#like girl can you die later I wanna enjoy my food without the guilt of not helping despite being right next to you

[friendlyneighbornerd]

do you ever realize months after something happened that it'd make a lovely answer for "tell me about yourself"

anyway if I had a nickel for every time a random old lady with a cane almost died right next to me and my sister during an outdoor event while we were eating and we just stood there like O-O in the summer of 2023 I'd have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

[qyllenhaal]

❛ Bunny ❜

Series: The Devil I Know

Senator!Chris Evans x Reader

Word Count: 4.9k~

Summary: Reader Surprises Chris on their week long vacation together with something that he's been begging for for a long time

warnings: 18+ only!!! Unprotected sex, daddy kink, dom/sub elements, roleplay, creampie, breeding kink, cumplay, age gap (reader is in her late 20s)

A/N: I'm hoping to start taking requests soon! I've been so busy with life that my ideas for this series are drying up.

Enjoy!

Y/n would be a damn liar if she said she wasn't turned on by the roleplay idea that Chris brought to her and the way he kept calling her his "bunny." She scoffed at him and rolled her eyes at first, it just sounded so ridiculous to her, but the more she thought about it. the easier it became to envision it happening.

Her in a Playboy bunny costume sounded so basic to her, but the excitement in Chris's eyes showed that it meant something to him.

She felt guilty as he explained how boring his sex life was before meeting her. He was trying to make her feel better about the idea, and feel a sense of pride, instead she felt loathsome. She wasn't able to determine if she felt more sorry for him or his wife. Their marriage was dying anyway and was going to die whether or not Y/n was in the picture, but she still felt awful about being the final death blow to their multi-decade marriage. He wanted to take her up to his father's cabin up north while his wife stayed home? It sounded good in theory but something about it made it hard for her to say yes.

"C'mon, you deserve a break. You've been working your ass off to get Withers primaried and you actually have a chance of unseating him. Don't you think you should relax? You work so hard all the time honey."

It was all too enticing to say no; to be whisked away from an entire week and ravished by her lover.

"There she is," he teased when he saw that smile forming on her face, "I knew you'd come around to it. I'm going to make sure you don't lift a finger, and you get to taste my famous ceviche."

He kissed her cheek and let her get back to work before she could come up with a reason that causes her to change her mind.

Y/n kept her excitement to herself but she was over the moon. Once she let the guilt simmer, she began to fantasize about the possibilities of an entire week of having Chris all to herself without interruption. They'll be able to act like a normal couple if only for a week.

She got herself through two weeks of more tough work, but it was fulfilling to know that she was succeeding in her work, and that she had a trip with Chris on the horizon.

He hadn't brought up his little idea since she'd agreed to go on the trip. It seems as if he forgot all about it as his shock that she said yes had consumed his thoughts. Y/n couldn't let it go though. She couldn't stop thinking about it now that they were going to be gone for an entire week. She could wear that little get up for days and give him a sight that's going to be etched into his brain until the day he dies. Y/n loves that she has that effect over him; the ability to make his heart race and his cock hard with just a simple look.

It was not a cheap costume to buy because she didn't just want to buy any regular costume that could be bought at party city. No, she wanted something that was better quality and could endure Chris attempting to tear it off her body. She paid extra for the shipping so she had it in time.

When it was finally in her possession, she stared at it in awe. She was tempted to put it on, to see how she looked in it, but she wanted it to be a surprise for both herself and Chris. The material it was made of felt nice; the entire costume looked like it could've been owned by a real playmate. It wasn't often that Y/n felt overwhelmingly sexy, but she did just simply staring at the costume in its precious box. Chris was up in age, she hoped he didn't have a heart attack.

-

"It's so beautiful up here."

When Chris said a cabin up north, she didn't think all the way up north in Maine. But it was perfect. Only two weeks into fall but the trees were filled with vibrant red, orange, and yellow leaves.

The cabin was near a river that held the reflection of the trees. It seemed as if it had gone untouched for years, but it was filled with pictures. Y/n could pick out the face of a younger Chris in some of the photos, but everyone else was unrecognizable.

"That's my grandfather," he interrupted her thoughts when he caught her lingering on a particular picture.

She glanced at him before bringing her eyes back down to the image again. "You look so much like him," her fingers skirted across the glass. She felt a weird pang of longing hit her in the stomach. It's as if Chris wasn't just a few feet away from her. Maybe what she felt inside was shame disguised as something else.

"C'mon," he grabbed the framed picture from her hand and placed it back where she found it, "I wanna show you something."

Y/n trailed behind him, her hand in his, as he guided her through the house and up the stairs.

Chris led her upstairs and to another set of stairs. He took her to a dusty attic which somewhat confused her. Then grabbed a box that looked older than her.

"Remember that time you tried to show me that constellation...what was it...Be- Belt- B-"

"Betelgeuse."

"Yea that was the one," he took the top off of the box and she peered into it, "now you can show me other star thingys in the sky."

She laughed but wrapped her arms around his neck. It was an unsuspecting gesture from him, but she welcomed it nonetheless. He could get really sentimental at times and it would just make it harder on her that she couldn't publicly love on him.

"It's great Chris. Let's just hope the skies are clear one of these nights."

He smiled and kissed her cheek for the nth time today.

"Alright. I'm gonna go get started on my famous ceviche. You enjoy yourself however you want. Walk around, explore the place," he stroked her cheek before leaving her alone to go get started on dinner for the two of them.

It had been a long day of driving and all Y/n wanted to do was go to sleep, but something was buzzing inside of her. She hated that Chris's dinner and "famous ceviche" was probably going to go to waste because if her plan works successfully then he isn't going to give a damn about dinner.

Y/n made sure she packed the box holding the costume at the very bottom of her suitcase. She held her breath as she held it up in the air and stared at it. She's sure that she could wear a garbage bag and Chris would still want to fuck her but she couldn't stop herself from being so nervous about putting it on.

She did it anyway and was relieved when what she saw in the mirror looking back at her wasn't so bad. In fact, she looked sexy. The look was complete with the bunny ears and bowtie. She wore a simple lipstick, one that was going to be smeared later on, paired with coats of mascara. At the end of night Y/n wanted to see the proof of his handiwork.

Even though she knew he wanted this, she was nervous about how he'd feel about her "act". She's been deliberating for a week whether or not she should go all the way with the fantasy but why not? Chris deserved it after convincing her to come on this trip. Besides, he works hard too.

"Hun, the food is ready!"

A few seconds of silence didn't make him flinch, but after a few more minutes passed and he didn't hear footsteps coming down the stairs, he was confused. Another call of her name resulted in nothing but silence; she didn't even respond to "Button."

She could be asleep, he thought, but he was still curious. If she was then he could at least catch a glimpse of her sleeping peacefully, put the food away, and then come join her.

"Y/n?" His voice got softer as he approached their bedroom. It was cracked enough for him to see that the light was on. He pushed it open and there his girl was. On the bed and dressed like she stepped out of his dreams.

"What is this?" His laughter was mixed with interest and disbelief. Just some time ago she was vehemently saying "no!" regarding his idea and now she was dressed like a Playboy bunny.

"Do you like it, daddy? I got it just for you."

Chris felt himself hardening in his jeans. Sheer tights stretched over her thighs and he just wanted to rip it off her body. She looked good enough to ruin.

"Of course I like it Button," he cooed as he approached her waiting body on the bed. He touched the material of her outfit still in a state of disbelief. This was his ultimate fantasy.

"I'm glad you like it. I did it just for you daddy," her voice was soft, girlish, and coquettish as she palmed his cock through his jeans. He swears he could cum just from this if she kept it up. He grabbed her hand to stop her.

"You're a naughty little bunny, aren't you?"

"Nooo daddy I've been good," she inched herself backwards on the bed before slowly turning onto her stomach all the while keeping eye contact with him, "I've been a good girl."

"I suppose you have," he didn't even try to argue against her claims. That pout on her lips made him incredibly harder.

Chris ran his hands over her ass and she mewled softly at his warm, strong hands on her. Y/n closed her eyes, a cocky smile on her lips knowing that she probably turned his brain into mush. She pushed her ass into his touch for more.

"The things I want to do to you..."

"Tell me daddy. What do you want to do to me?"

"Uh uh, you don't go demanding things around here. You've been a good girl, but I can easily change my mind. I can make you take my fingers and edge you while you wish it was my big cock splitting you open, but I don't think my bunny wants that."

She pouted and pressed her face into the bed. Chris chuckled at how easily her demeanor changed. He put his knees on either side of her legs and grabbed her hips to drag her ass to his pelvis. She gasped at the swift movement whimpered when he started to mime fucking her.

"Oh baby you look so good like this. I don't know if I want to keep you all pretty and in this costume while I fuck you, or take it off of you and ruin that cute little face of yours."

He had plans to do both, but he liked to hear her whimper when he told her about the utter filthy things he was going to do to her. If she thought he was going to rip it off of her without savoring how good she looks then she's wrong.

He's so grateful that he packed that polaroid Y/n gave to him as a birthday gift. It was how he got around her "no pictures" rule. She never let him take pictures of her, not even on the second phone he bought just to contact her. How could he not document how she looks after cumming hard for him? Or when he leaves a trail of white all across her bare chest? He often had to rely on his memory, but he planned on this trip being different.

"Stay just like that Bun."

Y/n broke her character for a little bit, rolling her eyes and relaxing her arched back when he left the room. Sometimes he did little things that annoyed her, but the way she jumped back into her character when she heard him come back showed her that the annoyance was just a façade.

"So perfect," the camera's shutter fired and the camera spit out the first ever photo he has taken of her.

Y/n wanted to protest against him, but she stayed silent. It wouldn't hurt to have a few polaroid's as keepsakes; she even looked back at him and made eyes at the camera.

Chris could spend all day photographing her, but the strain in his pants was becoming too painful. He placed the camera down and stood at the edge of the bed.

"Come put that pretty little mouth of yours to use."

Y/n hopped up from her position and found herself on the floor in between his legs as he sat on the edge of the bed. She clumsily fumbled with his belt and fastener on his pants. "Eager little bunny, slow down a bit," he taunted.

She tried to listen, but she's desperate to get him in her mouth. His hard cock springs out from its restraint and almost hits her cheek. She gasps lovingly at the pre-cum seeping from his blunt head. She wanted to taste it, but she didn't do it without Daddy's permission. Instead she wrapped her hand around his length and squeezed him.

Chris watched her stare at his cock in awe, like she wasn't already familiar with it. She gave him a few languid pumps and he sighed at her soft touch. He thought about how beautiful it would be to paint his cum across her breast. She looked like an absolute sex-pot; it was hard for him to control himself.

"That feels so good, bunny. You're such a good girl — keep pumping me...a little faster bun... good girl," his praising voice was as smooth as a cat's purr. Y/n felt the presence of her arousal when her sex pressed against the material of her costume.

The pre-cum oozing from his tip made her mouth water. He didn't instruct her to do anything further, but she couldn't stop herself from wrapping her lips around his length. He didn't seem to have a problem with it either because he sighed and pushed her mouth further down on his cock.

"You're so beautiful like this bunny...my precious girl," he cooed between breaths.

Her mouth felt like heaven, her warm tongue laving him with saliva and washing pleasure over him. He felt the muscles in his lower abdomen spasming as she sucked on him faster and feverishly. The concentration on her face was so cute to him, but greatly juxtaposed by the light makeup that was beginning to smudge on her face.

His cock hit the back of her throat and she gagged on him. Y/n tried to pull herself off, but he kept her still, forcing her to relax her throat while he filled her mouth.

"That's it girl — fuck — you're going to make me cum. Is that what you want? Me to cum down that pretty throat of yours?"

Y/n tried to shake her head no and say out loud, but she was muffled by his cock. She loves to watch him jerk over her tongue or other parts of body until he cums, but she wanted him to cum while he was fucking her; he could always paint her tits later.

"You don't want me to cum down your throat bunny? Where do you want me to cum?"

Chris knew she was unable to answer, but that was apart of the thrill. His ego was through the roof and the sense of power he felt because of this was astounding. She made him feel so many things at once, but all he was concerned with now is seeing her body shiver with pleasure.

He let go of his physical grip on her and she took the opportunity to come up from her. Her lips were pink and there was a line of saliva collecting her mouth to his cock.

"Look at you, so pretty," he petted her as he stared into her eyes that held a glossy look of desire for him and him only, "get on the bed bunny."

He wanted to worship her. He wanted to make her cum over and over again until his name was the only thing left on the tip of her tongue. As she laid out on the bed for him, in a costume just for him, he wondered how he got so lucky with her. They were so different, but they were somehow meant for each other.

"You're so gorgeous," his hands glided down her stocking-covered thighs. He squeezed her flesh and he groaned as if he could feel what he was doing to her. She made him dizzy just from how beautiful she was.

Y/n's body anticipated every stroke of his hands on her body. He didn't leave an inch of her exposed skin untouched. He touched and looked at her like she might disappear at any moment. It was his mission to memorize how her body feels under his touch.

"Daddy," she whined, not being able to stand to ache between her legs anymore. She isn't sure what she wanted him to do, she just wanted him to do something.

"Be patient, sweet thing. Let me take in how beautiful my little bunny looks."

"You like when I dress up for you, daddy?" She further parted her legs as a suggestion for him to place himself between her legs. Chris picked up on what she was doing, but he didn't follow through.

"My perfect little bunny," his voice trailed off as he palmed her breast through the costume.

Y/n moaned and arched into his touch. It wasn't long before he was pawing at the top of the costume to free her breast. The costume was tight against her body, but he managed to get what he wanted. He cupped her tits before he leaned down to wrap his lip around her nipple. His thumb teased the other one, stroking it to life. Her delightful sighs sounded heavenly.

"Feels so good," Y/n whined. She tried to grind against him in desperation but he wasn't having any of it. More of his weight was pressed against her to keep her still. He switched over to sucking on her other nipple. His eyes met hers before lightly closing from the feeling of ecstasy.

The mess that was forming between her legs was becoming unbearable. Y/n knew for a fact that she soaked through her costume and with just one swipe of his hand, Chris would be able to feel it. She didn't say anything but she was just so impatient and wanted him to give the same attention to her sex. But he wanted to savor her in this costume before he takes it off of her and just fucks her in the bunny ears.

"This body is so perfect."

As his hands slowly slid across her stomach, the cogs began to turn in her head; she wanted this night to fulfill all of his fantasies.

After taking his sweet time with her body, Chris was finally getting her out of the costume. It won't be the last time she wears it this week, but it was bittersweet to see her out of. However her body alone was driving him wild. She still had the bunny ears on which made her look incredibly cute.

"My lil' Bunny has been so patient for me," he kissed her cheek before moving to kiss the front of her throat, "I'm gonna reward that pretty pussy of yours."

Y/n felt the lust boiling over as Chris moved down her body and his was finally home between her legs. "You got so wet for me bun," he taunted her. His fingers prodded at her slit but didn't push in all the way like she needed. It was torturous to tease her when she had been such an obedient girl for him.

He didn't keep her waiting for long. His tongue was diving through her silky folds to get a good taste of her.

"Undress daddy, baby."

The gruff of his voice made her feel even wetter. She often teased him for being so much older than her but oh did she love all the psychical manifestations of his age. The grey in his hair drove her wild, and she loved how grey his beard was whenever he grew it out.

She grabbed at his soft cotton t-shirt and pulled it over his head. The light dusting of grey hair on his chest tickled her fingertips. She couldn't stop herself when she leaned in to nip at his collar bone. Her lips were so sweet on his body making his head spin. She started tugging at his pants while her lips were still on his skin. He did most of the work, but he didn't care, he just needed to be freed of his restricting clothes.

Y/n wrapped her hand around his cock and gently pumped him.

Chris sighed into her ear, "wanna cum on my tongue or my cock bunny?"

"Your cock daddy! Bunny needs your cream inside of her," she whined.

He thought about fucking her the entire drive; his mind thinking of all the things they could do alone, but he never thought he be blessed with this.

"My little bunny wants my cock? You want to get on all fours and show me how dripping you are?"

Y/n nodded her head, eyes wide with lust and her bottom lip slightly poking out.

"Good girl. Show daddy just how pretty you are."

She moved from his arms and laid her head against the bed as her ass stuck in the air. Chris got off the bed and stood against the very edge. His strong hands laid gently against her ass and he pulled her puffy lips apart with his fingers.

"Fuck girl," he groaned, unable to contain the desire he felt," you're dripping. You're dripping for daddy, aren't you? I thought you were a good little bunny, but only slutty bunnies get this wet."

Her body tensed when his left thumb dragged against her clit. It was swollen and so sensitive to his touch.

Chris's cock was hard and ready to be inside of her warm silk. He had brought the condoms that felt like nothing along with him; two boxes since they were going to be together for six more days.

She heard him tearing something up, but she looked back at him and reached up at him.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?" He furrowed his brow but still held the half ripped condom wrapper in his hand.

"No condom daddy. I want to feel all of you."

He groaned and he felt his cock become impossibly harder. They had gone back to condoms because Y/n said stopped taking her birth control when she stopped speaking to him, believing that they were possibly going to stop this relationship. She also said she was going to start again, but he just could not remember if she said her doctors appointment was happening this month or next month.

"Are you on the pill?" His tone had a hint of excitement to it, but ultimately he was concerned; she was always strict about protection.

"I don't know," she said feigning innocence, batting her lashes at him and wiggling her hips in anticipation for his cock. This little character she decided to adapt was driving him crazy.

"Don't lie to me girl," he gripped her arm and she whimpered. His rough handling of her had made her even wetter.

"I'm not! I really don't know daddy!"

She knew, and he knows that she does, but he was too weak by the sight of her bent over in her little bunny ears with her wet cunt exposed to him. Her ass began to sway from side to side, calling him to come closer. But what she wanted him to made him think to himself: 'is she fucking crazy?'

"I need you so bad daddy. Please ruin your little bunny," her voice was sweet as candy.

Chris always wanted her but something about this unlocked a deep hunger inside of him. The risk of this made his heart race and sweat form on his skin, but he wanted this just as bad as she did.

"Baby," he placed a hand around his cock to help guide it inside of her, "I'm gonna ruin this pretty fucking body of yours."

He fully sheathed himself inside of her and Y/n sighed with tenderness. The small touch of his hand on her lower back felt so incredibly intimate and she was grateful that he convinced her to come on this trip.

"You feel so fucking good girl," he pulled out just a few inches only to push back in, "I'm going to fill you up. Is that what you want, pretty baby?"

Y/n is unsure what is more taunting: the tone of his voice or his increasing pace. Both of his hands now grabbed her hips and she swooned over how large they felt holding her. He dragged her back onto his cock until he was nearly pounding her. Each thrust was ruining her softly.

His thrust became more wild as he felt her walls grip his entire length. She felt so warm and wet around him. He missed being bare inside of her, feeling her entirety from the inside.

Soon her little bunny ears were falling off of her head as he fucked her hard. There was something so intoxicating about ruining everything that's so perfect about her. He loved that she gave him permission to do so too.

"Look at me," he said through gritted teeth. He grabbed her arm and forced it against her back. Y/n twisted her upper half to look up at him. She placed her hand on top of his for a glimmer of intimacy in this moment of nasty brutal fucking.

"I'm gonna pump you full of me, bunny. Good girls get all my cum."

Every time he slid home inside of her, stretching her completely, she cried out louder. Her thighs trembled and shook with each thrust into her. He was fucking so hard it was almost mindblowing. She always teased him for being an "old man" but he was proving that his age didn't hinder him from pounding into her.

He was getting closer and closer to slipping over the edge. She just feels so warm and tight around him, her contracting walls inviting him to cum inside of her. He loved being able to see her face as she hit every spot inside of her that made her toes curl.

"I feel that pussy tightening up," he spoke breathlessly. He tried to concentrate on his words but her wet cunt rendered him speechless. "Cum for me bunny."

Y/n began to meet his thrust. Lust bloomed in her stomach when she imagined feeling him empty inside of her. They were so incredibly close and if they kept this up they could cum together.

"Give it to me daddy" she whispered, staring back at his face, "please cum inside of me...I've been such a good girl...I need it so bad."

Chris's thrust got sloppy as the muscles in his lower abdomen began to spasm. His entire body felt like it was on fire. Y/n started cumming around his cock and her pussy tightening up hugged his cock and milked him. "Fuck!" He grunted loudly as he fucked the both of them through their orgasms.

Despite her body being too hypersensitive to take anymore, she whimpered when he pulled out of her.

"Keep that ass up in the air."

Chris grabbed her ass cheeks to spread her open. "Push it out for me bunny." His cum came seeping out of her hole and slid through her folds. He spread it around her sex with two fingers before pushing it back into her hole. She gasped when she felt him slide back into her. Her walls clenched around his fingers, still hungry for more. He wanted to fuck her again, but he was too tired to go again.

"You're going to wear me out girl," he joked, laying next to her on the bed. She looked just as tired as him but that look in her eye indicated that she was completely satisfied.

"It's been a long time since you've fucked me like that. I think I should wear that costume more often."

He placed his palm against her face and she leaned into like she always did. She closed her eyes and felt lulled by the sound of his now steady breathing. This moment together felt like it could last a lifetime. Y/n wishes that they could just stay here forever instead of a week. If she never had to think about an empty promise ever again, she'd be content for the rest of her days.

[king-star]

When the Party’s Over

Warning: Homophobia, transphobia, death, bile, guts, broken limb, crying, pet neglection, driving while slightly tipsy, fire (lmk if i need to add more. This is all around pretty dark and sad, proceed with caution)

Match: Yelena Belova x enby!Reader; Wanda Maximoff x reader

Genre: Angst, Angst, and more Angst

A/N: This is the first chapter in a series. Idk how long it’ll be. the plan is bi weekly updates. im reallyyyyy proud of this one so let’s hope it doesn’t flop. ENJOY!

Word Count: ~3,000

Summary: You have a horrible nightmare, leaving you with anxiety for Yelena. Yelena assures you that everything is fine and leaves on a mission.

Your tongue rubs the roof of your mouth in an attempt to rid itself of the sickly sweet drink you’d been sipping. A hundred intoxicated humans swirl around you. Fabric, skin, and feathers blend together, the orchestra the only thing holding off the headache behind your eyes.

You didn’t want to be here. Sure ballroom charity balls could be fun. If you had your best friends there, you could chat only with them, and dance to your heart's content. Unfortunately for you, everyone you could stand to be around was busy. Leaving you human-shieldless from your mothers many socialite friends.

The “oh my goodness Y/N I haven’t seen you since you were in highschool. How are you?” got old quick. Retelling your life story over and over was a pain especially with your mother gripping your hand making sure you didn’t slip up. Share any information that didn’t quite fit the Y/L/N dynasty image. Mostly she didn’t want you sharing about the love of your life, your girlfriend, your Yelena.

When the two of you first got together you waited nearly 5 months before telling your mother. The first time you dated a girl she had hated it. She tried to act like she was supportive, claiming “I will always love you no matter what.” But in the end she always shielded this fact from the public eye. She was supportive of all the LGBT+ movements from a political standpoint. Never her own child.

You never told Yelena about this. You claimed the reason you didn’t want to share her with your mother was because you wanted your relationship to not have paparazzi after you two. She bought it for a while but you could only keep the love of your life away from the woman who gave you life for so long. It didn’t take a master spy to understand the emotions behind the look your mother gave you when you brought Yelena to dinner. Yelena never brought it up but it was an unspoken understanding. Your mother didn’t accept you no matter how hard she tried to fake it.

Now you just wanted the event to be over so you could go home to Yelena. You flipped your wrist, checking the ridiculously expensive watch you had on.

11:31

She was definitely asleep by now. Yelena never stayed up past 10:30. Frowning, you set down your glass and turned to your mother, waiting for her conversation to end. When she finally stopped speaking she turned to you and cocked an eyebrow,

“Y/N. Are you leaving? so soon?” she pouted but enough years in her home taught you her looks. This was faked sadness.

“Unfortunately yes mother. Lena is probably asleep by now and I have work early. She probably forgot to feed our dog,” you enunciated the words that might clue in your mothers friend on how you and this woman were related. A last “fuck you mother” before you left. She smiled warningly and nodded.

“Well… you must get home to your friend. I will see you soon daughter,” she kissed your hand and you stood there frozen. Of course, she would invalidate your gender and your relationship in one comment. Your nostrils flared and you turned quickly, letting your hand smack your unfinished drink into her lap and treading off quickly.

“Fuck you mother. How someone could be so hateful to their own child I will never understand,” you muttered to yourself. You handed your ticket to the valet and stood with your arms crossed, waiting. You made sure to tip the valet an absurd amount, and drove off quickly. The only thing that would keep you from doing something stupid in retaliation was Yelena’s arms around you.

~

Nearly thirty minutes later you pulled the car into the garage. It shouldn’t have taken you that long to get home but you couldn’t help but drive with the top down for a bit. Anger and maybe a bit of fear had bubbles underneath your skin and you didn’t want to bother Yelena. You stepped out of the car and held your head in your hands. You hadn’t drank that much, but a headache would be inevitable.

Fanny met you at the door. She was obviously excited, tail wagging as she raced back to her food bowl

“ok ok girl. I’ve got you,” you rubbed her head and dumped a scoop of food into her bowl. Loosening your tie you dragged yourself to the bedroom. You smiled as the light poured in and illuminated the silhouette of a sleeping Yelena.

“Deep asleep. I’ll join you in a second,” you pulled the rest of your suit off. Picking up a discarded shirt you put it on, and leaned your head against the mirror.

“That was misery. And mother’s comment. I shouldn’t care about what that bitch thinks or says. But I can't help it,” you let out a sigh and picked up your toothbrush. Maybe someday she will accept you. But at that point would she ever be able to make up for how she treated you?

Ready for bed you slid in beside Yelena, careful not to wake her. Fanny, finished with her food, jumped into bed with you and snuggled up with a lick to your face. You smiled and kissed her head then kissed Yelena.

“night my love. See you in the morning,” your heavy lids drooped and you relaxed, setting a hand on Yelena and falling into dreamland.

~

Your thighs hurt. Fire and smoke burn your throat and eyes. You search for something. What exactly you aren’t sure. Tears stream down your face as anxiety floods your chest. If you don’t find the thing soon your world will be crushed.

A broken door, barely on its hinges, is at your right and you know that’s it. A hard turn and you smack your arm into the frame. You grasp at your wrist as more tears prick your eyes.

“Fuck!” A familiar level of pain flares and you know it’s broken. Your eyes dart around the room, still looking for that unknown thing. A pile of smoking wood sits in front of you and your feet carry you to it. This was it.

You try hard to pull through the heavy, hot wood with your one arm. A cry comes from below, an anxiety flaring familiar cry. You pull harder and uncover and dirty and bloody Yelena.

“LENA!” you shout and help her out. Her hands held her stomach. She smiles sickly and then curls in pain.

“Y/N. You found me. I hoped you would. Quick kiss me. I don’t have long,” Your eyes widen and you move her hands. The sight of her stomach makes you sick. Turning to the side you retch and vile spills from your mouth. You wipe your mouth and shake your head, tears fall hard now.

“Lena no no. You’re fine. We can fix you. Please,” you slide your arm under her and try to pick her up but she screams and goes limp in your arms.

“FUCK Y/N! stop. There's no hope. Please just kiss me. I don’t want to die without that.” you shake your head more and set her down. You refused to accept her death.

“No Yelena you are not going to die here. You can’t die. You are too well trained. a-and… I can't live without you. it’ll be fine,” She tries to raise her head but then it falls and she spasms. Your eyes widen and you do your best to hold her still but your broken wrist shoots in pain.

“No no no NO!” you kiss her over and over. Fear pulses through you and when she relaxes completely you sob. Your head aches from the pressure of your sobs and your broken wrist protests. Maybe hours pass and you sit there with her dead body pressed to your chest, her blood and guts smearing all over you.

Then guilt overtakes the sadness. She asked you for one thing. One single kiss before she died and you didn’t fulfill that. You couldn’t give her everything she deserved in life or even in her final moments.

You wake up shaking and screaming. Yelena is awake next to you, crying and shaking your shoulder violently.

“Please Y/N,” she sobs, snot and tears mix and fall forgotten. You sit up barely able to hold yourself up. She is alive.

“Fuck Yelena what’s wrong?” Your dream haunts you. You search her stomach and her whole body for major wounds. She is obviously unsure what you are doing and grabs your face forcing you to look at her.

“Y-you were shaking and screaming and crying and I didn’t know what was wrong. If you were having a seizure or what.” You shake your head and take deep breaths.

“No, I'm good. Not seizure. R-Really…” your words falter and you stare off, caught up in the memory of the dream. Yelena snaps in front of you and hugs your arm. “Ah sorry. Bad dream. really, really bad dream.” you stare at her head unsure if this was the dream or if Yelena really was alive.

“D-do you want to tell me about it?” Her arms slide under yours and she holds you from the side. You shake your head and lay it on her shoulder. “Ok but if you do tell me. I’ll hold you until you fall asleep again.”

The thought of being asleep again makes you tense up. Yelena feels it and rubs your side softly. She kisses you in every way she knows you like and pets your head.

“I’m not going to sleep. I can’t live through that again. It made me think I was going to be alone. Please don’t leave me Lena. please. I don’t wanna die alone.” She frowns and hugs you tight.

“I’m never going to leave you. I’m here baby. I’m here.” She kisses your jaw softly and you nod. Relaxing again, you wrap your arms around her waist and kiss her shoulders.

“Y-you died. There was a fire and I broke my wrist and it was smokey and you got impaled and you died. You asked me to kiss you and I couldn’t accept the fact you were dying so I didn’t kiss you. I couldn’t give you what you deserve.” She frowns and kisses you.

“No Y/N. Don’t you dare. It was just a nightmare, that’s all. I’m NEVER leaving you. ok?” She holds your face and kisses you softly. The kiss lasts a while and you melt into your touch. Fears still paralyse you every couple hours but she holds you until the sun comes up. She knows exactly what you love and how to make you feel safe. She really wasn’t ever going to leave.

~

Weeks pass. You are sure you have gotten past the nightmare. You go to work everyday and Yelena stays home going through paperwork. When you come home the two of you snuggle and bliss fills you. Your mother doesn’t ask you to come to any more charity events and you think maybe, just maybe things are good.

Then Yelena gets called on the mission. When she tells you she will be gone for a week your mind reels. You can barely see straight as the dream vividly flashes through your brain. Yelena gets worried, grabbing your hand and you back away searching her body for any sign of blood.

“No. Lena please. What if you get hurt? I-I can’t. You promised you’d never leave.” Her eyes look at you apologetically.

“Don’t worry. I’m a professional. It’s just a small info gathering job. Absolutely no danger,” she smiles at you and sets a hand on your shoulder. You back away from her hand and lean your head back to force the tears back.

“Yelena… ok. Please. Don’t get hurt,” She nods and kisses your cheek grabbing her bag.

You spend the entire week at home. Anxiety grips you so hard that you can’t stand to go to work. A fever strikes and you throw up every evening at almost exactly 10:30. Work tells you to stay at home and probably go to the doctor. Honestly you’d rather go to work so you have less time to think about her.

Most of Yelena's missions don’t allow for her to contact you and the stress of it all has your brain thinking of her the entire time she’s gone. By the time Yelena is on her way back you have dropped 12 pounds. You hadn’t eaten, only bothering to get up to feed Fanny. A cold sweat coats your skin and you hold your arms to you. Blankets were too hot, but it was too cold without them.

The alarm on your phone signalling it’s time to feed Fanny goes off. You throw the blankets off and wipe dried tears. The tv screen flashes a “keep watching screen.” You aren’t really sure when it came up but your mind hadn’t registered the tv in a couple days.

When the door clicks unlocked you scream. Silence had filled the apartment for so long and the sound was louder than anything you’d ever heard. Fanny starts barking, running to the door, then coming back and sitting at your feet.

You fall to the ground clasping the food scoop. Fanny licks your face as tears fall. Every fear that had plagued you came to the forefront of your mind. What if it wasn’t Yelena? What if it was Hill telling you to come in? No, they would call you for that. But if Yelena was dead…

Arms wrap around and pick you up, setting you on the couch. You whip your head back and forth trying to catch a glance of who it is. In the back of your mind you know it's her, but for some reason you’d been convinced over the past week that she’s dead.

A warm towel wipes away dried tears and snot, and a soft hand holds yours. Tears blur your vision but you steady your breaths. The anxiety in your chest dissipates. You lean your head back forcing the tears in and look back to catch a look at the woman you love. But, instead of long blonde hair and soft round face,  you see long red hair, falling in waves.

“Lena? Did you have to dye your hair for the mission?” She frowns and shakes her head, setting down the towel.

“Fuck Y/N. I know you can’t remember but I hate having to keep telling you this,” The voice is not Yelena’s. It’s your friends. Wanda’s. Your eyes look her all over and you tense up confused.

“Tell me what Wanda? What’s wrong with Lena?” She grabs both your hands and looks at you with the softest expression she can muster.

“The fire Y/N. Do you remember? The fire where Lena…. She bled out,” The anxiety of the dream. No memory. The smoke, your raw throat, and the hours of sobbing.

You shake your head and quick breaths fill your lungs. Wanda tries to get you to calm down. Your vision spots while your brain searches for oxygen your hyperventilating can’t provide.

“Y/N please calm down. Please. FUCK! I promised to never use it without permission but between the two of you…” Red magic flows from her hands and wraps around your head. Your breathing slows down and your vision comes back. Wanda cradles your head and hums.

You reach up and see the tear streaks on her face. Her eyes look bloodshot and dark circles are prominent under her eyes. You pout and try to hug her back. All the fears that had consumed you for weeks were now gone. Even if it was only by Wanda’s magic. You curled into her side and fell asleep. Finally able to find some peace.

~

It was the night of the charity gala. You drove home but had taken the long way around to cool off from your mothers subtle aggression. Plans on how to ignore her future advances build in your mind as you pull into the parking garage. You stepped out of the car and held your head in your hands. You hadn’t drank that much, but a headache would be inevitable.

Sirens sound from the road in front of your complex and you growl. The loud noise and lights make your head pound. You shake your keys and walk towards the stairwell. Coughing into your arm and you open the door to your floor. You throw your hand back with a scream at the hot door handle.

“the fuck…? NO!” forgetting your pain you throw open the door and run into the building. Smoke flows from under doors and fire licks at the walls. The sound of the siren gets louder from some open window. You run through the halls trying your best to not breathe in smoke. Yelena would be asleep. She wouldn’t know what’s happening.

Your apartment door is on the right and you stand back and kick the handle. Your foot hurts as it contacts the rough wooden door but it cracks. You kick again and the door falls in. Running through the door you smack your arm into the frame and cry out in pain.

Fanny barks from one of the rooms and you follow the noise letting her run free into the hallway. You hope dearly that the dog finds her way out.

The entirety of your home is consumed in flames. Beams that held up the apartment above you are on the floor. The poor old couple who was always so nice. Hopefully they had gotten out before it collapsed. Running to your bedroom you try to open the door. It gives quickly but before you can get to Yelena a strong arm grabs at your back.

“What the? HEY!” you squirm trying to slip out of the grip. You have no luck and result to punching. Nothing makes the arms let you go as they pull you from the building. Along the way down you consider it may be a firefighter saving your life.

“Please. My girlfriend, she’s still in there. Please, she was asleep. Save her. I can get out,” you plead with your “saviour”. The person doesn’t acknowledge any words or attempts of movement. They just carry you out of the building back into the parking garage. At some point you began crying, fearing for your girlfriends and your neighbours lives.

You are carried to a car and roughly thrown in. Your broken wrist, now remembered, aches and you curl into a ball. The driver doesn’t speak to you and the person who carried you doesn’t get into the car with you. You didn’t register the person in the back seat with you until they cough. Or rather She coughs.

“Oh Y/N I’m glad we got you out ok. I was so scared we wouldn’t be able to get you out before the fire got you too,” Your eyes widen at the familiar voice and you sit up looking into her eyes. The pieces fall into place in your mind. No you’d never thought she’d be this cruel. Yet here you were, Yelena and Fanny. They were in there.

“You didn’t. no no you didn’t. You are cruel and hateful but not murderous,” you pull away as a hand strokes your cheek. Hate flashes behind your eyes.

“Oh honey. You will forgive me when you realise it was for the sake of the family. Like they always say; ‘Mother knows best.’”

(So it has been decided this is going to be a series. Follow and shoot me an ask if you wanted to be added to the tag list for updates)

DO NOT repost my work. Reblogs and Likes are appreciated. If you enjoy my work leave a comment!

[dionnaea]

next on me spamming: my third ask this day. here’s my request (please feel free to ignore or decline this!! i don’t wanna make you uncomfortable babes!!) could i ask for an annie leonhart (attack on titan) x fem!reader? any specifics is up to you, but i just don’t see any annie content! tysm! sjsjjsjsjs

To Live | Annie x Fem!Reader

pairing: annie leonhart x fem!reader

warnings: little bit of angst, little bit of fluff

wc: 1.9k

a/n: i am so glad you requested this! annie deserves so much more love. sorry i took so long to post it, university has just started back for me, so i’m still getting into the groove of things. hope you enjoy, and thanks for the request! xx

attack on titan masterlist  |  general masterlist

It wasn’t cliche. It wasn’t love at first sight through rose-colored glasses. Her heart didn’t skip a beat whenever she saw you, and there definitely weren’t any butterflies fluttering in her stomach. But there was still…

Something.

Something that made her cheeks heat up a little when she caught you looking at her. Something that made her toes curl just the slightest bit when she saw you strip off your shirt after a long day of training. Something that made her breath hitch in her throat every time you gave her that sly smile right before pushing her out of her comfort zone in one way or another. There was always something with you. 

It wasn’t love, but Annie wondered if maybe it could be. 

With that thought swirling around in her head, she looked at you from across the table. For some reason unbeknownst to the blond, you had chosen to sit with her tonight, selecting your spot and placing your tray down without hesitation. She wondered how you were able to do that, to so easily decide what you wanted and go for it. She wondered what it felt like to have the freedom that you so obviously possessed, emotionally and physically. 

Silently, she watched as your fingers tapped out a melody onto the wooden table. It was somewhat erratic, and Annie couldn’t tell if you didn’t know the song that well or if you were just making it up as you went along. No matter, she liked seeing your slender fingers move up and down, all soft skin and nicely trimmed nails. Even your hands were pretty, she thought. 

So focused on your movements, she barely noticed when you spoke up and the tapping stopped. 

“Huh?” Her response came out slightly aggressive, and Annie worried that you might take it the wrong way. When she looked up at you, though, you seemed far away, your chin resting in your palm. 

“Do you think we’ll ever win?” You repeated. Your eyes were staring past the other girl, seeing something in the distance that others couldn’t. “Against the Titans?”

Annie’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch. Seemingly, it was a simple question, a question that Annie knew the answer to. Still, she couldn’t lie to you, instead choosing to answer in the only other way she knew how.

“Not with your uppercut, we can’t.”

You frowned, finally bringing your eyes to meet the icy blues in front of you. You had just sparred with Annie earlier in the day, and she had taken you down more than easily. It was a blow to your confidence, and her comment hurt your feelings a bit. No matter, your inner voice reminded you that that was just how Annie spoke, especially when something was a sensitive topic. You wondered what had bothered her about your question. Taking a deep breath, you debated quipping back, but ultimately decided you were too tired, too burnt out from existing, and all that left your mouth was a quiet hum to acknowledge that you heard her. 

Taking a moment to collect yourself, you looked back down at the table, your eyes tracing the lines in the wood. After a moment, exhaustion overtook you, and you decided you wanted to sleep. Standing up, you lifted your tray and sidled out from the bench, turning away. Just as you were about to leave, Annie’s voice rang through the air.

“You know, you’re more powerful than you think.” Annie’s heart was pounding in her chest as she let the words loose. She couldn’t help but wonder if she would regret her next words, if she’d want to grab them from the air and stuff them right back down her throat until she choked on them. “One person can change a lot.” 

You paused, the tray weighing heavily in your hands. Your back was towards the other girl, but you could feel her eyes piercing into you. With a whisper, you replied, “Thanks.” 

Annie knew very well that you weren’t the strongest cadet, but that in itself wasn’t the issue. The issue was that she also knew all you wanted was to be on the frontlines. You craved the ability to make a difference, whether that be by braiding Sasha’s hair so that it would stay out of the way during training or offering to ride on the very outskirts of the formation, which happened to be exactly what you had done. Thankfully, that offer was quickly refused, stating your newbie status as an automatic disqualification. Annie was able to breathe again when the word ‘no’ was finally spoken by your squad’s superior. Despite this, the disappointed frown on your face was enough for a part of Annie to wish the answer had been ‘yes.’

With a disheartened sigh, you flopped down to sit on the ground of the training area. Annie looked down at you with an unreadable expression, arms crossed. “What’s with you?” She questioned. 

“Hmm?” You gazed up at her, bringing a hand to your forehead and squinting against the harsh sunlight until she took a step to the right to block it from your eyes. You removed your hand, a plum of dirt rising up as you carelessly smacked the ground. 

“Why are you so eager to be Titan food?” She narrowed her eyes, and you swore you heard a bit of anger in her normally neutral voice. “Do you want to die?” She towered over you with daggers of ice in her eyes, and you fought the urge to cower under her harsh stare. 

“No. I just…” You laid back fully as you thought of how to phrase your words. You stared at the sky for a moment before shifting to make eye contact with Annie. “You know that dream that Armin has? About seeing the sea? I don’t share it.” If you had looked a little more closely, you would’ve seen the surprise that marred Annie’s face. Your gaze moved back to the sky, and you lifted a hand to reach towards a trio of birds flying towards the wall. “Everyone here is obsessed with crossing the walls, but I… I don’t mind living in confinement. I’m happy here. I have people like you here.” 

Annie’s chest tightened. You clenched your fist, the birds seemingly trapped inside. A second later, they were free again, flying towards their destination, your fist still hanging in the air. As you exhaled a quiet breath, you dropped your hand back to the ground, spreading your palm to feel the rough dirt underneath it. It was surprisingly cold, contrasting with the heat of the sun, and you hated how it started to warm when you placed your hand over it. 

“I just wanna be safe, you know? I wanna be able to lie on the ground and close my eyes and not have to worry about a Titan invasion happening at any second.” Carefully, you reached up, enveloping Annie’s hand with your own, and pulled her down to lie beside you. She was less hesitant than you thought she might be, seemingly not worried about the dirt coloring her hair brown. Still, there was uncertainty in her eyes as she glanced over at you, but you gave her a soft smile in hopes of easing her nerves. To your pleasant surprise, she let her hand stay in yours, hers a little sweaty from what you assumed was the overbearing heat and yours covered in a fine layer of dirt. Annie wondered if the two of you would create mud if you held hands long enough, and so she decided to keep her hand grasping yours just to see what would happen. 

You went back to facing the sky, but this time, your eyes were closed. Annie watched you silently, matching her breaths with the rise and fall of your chest. They were slow and even, and Annie’s heart rate began to slow, too, finally beating in time with yours. If the blond girl could have frozen this moment, she would have, but instead, she tried her hardest to ingrain the view of your profile into her memories. You could feel her staring at you, desperately fighting the urge to let heat flood your cheeks.

“Annie,” you whispered, “Close your eyes.” It was silent for a moment, but then you heard the telltale sounds of her head shifting, turning to face upwards. You let yourself fully relax, focusing on the feeling of the wind brushing against your eyelashes and the sun bearing down on your skin. This was peace, you thought, to lie here with Annie and do absolutely nothing. You brushed your thumb over Annie’s fingers. “Isn’t this nice? Just being able to live?” You sighed, and finally answered her original question. “I don’t want to die,” you stated. “But I do want to be able to live, and the only way to do that is to remove the threat that hangs so heavily over all of us.” 

At this moment, Annie realized something: you weren’t free either. She had been so envious of you, thinking you held the freedom she craved when in actuality, you were just as trapped as she was. Her chest tightened from the guilt. She was the reason you weren’t able to live. She was the reason you were riding towards your death. She had taken away the one thing you wanted from this world. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she thanked God that your eyes weren’t open. Squeezing her eyes shut a little more, your voice floated into her ears. 

“I want to be able to live like this forever.” You tightened your grasp on her hand. “Don’t you?” 

It took a moment for Annie to build up the courage to let the words leave her mouth, and you patiently waited for her response. 

“Yeah.” The words came out slightly choked, but they were there, and a weight you didn’t know you were carrying was lifted off of your chest. Her next words took you by surprise. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. 

Your eyebrows furrowed, but you kept your eyes closed, not wanting to invade on Annie’s moment of vulnerability. “Why?” You asked. It was a simple question, but Annie didn’t know exactly how to answer. 

Finally, she found the words. “That you can’t live how you want to. I… I understand the feeling.” Her voice was more solid now, but you could still pick up on the emotion that laced it. 

You took a deep breath, opening your eyes and blinking as they adjusted to the sunlight. You sat up slowly, turning to look at Annie who was gazing up at you with wide, blue eyes. You had never seen her look so… fragile. She reminded you of an angel, all ivory skin and blond hair contrasting against the hard, dirty ground. She didn’t belong to the earth like you did, and it had never been more obvious. Still, she had laid down with you, sacrificing her purity to see things from where you gazed. 

You gave her a melancholic smile. “It’s alright. I still have hope for the future.” Annie took a sharp breath in. She hadn’t destroyed everything for you yet, and she let that fact sink in. To her discontent, you released Annie’s hand, brushing the sweat and dirt off onto your pants. You stood up, Annie remaining on the ground, frozen as you spoke your next words. 

“Tomorrow will be different. 57th Exterior Scouting Mission, here we come!”

[artificialqueens]

Girls in Love, Chapter 1 (Viopearlax) - Grey Darling

A/N: Hello friends! It's been a while lol. Anyway, here's the first chapter of my new Viopearlax fic, in which useless lesbian Pearl must navigate the perilous landscape of polyamorous romance while trying desperately not to lose it altogether. This is mostly just setting the scene - things are gonna get shippy in the next chapter. Special thanks to @dollalpaca for beta-ing this literal centuries ago. Hope you all enjoy!

“I’m getting married.”

Pearl almost choked on her water. “I’m sorry. You’re what?”

When Scarlet had asked Pearl out to dinner that night, Pearl had assumed it was just for a catch up. She hadn’t seen her little sister for ages, so of course she’d jumped at the opportunity when Scarlet had messaged her that morning. All she’d expected was banter, a good laugh at all the stupid shit they used to do when they were kids; the last thing Pearl anticipated was for her baby sister to tell her she was getting married, while Pearl herself was struggling to get someone to go out with her on more than one date. Wasn’t the older sister supposed to find their soulmate first?

But Scarlet was beaming. “I’m getting married!”

“Since when? Jesus, Scarlet, I didn’t even know you were dating anyone.”

“You so do!” Scarlet retorted, pouting. “You literally met her last year.”

“I did? Who the hell was it?” At this point, Pearl had no idea whether to be angry or just confused. “I mean, seriously, Scarlet, you’re what, twenty? Twenty one? You’ve got shitloads of time before you need to make any big decisions like that. This isn’t the kind of thing you can just decide to do on a whim.”

Scarlet stared down at her half-empty plate, tugging at her bottom lip with her teeth. When she spoke, she was quiet. “I thought you’d be happy for me…”

“I am- I mean- I don’t know.” Pearl slumped back in her chair. “I just… I think you’re a little young, that’s all. Give it a bit longer with this guy, maybe a year or two. If you’re still into him by then, then by all means, tie the knot. But-”

“She isn’t a guy, Pearl. She’s a she.” Clearly upset, she stabbed into a piece of pasta with force. “I thought you knew I liked girls?”

“I do.”

“So why’d you assume she was a guy?”

“I don’t know! I’m not exactly in the greatest headspace right now, Scarlet. Fine, you’re engaged to a girl you barely know-”

“I do know her! And I’m in love with her!”

By now, it felt as though the entire restaurant was staring at them. Pearl shot Scarlet a narrow eyed look. “Can you keep it down?”

“No! I thought you’d be happy for me, but I guess that’s just too fucking much for you. I was gonna ask you to be one of my bridesmaids, but if you’re gonna be such a bitch about it I’ll ask someone else!”

Pearl sighed heavily, squeezing her eyes shut. By the time she opened them again, Scarlet was pushing her chair out from the table, the harsh scraping of wood against wood just making everything feel worse. “Wait, Scarlet-”

“I’m done. Good fucking night.”

Pearl just watched as her little sister stormed out of the restaurant, clearly not intending to pay for their meal judging by the way she breezed past the counter without so much as a glance. Well, this wasn’t how she wanted this meal to end.

Pearl knew she was right. She knew that Scarlet was way too young to be getting married, and she highly doubted Scarlet had known this girl long enough to make a serious commitment. If Pearl couldn’t even guess who this fiance was, it was a bad sign—if something important happened to Scarlet, Pearl was always the first to know about it. Surely if she’d met the girl of her dreams, Pearl would’ve received at least five essay length texts about her by now. But she hadn’t, and that made Pearl incredibly suspicious.

At the same time, she absolutely hated the idea of her little sister being mad at her. From the moment Scarlet was born, she and Pearl were as thick as thieves, and any argument they ever had was always resolved ten minutes later, both of them sobbing and apologising profusely to each other. But somehow, Pearl knew she’d overstepped the line this time, and that it would take a lot longer than ten minutes to win Scarlet’s forgiveness. And frankly, that made her feel sick.

Sighing, Pearl hailed the waiter, deciding that a stiff drink was in order.

***

“She still hasn’t texted you back?”

“Nope.”

“Shit. You must have really pissed her off.”

Pearl groaned, turning around to softly bang her head against the metal surface of Katya’s all American Russian food truck. It was a place Pearl would often go to for wise counsel and sage advice, although often the hardest part was figuring out where Katya had parked the damn thing. Katya herself, who’d been one of Pearl’s best friends since she moved to the city, reached through the window of her truck to pat Pearl on the head.

“There, there.”

Pearl glanced up at her with a glare, not in the mood for half-assed comfort. Katya raised her hands in mock surrender.

“Sorry! What do you want me to say?”

Letting out yet another groan, Pearl turned back around to lean with her back against the truck. “I don’t know. Can you tell me I’m not a massive bitch?”

“Ok. You’re not a massive bitch.”

Somehow, it didn’t sound as comforting as Pearl thought it would. But then again, she’d imagined it coming out of Scarlet’s mouth, not Katya’s. “Thanks, I guess.”

“You’re just a bit of a sour puss today, aren’t you?” Katya started rearranging the various condiments she had adorning the window of the truck, not having much else to do since the lunch rush had come and gone. “Or are you just having an existential crisis?”

“Probably the last one. I just feel conflicted, Kat.”

“Right.”

“I want to feel happy for her, but I’m also worried about her. Does that make sense?”

“Yep.”

“Good. So I’m not going crazy.”

Katya thought for a moment before responding. “I don’t think anyone would think you’re going crazy. You’re worried about your sister getting married when she’s like, still at college. Why wouldn’t you be?”

“But you should’ve seen her last night. She looked like I murdered her puppy or something.”

“I mean, by the sounds of it you did stomp all over her romantic dreams.”

“Oh, fuck off, I did not.”

Katya chuckled, bringing out that bright, toothy grin of hers. It was usually infectious, but not today. Pearl was inoculated with guilt. “Well, would it make you feel better if you met the person she’s getting hitched to?”

“I mean, I’m trying to convince her to meet up with me again, and I’ve told her she can bring her girlfriend - uh, fiance. But she isn’t replying. I’m literally blowing up her phone and getting fuck all in return.”

“Hmm. It’s a tricky one. Maybe she just needs time to cool off?”

“Maybe. I just don’t want to wait - I want to be friends with her again.”

Katya pursed her lips before reaching her hand out. “Gimme your phone, I wanna see what you said.”

“Katya, I’m not giving you my phone.”

“Come on! I wanna see if you’re being apologetic enough.” When it was clear Pearl wasn’t going to relent, Katya pushed harder. “Trix says I’m really great at being a warm and friendly person, y’know. Maybe I could write you a really good apology.”

Pearl shook her head. “That’s not happening.”

“Aw, why not?”

“Because I’ve fucked up enough as it is. I’m not going to be that disingenuous to let someone else apologise for me. If Scarlet finds out about that, it’ll just make things worse.”

“You’ve got a point. Well, I guess you’re just doomed to wait it out.”

“Fuck…”

Just as the curse left her mouth, Pearl’s phone pinged. Katya’s eyes widened as Pearl scrambled to grab her phone out from the pocket of her jeans. It had to be a reply from Scarlet, it couldn’t be anything else. Somehow, she must have subconsciously known how much Pearl was beating herself up over their disastrous dinner the night before and felt the need to text her and reconcile. That was how the universe worked, right?

Pearl grabbed her phone, Katya leaning out of the window so she could see the screen. Almost nervous, Pearl tapped on the home button, lighting up the screen and revealing the text she was so desperate to see.

SHEA: Can you fill in for my shift tonight? Not feeling too hot. Thanks!!

*** Being the good friend that she was, Pearl did fill in for Shea’s shift that night. No, spending an extra seven hours at the dodgy bar she worked at wasn’t exactly what Pearl wanted to be doing, but at the very least it would take her mind off of Scarlet.

Or at least, she thought it would.

No matter how many cluttered trays of drinks she was made to serve, she kept on replaying her and Scarlet’s argument in her head again and again, the sense of guilt almost too much for her. Every single female customer she served had her wondering - is that the girl my sister’s getting married to? She knew it was a ridiculous thought. Scarlet would rather die than spend a second with the lowlifes that frequented the bar, but that didn’t stop Pearl from worrying about it.

Maybe she should’ve just been a good sister and supported Scarlet’s idea to get married. It wouldn’t have been that hard, right? She didn’t have to go all responsible, killjoy big sister on her and crush her romantic dreams. Scarlet was old enough to make her own mistakes, right? And who even knew whether or not this marriage would be a mistake? Maybe Pearl was just being paranoid?

These were the kind of thoughts that plagued her the entire night. She’d arrived at work at 8pm, all decked out in her skanky waitress uniform, hoping that work would take her mind off of her current crisis. But there she was, three hours later, hiding out in the break room because she just couldn’t calm down about it. Did that make her a bad worker? Yes - her break wasn’t for another hour. But she’d be no good to anyone if she spilled a tray of drinks all over a customer because she was too distracted by the image of Scarlet crying her eyes out to look where she was going.

Scrolling through all the text messages she’d sent to Scarlet, Pearl began to second guess what she thought had been perfectly acceptable apologies.

PEARL: I’m sorry about last night. Can we meet up and talk about it?

PEARL: I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just worried. Sorry again - let me know if you’re free to meet up?

PEARL: I’m sorry, Scarlet. Please text back.

PEARL: I could shout dinner? We could get Indian takeout and talk this over. Like adults.

PEARL: You could bring your girlfriend? I want to meet her.

PEARL: Sorry. I was a bitch last night. Please text me back?

And still no reply. Maybe Pearl would be able to get by on the theory that Scarlet had lost her phone, or was out of credit or something. But she didn’t believe any of that for a second - she knew perfectly well Scarlet was pissed at her and not answering her texts for that very reason. It was silly to try and assume otherwise.

“Pearl? Pearl, where the- Oh my god, could you please go back upstairs?” Pearl looked up as one of the other waitresses poked her head into the break room, her full lips shaped into a defined frown. “We’re dying out there, there’s so many people.”

“Sorry, Aja, I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

“Yeah, and I’m probably gonna get my assed handed to me by dozens of impatient customers. Get your ass up here already!” With that, Aja was gone, her summons impossible to ignore.

Sighing, Pearl quickly checked her makeup in the mirror, straightened her dress, and stepped back out into the bar.

***

It should be illegal to make people work past two am. Pearl trudged into her tiny, cupboard sized apartment, head pounding from an unpleasant mix of not enough water and not enough sleep. At the very least, her daydreams (nightdreams?) about her bed and a nice, cool glass of water had distracted her from the Scarlet issue. So that was a small blessing.

Pearl flicked the light on as she arrived, wincing as the brightness made her headache even worse. She didn’t hate her apartment - it was tiny and under heated, sure, but there was space for a bed, a little kitchenette, a small bathroom off to the side, and her favourite bean bag chair. Plus, it had an amazing view of the city, something Pearl wasn’t planning on complaining about. Her artistic sensibilities had told her that if she didn’t get that view, she’d never forgive herself. She had to constantly remind herself about how great the view was when she was freezing her ass off in winter and would kill for a well heated apartment.

Making a beeline for the kitchenette, Pearl turned on the tap and poured herself a glass of water. It felt like magic as the water passed through her lips; the sticky, dry feeling in her throat vanishing in an instant. It even made her head feel a little better, although the brightness of the light cancelled out any progress on remedying it completely. You win some, you lose some, Pearl supposed.

After a second glass of water, Pearl didn’t even bother getting out of her uniform before collapsing into bed, dragging the duvet covers up to her chin and snuggling down into comfort. She was more than ready to drift off when she realised that she still needed to plug her phone in to charge. So, without making any effort to get out of bed, Pearl reached for her bag and pulled it towards her, digging her phone out from amongst the other items that cluttered it - wallet, pack of tissues, a worrying amount of receipts from Katya’s food truck. It was as she stuck the charger into her phone that the screen lit up, revealing a notification that made Pearl’s heart skip a beat.

It was a text from Scarlet.

Thoroughly jolted awake, Pearl scrambled to sit up and open the text, her thumbs impatiently tapping the screen as she waited for it to open. She bit her lip once it did, her wide eyes reading the text with more concentration than she’d ever read anything before.

SCARLET: Starbucks at 12. I’m bringing Yvie.

[neo-culture-mafia]

IV. Sorry, My Dear

⚠️⚠️TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️⚠️

The following story contains themes of suicidal thoughts and addiction. Please do not read if you find these themes triggering in any way. Read this post before reading this piece of FICTION

Have you heard the story of the guy,

Who decided not to die?

"Another day at the office...another day in hell." Jae mumbled to himself. The black lettering seemed never ending as he moved page after page.

Everyone was long gone and he was left with his thoughts that reflected the current state of his desk: scattered and full on unwanted words.

"Come on, Jae. Let's go get drinks with Boss." Jae had mimicked the voices of the other associates that worked in the office today. "No. I'm good. Got to finish this work. Beep-boop-boop." He moved his arms in a robot-like fashion.

"Look at me. Working me life away. Jaehyun. That's my name." He moved the papers in random places. This would be Jae's 4th breakdown this week where he needed to tell himself to hold on until tomorrow.

Johnnny looked on in concern from behind the entrance wall. "No good, Jaehyun. Don't wear it out." Jae's hands waves over his head in a dramatic fashion as he pushed himself around in his wheeled office chair.

It wasn't until Johnny saw Jae's hands form into a gun shape that he intervened in the middle of his best friend's scary emotional outburst.

"Jae! There you are!" He rushed over and punched his friend's arm. The look in Jaehyun's eyes made Johnny uneasy. It looked like he had been caught which made him break more. "You almost finished? I wanted to catch a movie with you and maybe have a hangout night," Jae was taken aback by the energy outburst at 2 am.

He could only look at Johnny's excited face from where he sat in his chair, strands of hair obstructing only pieces of his vision. "I got the new Call of Duty and PubG for the console." Johnny's hands rummaged in his pockets till he pulled out his phone, his eyebrows wiggling fiercely. "It's only...2:17. We got all the time in the world."

Johnny picked up Jae's suit jacket that was thrown over the cubicle wall and the younger boy's heavy bag. "I'll drive." Johnny pulled Jae up and turned off his lamp.

They were in the darkness of the office and Jae was still shocked that he was caught before he got worse.

"What do you wanna eat? Steak? McDonald's? Junk food?" Johnny's rambling was tuned out of Jae's mind. He followed the taller man willingly down and out of the office building and to his familiar car.

"Uh...doesn't matter." Was the first thing that came out of Jaehyun's mouth. "Then we'll get everything." Johnny's laugh made Jae's heart swell with hope for the first time in weeks.

'Maybe next time,' he thought, 'I'll hang out with Johnny one last time.'

The car ride was filled with laughter and being in the cold air surrounding the both of them.

Johnny still wonders to this day what would've happened if he didn't walk in the time he did. He had been called to pick up the paperwork from Jae's desk but was met with a sad reality.

Jaehyun wanted to escape reality.

Just kill me in my sleep,

Smother me with pillows and kindness, in which I have never seen

This was it...this was the day. He's written the letters and found a place to go calmly. He was in a euphoric sense that nothing really mattered anymore.

He had been on cloud 9 all week as he's happily been overworked and no one ever asked how he had been doing.

Right now, he was just driving. Driving to take in his home city one last time.

The sun was setting when he came to Han River Park. The clusters of happy people congregated in small bursts of happiness and 'its okay' and 'everything will be alright's.

He parked and stood at the grass's edge. He took deep breaths as the air swept across his body calmly. "Everything is so beautiful." He whispered to himself as he watched the birds dance across the water with such grace.

The lump in his throat that made it home was beginning to ache. Yet, he swallowed his pride and continued looking over the people who would continue their own story's even after his had reached the end. The credits would roll and everyone would walk away from the theater without a second thought.

"I mean. I get that's it's pretty. But I haven't seen someone cry at the scenery since my last romance movie." He was snapped out of reality to see a girl standing next to him.

"Excuse me?" Was all he could manage to get out.

You chuckled, sticking your hand out. "Y/n." You introduced yourself and he was trying to not shake your hand, look the other way, and leave without another word being exchanged.

"Jaehyun." His actions spoke for him as he reached his hand out to meet yours. Your hand was soft and warm in his. A warmness and calm he hasn't felt in a while.

"I'm gonna go get some ice cream. Wanna come?" You barely knew him and we're asking him to accompany you to a sweet treat. "You don't know me." Jae got defensive, his arms crossing over his chest.

"I could be a murderer and you invited me for ice cream?" His questions had your face turn up. "Well I'm sure that murderers like ice cream too. So let's go." You grabbed his arm and pulled him down the long stretch of concrete. You walked and tried to match your steps with his long strides. Your arm cutely wrapped around his as you walked.

"So tell me about yourself, Mr. Jaehyun."

He figured living was just easier than falling really high

"We need to clean." You whined while rolling around in the vast bed full of messed up sheets and a relaxing Jaehyun. "Not now. I just wanna cuddle." He grabbed your body and held you close.

"No. We've been cuddling all day. We need to clean." You got up and pulling at his hands. "You can clean the closet and I can clean the rest of the room. Then cuddles." You reasoned and he groaned as he got up, giving into your wishes.

"Fine." He automatically sat on the ground and opened your shared closet doors.

"I'll be tidying up around here." You ruffled his hair and kissed the top of his head sweetly. "If you need anything just shout." He called as you exited the room to probably start on the kitchen.

Box after box of paperwork and more paperwork from the last 10 years of working in his like of work.

Your singing could be heard through your house as you comedically sang some of the greatest hits. His laughter broke through the apartment when your own voice shook with laughs.

He came upon some photo books with Polaroids of you and him. The last 2 years had been lived in a heaven like state. He hadn't touched alcohol and drugs like he was earlier in his life...before you changed him.

His physical and mental growth were apparent in the pictures as he flipped through the pages. Your hand drawn hearts and small journal entries under some photos had his heart beating rapidly with joy.

He put the book next to his side to look at later with you. His hand came across an unmarked cardboard photo box that had a thin layer of dust on it.

He jiggled the lid off and was met with envelopes. The letters. His notes to his bosses and his friends apologizing for what he was about to do.

Apologizing for the mess they were going to have to clean up in his apartment and in the office where his files would never be filed. Apologizing for giving up so easily and not serving out the rest of his life like he had sworn. Apologizing for not being strong enough to ask for help when he really tried to make it obvious. Apologizing to whoever had to find him after it was all said and done.

Apologizing for not saying goodbye.

"Hey. Do we have any tile cle- oooo letters. Who are they to?" Your voice had made Jae jump like when Johnny caught him that dark night in the office. Like he was caught doing and thinking stuff he shouldn't be.

"No one. Me. In 50 years. Y'know," he shrugged, tossing them back in the box and throwing them in the closet and standing up quickly, "time capsule thing me and the guys did." He shrugged it off and you could only nod.

"Well that's cool. Can't wait to see how you've grown." Your smile had his own lips mimicking in want. Wanting to have your blissful ignorance of what those letters really were.

"Oh yeah. Do we have any more tile cleaner?" You asked and he lead you out to the closet where he scowered the top shelves in search for the cleaning supply.

"You can have it. For a kiss." He held it above his head. You waste no time in kissing his cheek and pulling on his arm till you grabbed the cleaner and ran. His laughs chased your own as you both wrestled for a while.

Both of you laid on the living room carpet, just enjoying the close presence.

His heart was at peace.

I'm okay,

I'm okay,

I feel a little bit sick

You had began to notice how Jae had been getting more dull. A year had passed since the night you pointed out the letters. It began to go all down hill from there.

He gave you the same love and affection he usually did, but his eyes held no emotion to big events outside. Alcohol had started to replace meals and sleep.

"Jae you need to eat." You laid a hand on his shoulder softly. "I'm actually going to go grab a drink with some of the boys." And like that. He was out of the apartment. Yet, everytime he came stumbling in the front door with a stench that could repel nuclear waste, you nurses him into bed. Setting an aspirin and water next to his head. Most nights didn't wrap up until 4 am when you knew he was home safe.

You slept with your arms wrapped strongly around his body, afraid he would try to get up and leave to drink again without you noticing.

Mornings would be a rough time as you awoke to a sick Jaehyun who couldn't tell left from right. You were there were comforting words and endless services if bet only asked.

His guilt ate at his chest till there was a free falling feeling that would cease when he took his first shot.

He knew he was getting bad again. He knew he needed to get help but everytime he woke up to face an aspirin and a cool glass of water, the guilt made him drink even more the next night.

He sometimes wished you would leave him to make this easier on you. He wished you would fall out of love and go to bed before he got home.

He wished you didn't introduce yourself in the first place.

But have you heard,

The story of the guy who decided not to die?

Jaehyun got clean again. He started being more present in reality and eventually returned to normal. Sometimes he did get carried away with the alcohol but you were there to help him put down the bottle.

He started openly hanging out with his friends in large gatherings where he didn't mind starting the conversation. He got addicted on life again.

You were all out on a big dinner. You and the other women of the mafia men gathered in the social room while Jae and his closest friends talked and joked around in the parlor.

"Want another drink?" Mark asked as he nudged Jae's elbow. "No I'm okay. I hit my limit for the night."

His friends were the most supportive people that he originally thought wouldn't be. Once be reached his limit, they all switched to fruity drinks followed by water. "So I need your guys' help with something." Jae smiled, taking the blue chalk and rubbing it on the worn end of the billiard's stick.

"What's up, dude?" Johnny asked and all the boys tuned into Jaehyun and his request. "I want to propose to y/n." He said and the room automatically erupted in shouts and cheers. "Sssshhhh." He tried to shush everyone. They remembered the presence of the women in the building and quickly shut up.

"Y/n said she wanted a wedding in the flower fields about.." Jae recalled the previous conversation he had with you. "2 hours from here?" He said and Hyuck automatically knew which ones he was talking about. "It's going to have to be a spring wedding!" He said excitedly and grabbing a pad of paper and a pen from his pocket.

"Alright, lover boy, spill." He said knocking all of the pool balls out of the way, "hey we were playing!" Doyoung protested and Hyuck could only write down the location of the fields, "I'm helping our brother get a wife. Go play with your balls somewhere else." He back handed which caused the room to erupt in laughter.

"Okay. Now. I'm going to need time to get the catering. I'm thinking pork," Hyuck rambled writing down the possible ideas, "or is she more of a chicken person?" he continued which caused some of the boys to chuckle at the wedding-excited nature no one knew Hyuck possessed in himself.

"Also I need to find a cake. I would make it myself but we all know that these beautiful hands would be wrinkly by the time I'm done icing cake for 500 people-" "500?!" Jae said loudly which caused Johnny to slap a hand over his younger friends mouth. "Well duh. That's a minimum." Donghyuck shook his head, drawing a picture of what the cake needed to look like. "amateur."

"I need to get the ring first." Jae said quietly and Taeyong piped in. "Don't even worry about it. I'll take you in the morning to the jewler's to pick out the bands and diamonds. Maybe you could get an engagement ring with her birth stone then the real ring with yours and your wedding band could have hers." Taeyong started rambling ideas, Hyuck writing lightning speed on the pad of paper.

"I call doing the gifts!" Mark and Jungwoo said at the same time. "I'm nominating myself as the planner." Hyuck said writing the roles down. "I'll get the tuxes for us." Taeil nominated himself for the job with a smile. "We need to get Yuta and the rest of the boys up here!" Doyoung brought up a good point.

"Yuta will just bring baby supplies. We're not telling him until a day before the ceremony." Hyuck pointed at the boys but was met with a hit upside the head from Johnny.

"I have to find out the color palette. I'll go to Renjun and then I'll go to Jaemin for the fireworks- Jisung will be the flower girl." Donghyuck kept rattling off things he needed to get done.

"Thank you for giving me this job. I won't let you down." He finally said, laying a hand on Jaehyun's shoulder.

"Better not. It need to be perfect for her. Perfection deserves perfection." Jae said and some gagged while other coo'd at his unwithering love you for you.

The chatty hustle didn't cease as Johnny patted on Jaehyun's shoulder. "You okay?" Johnny asked with a smile on his face. Jaehyun couldn't keep the smile off of his own face. "Never better. On cloud 9." He said and Johnny's heart eased from the constant fear of Jae not being here the next day. But he didn't need to worry anymore.

"I actually need to ask you." Jae said finally putting the polished stick down on the table. "Will you be my best man?" Johnny's eyes lit up like fireworks as he brought Jae in for a manly yet friendly hug.

"I'm so proud of you, Jaehyun."

I'm enamored with the thought of seeing angels in the sky singing,

Singing, "Everything's alright."

Jaehyun proposed the next week. You both went out to an amazing and fancy moonlit dinner where you both danced and decided to start this new journey together.

Then two days after the proposal, he relapsed the worst he has ever had. Johnny found him in your guys' apartment and immediately called you and everyone who he thought he could help.

It's now present day and you can only look at Jaehyun with guilt in your eyes.

The funeral was held in the flower fields you both planned to get married in. The day was cold and dark but he had never looked so happy in his final resting place. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you the happiness you craved." You kissed his cheek before the lid was finally closed.

Now the marble had been set in place and you were alone again.

"I'm not mad. I'm jus-just so...so sorry." You wept, reaching out for him.

"I read the letter and can only ask. Why?"

The only things he had left was a damn note with the words, 'Sorry, My Dear' signing off the page as if he deemed it enough. As if his love had a capacity limit.

"I'm sorry you-you thought I was going to leave you if you told me you were so un-unhappy with life." Your stuttering didn't come to a stop as you could only imagine tears streaming down his own cheeks wherever he was in the universe. The feeling of being ashamed sent you reeling down where you had to support yourself on your knees.

The silent sobs hurt your chest as you had this free falling feeling in your chest getting more deeper. It was as if someone was pounding your chest with a drum mallot. Your heart was breaking as you felt a hand on your shoulder. Yet, you knew no one was there.

"You promised me forever." Your voice was shaky as you brushed the stray pieces of grass away from the marble in the ground.

'Jaehyun. Found happiness in where ours couldn't reach.'

"And I promise, Jae. I will love you...forever."

"And I'm so proud of you for making it this far." You whispered, fingers tracing his name on the polished marble for what felt like the millionth time.

You laid on the ground next to his resting place and looked into the vast blue sky where you imagined him reaching down to you; his soft voice that he used to sing you to sleep with carrying you with him to where you both could live happily ever after. You lifted your hands up as the tears came down.

"You did well."

[argonaut--keene]

28 with Lup & Lucretia, please!! :')

28: “Girls night in?”

Word count: 1,817

Warnings: Death mention, survivor’s guilt, grief, alcohol (y’know, normal Stolen Century shenanigans)

Summary: In which Lucretia has had a difficult few years and Lup is determined not to let her be sad all by herself.

Send me more of these?

__________________________________

It had been…a rough couple of cycles.

Two years ago, Davenport and Barry and Lup had all been killed in a negotiation for the light gone very poorly. Taako and Magnus stormed in the next day and took the light by force. “Should have just let them all die, those assholes,” Taako muttered that night as they fled the city to hide out in a remote forest until the year was over. Merle gently reminded him that not everyone on the plane was such an asshole and they did not deserve to die just because some of their leaders were terrible. Lucretia sat in the corner quietly, hiding the tears that dripped down her cheeks by letting her hair fall in front of her face.

In the next cycle, the light had been relatively easy to find. Lucretia had left most of the team on the Starblaster to do their research, and had taken Magnus with her on a months-long voyage through the culturally rich civilization. She had befriended their guides, a couple of kindly tieflings, and had been truly enjoying the journey when they were attacked by bandits. Both of the tieflings and Magnus were killed. Lucretia returned to the ship alone. She had a hard time writing anything down the rest of the year–it was too difficult to see the pages past the blur of her tears.

Nobody had died so far this cycle, but Lucretia was tired of being on such high alert. She was tired of spending her time grieving because every new person she met would be gone forever from her life within a year. Becoming even more quiet around her family, Lucretia withdrew from everything and tried to sketch every person she remembered meeting from the past five years. Two of those cycles, they had failed to get the light. Most of the people Lucretia was drawing were dead.

One evening, there was a knock at her door. “Do you need something?” Lucretia called distractedly. She couldn’t remember if the child she was sketching from one of the failed cycles was an elf or a human. How could she not remember something like that? All she could recall was that he had a freckle on the tip of his nose and he wore a purple stone on a string around his neck.

“Luuuuucy. Can I come in?” It was Lup. She didn’t sound urgent, but she did sound determined. And when Lup was determined, there was no point in trying to resist.

“Alright.” Lucretia closed her sketchbook as Lup bounded into the room.

“Listen, Luce, you know I love you to pieces, right? So please don’t get snippy when I tell you that you absolutely gotta stop hiding in your room all the time. It’s not healthy, babes,” Lup told her. “I know you’re an introvert, but this isn’t that. You’ve been avoiding us.”

Straight to the point then. I should have expected that. Keeping her expression neutral, Lucretia said, “I haven’t been avoiding anyone. I’ve just been busy with my work.”

“Your work, huh? Can I see it?” Lup hopped up to sit on Lucretia’s desk. She didn’t look like she had any intention of moving anytime soon.

Lucretia didn’t really want to explain what she had been doing. Lup might not understand why she needed to do this; and besides, Lucretia had a feeling that she would start to cry if she tried to talk about it. And she was just so tired of crying. She said nothing. However, she didn’t stop Lup from taking the sketchbook from her hands and flipping through the pages.

“These are nice,” Lup said softly. “Are these people you met during the cycles, Luce?”

Clearing her throat, Lucretia nodded.

“Who was this?” asked Lup. She pointed to a sketch of an older elf woman wearing a scarf on her head.

“I don’t know. I never asked her name. She was at a church I visited three cycles ago. She took care of the children who had been orphaned because of the illness that year.”

Lup’s ears positioned themselves slightly downwards as she frowned. “We didn’t get the light that cycle.”

“I know.”

There was a minute of silence as Lup turned more pages. Lucretia heard a quiet sniff when Lup saw the sketch of the young boy that wasn’t quite finished yet. Placing the sketchbook down carefully on the desk, Lup wiped her eyes and reached out to tilt Lucretia’s chin up. “You’re right, you have been busy,” she allowed. “That’s important stuff.”

“I don’t want us to forget them,” Lucretia stated simply.

“Yeah. Yeah, I get it. But, Lucy. You can’t isolate yourself, okay? Even if you’re sad, even if you’re having a hard time. Actually, especially if you’re having a hard time.” Lup smiled sadly. “Okay?”

Lucretia looked down at her hands and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Well, um, how’s this? I’m not gonna let you isolate yourself anymore,” Lup let her know. “We’re all hanging out tonight, I’m taking you out to the common room to have dinner and a fun night together.”

With a weary sigh, Lucretia said, “I’m sorry, Lup, I’m just…not up for that.”

Lup nodded thoughtfully. “Gotcha. Okay. I know exactly what we’re gonna do, then.”

“And what’s that?” Lucretia said.

“Well, if you’re okay with it, which I think you will be.”

“Lup.”

“Girls night in?” suggested Lup. “C'mon, just you and me, chillin’ in here and talking and hanging out. We can do whatever you want. I’ll make Koko bring us snacks and drinks.” She gave Lucretia a winning smile. “Whaddya say?”

“I say, I probably don’t have a choice in the matter,” Lucretia said, pretending to give in grudgingly. But really, that didn’t sound too bad. Lup could be loud and rambunctious when she wanted to be, but she was just as capable of being quiet and understanding, and she seemed to know instinctively when a person needed each type of affection.

“That’s my girl,” Lup said happily. She patted Lucretia’s cheek. “Now, I’m gonna be right back. Put on some PJs.”

Lucretia obliged, and put on her most comfortable pajamas of a t-shirt and flannel pants while she waited for Lup to return.

“You decent?” Lup barely waited for the answer before she walked right in, wearing a tank top and shorts and carrying several blankets and multiple bags of candy and chips.

“I try not to have food in my bedroom,” Lucretia said helplessly.

“I’ll clean up any mess, I promise. Now, I sent Taako to bring us hot chocolate and wine, ‘cause I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what kinda night we’re gonna be having. But uh, both? Both sounds good.” Lup was already setting up a blanket fort on Lucretia’s bed. “And I told him that he’s not allowed to have any, 'cause it’s girls night. I said that if he’s lonely without me, he can go cuddle up with Magnus. He flipped me off, but he is getting those drinks, so I think we’re good.”

Lucretia couldn’t help but smile as Lup chattered. She had to admit, the company was nice. She didn’t feel as trapped inside her memories anymore. And when Taako knocked on the door, saying that he was leaving the drinks outside and that he hoped Lucretia knew that he was definitely, absolutely furious that she was hogging Lup for the night, he was laughing the whole time and ended the speech with a “Have fun, you two,” so Lucretia figured that he wasn’t actually angry.

Lup pulled her into the blanket fort and handed her a hot chocolate. “We’ll switch to wine later. So…wanna talk about anything?”

“I…” Lucretia shook her head. She drank some of her hot chocolate. “Like what?”

“I don’t know, babes, anything?”

“I’m just, um, tired,” Lucretia admitted.

Lup flicked her ears. “Would you rather just go to sleep?”

“No, I meant…in general. I’m just tired. I feel like I can’t stop moving. I’m not…caught up with the rest of you, if that makes sense? I’m still stuck somewhere behind everyone else.  It’s why I’m trying to draw everyone, because…if I can record everything that’s happened so far, I might be able to keep moving.”

Lup hummed understandingly. She gave Lucretia’s arm a reassuring squeeze. “I get it, honey. I’ve had that feeling some cycles, too. It’s not easy to just keep leaving everyone behind, huh?”

“No. No, it’s not easy,” said Lucretia. “And it’s exhausting.”

“It definitely is that,” Lup replied. She paused for a second, then reached for the bottle of wine. “Time to switch drinks, I think. Hey, Luce? Get your sketchbook. We’re gonna sit and remember everyone we left behind and toast to them until we feel better.”

Lucretia didn’t argue with that.

A few hours later, they had gone through every single page in the sketchbook. Lup even remembered the names of a few more of the people in the drawings, and Lucretia penciled them in. Both of them were crying a little by the end. Lucretia decided that she didn’t want any more wine and curled up against Lup’s side with her sketchbook clutched to her chest.

“I’ve gotcha.” Lup sniffled. “Are you, um, feeling better?”

That’s a complicated question. “I think I will be,” she murmured. “I don’t feel…great, right now, but I do feel…lighter? That doesn’t make sense, I’m sorry.”

“It does make sense, I totally get it. Ohhhhkay, I think I’ve had enough wine. Hey, hey, c'n I like…stay here tonight?” Lup asked.

“Definitely.” Lucretia was glad that Lup had suggested it, because she probably wouldn’t have asked her to stay and she didn’t really want to be alone.

“Mind if I deconstruct the blanket fort? I’m not super chill with enclosed spaces,” added Lup.

“You built it!” Lucretia said, managing a quiet giggle. “But yes, of course.”

Lup laughed as well. She pulled the fort down and covered the two of them in the blankets. She put her arms around Lucretia’s waist and snuggled her close. “Thank you for saying yes to this,” she said softly. “I know I said we were doing it to stop you from isolating, but, y'know what? I kinda missed ya. I feel like we haven’t spent much time together over the past few cycles.”

“I’m sorry,” Lucretia whispered.

“Not your fault, babes. We get busy, life gets hard. Sometimes we die.” Lup chuckled. “Gods, what a weird thing to say so casually.”

“Pretty weird,” agreed Lucretia. She yawned.

Lup turned the lights off. She hugged Lucretia closer. “This was nice,” she said after a few minutes. She sounded sleepy. “Let’s do it again. Make girls night in a regular thing. Maybe not always with the crying part, but, y'know, sometimes we just need that.”

“I’d like that,” Lucretia said, closing her eyes. “Goodnight.”

“Night-night, Lucy.”

[fluffyunicornofdanger]

Rhinestone Part Two

A/N: Here is the long awaited second part of Rhinestone. I’m sorry it took so long, I’ve had so much going on with school and all that crap. I think that Rhinestone will be finished up at the end of May, beginning of June, but I’m not a 100% sure on that, though. I don’t know when everything is gonna get done, but it will. I swear. I hope you guys enjoy this and feel free to request something or just message me or whatever.

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Masterlist

70s! Roger Taylor x Reader

Summary: It’s hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world. Y/n knows that first hand as she’s had to deal with her boss’s advances for years, with no way to avoid them. But that all changes when a certain blonde bumps into her in the street.

Part 2 of ?

Part 1

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: Language

A crumpled paper twirled through the air before landing in the waste bin with a soft thud. The room was filled with smoke as the two men sat, staring off into space. They had been working for hours, making little progress. John and Freddie had both called it a night hours earlier as Freddie had dinner plans with his family and John had stayed up the night before working through a song. Everyone was exhausted, giving their all and gaining little in the process.

That’s what left Roger and Brian alone to sort through all their unfinished songs. They needed to get the new album finished, they needed to get rid of all the stress and pressure that had been mounted on top of them.

“It’s a good deal,” Brian commented on the subject that had caused them to get off track. But it didn’t seem that they were going to get anything accomplished, so neither cared. “I don’t see why you don’t wanna do it.”

The blond snorted. “Why? Because my time is better spent here-” He pointed to the recording booth behind him, to all the papers that surrounded them. “-working on our songs then who knows where singing disco,” he spoke the word as if it was the devil’s music. No one was quite sure where his disdain for the genre came from, but Brian knew that little would get him to sing anything close to it.

Brian shook his head. He didn’t see what the problem was. Not only would he get a chance to get their music out there, get exposure, but he would also be helping someone in the process. If it were him, he would jump on that opportunity. Everyone could always use a helping hand. But it seemed that the only person Roger Taylor cared about at that moment was himself.

“What about the girl?”

“What about her?” He took the cigarette from between his lips, waiting for his friend to answer.

Brian sat up, resting his elbows on his knees. “You should stop being a prick and help her out.” His friend rolled his eyes. “Alright, don’t then. Be the prick you always are, but wouldn’t you want someone to help you out if you were in that situation?”

Roger turned away from his friend, thinking it over. Even Brian knew there was nothing to gain from helping the poor girl. She would be the only one to get anything from winning the deal, anyway. He would get a car, but he already had one and if he really wanted a new one, he wasn’t short on cash. The only thing to be gained from it would be a good feeling in his heart and he didn’t care to have that.

But he could get more than a car if he played his cards right.

Turning back to Brian, a smile plastered on his face, he nodded. “I think I would be grateful if someone helped me out. I think I will call her. I’ll go do that right now.”

Brian gave the man a suspicious look as he stood from his chair to go find a phone. “I know that smirk, you better not do anything stupid,” he called after him.

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

Putting this cigarette between his lips, Roger wandered out into the hall, walking to the phone at the front of the building. If he was going to have to suffer through listening to disco then he was going to get something out of it that was better than a car.

He grabbed the phone off the hook, dialing the numbers of the club. He waited as it rang, drumming his fingers against the hard surface that it rested on to the beat of a song he was working on. If they changed the lyrics, it would probably fit with the beat, he thought. But they could also scrap it for something that wouldn’t start a fight between everyone. His attention turned back to the phone when loud noise, that of a bar, floated through the line.

“Daisy Duke’s, how can I help you?” a woman with a thick Irish accent asked.

“Is Y/n working tonight?”

There was no answer as shouting could be heard in the background and then the faint sound of glass shattering. Roger rolled his eyes, the woman should have been used to that. She shouldn’t have even been fazed by the noise. Bars were prone to fights, even the nice ones. Even clubs. Roger would know, he had started more than he was willing to admit.

“Ah, she’s only working during the weekend, I can give ya her home number if ya’d like,” the woman offered, distracted by whatever was going on around her.

He shrugged, anything was better than nothing. “Sure, why not?”

After the woman gave him the number, he thanked her and hung up, mumbling the number to himself as not to forget it. “Alright, let’s try this again.”

Dialing the new number, he leaned against the wall, waiting for someone to pick up. There was a good chance that Y/n would be home, seeing as how it was near midnight. Probably asleep, but home. Roger twirled the phone cord between his fingers until the dial tone cut.

“Hello,” a sleepy voice said through the line.

A smile tugged on his lips. “Y/n? This is Roger Taylor. We met a couple days back.”

She mumbled in response, probably trying to fight off sleep. “Oh, yeah. I remember. Dick move to call me a week later.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a ping of guilt for not only waking her up but also taking his time to contact her. But it wasn’t like she had made much of an effort to get him too. “Sorry about that. I’ve… I’ve been busy with work.”

“Haven’t we all,” she dragged, yawning in the process. “But now we only have two weeks.”

“It’ll be plenty of time,” he offered with confidence. It couldn’t be that hard to sing disco. He already knew how to sing so it wasn’t like they were starting from rock bottom. He would just die a little inside each time he had to, that’s all.

Y/n groaned. “Sure, plenty of time.”

“Maybe we could meet at the club in the morning.”

“No,” she disagreed. “We can meet at the restaurant across from it.”

                                                   *~~~~~*

Y/n looked like the walking dead as she rested her head on her hands, waiting for Roger to show up. She had already been waiting at their table for 30 minutes. As much as she would have liked to take her time getting ready and walk to the restaurant, her brain wouldn’t let her. Songs and rhythm were flowing through her mind, making it hard for her to do much of anything. She wasn’t sure how musical Roger was, it’s not like it would matter. She would have little time, either way, to make something out of him. It was just so hard for her to think of any songs that she to start him out with.

That is what caused her to look like she had risen from the dead.

After talking with him on the phone, she couldn’t stop thinking about how she was going to make it all work. If given more time, if he had called her the day after they met, maybe she would already know, have a plan written out. But she didn’t and there was no time for that now. She had a little more than two weeks to whip him into shape and make him the best disco singer that he could be. Nothing was going to stop her from that.

There was no way in hell that she was going to lose the bet without a fight.

She was about to drift off when the chair across from her was pulled out and the blonde she was waiting for took a seat. Y/n rolled her eyes, leaning back in her chair, he looked like he spent 30 minutes in the bathroom. Probably on his hair. He dressed better than she had, too, probably getting a full night's sleep.

“You look sick,” he noted, his voice laced with a hint of concern.

Running a hand down her face, she sighed, “Just tired.”

“I see you already ate.” He gestured to the empty plate in front of her. A little upset that she didn’t wait for him. Even his worst dates had waited for him to arrive before ordering and eating.

She shrugged. “I was hungry and unwilling to wait for you.”

He nodded, signaling the waitress that was walking past them so he could get some food as well. With a hot plate of food in front of him, he asked, “When do you want to get to work?”

“After you’re done.”

He raised his brow. “Are you sure?”

Y/n nodded, stirring the spoon that rested in her cold cup of coffee. She would be unable to get much of anything else done without finding out if she was going to have to deal with Richard for another five years. “Yep.”

Roger put his fork down, looking her in the eyes. It was clear to him that he would be doing nothing but work around her. “You’re not afraid that I’m a creep or serial killer or anything like that? Cause I could be, you never know.”

She laughed at his question. “I’m pretty sure you’re not, but if you are I have plenty of practice dealing with creeps.”

“What about serial killers?”

“I have yet to meet one and I’m pretty sure you aren’t one.”

His face dropped, “How do you know?”

Y/n shook her head, digging in her pocket for her wallet. “I don’t think you would want to get your hands dirty.” She gestured to his manicured nails before pulling a wad of cash out of her wallet.

“Whatever,” he brushed it off. “What’s the plan for all this?”

She leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms over her head. “Well, there really isn’t one seeing as how you took your sweet time to call me.”

That would forever bother her. There were many things that she was willing to move past, never crossing her mind again, but this seemed to not be one of them. She wasn’t even asking much of the man and there was a possibility that he could get signed by some producer if he did well at the club. But he didn’t seem to care about that. Roger probably didn’t take the bet seriously, she didn’t blame him, but her life was on the line. She needed to make something of him, good or bad, it was her only chance of escaping the hell hole that she was forced to work at.

If it wasn’t for Richard, she would have enjoyed her job. They paid for everything in an attempt to make her happy. She didn’t have to worry about paying rent and she made quite a lot for only working three nights out of the week. She brought in customers, people traveled from throughout the city just to listen to her sing. They needed her. But she didn’t need to be harassed every time she showed up to work. And if making a random man a singer was the only way for her to get out of that then that was what she was going to do.

And thanks to said man, she had less time than she liked to do so.

“We’ll make one up as we go, I guess,” she suggested. “See how good you are at what.”

He smirked, “Well if it helps, I can play the drums.”

“It doesn’t.”

Roger shook his head, loose strands of hair falling in his face. How was he supposed to work with her? He didn’t think they would accomplish anything. “What would help then?”

“Can you sing?”

“Yes.”

“Great.” She stood from her chair, stuff her wallet back in her pocket. “Let’s go then. We got no time to waste.”

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Permanent Taglist: @rexorangecouny @jennyggggrrr @zestygingergirl

Rhinestone Taglist: @sunflower-borhap-boys @rrrogah-tayluhh @itsametaphorbriansblog @rtyler19 @silvver-rose @moe-jazzello

(Let me know if you want to be tagged for the next part or if you want to be added to the permanent taglist.)

[quarterfromcanon]

How Long Do You Plan to Keep Me at the Back of Your Mind?

Heather & Valencia - Femslash February - Day 21 - Basic [2,442 words]

“Hello, ladies, and welcome to the trial run of Hallmark & Hummus.” Rebecca splayed her fingers. She waggled them as if the name were appearing in lights. “On this very special evening, we will be enjoying some unarguably bland dip only made interesting with other foods. Whatever film is selected by our vote will be much the same: devoid of flavor until the added ingredients -- us, in this case, the added ingredients are us -- come along to spice things up.”

Valencia offered a strained but well-intentioned smile. She turned to the right and consulted with Heather. “Translation, please?”

Heather’s beleaguered sigh preceded the reply. “She wants to watch sappy made-for-TV movies and eat tortilla chips while we talk about them.”

“Ohhhhh,” the rest of the group chorused. 

“I wanna take this opportunity to just apologize to everyone,” Heather told them, ignoring Rebecca’s background indignation. “The theme tonight is my fault and I am already so sorry.”

“How’d that happen?” Paula draped her arms over the sides of her chair.

“We were kicking around viewing options for Girls’ Night earlier this week and everything totally snowballed outta control. I was trying to steer her away from them by pointing out that they’re usually a little boring and unoriginal... which, like, ‘a little’ was being generous, honestly... and she just really latched onto the metaphor.” Heather folded her arms and shot Rebecca a ‘Why are you like this?’ look. 

Rebecca tried to mirror the stance but ultimately just stuck out her tongue. “I still think we can make it fun. Plus, your cleverness sparked the creative spin! You should be owning this with pride! You were my muse.”

Heather wrinkled her nose. “I accept full responsibility for the apt comparison but not its application.”

“Compromise met.” Rebecca clapped her hands into a clasp. “Now, before we get into any of that, the first order of business is to greet our special guest. Thank you for joining us tonight, Beth. Welcome.”

Beth was clearly not expecting an individual shout-out like that. Still, she leaned forward to acknowledge them all with a salutatory wave before settling back against the couch. “Thanks for inviting me.”

Heather readjusted on her respective cushion. She pulled one leg up to her chest and locked both arms around the kneecap.

“Okay, so, drinks are in the fridge,” Rebecca continued the hostess explanations. “There’s wine, juice, water, beer, et cetera. I originally floated the idea that we take shots of Hennessy for every glaring instance of sexism to keep going with our letter ‘H,’ but Heather did actually talk me out of that one because we would all die of alcohol poisoning.”

She gathered a tall stack of borrowed cases in her arms, each labeled with a barcode from the local library. “I grabbed all the ones I could find. Their collection was unexpectedly extensive, so let’s see if we can start the process of elimination.”

“Nothing with a cover that looks like pretty white characters are gonna fall in love or die at Christmastime,” Heather declared.

Rebecca pouted and removed six boxes from the tower. “That’s practically their entire yuletide catalog - heh, yule log, that was unintentional - but fair enough. It does whittle the options down by a significant margin.”

“No movies with sequels,” Valencia suggested. “The last thing we need is to get stuck with these people for more than one.”

“And none with punny titles,” Paula added.

“Why not?” Rebecca countered.

“Check how many that eliminates and you’ll see.” Paula assembled a plate while she waited.

“Oh wow, you guys are going after their whole brand,” Rebecca muttered as she continued to weed out entertainment that matched the criteria. “Hallmark came out to have a good time and is honestly feeling so attacked right now.”

“What does that leave?” Beth peered at the titles one by one when they passed through her acquaintance’s hands.

Rebecca held up a single DVD. “Something called The Love Letter.”

“Hang on a sec.” Valencia’s brow furrowed. “Can I see that?”

Rebecca passed her the box. Valencia tapped the name in the bottom corner. “I knew it! That’s Jennifer Jason Leigh.”

Beth chuckled. She rubbed her palm along her girlfriend’s spine. 

Valencia peeked to the left self-consciously. “What?”

“Nothing. I just think it’s cute you followed the career of an actress with a big gay fan following before you even figured things out.” Beth kissed Valencia on the cheek.

Rebecca joined in the affectionate laughter. “Adorably oblivious.”

Heather popped the lid off her beer and drank.

Paula tucked a diced piece of pepper into the side of her mouth and lifted her own bottle. “Let’s get this party started.”

She tapped the alcohol against her friend’s serving. Just for a moment, Heather thought she saw a flicker of sympathy in Paula’s eyes.

They all settled more comfortably while Rebecca turned out a couple of the lights and readied the selection. Rebecca stretched across the chaise lounge. She pointed the remote control toward the censor. “Drum roll... play!”

Within the first sixty seconds, a store owner made a comment about women dragging their boyfriends into the building to look at a white dress in the window. Valencia and Rebecca automatically flipped their middle fingers at the screen. 

“Damn,” Valencia commented just shy of the seven minute mark. “She likes some imaginary pen pal better than the guy who just proposed to her. Are we sure she’s not a closeted lesbian in this, too? Fixating on an unrealistic man-of-her-dreams seems like a handy excuse.”

“You would know,” Paula teased with a smirk. She sipped more of her drink.

Valencia arched an eyebrow but inclined her head. “Touché.”

“Ooo, it’s near Salem!” Rebecca enthused. “Witches?” She waggled her eyebrows.

“Dude, again, late ’90s Hallmark,” Heather reminded her. “They aren’t gonna throw us a lot of surprises. Also, wrong time period.”

“If Hocus Pocus taught us nothing else, it’s that they don’t have to be bound to their own era. Spooky shit happens,” Rebecca reasoned.

Heather shook her head and laughed quietly.

The female lead was finally introduced. Valencia and Beth exchanged knowing glances when her first onscreen act was writing a poem for a flower consistently referred to with “she” and “her” pronouns. ‘Gay,’ they both mouthed.

Half an hour into the run time, Beth whispered, “So, is this basically The Lake House with a more cockblocking year gap?”

“Kinda, yeah,” Heather confirmed. “This one’s just eight years older.” 

“Good to know.” Beth smiled with genuine appreciation for the trivia.

Heather felt a twist of guilt that her first internal response was ‘ugh.’  Then the story randomly included a scene involving kitchen spices and she choked on a scoop of hummus.

“Are you okay?” Valencia murmured.

“Yeah, just went down the wrong way,” Heather managed to reply.

A strange reaction crossed Valencia’s features but she periodically hovered a concerned hand over her friend’s back until ten minutes later.

“It must be true love if you get turned on by air touches, amirite?” Rebecca joked. Heather and Valencia froze before they realized she spoke in reference to the film. They scooted to opposite ends of their couch space.

Beth’s fingers interwove with Valencia’s when the movie’s ill-treated fiancée got to confront her betrothed’s emotional infidelity. Heather’s eyes found the ceiling as she tried not to notice.

The end credits rolled. Rebecca wiped away a few tears. She tucked both legs beneath her body as she faced the other women in the room. “So, what did you guys think?”

“I really liked that checkered dress. Oh, and the giant cloak when she left for Gettysburg!” Paula stayed seated but pantomimed donning the aforementioned clothing while sweeping away in a hurry. “I mean, c’mon, can you really call it a dramatic exit without some kind of cape to swish behind you? It’s the only way to go.”

“Right? So pretty. So stylish. And when they got into the rowboat and she read her poetry to him?” Rebecca pouted and held her hands over her heart. “I loved that.”

“He was kind of an asshole, though,” Valencia concluded. “Waffling between them both like they were equally viable options. Pick a path and stick to it. And for the love of God, invest in wax or a razor.”

“That’s a justifiable point,” Rebecca acknowledged. “I’m a big advocate of a person having as much or as little body hair as they see fit so, you know, more power to him. But, practically speaking, that stuff is gonna scratch your tits to hell when you’re pounding it out together. R.I.P. reincarnated lady’s boobs.”

Heather and Paula concurred with empathetic nods.

“I’m not super into the reincarnation angle itself, though,” Heather decided. “They had a few set traits because of the whole same-internal-essence thing, but Caleb and Scotty were still different guys living different lives, y’know?”

“They did each have their own vibe,” Paula concurred. “The two were very similar but not identical. Close, but no cigar.”

“Exactly! And I think they knew people weren’t gonna be as into modern JJL after ninety minutes with Civil War her. That’s why her name went from Elizabeth to Beth so it’s like, ‘Oh, don’t worry. It’s cool for us to just end the movie now because she’s literally the same,’ but she’s not. She wasn’t there for any of it. Beth doesn’t share all the history and she doesn’t know everything that happened before she came into the picture. It’s like, dude, she’s a separate person and eventually you’re gonna have to explain everything. I guess go ahead and get attached to someone who’s superficially a match, but it doesn’t make her your soulmate.”

Heather finished her rant and stared down at the empty bottle in her hands. She could feel Valencia tense beside her but neither risked eye contact. 

Heavy fabric pelted against the top of Heather’s head and fell to the floor. 

“What the...”

She looked up to realize Rebecca had chucked a throw pillow at her. 

“Start believing in romance, you cynic! Stop deflating love bubbles with your logic!” Rebecca reached for another to lob, but Heather held her hands aloft.

“Yeah, there’s an open container of salsa literally two feet away from me, so I’m thinking we should call for an armistice.” Heather forced her expression into a semblance of contrition. “No more mood-killing. But also no more furniture attacks. Deal?”

“I can agree to those terms.” Rebecca let the second pillow fall from her grip.

“Cool. I’m gonna go use the bathroom before we start whatever’s next.” 

Heather departed for that location and locked the door. She splashed water on her face and met her own gaze in the mirror’s reflection. “You are acting like such a jealous douche,” Heather reprimanded herself in a low voice. “That may be the literal brand you represent, but it’s not who you are as a person. Cut the crap.”

She towel-dried her skin and sighed. Somehow, she had to come to terms with the chasm between where she used to think her life would be at this point and where things were actually headed. It wasn’t fair to Valencia to keep letting an undercurrent of bitterness guide the course of their interactions. Then there was Beth, genial and charming, who had done absolutely nothing to earn a cold shoulder. Heather frequently hashed and rehashed it all out in her mind, and she knew Beth had proven herself to be an exemplary first girlfriend. Whether the process of doing so was easy or not, she had to step aside. After all, Valencia wasn’t the only one in a new relationship. Heather had someone, too. Hector... No, she couldn’t tackle her feelings about him right now. The main thing to focus on was turning over a new leaf, and she intended to do so once she rejoined the others.

Heather left the bathroom, pivoted out of habit toward the living room, and almost ran right into Beth. She pulled to an abrupt stop. “Sorry. All yours.”

Beth hooked her thumbs in her belt loops. “Thanks. Hey, I don’t now if it’s a breach of that treaty you and Rebecca have going to tell you this, but you made a pretty solid point earlier.” She cast a covert glance at the rest of the group, playfully following along with the faux tension as well as the subsequent peace. “What makes a person isn’t just what they’re starting with, but how they’re affected by things, and what they do in response to that. Like you said, it’s from their ’90s collection, and I don’t know if they were really encouraging us to look that deep, but still.” She shrugged. “V told me you’re good at reading people, and she was right.”

“Glad we’re on the same page.” Heather nearly crossed her arms, but instead she slipped her palms into the pockets of her vest. “I may need to call on you for backup in the event of another pro-tearjerker uprising, so, be ready with a strong argument. Rebecca loves a debate.”

Beth laughed. “You got it.”

They parted ways and Heather turned around again. Valencia was watching. She twitched her lips upward timidly. Heather flushed with remorse that things had become so difficult between them. She returned the greeting with a sincere smile. Valencia beamed and approached to talk. 

“How’s movie vote number two going?” Heather asked.

Valencia looked back at their companions with loving exasperation. “We’re officially in Eeny Meeny Miny Mo territory, but Rebecca and Paula got into a discussion about whether it should be the full rhyme or just those four words. I feel like I don’t need to tell you which friend was in favor of which option.”  

“It’ll be all right. Paula will wrap things up one way or another,” Heather said confidently. “My money’s on her grabbing something out of the pile and shouting ‘This is it!’ just to cut the rounds short.”

Paula’s voice suddenly projected over Rebecca’s. “Oh, look! It’s the brunette from Down with Love. A Christmas Wedding -- we have a winner!” She held the box aloft and then carried the disc to the player. 

Rebecca was miffed by the interruption for only a few seconds before her shoulders rose and fell. “Works for me.”

“You called it.” Valencia nudged Heather. “You know us all too well.”

“I feel like you could probably make an educated guess what I’m thinking sometimes, too.”

“Like right now?”

“Sure, if you want.”

Valencia considered Heather with exaggerated scrutiny. “Switching from beer to wine before we start another cringey movie?”

Heather elbowed her and they both smiled. “Bingo.”

[rfaandsaeranimagines]

Can I request a short fanfic of the moment where Saeran breaks into the apartment during 707's route, but for this request, 707 is just a really good friend? And when saeran breaks in, they find MC in an animal onesie and she doesn't refuse the offer for paradise, but instead stalls them by offering them food until 707 gets there (aka is just really nice to Saeran/not freaked out or scared). And then when Saeran leaves, he kinda starts to crush on MC, and you can go from there!

((Sorry, I kind of kept going and now it’s over 2k words now. Also Saeran may be a little OOC here but he’s cute!))

“The Special security system will be acti-acti-activa….”

MC looked up from her phone to look where the sound was coming from. She stood up from the bed and went over to the sound, but it suddenly sputtered out. After that, she couldn’t figure out where it came from, so she shrugged and flopped back down on the bed. Suddenly, there was a loud shattering of glass, and MC whipped her head towards the window. Glass was shattered everywhere, and MC was stunned.

“How the heck? I’m on the 14th floor!” MC thought to herself

“Gosh…I didn’t plan on making a sound, but I suppose I failed on that.” A smooth voice muttered from the direction of the window

MC, not having anything to really defend herself with, picked up her pillow, ready to smack the heck out of the intruder with it, but before she could get off the bed, the young male’s voice shouted for her to stop.

“Hey miss, just stay there. You’ll hurt your feet if you step on glass. I’m climbing over the window.”

MC suddenly saw a lanky boy wearing black skinny jeans, a red tank top with a black leather jacket on top with the left shoulder exposing an eye tattoo climbing in through the broken window. As he came in, MC saw that he wore a black face mask that covered the bottom half of his face, and had white and pink hair. He walked over to her and softly smiled with his eyes. 

“Hello. You remember who I am?”

“I’m assuming that you’re the hacker since you didn’t come through the front door.” MC said in a monotone, yet irritated tone

“Smart girl. You might be able to understand me then.”

“Excuse you?” MC asked irked. “You saying you thought I was stupid?”

The boy ignored her and looked around the room absentmindedly.

“Wow, it feels so strange to see it like this…”

“What the heck are you talking about? Who are you and how did you find me?” MC shouted, raising the pillow above her head in a threatening manner

The boy turned to MC and smiled a somewhat creepy smile, and advanced so he was no more than one pace away from the terrified girl. His eyes showed no sign of harming her, in fact, they were rather kind, and MC found them rather attractive. She shook it off

“MC, Do you know that I’m the one who first talked to you about the missing phone? I left that strange message a couple days ago…And I’m the one who sent that email.”

“Wait, how do you know my name? Also, you’re the one who sent that email about Mint Eye?”

“I led you here, I know all about you. Yes, It’s your invitation to paradise MC.”

“Paradise?” MC asked, slightly intrigued.

“Yes MC, our Paradise, where everyone is happy. Magenta of hopes and dreams. I’ve come to take you there…I will explain everything once we get to magenta” The boy said, extending his hand to her

“That sounds great, but um, I’m in an animal onesie and I’m not changing in front of a guy who’s name I don’t even know.” MC replied, just staring at his hand

The boy stared at her, and after a moment, came to the realization that MC was in fact in Panda footie PJs, and was still holding a pillow over his head. A slight blush came to his face in embarrassment for not noticing. He retracted his hand and coughed uncomfortably.

“So, you going to tell me your name or no? I mean, if you’re going to take me somewhere, I should at least know their name.”

“S-Saeran.” He answered quickly, refusing to look at her.

“Saeran, huh? So, you want some snacks while I get dressed into something a bit more appropriate? Oh, don’t worry, I’ll change in the bathroom.”

“Food sounds nice…” Saeran answered awkwardly.

Saeran was internally freaking out because THIS was not part of the plan. Besides, didn’t this girl realize that he just crashed through a window….on the 14th fricking level? And here he was, introducing himself while she got food for him. He looked over to the shattered window and felt a pang of guilt. She probably didn’t have the money to pay for it to be repaired, and he could have just opened it without breaking it…

“H-hey, um , miss? Do you have a broom or something. I don’t want you to get hurt with the glass. Since I broke it, I figured that I should, well, clean it up”

MC looked over her shoulder as she made sandwiches. He honestly looked guilty, and so she brought him a broom and a dustpan to him, and he began to sweep up the glass into the pan carefully. She couldn’t believe that this was the same person who came in through her window and tried to whisk her away in her panda pjs.

She put the plate next to him and grabbed an outfit to change into. He muttered something that sounded like ‘thanks’. She then smiled, shaking her head as she wandered into the bathroom to change. She quickly got changed and headed back out to see the boy had taken off his face mask and was now munching on the last sandwich.

“That good huh?” MC asked jokingly

“Actually, yeah. I don’t really like bread, but this actually pretty good.” He replied, staring at the sandwich as if it would tell him why it tasted so good.

“It’s Hawaiian bread. It’s sweeter than most bread. I’m glad you like it. So Saeran, right?”

Saeran just kind of nodded in response.

“So…do you wanna play video games or something? I bought a DS awhile back and found another one in a thrift shop for cheap. It came with these games…oh there’s two copies of Kirby, you wanna play?”

“Uh…What’s a Kirby?”Saeran asked, cocking an eyebrow

MC smiled and gave him a DS. He just kind of stared at it and MC realized that he had no clue what to do with it. She took the DS back and in and started a new game for Saeran, and he just stared at MC setting it up, then snapping out of his trance as she handed it to him. She taught him the basic controls, and soon, he was running and sucking up all the enemies. They then hooked up and played two player. She thought it was rather funny how he would scrunch his eyebrows together while he was focusing.

“Hey…um. I’m kind of hungry again…” Saeran admitted, not looking up from the game, hinting at the fact that he wanted MC to get more food.

“Me too. I’ll go grab us some snacks!” MC laughed and went to the kitchen to get snacks for the two of them

She found it rather funny that this boy was now playing Kirby with her, when just minutes ago he was going to kidnap her and take her to some “Mint Eye” Maybe going with him wouldn’t be too bad. He seemed sweet enough, and honestly, he was really cute. He reminded MC of her best friend Seven for some reason, but she couldn’t figure out why. She snapped out of her thoughts and got some chips for the two of them to share

“DAMMIT KIRBY! YOU STUPID PINK BALLOON THING! HOW DARE YOU DIE TO A WALKING LOAF OF BREAD!!!” Saeran shouted at the DS, growling as he was sent to the beginning of the level…again. He had gotten bored of waiting for MC and had tried to beat the level alone and, well…it wasn’t working very well. MC couldn’t help but laugh at how innocent he looked as he cussed out the happy pink character

“Saeran! I got the snacks!” MC cheerfully said as she put down the snacks and took back her DS.

After about half an hour later, Saeran excuses himself to go to the restroom, and MC resumes playing on the DS alone. Suddenly, there’s a bang on the door, and she hears Seven’s voice shouting from the outside. As she gets up to answer it, Saeran, with his face mask back in place, comes out and stops her. The door is suddenly thrown open, and Saeran grabs MC to keep the door from smacking her in the face.

“MC, I’m here! I’ll turn the special security system back on, gimme a sec.” Seven says, taking his backpack off and preparing to unzip it.

Saeran then walks up to Seven, grabs him by the shoulders, spins him back towards the door, and starts pushing him out the door. Seven is so shocked by the fact that there’s another person here and by the fact that MC isn’t freaking out that he just kind of lets the person push him out. MC begins laughing hysterically as Saeran pushes the confused hacker out the door, kicks him in the back of the knees, and slams the door on him. He then locks the bolt and tells Seven to get lost. At this point, Seven has snapped out of his shock, and is frantically trying to unlock the door to no avail.

“Who the hell are you, and how the hell did you get in?” Seven shouts through the door.

Saeran ignores him, and returns to MC, who at this point is rolling on the ground laughing her head off. She couldn’t help it. Seven’s confused face and Saeran just pushing them out so easily was hilarious to her for some reason. Saeran cracked a smile under his mask, and almost started laughing himself. I mean, he had expected to get revenge on his brother, but not like that!

“Well Princess, I suppose I’ll have to leave for now.” Saeran told her, trying to hold back his laughter.

MC immediately stopped laughing and begged Saeran to stay. MC suddenly realized that it was kind of weird because he was originally here to kidnap her. 

“Wait, is he still going to kidnap me? I mean, he is pretty cute, and paradise sounded a lot better than being locked in an apartment…with a bomb…alone.”

Suddenly there was a thud on the door and an ‘ow’, and Saeran decided that he could come back later, now that MC had his trust. Plus, he kind of had fun with her. He would enjoy having her at Mint Eye, but with his stupid brother trying to kick in the door, getting MC out now would be difficult.

“Wait!” MC cried out, getting Saeran’s attention as he walked to the apartment door, “If you’re going to leave, take this.”

MC held out the DS that he had been playing with, and also a charger. Saeran paused for a minute before taking the DS and charger and slipping it into a back pocket. He didn’t know why, but it was the first time he had ever received something, and it felt rather nice. He heard another thump at the door and sighed. He should get going before Luciel actually knocked in the door and she had to pay for that too. For some reason, he felt a pang of guilt, and looking back at her, he kind of felt bad leaving such a cute girl in an apartment alone with a bomb that was unstable. He shook it off though, and opened the door and watched his brother keep running and fall onto his face. He pulled down his mask and gave MC a quick kiss on the cheek and then ran out the door.

MC stood there and touched where Saeran had kissed her gently. She hoped she’d see him again. She really enjoyed the company, and honestly, getting out of the apartment sounded like a good idea. For crying out loud, Seven was going to set the bomb up…again. She sighed as Seven got up and went out into the hall to get his backpack.

Meanwhile, Saeran was scolding himself for kissing her. He didn’t know why he did that. He thought about it, and he supposed that she was pretty cute, and she was really nice to him. He remembered the gift that she gave him and promised that he would definitely bring her to paradise. She deserved to be happy….and maybe Savior would let him keep her. It was worth asking. With that, he ran down the stairs, excited to return to Mint Eye with the good news.