#listen….. nothing I post has been showing up in the tags lately

[sesamestreep]

my brain cells trying to think of an argument that would get me to finally post those TWO complete fics sitting in my drive that maybe need a few minor edits but are otherwise READY TO POST

[the-boy-meets-evil]

maybe something sweet and fluffy with woozi. trying to stay late to surprise him with dinner or something but he finds you asleep on the couch. he's been stressed and working more than usual (insane behavior) and you just wanna help him relax and take the weight off his shoulders

pairing: jihoon x gn!reader genre: est. relationship | fluff, maybe the tiniest bit suggestive rating: e for everyone (but this blog is still 18+) word count: 1440 warnings: mentions of food but nothing else

author's note: thank you for sending this! i am painfully late with this (and wanted to wait to finish all the requests before posting). this is for my baby @effortandmore for her birthday drabbles. ily lauren 💕 divider by @cafekitsune

taglist: @crepecakeu, @tinyelfperson, @dokyeomkyeom, @miriamxsworld, @hongrizoon, @klecksstorys, @gyuminusone, @aaniag, @naajaeminsgf, @straykidswhoo789, @kimseokgen, @beomesbabe, @haolistic, @harry-the-pottypus, @pyeonghongrie-main, @nuttywastelandmentality (strikethrough means can’t tag, check your settings!), join my taglist here

You’ve loved Jihoon for a long time. As a friend first and then slowly as something much more. When you first met him, you thought he was hard to read. Difficult to ever really know. As you spent more time around him, that idea morphed into something else as well. He’s not the kind of person to be vocal about what he’s thinking or feeling. If you’re waiting for him to tell you how he feels, then you’re going to be waiting for a while. Unless you know where to look.

That’s probably why it took you time to realize all the ways he was telling you that you were more than a friend to him. Over time, he started inviting you just to be around him when he was working on projects at home. Or inviting you over to do your own work at his place while he did chores around the house. Slowly, you realized that he always had your favorite snacks in the cupboards and favorite drinks in the fridge. Occasionally you would even mention needing something in passing and it would show up delivered to your house a day or two later. Never with a note, but always with the understanding that it was Jihoon taking care of it. Taking care of you. You realized that your heart shifted to caring about him as more than a friend before your brain even caught up. It was like he had been showing you all along that you could depend on him. 

Jihoon isn’t always one to say what he’s feeling, but he likes to hear it from you. It’s cute to watch his face light up when you tell him how much he means to you or why you think about him throughout the day. He’s easy, though, because he’s just as happy to have you around. Sometimes you don’t say anything at all, just curl up on the couch to watch a favorite show. Those are some of your favorites because you know how much space he’s made for you in his home. You know how important that space is to him so that he can recharge. But, he accepts you like you always belonged there with him. 

Lately, work has been a little overwhelming for him. Maybe not overwhelming as much as busy. You know how much he likes to be busy and would prefer that to work being too slow. It’s also clear how much he likes to solve a problem and be the one to find that elusive solution. So, this project has been challenging, often resulting in him staying late, and you know he wouldn’t change it. Even on the nights where he doesn’t get home until it’s nearly time for bed. 

Tonight, you’re trying to do something a little bit nice for him. It’s been days on end, even some weekends, of him busting his ass on this project. And you don’t understand the words he’s using. Haven’t ever really been tech savvy enough to get programming. What you do know, though, is that he’s been surviving on too much caffeine and food delivery. Sometimes he does listen and order from healthier places. Sometimes it’s all he can do to remember to eat at all, so it’s whatever can get to him fastest. But, he seemed pretty confident that he would be out of work at a decent time tonight. You decide to use your key to his place and let yourself in to surprise him with a great home-cooked meal.

For someone that doesn’t really like cooking that much, Jihoon has a pretty well-stocked kitchen. Although, knowing how considerate he is, that’s probably mostly because you liked to cook at his place and complained about all the things he didn’t have. All you need to do is show up with your ingredients. You decide on a menu of comforting foods that also can either keep warm on the stove or be easily warmed up without losing flavor. 

You figure that you should let him know that you’re going to be there when he gets home so it doesn’t surprise him. The food can be the surprise even if he knows you’re there waiting for him. He seems excited to see you when you text him. When the food is all ready, you figure that you can have a glass of wine while you wait. 

Jihoon: i’m so sorry, this is taking longer than i thought to wrap up

You: that’s fine, take your time

It’s not uncommon for Jihoon to send a text like that when he’s in the middle of a project. He hates it and you know he does. But, you also assure him that it’s fine. You didn’t have any actual plans and he doesn’t need to rush through work on your account. 

While you’re waiting, you decide on a little taste test of the food you made, careful not to make it too obvious that you’ve had some. Not that he would care, you just want the presentation to be nice for Jihoon. With some good food and a glass of wine down, you’re a little sleepy. Cooking can do that to you. There’s no harm, you figure, in getting comfortable on the couch while you wait and putting on some background noise. 

You don’t even realize that you drift off until you feel someone’s arms sliding underneath you. Your eyes flitter open and land on Jihoon. He’s got his shaggy hair pulled back into an elastic with strands falling out from the length of the day. His face is soft with nothing more than complete love and adoration. It’s so clear that he doesn’t want to disturb you and that makes your heart constrict further. This man has been working for who knows how many hours and he’s still taking care of you.

“I’m awake, babe,” you say through a slightly groggy voice.

“Sorry, was trying not to wake you up,” he says and pulls his arms back.

You catch one of his hands to pull him back in for a quick kiss. “I’m glad I woke up.”

“The place smells really good,” he comments.

“Yeah, I made dinner,” you say.

His face brightens for a moment and it makes you nearly melt. “I would’ve left sooner if I’d known.” 

“It’s a surprise, you goober,” you say with a smile. You pull yourself into a sitting position.

“Hey, it’s fine, I can get a plate,” he says.

“No, no. You go have a nice shower and by the time you’re out, I’ll have it all ready,” you say and get to your feet.

“You don’t have to…” he starts and you press another kiss to his lips before turning him in the direction of the bathroom.

“Go,” you say.

It takes a minute to shake off the cobwebs from your unexpected nap. By the time you’re in the kitchen and warming everything back up, you can hear the water running in the bathroom and the music audible even over the sound of the shower. It sounds like one of his more upbeat playlists, which is a good thing. Even if he doesn’t say much, you can always tell his mood by what playlist he puts on. Tonight, it seems like he’s in a good mood despite the long day at work. Part of you hopes that you surprising him adds to the good mood. 

The water shuts off, leaving only the playlist as your background and you know you still have a little bit of time before he emerges. So, it’ll be perfect timing as nearly everything is ready again. You’re putting a plate together when he emerges from his bedroom in gym shorts and a t-shirt, wet hair still falling around his face. The smile on your face is instant.

“What?” he asks.

“You’re just beautiful,” you say, smile still bright.

“I must look exhausted,” he brushes off.

“Still beautiful,” you insist and delight in the way blush creeps up his neck. To save him from saying anything, you hand over a plate.

“Can’t believe you did this,” he mumbles softly.

“I thought you deserved a treat,” you say as you grab your own plate. 

“Just having you here is a treat,” he says, unusually sappy with you.

“So you don’t want the rest of the post-dinner treats I planned?” you ask innocently. 

“Didn’t say that,” he says, locking eyes with you.

“How early do you have to be in tomorrow?” you ask. 

“I have the day off,” he says.

“Don’t get too full, then. I’ve got plenty of surprises for you,” you say. 

hope you enjoyed it! let me know 💕

[lotusbxtch]

Sunlight

Song: Sunlight Character: Joel Miller

Pairing: Joel Miller x gn!Reader Summary: Joel Miller has avoided love, pushed it away at the first sight to stay in the darkness. But then he meets you, and he wonders if he was wrong after all. Word Count: 578 Rating: Mature, mentions of smut Warnings/tags: post-outbreak, takes place in Jackson, vague mentions of smut, angst, Joel hates feelings, everyone loves Reader, grumpy sunshine trope incoming, heavy use of Hozier lyrics, no use of y/n, not beta’d

a/n: This is my entry for @wannab-urs Hozier Drabble Challenge! This felt like the perfect pairing for the song, so thank you Gin! Hope I did it justice.

Ever since the outbreak, since losing Sarah, Joel has shunned the light of love of any kind. He preferred to stay in the cool, detached predictability of a life without it. It was dark, but it wasn’t dangerous for his heart. That was, until you showed up in Jackson.

A veritable ball of light, you charmed everyone in the settlement. Your bright smiles, cheerful demeanor, and deep kindness easily helped you become a pillar of the community. You helped out in any way you could, even if it was something on the more physical end, like construction. People asked you to teach them some of your hobbies: baking, knitting, painting. You helped every single one with a smile on your face. He knew you were nothing but goodness personified, and yet he shunned your light. He stayed cool and quiet, avoiding you just like he’d been doing for longer than he knew. Until one day, he witnessed your sunlight directed towards him.

It was a Sunday, and you’d snuck up on Joel on his porch late at night, strumming absentmindedly on his guitar, listening to the hum of night. Suddenly he heard “I didn’t know you played guitar!” come out from the dark bushes. He jumped slightly, startled, until you popped your head up, eyes shimmering with amusement. He sighed, disgruntled, and said, “Yeah, I don’t usually play for an audience.”

“How about an audience of one?” you suggested coyly, intertwining your fingers with each other, looking down and then back up at him expectantly but shyly. He searched your eyes, so bright. His defenses were screaming at him to be a jerk, to push you away as usual, but a small voice in him said, “play for them.” He swore it sounded just like Sarah. So he sighed, and situated the guitar in his arms. As he played, you slowly wandered up the steps to his porch, keeping your eyes locked on him the whole time. He finished the song and looked up, his breath catching in his throat. You had the most spellbound, enraptured look on your face.

“Joel,” you breathed, “that was so beautiful.”

He was at a loss for words, because he realized that for the first time, he was experiencing your sunlight for himself. He was lost to you, lost in your radiant sunlight, your bright effervescence of love and joy. And he realized he could not be without you for the rest of his life.

After that, he willingly drowned like a falling Icarus into the sea of your love, wax wings melting fast. He gorged himself on your light, drawn like a moth to the flame. You spent days in his bed over the next few weeks, the two of you unclothed most of the time, sighing and moaning and screaming in pleasure, learning about every cell in each other’s bodies. You bathed him in your sunlight, warming his weary bones, soaked in the cold rain of loneliness, bringing him back up to the surface. He let you crawl your way under his skin, living there, searing into his heart. Soon enough, you would rise with him each day, his home now also your home. 

He knew that love meant pain, meant hurt and suffering if it were ever taken away from him. But he was addicted to you, to your sunlight. He’d gladly put himself into a death trap for you, and he knew you’d do the same for him.

[khjswifey]

{Forever You Are My Star} [K.HJ]

Kim Hongjoong x Atiny!Reader

Idol Au, Long distance relationship au

After two long years of dating, you finally get to meet you boyfriend and at your favorite group's concert too! But hold on...the leaders voice sounds a bit familiar.

A/N: I hope you all enjoy my first fanfic! I want to continue this lil au, and possible make more for the other members! Let me know if you would be interested in that, Other than that:

Happy Reading!

Tags: @soobinshouseplant

𓂂 ♱⠀◌ ⠀◯ ⭑ ⸱ ៰ ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂 ♱⠀◌ • 𓂂 ♱⠀◌ ⠀◯ ⭑ ⸱ ៰ ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂 ♱⠀◌ •

“Hey Baby..”

“Hiii…”

A soft chuckle filtered through your phone speaker. 

“I’m sorry for calling you so late…”

“Joon, that’s completely fine, You know I stay up late anyways…”

You hear a sigh before he begins to talk again.

“Baby.?”

“Yeah?”

“You still live in (city name), right?”

“Yea, why do you ask?” You asked, curiosity/excitement lacing your tone. Your boyfriend chuckles at you, “Well, we’ll finally be able to meet!” You gasped in excitement, nearly falling off your bed.

You and your boyfriend, Joon, had been dating for about 2 years now, and yes it was a long distance relationship.

The two of you had met online through your art twitter. You did a lot of fanart of your favorite kpop group, Ateez, as well as tattoo ideas. The tattoo designs are what introduced you to your loving boyfriend.

He replied under one of your posts, interested in commissioning a design and it has been you and him against the world ever since. 

Yes, you don’t know how he looks, and he may have various different pictures of you, but you put all your trust in him and you highly doubted he was a catfish.

He always showered you with gifts, and always called you when he got the time to. He rarely showed his face, but you saw his desk and his work area.

You believed he was real and you were excited at the prospect of finally being able to meet him.

“I can tell you’re excited…” Joon started, “I am too..I can’t wait to hold you…” You felt your face heat up as you heard him mumble something in Korean under his breath. 

“What was that?”

“I said I can’t wait to hold you and have you whimpering underneath me, Jagi..”

You squealed in embarrassment as you slammed your phone on the bed. You heard him laughing at you before calling your name.

The two of you sat in silence for a little while after that, nothing but the soft clicking of your boyfriend's laptop coming through the speakers. He finally spoke up again with a little chuckle.

“Well…I bought you a concert ticket…” 

“Joon!”

“What? I thought it was a good idea since we both like concerts~!”

You only hummed in response, not having the time to argue with him tonight, your phone pinged and you sighed.

“I’ll see you in two days!”

“See you~”

Your phone hung up and you went to check your Ticketmaster account, your eyes widened,

You got the tickets! -

X1 Atiny VIP Ticket

My future husband: You’re welcome~

My future husband: I love you.

𓂂  ♱⠀◌  ⠀◯  ⭑ ⸱ ៰  ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂  ♱⠀◌ • 𓂂  ♱⠀◌  ⠀◯  ⭑ ⸱ ៰  ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂  ♱⠀◌ •

“Y/n, how do you know he will be there?’

“Don’t you think you’re being used..’

You groaned at your friend. “F/n. I don’t think a catfish would drop the money for this ticket like that. It was expensive.”

“So!? Maybe he’ll try to use a little money to kidnap you!”

You grew frustrated as you did your makeup. You had told F/n about what had happened and to make sure you were safe, she was coming along.

F/n was never supportive of your relationship, always judging you for ‘wasting’ your time on a dude that you are only just now meeting. But you also couldn’t blame her, girls did go missing when meeting their online boyfriends. But no matter how you tried to convince her, she wouldn’t listen to you. She didn’t even like Ateez! So she was basically wasting her money.

“What if he’s lying to you about his identity-”

“That’s enough, F/n!!” You yelled at her, finally snapping from the constant negative comments. “If you wanna come then come. But if you’re not going to shut the fuck up already!” 

F/n stared at you in shock. “How dare you? I’m trying to keep you from getting catfished!!” She yelled back and you rolled your eyes pushing past her, grabbing your bag. 

You got your keys and looked at her, “Find your own ride to the damn concert. Don’t bother being around me.” You said leaving her behind.

You were actually surprised she even still came to the concert. You glared at her and she gave you an apologetic look when she caught up to you. 

When you walked into (venue name), you beamed with excitement. Not only were you going to finally meet your boyfriend, you got to see your all time favorite kpop group!

It was refreshing to be around fellow Atiny, you chatted with several around you in the pit. You ended up getting real close from you leaving early. Your blood was pumping through your body when the lights finally dimmed. You screamed as you watched as the members of Ateez came onto the stage.

It felt unreal, it didn’t feel real at all. You couldn’t believe that you were finally here. A couple of songs had gone by when you finally found the time to let your boyfriend know where you were. But you were shocked to see a message from him around 2 years ago that simply said;

“Look at the stage.”

When you looked back up, you locked eyes with Kim Hongjoong, the leader of Ateez, your bias, your Ult bias to be exact. His eyes were locked on you as he introduced himself to the crowd. Your brain froze. 

When he spoke, his voice sounded familiar, and not just from you listening to music. No it was like you knew him on a personal level.

“F/n…” You said, capturing your friends' attention, concerned at your tone. “What’s wrong? Is it that boy?” She asked.

You looked back up to the stage, watching as Ateez prepared for their next set of songs.

“I think my boyfriend is the leader of Ateez..”

“...You mean as a joke right…?”

“....”

“...oh…”

𓂂  ♱⠀◌  ⠀◯  ⭑ ⸱ ៰  ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂  ♱⠀◌ • 𓂂  ♱⠀◌  ⠀◯  ⭑ ⸱ ៰  ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂  ♱⠀◌ •

“What do you mean you think your boyfriend is a member of Ateez!?” 

It was after the concert, and you were instructed by your boyfriend to meet him afterwards backstage. All you had to do was tell the security your name and they led you to where you were now.

F/n was very skeptical and was weary about leaving you alone, but after a while of convincing she finally left, making sure she had you added on Life360 just in case.

You stood there waiting, watching as various staff members worked around you. You were starting to think that he wasn’t going to come at all.

You looked down at your phone and sighed, turning to leave.

“Baby!” 

You whip around to find the owner of the voice, and lo and behold it was Kim Hongjoong. He was now dressed comfortably, makeup gone and a soft blush on his face with a lazy smile.

You smile wide and run up to him, nearly tackling him to the ground with a hug. He laughs and wraps his arms around you, holding you tightly as if you were going to vanish if he let go.

When he did let go, he pulled away a bit to place a kiss on your lips. You melted into his grasp only pulling away when you needed air from the male. 

The two of you looked at each other for a while. One half of you wanted to fight him for lying to you, but you knew he had his reasons, but the other was so happy that he was real and that he was not only your idol, but your lover.

“Hongjoongie…” You mumbled, hiding your face in his chest.

He chuckled as he held you close to him, “It’s so nice to hear you say my name…” He replied, finally pulling away.

When he did, he held your hands and swung them back and forth. He looked like a lovesick puppy, his eyes filled with love and adoration.

“Do you have anywhere else to go?...” 

“No not really…”

“Well…could you maybe come back with me?”

You giggle at his bashfulness, nodding. “Of course, You have a lot of explaining to do..”

Hongjoong smiles before pulling you along with him.

𓂂  ♱⠀◌  ⠀◯  ⭑ ⸱ ៰  ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂  ♱⠀◌ • 𓂂  ♱⠀◌  ⠀◯  ⭑ ⸱ ៰  ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂  ♱⠀◌ •

Hongjoong paid for your visit to his hotel room, not leaving until he made sure you were safely on your way.

When you got there, you finally got to meet the other members, it was surreal for you. Just yesterday you were catching up on missed content, laughing as you watched Ateez go about their antics. Now you are meeting them and apparently dating their leader.

To say you were nervous would be an understatement, you were nearly shitting bricks. 

But it actually went over well, Hongjoong introduced you to them one by one. You happily introduced yourself, shaking their hands until you got to Wooyoung, who had a smug grin.

“You’re really pretty. No wonder cap-” He was cut off by Hongjoong flinging something at him. You giggled at this as the rest of the evening with the boys went fine. It was spent with you explaining how you met Hongjoong, talking about how much you loved their music and how you really appreciated how nice they were being to him.

Later on, Hongjoong led you to his room, which you tilted your head at.

“I thought you guys shared rooms when you went on tour?”

“We do, the guys wanted to give us privacy though..”

You felt your face heat up as you walked over and flopped on the bed. Hongjoong then joined you, leaning his head on your stomach.

The two of you sat in silence for a while, basking in the silence before he spoke up.

“I’m sorry…” He started, moving to sit up, you moved to sit up at the head board. 

“Hon-”

“I’m sorry for not telling you who I was y/n…I was scared…” He admits and it hurt your heart with how he avoided eye contact. He sighed before finally turning to you.

“When I found out you were an Atiny..I got scared. I thought you were only gonna like me because of who I am on stage…” You watched him carefully as he continued. 

“I thought you weren’t gonna love me for me…So I hid it. It’s why I rarely showed my face when we talked. But when I saw your face…” Hongjoong reached over to cup your cheek, eyes misty. You felt your own tears welling up in your eyes, threatening to fall.

“Hongjoong…” You started moving closer to the male, your faces barely touching. “I’m in love with you…all of you…the Idol you and the normal you. Yes I may be an Atiny, but I love you. Not your career.” You say softly leaning on him. 

“I was worried…that you wouldn’t like me once you met me. That you would’ve thought I was a weirdo or that-mmph!” Your rant was cut off by Hongjoong kissing you, he pulled you into his arms, your eyes widened as he silenced you. They eventually fluttered closed as he deepened the kiss, only pulling away to hide his face in the crook of your neck.

“You’re always loved by me…I trust you y/n..”

A small smile ghosted across your features as the two of you stayed that way for a while.

You felt at peace knowing that you could now love both forms of him..

𓂂  ♱⠀◌  ⠀◯  ⭑ ⸱ ៰  ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂  ♱⠀◌ • 𓂂  ♱⠀◌  ⠀◯  ⭑ ⸱ ៰  ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂  ♱⠀◌ •

You were sad when you had to say goodbye to your boyfriend. One night was definitely not enough time for you to get all what you had to say to him off your chest.

And there was obviously a lot more that Hongjoong wanted to do, but that would have to wait for the next time you would meet.

So when you got home, you were watching through your concert footage when you got a notification.

‘Ateez_official_ has made a post’

You clicked it and felt your heart do a mini flip.

‘[#Hong_stagram] Forever you are my star ❤️’

It was a black and white picture of the two of you holding hands with the caption;

‘[#Hong_stagram] Forever you are my star <3’

𓂂  ♱⠀◌  ⠀◯  ⭑ ⸱ ៰  ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂  ♱⠀◌ • 𓂂  ♱⠀◌  ⠀◯  ⭑ ⸱ ៰  ͘ ࣭ ⠀𓂂  ♱⠀◌ •

[writercole]

on the note of scott wanting kids, how many would he realistically want/how much of a dealbreaker would it be for him if his partner didn’t want any/not as many? also that man would go CRAZY as a secret girl dad. like he would pretend to hate it but he would absolutely cave if she wanted him to do one of those stupid daddy daughter tik tok trends but do it with absolutely zero outward enthusiasm (he likes to feel needed so he’ll do it even if he never admits it). he’s so wrapped around her finger so his most said words now are “don’t tell your mother i let you do this.”

Realistically, he's got the picket fence dream - One boy, one girl. But he knows his life and his career are tough sells so no amount is a "deal breaker."

In the quartet, he's got all boys. But Scott as a girl dad? WATCH. OUT.

He shows up to work with neon pink fingernails and gives interns the death stare if they say anything.

Javi has 'blackmail' photos of him in tiaras and tutus at tea parties.

His heart breaks a little when she starts dating. She's no longer "Daddy's little girl" and he knows the eventuality of it. Two weeks later, she's crying in his arms because the boy broke up with her and he's silently vowing that he'll murder the kid.

Wifey talks him down, of course.

But that starts a post-breakup ritual. They go on a late night snack run for ice cream, chocolate, and stupid amounts of junk food. He listens to her rant and rave and cry. The next day, they go have a daddy-daughter day. Shopping, movies, facials, manicures, and, of course, dinner. He's the happiest he's ever been. His face remains stoney.

Then comes the tiktok phase. People learned from the nail polish not to mention it. Except Javi, who ribs him for being such a grinch about it and stealing the joy from the video. He accepts it, knowing that these moments with his daughter are special and he wouldn't trade them for anything. Especially when she begs him to do another because it got so much interaction.

The day he learns of her engagement, he is torn. His little girl is no longer a little girl. She doesn't need him anymore, not that she ever needed him to begin with. He won't know of her problems and he won't be given the opportunity to fix them.

But she's so happy, she's in love with this person, and there are no red flags that he can see.

Nothing changes between them. She still calls when she fights with her spouse. He still takes her out the next day. And while she's got someone to be there for her, she still needs her Dad when everything feels like it's falling apart. He can fix it. He always has.

Tagging my favorite Dad!Scott hoes again: @ryebecca @hederasgarden @a-reader-and-a-writer

[logan-lieutenant]

shoutout to @escapentropy for this post and the brainrot rpf spiral i went into immediately after <3

anyway here is the fic about logan’s appearance on an instagram story and how alex may or may not have felt about it

The spaces between the stars

George knew something was wrong as soon as he saw the story.

For one thing, it was two in the morning. Not an abysmal time for anyone to be on social media, just abysmal for Alex. George still thinks it’s hilarious that Alex has screen time limits on his phone like an internet-addicted teenager, but he’s listened to enough lectures about the detriments of blue light and sleep cycles to bring it up anymore. And anyway, it’s not like Alex is any more responsive during the day. Over a decade into their friendship, and Alex is one of the worst texters George has ever met. If Alex isn’t texting back at 2 am, he definitely isn’t engaging in the cesspool of the internet. That had been a red flag in and of itself.

The story itself had been an even bigger hint: camera pointed straight up, showing a slightly blurry close-up of the night sky. If it was a constellation, George hadn’t known it; there was no tag, no caption, nothing. There also hadn’t been a hint of a horizon line or any indication of where the picture had been taken, but George hadn’t needed one.

He calls Alex a few minutes after he’d gotten the notification, and of course Alex picks up immediately.

“Get off the roof,” George says in lieu of a greeting.

Alex doesn’t say anything for a bit, leaving an awkward, staticky murmur on the other end of the line. Finally, he protests sheepishly, “I’m not on the roof.”

“You are,” George insists. “Don’t fuck with me. You’re at that little deck with the telescope and plants that no one’s watered in a month, and you’re not supposed to be there.”

Alex makes a sound halfway between a scoff and a laugh. “Would you believe me if I told you I finally paid for roof access?”

“No.”

Alex laughs again, but his voice sounded jagged and painful, rough around the edges.

“Come on,” George prompts. “You hate breaking rules. You only go up there when you’re stressed about something.”

“That’s…” Alex tries to begin, then trails off.

“Did you only post that star story cause you knew I would see it?”

The silence is enough of an answer.

George sighs. “Get off the roof. I’m coming over.”

“Really?” Alex’s voice is timid, almost a whisper. He sounds weak, like all the wind has been knocked out of him and he hasn’t had time to recover.

It hurts George just to listen to. “Yes, really. Someone needs to make sure you don’t engage in more criminal activity.”

“Fine, I’ll get off the roof!”

When Alex opens the door, he looks exactly how he’d sounded on the phone.

“Mate, you look terrible,” George informs him.

Alex rolls his eyes, then steps aside to let George in. “Thanks. Your commentary is always appreciated.”

George ignores the back talk. “Have you slept at all?”

Alex knots his fingers in his hair and pulls distractedly. He shrugs his shoulders, looking like he’s trying to curl into himself. “It’s not that late.”

“It’s late for you.” George steps forward and takes Alex by the shoulders, forcing him to stay still. “Alex.”

Alex struggles to meet his gaze. There are shadows under his eyes. Even under George’s hands he’s trying to fidget, shifting his weight, hands twitching at his sides.

“I didn’t come here to listen to you lie to me. You basically sent up the bat signal.”

That gets a laugh, Alex playfully trying to shrug George away. “Right. I forgot. You’re the British Batman. Who gets summoned by… stars.”

“You’re making me sound so poetic.” George claps him on the shoulder and pushes him gently in the general direction of the couch. “Sit down. I’m making us tea, and then you’re going to tell me what’s bothering you.”

“Is that an order?”

George looks over his shoulder at Alex’s smirk. “You know what? For old time’s sake, yes.” He finds a small stuffed cat toy on the counter and throws it at him.

When George brings in the tea, Alex is already surrounded by cats.

George laughs at the sight, Alex leaned back into the couch with two cats fighting for space on his lap and another draped lazily in some anatomically incorrect position over the armrest. “They gonna make room for me?” he asks, holding out one of the mugs.

Alex sits up straighter to take it, and one of the cats flicks its ears haughtily and strolls across the room.

“Your presence offends her,” Alex explains. “So yes.”

“I’m heartbroken.” A friendlier cat nuzzles George’s hand; he scratches it behind the ears. “You gonna tell me why you went up there?”

Alex looks away from him, slowly chewing his lower lip. He stares at the wall as if the picturue frames will tell him what to say. George waits patiently.

“Well, I should definitely stop,” Alex says at last, trying to laugh at himself. It falls flat quickly and he gives up. “I got in trouble for it, once, a few years ago. I think it belongs to only the top floor, not the whole building…” He boops one cat on the tip of the nose and it wrinkles up its face, swiping a paw over its eyes. He smiles at it. “Anyway, it’s one of the highest places in Monaco. You can see the stars better there than anywhere else– that I’ve found, at least… I don’t know, it just, it feels really peaceful up there. It helps me think clearly.”

George knows he’s not being given the whole story; Alex knows it too. George sips at his tea and says nothing. Alex doesn’t like silence; the longer George stays quiet, the more Alex will say just to fill the void. It’s not a very nice tactic, but letting Alex deflect and ramble and run away from his feelings isn’t helpful either.

Alex drinks his tea, pulling his sleeves over his hands and holding the mug close to his chest. “And I’ve got good memories, too… not like, that roof in particular– just, stars in general, I guess. That sounds stupid. Everyone has–”

“What’s the memory?” George asks softly.

Alex looks over at him then. He doesn’t say it out loud, but the gratitude is plain on his face, the shine in his eyes. Then he casts his eyes back down to the cats. “Last Christmas,” he begins “they did this video thing with me and Logan, just a bunch of questions, you know…” He waves a hand vaguely. “This interview thing. It was so silly, I don’t even remember a whole lot of it. But the thing way, the setup they chose was like this tiny inn in the middle of nowhere– I mean nowhere. And by the time we were done shooting it was night, because of course it was, and I remember we stepped out and there were just so many stars.”

Alex tilts his head back and looks at the ceiling, like if he reaches far enough into the memory he can bring the stars back with him. He takes a deep breath. “Y’know. Because there was less light pollution…”

“Yeah, so much gets washed out in the city,” George offers.

Alex nods. “Exactly. And I’ve been in like, less bright areas before, it had just been a while since I’d been able to see that many. And I remember I looked over at Logan cause I was gonna say something, like ‘Holy shit, it looks like we’re in space’… and he was just.” Alex stops, swallows heavily. He looks back into his tea, breathes out, watches the surface ripple. Then he leans over and places the tea, barely touched, on a side table. He rubs at his eyes and tries to pass it off as scratching an itch; George doesn’t call him out.

“He was just looking up at the sky,” Alex continues, voice softening with nostalgia, “and… and there was this expression on his face like I’d never seen before. He just looked so, like… fascinated. Enchanted.” He laughs a little, eyes far-away, and tucks his feet under him. One of his cats meows frustratedly at the change of position before settling down again. “I mean, he looked like a little kid. Like he’d never seen a night sky before, just smiling up at it… And I think I probably teased him in the moment. ‘Do they not have stars in America’, or… something.”

George feels a cat pawing at his shins and sits back. The cat jumps into his lap and turns to stare attentively at Alex. Even the animals are drawn in by the story, the way the emotions in Alex’s voice have started to fill the room like morning fog.

“But I kind of wish I hadn’t,” Alex adds, shuddering, “because I thought back after and I realized I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d seen him that happy.” His hand, in the middle of stroking a cat, falls limply to his side. “Relaxed. Not for the cameras, not playing anything off. There was just this moment where he was genuinely just happy about something. And I didn’t figure this out until later, but… I think it hit me so hard because I realized I hadn’t thought I was ever gonna see him like that again. Like, the season had been so tough for us, and especially toward the end it was really dragging him down, and I just sort of expected that. The way he used to look at everything like, no light in his eyes. Gone.”

George says quietly, “He never looked at you like that.”

Alex shoots his gaze over, focus sharpening to a razor-point. “Don’t,” he chokes out in a wavering, inflamed voice. “I’ve told you. You can’t make me… think like that.”

George puts down his tea so he can shift closer to Alex. “Mate, I’m just saying the facts. We’re in the same paddock. I know you know him better, but the rest of us aren’t blind. This season, when you two are together… he looks at you like–”

Alex puts his hand up.

George sits back, spreading his palms. “Okay,” he says quietly. “Too far?”

“Sorry.” Alex sniffles, then tries to hide it with a cough. “It’s just–” He nudges a cat off his lap so he can pull his phone out of his pocket. He scrolls through a couple photos until he pauses on a screenshot, then reaches out and shows it to George. “Have you seen this?”

George looks at the picture. “Not the original. I’ve seen it reposted, though.”

It’s the last thing Logan’s posted on his story, shared from someone named Zack Justice (George doesn’t know if he’s supposed to recognize that name) and it’s a picture of Logan. Playing golf.

The sun is shining. The sky is a perfect, picturesque blue. The green stretches on to the horizon, unbroken color that contrasts elegantly with the sky above. The horizon line is right at the halfway point of the image. It couldn’t be more aesthetic.

Logan isn’t too close to the camera, but he’s still recognizable. He’s also not wearing blue.

Alex takes back the phone but doesn’t turn it off. He stares at the photo, glassy-eyed, blue light throwing stark shadows across his face. His expression is lethargic, unreadable, but George has known Alex long enough to tell when he’s spiraling into his own thoughts.

Carefully, he takes the phone form Alex’s hand and flips it face-down onto the couch. An additional cat, seemingly from nowhere, plops onto the couch and sits between them, covering the phone with its tail.

Alex smiles, gentle and hurt. “Point taken.” He looks at his lap and twists his fingers together until another cat head-butts his hands. “This was the first sign of, like, anything. Sign of life, I guess. Since the… since Tuesday.”

“You haven’t talked since then?”

Alex shakes his head, and the motion is abrupt, almost violent. “Every message I send turns green, I… I think he blocked me.” His voice is almost completely shattered, words thick and effortful.

George doesn’t say anything. He just reaches over and rests his hand on Alex’s shoulder.

Alex finally loooks back at him and clasps George’s hand between both of his own.

“You miss him,” George murmurs.

Whatever chains Alex had been wrapping around himself snap and the tears fall like a storm. Dark and churning and unforgiving. He’s silent when he cries, teeth gritted, shoulders shaking.

George squeezes his hand, and Alex squeezes back. He’s clutching hard enough to hurt, but George doesn’t pull away.

Alex takes a deep breath and coughs on the exhale. He speaks like his voice cuts his throat on the way out. “He’s happier now, I think… I mean, he got away from it all. He got out.”

“It wasn’t you he was trying to get away from,” George insists fiercely. “He needs space.”

“Fucking hell, I know he needs space,” Alex spits out, voice rising. George tugs on his hands a little, shaking him, and Alex forces himself to take a deep breath. “But I need him.”

George stays very still.

He has to choose his next words carefully. He’s known about Alex’s feelings for months, had his suspicions long before that. He’s the only one who does, because Alex wouldn’t trust anyone else with the secret. He’d told George that, point-blank. And George had kept his word, obviously.

He’d worried for Alex, though. Has been whole time. Between Williams and Logan there was a ticking time bomb, and if George could’ve saved Alex from the shrapnel he would have. But hopes that it was just a phase, that it was just temporary infatuation that would fade over time, were dashed quickly. Whatever Alex felt was serious, and it was going to get him seriously hurt.

After the one confession they had barely spoken about it– not in explicit terms, anyway. As the 2024 season staggered on, their conversations started edging closer to the subject. Any mention of Logan was entangled with references and hints and what had practically become a code between them, all so Alex didn’t have to look the truth in the face. George wished it wasn’t happening; he wished his friend wasn’t setting himself up for heartbreak like this. But it wouldn’t have been fair to tell Alex to change and George would never hurt him like that anyway.

But this night, Alex’s talent for sidestepping reality is dead and buried. He’s hurt and he’s lost and his vulnerable, so George won’t say his own truth:

This was doomed from the start.

You’ve let yourself be hurt by things out of your control.

You can’t race with your head like this.

You need to move on.

Instead he only says, “He’ll come back to you.”

Alex releases one hand to nudge a cat closer to his chest. He lowers his head, voice muffled by the fur. “I wish I could believe you.”

[bakedbakermom]

Enough.

Rated X / 4800 words / tagging @today-in-fic @ao3feed-msr / posted on ao3

Summary: Dana Scully has had enough.

Author's Note: This is the first fanfic I have written, in this or any other fandom, for almost 20 years. It felt great to stretch the old muscles, and I hope you enjoyed it. Comments will be printed, laminated, and hung on the wall <3

_________

God, I only meant to kiss him, Scully thought, gasping, before Mulder’s tongue swirled around her nipple and she lost the ability to think.

And it was true - thoughts of kissing Mulder had been brewing deep in her core for weeks, crowding out her ability to think of much else. She had found herself watching his mouth when she should have been listening to his words, and feeling vaguely envious of everything that touched his lips. He brought them some truly terrible vending machine coffee during an all-nighter at a crummy hotel in the midwest, and the way his tongue had toyed with the little opening on the lid as he waited for it to cool made her thighs clench. In yet another rental car on yet another nameless backroad, she watched his jaw work as he split the shells of his favorite sunflower seeds, wondering how that sharp tongue that worked them so deftly open would feel in her own mouth, if he would taste of salt and beer. He licked barbecue sauce from his fingers at an all-night diner in the middle of nowhere, his tongue swirling around tips, and she had nearly choked on her iced tea.

Oh yes, thoughts of kissing Mulder had been occupying her more and more. And from the way he would catch her eye, sending her an almost imperceptible smirk each time he saw her watching, he knew exactly the effect he was having on her. She kept waiting for him to stop being such a gentleman, to take that first bold step the way he so often did. But each time she felt that line rising up to be crossed, he pulled away.

And Dana Scully had had enough.

She’d decided tonight, as she rode up the elevator for one of their not-a-date-nights that had become their post-case norm of late, that she was ready - or more accurately, that she was so far past ready that she might actually die if she didn’t kiss him soon. She brought wine - nothing too fancy, nothing that would be out of place in the mismatched glasses he kept in the cabinet, but a step up from the usual ales and lagers they usually shared. And she wore a soft v-neck sweater cut just a tad lower than she would usually wear, the better to show off the enticing cleavage her new bra presented. 

When she had slipped into the matching panties, she had very firmly told herself it was simply a personal preference for symmetry, and not any sort of statement about where this desperately-needed kiss would lead.

From the moment he popped Tarantula into the VCR (for the fourth time, “It’s a classic, Scully!”), she had begun planning her move. She drained her first glass of wine faster than she should have, before he’d even finished making the popcorn, letting the liquid courage percolate through her system. He settled in beside her with a large bowl in his lap, loaded with butter and salt just how she likes it, just the way he’s talked her into liking it; and she eased herself slowly closer to him on the worn leather couch until the heat of his thigh pressed against her own. By the time Leo G. Carrol’s assistant went up in flames, she was nestled quite cozily against him. She watched him from the corner of her eye, and saw with some satisfaction that he was watching her as well. 

She had never let herself get quite this close to him before, or at least not without some life-threatening context. (Except for that time on the baseball diamond, when she thought maybe this was it, but he had done nothing more than flirt and hit pop-flies and leave her flushed and frustrated).

But there were no invisible forest men now, no cultists armed with rifles, no bees or beasts or black-suited thugs. Just them, and a cheesy sci-fi movie, and a bowl of popcorn in his lap so that each time she reached for a handful she was acutely aware of just what lay beneath it; with each bite he would slowly lick the salt from his lips, and something in her heart would sputter. She had the sudden sense he was doing it on purpose - that he knew exactly what she was thinking, and as always, their minds were traveling down the same road together.

When the giant spider crested the dry scrubby hills surrounding Desert Rock, Arizona, to devour the hero, he had draped his arm across the back cushions, the very picture of a nervous teenager at the drive-in. She took the chance to move more closely still, the heat and the scent of him nearly overwhelming. Her heartbeat seemed to thrum through every inch of her body, and she felt certain he could feel it through her skin. She had stopped watching the screen entirely, unable to concentrate on anything but the pounding of her heart and the body of the man beside her. When she couldn’t stand it another second, she took one last breath for courage, turned in the circle of his arm, and tilted up to press her mouth to his.

The first brush of their lips was tentative, soft, toe-curlingly tender and if he tasted like wine and popcorn instead of seeds and beer, well, she was absolutely not complaining. When his tongue brushed against her lower lip, she opened for him, and the way his tongue slid into her mouth felt like coming home. Scully had thought that it would be enough just to kiss him, just  to sit together on the creaking leather of his old couch, under the warm, scratchy weight of the Navajo blanket he kept there more for her sake than for his, and languidly lap at the font of his mouth until morning. 

What she hadn’t anticipated, but in hindsight should have known based on years of observing his oral fixation, was that Fox Mulder would be an absolutely amazing kisser. He was slow and exploratory and unrelenting, running his tongue along her teeth and her lips and the roof of her mouth as if he could read her desires written there in braille. He nibbled at her lower lip and suckled at the upper and still she really could have just kissed, just necked him like a teenager for hours, until he cupped her jaw with one wide hand and his thumb brushed against the pulse point in her throat and she whimpered. Actually whimpered, a wholly unexpected, desperate, animal sound that she would have found utterly embarrassing had he not answered with a soft growl that reverberated down her throat and straight into her pelvis, and it was all bets off from there.

A whirl of hands and mouths and somehow she is lying half beneath him, his shirt gone and her sweater pushed up and that pretty new bra pulled down to expose one rosey-peaked breast to the dual pleasures of his hand and his mouth. When her knee brushes against his growing erection, he bites her nipple just hard enough to make her gasp. He chuckles into her skin and looks up to meet her eyes, delighted to find her pupils blown out with lust and her cheeks turning a beautiful shade of pink. Her fingers curl in his hair and pull; he releases her nipple with a sinfully wet pop and crashes his mouth into hers with a force that clacks their teeth together.

He rolls her over his body until she’s straddling him, heat blooming everywhere they touch. The soft springy hairs of his chest tickle her oversensitive skin, and he runs his hands from her shoulders, down the fine curve of her waist to grip and knead at the firm flesh of her ass. She scratches her nails across the broad plains of his shoulders - softly at first, then more firmly when he hums his assent into her mouth. The muscles of his back flex beneath her hands, and his whole body shudders as she moves them to his front, his nipples pebbling beneath her touch.

He pulls her down against him and presses up at the same time, trying to find some relief for the near-painful ache in his groin. She moans into his mouth and he does it again, and she arches against him in pleasure.

Mulder uses this distraction to pull her top off all the way, unclasping her bra with one hand and bringing his mouth back to her breast before the fabric has even hit the floor. She writhes above him, panting and gasping as he learns the right combination of lips, teeth, and tongue to make her shudder. Always such a curious mind, single-focused and driven, now turned to uncovering the mysteries of her body, and she revels in being the object of his obsession.

“I want you, Scully,” he whispers as he moves to the other breast. She arches into his mouth but doesn’t answer.

He stills, eyes wary, that lost little boy inside peeking through. Waiting for rejection, waiting for her to say it was all a mistake and walk away. With their height difference, their eyes are level now even with her straddling his lap. He brushes a lock of hair out of her eyes and gently thumbs her cheekbones. The sadness in his voice is palpable.  “Do you want to stop?” 

She shakes her head just slightly, her brows knitting together and her mouth moving into a particular smirk that, in the complex language of Scully Microexpressions, means I need a second to find the right words. His hands skim along her sides, walking the line between comforting, tickling, and arousing. It takes a few deep breaths before she remembers how to speak; the last one comes out on a shudder as she presses her lips to his forehead. 

The credits are rolling on the TV across the room, the monster immolated and the town safe; shadows flicker over their faces as she looks into his eyes, unsurprised to find a sheen of unshed tears there that matches her own. She had thought that meeting his gaze after they had kissed - or, more accurately, after he had her nipple in his mouth and his erection pressing against her - might be awkward, but like everything else between them the last seven years, it somehow feels natural. They’re stepping across this line together.

“I don’t want to stop, Mulder,” she whispers, nuzzling along his nose, “I’ve just been thinking about kissing you for so long, I never really let myself think about what might come after.”

“Mmm,” he hums into her skin, peppering her face with kisses before moving down her neck and along her collarbone. “Good thing I have.”

“Oh?” Her eyebrow lifts; he can hear it in her voice even though his face is buried in her hair.

“Often, and in great detail.” His lips find that same pulse point, right where her jaw meets her throat, and he grins as her thighs squeeze his. One hand cups the back of her head, tilting her this way and that so his mouth can reach every possible inch of skin; the other hand comes up to her breast, kneading and rolling. She is soft and pliant above him, allowing him to explore, making soft sounds each time he finds a sensitive spot, and his profiler’s mind is tucking each one away for later.

“Tell me,” she pants as he presses a kiss to the hollow of her throat. She slips her hand between them and presses her palm against the thick ridge of his erection, grinning as he moans into her skin. “Show me.”

"Christ, Scully. Where should I begin?" Mulder presses another kiss to her lips, so soft and tender she forgets how to breathe for a moment. He sips at her like fine wine, savoring each taste of her tongue, her lips, the ivory ridge of her teeth. By the time he pulls back she is shivering, aching to see what happens next.

"There is one thing I fantasize about quite frequently," he husks close to her ear. The scratch of his stubble is intoxicating. "I can't stop wondering what you taste like." He reaches between them to cup her, hot and throbbing, through her slacks, and her blushing nod is the only answer she can manage.

All she can do is moan in anticipation as he leans her slowly back, supporting the full weight of her in his arms, until her shoulders come to rest on the arm of the couch, his body nestled hard and hot between her trembling thighs. 

She will never again be able to smell leather without remembering this moment.

He kisses his way down her body with a slow deliberation that borders on agonizing, nipping and sucking and licking every inch he can reach. When his tongue swirls into the dip of her navel she nearly cries with pleasure. He runs his teeth over the ridge of her hip bones as he parts the zipper on her slacks. His mouth leaves her body only long enough to shuck the pants to the floor, and then he is nosing along the hem of her panties. 

"Fuck, Scully, I can smell you." He runs his fingers over the lacy fabric, scraping his nails along the gusset until she shakes. "You're so wet, you're soaking through."

With anyone else she might have felt embarrassed, but Mulder's words only enflame her further. She rolls her hips, shamelessly rubbing herself against him. "Please," she pants, "please touch me."

He laughs darkly, continuing to run his fingers slowly up and down the length of her slit, and rubs his stubble against the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. He licks her, once, over the lace, and she bucks desperately towards his mouth. “Easy there, G-woman,” he murmurs, pressing her back down with one firm hand on her hip. “I’m living my dream, here.”

She laughs, a short huff that eases some of the tension in her gut, and tries to relax into his ministrations. He smiles as she softens beneath him, and rewards her by sliding one long finger under the sheer scrap of fabric, just barely grazing her entrance. “So wet,” he says again. 

He looks up to see that her eyes have fluttered closed. “Look at me,” he says, and when she finds enough will to meet his eyes, he lifts his finger, glistening with her wetness, into his mouth and sucks deeply. "You're just as sweet as I imagined."

“Fuck,” she whimpers, and knows she is dripping. “More. Please.”

Apparently he renders her monosyllabic.

“How much do you love these?” he asks, appraising the delicate lace, the tiny stitches along the seams.

“Not at all. Hate them. Please.” She is gasping, writhing, and when he rips her panties off she nearly keens with pleasure.

He stares at her for so long she begins to feel nervous, and a flush creeps up her chest and floods her cheeks. He takes in the auburn thatch of curls between her thighs, the dark pink swell of her labia, the tiny freckles sprinkled across the creamy expanse of her skin. He drags his fingers down the length of her slit, marveling at the way her lower lips spread for him, at the moisture leaking from her sweet little cunt. “Beautiful,” he breathes.

“Mulder,” she huffs, squirming, “if you don’t quit staring and touch me soon, I’m going to shoot you. Again.”

A quick grin and then his mouth is on her, his tongue lapping at the entrance to her sex, and the first brush of his lips over her clit nearly sends her over the edge. 

If the way he kissed her felt obsessive, he eats her out with something that borders on worship.

He slides one long finger inside her, then another, curling them against her front wall until he finds the spot that makes her gush and shake around him. He flicks his tongue over the hardened nub of her clitoris - slow, fast, gentle, hard - and she fists her hands in his hair when it’s just the right combination. He presses the hood back with his thumb and suckles directly on the little bundle of nerves; her belly coils tight with pleasure and she manages to gasp, “Yes, there, I’m so close, oh -” before she can’t make sense anymore.

He swirls and suckles on her clit, pumping gently in and out with his fingers, and experimentally runs his little finger down her perineum to brush gently over the tight pucker of her asshole. She shudders and her whimpers reach a new, higher pitch. He hums his satisfaction into her dripping sex, and that’s all it takes - she is gone, shaking and gasping and making strangled little cries that might be his name.

Mulder continues to lap tenderly at her sex as she comes down, riding out tremors and trembles until she is heavy-limbed and boneless beneath him. Her smile looks almost drunken as she cards her fingers through his hair. “Good, Scully?” he asks, pressing a kiss to her inner thigh.

She nods and hums, riding a cloud of oxytocin. He eases out from between her legs; her smile begins to fade into confusion until he slides one arm beneath her knees and the other behind her back, lifting her easily, and carries her down the hall to his bedroom.

His sheets are softer than she had expected, as if he had been hoping for company; she wonders if this is the first time he has prepared a bed for them, how many movie nights he has slept alone on these soft sheets after the door snicked shut behind her without so much as a kiss. The thought strikes a surprisingly sad chord in her heart.

The bed dips as he settles in beside her, and she curls into his open arms with a happy sigh. “A girl could get used to this,” she murmurs, pressing a kiss to his bare chest.

“I sure hope she does,” he answers.

She drapes one of her legs over his and - “Oh.” She lifts the sheet and sees he somehow still has his jeans on, and is still sporting a rather impressive tent. “You appear to be overdressed,” she teases.

“Don’t worry about me, Scully. This has already been so much more than I -”

She puts a finger over his lips and shoots him one of her more serious looks. “Mulder. Shut up.”

And, for perhaps the first time in his life, he does.

Scully’s legs are still a little weak as she climbs on top of him, rubbing herself shamelessly over the bulge in his pants. She’s wet again already and hungry for him in a way she hasn’t felt in years. Her hair falls around them in an amber curtain as she leans down to kiss him, long and slow and deep. He’s grinning like an idiot by the time she pulls away, and she decides that looking down on Mulder may be her new favorite place to be. 

She grinds down harder with her hips, the seam of his jeans pressing right where she wants it the most. He moans, trying not to buck beneath her and throw off her rhythm. He has to clench his fists in the sheets. She’s making a wet spot on his pants; he’ll have to wash them - and the sheets, and the couch - in the morning, but he couldn’t care less about any of that because Scully’s breasts are bouncing just in front of his face and she is writhing on top of him like an animal in heat. He reaches for her hips, trying to get just a little more pressure, but she grabs his wrists and holds them down.

“Nuh-uh,” she huffs. “You made me beg. Now it’s your turn.” She waits until he stops trying to lift his hands, then rakes her nails down his chest, leaving little streaks of pink in their wake.

“Fuck, Scully,” he moans, throwing his head back and thrusting up with his hips, which only makes her lift herself away. “I don’t know how much of this I can take.”

She only casts him a wicked grin before lowering her mouth to his, plunging her tongue deep inside and moaning. He is the first to break away, gasping for breath, and she waits for his eyes to find hers before she leaves a trail of hot, wet kisses down the length of his torso. He is not as sensitive as she had been, though he does jump when she runs her tongue across the firm plains of his stomach. She finds the fine trail of dark hair beneath his navel and nips and sucks her way down it until it ends at the waist of his pants.

He expects her to undo the fly and pull them off, but instead she rubs her cheek against the stiff bulge of his cock, as if to mark it with her scent. She catches his eye again, to make sure he is watching, and then runs her tongue slowly over the full length of it. She can taste herself on the fabric and is surprised at how erotic it is.

“God, Scully. Please.”

“Mmm,” she hums against him and thumbs open the button on his fly. “Begging. I see the appeal.” She slides one hand under the waistband and scratches through the coarse hair just above his cock.

“I would get on my knees but I think something might break off.”

“Then allow me.”

She kneels between his legs, pulling down his zipper and shimmying his soft jeans down the length of his legs. She has a moment to wonder at the fact that he doesn’t appear to be wearing any boxers - does he go commando in general these days, or, like the sheets, was he hoping for something to happen tonight? - and then her eyes land on his cock and she forgets how to think.

She’s seen him naked before, of course, but always under the guise of a medical professional. Glimpsing his body while treating injury or disease is one thing. Never has she seen him hard, and now faced with the full monty - or rather, the full Mulder - she is only slightly more impressed than intimidated. She takes him in her hand, pumping up and down slowly, and a small bead of precum leaks from the purple tip. Her heart jumps, her mouth begins to water, and she licks her lips as she realizes it’s all for her.

“Oh Christ, don’t do that,” he moans, eyes glued to her mouth. “I’m trying to be cool here.” So of course she stares into his eyes, parts her lips, and then very slowly runs her tongue in a full circle around them.

He’s about to say something else but it cuts off with a gurgle when she takes him into her mouth. He’s too big to take in too deeply just yet, but she licks the tip of him like an ice cream cone, her tongue moving in lazy circles as she pumps him languidly with one hand. The other comes up beneath to cup the soft weight of his balls. He is salty and tangy and strangely sweet, and she moans as the taste of him floods her senses. She is so aroused it’s almost painful, and she wishes she had a third hand so she could touch herself as she sucks him. She takes him deeper, surprised at how much she enjoys this - the twitching of his thighs as he tries not to thrust, the way he is moaning her name between strings of curse words, the startling way his cock bumps against the back of her throat.

She’s just beginning to wonder if she can relax her throat enough to swallow him further down when Mulder’s hands land suddenly in her hair, pulling her mouth away from him with a wet and undignified slurping sound. “Hey,” she protests, donning an exaggerated and teasing pout. Her mouth and chin glisten with a mix of saliva and precum. “I was enjoying that.”

He sits up and slides his fingers between her legs. “I can tell,” he says, circling her clit and making her gasp. “And don’t get me wrong, I was too. But…”

He pulls her up the length of his body until she is nestled in his lap, her thighs braced on either side of his and his cock only inches from the wet heat of her cunt. “Please, Scully.”

“More begging?,” she purrs as she takes him in her fist again. She shifts so she can rub the tip of him between her wet and swollen folds until he moans. She positions him right against her entrance, his tip just barely inside. “Is this what you want?” she pants. For all the playfulness in her voice, she is trembling with want, and shudders as she feels herself dripping around him.

“Yes,” he hisses into her ear, crushing her tight against him and pressing his hips up. He slips another inch inside her. “Fuck me, Scully, please.” Another small thrust, another inch of her clenching around him.

Enough teasing, she decides. Enough begging. Enough waiting.

She doesn’t trust her voice not to break, so she only nods and kisses him as if she could devour him whole.

She slides down onto him slowly, adjusting to the width of him until he is buried to the hilt. They are both shaking now, their panting breaths a humid cloud between them. A long moment passes before she can move, before her body can handle the way he stretches and fills her. She is slow and deliberate, rising until he nearly slips from her body, then easing down to grind her clit against his pelvis. Waves of pleasure wash through her with each stroke, and she drops her head to his shoulder, overwhelmed.

He reaches down to cup her ass, spreading her wide and taking some control over her motion. They moan in unison as he begins to thrust in counterpoint to the slow roll of her hips.

It doesn’t take long before Scully begins to feel the flame of another orgasm kindle deep in her belly. The moan that comes from her throat belongs to another woman, one who is wild and wanton and apparently capable of coming more than once in a night; and oh how she wants to be that woman.

“Mulder,” she pants, “I need - I’m -” Another moan, and the coil inside her tightens further, closing off her ability to speak.

He understands, he always understands, licking his thumb and then sliding it between their sweating bodies to press hard against her clit. “Fuck, yes, Scully,” he says as she grinds down on his hand. “I want to feel you come.”

His mouth seeks out that same damn spot on her neck that started this whole thing, sucking and nibbling with the same rhythm of his thumb circling her clit. “Come for me, Scully,” he growls into her skin, and then bites down hard enough to bruise.

She shatters around him, bucking her hips wildly against him and muffling her cries of “Mulder, oh God, Mulder,” into his shoulder until she is hoarse. He tumbles over the edge right behind her, hot and pulsing, and the feel of his cock twitching as he fills her with his cum is nearly enough to set her off again.

They stay entwined for a long time, shudders passing back and forth between them, until their sweat cools and their mingled fluids begin to leak onto his thighs. 

Mulder leans back first, brushing damp hair from her face so he can look into her eyes. “Hey.”

Her answering smile is almost bashful, but there’s not an ounce of regret in it. “Hey.”

“So. Wine. Fancy underwear. That sweater.”

“No boxers,” she counters. “Clean, soft sheets?”

She quirks an eyebrow, he tilts his chin and smiles.

And just like that they are themselves, again, still, always, but now with a new layer of togetherness to explore. He moistens a washcloth in the bathroom sink and tenderly cleans them both, and they curl up on the soft - if rumpled and damp - sheets together.

They do not share “I love you”s. Not tonight. Not yet. But they both feel it in the brush of the other’s fingers, taste it in the tenderness of the last kiss they share before falling asleep together.

And that is enough.

[yundeongie]

die for you - p.sh

paring; park seonghwa x fem reader

word count; 2.2k

synopsis; seonghwa would do anything for you and so would you, if not even more.

genre; mafia!au, angst, the tiniest amount of fluff

warnings; depictions of violence, guns, major injuries

note; hi! so this is my first time posting on tumblr and hopefully i can post more if you guys liked and enjoyed this one-shot! i was very inspired to finish this when i was listening to the weeknd albums and especially the die for you remix, if you couldn’t tell :) i originally wanted to post this story in time for seonghwa’s birthday but tumblr was kinda acting up on me, especially cause of the whole new user thing (i wasn’t seeing it in the tags so i kinda panicked). praying it shows up!

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟ

“Don’t you ever get scared being with me?”

You chuckled softly, turning away from the book you read to face the man you love, “Who says that I don’t?” You close the book and walk towards Seonghwa, sitting on his lap and wrapping your arms around his neck. “But that doesn’t take away the fact that I love you.”

Seonghwa had never felt contempt in life before. Growing up, he was born into the mafia life and his father always made sure to let him know that he’ll be taking over his empire if anything was to happen to him and that’s exactly what happened. Being sixteen at the time and personally seeing his own father get assassinated by rivals was not something he had wished to see. Seonghwa had always loathed his father for being a part of the mafia and for forcing him to take part in those activities.

He was always told to never trust anyone, which is why he is the way that he is today. Cold, calculating, ruthless, heartless, basically all the words you could associate with a person like him. 

Until he met you. 

It’s cliche, but you were the exact opposite of him. Caring and affectionate. Whenever you could you would volunteer at different animal shelters and orphanages, you worked at a private nursing home. You were basically heaven and Seonghwa was hell.

One night after a long shift you were walking home when you heard some noises in the alleyway. Normally people would run away but you had too nice of a conscience to just ignore it and that’s when you found Seonghwa, laying almost half dead in his own pool of blood. And ever since then, Seonghwa swore his life to make you his and to protect you no matter what.

You weren’t stupid either, you knew what Seonghwa did but you love the man. You knew the dangers that came with being his lover, but the moment you entered his life you knew there was no way out other than death.

“What are you thinking about?” You lightly tap his nose, face scrunching up in the process. Seonghwa lets out a sigh whilst shaking his head and smiling, “Nothing much, but my thoughts are always filled with you.”

“Stop! That’s so cringy.” You giggled, covering your mouth.

“Well, it’s not cringe if it's fact, sweetheart.” Seonghwa pulls you closer to him and plants a gentle kiss on your cheek, as he pulls away you both make eye contact and Seonghwa’s eyes are warm as he looks at you with endearment, “I’m so glad I met you.”

"I do too." You softly smile, tapping his shoulder whilst getting up, “Do you want something to drink? I’ll make you some tea hmm?”

“That’ll be nice, thank you.”

As you head away, Seonghwa refocuses his attention on the stacks of papers and folders on his desk. Lately, the organisation has been seeing some fluctuation in sales and finances, nothing could explain this except for a mole within the organisation. Seonghwa was frustrated to the point where he threw some of the papers on the ground. His head was resting on top of his hands until someone busted through the door. 

“Seonghwa, I believe we have the break we were looking for.” Hongjoong, his best friend and right-hand man spoke. 

“Continue.”

“We looked into some files and asked around. Turns out that Dongmin has been keeping in touch with the rival organisation by leaking our information to them, allowing them to intercept with our dealings and sales.”

Seonghwa stood up, hands on his hips whilst pacing around, “Dongmin? As in Son Dongmin?”

Hongjoong nods, “I got intel that he may be planning something against you with the rival gang's support. Most likely with dethroning you.”

Seonghwa’s eyes widen, if someone was going to plan an attack on him the first thing that comes to his mind was to keep you safe and now that he knew someone was out there actively trying to harm him, he knew that he had to be next to you at all times. But before Seonghwa could even step foot outside the bedroom, all the alarms in and out of the mansion started ringing. 

Without a second thought, Seonghwa sprinted downstairs and towards the kitchen. He can see you crouched behind the kitchen counters whilst the bodyguards surround you. Gunfire was everywhere and Seonghwa, along with Hongjoong tried to find an opening so that they could get to you.

One second of silence was enough for them to move, holding their guns and shooting towards the front door even if there wasn’t anyone there. The moment Seonghwa made it to you, you immediately hugged him, as scared as you were, you’re just glad to know that he was safe and void of any bullet holes. Seonghwa did the same, quickly checking to see if you got any scratches. Whilst holding your hand, Seonghwa quickly ran towards the back of the house. Hongjoong closely followed behind, making sure to keep you both safe whilst calling for backup. 

You saw a lot of bloodshed within just a few minutes, many of the people who Seonghwa put around you to protect you were gone, never to see the daylight again. You held onto Seonghwa’s hand tighter and he did the same.

You both made it towards the backyard which was abnormally quiet, both Seonghwa and Hongjoong were on edge, cautious of their every move. There was no one guarding the back which was odd as he has guards securing every inch of the mansion. You huddled closer to Seonghwa and he made sure to put you behind him. 

Then suddenly a bright light shines in front of you all, blinding you for a second and then a voice speaks. 

“Well, well. If it isn’t the great Park Seonghwa and his little entourage. Whoops...seems like you don’t really have much to protect you.”

All Seonghwa does is glare at the traitor, Son Dongmin. Hongjoong doesn’t stop pointing his gun towards him, even if the odds are against them as Dongmin has a few people surrounding them. 

“Why?”

Dongmin scoffs, “You’re seriously asking me why? If it wasn’t for your stinking rat of a father, I wouldn't be like this!”

“My father?” Seonghwa confusingly asks.

“My father was the one in charge, your father? He was only a follower! He killed my father and overtook the organisation so now, I’m here to get back what’s mine!” Dongmin yells in frustration.

“Whatever it is, leave y/n out of this. She has nothing to do with this.” Seonghwa responds as he protectively covers you.

Dongmin smirks and tilts his head to get a better look at you, you immediately hide behind Seonghwa more, securing your hold on his clothing. “Well, maybe I should just kill you and your little followers too and just keep y/n all to myself huh?” 

“Don’t you fucking dare touch her.” Seonghwa lowly threatened. 

“Or you know what? I can let you live, if you give y/n to me, how about that? I wouldn’t even try taking over you if you did.” He smirks.

Your eyes widen and Seonghwa’s grip on you tightens even more, “In your fucking dreams.”

Dongmin rolls his eyes and begins playing with his gun, pacing back and forth before he suddenly stops, “Well then, I guess there's just no way around this then.” Then he slowly aims the gun towards Seonghwa. 

“Wait!”

You suddenly shout and now all the attention is on you, with Seonghwa’s eyes widened in shock and filled with worry. You slowly let go of Seonghwa’s hand even if he had zero intentions of doing so and made your way beside him. You look at him, his eyes pleading with you to not do what he thinks you're about to do before you turn your attention towards Dongmin. “If I exchange myself, will you definitely let Seonghwa and his men live?”

Quickly, Seonghwa grabs your arm and harshly whispers to you, “Are you crazy y/n!? I could never let you do that!”

You look back at Seonghwa, begging him to agree with your offer, “Please! I don’t want to see you die, Seonghwa!” 

“I’d rather be dead than let him take you hostage, you know I’d die for you if it means you can live!”

“But-”

Multiple gunshots were fired up in the air making you flinch and silent. “Boy oh boy, you seem to really want to die huh?” Dongmin says as he slowly walks forward a bit, “Maybe I should grant your wish then.” 

Quickly, he aims his gun straight towards Seonghwa and your eyes widen in shock as you look back and forth from your lover to the gun.

“No!”

Bang. 

As you open your eyes, you’re met face to face with Seonghwa and all he can do is look back at you in a daze, his brain barely comprehending what had happen before you gradually fall down but before you hit the ground Seonghwa catches your fall.

You start to feel numb and breathing no longer starts to feel comfortable. Seonghwa caresses your cheek only to panic after seeing the amount of blood on his hand and your face, he quickly tries pressing the bullet wound down from your back to try and stop the bleeding. You tried speaking but Seonghwa cuts you off, “Don’t say anything please, please. Nothing will happen to you sweetheart okay? You’ll be fine.” His voice trembles, he doesn't even know if he’s comforting you or himself. Never in his life has he feared anything more than the thought of losing you. 

Seonghwa didn’t care about what was happening in the background, all he could hear was countless amounts of gunfire going off and that most of Dongmin’s men were lying dead on the ground and that Dongmin himself was writhing in pain from an inflicted gun wound.

“I got the guys to help us but we have to keep moving Seonghwa, Yeosang is heading to the surgery room now!” Hongjoong shouted, ushering Seonghwa to bring you to safety. 

Not wasting any more time, Seonghwa carries you bridal style to run as fast as he can towards the emergency surgery room he has in his underground base. 

Your eyes are barely open but you can make out Seonghwa clearly, “You…you know that I love you right?”

Seonghwa looks down at you, tears already falling down his cheeks and yet even now you don’t seem to be scared by putting a soft-hearted smile on your face to seemingly comfort him in a way. “I know you do and so do I. I want you to remember that okay? Just hold on a little longer, we're almost there.” Seonghwa tries to reciprocate the genuine smile you have but all it does is leave him looking bittersweet. You nod slightly after mustering the energy you can before you black out.

Seonghwa ran even faster and soon made it to the surgery room, quickly placing your body down on the operating table, “Hyung, I know you want to stay but please just wait outside while I operate. Please.” Yeosang ushered. Seonghwa held onto your hand tightly but with Hongjoong dragging him out, he had no choice but to let go. 

Outside of the operating theatre Seonghwa sat down on one of the seats and looked at his clothes and hands, all of which were stained by your blood. He sat there not moving an inch for hours on end, not even bothering to change out of his stained clothes even if they had started to dry. All he wanted was for you to come out alive. Seonghwa was never the type of person to believe in God, but he was praying for the first time in his life. 

“God, if you're out there please make sure y/n will make it through this. Even if it means exchanging my life for hers, I’d do anything. Please.” He muttered under his breath, hands clasped together and eyes closed. 

Several more hours pass and Seonghwa became more restless and then suddenly Yeosang walks out of the operating room. Seonghwa immediately rushes towards Yeosang, “She’s fine now but if you were any later, I don’t know if she could have survived. She lost a lot of blood.”

Seonghwa let out a sigh of relief and hugged Yeosang, “Thank you, thank you.”

“Yunho’s inside cleaning up but if you want, you can go inside and see her. I know you want to.” Yeosang gives Seonghwa a pat on his shoulder and walks off with Hongjoong trailing behind him, knowing that Seonghwa would want to spend every single minute he can with you now. Without hesitation, Seonghwa makes his way towards you.

As he looks at you he starts to get emotional as he caresses your cheek, a tear falling down and landing on your face. 

“I love you and I'm sorry.” Seonghwa places a kiss on your forehead, glad to know that you’ll be able to wake up soon but guilty that he couldn't protect you like he promised, making you suffer. 

After Yunho took you to the recovery room, Seonghwa knew what he had to do. To kill that bastard once and for all because no one messes with Park Seonghwa and his most precious treasure in the whole world. You.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟ

[arendaes]

9 Lots of People You Want to Know Better

Tagged by @dmagedgoods and @undyingembers; thank you!

Three ships:

My Throuple, Ariadne/Daeran/Woljif, of course. Honestly they've been taking up about 98% of the shipping space in my brain lately.

Thanks to some spicy fanart posted on Patreon I've been thinking a lot about Alistair from DAO today so naturally I'm thinking about Alistair/Saskia.

Along those lines Howl/Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle, for a lot of reasons.

Last Song:

According to Spotify it was Degenerates by I the Mighty (I just listened to it last night which makes it sad I couldn't remember lol)

Last Movie:

I think it might have been Furiosa? I don't watch many movies and that's the last one I remember at least

Currently Reading:

Almost done with Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir! I've enjoyed it but it's not giving me the same brainworms it has other people. I think it's because I've never really been into necromancy and a book that features it this prominently was just never going to hit me like it does other people. Also Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis. I'm not far into it but already I've learned things (I did not know how many prisons are in California alone) and making me re-evaluate my own beliefs and knowledge of the prison system.

Currently Watching:

Ok, laugh at me if you want but I was in the mood to re-watch my comfort show...which is The Golden Girls 😂

Currently Eating:

Nothing but I am drinking some sparkling water

Currently Craving:

The drive to finish the first chapter of my Fairy Tale AU! 😩

Favourite colour:

Purple!

Favourite flavour:

Cherry!

Current obsession:

Ariadne forever and always! Really looking forward to Fields of Mistria hitting early access here in a few weeks so that could also be my next big one 👀

Last thing I googled:

Duotang. There was a poll asking if I knew what it was. The answer was no, and I was surprised to find out what it was!

Favourite season:

Fall/autumn! Cooler weather, warm drinks, deliciously spiced everything, my birthday...it's just the best time of the year

Skill I’d like to learn:

Drawing! I'd love to do little doodles of my OCs and book and video game characters (and yes, I know the only thing standing in my way is myself)

Best Advice:

Right now, "write the story you want to see". I have no idea if my fairy tale AU will be to anyone's tastes but my own, but I have to try!

No-pressure tags below the cut! (Opt in/out)

@first-talon @miseryscrowned @gutterspeak @fantastic-mr-corvid @mathlann

@amatres @starlightcleric @arrow90-art @silversiren1101 @blighted-elf

@mxanigel @poetikat @outeremissary @valiantvillain @dragonologist-phd

@dujour13 @captastra @spyridonya @yunessa @eurekq

@the-raging-tempest @serenbach86 @jean-dieu @ravencrowley7 @forestdragoncat

[themaladaptivewriter12]

Title: (They'll be calling me) Royalty

Part 4 of my “The Lion's Den” series! Part 1, 2, and 3 here!

Parings: Implied Leona x Mirai but not really. They're getting there tho

Summary:

“Because what?!” Mirai yelled. “Because I was tired,” Leona yelled. “Be-Because I'm tired of always being second! No matter what I do, I’ll always be second best! I was born second, my dorm is second, even in the sport I’ve been playing for as long as I can remember I’m second! I’m always second!”

cw: Overblot Leona, canon injuries, Mirai get's injured, nothing severe, hurt comfort,

a/n: I also might have listened to Jonathan Young's cover of "Be Prepared" on loop while writing this lololol. Also, title inspired by Royalty by Egzod, Meastro Chives, Neoni!

a/n: This is not a "Bullies to lovers". Just putting that out there. I wanna show Mirai's and Leona's process of trust and eventual love.

Reblogs are appreciated, just use my custom tag, #TheMaladaptiveWriter12, if you do!  (─‿‿─)♡

Cross posted from my Ao3: TheMaladaptiveWriter12

It's kinda long, sorry. I might break this one up, but who knows ┐(´∀｀)┌

Classes for the day were uneventful. Ace, Deuce, and Grim bickered like they normally did, Coach Vargas was loud as always, and lunch was as it always was. But the school seemed to have a certain buzz about it, and Mirai couldn’t figure out what it was, so he thought to ask Ace and Deuce about it.

“The annual fall Spelldrive Tournament is coming up,” Ace said excitedly, “How did you not know?!” 

“Gee,” Mirai said sarcastically, “I wonder why I wouldn't know about such a huge NRC event?”

Sometimes it irked Mirai with how much everyone here forgot that one, he didn’t know magic, and two, that he wasn’t from their world. I mean, how could they forget when they were around him every single day?!

“Sevens! What crawled up your butt today?!”

“Did you forget that I’m not from here? How am I supposed to know what’s the norm around here?”

“That’s all you had to say,” Ace sneered, “Why you gotta take it out on me?!”

“Maybe because I expect my best friend to remember something so important about me,” Mirai growled out.

“Alright,” Jack soothed, “calm down. It’s alright.”

Mirai and Ace both grumbled to themselves, their arms crossed petulantly. 

“The Spelldrive Tournament is between the dorms or the school,” Epel supplied.

“Each dorm fights for the bragging rights of having the best Spelldrive team, and Diasomnia has held the spot for the past three years! No thanks to Lord Malleus, of course,” Sebek boasted.

Ace groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Every dorm will appoint their best players and train until the end of the month,” Jack said. “Housewarden Leona has already made his team.”

“So it’s an enchanted version of football, got it,” Mirai muttered. 

Maybe that was why Leona had been so distant lately? If this was as important to the school, then maybe Leona just had his head in the game is all?

“What’s football?” Jack asked.

“Okay, so, you have two teams,” Mirai began.

The next day was as eventful as any school day goes. In Professor Trein’s class, they were doing a unit test. Mirai was pretty sure as always, he was gonna score just over passing, keeping his grades at a constant C. The test wasn’t hard, but that was what Mirai was afraid of. He was pretty sure he butchered that last half on magic in the Briar Valley, and at lunch, Ace, Deuce and Grim had their complaints about it.

“If I don’t pass this test, Ima be benched again,” Ace sighed, head in his hands. 

“I told you guys to study,” Jack chided. “Epel and I had a study session last weekend.”

“Who wants to spend their weekend studying?” Grim grumbled.

“If you wanna pass, you do,” Sebek shouted.

“I think I did pretty good,” Deuce said.

“Oh?” Ace taunted, “What makes Juice so sure?”

“It’s Deuce! Not Juice,” Deuce grumbled angrily. “And I got some help from Trey yesterday. I’m not saying the whole thing was easy, but I feel I did a good job for the majority of it.”

“That’s good,” Epel nodded with a smile, “I hope it all goes well for you.”

“Thanks,” Deuce smiled. 

Ace scoffed, annoyed. 

“What about you, Mirai?” Jack asked. “Mirai?”

Mirai was sitting with his chin resting in his hand, eyes staring off and out the window.

“Mirai?” Grim asked, paw tapping Mirai on the shoulder.

“Ah,” Mirai jumped, “Yeah? What is it?”

“You okay, Human?” Sebek asked.

“He’s probably bummed out because he failed that test,” Ace teased.

“I did not,” Mirai shot back. “The only part I had trouble with was the Briar Valley.”

“How was that even hard?!” Sebek shouted.

“Dude,” Deuce sighed, “You live in the Briar Valley.” 

“And cut Mirai some slack,” Epel pouted, “he’s not from here, remember?”

Sebek grumbled, turning his head away from Epel. 

“Then how do you think you did?” Ace asked, smirking slyly.

“I bet I just passed,” Mirai said, as if just passing was something to be proud of.

Ace, Deuce, and Grim busted out laughing.

“Oh yeah,” Ace laughed, “because “just passing” is anything to be proud of.”

“At least I won’t be benched.” 

The rest of the group had to stop Ace from lunging over the table at Mirai. 

Mirai didn’t see Leona or Ruggie that day either.

Wednesday was another bummer day. In gym class they were playing dodgeball in the indoor gym and it was pure torture. A couple of students on the opposing team decided to make it their goal to get Mirai and Grim out first. That promptly resulted in a trip to the infirmary for Mirai after he got a ball to the face, a scolding from Coach Vargas after Ace and Deuce both chucked a ball at the perpetrator's face, and yet another scolding, but this one was for Grim because he tried to set the guy on fire. Well, at least Sam had gotten a new shipment of cheesecake, and was saving a slice just for Mirai.

And when Thursday afternoon came around, Mirai wanted to do nothing but go buy some junk food from Sam and go binge watch a show that Cater had recommended. Grim, Ace, Deuce and the dodgeball guy were all punished for the rest of the week, the four of them stuck cleaning the gym, and as for Mirai, his face still hurt. His nose wasn’t broken, just a tad bruised, and to top it all off, his head also hurt, but it was nothing a couple of painkillers couldn't fix. 

As the days went by, things surrounding the Spelldrive Tournament started to go sour, but, then again, when did things go smoothly in a place like Night Raven College? Soon after the teams were picked, and the students from all dorms were getting pumped for the competition, multiple students from multiple dorms started to get injured. First it was a couple of students from Heartslabyul, even Trey, and then it spread like wildfire across the campus. 

Students were falling down the stairs, burning themselves, cutting themselves, and even the Vice of Scarabia had been affected. At that point, it started to look like sabotage more than an accident. But the weird thing is, all of the students affected had the same story, it felt as if they had no control of their bodies. Well they were just gonna have to get to the bottom of it, even Mirai really didn’t want to.

Mirai walked the empty halls of the main building. It was always so peaceful, when there were no classes in session, no students walking the halls, no one to bother him. The golden afternoon always looked best on campus, covering everything in its warm glow. With all that’s been going on, the Spelldrive Tournament, and playing detective by order of the Headmage, Mirai was tired.

They went to almost every dorm to try and find the culprit, which didn’t go well at all. The twins from Octavinelle chased them, and then when they entered Savanaclaw, the dorm tried to fight them, and Leona, who was more territorial than usual, challenged them to an unfair spelldrive match. All of this was honestly getting out of hand. Mirai could care less about Spelldrive, Mirai didn't get the big whoop about it, and he honestly didn’t get why Grim wanted to play so much. But then again, maybe that was Grim’s way of trying to fit in. Mirai could understand, he wanted to fit in as well, he was tired of being the outcast.

Mirai made his way to an empty classroom, and looked out the window. From here, he could see the street where the vendor's stalls were being set up for game day. Game day. The day of the tournament, the day they would take action. Mirai sighed once more. What should have been a day of fun and togetherness, not that Mirai would think these guys would come together for anything, is now a day of uncertainty that was leaving a knot in his stomach. And it was all because of Savanaclaw.

It didn’t take long to finally trace it all back to Savanaclaw, to trace it back to Leona, and honestly, Mirai didn’t know what he was feeling. Why? Why would Savanaclaw, Ruggie, Leona, hurt all those people? They hurt Trey, they hurt Jamil, and everyone else. They lied to them, sent them on this wild goose chase, they stole from them, and what about their plan?

Why would they plan to put all those people in danger? What about the innocent students, the innocent supporters? The children who might be there? And for what? Because Savanaclaw didn’t have the guts to play fairly? Because Leona didn’t have the guts to play fairly? And for what?!

Mirai’s phone buzzed in his pocket, shaking him from his thoughts. “What’s up?” Mirai answered.

“Where are you, man?” Ace asked from the other end. “Where meeting up to go over the plan one last time.”

“Where are you?” Mirai asked, leaving the classroom.

“Courtyard.”

“I’m coming,” Mirai said, hanging up.

Yelp, Mirai guessed he’d get his answer tomorrow.

It was the day of the tournament and their plan had worked. The remaining teams were saved, the lay people were safe, and they had backed Ruggie and Leona into a corner. Mirai didn’t know what to feel. He knew who was behind all of this, he knew, and yet, seeing it up close, hearing it with his own ears, it was like a slap in the face. He thought his friends were better than that, but to put innocent people in harm's way, Mirai couldn’t ease the betrayal he felt.

Mirai didn’t know what to make of the cold, sadistic smile Leona held as he turned Ruggie into sand. He didn’t know what to make of bitterness that seeped off of the Beastman in waves as his plans were foiled right before his eyes. 

Leona laughed bitterly, “Yeah, you're probably right. No, you're exactly right! I will never become king. No matter how hard I try!”

He should be angry like Jack was, he should feel betrayed like Ruggie did, he should rub this in Leona’s face like Lilia just did, he should be smug like Ace and Deuce were about being one step ahead of the Beastman, but he couldn’t. 

“I've been loathed since the day I was born. I've never had a place, never had a future,” Leona grit out, a dark dreadful atmosphere seeping around the group. “None of my hard work is ever rewarded! How could any of you possibly understand? My disappointment?! My pain?!”

Leona roared, the sound was so loud, Mirai felt as if the entire stadium was falling apart with it. Leona screamed in agony as he held his head in his hands, the ground cracked and fissured beneath him, a dark black mist emitting off of his body. The group watched in horror as Leona’s screams turned into morbid laughter, and when he looked up at them, his hands were covered in the jet black ink, just like the ink-like tears that were dripping from his eyes. 

Mirai wanted to reach out to him, tell him that it was okay, that he was there for him, but he couldn’t, because that would be a lie. He was never there for him, and things were far from okay. Those words, compared to Leona's feelings, were null. He couldn't move his feet from that spot, he couldn’t get any words out, they were stuck in his throat. Just like Riddle, he was Overblotting.

The winds began to pick up, carrying sand around with them. They began to vortex around the Savanaclaw Housewarden, and suddenly, the atmosphere changed. It washed over them as quick as an exhale. It felt like a thunderstorm, it felt charged, yet so calm, like the moment right before a lightning strike. Not a second later, the winds caved, then exploded, with dark magic, sand, and debris, the gust sent everyone flying, as the group tried to shield themselves from the blow. 

“You guys okay?” Riddled coughed, brushing himself off.

“A-okay here,” Cater muttered, picking himself up.

“I thought I was a goner,” Grim whined, rubbing his furry face into Mirai’s shirt.

“Guys?” Deuce called wearily, “look.”

Standing in the middle of the clearing as the smoke and dust cleared was no longer Leona, certainly not the one Mirai had come to know. Dark magic and blot oozed off of him in waves. It swirled and spiraled with sand, dying everything around him black. He was different, even his clothes were different.

“I dunno what's going on, but if we hit Leona hard enough, maybe we can snap him outta it?” Jack more like stated, readying himself. 

Ruggie staggered forward, coughing as he tried to steady himself, “I-I'll help too. N-No way I'm t-taking what he said lying down!”

“Take it easy, yeah?” Mirai asked.

Ruggie waved the Prefect off, pulling out his magic pen.

“So even the lowly hyena turns against me?” Leona laughed snarkily with a scoff, “What an absolute joke!”

“Ya think Ima just, just bow my head after that s-stunt you just pulled?!” Ruggie rasped. “Notta chance!”

Leona growled as lunged at them, his first attack coming in fast.

“Guys,” Mirai yelled, “He’s coming for us!”

Leona pounced on the group, and they all scattered. Mirai tried to dodge the attack the best he could, but he wasn’t quick enough, the shockwave sending Mirai flying as he rolled to a stop a few feet away.

“You okay, Human?!” Grim called, running to Mirai’s side.

“Yeah,” Mirai smiled, petting the little monster’s head, “I’m fine.”

“Hate to break up the precious moment guys, but we got trouble,” Ace shouted as Leona came at them again.

The group sent a flurry of attacks at Leona, and yeah he was taking quite the beating, but that didn’t stop Leona from standing his ground and dishing out some attacks of his own, every single one of them more powerful than the last.

“H-He, he just won’t go down,” Ruggie heaved.

“Take it easy, Ruggie,” Jack said, placing a hand on Ruggies shoulder. 

“I’ll take it easy when things are back to the way they should be.”

“You okay, Ruggie?” Mirai called from where he was hiding behind one of the bleachers.

“A-Okay,” Ruggie said, flashing Mirai a smile.

As the fight waned on, the group was beginning to falter. Between spells being casted wrong, missing their target, and more than a few close calls, they all needed a plan, and fast.

“You idiots think you can beat me?!” Leona roared, sending a powerful wind attack into Ruggie, sending the poor Hyena tumbling. 

“Ruggie,” Jack called, running to his side.

Leona leapt to Ruggie and Jack, but suddenly he was blocked by a wall of fire. He turned his green eyes to Riddle, who was standing a few ways away to his right.

Leona sneered down at Riddle, voice sarcastic, “Oh, I quiver with fear!”

The Beastman turned his attention to Riddle, sending his Blot Incarnate to attack, the mangled lion beast slashing at Riddle. The Heartslabyul Housewarden dodged the attacks, fending them off with his own.

“You don’t deserve the throne, and to be quite frank, I hope you never get to sit down on it,” Ace sneered, moving to guard his Housewarden.

“I will be king,” Leona yelled, stomping his foot down, and suddenly a barrage of green lightning struck the ground from the dark skies, the sandy Earth shaking with every hit.

“Look out,” Riddle yelled.

The group jumped in every direction, dodging the powerful strikes, the ground singed and burnt in its wake. They were split up, Cater with Riddle to the far left, Ace, Deuce, and Grim to the far right, Jack still was guarding Ruggie’s injured form ways behind the Group, and Mirai was left alone, smack dab in the middle. 

“Guys,” Mirai called from his hiding spot, “Take it easy! We can’t fall here!”

Leona locked eyes with Mirai and began to advance on him. 

“Mirai,” Deuce yelled. “Get away from him!”

Mirai scrambled to his feet as he tried to dodge all the attacks sent his way. A ball of wind magic exploded on his left, then a ball of lightning on his right, both sending the Ramshackle Prefect across the sandy field. 

“Mirai,” Cater yelled. 

“I-I’m, I’m alright,” Mirai coughed, stumbling away from the Overblotting Housewarden.

“Where are you going, Herbivore?” Leona sneered, stalking after him.

Mirai didn’t know what was scarier, the Housewarden himself, or the fact that he was walking instead of running behind him. Pulling himself up the bleachers, Mirai sprinted up the stairs, tripping over his own feet as the ground shook from Leona’s Blot Incarnate’s attacks.

“Over here you oversized house cat,” Ace yelled, shooting a ball of fire at Leona.

Leona growled, getting down on all fours, dodging the attack. He jumped up onto the poll to his left, and using the balls of his feet, Leona pushed himself off it, landing on the bleachers next to the Ramshackle Prefect. Mirai’s head snapped beside him with a gasp, not waiting a second more to scurry up the stairs and inside. 

“Mirai,” Cater shouted.

The guys tried to go up and stop them but Leona sent his Blot Incarnate after them, the beast blocking the path.

“Mirai,” Deuce yelled, trying to round the monster, but got pushed back.

“We have no choice,” Riddle huffed, readying himself.

“Bu-”

“There’s no time,” Cater gruffed, eyes steely and narrowed. “If we split up now, we’ll fail.”

“The Prefect will be fine,” Ruggie huffed, voice hoarse.

“He better be,” Grim grumbled.

 Mirai ran down the hall, the only light being the open archway behind him. It was unsettling with how quiet it was in there, even with all the chaos outside, the only sound Mirai could hear was his own breathing and footsteps. The sandstorm outside made its way in here as well, sandy grains coating the floors, the dust filling the air, making it hard to breath and the floors slippery.

The ground shook and a dark shadow loomed over the hall, Mirai didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was. “Why do you run from me, Herbivore?” Leona called, “Scared?”

Mirai didn’t answer, picking up his pace as he veered right and down another hall. The lights flickered eerily, casting deep shadows along the walls. Leona walked along behind him, the lights began to flicker out, not coming back on at all, the hallways behind them a pitch black. 

“Come on, Herbivore, join me,” Leona chuckled, “I know it sounds sordid, but just think of how you’ll be rewarded, when at last I am given my dues.”

Mirai twisted every knob, pushing every door he passed to get away from the lion. He was getting tired and the blows he had indirectly taken earlier were taking a toll on his back. Mirai’s breathing was haggard and the dusty air was burning his eyes and his chest. 

“You can have anything you want,” Leona persuaded, “gold, respect, it’s all yours. You’ll never go hungry again!”

Mirai pulled open a door, and ran inside, it was a locker room. Mirai sprinted through the rows of benches and lockers, hiding around the corner. Mirai tried to quiet his breathing but the burning in his chest was unbearable. He could hear the door open, swinging shut, and Leona’s maniacal laughter echoed through the room.  

“I can see it now, I’ll be all time adored,” Leona rambled, the distortion in his voice sending chills down Mirai’s spine. “And you will be right beside me since that little scavenger lost his chance. What do you say?”

Mirai scooted down the aisle, moving away from the direction his voice was coming from. Mirai was scared, and he was pretty sure Leona knew that as well, and for the first time, Mirai was wondering if he was gonna make it out alive.

“Answer me,” Leona roared, a loud banging sound rattling the lockers. 

The room suddenly lit up with green and by the time he figured out what it was, Mirai’s entire being was electrified. Mirai cried out, falling forward, his hand clutching his chest. He couldn’t describe the feeling, but Mirai knew for sure that he never wanted to feel it again. It was worse in his prosthetic, and Mirai wanted it off. As best as he could, Mirai ripped the metal limb off, his body collapsing onto the floor. 

Mirai could still feel the magic coursing through his veins, his body spasming with every beat of his heart. He couldn’t catch his breath, as he heaved through the pain. He couldn’t see through the tears in his eyes, and his blood burned, the magic feeling like liquid fire in his veins. 

Loud footsteps echoed off the walls, and Mirai didn’t have the strength to look up at their owner. “Why do you struggle?” Leona growled, his clawed hand clamping around the back of Mirai’s neck.

The grip was strong, it was cold, void of the normal warmth it had, and wet with ink. It ran down Leona’s arms and coated his hands, black droplets dripping from the points of his nails. Mirai didn’t struggle as Leona lifted him, forcing him to look up at him. Mirai could feel the dark power emitting off of him, he could feel the wet of the ink, running down his neck, staining his shirt in little rivulets.

“Submit to me,” Leona muttered, pulling Mirai close, “Stop fighting me.”

“N-No,” Mirai git out.

“Why not? Why do you resist me? I can give you the world! Just you and me above all.”

“I don’t want that.”

Leona dropped to his knees, holding Mirai by his arms, “Then what do you want? Tell me.”

“I want Leona back,” Mirai pleaded. “Please stop this.”

“You have me,” Leona growled, his grip getting tighter, “I’m ten times the man he ever was!”

Mirai flinched at Leona’s tone of voice, his eyes closing in fear. Ink dripped down Mirai’s arms, it was hot, it was nearly burning his skin. Mirai didn’t like the look in Leona’s eyes, he didn’t like the way he was treating him, he was scared.

“Y-You’re hurting me,” Mirai gasped, Leona’s claws suddenly prickling his skin.

“Then behave, and I won’t have to hurt you,” Leona smirked, running the back of his finger along Mirai’s cheeks, leaving black streaks in its wake.

“I thought I understood you,” Mirai grit out, “I even saw you a-as a friend! B-But this?! All of this is not what I expected from the guy I respected.”

Leona seemed taken aback, and Mirai used that lapse in his attention to reach behind him and grab a handful of sand. The chances of this working were slim to none, but he had to try, he had to get out of the room. As quick as he could, Mirai threw the sand into Leona’s face, and much to Mirai’s luck, Leona immediately let him go with a shout, his hands flying to his eyes. Mirai felt bad as he shot up, grabbing his arm, rushing out the room and down the hall, but Leona deserved it. He wasn’t gonna talk to him like that, he wasn’t gonna treat him like that.

Mirai didn’t get far when the locker room before the door flew from the hinges, slamming against the opposite wall. Leona was fuming, a vortex of sand and lightning swirling around him.

“I was gonna let you go, Herbivore,” Leona sneered, “but now, you’re first.”

Mirai yelped, jumping down to the ground as the door was kicked into his direction, flying over his head, and into the far wall at the end of the hall. Stumbling to his feet, Mirai turned the corner, the archway he had entered coming into view. The lights flickered on and off, and when Leona turned the corner, Mirai’s stomach dropped.

“Get over here,” Leona yelled, sending a gust of wind down the narrow hallway. 

Mirai braced for impact as the magic slammed into him, sending him flying out the door and into the air, over the bleachers. 

“There,” Ruggie yelled. 

“Ace, Cater,” Riddle commanded, “Catch him!”

“Yes, Housewarden Riddle,” the two card soldiers nodded.

With a gust of wind, Ace and Cater sent themselves flying, Cater catching the Prefect and Ace lessening their fall. 

“You okay?!” Deuce asked.

“Y-Yeah,” Mirai stuttered, clearly shaken.

“After decades of denial, this is simply why I'll be king,” Leona laughed, the sandstorm getting stronger, “undisputed, respected, saluted, and seen for the wonder I am! Long live the king!” 

The group dodged more and more strong attacks, it didn’t seem like Leona was getting any weaker, in fact, it seemed as if he was stronger, which was concerning. If they couldn’t stop him, it meant that all the innocent people would be in trouble, it meant the entire school would be in trouble, and far worse, it meant Leona would die.  

They needed a plan, and fast, and Mirai thought of one. Leona’s attention was on the rest of the group, and that meant Leona didn’t care where Mirai was. One of the bleachers gave way and sitting next to him was a very large metal pipe. That would do. Mirai crept his way up and around the bleachers, making his way behind Leona and his Blot Incarnate. Mirai would have to make sure it didn’t see him before he got to Leona. 

Riddle, Deuce, Cater, and he had been shouting at each other, trying to figure out their next move, when Ace had seen him. Ace didn’t know whether Mirai was plain stupid or had a death wish. Why was Mirai, Magicless Prefect of Ramshackle Dorm, making his way to Leona with a pipe?!

Ace nudged Deuce and and subtly pointed, and when Deuce caught wind of the situation, his face went pale. The others noticed the change in mood and Riddle went red in seconds.

“Fynya?!” Grim screeched, “Stupid human! What are you doing?!”

The others began to shout at Grim, and Leona snapped his head around, his and Mirai’s eyes meeting. Mirai’s heart stopped, his breath catching in his chest. Mirai couldn’t even catch his breath before he was snatched up and lifted off his feet, the pipe clattering to the ground.

The guys shouted and screamed out for Mirai as they threw a barrage of attacks at Leona, only for his Blot Incarnate to block them all and send the group flying with its charged attack. 

Leona chuckled darkly, a sadistic smirk on his face. “I don’t know what's more insulting, you nobodies thinking you can defeat me, or you, Prefect, thinking you could stop me.”

Mirai struggled in Leona’s grasp, his battle for air more important than the harsh words Leona was spitting at him. 

“It’s pathetic, really. Did you forget your place? You can’t beat me. If I can’t have the world, then I’ll just have to turn everything to sand. And I’ll start with you.”

Mirai skin started to burn, it felt as if it was being rubbed with sand paper. Mirai gasped, his hands clawing at Leona’s. 

“L-Le-Leona,” Mirai gasped. “L-Let g-go, le-let me go.”

“Why should I?” Leona growled out. “You're just like them. Look down on me like I'll never be enough, you pity me.”

“N-No, I don’t. I don’t, I don’t p-pity you.”

“Lies,” Leona roared.

Mirai winced at the noise, coughing as the grip got tighter. “Y-You’re better than th-this. The Leona I-I know wouldn’t stoop this low to get what h-he wants. You’re smarter than th-this.”

“You know nothing about me.”

“But I want t-to, I want to, so bad. I-I want to know yo-your favorite foods, your favorite c-color. Your p-past times, your goals, your, your wants, your needs. I-I want the Leona I fell f-for in, in the Bo-Botanical Gardens.”

“You think your honeyed words are gonna sway me? I hate people like you the most. Always sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong, always saying the right things to get what they want,” Leona growled out, his voice wavering. “You think I haven’t heard that before, that I haven’t dealt with people like you before? You’re no different. I will never have what I want, I’ll always be second best.”

“You will never b-be second best to m-me,” Mirai smiled, voice faint and breathy, “Y-you will always be my number one.”

Leona faltered, his eyes going wide at the words.

“Don’t hate me after t-this, y-yeah?”

Before Leona could comprehend what happened, Mirai was swinging his leg back and kicking the Beastman in the face. Leona growled out with a shout, dropping Mirai as he held his face. Mirai dropped to the floor, coughing as he caught his breath. Leona stumbled back pulling his hand away from his face, the black blot ink mixing with red.

Leona roared, “Why you-”

Mirai picked up the pipe and swung at Leona, the metal making contact with his midsection, knocking the wind out of him. Leona stumbled backwards, doubled over as he held his abused stomach. Mirai pulled back and whacked the downed lion upside the head, and Leona was down for the count.

And like that, the sandstorm stopped, the skies slowly becoming blue once more. The blot monster screeched as it eroded away, the blot that bubbled and boiled fizzled into nothingness, and so did Leona’s blot, and in its wake was Leona, their Leona, lying on the ground.

“Leona,” Mirai rasped, rushing over to Leona’s unconscious form. 

“Mirai,” Deuce yelled, rushing over to his friend, “Stay away from him!”

The group rushed over to the two, where Mirai was frantically looking over the Savanaclaw Housewarden.

“Mirai,” Ruggie called, “You okay?”

“Me?” Mirai rasped out, coughing when it hurt. “I’m not the one who just Overblotted.”

“You’re hurt,” Jack said lightly.

“I’m fine,” Mirai warbled. 

“Leona,” Mirai called out, shaking Leona slightly, “Wake up. Please wake up.”

Leona would move, he didn’t stir, and his breathing was shallow.

“Leona, please wake up.”

“Oh, Mirai,” Cater called, realizing that his magicless freshie was crying.

“I killed him,” Mirai sobbed. “I killed him!”

“You didn’t ki-”

Leona stirred, and slowly opened his eyes, squinting at the blazing midday sun. “Whatsit, what is it?” Leona muttered.

“He’s awake,” Jack gasped.

Leona looked up at the group looking down at him, and his eyes immediately found Mirai’s tear filled ones. “Herbivore?” Leona called, ears flattening atop his head as he reached up to thumb away the tears on Mirai’s cheek. “Why are you crying?”

“Y-You Overblotted,” Mirai rasped out, “and you wouldn’t w-wake up. I though, I though-”

Leona sat up, vision going blurry with the dizzying headache that hit him so suddenly. “I-I-I Overblotted?” Leona muttered to himself, “Me? Ain’t no way I-”

“Mr. Kingscholar, your negative energies accelerated your blot accumulation, inducing an overblot episode.” Headmage Crowley said, seeming to appear out of nowhere, cutting to the chase. “Were you responsible for the series of injuries sustained by competing players?”

Leona stood up slowly, wobbling as his knees threatened to give out. “Yeah, that was me,” Leona admitted quietly. “All of it.”

“Very well. Then to begin with, Savanaclaw House will be disqualified from this year's tournament. The rest of your punishment will be decided after I discuss it with the victims. Are we clear?” Headmage Crowley asked.

“Understood.”

“Headmage,” Riddle called, “W-Wait. A word, if I may?”

In the end, Riddle ended up persuading the Headmage to let Leona and the rest of his team play, and as punishment, he was to play as he was. Of course that didn’t end well due to his overworked state. But in the end, Grim got to play like he wanted, but sadly, Mirai couldn’t witness the rest of the games. One second Grim was hollering about a special move and the next, Mirai was waking up in the infirmary. 

“Wh-Where, where am I?” Mirai croaked.

“Hey,” Grim called, “Mirai’s up!”

Ace and Deuce rushed to Mirai’s side, Deuce expressing their relief.

“I’m so glad you’re awake,” Deuce sighed. “You were out for so long, we were beginning to think there was some long lasting damage.”

“What happened?” Mirai asked, confused.

“You don’t remember?” Ace asked.

Mirai shook his head.

“Grim threw the disk straight at your head and knocked you out at the beginning of the second half.”

“I was tryna steal our victory,” Grim said nonchalantly. 

“More like steal his life.”

“Hey!”

“You amateurs gotta work on your disk control,” Jack gruffed.

Ace rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you missed the whole thing. They are cleaning up now.”

“How did Savanaclaw do?” Mirai asked. “No, wait, where’s Leona?!”

“Calm down, Herbivore,” Leona gruffed from the other side of the room. “‘M fine.”

Mirai looked over to the other side of the room and spotted Leona in one bed and Ruggie in the one next to him. The Hyena looked far worse than Leona, but that was expected after the days earlier events, but all in all, Mirai was glad everyone was okay.

“But as for the game, everyone we went up against didn’t care for the game, they just threw magic at us,” Leona scoffed.

“We were dead on our feet by the time we went up against Diasomnia,” Ruggie chimed in, “They ended up taking first place.”

“That sucks,” Mirai muttered. But it was kinda deserved for what the two of them had done.

Leona scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“How are you doing, Ruggie?” Mirai asked the Hyena.

“I’m fine, quit ya worrying,” Ruggie dismissed.

Jack began fussing over his Housewarden and Ruggie, while Ace, Deuce and Grim, started talking out the game. Apparently Diasonmia’s team was a force to be reckoned with, their dorm head being the strongest one there. 

“Unca! Unca,” a shrill child-like voice yelled, “There you are! I finally found you!”

Mirai turned to the door where his eyes caught sight of an orange and yellow blob as it launched itself across the room and into Leona’s lap.

Leona groaned, “The little screech box found me.”

“Who’s the kid?” Grim asked.

“Unca Leona?” Jack muttered.

“That little furball is my Brother’s son, Cheka, my nephew,” Leona gruffed.

Mirai was surprised. He didn’t know Leona was an Uncle.

“I saw you play, Unca! You were so cool! Next time I visit, teach me how to play,” Check yelled. 

“Okay, okay,” Leona sighed, “I get it, and how didja get in here?! Where are your attendants? They gotta be pulling their hair out looking for ya.”

Cheka giggled, “I left them behind so I could find you.”

“Of course you did.”

Mirai chuckled, “He’s cute.”

“So when are you coming home to see us, Unca? Today? Tomorrow? Next week? And when's the next time after that? Did you read all the letters I sent you? What about the toys? Do you play with those?” Cheka rambled, bouncing on top of Leona.

“Look, I toldja, I'll be back for the holidays—Ow! Get offa my stomach, that hurts,” Leona shouted, eyebrows knitted together.

The room erupted in laughter at Leona’s demise.

“Ooh! Ooh! Unca! Who are they?! Are you guys Unca’s friends?!” Cheka squealed.

Ace laughed, “Yeah, sure we are! We're your Unca's besties! Ain't that right, Unca Leona?”

“That’s cool,” Cheka chirped, “Unca has so many friends!”

The group’s laughter got even louder.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Leona gruffed. “Just y’all wait, Ima be on ya like a buzzard to a carcass.”

“Yeah, whatever you say, Unca,” Ruggie teased, face red with laughter.

Mirai and the others fell into another fit of laughter, and Ruggie ended up doubled over in pain as it hurt to laugh.

Well, even if the day started out like a nightmare, its ending was so bad. Even if Mirai did have a headache. 

It was late when Mirai woke up again. It was still dark outside, and the room was dark. Mirai blindly reached for his phone and powered it on. It was three in the morning. Mirai sighed as he lied back down. He wondered when he’d be able to go back home. 

Mirai had been in and out of sleep since visiting hours ended, and at some point, the Nurse let Ruggie go, and the last thing Mirai remembers was Ruggie saying his farewells. But he and Leona were a different story. Mirai still needed to be monitored for his head injury and Leona needed to be monitored for his blot accumulation. 

Mirai peered over at the other side of the room, trying to make out Leona’s form. He couldn’t. Mirai sighed, his throat still raw and scratchy. Mirai coughed, his throat burning. He tried to clear the prickly feeling, but it kept coming back, then he fell back into a coughing fit once more.

“You okay?”

Mirai jumped, eyes darting to the other side of the room, where a pair of glowing green eyes were looking back at him. 

“Y-Yeah,” Mirai croaked, his voice sounding raw and abused.

“You’re not,” Leona muttered. 

“And you aren’t either.”

Leona sighed and didn’t say anything else.

Mirai sat back in his bed and stared off into the darkness. He really didn’t know what to do now. He was awake, his throat was killing him, and now it was awkward knowing that Leona was right there in front of him. 

“Drink.”

Mirai jumped with a gasp at the sound of Leona’s voice being so close to him. 

“Le-Leona,” Mirai stuttered, “Y-You, you shouldn’t be up. Go lie down.”

“I’m fine. Drink,” Leona said.

Mirai twitched when he felt a cold glass of water being pressed into his hand.

“Careful,” Leona murmured, “Don’t drop it.”

“Thank you,” Mirai muttered, taking a sip, and boy did it feel glorious. 

Mirai tried to gulp down as much as he could handle, but it wasn’t much since his stomach filled in seconds. Mirai reached out for the table beside him once he couldn’t drink anymore, but was met with Leona’s stiff form.

“You done?” Leona asked, taking the glass.

“Yeah,” Mirai nodded.

There was silence again and Mirai wondered if Leona was still there. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Mirai hoped that he was.

“Those bandages,” Leona started, his voice coming from the other side of the room. “on your neck. It was me, wasn’t it? And the same with Ruggie’s arm?”

Mirai wanted to lie, and tell Leona, no, they weren’t, but they weren't there the day before, and lying about it wouldn’t make the situation any better. 

“Yeah,” Mirai admitted quietly.

There was silence yet again, and Mirai felt as if his heart was in his stomach. Bandaged fingers came up to fiddle with the bandages that were wrapped around his neck. Mirai didn’t know when those were put there, most likely when he was out cold, and Mirai was wondering how he didn’t notice until now. He ran a finger down the length of his throat, and Mirai wondered how it looked, wondering if it looked as bad as it felt. Mirai just hoped it didn’t scar, he didn’t need any more of those, and he definitely didn’t want a sore reminder for Leona to see every time he looked at the Prefect.

“I never thought I’d hurt you, I never intended to,” Leona started, “You, you were supposed to stay in the stands, you were supposed to just let all this happen. You-”

“Whoa, whoa, y-your not gonna pin this mess on me,” Mirai rasped, voice rough. “It wasn't me who cheated.” 

“If you, if you just minded your fricking business-”

It became my business when my friends started getting hurt! It became m-my business when t-the Headmage held this whole fiasco over my head like he always does when things go sour in this stupid school!”

Leona went silent from his side of the room. Mirai sighed, coughing once more, his throat burning.

“Why?” Mirai muttered.

Leona stayed silent.

“I know you can hear me, you bastard. Why?”

“Why what?” Leona gruffed.

“Why'd ya do it?”

Leona growled lowly in warning.

“I ain't scared of you,” Mirai rasped angrily, “and growling still doesn’t answer my question. Why?”

“Because,” Leona said petulantly.

“Because what?!” Mirai yelled.

“Because I was tired,” Leona yelled. “Be-Because I'm tired of always being second! No matter what I do, I’ll always be second best! I was born second, my dorm is second, even in the sport I’ve been playing for as long as I can remember I’m second! I’m always second!”

“All you had to do was try!”

“And you think I haven’t?! You think I haven’t busted my butt for the things I want?! I’ve tried, and tried and tried, over and over, and over again! And for what?! I’ll never beat the bastard Malleus at anything, I’ll never sit on that throne, I'll always be second best! So I stopped trying!”

“I’m sorry,” Mirai muttered.

Leona sucked his teeth in annoyance, “Quit apologizing. Ain't nothing you can do to change anything, and feelin’ sorry for me ain’t gonna make me feel any better,” Leona gruffed, sighing.

“You know, you’re right,” Mirai said snarkily, “It’s you who should be apologizing, and I know a whole bunch of people who you can start with.”

“Bastard.”

“Thanks I try.”

Leona growled lowly, “You’re lucky, you’re lucky I’m already on thin ice.” Leona sighed, laying back against the pillows on his bed. “Look, ‘M sorry, alright. This whole thing was stupid. I was stupid. I’m sorry.”

Mirai sighed, “You know, I shouldn’t forgive you-”

“You shouldn’t.”

“But I do, forgive you, Leona.”

“And that’s the stupidest thing you’ve done yet.”

“That ain’t-”

“You could’ve died, Mirai,” Leona shouted. “You understand that right?! I could’ve killed you! They all told me what happened when you were out, that I choked you, that I tried to turn you into sand!” 

“I know that,” Mirai scoffed, clearing his throat, “but who hasn’t tried to hurt or kill me since I was dropped in this nightmare of a world?”

“You’re a blithering idiot!” Leona’s voice broke, as he looked down at his hands. “I-I did what everyone said I’d do. I’ve become what they said I was, a-a monster.”

“You're not a monster,” Mirai rasped.

“You don’t get it, you never have! I’ve always hated my Signature Spell, it’s a curse. I am the very thing that the Sunset Savanna fears, that the Sunset Savanna hates, a drought. They’ve always told me I was a monster, they feared me. They always said it would be a matter of time before I’d hurt those around me!” Leona grit his teeth, his fangs bared, “If I were born first, I’d be praised. If I were born first, I’d be called a prodigy. I would be loved, not feared.”

Mirai huffed angrily as he slowly slid off his bed and onto the floor.

“D-Don’t-What are you doing? Sit down,” Leona scolded. 

Mirai ignored him as he teetered his way over to Leona’s side of the room, stopping after a dizzy spell hit him. Once he made his way to Leona’s bed, he crawled on top.

“Herbivore,” Leona growled, “Get away from me! I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I already have!”

For once, Leona looked small. He never looked small in Mirai’s eyes, he was always so big. He was always so sure of himself, so prideful, so confident, but now, he looked like a mouse, like a kid who was being scolded by his parents. Unsure and scared, Mirai didn’t like it, it didn’t suit him, Leona Kingscolar, Hoausewarden of Savanaclaw, Second Prince of the Sunset Savanna.

“And I haven’t?” Mirai scoffed.

“What are you-”

“Look, you were right when you said that I didn’t get it, what it was like to be you,” Mirai said hoarsely, “but it doesn’t mean that I need to be you to know what it’s like to feel worthless. I will never know what it’s like to walk in your shoes, to be a Prince, to be second in line, those are your experiences alone. But I know how you feel.”

Leona scoffed, “Enough the flowery words. Don’t need ‘em.”

“I know what it's like to have everything, and nothing at all. I know what it’s like to want to be wanted.” Mirai out the window behind Leona. “That, that thing, that wasn’t you back there. The things you said, the things you did, the you I know, would never do those things, would never say those things.”

“But it was me,” Leona corrected. 

“Then say it.”

Leona looked taken aback.

“Say it, look me in the eyes and say it,” Mirai badgered, “Say you hate me, say you want me dead, say that you never once cared for any of this. Say it. Say you hate Ruggie and the others, say you’d rather turn everything to sand, prove me wrong.”

Leona looked down in defeat, his ears falling.

“It’s hard to say such hurtful things to the people you care about that you actually don’t mean, isn’t it?”

“But I did all of that,” Leona muttered, “I’m the one who tried to cheat my way to the top, I’m the one who hurt everyone around me.”

“And it was stupid. I don’t like what you did to your schoolmates, but there, in that stadium, was beyond your control.”

Leona balked at Mirai frank words. 

“When I told you that you were better than that, I meant it. That’s why I forgive you.”

“You shouldn’t, I don’t deserve it.”

“I don’t think that’s for you to decide, is it?”

Leona growled at Mirai. “Well if everything’s fine now, you can leave me be.”

“What about here?” Mirai asked, poking the Beastman in the chest. “Is everything fine?”

Leona went silent.

Mirai was familiar with signs of depression. The withdrawal, the lack of motivation, the masking, they were symptoms Mirai knew all too well. And Mirai couldn’t act like he didn’t notice, that he didn’t care, because he did, and he wasn’t going to allow Leona to continue to suffer alone.

Mirai reached forward and slowly pulled Leona into a hug. 

“Wh-What are you doing?” Leona stuttered, going rigid in Mirai’s hold.

“Push me away if you hate it,” Mirai muttered, holding the Beastman tighter.

Leona didn’t say anything, but he didn’t return the hug either.

“And even after all of that, it still hurts, doesn’t it?” Mirai whispered.

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” Leona gruffed.

“I know one hug doesn’t fix the thousands you’ve needed, and I know I may not be worth anything, that I may not be what you want,” Mirai sighed. “I know I can’t give you what you truly want, but I’m here for you, Leona. I care.”

Leona choked back a sob.

“It’s okay to cry, it always feels better when you do. You’ve been strong, holding on for so long, but that’s okay. It means you’ve overcome something, that means you can pick yourself up and keep going.”

Leona sobbed into Mirai’s chest, and Mirai held him through it. Leona clawed at the back of Mirai’s shirt as his tears soaked through the fabric, and Mirai stayed there, holding Leona even tighter.

“You may not have been born first, and you may never be king, and I will never have the answers to your questions, but I believe you’re so much more than you think,” Mirai whispered, “You are smart, you are strong, you are resilient, you are beautiful. You are Leona Kingscholar, and don’t let anyone take that from you.”

“I-I hurt you,” Leona sobbed.

“I know,” Mirai muttered into Leona’s hair.

“I’m sorry,” Leona whimpered, pressing his nose up into Mirai's neck.

“And I forgive you,” Mirai croaked.

[twiceasfrustrating]

A New Look

Rating: Teen and Up Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: M/M Fandom: Shall We Date?: Obey Me! Relationship: Diavolo x Simeon Characters: Diavolo, Simeon Additional Tags: Fluff, mentions of nudity as a part of daily life Summary: Diavolo tries on some clothing from the Celestial Realm and wants Simeon's opinion  A/N: How long has it been since I posted something to this blog? Jeez. All my fandoms lately are strictly on the nsfw side so this blog has been suffering a lot. I also haven’t written for OM in so long since I stopped playing the game. Ooops. Have to remember who these characters really are. It may be a bit rough with their characterization. Word Count: 1151

“How do I look?” Diavolo asks, purposefully posing and twirling as dynamically as he can to show off the outfit he asked Simeon to borrow from the Celestial Realm on his behalf.

The outfit, like most Celestial clothing, is white from chest to ankle. In Diavolo’s case, he is wearing a simple ensemble that consists of a top that starts at his neck and only goes down low enough to modestly cover his chest and upper back. There is a light gold streak running down his right side to act as a simple accent. The blue-white gradient pants start just below his navel and stretch down to his calves. They look tight on him, which is common for Celestial clothing, but Simeon worries about Diavolo’s mobility all the same.

The majority of the outfit’s shape doesn’t come from the top or pants, however. The sheer overcoat – similar to the grandeur of a bride’s veil on her wedding day – that hangs over Diavolo is far more bulky than anything else. It sits around his upper arms, the long sleeves stretching past his hands and flowing freely with each movement. The overcoat stretches all the way to his ankles like a skirt.

Simeon claps politely. “You look nice.”

It feels strange to say anything else. It would be dishonest to say the clothing – white and loose against his skin, flowing freely as if it was blown by an immaterial wind – did not suit him, but it would also feel blasphemous to say that the prince of the Devildom looked good in the ensemble. Still, Simeon has a brief thought that, as much as he enjoys the sight of Diavolo in his home fashion, he looks better in his usual attire.

“Nice is good.” Diavolo laughs, satisfied enough with Simeon's answer. “I didn't think Celestial clothes would fit me so well or that they would be so cool.”

“It's the magic woven into the fabric. Many angels have to deal with a variety of temperatures and environments, so it's important to make clothing suited to any given situation. The magic acts like insulation, keeping the temperature of the wearer stable. Additionally, angels that choose a human charge need extra durability and flexibility so-”

Diavolo listens intently, placing a hand over his mouth to hide the silly smile crawling across his face as Simeon speaks. He is charming as he speaks about the clothing of his home realm, listing all matter of facts and small minutiae.

“You know a lot about fashion.”

Simeon stops mid-sentence. 

His eyes dart to the side, then downward. “Not particularly.”

Diavolo's smile never falters as he continues. “But you were just talking all about what makes Celestial Realm clothing special and why it's designed that way. That seems like passion to me.”

“I’m not actually passionate about the current state of fashion. If you want someone who understands trends, it would be better to speak to Asmodeus. Celestial Realm fashion hasn’t changed in some few thousand years, so he should still know about it better than I do.”

“But you seem to know so much.”

“That’s because-” Simeon pauses, trying to find the exact words that won’t make a fool out of him. Eventually, he decides that the truth is nothing to be ashamed of, even if it is mildly embarrassing. “I knew you would have questions, so I tried to learn the basics.”

“Oh…” 

Diavolo’s reaction is outwardly reserved, but he is fighting the rising heat in his face that feels as if it will melt him from the inside out. It was one thing to ask Simeon for a favor so that he could better understand a small part of the Celestial Realm’s culture – for the clothing of a people tells you a lot about them and their way of life – but it is another to know that Simeon went out of his way for his sake. It feels far more intimate than such a small kindness should have.

And, when he glances at Simeon’s face, it is clear that he is not the only one that understands the implications in their exchange.

Diavolo has to get the discussion back on topic.

“Can I ask why Celestial fashion hasn’t changed in thousands of years?”

Humans changed fashion trends every few decades at least. Demons, though not as often, also frequently changed the clothing they wore. He found it strange that the angels did not switch out their clothing at least once every few centuries.

“That’s because most angels don’t actually care for fashion in the first place, so there is no reason to stay on top of evolving trends. Most of us would actually prefer not to wear clothing at all. We only do it for foreign relation reasons because the other realms seem to consider it unsightly to walk around without them. At best, there is a race for the functionality of the magic woven into the fabric, but that’s more akin to being the first to discover it and share your findings with others than it is to claim a new magic for your own benefit.”

Somehow, Simeon misses the implication that angels are nudists.

“I guess that explains why all of your clothing lacks fabric,” Diavolo says without any malicious intent, but Simeon furrows his brows in disapproval regardless.

“That’s an insensitive way to put it, but I suppose that is technically correct.”

“Sorry.” Even as he apologizes, Diavolo is laughing. “But I think it’s your turn now.”

“Hm?” Simeon hums in confusion.

“We’re exchanging clothing today, aren’t we?” Diavolo grabs the outer bottom of the overcoat and lifts it high so that it won’t tangle around his ankles. He begins to march toward the large clothing bag that he had placed to the side much earlier. Up until now, Simeon had assumed it was simply another outfit Diavolo would need to change into later. “I have something for you too.”

Simeon raises both of his hands and turns his face away as he refuses to see what Diavolo could possibly have brought. “It’d rather not. Devildom clothing is very hot.”

That made Diavolo pause for a moment.

He seems to think before smiling and answering Simeon’s concern. “We’ll cut off some of the fabric so you’re more comfortable.”

“That’s not-”

“I promise,” Diavolo says as he picks up the large black clothing bag and holds it toward Simeon so he can take it, “it’ll be fun.”

His smile is bright and beaming as he stares at Simeon with mischief and wonder in his eyes. Framed in white and looking so pleased, it would be easy for an onlooker to mistake Diavolo for an angel, but Simeon only sees the demon that he truly is.

Simeon signs as he resigns himself to Diavolo’s whims, already feeling heat building inside of his stomach and twisting it into knots as he takes the outfit from his hands.

[duchessonfire]

Whatever AU you create I live for it, honestly I'm your biggest fan at this point. Feel free to expand! The abo, supernatural twist, the motherfucking reverse sugar that i did not expect 😂 what kinda dynamic do you envision? Are they overall similar to savior except for some key point or is the energy between cegan completely altered? What are the vibes 🤩

Also! What are you thought on Negan's evolution and can you add your twist as to where do you think Carl can fit in it

(ive never watched dead city and stopped twd years ago coincidentaly right after carl died i keep up a bit with spoilers so i got the gist of it. But from what i can see he's become a fundamentaly different person. Swagger still there but dialed down enough to make me sad 😔 wbu do you keep up? id be impressed if you did cause that's some damn comitmment.

Listen i've been trying to recreate your magic by combining ao3 tags lately but nothing seems to fit! Its the age difference, its the slow burn with what started as someone playing meanly and exerting their power on someone else only to be hit with the feelings 🫢, it's the top tier d/s subtext, its the jealousy and the two step forward one step back, its the smut tbh mostly the smut, simply put it's giving.

And absolutely no rush and dont feel obliged to answer but what kinda irl timeline are you predicting for part 3 and 4 and the neganpov? You've been churning out updates lately (22k high quality chapter within a month; we are spoiled god bless🫂).

I'm frothing at the mouth waiting for your next update. You sincerely bring me joy.

Hi again Cegan lovely! ✨

Thank you so much for this sweet message.

The dynamics of the other Cegan project I have planned will be very much similar to the Savior!Carl universe with Carl and Negan going from enemies to lovers. The only one that is truly different is the reverse sugar daddy AU where I'm going for a Carl that is super shy and vulnerable, really a gifted kid who has trouble connecting with people and who clings to his crush for his former PE teacher for dear life. I'm really excited about those projects even though I have no idea when I'll have time to write them 😅

I am still heavily involved in TWD universe and I have watched the main show until the end, as well as the Daryl Dixon, The Ones Who Live and the Dead City spinoffs. I was very unhappy with Negan's characterization in the last season of TWD but Dead City really brought a breath of fresh air and I'm excited to see what lies in store for Negan in season 2.

So funny thing, part 4 of the Savior!Carl universe will cover Rick's arrival and the war between the Saviors and the other communities, but because I want to stick closely to canon, part 5 will deal with the time Negan spends in the cell and the Whisperer War. So I have in fact plans for Carl and Negan's relationship even after Negan loses his empire. (I'm actually very excited about their new dynamics after that happens ❤️‍🔥 While Negan will go softer, Carl will become a lot harder and more ruthless so that will be pretty amazing to explore...).

I'm so happy that you enjoy the Savior!Carl AU 😍 If you're looking for more Cegan content, I recommend looking at my bookmarks. If you enter Carl Grimes or Negan Smith in the "other work tags to include" section, you will be able to see all my Cegan bookmarks. I especially recommend the fics by Gemjam: Wildflowers and Genesis, which are really the main inspiration behind the Savior!Carl universe, but in my bookmarks you will find loads more of amazing works by amazing writers! Happy reading 📖

So for the time-line, part 3 will finish this summer for sure, hopefully by beginning of July. I will post chapter 10 this week (hopefully today or tomorrow), and then it's only two more chapters to go. The time-line for 4 is a lot blurrier because I still have a lot of brainstorming to do. Same for part 5 and for the Negan's pov. Ideally, I would like the Negan's pov to post at the same time as part 5 because Carl will spend a lot of time away from Negan while he's in the cell, so posting Negan's pov at the same time would still giving readers a healthy amount of Cegan next to the plot of part 5.

Thank you again for such a lovely ask and I hope you have an amazing day 💐😘

[agirlandherquill]

Written In Smoke - The Travelling Letter

it's been a very busy couple weeks, so to make up for my forgetfulness of making a letter last week i'll be combining the two together this week!

A Glimpse Through Time - little bits about me and what I’ve been up to this week

as the letter's name this week tells you, it's a travelling one, and also the biggest thing to happen in these past couple weeks, so here goes!

i went to bath! it was GORGEOUS and everything i hoped it would be

so, dear reader, i'm assuming you're wondering what i did on my trip, and what did i do? well:

I visited the Jane Austen Centre (it was the hottest day of the year so far, so of course i bought a fan, among a few other bits)

I also visited Mary Shelley's House of Frankenstein (timed it so i finished reading frankenstein on the train there which was pretty awesome)

I obviously popped into Waterstones (snagged a copy of the maze runner, since i haven't read it in forever and my kindle copy has since been gifted to a relative)

and if you're interested, here's some of my pics from the trip! (a fair few are on my kodak, so until i fill the film roll and get those developed those ones are under wraps i'm afraid!)

I don't want to spoil the experience for anybody so I'll just show a couple from the jane austen centre:

me, ink, and a quill (very ironically) don't mix, i ended up covered which wasn't a surprise at all, but it was very fun to do (and difficult, and i thought fountain pens could be challenging)

and mary shelley's house of frankenstein:

being the only one in the room at the time was a strange sensation to say the least but when this giant starts BREATHING it's a fright

super cool movie posters

and if anyone else attempts the 'touch if you dare' electrocution bit this is me giving you a heads up - my phone ended up flying out my hand onto the bare wooden floorboards of the house (that shock HURT)

and then some of the things i was lucky enough to see - it really is a beautiful place

needless to say i'm so, so glad that I went on this trip (even if it was terrifyingly exciting to do on my own, when my trains got cancelled and delayed and i nearly got stuck in london for a night (just had to go when the computers crashed globally didn't i? and a heatwave to boot)

now for the rest of this section!

books: of course I had to prep for my trip by reading frankenstein, sense and sensibility, and northanger abbey, and while i've been recovering from 11km of walking (so worth it) i've been reading it happened one summer which is so, so good!

shows/movies: i started rewatching the boys, finished watching the original star wars trilogy and i finished s5 of Dexter, so a bit of a busy couple weeks too

music: this one's a bit tougher since i've been so busy reading/watching things, but here's a few of the tracks i've been listening to this time round: bleachers by haiden henderson, animals by maroon V, and lilith by halsey

Spills From The Ink-Pot - writing, writing, and more writing

where do i start?

the calendar project is going well - this is day 9, and i've made a good start on chapter two

ruin's reprisal, i'm ashamed to say, hasn't been touched this week since i've been so busy, but i'm determined to finish the draft by the end of july (utterly terrifying)

also started dabbling in fanfic again (if such a thing is possible, it's been such a long time that i don't really know) which is a really daunting prospect but i'm looking forward to exploring it and how i write it some more

now, i usually include some snippets here but since all of my writing time has gone into the calendar project this week that's all I've got, so feel free to check out the most recent pages from my master post!

bit of a double whammy to make up for my lateness but here you go! this week's letter is all typed up, compiled and heading your way!

~ A Girl and Her Quill

Tag List! (if you want to be notified when a WIS post comes out, interact with this post :) )

@lead-to-code @catwingsathena @nothoughtsjustmhaandotherthings @thestorywitch @lunaeuphternal

@theaistired @frostedlemonwriter

[t1meslayer]

Nine people I'd like to get to know better

Tagged by @amethystsoda <.< This is my first time doing one of these Tumblr viral posts so tysm for getting me involved!!

===

Last Song: The real answer is "Pokemon OST I've listened to 100 times," but that's boring — even if it's a banger like ScarVi's Wild Area battle theme.

Instead let's share this very normal song from the end of a very normal playlist curated by a very normal friend about a very normal character:

This person may or may not become relevant later.

===

Fav Color: Yellow! Especially a lighter Daffodil kind of shade.

===

Last Movie/TV Show: Last movie was Disney's Wish (available now on Disney+, you see) during a VC yesterday. But I can tell you literally nothing about that movie other than the fact I was bored.

So go watch Space: 1999 instead. It's basically a British Star Trek show from the 70s with the most unnecessarily bangin' disco theme song you've ever heard in your life, and I'm obsessed.

===

Sweet/Spicy/Savory?: Historically a sweet guy, but I've been doing more spicy as of late. Lots of curries and chicken sandwiches and spicy pickles... Gimme more, please.

===

Relationship Status: Single and ready to mingle, as the kids say!

===

Last thing I web searched: The real answer is boring job hunt stuff. Instead, have one of my favorite clips I recently dug up related to taxes:

(For those who don't know, Brutalmoose is also the guy behind that "This time, I'm really gunna do it" image. Great videos all around. Been watching since forever.)

===

Current Obsession: PokeRogue. It has taken over my entire brain. And how could it not when you have such exciting revelations as:

Draco Meteor Fomantis.

Insane.

===

Your Tags (should you choose to accept it): @alchemicallymoon, @clearskeyes, @mossymothdragon, @kiliofdurinsline, @sheepishspirits, @ephemeraldew, @transientmelody, @tracc04, and a very relevant insane person @trybard

Like Ari, gunna throw a blank copy under the cut since mine was so busy! Thanks for reading <3

Last Song:

Fav Color:

Last Movie/TV Show:

Sweet/Spicy/Savory?:

Relationship Status:

Last thing I web searched:

Current Obsession:

Tagging:

[aritamargarita]

GOLDEN || 006

you thought it was attitude but ITS GOLDEN

trying to make up for being so behind. really been enjoying these chapters. we are pulling all the grandpas and dilfs yes we are. MALEWIFING THEM ONE AT A TIME. AND WE CANT FORGET ABOUT THE LADIESSSSS!!!! HEY LADIES!!!!HEY LADIES!!!!!!! consider this chapter a bit of a timeskip, we’re goin to the intergender match yes yes. it’s not gonna be what you think y’all have to listen to the plan. i have to put the pieces in place….

scrambling events here the way i would like them to go, so this is like at the end of the year, it’s november / december 1997,,,,idk. it’s a vibe im hungry as fuck. splitting the chapters because well? yeah. i have things that happen post match

sorry triple h for cropping you out but it’s chyna foreva and always..im just one of her sassy shootas!!!

YOU ARE VERY happy you have something to do tonight. You’re thrilled, even. All you want to do is showcase your wrestling skill. But things don’t always go the way you want it to..

BACKSTAGE // 7:01 PM

After Shawn told you about the upcoming intergender match last show, you decided to go head to the hotel for the night and rest up. You also make a mental note to issue an apology for Bret for not showing up…

But this was pretty important. It’s the week of Christmas, so you’re sure that the company has a lot of plans for the holiday..

You’re in DX’s dressing room, sitting on the floor and doing stretches. You had a reputation among your peers in previous companies for turning up to the events early. They didn’t know whether to envy it or love it. You’re always ready to go.

The door opening startled you from the floor, Chyna being the first to walk in with two duffel bags. She doesn’t greet you at first, but you watch as she sets her things down.

“Hi!” You chime.

And at the sound of your voice, she jumps too. You don’t think she noticed you at first. “Hey. You scared me.”

“You scared me too.” You smile, standing up. “What’s up?”

“Nothing in particular.” She responds. “You’re here early.”

“Oh, I always get here early. I like to be ready, you know?” You start to feel nervous in her presence, which you’re already hitting yourself mentally for. Somehow, you feel like you be trying to impress her. “You’re here early.”

Immediately, the tone in her voice changes into irritation. “Hunter was taking too long. I left without him. Shawn’s probably going to get him now.”

“You snooze, you lose.” You say, completely understanding. Truth be told, it kinda reminded you of Raven. Sometimes, you’d travel with him by car. Stevie would tag along at times too, but you’d much rather just ride with him alone if Raven’s gonna take forever.

Raven would come out 10 minutes late and it would mess with your schedule. He started doing a little better after you chewed him out about it, but the principal…

Just was you considered leaving him in the dust, he’d come outside, suitcase and all. There’s a tiny part of you that misses traveling with them, but, yeesh.

There was a moment you got fed up once and for all. Seeing some girl hastily leave his hotel room really upset you for some reason. You’re not exactly ready to explore why, but it really pissed you off.

You didn’t even care, you just left. Unfortunately, you fell right back into the trap of talking to him when he cornered you during an ECW show to ask what’s the deal….

Now’s not the time to mull over these things, you’re still talking to Chyna.

“Hey, why don’t we travel together next show? I’ll drive!” You offer. “That way we can get here on time and do what we need to do.”

“Fine with me.” It’d probably be better for the both of you, especially since you offered to drive. Chyna just hopes you’re a better driver than Shawn. She’ll never ride with him in a vehicle again.

The last time the three of them rode together, Hunter had been egging Shawn on the entire time, telling him to zig zag through the cars “if he’s not scared”. With the Heartbreak Kid being the show off he is, he did.

Never. Again. They’re lucky they didn’t crash.

“I heard we had an intergender match.” You continue on. You won’t let this conversation end so easily. “Is it me and you…?”

Chyna shakes her head. “No. It’s you and Hunter versus Shawn and I. They wanted to experiment and switch us up.”

Boo…

At least Hunter seemed nice, despite the fact he threw wads of paper at your head the other day. Nothing’s wrong with him at all. In fact, you’ve been meaning to ask him how he keeps up with his hair. It’s so nice.

However, you really wanted to work with Chyna, not against her. Even though you had ring gear, you would’ve changed it if it meant you could match with her.

“Aw man. I wanted to partner with you!” You complain. “We would’ve had so much fun.”

There’s a ghost of a smile on her face, but as soon as you look at her, it goes away. “It would’ve been nice to be partners. But it’s just not happening. Don’t expect me to go easy on you, [Name].”

You give her a thumbs up. “I wouldn’t want you to!” It goes silent for a minute, so you return to the ground to stretch a bit more.

“I have something for you.” Chyna suddenly speaks up, making you look towards her. “Here, take this.” She tosses a rolled up shirt in your direction.

You unroll it, revealing a black shirt that says ‘Chyna Syndrome’. Woah.

“I hope you don’t think it’s selfish or anything. It’s just that Hunter and Shawn are wearing it tonight…” She trails off. You don’t even care if it was selfish or not. She just gave you a gift!

“Not at all, thanks! I’m definitely wearing it tonight.” This has gotta be your new favorite shirt. You’d cut it into a crop top, but you don’t want to ruin it. You may settle for tying it. “I really like this.”

“Good to hear.”

“You, uh, wanna go shopping before the next Raw?” You ask. “I’ve got a really good eye, I think we can find something you’d like!”

Chyna’s never been shopping. Well, she has, but not with another girl in the company. “Sure.”

Yet again, the door opens. Neither of you look up. You’re too distracted with your shirt and Chyna’s sorting through her belongings.

“Ohhh! Look at our lovely ladies congregating!” Shawn loudly says, tossing his bag to the side to come over to you. You’ve started to associate obnoxiously loud noises with him. “Raw’s never looked so good!”

You roll your eyes, but you can’t help the smile that appears on your face.

“C’mon, do a little twirl for me!” He’s a little too spontaneous. Is this how he always acts? You don’t mind though..

You give him your hand and he immediately spins you around.

“What a sight for sore eyes! You know, that Sergeant Slaughter guy’s been a real pain in the ass. Ever since they let him be Commissioner…”

You really start to tune him out after a while. Hunter’s over there getting his stuff together, and your eyes trail over to him as he walks over to Chyna. He looks frazzled, but you hear him chuckling soon after.

Good, he doesn’t seem too angry. Even if he did, you’d definitely defend Chyna quickly.

“…..And he knows I’m the champion! He’s putting my title on the line, can you believe that?! So you know what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna mess up the match. We’re gonna do it our own way. [Name], I need you to lay down for me.”

Him saying that immediately caught you off guard, looking at him in confusion. “You want me to what?”

You had no clue he was champion. The first time you met him, he wasn’t carrying his belt around.

“I want Chyna and I to win. It’s the least you could do, you know, since she’s letting you win the Miss Slammy awards…”

That was two bombs at once. Goddamn.

“Miss Slammy?” You repeat.

For some reason, you notice Chyna turn away in the corner of your eye. Is she embarrassed? Shawn comments on it. “Hey! Don’t get all shy now. You offered. You see, [Name],” He slings an arm around your waist.

“—there’s this thing called the Slammy’s coming up. Big formal event, it’s like the Emmy’s.” He explains.

“It’s like the Emmy’s??” You question. A wrestling event like the Emmy’s, huh? You feel like you’ve heard of something like that before. The only banquet event you’ve been to lately was Terry Funk’s Lifetime Achievement Banquet. You gave a speech and everything.

“Yup. You know, I’ve heard you’ve got nominated. Don’t tell anyone else, I just heard that down the grapevine.”

The grapevine?

You’re surprised. It’s one thing to be nominated, but another thing because you literally just got hired. “Are you serious? Don’t mess with me.”

“Yup. We were thinking about rigging the votes. Chyna, being the sweetheart she is, said she’d rather you get the win.” He grins.

That really is sweet of her. You’re already turning around to tell her ‘thank you’ one more time.

It’s not fair to the other nominees, whoever they are. You shake your head. “I’d rather win it myself fair and square. You know me and Hunter won’t go easy on you.”

Shawn can only scoff at your words. “That’s boring. You’re really gonna let Marlena win over you? Now personally, if that was me…?”

Marlena’s nominated too?

Well, now you absolutely had to win! You quickly interrupt him. “Um, no way. For sure, I think I’ll be Miss Slammy, but I told you I want to do it the fair way.”

“If you say so. Oh shit, I almost forgot. Listen, [Name], What I really wanted to ask you was…..”

Chyna and Hunter both look over at him curiously, but Shawn shakes his head and waves his hand at you dismissively. “Nevermind.”

“Shouldn’t you be talking with Chyna?” Hunter makes his way over to you two. “That’s my tag team partner now.”

“I’m not worried, Trips.” He says. “Me and Chyna are gonna win, even if [Name] won’t lay down for me.”

“I’m not going to lie.” You speak up, causing everyone to look at you. “I kinda wanted to be in Chyna’s corner. Really bad.”

“Unfortunately, you’re not!” Hunter cuts in, a shit eating grin on his face. “You’re with me. Aren’t you happy??”

You hesitate for a minute to respond. You’re a-ok with teaming with Hunter, but you like how he’s starting to get all sour about it. “Ehh…..”

He’s not too happy with your answer. “That’s not fair. You know, we’re gonna have to bond sometime, new girl..”

Chyna holds her hand up to her mouth, hiding her snicker. With the idiocy bouncing between Shawn and Hunter, you may be her only saving grace.

After that fiasco, you headed out to check out the card for the night. It should’ve been on the wall somewhere. Just before you could study it, one of the staff members called you over.

Before he started speaking to you, he holds down his earpiece. Someone must’ve been talking to him at the same time. He eventually looks up at you. “Evening. I’ve got some papers from Creative for you. You can look through them...”

“Okay. Thanks.” You nod, taking the papers from his hands.

Great, more papers. You thought what Rick Rude put you through was hell, you just hope you don’t have to sign anything else right now.

“Vince McMahon wants to speak with you as well. He’s in the meeting room next to the catering area.”

Oh fuck. The boss wants to speak with you too?? You hope you didn’t do anything wrong yet..

You’re already panicking as you turn away quickly and make your way to the meeting room. It’s strange he wants to see you there instead of the office.

You don’t know why you’re so nervous. You’ve dealt with Bischoff and Heyman. There’s no reason why you couldn’t deal with Vince McMahon.

In your defense, it was a new playground. You haven’t gotten a feel for the work environment or for your coworkers.

The people you’ve met so far have been pretty okay though. Things were off to a nice start, so you’re not entirely worried on that front.

As soon as you got there, you remember to take a breath with your hand on the handle.

Once you swing it open, you already start to feel pretty awkward as all eyes fall on you. There’s only one familiar face in the room and it’s Sable, who looked incredibly bored until you walked in.

“Good evening.” Vince says. “Please take a seat.”

The only open seat there is was one across from Sable. How convenient! This definitely was a set up. You don’t say anything as you quietly take a seat. You don’t forget to wave at Sable.

She just blankly stares at you. You wonder if she’s not in a good mood…

Vince begins this meeting with formally greeting the both of you. “Good evening, ladies. I’m sure you’re both wondering why I’ve called you here.”

You and Sable definitely are. This’ll be interesting.

“In the next couple of weeks, at least by the beginning of the new year, we’d like to put you and Sable into a program. [Name], you will be the heel, Sable, you will be the face.”

First of all, this is the wrong blonde you wanted to be in a storyline with. Marlena’s the one who you had to get revenge on, not Sable. She didn’t even do anything.

Did he get the two mixed up?

No, there’s no way. When you’re the boss, you should be able to tell your own superstars apart. There’s a vast difference when it comes to Marlena and Sable.

You point it out. “What about Marlena? I thought we had a thing going on there.”

“It’ll happen eventually.” Vince reassured. “Just not right now. We want Sable to enter the picture, we’ve got plans to split her up from Marc Mero—“

“Wait, you’re splitting us up?” She’s surprised herself, turning her head over to Vince. “…I’m going solo?” You were sure she wasn’t expecting that either. “I don’t know anything about wrestling.”

“Now’s the time to learn.” Vince says, shuffling papers. “Two of my up and coming female stars, going head to head. This is where the dough is made. This, is what’ll get us some views.”

The way he said it made you a little uneasy. He was almost on the verge of laughter. Something’s definitely not right in his head.

You’re not exactly sure what to do. You’re conflicted, especially since he was mumbling on and on about the amount of money he’d be making. Damn old men these days.

It makes you idly look at the table for a moment. You’re not bored per-say, just concerned. Okay, perhaps just a little scared too.

Sable seems to mirror you, although the frown on her face is more noticeable. It’s silent in the room, save for the occasional chatter you’d hear outside the door.

It’s starting to make you uneasy, so you speak up. “I’m gonna be a heel, huh?”

Vince snaps out of his rant and looks towards you. “Yes. Just be prepared to be booed. The people aren’t going to like you. They’re gonna like Sable. She’ll be over.”

Great! You’re putting her over. You just hope she doesn’t get injured by the end of this, though if she says she doesn’t know how to wrestle, you hope that YOU don’t get injured by the end of this.

“I don’t want to take any bumps.” She says outright, crossing her arms. “Especially hard ones.”

You don’t know how this’ll work then. She doesn’t have a choice. “There’s just no way around it, you know? I’ll go easy on you, okay?”

It didn’t make her feel any better. Sable shakes her head. “No. I don’t want to.”

You turn your attention to her. “…If we have to work together, you’re taking a bump. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

She snaps at you. “Who are you to tell me what I have to do?”

“Someone who’s putting you over, and I don’t HAVE to do that.” You can keep up with her. Something you’ve learned being in the business was to never take shit from anybody. Though, it may have been the result of Terry instilling a lot of courage into you.

Sable stands up from her chair. “I can get over just fine by myself! I don’t need you. Remember where you came from, some company no one even knows about.”

She jabs a finger in your face, but you swipe it away. “Oh yeah, I remember where I came from. And I’m about to use this table and fucking—“

Vince stands up too, clenching his fists. “THIS IS WHAT WE NEED!” He yells, damn near startling the both of you.

…….

He clears his throat, regaining composure. “If you have this much energy in the ring, both of you would be winners. You two need to calm it down immediately. This meeting is adjourned.”

Most of the people in the room leave, frazzled by you and Sable’s bickering.

Sable doesn’t forget to give you a glare before she leaves. You’re stiffing the hell out of her when the time comes.

You’re just about to leave too, probably to storm off and complain to the first person you see. Vince stops you just in time.

“[Name], I’d like you to meet someone,” He says. One of the members stayed behind it seems. Your mood is starting to sour, which doesn’t bode well for anyone in the future. However, you do your best to keep up a front for the boss.

Vince grunts something and motions with his head toward you. The younger man examines you, but at Vince’s movements, seems to take the hint and reaches out his hand for you to shake. “I’m Shane.” He introduced. “His son and the co-owner of the company.”

Interesting! You could see the resemblance as soon as you saw them side by side. Incredibly uncanny. Being face to face with both of your superiors felt strange.

“Hey.” You take his hand and shake it. “[Name], but you probably already know that. Really sorry for my outburst earlier.”

He chuckles. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind too much. “It’s fine. Just shows how serious you take the business.”

Vince looks between you two.

For some reason, he can feel the connection already. This will be documented for future reasons, of course. Alas, you’ve got something to do. “[Name], I’m glad you’ve came to this meeting today. Don’t disappoint on your match tonight. I will be watching.”

You’ll try your best.

BACKSTAGE // 7:24 PM

Before you had gone to gorilla, Hunter quickly ran you through how things would go. It’s a simple match. Nothing too fancy. He just requested you to do stupid shit every once in a while.

He had forgotten his water bottle, so he ran back to the locker room really quick. You stand there, using a rubber band to tie part of it into a knot. You have your gear on under it, but you’ve gotta represent.

So true, you indeed have Chyna Syndrome.

“Wow, I can’t believe you’re actually going to wear it..” Chyna’s voice comes as a surprise to you, making you turn around with another smile.

“With pride!” You pose, just as if she was holding a camera. “By the way, are we all coming out separate with our partners or all together?”

“Me first, then Shawn, then you two.” She says. “Don’t forget to put your game face on. Me and you are first to go at it in the ring. The other two take over after.”

Okay, this wasn’t too bad. Shawn wanted all of you to mess with this Sergeant Slaughter guy and you knew Chyna wasn’t going to go easy on you, but there’s gotta be a way to goof around with her in the meanwhile…

Hunter comes back with his water bottle in hand. “Shawn’s not here yet?” He looks around, completely confused.

Chyna just shrugs. “No. I’m not exactly sure what he’s doing.”

“Oooh, we win by default. Hunter, let’s hold the championship together.” You say.

“I’ve got an even better idea.” He says. “You’re gonna lift your shirt up and…” He trails off, glancing over at Chyna. He does not want her to beat him up for saying that to you. “…put the title belt on.”

“Just for me? Sweet.” It flew over your head this time. “I’m not opposed for sure.”

Chyna just shakes her head. Just in time, Shawn comes around with his belt in tow, a smile on his face. His gear was pretty gaudy, with a vest and some….what the hell is he even wearing…? It looks like you could unzip part of the pants, but even so, this shit looks like a fashion disaster.

“You guys ready to wrestle?”

Of course you were.

Chyna and Shawn are first out, just as she said. Then it was you and Hunter. You hadn’t ‘officially’ been given theme music quite yet, so they just allowed you to come out with Hunter to DX’s theme until decided.

All of you settle into the ring. You and Chyna were first up.

You’re ready, unable to fight the smile on your face. Chyna on the other hand, was as doing her best to be stoic as ever. You understood it though, she had to be.

Chyna comes towards you and you immediately fall down to the ground.

The crowd gets a good laugh out of it. You’re “knocked out” cold and she didn’t even hit you. Hell, she didn’t even touch you!

She stares down at you, then grabs your leg to drag you around the canvas a bit. You’re still not moving. She then tries to pin you, but you kick out.

You stand up and shoot her a smile. She can only roll her eyes at you, another smile playing at the corner of her lips. You’ll try and be serious now. The two of you lock up, but Chyna breaks it up and irish whips you into one of the corners.

You try to sell it as hard as you can, but it backfired on you completely. That shit really hurt! For a second, you keel over, your back absolutely killing you.

Using the ropes for some leverage, you jump up and hook your legs around her neck for a rope-aided hurricanrana. That’s one move!

Once you hit the ground, you try and exaggerate. (It still hurt though.) “Ow, ow!” You whine, putting a hand on your back. “OOOOOWWWW!” You try whining a little louder, rolling around.

Shawn’s eager to get himself tagged in, holding his hand out for a slowly recovering Chyna.

She sees it and reluctantly tags him in. She wanted to go a little longer with you, but she couldn’t deny him. He’s chipper as hell.

You use the ropes to stand up, then stagger over to him. The two of you were face to face in the ring.

He can only give you a grin. “Remember when I said you have to lay down for me?”

“Uh, yeah?”

Nothing could prepare you for what he was going to do next. He immediately tackling you down like a football player. “I meant it!” When he gets you down to the ground, the referee had started to count it as a pin.

“OW! What the fuck!” You exclaim.

If he wants to play dirty, then so be it! You don’t even let the referee hit two, you kick out immediately.

“Woahhh! You kicked out!” He was taunting you. As you try to get up, he starts to push you down, grabbing your arms to try and stop you from swiping at him. “Watch the hair!”

You’re getting a little frustrated at how he’s holding you down, so you’re doing your best to get the hell out of it. He’s having a bit of a hard time controlling you.

The crowd is enjoying this very much. Whatever you guys are doing, it’s working in your favor!

Shawn’s decently impressed, you’re much stronger than he thought! Well, of course he thought you were strong, you had twisted his arm in the hallway pretty hard.

Normally, girls would just turn into putty under him, especially if they were play fighting like this.

“Hey, HEY, HEY—“ His voice slightly rises in volume as you start to push him off of you with your legs. He doesn’t let go of your arms, trying to overpower your own attempts of moving away.

It’s not doing him any justice. You’re able to flip over him and roll off. That was incredibly embarrassing. In the middle of the ring, no less.

You jump up to your feet and he does too. What’s next?

You take a few steps back and so does he. Then you take a few steps forward. He does too. Is he copying you?!

You hold you arm up and he follows. Yeah, he definitely was copying you. You slowly lower it and flip him off. He returns the favor. Goddamn it.

You’re not for the bullshit, you’re just not. You back away and tag Hunter in. He hits your hand and you switch places.

Shawn doesn’t tag Chyna in, instead deciding to jump in place. You have a feeling that it’s going to go downhill from here.

Both of them pull on the ropes a bit, warming the ring up. They’re acting like the match is just beginning.

Once they’re all finally all geared up, the two of them lock up…and Hunter quickly throws Shawn right onto the mat. He just lays there.

It was a little too easy, definitely done on purpose. Maybe he was even mocking you a little bit.

Hunter bounces off the ring ropes and just as you think he’s about to do something, he just runs and bounces off, jumping over Shawn every so often.

You can’t help but to laugh. Hunter flops right on top of Shawn and pins him with no issue. Congratulations, you two won! He’s the new champion! …Of whatever the hell the theme was, you guess.

“Your new European Champion, Hunter Hearst Helmsley!”

European champion? Ah, very nice.

Shawn’s in the middle of the ring having a temper tantrum. He slams his hands and balled up fists onto the mat. Once he comes up, you see him crying crocodile tears.

Poor thing. He runs over to Chyna for some comfort, the woman fighting a laugh as hard as she could.

Hunter’s brought to tears of joy, crawling around and throwing his arms up. He crawls over to you and hugs your waist. You pat his back.

The referee hands over the title to you and you slightly drape it over his back, trying to catch his attention. He lets go of you and rises to his feet, taking it away from you and holding it up to the crowd.

“You know…” Shawn, now equipped with a mic, can barely get his words out without dry-heaving. “It’s—it’s—“ He pauses for a minute, choking over his tears. Boohoo!

There’s a man at the front of the stage watching all this chaos go down. Now that you take a look around, this arena is a little different than the usual.

Hunter throws his arm around you for support like he just wrestled a very hard match. Shawn’s still sobbing. He takes a minute to pull it together.

“It’s not easy being defeated for the European tiiittleeee…I’ve been in so many matches…I’ve been in ladder matches, I’ve been in cell matches, I’ve been in marathon matches, but, oh god—never has any match been so….emotionally, physically, and mentally draining as this one..”

Shawn continues wordvomiting something else something akin to “youtwowonfarandsquareaauughhh” but then hands over the mic to Hunter.

“I’d just like to say one thing. Other than my kid being born….I don’t have one, that I know of—,” He pauses, definitely letting that sink in. “This is the greatest moment of my life!! YOU ALL SAW IT! I DID ITTTT!!” He yells.

Hunter doesn’t forget to shout you out. “AND [NAME], MY BEAUTIFUL PARTNER, THAT NONE OF YOU PEOPLE IN THE CROWD WILL NEVER GET THE CHANCE TO BE AROUND! THANK YOU!! Oh god, thank you!”

You feel like this match kinda sucks….

Seems like things were back to normal. Hunter tosses the mic somewhere after coming in for a hug and Shawn starts doing crotch chops. The latter grabs the mic again. “I know ya’ didn’t need any help from us Sarge, but we made an ass outta you anyway! MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

Even with Christmas being just days away, you don’t exactly feel in the spirit….

the night is not over. I REPEAT THE NIGHT IS NOT OVER. yes the match was short and stupid. yes we’re complaining about it next chapter (so are some fans…) DO NOT WORRY,,

mickie actually does the rope-aided hurricanrana, it’s pretty cool, though i just think mickie herself is pretty cool :). im actually gonna make a gif move set list to reference or something like that i dunno.

you know, golden seems much more “mature” than attitude idk maybe it’s just me. that was a fun match to write,,sometimes my worst enemy can be writing too much in one paragraph grrr. anyway i hope you guys enjoyed i liked this kinda sorta. until next time

do you guys remember when dx “invaded” wcw? lol thought it would be funny if reader was there like damn.

[everyoneprotector]

Okay Okay okay!

So I’m listening to The Magnus Archives for the first time (I’m late I know) with my flatmate/bestie right? We listen to it as we cook dinner, very domestic yada yada ANYWAYS

I was scrolling through the art tag, happily looking for anything with my main woman Sasha James, the Best Character in the show, when I notice something. I’ve been semi successful with avoiding spoilers but my autistic ass notices a pattern that confuses me, so go to bother the bestie with whom I live.

I go “Hey, why do people change her hair???” He jokes about it being a podcast so she has no cannon appearance. I tell him thats not whats up, I want to know why people change her hair between season one and the other seasons. 

He knows this. He says its a haircut. I’m confused as to why a haircut would be mentioned since no other appearances have been mentioned as of yet but maybe its very big. I express how much I like her long curly hair, because it think thats the most based character design.

He gives me the same look he gave me a few months ago when I played assassins creed 2 and told him I would die to protect my funny and sickly new brother. They later got assassinated.

He promised she isnt going to get possessed and laughed when I asked if she is cloned but answered nothing as to if she is replaced. I live Micheal too much to fear that he does something to her I think they are both so cool.

Anyways after I told him i dont believe that shes going to be okay I also told him I was snitching to you guys so heres the snitch post. We finished episode 32 during our dinner cooking last night and had guests over tonight but I gotta say Jane is so cool. I dont like her.