#my school is being extremely vague with their plans and i know they just want to take my money and kick me back out

[foldingfittedsheets]

I’ve always been a pretty good liar. As an adult I’ve come to a moral place in which I don’t use that skill set unless it will explicitly benefit someone. But when I was a kid all bets were off.

I think tiny child me was doing their little autistic best but recognized that some situations would be best navigated by lying as telling the truth never netted positive results. Whether it was because my needs often went unmet or ignored, or because I didn’t see any reason not to lie if it would be more favorable, I’m not sure.

This is the story of my proudest lie. The best lie I ever did. A lie that looking back I still go, damn, I was eight.

Our story begins in second grade. I was eight. My school was having a book fair and I spent my small stipend on Gulliver’s Travels. No idea why. Lacking further funds I wandered the fair and came upon the greatest sight known to man. Frog erasers. They were so cute and I was extremely into animals of all kinds.

The whimsy. Who could have known they made erasers in such wonderful shapes? I mourned that I’d spent my money already, and played quietly with the little frogs in their bin. That’s when I was approached by a few other kids from my class.

I didn’t know most of them very well, but enough that it was civil when they asked me, “Are you going to buy those frogs?”

“I’d like to,” I admitted, “but I spent all my money.”

“Why don’t you steal them?”

“I thought about that, but I don’t have pockets.” Indeed, stealing had crossed my mind but it had been a brief temptation. I wasn’t even scandalized that the other girls suggested it.

“Caitlin has pockets,” the leader of the pack said. And indeed, Caitlin in her purple overalls did have pocket space for two frogs. So Caitlin and I became partners. My role in the escapade was just... wanting frogs and walking out with her. We stole two frogs, a yellow and a purple, and united by the misdeed we played together with them at recess despite not really being friendly prior.

After lunch I was called from class to the library. The principal herself was there waiting for me. She had a somber air, almost mournful that she needed to punish me. It was self evident to me that I was here for frog crimes. Caitlin had cracked and taken the fastest route to forgiveness- snitching on an accomplice. Despite the fact that my role was just: wanted frogs, I knew I was going to be in trouble.

Now, I could have told the truth. Pulled a Caitlin and ratted on the girl who told us to steal them. But clearly I’d still be in trouble for having gone along with the morally bereft plan. I was mad at Caitlin for telling but not enough to foist the onus back into her.

“Do you know why you’re here?” The principal asked kindly.

“Is it about the frogs?”

“Yes, Caitlin told us you stole the frogs.”

I quivered my lip and drew myself up indignantly. “I didn’t steal them!”

She blinked at my vehemence but since I looked near tears she carefully asked, “What happened?”

“I really wanted the frogs, but I didn’t have any money. So I asked the librarian if I could take them and bring the money tomorrow! But she was really busy and lots of people were talking to her, and she said yes! But maybe she was saying yes to someone else? And I thought it was to me but Caitlin didn’t, but I was going to bring money tomorrow!”

The principal. Was flummoxed. This was a situation in which I clearly thought I’d done no wrong, in which she couldn’t prove I had done anything wrong, and which the librarian would almost certainly not be able to weigh in. She regarded me not with suspicion but rather vaguely confused as to how to handle me.

I got off with a slight warning that I should pay for things before taking them, despite not having been the one to take things in the first place, and the frogs were confiscated.

I was vaguely worried they’d call my parents but years later when I admitted the story to my mom as an adult she laughed herself sick and said she’d never gotten a call.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for being a ....homewrecker? (🏝 for later)

I'm not sure that's the right word, but whatever. Basically, I (FtM) met this guy (cis M, we'll call him M) over a year ago and we hit it off pretty quick. It was under extremely unusual circumstances, but for the sake of anonymity, I'll be vague and just say: it was 3 AM, Denny's, T.E Lawrence was involved. Now, I'm pretty wary of most guys who go to my school, given I'm trans and unfit to defend myself for various would-break-anonymity reasons, but M is just the best and is incredibly sweet. Days are easier when he's around, even if it's just through a Discord call playing video games. I started harboring feelings for him pretty much immediately, but didn't plan on acting on them for two reasons:

1) I've yet to be in an actual committed relationship (nobody's wanted to stick around, or we both realized quickly we weren't dating material) and I'm terrified of fucking anything up. 2) ....M has a girlfriend. A super long-term one, at that. Like, they met when they were kids, he's been romancing her for ages, they're going to get married and both openly agree they'd be shells of people without each other. Soulmate shit. She's awesome. She's the sweetest, too. Very thoughtful, and soft-spoken, and so so smart. So, no, I didn't plan on doing anything about my feelings. I'm not the type to hide who I am, so I wasn't going to hide anything, but I certainly wasn't going to DO anything either. That's not my place.

Until, one school break, M comes to me and admits he has feelings. And he's wrecked about it. Tells me I'm the only other person he's really had this for, because it's always been his girlfriend. He's a mess. I thought we communicated pretty well, and we'd both made it clear that nothing was going to happen unless Girlfriend knew about it and approved, because she comes first above all else. (I was the one to say this before him, and he was relieved that I understood.) She is priority. She will always be priority, and I totally get that. I'm just some guy, you know? But the conversation ended with me telling him he should probably let her know about this, regardless of how scary that was, because he's an incredibly touchy-feely guy and if I was her I'd like if this was on my radar. New player: M's best friend. very by the book christian guy. Not at all stuck up, but he abstains from worldly pleasures or something like that! He's cool, we're cool.

Except after break, M's best friend makes a few confusing comments, and suddenly, there's now never been a time when just me and M have hung out since. Girlfriend hasn't acted any differently and is still incredibly warm and wonderful, so I'm pretty sure she still doesn't know. I'm a very giving person and like to shower my friends in gifts, so I was undeterred in giving them both valentine's gifts I had bought them months in advance (extra hand wringing on my part.) Girlfriend was ecstatic, loved her gift, and M loved his too. But then he left to go Cry??? Because he hadn't gotten her anything (I'm the only one with a min $ job). I'm not sure where I stand with him or with either of them, and i'm just so confused. I'm 🤷‍♂️ about poly, but with the way they were raised (see M's best friend for reference), their feelings are more muddy about it. I want to talk to M, but being alone in the same room is impossible. I don't know if M has been intentionally making sure we're never alone together, I don't know if Girlfriend knows, or what M wants, what Girlfriend would want or even what I want, because I don't know what's on the table. I don't even know if we're in the same restaurant. Girlfriend is going to find out. M is way too touchy feely even with "supervision". (Granted, he is with everyone, I'm pretty sure I'm just the only person who lets him get away with it.) At this rate, somethings going to give, and i'm honestly just waiting for it to happen now. 🤷‍♂️

[certifiedlovergirlsstuff]

okay so this request was sent through the dms (best to go through inbox for future req) and they chose to stay anon. so they requested steve with hargrove reader (i made them step siblings so i hope that helps for mostly everyone reading) where reader is being abused at home and steve finds out and is being super caring (short summary)

pairing: steve harrington x fem hargrove!reader wc: 2.4k

tw: mentions of hitting, abuse, blood and cuts

masterlist

“mr. harrington, you will be partnered with miss.hargrove. and i expect equal work, steven.” mrs.johnson glared at the king before going back to handing out assignments.

you could feel his gaze lingering on your skin, tracing your profile as you looked down on your open book. you didn’t bother giving him your attention, not planning on doing the work outside the classroom. best to keep him distant.

there was a loud commotion happening in the room. head tilting up you saw everyone with their assigned partners, you included. a look to your left and steve harrington locked eyes with you.

he was turned in the seat so his body was facing your side. his left elbow sat on the scratched brown top, his palm cupped his cheek so his head was slightly tilted. a dark curl kissed his forehead.

your eyes squinted, “what?” not understanding why he was watching you like a hawk.

his brows rose an inch and a small pout formed on his lips, “nothing. just sitting with my partner.” and he flashed a smirk. it made your eyes narrow into slits.

you rested your pointer finger into the crease of your book and twisted your stomach to face him more head on. “look, let’s just do most of the work here and then split up what needs to be finished and do it separately. how’s that sound?” voice bored and not looking for any actual input.

but steve squinted his eyes and pouted, “sounds dumb. let’s just do it at my house when school is over. can’t focus with all this noise.” a playful smile replaced the pout. he was trying to be cute.

it wasn’t working.

“i’d rather do it in a class environment then do the rest on my own.” pushing back. steve kissed his teeth, “oh, well you heard mrs. johnson. i need to put in work, so we gotta stick together and make sure it’s even teamwork. need to try and bump my C to a B this year. dad’s on my ass.”

and you knew the feeling.

but you took a deep sigh while slightly shaking your head, “i just don’t think it’s the best idea for us to hang out… outside of school. you know…” being extremely vague and closed off. hoping you didn’t have to verbally give a reason for steve harrington to just back off.

Steve’s demeanor changed at your words and tone. the hand that was pushing up his cheek feel to the table surface, his body leaning in close and his voice dropping into a whisper. “is it billy? ‘cause i can handle him, done it before.” and you kinda knew what he was talking about.

how steve came to school one day with a fucked up face and how max told you billy wasn’t gonna bother either of you anymore. you didn’t realize the two were connected but haven’t bothered to push.

with steve making the assumption the problem was billy you took the handed excuse. “i’d just rather not piss him off today. he’s been ignoring me and i don’t want to be on his radar.” lips set in a tight line as you looked at your book.

“well… do you want to work on it at the library? neutral ground.” you couldn’t help the huffed laugh, “very persistent, are we?” finally holding stable eye-contact.

steve flashed his dazzling smile as he shakes his head, “what can i say? i take my education very seriously.”

eyes squinted, “uh huh… very. trying to bump a C to a B with only a few weeks of the semester left. very studious.” taking your turn to tease.

steve shook his head as he looked down at his lap, right knee bouncing up and down quickly. “but seriously, just come to my house. we can get whatever snacks you want, maybe a pizza if it goes late. my parents won’t be home anyway.”

“woah, trying to charm me into your bed, harrington?” he rolled his eyes, “fuck off, hargrove. i’m driving you home like a respectable young adult.” he smoothed a hand through his hair.

there was a heat crawling up your neck that you were choosing to ignore. along with the twisting in your guts. so instead you questioned steve again, “why are you so insistent on doing this together? at your house? and don’t use mrs. johnson as an excuse.” needing to understand this persistent attitude he’s developed.

his knee stopped jerking and his hands fell limp to the table or his lap. he looked to be debating something in his head, teeth rubbing at his bottom lip.

“come on, steve. just spit it out, can’t be bad.” trying for encouragement.

he heaved a sigh, “i, uh, i just… want to hang out. with you. you seem cool.” you couldn’t help the raise to your brows, “cool? i keep to myself.”

he shrugged, “look i don’t know. i just want to get to know you. you’re nothing like billy.” “that’s cause we are only related by marriage. i don’t share any of those shitty genes.”

steve sighed again, “if you actually don’t want to come over to do this project or just to hang out, i understand. we can just do it here at school in the library. not gonna force you to be by my side.”

he got quiet as he turned in his seat to face the front with his head tilted down and his knuckles rapping along the top. your eyes followed the shape of his body, getting stuck on his face that wasn’t hidden by his hair. his lidded eyes and his lashes that touched the tops of his cheeks, angular nose coming to a nice point, and pink lips pushed to a slight pout.

a groan settled in your throat, “i’ll come over.” sounding almost begrudgingly about your statement. steve perked up and turned just a little, “really?” he almost sounded hopeful.

a deep breath through your nose, “yes, steve. i’d be happy to hang out with you.”

-

“so, i hear your going to harrington’s after school. that true?” billy’s nosy self leaned against the lockers to your left. his stupid face stuck in your periphery and his loud gum smacking a ringing in your ears.

replacing unneeded textbooks with ones you need for homework tonight, you sighed, “yes billy. it’s a partner project. kinda have to work together.”

“dad’s not gonna like that.” he stated like he cared about your well-being (he couldn’t give two shits). “yeah, well, i’m trying to keep good grades to get out of this shithole. so my academics are coming first. i can handle my jailer.” final words as you slammed your locker closed and headed to the parking lot.

you rolled out your shoulders twice as you made the short walk to steve harrington’s maroon bmw. he was sitting on the trunk with his head down while scribbling away. “nice car, harrington. almost prettier than you.” your way of greeting him.

he hurried to close one of two notebooks he had, face looking a bit red in the cool january air. “you okay?” eyeing him head to toe. he played off the moment with a smile, “yeah, yeah. ready?”

he hopped off his car and it bounced with the loss of his weight. steve walked to the back door on the passenger side to throw his things on the floor, then he reached a hand out for you.

“what are you…” “asking for your stuff. come on, i’m freezing out here.” a light shake to his hand made the point.

you waited a second longer before handing over your books then shrugging your backpack off and over to steve. he then closed the door and instead of heading to the drivers side, he opened your door and nodded at you. “always open doors for girls, harrington?” instinctively teasing him.

you missed the shy smile, but heard him say, “only the special ones.” he kept his voice, low. hoping you wouldn’t hear it as he closed you in and ran to his side.

-

the harrington household was big, style a decade old, well cleaned, and empty. the only inhabitants were steve and the occasional cleaning lady and landscaper who come by when his parents call in a request. you didn’t say it aloud, but you wished you could live in this empty house. just you and max, staying away from the bad that stained your indiana home.

“we could just work at the dining table.” steve directed the both of you to the dark stained oak wood, four polished and carved seats pushed in. only two were occupied close together.

the room was mostly quiet, pages moving and pencils writing were the main noise when not discussing the work. steve actually putting in some elbow grease with his portion of the project and would ask for help if he was stuck, it was nice.

you leaned back into the cushion of your chair with a sigh that turned to a low hiss. “you okay?” steve asked with concerned puppy eyes.

you ignored him, “uh, where’s- where’s your bathroom?” his brows pinched in the middle then relaxed a fraction,

“uh, down the hall to the right.” pointed over his shoulder. you excused yourself quickly down the hall and locked the door behind you. twisting your torso to the left the pain spiked again. lifting the bottom of your shirt, the deep purple bruise taunting you, you couldn’t feel the wet blood sticking to your skin and shirt.

you threw the shirt down, unlocked the door and walked back to the table where steve had his head laying on the table with his eyes closed. his head looked up when you loudly gathered your work pile together,

“where you going? we’re not done.” steve pushed himself out his chair. you didn’t bother looking his way, “uh, i- i, uh i forgot about something. very important.” a half-assed excuse, just needing to leave the too quiet house now.

“well, i could drive you. wherever or drop you off at ho-“ “no!” yelling the word at kind hearted steve. you deflated a bit, palms running over your head, “sorry. no, i’m fine on my own.” turning away from steve to grab your bag and shoes.

“woah, woah, woah. wait, just-“ “steve, i gotta-“ “you’re bleeding.”

you stopped in your tracks, books to your chest. “what?” confused and panicked.

“you have spots of red showing through your shirt,” steve voice was closer now. it made you jerk away. “i’m sure it’s nothing. uh, thanks for… yeah. i’m just gonna-“

“hey.” his voice was carful, gentle like the wind. he was holding the bone of your wrist like fine china. only used to a crushing touch as if you were an aluminum can that’s been drained of its intoxicating drink.

you could feel the shape of his body from behind, envision his deep brown eyes melting in emotions. “y/n, come on, let me look. might need to clean it.” it felt like he was talking to a scared child. and you felt like one in the moment.

“i’m fine, steve.” steeling yourself. building your guard strong.

he rounded from behind to stand in front of you, blocking your exit, “please, y/n. i just want to make sure you're okay.” his thumb rubbing over your wrist while he stared directly into your eyes.

and you couldn’t stop the tears even if you wanted. it started with a glossy view before you felt the cold droplets hitting your cheeks and rolling down your nose and over your lips and chin. lips wobbling as you tried to swallow the sobs but once one slipped the others ran free. you’re sure you would’ve collapsed to the floor if it wasn’t for steve catching you in his arms and guiding the both of you slowly down.

“hey, hey. it’s okay, you're okay.” steve pushed your head into his neck while he rubbed a palm over your shoulder blades. “im here for you, y/n.”

“i- i don’t- don’t wanna go- go home, steve. please.” fingers curling into the front of his shirt to keep him close as your tears stained his skin.

“it’s okay. you don’t have too.” a ragged inhale through your mouth, “i- i have to. for- for max.”

steve’s hands worked gently to move your head away from hiding and back into the light. whites of your eyes red, lids growing puffy. cheeks flushed in color with tear tracks. steve worked his thumbs at wiping away your distress, wishing he could whisk you away from this town.

“let’s not think about home right now. let’s just clean you up.”

a meek nod was all it took for steve to pick you off the floor and lead the two of you towards the bathroom. steve places you on the closed toilet, knees hitting the wall so steve could grab stuff from the cupboards and clean you from behind.

you closed your eyes and forced yourself to keep taking deep and slow breaths in and out. in and out, in and out until your head didn’t feel so light and your heart stopped racing.

“okay, i’m gonna need to lift your shirt, is that okay honey?” steve squatted by your side with the tips of his fingers touching your thigh. bleary eyes watched steve, took in the way he called you honey, smooth and soft. without a word you pulled the back of your shirt off, head out of the opening so all the fabric sat on your collarbones.

“thank you. just let me know if it hurts, i’ll stop.” words you’re not used to. usually it’s just yelling obscenities as you suck in your sobs.

a wet stinging sensation caused you to flinch away. “sorry, sorry. i’ll let you know when i’m going in. okay, so three, two…. one.” and the sting was still there. it wasn’t painful like the first.

steve did that two more times before he asked a question. “did… did billy do this?” and you knew what he was feeling when he spit your step-brothers name with venom. you zoned out on your fingers, “no. not… not billy. higher up.” pinching the skin around your bones, thinking about the horrid man.

steve was quiet, not cleaning your wounds since he didn’t count down. a tiny flinch came as a reaction when you felt his fingers prod around your bruises. “i’m sorry.” words a whisper meant only for your ears.

you shook your head slightly, “don’t say sorry. it’s not your fault. no one’s fault.” “including yours. it’s not your fault.” it was like he could read into your mind with how quick his response was. you didn’t bother saying anything back, just a look over your shoulder, puffy and droopy eyes taking in the sight of steve before looking back to his wall.

-

[wannab-urs]

You Have Me In a Chokehold | Mr. Ben (SNL) x teacher!reader | 18+

Summary: You’re a teacher at Mr. Ben’s school and you’re sitting in the “No More Fancams” assembly freaking out because he just showed your fancam on screen… Do you think he knows it was you? (AU where he’s not in love with Ms. Jenny, the assembly just ends with him being like “please don’t do this anymore, thanks”)

WC: 2.4k

Warnings: MDNI | 18+ | SMUT | no ages implied (all legal obvi), hair pulling, sir kink, very mild degrading language, fingering, unprotected PiV (don’t be silly, wrap your willy) (also y’all are teachers, you should know better), rough-ish sex but no one gets hurt, Mr. Ben is girthy (Big Ben ;) ), brief mention of the picture of dorian gray, which deserves its own warning if you’ve ever tried to teach that book to teenagers, extreme cringe in the first half. Gets weirdly fluffy at the end so if that kills your vibe just stop reading after the uhhhh climax of the story (if you catch my drift). Sorry we support aftercare in this house. I think that’s it, love y’all, enjoy! 

It’s 8 in the morning, supposed to be first period, and the principal has called for some technology assembly. You’re unlucky enough to have first period planning, you have essays to grade, and you won’t have a spare minute for the rest of the day. But sure, let’s all go sit in the gym so the boomers can lecture the zoomers about technology use. This is a great use of everyone’s time. 

You slip into the auditorium with 5 minutes to spare, hoping to go unnoticed in the back row. You’re just about to subtly put in your airpods and watch TikToks like 90% of the students, when you hear the principal introduce Mr. Ben. This assembly suddenly became worth paying attention to. 

Ben is by far the prettiest thing to look at in this school. He’s ridiculously broad chested, always wearing these just-shy-of-too-tight button ups that he pairs with definitely-a-little-too-tight pants, accentuating his cute butt. He has toned forearms, usually peeking out of rolled up sleeves, and huge hands that he waves around in the air or clasps in front of him when he speaks. And then, despite being this big, broad, powerful looking man, he has the sweetest face. 

His eyes are soft brown, hooded and turned down a little, so he’s basically making puppy dog eyes constantly. His nose is prominent and curved and sitting above the most adorably pouty lips. His facial hair is sparse and a little patchy, but honestly it just makes him even more charming. God, you have it so bad for this man. 

Your internal drooling over Ben is interrupted by the sound of a freshman at the front of the room yelling, “Come on guuurrrrl, eat it up!” Your eyes flick to the screen beside Ben. There are two very vague tech rules followed by… Shit. 

“Do not make fancams of school staff, such as this,” says Ben, gesturing at the screen. And your stomach does a somersalt. Shit! There’s a TikTok playing on the screen, and though you can’t quite make out the username, you definitely recognize the video. That’s your fancam. And Ben looks… mortified. He looks extremely uncomfortable. 

“You have made thousands of fancams of me and i’m not sure what they mean, but I know it has to stop,” he pleads. And fuck is he looking at you? He can’t know can he? There’s absolutely no way he knows. He’s just looking out toward the back of the auditorium. Yeah. You wouldn’t want to make eye contact with a bunch of 14 years olds while pictures of you flash on the screen either. That makes perfect sense. 

“We make them because you’re our beloved and you have us a in a chokehold,” screams another student toward the front. You wish he would put you in a chokehold. GOD what is wrong with you. Pull yourself together.

“Okay, don’t say that,” Ben says, wringing his hands together in front of him. You can see that he’s clearly uncomfortable. You should delete your account. Ban him from your thoughts. You’ve crossed the line big time.

“I just don’t understand. Why do you make sparkly fast romantic montages of me every single day?” he asks. Another fancam, thankfully not yours, begins playing on the screen. You have to get out of here. 

You stand up and try to sneak out as inconspicuously as possible, whispering “Bathroom,” in response to a disapproving look from another, older teacher. 

You break into a run as soon as you get into the hall and only slow down when you’re safely locked in the handicap stall of the teacher bathroom. You slide down the wall to the floor and press your face into your hands. You are so stupid. Of course making fancams of school staff is a bad idea. It’s bad when the kids do it… and really weird because they’re kids… but when another teacher does it? He could have you fired for this. 

But he doesn’t know. There’s no way he knows. 

You manage to make it through the rest of the day, somehow facing your classes and teaching them about nouns and reading a bit more of The Picture of Dorian Gray aloud. 

It’s finally the end of the day, but you still have those essays to grade, so you decide to set a timer for one hour and power through as many as you can. The school is so weirdly silent this long after final bell. The custodians won’t be in for another couple hours and pretty much every teacher and student has long gone home. 

You finish packing your tote bag and start shrugging on your coat when you hear a knock at the door. “Come in!” 

You freeze when the door opens. Shit.

“Ben! Hi! How can I help you? I was just leaving, but-” the sharp sound of the door slamming shut cuts off your nervous rambling. Ben stands with his hands behind his back, puffing his very broad chest out. 

“I was wondering if you could tell me something, sweetheart.” His voice is low, gravelly, and you feel like you’re being raked over hot coals. He knows. 

“Um. Sure?” you squeak out. Your face is on fire and you have no idea what to do with your hands. He takes a step toward you, looking for all the world like a predator stalking it’s pray. His eyes are dark, brow lowered, lips set in a hard line. He looks nothing like the shy, uncomfortable man from the assembly. 

Your bag drops to the floor and you take a stuttering step back toward your desk. 

“What’s your TikTok username?” he asks slowly, taking another step toward you. 

You gulp and fall back another step, thighs pressing against your desk now. Your shake your head and glue your eyes to the floor. 

“Don’t make me ask again.” And oh god he’s right in front of you now. He hooks a finger under your chin, bringing your eyes up to meet his. His pupils are blown so wide, you can barely see his usually warm brown irises. Wait is he turned on right now? 

“It’s- uh… I don’t have one!” you stammer out. You try to look away, but his fingers hold your chin in place. He leans a bit closer, his breath ghosting over your face, and presses his other palm into the desk beside you. He tsks and presses his thumb to your bottom lip.

“Don’t lie to me,” he growls out, and oh that went straight to your core. You squirm in his hold and that’s when you truly realize how close he is. His body is nearly pressed against yours. 

“It’s- it’s… fuck. It’s MrBensLittleSlut…” you stammer out. You feel like you’re on fire, ashamed of your actions, but also incredibly fucking turned on. The object of your not-so-innocent crush has you pressed against your desk like some school girl fantasy. 

“And do you really want to be my little slut, sweetheart?” Holy. Shit. Did he really just ask you that? Your heart actually stops beating in your chest for a second. You nod. 

“Aloud, please.” 

“Yes, sir,” you whisper, squeezing your eyes shut. 

He brings one hand to the back of your head and wraps your hair around his fingers, pulling your head back slightly. You whimper and he leans in, brushing his lips against your ear. 

“Good girl,” he purrs. And you think you’ll melt into puddle on the spot. His hands slide to your hips and he lifts you up onto the edge of the desk. You instinctively part your legs and he presses himself flush against you. He keeps one hand on your waist to steady you and slides the other back up into your hair and suddenly his lips are on yours. 

It’s sloppy and open mouthed and greedy. He licks into your mouth, curling his tongue around yours. Your hands find purchase around his biceps and you hold on for dear life. His fist tightens in your hair and you moan wantonly, throwing your head back and pushing your hips up into his, chasing friction. 

His lips trail down your jaw and he nips at your earlobe before sucking a kiss to the spot where your jaw meets your throat. You dig your nails into his muscular arms and choke on a gasp. 

“Please,” you whine, shifting your hips against him again.

“Please what, sweetheart?” you can feel him smirking into the skin of your throat. He loves how riled up you are. Loves watching you try and fail to grind yourself on him. 

“Please- please touch me, sir,” he rolls his hips into yours, finally giving you something. Anything to ease the burning desire between your legs.

“You’re so pretty when you beg,” he growls in your ear. Then you feel his right hand leave your waist and pull up your skirt. He drags his fingertips up the inside of your left thigh, featherlight. Finally, he hooks two fingers into the soaked crotch of your panties and drags his knuckles across your clit. 

You suck in a gasp and a little “Oh” falls from your lips. He pulls back, keeping his left hand in your hair and watches as he slowly sinks two fingers into your cunt, down to the knuckle. Your hands ball up into fists, twisting the sleeves of his shirt and you let out a long, breathy moan. 

“You’re so wet for me already, sweetheart. Really are a little slut, aren’t you?” Your pussy clenches around his thick fingers at his words.

“Yes! Yes, I’m your little slut!” you gasp out.

He pumps his fingers in and out of you, hooking them just right so that he hits the spongy spot inside you every time. You’re holding onto his shirt so tight you think you might rip the sleeves off. You can hear how wet you are, the sound echoing off the cinderblock walls. You start moving your hips to meet the thrust of his fingers inside you, chasing your orgasm. 

“I’m-- I’m gonna--” you clench hard around his fingers, so close to tipping over the edge.

And then his touch is gone. He’s pulled his fingers out of you and let go of you completely, taking a step back. You let out an actual scream of frustration. “No!” you shout, slumping back until your head hits your desk. You actually pout at him.

“Not yet, sweetheart. Want you to come on my cock.” His voice is so low, you almost can’t hear him over the sound of your heaving breaths. “Sit up, pretty girl.”

You push yourself back up and take in his appearance. Other than his rumpled shirt, he looks completely unbothered. His hair is still effortlessly tousled, his face is set into a teasing smirk. The fucker didn’t even break a sweat and you’re gasping for breath like a fish out of water. Pretty girl. He called you pretty.

“Bend over the desk, sweetheart.” 

You scramble to obey his request, standing up and bending over, pushing your ass into the air. You press your forehead into the desk and try to calm your fluttering heart rate. 

Suddenly… finally… you feel his hands on you. He grabs your skirt and bunches it up around your waist. His fingertips slide into the waistband of your panties and he pushes them down, letting them settle around your ankles. You hear the clink of a belt buckle, the tug of a zipper, and then you feel him. 

He slides his cock between your clenched thighs, through the wet folds of your pussy and oh god. You can’t see him, but you can feel that he’s thick. The head of his cock presses against your clit and you moan. 

“Such a pretty little pussy… I’m going to ruin it.” You gasp, but before you can respond, he’s moving. In one fluid motion, he pulls back, kicks your feet apart, and pushes all the way into you. 

“Oh fuck,” you moan out. You might pass out from pleasure. His cock is thick, filling you up and stretching you out more than you ever have been before. He holds still inside you while you clench and unclench around his girth, trying to get used to it. “So big.” you gasp into the desk. 

“I know, baby.” And then he moves, pulling all the way out to the tip and thrusting hard, all the way back in. The force of his hips smacking against your ass jolts you into the desk, making you cry out in a mix of pleasure and pain and sprawl forward on the desk. 

Ben grabs your shoulder with one hand, tightens his grip on your hip with the other, and resumes fucking into you at an absolutely brutal pace. 

Some part of you is scared you’ll get caught, but that part is overpowered by the euphoria you feel. You’re moaning and babbling incoherently as his cock hits that sweet spot deep inside you and grinds into it with every thrust. 

“Is my. Little. Slut. Gonna. Come. on my. Cock?” Ben grits out between thrusts. 

You cry out a garbled response. Your cunt is fluttering around his thick length and your eyes are rolling into the back of your head and there’s no way you can form words right now. 

Ben wraps his arm around your chest and pulls you back against him. His cock hits something deep inside you and you come with an agonizing cry, gushing around his cock and soaking him to the base. 

Your whole body goes limp with the force of your orgasm, but he holds you up and continues fucking up into you. After a few more thrusts, he pulls out and covers your ass and thighs in his release, letting out a low groan as the thick ropes hit your skin. 

You’re lying on the desk on your stomach, naked ass still in the air. It’s a ridiculous position to lay in, but you’re still riding the high of your orgasm and too blissed out to care. You jolt as you feel silk move across your over-sensitive skin. 

“What’re you doing?” You’re so drunk on his cock, it comes out slurred.

“Cleaning you up, sweetheart,” Ben says. Is he- he’s cleaning you up with his tie. Fuck that’s hot. And sweet? 

“Thank you…” you sigh into the desk. He pulls your panties back up for you and settles your skirt back down around your legs.

“Can you sit up for me, baby?” He doesn’t wait for you to answer before wrapping his arms around you and pulling you to your feet, nestling your head into the curve of his shoulder.

It’s not fair for him to fuck you that good and go right to being the sweet, bashful man you thought you knew. 

He brushes your hair out of your face and presses a soft, almost tender, kiss to your nose. You giggle and the sound makes him break out into a smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners and his dimple peeking out behind a 5 o’clock shadow. 

“Come on, sweetheart, I’ll walk you to your car.” 

He grabs your coat and your tote bag, slips his hand into yours, and leads you out to the parking lot.

a/n: I’m so sorry. This is ridiculous and I apologize for the no plot snl character porn fic. 

Tags: @beskarandblasters @meveispunk

[citruscitrushope]

Got anything about Tsukasa and Minori, An, or Mizuki?

OOOOOOO-

Platonic Minokasa is one of my favorite dynamics my goodness, Minori learning to be more confident from one of the most confident people in the game-

I like to think that her speech gets like his sometimes, all grandiose and confidence, the others can tell she's been hanging out with him more if her catchphrases sound more like his introductions.

Tsukasa watches MMJ livestreams a lot, mainly for Shizuku, but he is a very big fan of Minori as well! He thought about how far she'd come compared to the Fan Festa once and almost started crying he's so proud-

They hang out every once in a while, rarely on purpose, just if they run into each other at a mall or something they will end up catching up. Sometimes they practice dancing or singing together, whenever Minori gives advice to Tsukasa instead of the other way around he feels whiplash, the student had become the master!

With An, I feel like it's almost similar to how Akito feels with Tsukasa, but not as intense, mainly as a holdover from her time on the disciplinary committee. She thinks he's a bit annoying and chaotic, but seeing as Kohane and Toya look up to him so much she's willing to give him a chance.

Tsukasa definitely admires and appreciates all of VBS in a way, since not only are their goals and efforts truly commendable, but they're taking such good care of his little brother, he's so happy nowadays! He's quite grateful to them, and he tries to show it as much as he can. ("Thank you so very much for doing so much for Toya! It truly warms my heart to see him feeling so happy. You know, when we were children, we-" "You're acting like a mom right now Tsukasa-senpai..."

An sees a lot of WxS' shows with Kohane, and she oddly enjoys them in a way she'd never admit. Sure, she hates when Tsukasa and Rui cause chaos throughout the school, but when it's confined to the stage she's able to appreciate everything they put into their work. She's even found herself taking inspiration from their stage direction or dances in musicals when planning VBS performances, though she knows that if she says that Akito will never let her hear the end of it.

I also sorta just wanna mention that they both have similar goals in hindsight? They both want to surpass those who came before them in a way (Tsukasa becoming a star like those he admired as a kid, An surpassing RAD WEEKEND), and I think that they feel a vague connection because of it, even if they don't realize it.

Meanwhile, Mizuki and Tsukasa probably consider each other friends, they talk sometimes at school and have gone shopping for clothes and materials together. Their main connector is sewing and such, they deserve to have a fun mildly gossipy sewing "date" (I see them as platonic but)

Seeing as Rui canonically made Mizuki a machine that plays funny Tsukasa voicelines to cheer them up, I feel like they're up there as one of the bigger WxS fans (alongside Kohane, Saki, Toya, etc). They don't go to a lot of their shows, but they see recordings of them a lot and send their praises to them, though Tsukasa somehow hasn't connected the dots and realized that they're seeing them online. ("Amazing show last weekend Tsukasa-senpai!" "How did you see it? You weren't in the crowd! Were you invisible, a ghost?! Show yourself!") Mizuki finds this incredibly funny.

Since they were the one behind Nene and Rui's original show costumes, Tsukasa has come to Mizuki for advice on this topic a few times before. If he's feeling stuck on something, why not ask a master? He always feels extremely grateful whenever they help him, maybe to the point of excess ("I'll do anything to repay you for your wonderful deed, Akiyama! Tickets to our next show, money, anything!" "Y-You don't have to repay me for doing something I wanted to do...").

Mizuki sometimes finds themself feeling a bit jealous of Tsukasa's confidence. They're always so worried about seeming weird or being looked down upon, yet the way he can always be so bombastic and stand out without a care in the world is something they both admire and envy. They don't like bringing this up, though Rui has noticed it in them at times. When this happens, he usually brings up times Tsukasa has struggled or faltered, and how he and them aren't so different. They're both some of the most important people to Rui, so he wants to help them both shine their brightest and feel comfortable in their own skins.

[chaosduckies]

Restoration (Chapter 8)

A bunch of scenes because why not? On another note, it is extremely hard to write a scene in winter when it’s the middle of April. I hope you enjoy anyhow! Because now I’m really getting into the plot.

Word Count: 5.9k

CW: Death, crying, vague thoughts of suicide, severe trauma, (anything else idk??)

8-Ryker

It was Thanksgiving break. The first official break from school until Christmas. Words could not describe how grateful I was for the week-long break. There was no reason to have so much work piled up a couple weeks before the end of first semester. 

I was laying in my bed on my phone. It was about to turn six, which meant I should probably get started on dinner, but I just couldn’t bring myself to climb out of bed. I was physically and mentally tired of keeping up with everyone and whatever plans they had with their friends, taking care of Isabelle and Angela since they were still little, and on top of that keep up with the chores around the house. 

I grabbed my phone off the charger, stretched out my arms and legs from laying down, and opened my door to get started on dinner. The living room was oddly quiet, with Dylan and Lucky playing a game. Isabelle playing a game with Angela on the carpet that consisted of a bunch of stuffed animals and blankets. I smiled to myself. 

“What do you guys feel like eating for dinner?” I leaned against the kitchen island, waiting for an answer. 

“Spaghetti!” Isabelle and Angela answered at the time, giggling at one another. I think I could do that. I don’t know if Lucky can though. It was the first weekend of the break and I’d probably need to go grocery shopping tomorrow anyways. 

I looked in Dylan’s direction, making them pause whatever they were playing together. He just shrugged his shoulders, “Whatever’s easier for you.” Always with the same response. 

“Ummm, I can go check what we have.” Lucky told me, getting Dylan to let him onto the floor. All I could do was wait now. Jasmine was staying over at her friends today and tomorrow. I just told her to text me if she goes anywhere far and if she needed anything. Weird, right? Usually the parent handles these kinds of things, but in the situation my siblings and I are in it’s literally impossible. 

Lucky came back, shaking his head, “We don’t have the things for spaghetti,” He laid down on the arm rest of the couch and grabbed his remote, “You should call Nathan to come over. He hasn’t been here in a while. Plus, he’s so much better at cooking than I am. Right, Angela?” 

“Yeah!” 

I bit the side of my cheek. I don’t know about that. Just asking Nathan to come over to cook and then ask him to leave? That was wrong. Plus, he told me before the break that he’ll be pretty busy. Or… texted me. Either way, I shouldn’t bother him. Maybe he actually has a meal with his family for Thanksgiving and they were all getting ready for it already. On the other hand, Lucky makes something else for him and Angela, Angela doesn’t eat, and then everything goes downhill from there. 

Looking at my phone, I picked it up, opening the messages app, and clicked on Nathan’s name. The last time he came here, Jasmine did kind of freak him out. I remember him not being able to leave anyone’s side if she was in the room. I wonder if he’d even want to come over after that. At school the next day he was a little nervous, but otherwise fine afterward, but I’m sure whatever Jasmine told him is still stuck in his mind. Ugh. This was such a bad idea. 

Ryker: I have a huge favor to ask you 

I waited for a response, watching Dylan and Lucky play a fighting game against one another. I had no idea who was winning, but I’m pretty sure it was Lucky. Actually… it was kind of weird how Lucky seemed to want Nathan around more often. Like, really weird. Especially when every time Nathan came, he would practically ditch him with me. I honestly don’t mind, I liked having Nathan come over, but still. I had wondered why, but I wasn’t going to ask. 

Nathan: Yeah?

Ryker: Do you mind coming over to help Lucky cook something? 

Ryker: You don’t have to 

Well, if he says no Lucky will have to make whatever he can and I’d have to break the news to Angela. If you didn’t know, four year olds can be a little hard to deal with sometimes. So, this might just turn out to be a very, very bad day. 

Nathan: Sure! 

Nathan: Anything specific?

I stared at his text, relief washing over me. Dylan let out a cheer from winning against Lucky. Wow. Perfect timing. I was just so grateful right now. Nathan was literally the greatest friend ever. Now I have to think of someway to thank him. That shouldn’t be too hard, right? 

Ryker: They wanted spaghetti

Ryker: And thank you  

Nathan: No problem :)

Ryker: I guess I’ll be at the bus stop in about twenty minutes? 

Nathan: Okay 

I stuffed my phone in my pocket, “Okay, I’ll be right back, just text me if something happens.” I told Dylan, who nodded his head. And with that, I walked out the door and into the cold air. 

———Nathan———

Winters in the city were bad. But not as bad as when we were still help captive. Now those days were terrible. Horrifying even. It was still freakishly cold here. Not something I enjoy. For several reasons really. One being that I already get cold really easily. Two, I just hated being cold and sick. And the most important reason being that it was during this kind of weather when my dad had died. Actually, in three days it’s officially been nine years since my dad died. November 24. A long time, right? 

It hurts. The memories. Not just of him but how they brutally murdered him in front of his own child. I shuddered at the sight pictured in my mind. Nope. Can’t think about that. Right now I should probably be getting ready to head over to the bus stop. I already had packed a tiny bag with the things I needed to cook. Weird enough, it was kind of a therapy for me at this point. To be cooking I mean. I guess that’s why my mom always gets worried when I’m baking for no reason. Because she knows. 

I sighed, giving my mom a quick text that I was heading over to Ryker’s for a little while. The last time I went, I thought everything was going great before Jasmine talked to me alone. everyone had left to go looking for something and it was just her and I. I was scared of course. We’ve never, ever talked before and from what I’ve gathered she’s really intimidating. 

Her exact words to me were: “If you hurt my brother in any way I will personally murder you.” and that was was it took for me to have an entire mental breakdown for nearly two weeks. I mean, who wouldn’t be scared if someone’s sibling threatened you like that? So, the week before the break, I might have been acting a little weird around Ryker, afraid that I might actually do something wrong or hurt him in any way, which I don’t really see how I could. 

Otherwise, I haven’t really been doing anything. I told Ryker that I would be busy during the break, but really I wasn’t. Only because I do actually have something to do on November 24, and I was already feeling the depression spikes as the day came closer and closer. As for Thanksgiving itself, my mom and I never do anything. Last year we were barely getting used to being in the mental hospital so we didn’t really do anything. This year she’s working so it’ll just be me. Nothing new. 

I made my way down the icy streets, the sun setting faster and faster. It was only getting colder, and I didn’t really have a winter jacket. Just some to wear in the classroom like when it’s freezing in there. So, yeah, I was basically freezing my face off. Not to mention that my mom told me it might snow later tonight since it was already under twenty degrees outside. I wasn’t used to cold weather. 

Once I made it to the bus stop, I snuggled up with my bag on the bench, trying to have some kind of warmth. Also because there were several people (giants) who were going back home from stores or getting off of work. The bus stop was actually used for both humans and giants. The human was a little ways from the huge one that was practically as tall as a skyscraper. Maybe taller. 

My hands were shaky from the cold, but it was only another five minutes before Ryker would come and hopefully I wouldn’t be as cold. Maybe. Hopefully. I don’t know what today has in store for me. All I knew was that I just wanted to wrap myself in a blanket with some hot chocolate and binge watch something on tv. 

Ryker came a few minutes later, smiling and giving a thanks before offering a hand. I threw the bag on first before struggling to get on. It was hard when the ground underneath you was starting to freeze over, but I figured it out after trying for a good minute. 

“You’re freezing.” Ryker told me, cupping his hand just a little. Sure, it was scary to have his fingers closer to me, but still, it was warm. How could I deny something that was practically calling me? 

  “That good?” He smiled, for some reason making sure I was comfortable. But I was not about to complain. I was desperate at this point. I nodded my head, bringing my knees closer to my chest to keep some of my body warmth with me. And yet another reason I hate winter. 

“Thanks again. Sorry for bothering you.” 

I continuously shook my head, hoping he would get the message that it was fine. Plus, I liked going over. Everyone was nice (Besides Jasmine I’m pretty sure she hates me) and never really tried to do anything too crazy with me. It was great. I’m not as afraid anymore, which was a miracle given I thought I could never trust anyone ever again, and I’ve actually made some friends. 

Ryker opened the door to his house, where we found them all watching a movie together. Everyone turned their heads as soon as the door closed behind Ryker. I jumped slightly, but relaxed after a while. Nothing to be afraid of. Dylan’s eyes landed on me, giving a smile and a two fingered wave. I waved back, but I doubt he could see it. 

I was set down on the ground, not entirely expecting to be in a tight hug the second I balanced myself. Lucky bursted out laughing, letting me go, “You are literally the best, Nathan.” I laughed with him, following Lucky into the room. 

——————

I didn’t eat anything. I wasn’t hungry. Of course Ryker tried to convince me to eat something, but I always answered no. Otherwise, dinner was okay. They had Lucky, Angela and I on the coffee table, which wasn’t really too big of a deal. I’m pretty sure Ryker and Dylan just didn’t want to handle any humans while they were eating, and hey, I was not about to say anything about it. There are just some things that will never leave my mind. 

After everyone ate, Dylan and Lucky started playing a game on the tv while Isabelle and Angela were playing hide and seek I’m pretty sure. I just hoped that no one would get hurt, but Ryker quickly reassured me that they would never harm one another. I just had to believe him. Most of his siblings are stuck together like glue. Which is a good thing. 

“It’s supposed to start snowing in a little bit.” Ryker announced, earning cheers from the other room where I was guessing Angela and Isabelle were. I was sitting on the arm rest of the couch by Ryker. I kind of wished that their house was a little warmer, because I was still annoyingly cold, but beggars can’t be choosers. I should have asked to grab a blanket. 

“Nice. Are we gonna go out?” Dylan asked, eyes glued to the screen. I had no idea who was winning, but I think it was him. 

“If you want to.” 

Ryker threw his phone on the other side of the couch, turning his head to the screen. I don’t want to go outside, but I’ll go if that makes things easier. I just don’t want to be in the snow. Reasons. Remember? 

It was about ten minutes later that it did actually start snowing. Angela and Isabelle were begging Ryker to let them outside, which he just laughed to and told them to get jackets on and to bring their hats. Dylan paused their game to go get on a jacket, and Ryker left to go help Isabelle. So I was alone in the living room while everyone was busy to go have some fun. I hated winter. In just three days. I reminded myself. 

What would happen? Would someone else be claimed victim? Something bad always happens during this time. I don’t know if it was just me. It probably was. Everyone else was smiling while I was crying in the corner. It’s how it was in the hospital. They all went outside if they could, and I stayed in my room, under the blankets and shove my face into my pillow to drown out my tears. I couldn’t do that now though. Not when so many people had their eyes on me. Not when a trip back to the hospital was a very viable option for me. I didn’t want to go back. Not because of something… traumatic that happened nine years ago. I should be over it, right? But I’m not. 

There goes one of my depression spells. Great. Just great. At a time like this? I sucked in a deep breath, calming myself down before anyone notices. This was embarrassing. 

Ryker came back into the room, eyes landing on me with an unsure look on his face. He walked up to me, holding a hand out. Was he not going to wear any gloves? He wouldn’t be cold? I stood up, keeping my balance on the soft surface underneath me and walking to climb onto his hand. 

“You don’t mind if I just keep you in my hand, right? I don’t want you to be freezing.” He asked. I shook my head, sitting down in the middle of his palm. That was actually what I preferred. I did not plan whatsoever to go into the snow anyways. 

Once everyone was outside, Ryker sat down on the stairs, cupping his hand and keeping me close. A little uneasy about it, but there was really no reason to be. It’s just instinct. And everything in me right now is saying to get the hell inside. But I wasn’t going to say that. Mostly because I don’t want to be alone.  

They were all screaming and laughing. It was snowing pretty hard too, already covering most of the frosted grass just after ten minutes. Other people were also sitting outside. Their kids playing around with the snow. I tried not to focus on that. Instead, I found myself scooting back slowly, almost to where I couldn’t see the heavy fall of the white flakes. 

My body was still freezing. It was so much colder than before. Was this how dad felt? The cold pricking at his skin I mean. 

“Nathan?” My thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice above me. I groaned, body shaking and stuffing my hands in my pockets to preserve some of my body heat. I shuddered a breath, trembling. It’s so cold… How could they even be having fun like this? I looked ahead, seeing Dylan helping Isabelle make a small snowman with both Angela and Lucky stuffed in his scarf. This was just another one of my depression spells. 

“Still cold?” Ryker asked me. I took a deep breath, “Y-Yeah…” It came out more like a quiet mumble, and I was surprised that he even heard me. Did he want to help them make a snowman? He probably did. I should just tell him to leave me inside. It would make things a million times easier for everyone. 

Ryker moved his hand a bit, making me worried about what he was trying to do, but he just kept it the same. I wondered why he was going through all this trouble just for me. There was really no point. There was only a couple more months until graduation and then we’d go our separate ways. That’s how it always goes. I’d be alone again, figuring out what to do with the rest of my life. That’s how my story goes. 

“Better?” 

I nodded my head, getting to a comfortable position and decided to just watch what they were all doing. Finishing up the head of the snowman. It was comfy even though I was kind of scared from being in someone’s hand. At least now that is. Currently I was just afraid of falling into the deep snow. I’m pretty sure if I fell I’d sink into it. Not something I would like to see or imagine. 

“You okay?” Ryker asked, softly smiling above me. There was no other response other than to nod. I couldn’t just say no. That wouldn’t do any good. But.. maybe if he notices that these next few days would be hard for me. Maybe. Just maybe. I doubt it though. I don’t plan on being here all of the time anyways. I couldn’t. 

Isabelle finished the snowman, grabbing some loose twigs for arms as they stepped back. It was still snowing, just not as much. Was dad watching me right now? Was he shocked just as much as I was? I never thought I’d ever be able to be around another giant for as long as I had lived, and here I am, sitting in one of their hands. Would he think I was crazy? Delusional? Psycho? Happy like my mom even? I would never know, but even I think I was crazy. 

Actually… why did I even trust Ryker? Or really anyone. They’re all so nice of course, but about four months ago I was so sure that every giant would only hurt me, and it almost became true with that lunch incident that felt like forever ago. So why did I trust these people with my life? In the back of my mind I keep thinking that this was all just a sick joke being played on me. But… I don’t think these people are lying about anything. They don’t have a reason to. And Ryker’s been nothing but patient, and kind, and… understanding. No one would go through all that trouble just to fool someone as gullible as me. 

I sighed, snuggling up closer to Ryker’s thumb and watching Isabelle throw snowballs at Dylan who was shielding Lucky and Angela from the crossfire. Was it scary being there? In the midst of everything? Having to trust someone at least fifty times your size to keep you safe? I sucked in a shaky breath, just watching. It wasn’t so bad really. 

———Ryker———

Today was November 24. Thanksgiving was here, and everything was a complete mess. I never learned how to make a turkey like the tradition, so usually I just made something that all of us had liked. Along with that, I had to make sure no one did anything too crazy while I was busy in the kitchen. Jasmine and Dylan were helping out cooking while I ordered something for Lucky and Angela. They both agreed on pizza (Because what else does a fourteen year-old and a four year-old want) so now I was busy with that. That part was mostly because Angela didn’t like when Lucky cooks something different. 

It was just pure chaos now. Everyone was running around the house, and at that point I had to ask Jasmine to keep an eye on Angela to make sure she didn’t wander off where we couldn’t find her. I wasn’t too worried about Lucky since he’s almost always with Dylan, plus he’s smart enough to stay off the floor when it’s something like this. 

I took out the lasagna, letting it cool down before making separate plates. Yeah, I know, super weird, but I can’t do anything better. I only know the basics thanks to my parents, and that was all I needed to know. 

There was a knock on the door, and I asked Dylan to open it. It was just the pizza. I washed whatever dishes I had and called everyone that dinner was ready. It’s days like this where I wished that my parents never left. I feel like I can never be like them even though I was the oldest. I mean, was I just supposed to let CPS split us all apart? I couldn’t do that. My siblings would never forgive me. I like to think that they’re all happy, but I doubt it. Sometimes I feel like I can’t do anything to help any of them. Like I’m doing this “parenting” thing all wrong. Of course I was. I was seventeen in my last year of high school taking care of five kids on my own while also juggling a job and trying to do fun things with them so we can forget about what happened a little over a year ago. There was no reason for one person to be doing all of this. 

It was snowing outside again. Not really surprising when you’ve lived here for your entire life. It was really nice though. I loved the cold. Weird, because most people don’t, but I do. I remember my parents freaking out when I would just be outside making a snowman in just a short sleeve and sweatpants when I was a kid. Of course it was so cold it burned, but I guess I kind of liked it? It was hard to explain. Or sometimes we’d stay inside and watch movies or play a game. I missed it really. 

“Ry.” Jasmine snapped her fingers in front of me to get my attention. I blinked a couple times before giving a clueless look. She groaned, “I asked if I could go shopping tomorrow, I have work the next three days so I just wanna go do something.”

“Oh, um, sure.” 

The tv was playing in the background, but I wasn’t paying attention. Come to think of it, I don’t think I was paying attention to anything. Dylan, Jasmine, and Lucky were all laughing about something. What were they laughing about again? Something about going back to school? I don’t even want to think about that right now. I needed a break anyways. Most of my classes love giving me piles and piles of work anyways. 

I sighed, pushing away my plate that I had barely eaten. The sun has already set, everyone was done eating, Angela asked Jasmine if she could go outside in the snow. She said yes, and so Isabelle followed. Dylan and Lucky were helping me wash the remaining dishes. Honestly I already felt so tired. It was only 8 p.m but my eyes threatened to close at any moment. 

“You okay, Ry?” Dylan asked, putting a plate up in the cabinet. 

“Yeah.” I replied, handing him another to dry. Lucky shook his head while continuously saying “no” over and over again. At some point Dylan grew tired of it and pressed the pad of his thumb into Lucky’s entire upper half of his body. 

“He’s not wrong. You’re always like this on holidays.” 

“I am?” I sighed, not really knowing how to get out of this one. These two have always been vigilant anyways. They would have noticed at some point. 

“Yeah.” 

“I don’t know. I just feel really tired today.”  

“That’s it?” 

“Mhm.” 

Dylan gave me a skeptical look before putting in another plate. He doesn’t believe me. I don’t think he ever will about these kinds of things. 

“Why don’t you call Nathan? You always seem happier around him.” 

I stopped only for a second, then continued to scrub off something on the pan I used. No. I won’t call him. Not this time. No matter how many times he’s actually made me feel better just by being here. I’ve noticed I was happier around him too, but it’s only short lived since he always goes back at the end of the day. Do I know why I was happier? Not really. I’ve thought of a few reasons. Because he’s the only friend I’ve made since middle school. He listens to me ramble on and on about the most useless information. Best of all he’s really nice. Doesn’t really seem like he’s tricking me either. Not that I think he could even if he wanted to. He was too sweet. 

“No.” I sighed. Cleaning out the sink and handing off the last dish. 

“Why not?” Dylan asked leaning against the counter. 

“Cause I’m tired. No point in calling if I’m just going to fall asleep,” I countered, drying my hands and heading to my room, “Make sure Isabelle and Angela are asleep by 10? Please?”  

Dylan nodded his head, I closed the door behind me and buried myself under the covers of my bed. I can’t keep on relying on Nathan to come fix every problem I have. He’s probably off dealing with whatever he’s doing right now anyways. But still, my hand reached for my phone, grabbing it and opening the messages app. I’m just gambling with myself at this point. If he answers in the next ten minutes I’ll ask to call, if he doesn’t, I’ll head to sleep. Either way it’s really a win-win. And here it goes. 

———Nathan———

I was laying on my bed, under the covers. No lights, no sounds, just nothing. I had cried earlier this morning when I visited his grave. My eyes were dry now. Red and puffy. I just sat curling in on myself while clutching the same teddy bear he gave me when I was still just a kid. It was childish, but if it’s all I have left of him then I’m taking advantage of that. 

Ironic, huh? How this holiday was supposed to bring family together. It was actually the opposite for me. Even though he didn’t actually die on this holiday, it’s just ironic how it happened this year. When we’re finally free and live like a “normal” family now. Was he watching me now? Sad and lonely in my bed? I hope he wasn’t. He’d scold me. 

My phone went off, but I didn’t feel like looking at it. It’s not like I wanted to be alone. Usually my mom would cheer me up by taking my mind off of it. Whether it was playing some makeshift game or just doing something I liked with me. What else was there to say? This year was the year I was completely alone. 

I sucked in a deep breath, picking up my phone with sore arms. I spent most of the day digging out the old flowers on his grave and replacing them with new ones. It was hard to do when a thin sheet of snow was covering most of the dirt and grass, but it was worth it to see the bright a beautiful colors. His favorites were lilacs. I remember mom telling me that. 

My eyes shot up when I saw who texted me. Ryker? I mean it was already night, so I doubt he was going to ask if I wanted to go over. But… I was kind of curious now. 

Ryker: Hey

Ryker: How was your day? 

Ryker: You’re probably doing something right now but I’d just thought I’d check what you were doing 

Sent five minutes ago. Why did he want to know what I was doing? It seemed weird to me, but maybe he was just bored. Did they celebrate? I hope they did. They seem to be happy with each other. 

Nathan: It was okay :) 

Nathan: And yours? 

Ryker: Chaotic

Nathan: Oh 

I wasn’t technically lying. My day was okay despite crying for most of it. 

Ryker: Yeahhh 

Ryker: Do you feel like calling? 

Ryker: You don’t have to of course 

I thought about it. It wouldn’t be that bad. Might keep my mind occupied.

  Nathan: Sure 

And so he called. 

“Hello?” His voice sounded tired and sad, like he just woke up or something. I couldn’t find my voice. It’s become rasp from sobbing anyways. It’d be embarrassing for it to sound like that over the phone. So hopefully it’ll get better in the morning. 

“Oh, right,” He sighed, “Sorry. I just felt like talking and usually you listen. You can just hang up if you don’t want to though.” He sounded nervous, but I didn’t want to hang up. Not only because it was the wrong thing to do, but because I always loved listening to what he was saying. No matter how irrelevant it was. It distracted my mind from everything wrong with me. And he seemed to like it when I did. 

Nathan: I’m listening 

I heard him let out a little chuckle before talking. I could hear at some points it sounded like he was going to cry, and some he sounded like he was so hurt, and sometimes he’d laugh. He changed the subject multiple times, but I kind of liked it. I just wished I could help in some other way. It sounded to me like he was stressed out and just wanted someone to be there, and I’m surprised none of his siblings were. Or maybe they were, but he just doesn’t want to put all of this on them. It seemed like something he would do. 

By the time he was done, it was an hour before midnight. Funny thing was, I wasn’t tired anymore. I was putting together pieces in my mind still about everything he had talked about. How he was mentally tired of juggling five things around at once. I would be too if I were him. How he’s been more and more exhausted by the end of the day. How his parents usually did all of these kinds of things. I was going to ask what happened to them, but I feel like that was a touchy subject. Especially when he just vented to me. I don’t mind though. Not at all. 

“Oh crap. Sorry for keeping you up.” Ryker apologized, saying sorry about five times before I texted him that it was okay. I wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon. 

“Thanks. Y’know. For listening.” I heard him yawn on the other side. He was the one tired. I silently laughed to myself, hugging the bear closer to my chest. If only he could see me now… this was embarrassing. He’d probably make fun of me for it. I wouldn’t care. 

“You’re too nice, you know that?” I heard shuffling on the other side of the phone. Probably Ryker getting ready to go to sleep. And I know this was selfish, but I didn’t want him to hang up. I didn’t want my mind to realize that I was alone again. Was is it really selfish then? To me, yes. It feels like I was making him do something he didn’t want to. 

“Hey, um, remember when you tried hugging me that one time? Why’d you do it?” He had asked, and I could practically see his face. Confused and happy at the same time. He was talking about when I had to stay overnight. I knew that would come up eventually, just not so soon. 

Nathan: Nobody’s ever been so nice to me before. Besides my mom of course 

Nathan: But I was kind of shocked you agreed without complaining 

Nathan: Are you mad about it?

“Mad? Nononono. Um, the complete opposite really,” He laughed quietly, “I was shocked, yeah, but happy too.” 

That gets rid of the guilt. I swear I thought I ruined everything between us, but now I know what he really thought. He wasn’t mad at me for anything. 

“What about the other day? When it was snowing. You looked comfortable. Like you were about to sleep.” My cheeks started blushing from embarrassment. I had hoped he didn’t see me snuggling closer into his palm to stay warm, but apparently he did. So embarrassing. I groaned quietly to myself, tightly hugging the bear closer. 

Nathan: Sorry 

Nathan: I was cold 

Nathan: You were warm 

Nathan: Sorry again 

It was silent for a second. 

“Why do you apologize for things like that?” 

I didn’t know the answer to that question. Usually my mind just takes over and then I spiral into the worst possible scenarios. So I have no idea why I do. Maybe because my brain thinks I’ll get hurt if I don’t? My body was scared of getting another broken bone or something getting hurt? 

Nathan: I don’t know 

It was silent again. 

“Do… do you like being around me? I-I mean most people stop talking to me as soon as they get what they want. So, I was just wondering.” His voice sounded hurt. Obviously this ha sharpened once or twice to him. And it hurt to hear that these things have happened to someone so amazing. I could never do that to Ryker. It’d hurt me more than it’d hurt him. 

“Y-yes.” I almost immediately replied, my voice a little raspy. It hurt to speak, but it was fine. It’ll get better in time. 

I heard him let out a sigh of relief, and I smiled. I was finally doing the right thing for once in my life. I’m kind of glad this was how the day ended. 

“I would give you a hug if you were here… and if you were comfortable enough with it,” We both laughed quietly, “I’ll let you go to sleep. I’ve kept you up long enough.” 

I shook my head, forgetting that he wasn’t here to see it. I didn’t want him to go. Then again he sounded exhausted. Then I would be the one keeping him up. Or he doesn’t even have to stay awake. Just the knowledge that I knew he was just on the other side of the phone was enough to make me feel like I wasn’t alone. 

“U-Um you d-don’t have to s-stay up b-but could we stay… stay on call? P-Please.” I waited for an answer, biting my tongue for stuttering so much. My body was shaky for no reason. I was nervous. He was going to say no. He was going to say no. He was going to- 

“I would love that.” 

I wish he could see the smile I had on my face. How fast my heart was beating. I laid down under the covers, getting comfortable and staring at my phone that read: Ryker: 3:14. Three hours and fourteen minutes. Another seven won’t hurt. 

“Thank you.” 

I fell asleep a couple minutes after he did. No nightmares haunted me tonight.

—————————————

My heart is meltinggggggg

By the way, this was not the great scene I was talking about. This was just one of many to make the one I actually want to write make sense.

Anywayssss I told you guys it would be a little plot heavy for a while! I loved how this chapter came out though.

Hope you enjoyed, and thank you for reading! Love you guys!

[theoreticslut]

「 bruised body, broken heart 」

gareth emerson x fem reader

summary: your best friend gets worried, and rightfully so, when you ignore him the day after you have a date with someone else.

requested: yes

word count: 1.7k

warnings: implied jealousy, mentions of physical assault, mentions of bruising, crying, worried gareth & hellfire, brief mention of hospital visits

a/n: uhm...so i got a little carried away with this. it was supposed to be 700 words or less, and its obviously not. i think it's pretty cute though, & it was extremely fun writing for a different character than who i normally do. quick note: the nickname i use for him i've been pronouncing as 'gair' - kind of like how you'd say gary, but without the 'y.' anyways, i hope you enjoy this!! Xx

p.s. if anyone wants to talk about this fic with me pls do bc it gave me so many thoughts

“Have fun on your date. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With Gareth's words echoing around your head, you can’t help but wince and curl in even further on yourself as you sit on the floor of your bathroom. You sure had a lot of fun. That is if getting ambushed by said date and his douchey friends can be considered fun.

You should have known that someone like Ryan James wouldn’t have asked you out on a date and seriously meant it. Yet you let your hope delude you, and you are certainly paying for it.

There’s no way you can show up to school all bruised like this, but there’s also no way your parents are going to let you stay home. Not when they didn’t know about your date and won’t know about how shitty it was.

Gareth is going to lose it when he sees what happened. That thought alone is enough to make your heart ache with guilt.  He’s your best friend, has been for nearly your entire lives, and he didn’t want you to go. He didn’t want you going on that date and you ignored him. 

You should have just listened to him. Surely he had a better idea of what they were planning than you did.

~.~

Gareth hasn’t been able to sit still at all today. Not when he’s been worried about you from the moment he got to school.

You would always greet him with a smile and tight hug at your locker before first period. It was just something you did, but you were nowhere to be seen today. 

It’s bad enough that he doesn’t share any classes with you, but his anxiety only skyrocketed when you failed to show up for lunch as well. He had asked the guys, of course, if they had seen you, but he was slightly hoping they would all say no.

Although the thought of you not being at school at all worried him, it didn’t worry him nearly as much as the thought of you avoiding him which is what his brain jumped to when Jeff said that he’d seen you in the few classes the two of you share. 

“Well is she okay? It’s not normal for her to ignore me.” He had asked, his heart racing and sinking to his stomach all at the same time.

“As far as I could tell.”

While Jeff’s vague reassurance helped slightly, Gareth still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. You don’t ignore him. Not for anything, so something has to be wrong. He just needs to figure out what.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take him long to figure out. Not when you hurriedly walk into the club room right at 3:15 for tonight’s campaign, sporting a black eye.

“Oh my god! What happened to you?” Gareth exclaims, not hesitating even a second to cling to your side.

“I’m fine, Gar. Please.”

“Please what, y/n? I haven’t seen you all day, and now you try to sneak into the club with a black eye? What happened?” 

“Gareth.” Eddie sighs, trying to get his friend to calm down. 

It’s obvious how he feels about you, and that he’s worried, but his demanding tone isn’t going to help anything. 

“Calm down, man. You don’t need to interrogate her.”

“Calm down?! Just look at her, Eddie! She’s covered in bruises, and you’re telling me to calm down?”

“Gareth, please. I’m fine, I promise.” You beg, already uncomfortable with how much of a scene he’s created.

“You’re not, and we both know it. You didn’t suddenly get into a fight, did you?”

Shaking your head, you really hope he’ll drop the topic. You knew he’d be upset, but you were hoping you could hide it long enough to get through hellfire.

“Then what happened?”

“It wasn’t your date was it?” He questions, voice softer than it had been, however when you fail to respond any, he starts to get upset again.

“Y/n, please tell me it wasn’t your date that did this to you.”

You can feel all the guys’ eyes on you which only makes you curl in on yourself again. With being the only girl in the club, all of the boys have become rather protective of you. Hearing that a date did this to you? None of them can blame Gareth for his boiling blood.

“N-not just him,” you mumble before your thoughts start tumbling out of your mouth without you even realizing what you’re saying.

“…but it was my own fault for even going on the stupid date and I’m sorry! I’m sorry.”

At your outburst, Gareth finds himself stunned, expression shifting from bubbling anger to confusion. You’re sorry? Why would you be sorry?

That’s when the reality of the situation settles in his mind - you went on your date last night and he, and apparently others, attacked you. They attacked and hurt you. 

“Y/n. Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay, peanut. Why’re you sorry?” He questions, tenderly holding your arms as he shifts into comforting mode.

Although he wants to beat the living shit out of the guys that hurt you, that’s not what he needs to worry about right now. Not when you’ve got tears falling over your cheeks and you struggle to catch your breath.

“What do you have to be sorry for, peanut?”

“You…You didn’t want me going o-on the date. I-I should have listened, Gar.” 

“Hey. Hey, I don’t care about that anymore, y/n. Just wanna know you’re okay, peanut.”

“Are you okay?” He reiterates after a moment of you catching your breath and sniffling.

All of the guys watch with bated breaths as you shake your head, your bottom lip pouted out as you refuse to make eye contact with anyone. Gareth is still carefully holding you by your biceps, keeping you from turning away from him, but he desperately wants you to look at him.

“You’re not okay?”

“I hurt…a lot.” You sigh, beginning to fidget with your fingers.

“Where?”

“Everywhere...I really didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. Hurt too much.” 

“Then why did you, babe?” He questions, not even registering the pet name that slipped from his lips.

He’s too worried about you right now that he's not thinking straight, and the rest of the guys know it. You don’t, but they certainly do.

“You know my parents wouldn’t let me stay home unless I was actually dying.” You nearly whine, being too tired and sore to care. 

The only thing you want to do right now is lay down somewhere comfy and let Gareth hold you, even if you aren’t super physical with each other on any normal day.

“Yeah, I know. Do they even know about this, peanut?” 

As he watches you shake your head, he can’t help but let out a heavy sigh. You are going to be the death of him one of these days, he’s sure of it. However, he’s pretty sure he signed up for that risk the moment he became friends with you - long before he ever started to fall for you. 

“Where else are you bruised? Can you show me? Need to know whether or not we need to make a detour to the hospital.” He teases, trying to make you feel less uncomfortable. 

“Might not be a bad idea, Gar. They were…they weren’t too nice.” 

“Yeah?”

“Mhm. Th-this one hurts the most.” You admit, placing a hand over the right side of your torso.”

“Can I see?” Gareth questions, voice soft as he reaches for the hem of your shirt.

At his question you finally look up, glancing around the room before settling on his face. He can’t help but notice how panicked you looked, and he worries just how bad it is. 

Although nervous, you eventually give him a short, soft nod. If anyone needs to check it out, you’d rather it be Gareth. You know he’ll be careful to not hurt you any more than you are.

You feel him slide his hand over your hip, palm warm against your bare skin as he tucks his fingers under the hem of your shirt. From there, he lets his palm just barely trail over your skin as he lifts the material, revealing your side to the group.

“Jesus Christ.”

“Shit!”

“I’m gonna-“

Even though the guys are voicing their own shock, all you focus on is Gareth’s. With him finally focused on something other than your face, you find yourself studying his.

For the first time since entering the room you take notice of just how worried he is, and you can’t help how your heart aches. Aside from worry, though, you can see a plethora of other emotions swirling in his eyes - anger, hurt, softness. 

“Y/n…peanut. This, this isn’t good.” Gareth comments, voice soft even though you would’ve expected him to shout some expletive like the others.

Nodding, you can’t help the small hitch of your breath as he gently caresses the purple center of the bruise with his thumb.

“Gareth…take her to the hospital. Get her looked at.” Eddie comments, drawing the boy’s attention from your marred side.

“Yeah. Yeah, okay. You guys…?”

“We’ll hold off on the campaign until next week. This is more important.” 

“Okay. Uh, thank you.” Gareth thanks, sending Eddie a curt nod before turning back to you.

“Let’s go, yeah? We’ll make sure nothing’s too banged up, okay?”

There’s no stopping the small smile that grows on your lips as you nod, tangling your arms out in front of you as he places a hand to your hip.

He is so going to hurt whoever did this to you, but they better hope you’re not too hurt aside from the way-too-big bruises. If there’s anything seriously wrong, there’s a very good chance they’ll be making a trip to the hospital as well.

No one is going to hurt you like this - on top of toying with your emotions - and get away with it. He’s not going to let that happen. Not when you mean everything in the world to him.

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

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[moongothic]

Yeah hello hi I've been falling deep into the Crocodad Rabbithole and my brain is being consumed by small crocodile-shaped worms

So I've done what any reasonable person would do, I went back to rewatch some scenes from Alabasta and Marinford to psychoanalyze Crocodile and try to figure out what the fuck his deal is because genuinely the more I think about it the more questions I have and the more I want answers. And because I'm deranged I need to write all my thoughts down into an incoherent essay and release it into the world

So please, come along with me while and let's be Extremely Normal About Sir Crocodile Together and speculate about his ~Secret Past~

Quick note, my quickest access to some of these episodes is either through unsubbed episodes (not bothering with getting screenshots since there's no subs, also my Japanese is plenty good enough to not need it here) or through Ancient, Questionable Fansubs so don't get too hung up on the phrasing in the subbed screenshots- like they're not entirely inaccurate but y'know

The reason I want to do this is just that... Like I've been a fan of OP since 2008, when I was in middle school. I don't think I ever really tried to think deeper about this series in general at that time, because I was a kid. For a long time to me Crocodile had just been Some Greedy Asshole who tried to take over a country to obtain a tool of mass destruction and IDK destroy the world? Just a very classic Bad Guy McVillianMan, because I had not bothered to think about his character and question anything before.

But now I have brainworms due to the Crocodad Theory, and this is fucking One Piece, you never fucking know how deep a rabbithole can go with this bloody series. So let's go, let's try to figure out what the fuck is Crocodile's deal, because I need to get these brainworms out of my fucking system

I just want to start with this one quick throw-away line because it's kind of a sidenote. Also like. This is such a funny fucking thing for Crocodile to say if he is Luffy's dad. Like.

That's so fucking funny if he's Luffy's dad holy shit

But what really gets me here is that like... Like while I'm like 70% sure Crocodile is trans, there's still a part of me that's like "there's no fucking way Crocodad is real". Let alone, this be some kind of a hint Oda planted to suggest that this early on. Like it sounds absurd. And yet at this point in One Piece, Oda had already started planning out and laying out the groundwork for so many lore and plot-relevant concepts, ranging from shit like everything about Robin, the Poneglyphs, the Ancient Weapons etc. He had already started the "Prince Sanji ARG" (aka dropping the tiniest fucking hints to Sanji's Hidden Backstory that people were able to pick up on and make accurate predictions with about Sanji's backstory). There's fucking Laboon, and about a bajillion other things. And possibly most importantly, by this point Oda had already revealed both Luffy's father and grandfather to the readers, not to mention he even introduced Ace and vaguely hinted at Sabo! It's not like Oda had everything perfectly planned out from the very begining, that is objectively not the case at all. But it also literally would not be unlike Oda to drop hints to a character's backstory like this. He has been doing that for years, and had already started by the time we met Crocodile. Like it feels insane and yet it's perfectly plausible. And if he had Luffy's dad, grandfather and two siblings planned out in his head already at this point, it should not be that much of a stretch to believe that Oda knows and no doubt has known for the past two decades who Luffy's mom is (regardless of if that's Crocodile or not)

All this to say. Crocodile's comment about what Cobra said to Vivi when they reunited is a funny, sarcastic comment. But it would take a whole new meaning if Crocodad was real. Because it really would be perfectly normal if he did/had wondered what he would say to his long lost child if they were ever reunited. And really that just makes his roast turn sad.

Anyways

In Alabasta, we do get a very clear image that Crocodile does not like the World Government, not just because he's a Big Meanie Pirate who wants to conquer the world, but because he does seem to look down on how the Marines + World Government do their "justice" (which, y'know, knowing what we know now about the Government. Fair. That's entirely fair.)

He also dislikes Vivi's "idealism" of wanting to save everyone without bloodshed or anyone losing their lives (especially for her sake)

We learn that he is a broken man with broken dreams. Also he seems to be aware where he (supposedy) belongs in the Grand Line's power hierarchy, as in, he needs Pluton because he knows he's not strong enough in combat that he could take down anyone, let alone the World Government by himself (though he would still make a beeline for Whitebeard's head the second he saw him at Marinford, which, y'know, bold move)

And of course, we learn in Impel Down that Crocodile and Iva-chan have some beef. We can not say for 100% sure what that beef is (like the theory he's trans is very obvious and plausible, but until Oda spills the beans we won't know for a fact what the beef is), but we know that they knew each other. And if Crocodile knew Iva-chan, a high-ranking founding member of the Revolutionary Army, then it is genuinely plausible that Crocodile could also have known Dragon and/or been a member of the Revolutionary Army as well.

Since overthrowing the World Nobles and the Government are the Revolutionary Army's goal, the fact that they're trying to obtain weapons and people for their cause etc, Crocodile's view of the Government and his "Operation Utopia" does kind of align with the Revolutionary Army's

But we did also learn from Iva that "Crocoboy" isn't quite trustworthy. Needless to say, even if Croc used to be a part of the Army, he most certainly left YEARS ago, and clearly not on good terms.

Also, an interesting note, is that at Marineford when Luffy and co finally arrive at the battlefield (episode 466, 17:25 minutes in), when Garp spots the group, he makes a specific comment about Crocodile being there together with the revolutionaries and the prison escapees, believing they can't all be here to fight for the same cause. Which is an interesting thing for him to point out specifically. Like Jinbei was another powerful person who entered that battlefield at the same time, and while Jinbei did clarify to Sengoku that he's quitting being a Shichibukai and was there to save Ace, it's still maybe a little odd Garp didn't think it was worth mentioning that Jinbei had also "allied" with the prison escapees and the revolutionaries to enter the battlefield. Like it was Crocodile only whom he thought needed to be pointed out. I don't think Garp's comment adds at all to Crocodad because it would frankly make little to no sense (like we're all assuming Crocodile didn't know Dragon's lastname, which is why he never realized Luffy was his son (despite knowing Luffy's lastname), but if Crocodile knew Garp was Dragon's father then surely he'd realize Dragon's lastname would be Monkey, right), but it could maybe add to the idea that Crocodile might've been a part of the Revolutionary Army in the past, as Garp could be aware of something like that, thus he'd be puzzled by Crocodile's presencee. Point is, it's an interesting comment, make of it what you will

EDIT 2: Ended up going back to reread parts of Marineford and turns out ^that^ was an anime-only addition from Toei. Like Garp does make a comment about how these people probs aren't at the battlefield for the same reasons but did not specifically point out Crocodile or anything. So. I wasted enough time adding these paragraphs to the post, I ain't deleting 'em. But y'know.

EDIT: Minor addition, because I just remembered how Crocodile really went like out of his way to taunt Vivi about how she "can't stop the rebellion" and save her people. Which, y'know, is a perfectly normal Villian Thing To Do. But we know Crocodile does not think fondly of the World Nobles just like he dislikes the Government. Even if Cobra was a "good monarch" who genuinely cared for his people, he was still a king, and the Nefertari family and the Kingdom of Alabasta were a part of the World Government. The thing Crocodile specifically wanted to destroy. And this is just another one of those "surely that wasn't somekinda foreshadowing" but god fucking dammit what if Crocodile telling a(n unknowing) representative of the World Government that she can't stop "the rebellion", or the revolution if I may, (regardless of if he's allied with them or not) was actually meant to be like foreshadowing. Oda I swear to fucking god---

Anyway, so, Crocodile might've been a part of the Revolutionary Army at one point (the army was formed after the Ohara Incident 22 years ago, and for Crocodad Theorizing, Luffy was born 19 years ago), but if he did he must have left on bad terms for unknown reasons, and we can tell that although his goals in general could vaguely match that of the Revolutionaries, his methods most certainly don't.

Whether or not his methods and his worldview tie to his leaving the Army is unknown. Because we don't really know when and how his worldview was formed.

Like did Crocodile leave the Army because he became a cynical asshole who was willing to make any kind of sacrifice for his goals (thus he no longer fit in with the rest of the Revolutionary Army), realized he was far too weak to ever become Pirate King and thus decided to go looking for Pluton? Or did Crocodile suggest to the Army they should try to obtain an Ancient Weapon to keep casulties to a minimum (still in line with the Army), only ending up getting kicked out (big weapon bad), and soon realizing he had no chance at making a change in the world without "cracking a few eggs"?

Like it doesn't nececarily make a massive difference,, since the end result is still the same, but it does kind of affect the context and how one might view him, right

Of course, there's then the Forbidden Third Option, that Crocodile left due to

Gender issues (internalized shame of being trans and not having it in him to stay around people who had known him)

Postpartum depression

Dragon just divorced Crocodile either due to being straight (in a sad, accepting way) or due to being simply unaccepting and frankly homophobic, regardless, Crocodile leaves with a broken heart

Something else and/or a combo of the above, really, we could speculate endlessly here about what could've happened

(Though I will say that Crocodile's '"trust issues"' and how he views people as disposable could like. I dunno. Be explained if he had gone through some heartbreak and was left permanently unable to open up to people, let alone trust anyone)

I dunno, there's a lot of options, a lot of things to considder.

But there is one more thing that I do want to note on as it could potentially debunk the Crocodad Theory entirely.

It's that Iva-chan didn't know Dragon had a son.

(Episode 441, 9:50 minutes) By which I mean, Iva-chan wasn't shocked to find out Luffy was Dragon's son, rather, they were shocked there was a son to begin with. (To the point they thought Ace was also Dragon's son until Luffy cleared it up for them later) While it's not a massive leap to believe that Crocodile and Dragon knew each other (since Crocodile knew Iva-chan), nor is it a massive leap to believe that Iva-chan transed Crocodile's gender after having Luffy... It does become a bit of a leap to believe Iva-chan didn't know about Dragon having a child with Crocodile before giving Croc the Magic HRT. Like if they had a relationship that resulted in a baby and a divorce, how did Iva not know about any of it, especially when it's more than likely that Iva could not have transitioned Crocodile until after the baby was born (let's not think about how Iva-chan's powers would work on a pregnant person too much)

We do also get this flashback (in episode 441, immidiately after Luffy reveals his dad's identity to Iva) where Iva-chan questions Dragon about how he always stares out towards East Blue when the wind blows, wondering if Dragon has family out there whom he's thinking about (Dragon refusing to comment on it). This does very much confirm that regardless of who Dragon had Luffy with, Iva has no fucking clue who, where and how any of that happened. And althought I personally feel like Iva not knowing would debunk Crocodad, if Crocodile still somehow was Luffy's dad, Iva-chan would canonically not know about it. If Iva didn't know Dragon had a relationship that resulted in a baby, then regardless of if Iva even knew Crocodile got pregnant once, they would not be able to connect those dots.

Now let's be clear, there's many potential scenarios where Crocodad could still be real, scenarios that could explain why and how Iva-chan didn't know about Luffy nor about Dragon and Crocodile having a relationship*. Like it would not be difficult at all to come up with an explanation for it. But in my mind, I feel like the more you have to figure out and explain how the theory could still be plausible, the less plausible it actually feels. Like the more I need to go out of my way to explain it, the more forced it seems.

*(For example, maybe the two kept their relationship a secret, and when Crocodile got pregnant he """left on a mission""" that happened to take like 4-10 months, during the time realizing he was trans. Once the baby had arrived he returned the baby to Dragon in secret for him to deal with, got a divorce for one reason or another*, and sought out Iva-chan to start a new life, Iva thus never found out about anything, just knew that Crocodile left one day after coming out. Like that's one plausible scenario.)

*Hey remember the potential Forbidden Reasons to why Crocodile might've left the Army? What if it was Dragon's and/or Crocodile's idea? Remember how when Jinbei is trying to escape Marinford with the unconcious Luffy, Crocodile tells Jinbei to do better job at "protecting those he wants to protect", a line that felt really sudden and odd coming from Crocodile of all people? What if the two knew their child would be in grave danger if he was ever raised within the army (absolutely not a place for a baby)? What if they knew their baby would become a target for the World Government to hunt, much like Roger's lost child was, if the Government found out Dragon had a baby? What if they wanted to make sure nothing bad ever happened to their baby and were willing to do anything to protect the baby? Even if it meant they'd never see their child grow up? Even if it meant hiding your child from your best friend, pretending to have a horrible fallout with them and transing your gender because Oda doesn't know what gender dysphoria is? Just so nobody would ever find out you had a child?

Mind you. I do not want anybody to think this is an actual argument for Crocodad. Like I could write a dozen different fanfics about how Crocodile could be Luffy's other dad, and they would all be just as much pure speculation with nothing to support them as the above suggestions. It is an example of what could have happened, and a deeply interesting thought, but it is just a theory at best.

In the end, it doesn't really matter though, because until the day Oda reveals Luffy's mom and/or Crocodile's backstory to us, we will truly never know for sure What The Fuck Crocodile's Deal Is

And I'll be just stuck with these brainworms, making myself sad by thinking about sad scenarios where Crocodad could be real, because truly, if it's canon, ain't no way it won't be sad

EDIT 3: Originally I thought it'd be good enough if I just rewatched some parts here and there, but in the end I just fucking absolutely caved the fuck in and went and reread The Good Parts of Marineford. Mainly because I knew I was forgetting things and Toei adding/changing things can affect a character reading. Also it was just going to be easier to go through the manga and literally just all of Crocodile's scenes into an image folder for easier browsing, mainly because there's so much shit that happens between those scattered scenes it can be hard to like focus on one thing (especially if you're trying to specifically FIND those scattered scenes and appearances)

So yeah. Coming back a few days later to add shit to this god forsaken post. I need help

Actually changed my mind and made a separate post to continue this nonsense, enjoy

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

For the story ideas folder "You Drew Stars Around My Scars" have definitely caught my eye!

Also hope you are doing good, Elm!

First of all, Crys, hiiiiiii! I'm doing okay! I hope you're well! ✨ Second, I just want to thank you for asking about "You Drew Stars Around My Scars" and to apologize for the person I'm about to become.

Are you ready for it?

"You Drew Stars Around My Scars" is a The Elder Scrolls V/Baldur's Gate 3 crossover that will likely never see the light of day for several factors, such as the number of WIPs I have, my original novel, school, and, oh, the fact that I've never played BG3 My MacBook Air cannot handle those demands. DESPITE THE EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES!, I just think the game is neat and have been sucked into it in part by Astarion. Mostly Astarion . . . okay, entirely.

Background information: Ever since I started writing Keeping Count, I knew Bishop was lifted from Neverwinter Nights and that it was a D&D-based game. And I guess that's why someone mentioned Astarion as a palette cleanser to me a few months ago, shared universe and all. And my initial perception of the character was so cool that I vaguely entertained an alternative Keeping Count where Astarion shows up, seduces Leara from Bishop, and probably sexy stabs Bishop or something. And then I didn't really think about it again. For months.

Then my brain went back to it and Astarion and BG3 and I cried a bit when I realized that my laptop couldn't play the game. I'm fine. And you know what? @cosmermaid is right: Leara deserves a better companion than freaking Bishop. Also please forgive my minimal BG3/D&D knowledge, 95% of which I've absorbed since like last Monday ish.

SO! "You Drew Stars Around My Scars" features Leara getting picked up by the Mind Flayer ship post-Sovngarde and taken via dimensional travel to Faerûn where, following the crash, she joins the usual party on a quest to get rid of the parasites. This Leara is very specifically taken after the planned Chapter 15 of Keeping Count for Reasons. Can Leara use magic in Faerûn since she's not able to draw it from Aetherius? No idea. Can she Dragon Shout? Also no idea. Transdimensional magic mechanics are weird. Regardless, Leara probably mentions something about being Dragonborn and gets weird and confused looks because her definition of Dragonborn is totally different from that in the Forgotten Realms. Linearly, I have no idea what would happen, but overall, Leara and Astarion both suffer trauma from following people who hurt them and they have complicated relationships with sex. They could have what could be a very cathartic relationship. Or I think so, anyway. Also, I kinda want to know if vampires react differently to the Dragonblood.

Symbolism in the story could heavily involve stars and light. Leara means "Light of the Sea" while Astarion means "Little Star". Leara is dependent on the stars for her magic but she's lost them, while Astarion wants to walk in the light even after the parasite is gone. There's no balance and it has to be found. They're both so cold and have lived in the shadows for a long time. There are dark versions of themselves they don't want to be anymore.

There's the possibility that, given her background in the Blades and Dominion, Leara might see through Astarion's mask in Act I. But she'd end up helping Astarion (and probably not giving on that she's on to him until later) because she's a bleeding heart. Two other very important things about this underwhelming but brain-rotting story: First, Astarion wouldn't ascend. We would need a Leara Disapproves sticker because she would not be for Astarion doing that. The second thing is, well, since motherhood is an extremely important part of Leara's character, I did pick out a name for a possible child. If Leara and Astarion had a daughter, her name would be Ilmarien, derived from Quenya, Ilmarë, meaning “starlight”.

Because after all this time, Tolkien elves still make the most sense to me.

[v3nusxsky]

i’m so in love in your writing skills babe xx you have no idea how much you makes me feel so happy tysm

Could I request motherly lady lesso where the reader has trouble with eating (anorexia) & often have very bad panic attacks because of that and lesso try her best to help her with comforting and etc please❤️

I struggle with that so bad rn.

Hey lovely thank you so much love that makes my day that they have this effect on you. You all provide me with the motivation to write and continue posting so thank you for the support <3 it wasn’t something I planned on doing more off just a way to get over a nasty breakup but I’m so glad now I write more it makes me truly happy.

Chosen Momma

*Authors note| another sensitive topic so I'm going to try and do the prompt the some justice. Again everything I write comes from my own experiences so please be gentle and if anyone is struggling with this my messages are open*

Trigger warnings~ anorexia and panic attacks

Prompt~see ask^^^^

Mothers. Certainly a funny concept. The one person who is supposed to nurture, comfort and support you as you navigate life. Yet yours, well she did the opposite. So much so you couldn't help but feel relieved when you joined the school for Evil. Your mother being an Ever, now refused to even acknowledge your existence. At first you thought you'd be sad, that you were not seeing your mother. After all you only get one mother. Yet you didn't feel sad, no you just felt freedom.

Your struggle with eating has been present for years. Certain foods would cause extreme reactions for you, resulting in panic attacks. Sometimes you would have good days, but naturally you also had bad days. And on those days you couldn't help but wish to have someone to hold you and guide you through the process. Recovery was a long road, one that contained a lot of twists and bumps. The bends were sharp and honestly, it was a treacherous path to travel alone.

Since arriving at the school, you had done your best to hide your illness, you didn't want to appear weak. Weakness is not something a Never should show, you'd had that drummed into you from day one. Making a conscious effort to do well. Maybe because you wanted those grades or maybe it was due to a certain red head. When you arrived you were instantly drawn to her. She seemed to attack your gaze effortlessly. Teaching attachments are a serious thing. And on the first day you had not planned for Lady Lesso to be your attachment. Yet the world works in mysterious ways and you soon found yourself in that situation.

Lesso seemed to have a soft spot for you, you knew that with how she treated you. In fact, you now found yourself searching for her any time you two were in the same room. On the hardest days, a smile from her would brighten your day, giving you a small beacon of light to guide you. Yes Lesso was more of a mother to you these past months than your mother had been in years. And as hard as that was to admit it was a pure fact.

The day she found out of your illness, you'll never forget the sadness that lingered in her eyes, she was desperate to help in some way. As much as you knew you had done the right thing telling her, yet you felt so guilty seeing the pain it caused. And that was the night that you made a promise to the Dean, you would find her whenever you were struggling. And on those days you had helped Lesso know exactly how to help you. Exactly what you craved and needed to get through this. Maybe just maybe, having her by your side to guide you through it al would be helpful for you.

On this particular day, the food being served in the food hall seemed to be massively terrifying. You sat, gaze unfocused, starring at the plate of food as if it was the most scary monster to be imagined. You could feel yourself being swept up in the panicked thoughts, your heart racing as if it was beating at the speed light travels. It was hurting your heart. Was it going to beat out of your chest? You vaguely remember being told that when you felt as though a hand was plunged into your chest and squeezing your heart like a vice, that you should try to sit up straight. Yet your body seemed to just want to fold in half. Your vision was the next thing to deteriorate. You vaguely remember a pressure on your shoulder before you lost consciousness.

You conciseness began to flood your body once more, you instantly noted the change of environment. You were no longer in the noise hall, you were in the safety of Lady Lesso's office. The women was sat by your head, stroking through your hair to provide comfort. Only when you were fully back in the present did she help you sit up and pulled you into a loving embrace. Immediately stepping into the motherly mode. Her hand never left your hair as she rocked gently with you in her arms, whispering repeatedly words of love and support. "Oh my little dove, are you okay my darling? Is your chest still sore little one?"

You took a few more steady breaths before attempting to answer her, "I'm okay momma it is still hurting slightly but it's much better now momma" you mumbled soaking in her embrace. You'd been calling Lesso momma now for a few months, it had slipped out during a particularly bad attack and luckily she felt honoured you saw her as your chosen momma. If she could provide you with what you truly deserved and you felt comfortable with that title then who was she to deny you such a comfort. You had told her about how your mother would handle this, and to have the complete opposite from the one and only Dean of Evil was just overwhelming.

The softer side of Lesso was one that only a select few people had the pleasure of seeing it, so the fact you were one filled your heart with joy. Whenever you had bad days, where everything felt too much you knew you could come and seek comfort in your momma's embrace. Knowing she would hold you till you had weathered the storm. Only then when you were calm, she would get you some of your safe foods and encourage you to eat. "Eat my darling, take as long as you need and I'll be here with you my little one" was her constant reminder that you would never be alone and there was no pressure to eat any faster than you could handle. She wouldn't leave you because of this illness, in fact she was going to stay and help you recover. And that made your heart fill with love. Who said a mother is formed by sharing blood and DNA?

Word count~ 1137

[xgoldenlatiasx]

ohhh I am Brainstorming

ok ok so infodump ahead: Arcelia is the daughter of Archie (aaaand possibly Maxie? I haven’t figured out if I want hardenshipping to be divorced or if they get together after ORAS) and grew up a member of Team Aqua. For a while there she had full confidence in her father’s plan, but then Something happens (haven’t figured out what yet) and realizes oh wait this idea is shit actually what the fuck dad. unsure of what to really do to stop her dad yet, she runs away and ends up in Littleroot. there she stumbles into Professor Birch getting chased by a wild poochyena, saves him, etc. etc. etc.

not really sure what to do with this lost child who literally just came out of the bushes and saved him one day, Birch takes her in and lets her be an assistant like Brendan is. buuut she’s not super good at it. she gets kind of fed up and restless, especially when her dad is still out there planning to FLOOD THE FUCKIN WORLD, so as a way to try and help her Birch gives her Pebble the Mudkip and sends her out on a journey. thus begins her gym challenge and her mission to save her father from himself basically.

post-ORAS Archie has to serve time and stuff so Arcelia… doesn’t really know where to go from here. and she doesn’t wanna stay in Hoenn honestly cause she’s still kinda recovering from saving the world and fighting her own dad. SO Birch tries to help and sends her to Naranja Academy in Paldea, where hopefully she can find some semblance of a normal life and learn to just be a regular kid. it’s all well meaning but it doesn’t exactly work out bc Arcelia ends up being all by herself. again.

aaaand of course that’s where she meets a certain future-ground-type-elite-4-member! Arcelia is 16 at this point but she has to start off at freshman cause of yknow, never going to school before, and Rika is 17 and a junior. Arcelia struggles because 1. this is an extremely drastic change to literally anything she’s ever had in her life before 2. sure she’s only like a year older than the rest of the kids in her grade but she’s still significantly more mentally mature than a majority of them and thus has trouble connecting with them. honestly, even if she was allowed to start off as a sophomore, that prolly wouldn’t change cause kid has literally seen shit beyond any other high schooler’s comprehension.

Rika, not knowing anything about the whole saving the world thing but can easily see Arcelia’s struggling, approaches her and offers to help her with fitting in, keeping her grades up, and stuff like that. and the rest is history! the two become extremely close, but I don’t think Arcelia would fully open up about being the hero of the Hoenn crisis just yet- she’ll vaguely mention her strained relationship with her dad and make it come off as something much more simple than “my dad was an evil team leader who tried to drown the world”, but during their school years Rika never totally understands the full weight of it.

I think once Rika graduates they have a dramatic falling out of some kind. haven’t exactly figured out the details of it yet but during this falling out Arcelia has to go back to Hoenn- probably somethin to do with her dad or with Kyogre or whatever- whatever it is she can’t tell Rika about it, which only frustrates Rika even more and creates a further rift between them. eventually Arcelia just leaves with hardly a goodbye and neither of them really get any closure.

-of course until Arcelia comes back to Paldea several years later :]

[dulcelibra]

good wife

Pair: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x fem!oc

Summary: As their marriage goes through a rough patch, Nia finds her reevaluating her relationship with Bradley, and what she signed up for when she said ‘I Do’. Slight character study based on some lyrics from good wife by Kacey Musgraves

Check out my Rhett Abbott fic here. And follow me on my writing blog: dulcewrites

Warnings: just angst… Bradley being slightly manipulative if you squint. Both parties being a bit a toxic. Ideas of misogyny/patriarchy in contexts of marriage.

Notes: Hiiii. This is not only my first Top Gun fic but first fic in general, so go easy on me lol. I was revisiting star-crossed, and the idea just sort of popped into my head. If this goes how I hope it does, I’d love to make a series based on songs from this album (maybe just songs in general). I wanted to this to be less dialogue and more introspection. I left the ending slightly ambiguous.. so let me know how y’all like it!! ❤️ also I see all my characters as black but the descriptions for this oc are pretty vague.

Wake him up nice and slow, bring him coffee in bed. Listen to his problems, tell him that I understand

Nia was clueless about the military till meeting Bradley. Navy aviators, air to air combat, the idea of calling a grown man ‘rooster’, air maneuvers and top gun, all things she learned through him. With learning the fun and fulfilling parts of his job came learning the awful parts. The sometimes mind-numbing lunacy of doing what he did. But to take all of him means taking the thing he loved to do.

“It was fine,” mumbled Bradley as he stared at his eggs.

This was becoming the new answer when Nia asked about work trips. She remembers the days when he couldn’t wait to tell her what he did when he was at away. He loved bringing her into a world that was so important to him. A world that was cemented in his dna, that influenced every thing he did. The morning coffees they would share when they had the time to.

As odd as it sounds, she liked listening to his problems. She liked knowing that he trusted her with that. That her sweet but extremely stubborn and stuck in his ways husband trusted her with the truth. But now she sits here at a silent kitchen table taking in rich curls and puppy dog eyes. She can’t shake the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach she’s been having lately.

Try to loosen up and be more fun. Yeah, I could be more fun

“Has anyone ever told you’re kind of uptight… but don’t worry stick with me and we’ll get rid of that,” said Bradley with a teasing smile.

She knows he meant it in jest in the moment but it’s theme that’s always showed up in their relationship. Even on their first date, Bradley couldn’t help pointing out Nia’s stiff nature. She knows she’s not the most adventurous person. She lived a simple life up until meeting him. She grew up in Tennessee, born to a professor and a pharmacist. The most exciting thing she ever did was move to Virginia for school years ago. Even after the move she had a planned to go back Tennessee eventually. Bradley threw a wrench in that plan. The Navy threw a wrench in that plan.

Nia tries to not nag, and god she hates that word. She hates the idea that her wanting communication makes her the ‘nagging wife’ who doesn’t get it. She hates that there is an expectation for her to know her place. She tries not to take it to heart when it seems like Bradley would rather hang out with the same people he sees all the time. His military friends are family. But then she remembers she’s also his family. She became his family when she said I Do and took his last name.

Just let him be himself, don't try to control

God, help me be a good wife, Cause he needs me. Even when he's not right. Yeah, he still needs me

“You did not just say that to me,” the words come out more shrill than Nia would like.

They’ve been going at it for the better part of an hour. It started with a passive aggressive comment that Nia is fully regretting now.

“You’re the one who brought the conversation in the first place. You picked a fight,” he shrugs nonchalantly.

Nia has always admired (and sometimes resented) how calmly Bradley reacts to things despite never letting things go easily. It takes a lot to push him over the edge. It’s probably a good thing he has that mindset with his job.

“All I want is a heads up. Is that so hard to do?? One measly heads up to know if my husband is leaving… again. It would be nice to know I’m being thought of,” sighs Nia.

She can’t help but think about how differently this conversation went at the beginning of their marriage.

“You don’t get to say that. I think from the moment I wake up. I think of you every time I step foot in a plane, so don’t tell me I don’t think of you,” his words are pointed and his tone turned sharp.

Nia twists her wedding ring; a well established nervous tick. She would be lying if she said it didn’t feel nice hearing that. Maybe he’s right. Maybe she did pick of fight so he’d say something, literally anything to her with some passion in his voice. She feels like it’s been forever since she’s gotten that.

With a gentle sigh, he sits next to her on their bed. He didn’t make the bed this morning, white sheets crumbled under their weight.

“You do know that I think of you right. You’re the only thing that keeps me going sometimes. I’m sorry if it wasn’t enough time. It’s been years and it’s never gonna get easier leaving you,” he says as he grabs her hand and squeezes it.

Nia feels the guilt get stuck in her throat as tears fill her eyes. She can barely get the ‘I’m sorry’ out before he’s pulling her into his chest.

“Sweetheart…we are ok. We will figure it out. It always do. We’re the dream team remember?” he says it so confidently, so sweetly that Nia almost forgets why she was upset in the first place. Almost forgets having to hear the news of a possible mission from a fellow military wife, and in the supermarket of all places.

A part of her wants to continue the conversation, but she takes in his strong arm around her and the smell of his cologne she secretly sprays on things before he leaves.

“Yeah we do figure it out,” Nia leans her head on Bradley’s shoulder and prays the universe doesn’t prove them wrong.

And the truth is I could probably make it on my own. But without him, this house just wouldn't be a home…

Nia is always wound up tight. It’s why when Bradley breezed through her life one really hot summers day nine years ago, she felt every fiber in her body tell her to hold on. Hold onto that delicious, albeit scary feeling he gave her.

She gets to be with the love her life; it seemed like an easy trade off. Put up with seeing him less, and the worrying because when he’s with her, she’s home. And it is hard to find something that compares or beats that feeling. She wonders if something will ever beat it

Things like: the everyday monotony of a past life she thinks about, the peacefulness of country backroads she misses, the independence she sometimes feels like she doesn’t have.

Does their love cut through the bitterness of what could’ve been? Or does it fester her need to be a “good wife”?

[donttakecandyfromastranger]

Life on Mars? (Dustin Henderson x Reader)

Chapter One: Fake Boyfriend

Description: The younger sister of Steve Harrington has a bit of a predicament, her best friends keep pestering her about not having a boyfriend so Dustin offers to pretend to be her boyfriend.

Warning(s): None, I don't think, kissing ig

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It's finally Saturday, meaning that I don't have to worry about your friends pestering you about not having a boyfriend. They keep asking if I have one but I always respond with an extremely vague answer.

I'm at Family Video with Steve, my older brother, and Robin Buckley, who is currently having a conversation with Dustin Henderson, he is my brother's best friend. I'm just glad that Tommy and Carol are gone, I hated them.

"I'm in a predicament," I tell Steve.

"What's the problem?" He asks.

"My best friends keep pestering me and asking if I have a boyfriend, which I don't. If I tell them that, they're gonna pester me even more. I don't know what to do," I explain.

Robin and Dustin look over and me and Steve, clearly interested in our conversation.

"Get a boyfriend?" Steve suggests.

"I would but I don't like most of the dudes at school." I explain, "My friends all date athletes but the only athlete that I'm okay with is Lucas Sinclair because he's actually a decent human being but he's one of my friends, and I couldn't see him any other way. Any other guys that I'm actually okay with are the Hellfire Club and that's it."

"I could pretend to be your boyfriend," Dustin suggests.

"I thought you had a girlfriend?" Robin asks.

"No, me and Suzie broke up," Dustin responds.

"Oh," Robin says.

"That's a good idea, Dustin," I say.

"Absolutely not!" Steve exclaims, "Not happening, I don't care if it's fake! No!"

"What? Why not?!" I whine.

"Dustin is my best friend, he's off limits," Steve tells me.

"That's why we're pretending," I respond.

"Fine," Steve sighs.

~

It's Monday morning and I go to pick Dustin up, I pull into his driveway and wait for him to come out. I see him open his front, walk out, close it, then run to your car looking oddly excited.

"Good morning," I say, "You look really happy."

"I don't why, but I am," He answers with a chuckle.

I back out of his driveway and start driving toward school. "We need a story and a plan," I tell him.

"Okay, about we've been together for almost two months and have been keeping it a secret," He suggests.

"That works," I agree. "We should walk in holding hands, I'll go sit with my friends when we get there, you kiss me, if you're okay with that, tell me bye with some cute name then sit with your friends. You can tell them the truth if you want, I planned on telling Lucas, Chrissy, and Eddie the truth."

"Okay, I'm fine with kissing you. I'm probably gonna tell my frien- wait, are you friends with Eddie?" He interrupted himself with a question.

"Oh yeah, we're friends. He calls me 'Certified Dumbass'," I tell Dustin.

"Why?" He laughs.

"He said that he was a metalhead and I wasn't thinking and said 'Oh my god is your head made of titanium or something?'," I sat the quote with a gasp, imitating how you said it to Eddie. "He was like, 'No, it means I listen to metal music!' and I was like, 'Oh yeah makes a lot more sense.' So his nickname is titanium now. I also call him Eduardo."

"That's great," He chuckles.

I pull into the school parking lot. I park and we both get out of the car.

He opens the door for me and we both walk into school. Dustin grabs my hand right after the door shuts, he walks you to the table that your friends are at, since it's winter almost everyone is in the cafeteria.

I let go of his hand and move to face him. He leans to capture my lips in a kiss that probably should not be this passionate, clearly getting caught in the moment, he puts his hands on my waist and pulls me closer to him. I immediately feel butterflies in my stomach, but at the same time, this doesn't feel right. We both pull away out of breath.

"I'll see you later, Honeybun," Dustin says.

"Bye, Dusty," I respond.

He pecks my licks then turns to walk towards his friends.

I look at my friends and they all have very shocked looks on their faces.

~

I open my locker, fortunately the only friends that have lockers beside me are Lucas and Chrissy and my locker is sandwiched between theirs.

"Y/n, what the hell was that in the cafeteria?!" Lucas somewhat yells, his pitch sounds like yelling but his volume sounds like talking.

I explain everything to him, about what happened at Family Video, my friends pestering me, mine and Dustin's plan, etc…

"That was really acting, N/n," Chrissy compliments.

"Thanks, Chrissy," I respond. "Could you guys go along with this, meaning please don't tell Jason."

"Don't tell Jason, what?" Jason asks, suddenly appearing behind Chrissy. "About your new boyfriend, I'm pretty sure the whole school knows, Y/n."

"No, it's something else that you are not allowed to know, it's between me, Chrissy, and Lucas. Not you, sorry, bro," I say then close my locker and head to first hour.

[nostradamus0]

PLEASE READ!

I know this is kinda a long post, but this is really important and it would mean everything to me if even one person paused to read it.

On Wednesday (12/06), the president of my college: the State University of New York at Fredonia, announced plans to discontinue 13 of our major programs.

Like approximately 20 SUNY schools, which are public universities in New York, Fredonia has been sinking further into a financial crisis for nearly 20 years due to a lack of funding and decreasing enrollment. The majority of SUNY funding is given to only 4 schools, and the rest of us get almost nothing. And those in charge of allocating what we do get are trying to invest in programs that our school is not known for. 

The SUNY system was designed to spread out specializations among different schools to prevent competition in enrollment and protect all types of programs. Fredonia is a liberal art school. We specialize in education, music, and the arts. And we are good at it. Some of the amazing programs we offer exist almost nowhere else in the country, such as our English Adolescence Education major.

If we cannot stop 13 programs from being cut, it will be devastating to our school, the staff and students, and the surrounding community. Professors will lose their jobs. Enrollment will suffer, and we’ve already lost several thousand students in just the last few years because New York has financially abandoned many SUNY schools. Fredonia is one of several schools to announce many devastating and unnecessary program cuts just within the last few months. Types of pograms that are largely ignored nationwide are being cut, and that will show other schools that those types of majors are not worth investing in. 

Here at Fredonia, the programs they want to cut include: several education programs, almost the entirety of our language and language education programs, several art programs, sociology, and philosophy. This will harm the cities of Fredonia, Dunkirk, Jamestown, and others that surround us, because we have an incredibly high, and increasing, Hispanic population. Over 60% of the people in the town I call home are living in extreme poverty, and part of this is because many of them do not speak English.

When I work in our schools with elementary and secondary students, I see every day how many of them struggle with English, how many classrooms have translators and/or fully bilingual curriculums. Many teachers speak or are learning Spanish, in part because their students' parents often do not speak any English. We can’t lose our Spanish and Spanish Education programs. We need to be able to talk to our students.

Revealing these cuts a week before winter break was a deliberate attempt to prevent students and staff from working together to fight for our school and the SUNY system. Professors and department heads are saying they have never experienced a more irresponsibly and cruelly handled announcement in their lives. None of them had any warning. They were all blindsided by the news at the president’s speech yesterday, which had cops in attendance. Students were not invited by the school or warned by the school at all, but several were there because professors invited them. The livestream of the speech was taken down after it ended because the audience responded so loudly and angrily that they didn’t want anyone else to see it.

The president and the cabinet are actively keeping information from the entire staff and student population. His speech included no real data, no sources were provided, and he was intentionally as vague and unclear as possible. He refused to answer any questions and instead said people could submit questions on the Fredonia website, which of course means that they can filter whatever questions they don’t want to answer. He told people to “calm down” and was booed off the stage.

If you’re interested, this article from our student newspaper, The Leader, is being regularly updated with information about Fredonia and the SUNY system, and has a link to the speech that someone preserved by downloading it onto Google Drive.

Yesterday, we held a protest march with at least 200 students, staff members, and UUP union members, which we organized in less than 24 hours. Channel 7 news came to interview people and record the march. (The police department sent an entire unit to watch us, but fortunately didn’t interfere.) We held meetings within the English Department to clear up misinformation, console each other, and make plans to fight for our programs.

We’re gathering data on our financial situation and enrollment, contacting alumni and other SUNY schools, and petitioning our Governor to help fairly distribute SUNY funds. She is fully capable of this and improving the SUNY schools was one of her campaign promises. She has instead dug us further into a pit.

This petition was made by one of our professors to ask the Governor Hochul to help us and other SUNY schools. The description has a lot of really great information, data, and statistics if you want to know more. Fredonia is a small school, but it’s a precious school with fantastic and important programs, and we love it.

But this is bigger than Fredonia. This is about protecting the entire public higher education system in New York. If anyone is willing to quickly sign this petition, it would only take a second and it would mean the world to us. Or even just reblog this post. This will affect more people than I can possibly count and we need help.

[yellowhollyhock]

thinking about versions of Angel and then 2007 and then Woody was also there and maybe the Professor and maybe even Buffy Shellhammer

So here's how it would be: they're all Casey's friends. He used to volunteer a lot at a charity in his neighborhood before he lost went full vigilante. Still stops by occasionally

Anyway Angel and her brother Ryan used to get food there which is how they met Casey, now they have become regular volunteers.

Woody goes a lot because a relative of his helps run it.

Either Buffy's parents make her go or she does it so it looks good for her grandfather's company

Anyway he brings stuff for the turtles sometimes, so he's told the two groups about each other, just not the turtle part. They pass donations through him sometimes as well.

Then after Leo leaves before they try out getting jobs, with Splinter's health declining (sort of vaguely impliedish in the move but mostly my headcanon to explain why the boys need jobs) he isn't able to scavenge as much, and April and Casey have things going on (relationship drama) and Raph is taking uo the Nightwatcher mantle pretty early on.

So Donnie and Mikey fall back on what they know from Casey. April and Casey would both try to be available to be their Human Face, but there comes one time or other where Mikey just can't wait (he specifically wanted to make spaghetti tonight and Donnie forgot to get pasta last time, uggh) and meets Woody and Buffy! Canonically Michelangelo friends in their respective iterations. And they are relatively not freaked out about the turtle situation! (ohh you're one of Casey's friends, that explains a lot actually)

So he goes home thrilled to tell Donnie and Raph (it's a secret from Splinter). Raph, being dealing with his own things, thinks it's a very bad idea to just trust random humans, if Leo were here he would shut that right down so that's what Raph's gonna do (he's understandably really mad at Leo later, but early on he instinctively tries to step into that role)

Donnie is intrigued though. If nothing else, being able to go when they can and not wait on April or Casey would be a huge benefit. Perhaps there's a way he can figure out Buffy and Woody's schedules? Hey Mikey, wanna hang around there with me this week, see the comings and goings, get all the info so we can make a plan?

And on that outing they meet the Professor, who in same way or other is the reason Don comes out of hiding, I'm thinking he needs help but I'm not sure yet what that would look like. He is also extremely unbothered about the turtle situation, much more eager to talk about the history of the discovery of atomic structure with this polite young man than he is at the moment to know how turtle.

Angel is volunteering that day and witnessing this whole interaction like: mm kay. sure. might as well happen.

And Mikey's popping up behind her to explain "We're Casey's friends!" and she's just 'eh I meant more that this random conversation at a food shelter is helping me understand electron orbits better than high school ever did, but yeah not gonna lie I was wondering about the turtle thing and being Casey's friends also does not explain it"

So Mikey and Donnie start spending a lot of time there, still have to hide a lot cuz it's still a lot of random volunteers, but it's a safe space for them especially when Leo doesn't come home when he's supposed to. Raph comes along sometimes but it's rare; Buffy brags endlessly about having an entire three-exchange conversation with him once. Casey and April are Legends because they have met all four turtles.

[operaticsigh]

supermarket struggles; a short piece!

WORD COUNT: 788

DESCRIPTION: inner monologue from the perspective of an oc of mine who loves tiramisu, wine, and probably has attention span issues. here she is in a supermarket. birthed from boredom at 1am!

8p.m:

tonight, i'm in a strangely imaginative mood. i think that boredom can do magical things to a person.

i enter my local supermarket, smiling weakly at my pixelated reflection on the overhead security screen, with dry lips that crave shitty tiramisu and even shittier wine. i gaze (weary but bewitched all the same) down the infinite rows of bustling checkouts, mostly staffed by young, underpaid cashiers. they all have dead eyes that betray their tired, mechanical smiles. “me too,” i think in wry sympathy.

all at once, an unpleasant, nauseating emotion detains me, as if the defective Trolley i've been pushing has unpredictably and very discreetly pressed a gun against my stomach, holding me hostage, whispering orders like, “one word and i'll shoot. push me to the bath and homewares aisle, understood, bitch? you think my wheels are squeaky? just wait until this bullet enters your gut!"

naturally, i comply, i ponder my invented dilemma, i whimper and push my captor around - who has undeniably squeaky wheels - like the cowardly hostage i am. fearfully perusing the towels and soap dispensers (for which i had no need, being that i still live with my parents), i feel a vague pang of injustice.

pushing my Trolley past aisle after aisle, my thoughts veer from feigned fear to half-assed anger at the theatrics my mind is conjuring. how dare my own trolley threaten me? cautious but indignant, i shuffle through rows of products totally disconnected from me. my eyes despairingly mull over highlighters (pack of 3), chicken breast (raw, diced, hung, drawn, and quartered), sunscreen (SPF 50, occasionally carcinogenic), and microwave pasta bake (1 for the price of 5).

at this point, i’m in a selfish mood during which any items that do not serve me immediately begin to look extremely dystopian and unnecessary. oh, the horror of more than one ice-cream flavour. this store is consumerist hell. perhaps the whole supermarket should just be constructed of tiramisu and cheap wine!

furthermore, if my fiendish trolley ever sets me free, i plan to awkwardly and avoidantly use the self-checkout. so why do the young cashiers have to be here, when they're clearly just as tired and disillusioned as me? “you egotistic bastard! of course the cashiers have to be here. who else is going to scan everyone else’s fucking items?” snaps the Scary Trolley. i ignore my irascible captor and continue thinking of myself.

a few minutes later, in the toilet paper aisle, a shining wave of enlightenment breaks over me, and i soon realise that i’m doing the poor staff here a real disservice, that i’m surely increasing their workload by entering the supermarket and walking about and mumbling like a madwoman. none of them are being paid enough to deal with me making up childish hostage scenes and ambling about so aimlessly. selfish, silly me. i beg the 4-ply rolls for salvation. as i walk - “forgive me, tinfoil and baking paper rolls, forgive me, for i have sinned, i beseech you; save me!” i weep silently, “…and i will repent for my wicked selfishness! definitely.”

…

i really should just get my items and go. stop toying with thoughts of gun-wielding Trolleys and religion. i want to leave, anyways; the ambience of supermarkets has always repulsed me, mostly because i’ve always been a believer that supermarkets use hypnosis. harsh, numbing lights, no sense of time, winding and labyrinthine aisles, and a drilling, overenthusiastic voice eerily repeating, “Customer Announcement… PARENTS! Are You ALL SET for Back to School? Are you SURE you’re ALL SET? You’re not. We know you’re not. We know everything about you. You especially, Mrs Carter in Aisle 32, Baking Goods. So be sure to head to our clothing section for an Unmissable De-”

i remember how i once lost myself in this store for 2 hours and came out in a vegetative state, having bought nothing. if i stare long enough, the shelves of cereal (why am i here again?) grow to fantastical, gleaming, beanstalk-heights. maybe the cannibalistic giant at the top is the Supermarket God. maybe i just have to climb.

shaking away these ridiculous thoughts, i finally turn into the dessert aisle, and my shallow religiosity and overactive imagination escape me. quite freely, i grab my increasingly unpopular tiramisu, with an honest but fleeting worry that the supermarket may one day remove it. perhaps to be replaced with another variation of fruit cheesecake.

i keep my eyes riveted on the dirty linoleum, in fear of further emotional distraction or any other potential hostage situations. i choose a cheap merlot (probably poison), pay by self-checkout, and leave, abandoning my trolley with a vague sense of loss. i’m reeling from the passionate drama we’ve just acted in together. i’m faintly embarrassed that 30 minutes have passed.