much sweeter. He was also incredibly easy on the eyes, which was a nice little bow on top. 

Hazel liked to joke about how we’d make a cute couple but I know she only did it to watch me get flustered.  

I walked towards the counter to take his order, leaving Hazel with the task of refilling the caramel syrup. I’m always the one to help him since he very aptly pointed out that I’m the only one who makes his coffee just how he likes it.  

Some days, he’d let me surprise him with a random creation. I’d confirm if he wanted caffeine (he always did), iced or not, and any flavor requests. He’d take his drink, tip me handsomely and let me know his thoughts on the drink the next time he came in. So far, his favorite was the almond milk honey latte I’d concocted. It was nice to have a little bit of fun, especially with regulars who were as consistent as him.

“Hey Doc, what can I get ya’?” I asked.

“The usual, please,” he said with a smile. I nodded and set off to make his drink: a venti dark roast with a shit ton of sugar, a dash of nutmeg, and a tiny bit of cinnamon.

“Of course!” I quickly go to fill his order, making sure to put a complimentary treat in a bag for him. I know he had the ultimate sweet tooth so I try to sneak him a confection whenever I can. At first, he was a bit reluctant to take the free pastries, but nowadays he usually smiles when he sees the small bag. 

“Here ya’ go.” I handed him his steamy cup of caffeine along with the little treat, seeing him smile at the small pun I add to his cup, “Have a BREW-tiful day, Doctor!” I watched as his lips landed on the rim of the cup, taking a long sip of the hot coffee. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, the sight making my cheeks promptly flush. I cleared my throat before asking, “Is it good?”

“It’s always good when you make it,” he stated matter of factly, a small smile touching his lips. The heat in my cheeks rose again. “Will you be taking a course this summer?” he asked, taking another sip of his coffee.

“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. My first day is actually later today. I’m surprised the class section was open, to be honest.” Super surprised actually. I’d been trying to enroll in this class for the past couple of semesters but it was always full by the time I was able to even load the registration page.

“Well, I’ll wish you luck, but I’m sure you won’t need it.”

“How can you be so sure?” 

“I can just tell.” He stated calmly, like it was common knowledge. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to explain. Before he could respond, an insistent cough caught both of our attention. I peeked over Spencer’s shoulder to see a customer waiting for his order to be taken. I turned my attention back to the Doctor, an annoyed look painted on my face. He nodded, taking a hint from the impatient mouth breather behind him. 

“Thank you for the coffee. Enjoy the rest of your day. I hope that class goes well.”

“Bye, you too.” I waved, watching as he exited the door. I turned to the waiting customer, a bit miffed that he interrupted our conversation. But because I was at work, I plastered a fake smile on my face so that he wouldn’t see just how annoyed I was. “Welcome, how may I help you?”

●●●

After clocking out at 2:30 PM, I made a dash for the building where my class would be held. It’s not supposed to start for another half-hour, but I wanted to be sure to get there in time to choose a good seat and settle in before the rest of the class arrived.

Luckily room 301 was relatively empty so I was able to score a perfect seat by the window. I decided to kill some time by listening to some music and doodling randomly in my notebook. Some time had passed when I felt someone take the seat next to me. I turned to see a young man occupying the chair beside mine. He looked to be a frat boy based on the Greek letters he was sporting. Who wears a cap and hoodie in this weather? I really hope he didn’t expect to cheat off of me- although these types of guys always seem to do so.

I was about to return to my doodle when I felt a poke on my shoulder. I turned to give the offender my full attention, removing one of the earbuds from my ears. 

“Hey, I’m Tony,” frat boy said, with a wide smile adorning his face. I must admit, his boyish grin melted the slight annoyance I had begun to stir toward him. I returned his greeting and introduced myself as well. “I don’t mean to be a bother,” he continued, “but I like to have at least one buddy in each of my classes. In case we need help or miss an assignment or something.”

I nodded my head - a friend in a class was always useful when it came to studying and swapping notes. We chatted a bit more, learning about each other’s major and why we both decided to take a summer course. Tony is a double major and this course will satisfy the credits he needs for his psychology requirement. This is why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. 

It wasn’t until I heard the hush of the classroom that I realized the class was about to begin. I turned back to my notebook, preparing to jot down some important information despite it being the first day of class.

“Good morning class.” Wait. That voice... I didn’t even need to pick my head up to know who had spoken. “This is Criminal Psychology and I am your instructor, Doctor Spencer Reid. Unfortunately, Professor Monroe could not cover this course so I’ll be his permanent replacement. Now…”

I raised my head, watching as he continued to talk about what is to be expected in this course while a TA handed out the syllabus. He went on, able to capture the attention of everyone while speaking of the experiences he had with an array of criminals. His eyes scanned the room and for a brief moment I thought they would land on me, but they continued to take in the mass amount of students before him.

My concentration was broken by Tony passing me a copy of the syllabus. I scanned it over, making sure to highlight all the important dates. I didn’t want any exams or projects conflicting with my work schedule. I also made note of how the overall grade system is broken down. The whole thing seems pretty fair and everything was spaced out enough where I wouldn’t feel too overwhelmed with the workload.

“… and that pretty much wraps it up. Does anyone have any questions?” I tuned in just as he was pulling the first class to a close. No one raised their hands, so he dismissed us with a reminder to read the first chapter of the textbook and to check for any emails.

“So do you want to grab lunch?” Tony asked from beside me. I contemplated whether or not to go with him. He must have seen the hesitation in my face because he quickly added, “Not as a date or anything, I just wanted to grab a bite and I didn’t want to do it alone.”

“Sure,” I smiled, “Let me just ask the professor a quick question about his office hours and I’ll meet you at the food court.”

“Sweet, I’ll see you in a bit.” With that, Tony gathered his stuff and exited the back door. 

I focused my attention on the podium, seeing a gaggle of girls surrounding him asking redundant questions. From what I could hear, their questions could have been answered if they’d read the syllabus. I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, they were probably more focused on him rather than what he was saying during class. I waited a few more minutes for them to finish up before I made my way to him.

“So do I call you Doctor or Professor now?” I laughed. 

“From you, I’d respond to either,” he replied warmly. The comment made me blush. If he looked into my eyes at that moment, he’d see more stars in them than the night sky. I bit my lip to stop the idiotic grin from spreading across my face. 

He’s your professor, get a hold of yourself.

“How can I help?” he asked, bringing me back to the original reason as to why I was standing in front of him without a cash register between us. 

I cleared my throat. “Um, I was wondering if it was possible to see you outside your normal office hours? I usually work the morning shifts and I don’t want to flood your emails with my questions.” I asked.

“Of course,” he said. “You can come to my office at whatever time works best for you. I know balancing a work and school schedule can be hard. Besides, I’m usually there handling paperwork anyway.” He gave a small shrug, pushing his hands in his pockets. 

“Thank you so much. I look forward to the rest of the semester Professor Reid.” I liked the way his newfound honorific rolled off my tongue. 

“Goodbye, Y/N.”

“Goodbye, Professor.” With that, I left and headed out to meet Tony. 

I was able to find him at the food court. We got some food and chatted more about our classes as well as life outside of school. He made it easy to be his friend, and it was nice having someone to talk to. He works as a waiter so we shared our customer service horror stories and tales of sneaking food at work. It was a nice distraction that took my mind off of Dr. Reid and the ongoing battle of calling him Doctor or Professor. As Tony rambled, my mind wandered about other things I’d like to call Spencer instead. 

●●●

In that short span of two weeks, we already had an exam, an oral presentation, and a report on the psychoanalysis of serial killers. Not one day had been wasted, but this is what to be expected from a summer course. The essay was due the day before. Now we had to wait for our grades which gave us a moment to take a breath.

I was worried that my paper was subpar; especially since I chose to write about Andrei Chikatilo, a serial killer from Ukraine. He wasn’t as popular as those in America, so I ended up spending hours on deep research to find substantial information about his crimes. It also didn’t help that some of the original reports weren’t in English. I had worked hard, and hoped Professor Reid would see that, even if my writing could sometimes be a little weak. I was worried about the grade as our research papers held the weight of 20% of our final mark. 

“Hello? Earth to Y/N! Anyone in there?” Hazel’s voice pierced through my worry bubble, her hand waving in front of my face. I shook my head, trying to focus on restocking the coffee beans.

“Sorry Haze, I’m thinking about this class.”

“Funny you say that; your favorite professor just walked in. Thought you might want to take his order.” She wagged her brows at me, making kissy faces as I hurried to the front register, trying my best to not let my eagerness be so glaringly obvious.

There he was, in his usual handsome glory, patiently waiting for me to take his order. He greeted me with a small smile that I happily returned.

“Hey Doc, what can I get you today?”

He debated for a moment before saying, “Surprise me.”

“Gotcha.” I already had an in my head; it’d been a while since he asked me to make him a random drink so I’d had plenty of time to plan. We got an early shipment of ingredients for our fall-themed drinks and I figured he would appreciate some pumpkin spice in his caffeine. “How are the papers coming along?” I asked casually as I rang him up.

“Pretty well. I’m almost done, so you’ll all receive your grades later today.” Wow, that was fast. I wondered if he stayed up reading all those papers to be done by today. Probably not, a TA must have helped him.

“I am a bit nervous about mine, especially since it’s worth a huge part of our final grade.” I really wanted to get an A in this course, but it was hard juggling everything in such a short amount of time.

“Don’t worry about it too much,” he reassured. “I haven’t properly finished yours yet but it looked great just from what I’ve seen thus far.” His words gave me a little reassurance.

“Thanks. I put a lot of effort into it. Let me grab your coffee now.” Spencer walked towards the pick-up station while I grabbed a venti cup for his drink. Just when I was about to make his order, I saw another familiar face come up to the register. “Tony, hey!” I shouted, placing the cup back down, “What can I get you?” 

This was the first time he’d been here, despite him saying for the past few days that he’d stop by for a visit, even with the promise of a cake pop if he did. It was nice to see another familiar face.

“Hey coffee girl, how you doin’ today?”

“Just peachy. My feet are killing me, though.” Just saying the words caused the ache on the soles of my feet to spike higher. I thanked my lucky stars I was almost done with this eight-hour shift.

“Give me the chance to sweep you off your feet, I promise you won’t regret it.” he offered boldly. It wasn’t the first time he’d joked about taking me out. I laughed, especially since he had a girlfriend. She met us for lunch one day and we became fast friends- she was an incredibly sweet and intelligent girl, polite and elegant as well. It is a wonder how his frat boy charm won her over but opposites attract, I guess.

“Shut up, Casanova. What are you gonna have?”

“I’ll have a grande iced matcha latte, please.” I should’ve known. He told me that he loves matcha flavored food and drinks the first time we grabbed lunch after class. He had complained that there was no good place to get one on campus. 

“Coming right up.” I quickly filled his order since it was faster to make compared to the pumpkin spiced latte. I handed him his bribe-cake pop, matcha flavor of course, while he waited for me to finish making his drink.

“By the way, we’re still studying at the library for the exam later tonight, right?” Tony asked.

“Yup, I’ll meet you at 8.”

“Copy that, see you later coffee girl.” He turned to leave while I turned to make Professor Reid’s order. I put extra whip cream and a bit more syrup to satiate his sweet tooth. I grabbed a fresh chocolate muffin from the display case and popped it into a bag for him as well, drawing yet another pun on the good doctors bag. “Thanks for being such a TEA-rrific professor!”

“Here ya’ go Doc,” I called out before placing his drink and muffin on the counter. I looked up to see him no longer smiling. “Is everything okay?”

Ignoring my question, he said, “I wasn’t aware you were so close to Mr. Montgomery.”

“Oh yeah, we study together once in a while.” I could have sworn I saw his frown deepen before his features became void of any emotions. He shifted his eyes downward, his hand moving rapidly to grab the cup.

“I should get going.”

“Oh, okay” Before I could say goodbye, he was already halfway out the door. 

That was weird. I looked at the counter and noticed that he left the cupcake behind. Maybe he was in a rush?

I shook my head. I needed to concentrate on making it through the last couple of hours of work. 

●●●

I made my way to the classroom, smiling at Tony as he pulled out my seat for me. Professor Reid walked in a few minutes later, his tall figure drawing all the attention to the center of the small stage. He let us know he already graded the papers and that they would be distributed by the TA before the end of class. I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach but decided to brush it off and pay attention in class. Despite my attempts to focus on his lecture, I found my mind wandering every so often anyway.

I couldn’t help but think he was less animated today. Usually, he taught with such passion that the class couldn’t take their eyes off him. But today, it felt as if we were all in a boring seminar with an ancient professor. Tony kept glancing at the clock, probably also wondering why time felt like it was going by so slowly. 

I couldn’t shake the unsettled feeling the entire class. It didn’t help matters that every time I would raise my hand to answer a question, he would call on another student. What the hell did I do? 

I decided to tune out the rest of the class. There is no point in being an actively engaged student if I wasn’t going to get treated like one. I’d just get the notes from Tony later.

Thirty minutes before the end of class, the TA handed out our essays while Professor Reid wrapped. 

“Some of you did very well, while a few others struggled with the assignment.” His eyes landed on mine as he said that. It was the first time he had glanced in my direction the whole class. He moved on to the other side of the room. My mind was probably just playing tricks on me. “If you have any questions you can see me at my office hours next week or send me an email. You are dismissed.”

The TA finally made his way over to me, handing my essay in a slight fold. I looked at the grade on top and almost dropped the paper. My heart sped up as I stared at the letter in bright red ink. No way, no way this could be my report. I looked at the right-hand corner and saw my name at the top. I read through the first page and saw they were indeed my words.

How the fuck was it possible that I got a D on this paper? I knew my writing wasn’t the strongest, but a D? 

“How you’d do?” Tony asked. For a moment I forgot I was in a room with other people.

I cleared my throat, trying to relive the lump so that he didn’t hear the croak in my voice. “Umm, not what I expected. I’m going to try to speak to him about it.” Tony was a smart kid, so I was sure he could see how tense I was. Luckily he didn’t question me any further and instead told me he’d text me later before leaving the classroom.

Fortunately, there were no other students in the classroom to slow me down this time. I walked right up to the podium, watching as Professor Reid placed some papers in his satchel. 

“Professor, I need to speak with you.”

“Not now, I’m busy,” he replied, not even bothering to glance in my direction. This can’t be real. The sweet, kind Doc could not be the man acting like a total asshole right now.

“I really need to discuss with you my paper,” I pressed, raising my voice a little louder in an attempt to get his attention. That was wishful thinking on my part since he continued to fiddle with his satchel.

“I said I’m busy,” he uttered once again, his voice void of any emotion. He was about to walk past me, ignoring my whole being. His blatant disregard made my cheeks burn, and not in the usual way they usually did when I was around him.

“Spencer,” I barked, “We need to talk. Now.” For a few moments, he stood in front of me, his back facing my direction.

I was about to speak again before I heard him say, “My office. Half an hour.” He exited, leaving me alone in an empty classroom. The only things keeping me company were the fuming feelings swirling inside me and the failed paper clutched at my fist. 

●●●

I knocked on his office door ten minutes earlier than he’d told me. The anger in my gut brewed hotter the longer I waited. As soon as I heard a “Come in,” I rushed through the door, slamming it behind me. He regarded me coolly, but didn’t comment on my actions. 

“What can I do for you Ms. (Y/L/N)?” I walked up to his large desk, not bothering to take a seat in the chair in front of me. I took a moment to calm myself down before replying.

“Well, you can start by explaining to me why I got such a low score on my paper.” I guess he didn’t like being the only one of us sitting down because he stood up and leaned against the wall behind him.

“It did not meet the requirements for a passing grade as outlined in the rubric. The information given was boring and the overall topic was uninteresting. It was tedious to get through,” he responded nonchalantly, like he was giving me a weather report.  

“You said that you enjoyed it so far.” I rebutted, placing my hands on the desk. I needed something to offer me stability so that I wasn’t visibly shaking.  

“I’d mistaken your work for another student’s. Maybe Mr. Montgomery,” he dryly clipped.

A bitter laugh escaped me as I put the puzzle together. Was- was he serious? Was this man acting like this because of Tony? The audacity! The laugh that bubbled from my lips must have unsettled him. He left his position from the wall in favor of standing in front of me.

“You want to know what I think?” I didn’t give him a chance to respond before continuing, “I think you’re jealous that I have another guy that isn’t you getting friendly with me at the shop and because of your inability to keep your---“

“That is enough,” he grounded out, shaking his head. But I didn’t stop talking.

“--private feelings away from your professional ones, you decided to give me a failing grade. Do you know how hard I worked in-” my voice rose up higher and higher until I was yelling.

“I said that’s enough,” he said again, louder this time. But I wasn’t done.

“-this class? This is my life, my fucking future on the line. I’ve told you how important this all is to me and you don’t even give a shit! You’re going to let your interpretation of my relationship with another student influence the way you do your job? And here I thought you were a decent man, Professor.” I hissed, “Do you even give a damn abo-”

“Enough,” he roared, slamming his hands on the desk and caging me against the wood. His breathing was matching the upbeat pace of my own. His quick movement and the sheer volume of his voice caught me off guard, effectively silencing me. 

“I don’t deserve to be punished over your envy,” I whispered, locking eyes with him in a steady gaze.

“You want to see a real punishment, darling?” he hissed, the heat of his words almost breaking my glare, his breath fanning along my face.

We stared at one another for a while, neither of us willing to be the first to back down. The tension between us kept rising and rising until the inevitable happened. I couldn’t be sure who made the first move but before I knew it, our lips collided with a mix of rage and desperation. My arms draped around his neck as he pressed me on to the desk. He placed his hands on the back of my thighs, lifting me up high enough until I was perched on the cool wooden surface.

Spencer’s lips were soft, a stark contrast to the harsh way he was kissing me. His tongue parted my lips, gliding over mine with fervor. I couldn’t help but moan as he rolled his hips into me. He continued his rough grind, keeping my legs open as we moved as close together as our bodies would allow. He overwhelmed my senses- the smell of him, the taste of him, the feel of him. Everything was making me absolutely feral for this man. 

I never expected the gentle Dr. Reid to be so fervent, so sensual. The kindhearted, sweet professor who regularly drank his weight in caffeine never gave me this impression. But then again, I’m sure he was shocked by my attitude as well. He knew me as the friendly, bubbly barista, now student, who enjoyed his class. He was about to meet a whole new side of me, just like I was going to for him.

Spencer pulled away from me, our mouths making an audible ‘pop’ sound from the sudden separation. I tried to catch my breath as he stared at me, our chests rising and falling together. If I were to move a bit closer to him, we would be touching once again.

He took a few steps back before motioning me to step in front of him. “I want you to get down on your knees. Now.” I wasn’t going to argue with him, mainly because I wanted the exact same thing he did. I kneeled down, keeping my eyes on his face.

“You going to shut me up, Professor?” I teased, feeling powerful, even though he was looming over me. He didn’t reply, just continued to look down on me with those honey colored eyes- full of lust and rage.

I watched as he slowly placed his hands on his slacks, undoing the belt and buttons. He drew down his pants and boxers at the same time, just low enough to reveal his impressive size. My mouth salivated at the sight of his bulge as he came closer to me.

“We’re going to put that smart mouth to better use. Open.” He said, gripping my face between his fingers, forcing me to follow his orders. I opened my mouth slightly, not giving him exactly what he wanted. Instead of ordering my mouth to open further like I expected, he placed his thumb inside. He pushed the digit deep, pressing it against my tongue. I moaned around the finger, softly nibbling at the skin. He continued to slide his finger within my mouth before dragging it out completely. He wiped the excess spit on my cheek before lightly smacking it. The small shock of pain sent a shiver down my spine.

“Open, and do it right this time.”

I obeyed, opening wide enough to accept him into my mouth. My lips were stretched almost uncomfortably in an attempt to fit around him. He was so hot and thick, I couldn’t help but hum at the taste of him on my tongue. The soft “fuck” that fell from his lips had me purring around him. I went to place my hands on the remaining portion that couldn’t fit, but he batted them away.

“You’re using only your mouth.” 

Fine, have it your way, Sir. 

I placed my hands behind me as I bobbed my head, hallowing my cheeks with every rise. His shallow thrusts encouraged me to suck harder. I slowly pulled away to run my tongue against the vein protruding on the underside of his cock. I was rewarded with a groan escaping his lips.

“I should have known that you would be so good at this, darling,” he said, his voice slightly hoarse as he tried to control his grunts.

I made sure to look in his eyes as I swirled my tongue around the head of his cock. The face he made was purely angelic. The muscles of his neck protruded more evidently and his breathing became more labored. I placed him back in my mouth, this time taking my time to go down on him.

“That’s right, Princess. Show me what a good girl you are for me.” He moaned as I felt his hands weave in my hair before he pushed my head down on to him, causing me to gag around him, tears pricking my eyes. He continued his thrusts into my mouth, barely allowing me a chance to breathe. My nose repeatedly touched the base of him as I swallowed around his hard length.

Spencer tightened his fingers in my hair and I knew he wasn’t going to last much longer.  The pace was brutal, but I enjoyed the rough treatment. Knowing that I was the one making him feel good was such a turn on. He buried himself deep in my throat after a few more thrusts to finish. I swallowed his release like the greedy brat that we both now knew I was.

He eventually pulled out, a satisfied sigh leaving his lips. I swiped the back off my hand across my mouth to clean off any leftover spit and cum.

“Get up,” he ordered, his voice hoarse.

I did so, rubbing the ache in my knees as I slowly rose. “I want you bent over the desk,” he continued.

“I want you to answer my previous question.” I quipped.

“You’re not in the position to be making commands,” he growled. He wrapped his fingers in my hair again, pulling just roughly enough so that I was looking up at his face. “If you want this to end well for you, I suggest bending over my desk before I stuff my cock in that bratty little mouth of yours again.”

He released me, eyes still on my face waiting for me to follow through on his order. I turned to his desk and did as he asked, bending over the wood until my chest laid flat against the surface. I waited as patiently as I could for him. It felt as if I was in this position for an eternity before he touched me. He pushed both my underwear and skirt down to my knees before placing his hands on my hips. I heard it before I felt it- the smack on my ass that caused me to yelp.

“Fuck, Spencer. What the—” I was cut off with another resounding smack.

“Did you really think that I wasn’t going to give you a real punishment, darling?” I took a deep breath as another shiver went down my spine. He had no business sounding so hot right now. Another smack, this time on my opposite cheek, had me biting down on my lip to stop myself from crying out.

“This” *SMACK* “Is” *SMACK* “What” *SMACK* “Happens” *SMACK* “To” *SMACK* “Bratty” *SMACK* “Little” *SMACK* “Girls” *SMACK*. A sob ripped from my chest as the last blow landed. My ass was on fire and surely littered with his hand prints.

“You’re lucky I’m in a good mood since you sucked me off so nicely, or I would have made that worse.”

Gee, thanks.

“You look like such a dirty slut like this.” I felt a finger enter me easily, the wetness gathered there making my entrance ready to take him. “So wet. Was it the spanking that got you like this, or your mouth around my cock?” A moan was my only reply as he added another finger, the two digits moving in a scissoring motion. 

“Are you gonna be my sweet girl, now?” He asked as I moved my hips along his fingers, desperately trying to seek some more relief for the fire burning between my thighs as his mouth littered marks along my thighs. I closed my eyes, focusing on the pleasure he was giving me as he curled his fingers, a slow moan falling from my lips. He pulled them out of me, wiping the slickness against my still burning ass. Fucking bastard. I wiggled my hips against him, hoping he would grant me a reprieve and put his fingers back inside me. Instead, he spanked my ass one more time- one quick, sharp blow against the bruised cheek.

Just when I was about to yell at him, he placed the head of his member against my entrance. He moved up and down my drenched entrance before penetrating me in one full thrust. I took a short breath in, trying to get used to feeling so full. He was stretching me out in the most amazing way.

Spencer waited until I was grinding against him before he pulled out and pushed back into me. “Look at you, such a wanton little bitch aren’t you?” He could call me whatever he wanted, as long as he didn’t stop fucking me.

He kept a steady pace, making sure to grind into me every time he slammed back in. The obscene sound of our skin smacking against one another’s and the moans escaping our throats was an erotic symphony that had my body heat raising the temperature in the room.

He hitched my leg on top of the desk, entering in an angle that made the pleasure so much better. I couldn’t stop the whines that kept escaping my mouth every time he pounded into me. His hand stayed upon my leg, holding me down and limiting my movements. His nails dug into the skin so harshly I was sure there would be bruises left in their wake.  

“Fuck, you feel so good wrapped around me,” he hissed under his breath. “Should have known you just needed to be fucked like the cheap whore you are.” He sped up, hips snapping at an almost punishing pace. The desk creaked every time he slammed into me. I hoped no one was nearby to hear what was going on. A whine left my throat when I felt his fingers rub against my clit. I was so close now.

“Should I stay inside you? Fill you up so you walk around campus carrying my child?” He growls, his pace increasing with each passing moment. “Knock you up so the whole campus knows what a whore you are for me?” He asks, earning a cry ripped from my throat. 

“Who’s fucking you?” he grunted. I don’t know how he expected me to form a coherent statement at this current moment. My eyes could barely stay open at this point. 

“Spencer, please.” He smacked the outside of my thigh.

“Try again, who’s fucking you?” 

“You are, Doctor.” Apparently, that was the wrong answer too, because it earned me another smack on my thigh. I had tears streaming down my face from the pleasurable pain he was giving me.

“You have one more chance or else I’m not letting you come. Now, who’s is fucking you?”

“Professor Reid!” I cried out.

“That’s right darling. Now come on my cock.” A harsh bite on my neck was the ultimate push that had me seeing stars. Spencer thrusted a few more times before fully sheathing himself within me.

He slumped over me, the feel of his breath against my neck causing me to shiver once more. We took a moment to have the high leave our body before he pulled out of me, a gasp leaving the both of us. Spencer was the first to break the silence between us.

“Would you like to have dinner with me?” he asked, his voice a bit shy. 

I giggled at his demeanor. A few moments ago, he was fucking me senseless and spanking me over his desk like a porno, and now he was asking me out to dinner. 

“Absolutely,” I smiled. “But I should probably cancel my study plans.” I quickly added. 

He led me to the faculty bathroom so I could freshen myself up. When I emerged, he was back to being the prim and proper professor I knew him to be. Just before we left his office, he leaned down and whispered, “By the way, you got an A.”

[corinnesamuels]

The One about the Cupholder

This is for @mppmaraudergirl, who mentioned a conversation about a cupholder on a couch not being conducive to cuddling on the jily discord. I spent all day thinking about that couch. And the next few thinking through this fic.

“Well?” He asks excitedly.

“It’s. . . a couch?”

James Potter rolls his eyes with a sigh. “It’s a sectional, Remus. Look at all this space! And the recliner!” He walks around the back so that he can gesture grandly at his favorite of the sectional’s amenities. “It has a cup holder!”

The third friend, Sirius Black, shakes his head in annoyed confusion. “We have a coffee table, James. What do we need a cup holder on the couch for?”

“Sectional.” James replies. “And for the convenience of it. Whoever sits here won’t have to lean over to pick their drinks up from the coffee table!”

James looks between Sirius and Remus excitedly, waiting for their unimpressed stares to dissipate and shift into fond acknowledgement of his forward thinking.

“Did the breakup addle your brain?” Sirius asks finally.

“Maybe it is a cry for help.” Remus nods as he looks James over curiously. “He really hasn’t had any time to process it.”

“True. The breakup and the betrayal were a hefty one-two combo.” Sirius says, rubbing his chin. “The betrayal was just one thing for us. We were happy to see the bird gone.”

“Nothing addled my brain!” James scoffs. “A man can’t want a comfortable couch to come home to after a long day’s work?”

“James, you work from home three days a week.” Remus says.

“That is beside the point, but thank you for remembering.”

Sirius rolls his eyes, clearly growing bored with the ordeal. “Look, if you want to get a couch, fine. It’s grey, it’ll work with most things. Looks comfortable enough. The cupholder seems unnecessary, but whatever. Can we go now?”

“Sectional.”

“Whatever.”

All in all, James considers it a win. And he could desperately use a win. In a month’s time, he had experienced a not-so-amicable breakup with his girlfriend and a betrayal by a friend he thought of as a brother. While the breakup had been long overdue, it meant that he had quickly needed a place to stay. The upside (if you could call it that) of their friend’s betrayal meant that there was a room available in Remus and Sirius’ flat.

On the other hand, the list of things stolen in the betrayal had included the couch they’d had since uni. How he’d managed, they had no idea. But Peter Pettigrew had been full of surprises, it seemed.

After a thorough cleaning, James moves into the vacant room and gets re-acquainted with Sirius and Remus’ daily habits. Soon, James instinctively knows when Sirius would be returning home from the motorcycle shop he owns, as well as which mornings he could expect to find a man or woman half-dressed in Sirius’ clothes at breakfast. He could tell when Remus would need time to vent or consume several stiff drinks as he trudged through his dissertation. It was almost like uni all over again.

Through it all, James gives himself time to sulk, drowning himself in FIFA, Call of Duty, and crisps after work. He knows that things will sting less over time, and for now, settles for being at peace and drama-free with his best mates. James spends the next year claiming the recliner portion of the sectional and keeping a drink in its trusty cupholder at all times. In fact, when teammates from the recreational football team he plays for on the weekends commented on the great shape he maintained even while eating his body weight in crisps, he credited it to the cupholder, saying hydration was always just an arm’s reach away.

Remus had raised his eyebrows and folded his lips inward at the comment but chose not to speak on it. Sirius just snorted and rolled his eyes.

Living with Sirius and Remus also meant spending more time with their friends that lived down the hall, who he’d known before, but only in passing. James finds himself watching football matches with Marlene McKinnon, a riot who often gives Sirius a run for his money. He makes it a point to ask Mary McDonald for the weather report (“You wanker, you know I do the traffic report and local stories!”). James also trades jokes in passing with Lily Evans, the cheeky pediatrics nurse who curses like a sailor and keeps her stash of lollies and stickers next to her stash of whiskey.

Cheeky and attractive pediatrics nurse.

James has no desire to interact with the opposite sex again anytime soon, though. For now, all he needs is his gaming consoles, his favorite spot on the sectional, and a drink ready for him in his cupholder. But the more their friends hang out, the more Lily seems to grow on him.

She didn’t do anything in particular. She was just . . . her.

He knows he is a lost cause when Lily manages to get herself locked out of her apartment one evening. Mary is covering a shift at the station, and Marlene and Sirius are out wreaking havoc on some unsuspecting establishment, so she waits it out at the flat with James until her roommates return. Lily has her hair in two buns atop the sides of her head, a sticker on her cheek, and is still in her scrubs, and James can’t help but grin at her as she walks in. He watches as she digs deep into her pockets and pulls out a handful of lollies, allowing him to take his pick. He takes a green apple-flavored one while she settles on lemon.

“Now, teach me how to play this FIFA game you’ve been playing nonstop since you moved in.” Lily says, picking up the second control and making a show of pressing all the buttons madly.

Sitting on either side of the cupholder, James and Lily play the game, joking and laughing the entire time. James realizes that though he had stopped moping some weeks before, he laughed more with Lily that night than he’d laughed in who knows how long. When Marlene and Sirius return, Lily thanks James for his hospitality and leaves a sticker and another green apple lolly in the cupholder as she says goodbye.

James spends the next few weeks subtly watching Lily when they pass each other in the hall or go out for dinner or drinks with the gang. He honestly doesn’t even really realize that he is doing it until one day he thinks he sees her watching him, too.

When Remus defends his dissertation, the gang decides to throw a celebratory party at the boys’ flat. Remus is deliriously drunk, taking votes on whether he should burn his dissertation or build a shrine to it. James mingles and laughs with their friends and Remus’ colleagues but eventually retires to his favorite spot and places a glass of whiskey in his cupholder as he pulls the lever to recline the seat. He looks over to the other side of the sectional and sees people squeezing themselves onto the cushions and sitting on the floor as they chat drunkenly. James smiles to himself, thinking of how the cupholder had ensured that he not only has his drink close by but that he also had enough space to relax. He toasts to his own foresight and takes a sip from his glass. It’s a brand of whiskey he knows is Lily’s favorite. James had gone to three different liquor stores to find it for the party.

Lily comes to say hello a few moments later and, seeing that there is no additional room on the sectional, chooses to sit next to him on the armrest of the recliner. While they talk, she reaches over him and takes his glass from the cupholder, stealing a swig of the amber colored liquid. She closes her eyes and smiles, relishing the taste. James finds himself very distracted by the euphoric look on her face—her closed eyes, head tilted back, dark red hair tumbling around her in waves, neck elongated . . .

He clears his throat to gather himself and reign his thoughts back to safer ground.

They talk about everything, or maybe nothing. James can’t be sure since he is still so damned distracted by her every move. He gets a reprieve when Sirius calls for a group picture to document the occasion. Mary has set up a camera and tripod that she, ahem . . . borrowed from work—though definitely not for the act of taking quality selfies, she says.

As Sirius makes his way to the front of the sitting room, he sees James and Lily talking and exchanges a devious look with Marlene that Lily sees too late.

Suddenly, Marlene shoves Lily off of the armrest. Lily attempts to brace her fall, but James’ reflexes kick in, and he catches her right before her back bangs into the cupholder. They lock eyes for a moment, or maybe a lifetime, before they seem to realize that James is holding her in his lap.

“I’m so sorry, Marlene pushed me and—”

“So incredibly sorry, Evans, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just didn’t want you to get hurt—”

They stop and lock eyes again. James watches as Lily’s cheeks grow pink, and when she tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear, he wishes he could have been the one to tuck it there.

“I’m not uncomfortable.” Lily says, uncharacteristically bashful as she looks up at him through her lashes. James is so distracted by the way she is biting the corner of her lip that he almost misses it.

Oh. Oh.

“Yeah?” He asks, sounding out of breath.

“Yeah.” She confirms softly. Her hair falls out of place again, and this time James does tuck it back into place.

Around them, Sirius and Mary are getting everyone gathered and placed around the sectional. A drunken Remus sits in the front, holding his dissertation like he’s posing for a picture with a toddler.

“Everyone one say ‘PhD’ on three!” Mary yells over the lively crowd. James hears Sirius count them down, but James can’t take his eyes away from Lily.

“One!”

Lily rests a hand on his forearm.

“Two!”

James wraps an arm around her legs to hold her to him more securely.

“Three!”

“I’m not uncomfortable either.” James tells Lily.

“Yeah?” she asks.

“Yeah.”

“PhD!” The camera flashes, and everyone yells and cheers around them, clapping Remus on the shoulder and toasting with their drinks. But James and Lily still only have eyes for each other.

The previous year had been full of emotional upheaval for James Potter. But at that moment, he had never been so grateful for his cupholder or the fact that it meant there was less sitting room on the couch.

Sectional.

Whatever.

Read on ao3!