#not someone i’m close to but still. someone i always thought i might reconnect with someday

[danielnelsen]

ok so if someone is decently knowledgeable about gender stuff and used to consider themselves nonbinary and use they/them and suddenly gets rid of public pronouns and says that their gender is ‘female’ (and they’re afab)…… that’s a little concerning, right? am i overthinking this, or does that sound concerning?

[rinstagrams]

seeing you tonight... it's a bad idea, right? content: ex!gojo x reader, language, suggestive (16+), mentions of sex w/c: 1.4k

♬ bad idea, right? by olivia rodrigo.

“hey, shoko invited us over for drinks and gossip.”

you hardly hear what utahime suggested, too busy typing away on your phone. your eyebrows furrow at the latest text sent, nearly outright ignoring your coworker and friend. “can’t,” you say after a moment’s pause. “plans.”

it’s not very often that you and utahime get sent out on missions together, let alone in tokyo. she hardly gets away from her teacher work in kyoto, but the curse you’d been sent to exorcise today in tokyo was perfect for her technique and yours. since the trip back to kyoto is a bit long, you’ve both opted to stay the night. it’s pretty standard that you would stay with shoko on a night in tokyo. but recently…

utahime raises an eyebrow at you curiously, standing behind you to peek over your shoulder at your phone. “plans?”

“yeah,” you say, clearing your throat. “i have something to do.”

“i think you mean someone to do.”

“what? hey!” you exclaim, trying to sound indignant. “i don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“oh, so gojo didn’t just send you his new address?” 

“stop snooping!” you say, locking your phone and holding it close to your chest out of view. the look utahime gives you, however, is unavoidable. damn her and that damn teacher look of hers. you sigh, shoulders deflating. “i really don’t wanna hear a lecture right now. can you save it for the train ride back?”

“i’m not gonna lecture you.” but the look she gives is really enough to have you feeling like a scolded child. “but i thought after last time, you said you were done with him.”

“i know he’s my ex,” you say, picking at your nail. “but can’t two people reconnect?”

since your break-up a year ago, you and gojo have avoided each other at all sorcerer events. it’s kind of funny, seeing the lengths the two of you will go to avoid each other. but nonetheless, in the end, you always find yourself with him in tokyo behind closed doors. up until now, you thought you’d done pretty well at keeping it a secret… guess not.

“you don’t reconnect with gojo satoru of all people. i still can’t believe you dated him, he’s a selfish prick.” that much is true, you think to yourself. but despite how self-involved and cocky he might be to everyone else, he’s… not so selfish in bed, to say the least. “he’s not even that hot.”

“i’ve seen hotter,” you hope that maybe agreeing with her in hating gojo will lighten the load on you. instead, she narrows her eyes at you and says, “you’re not getting back together, are you? because i’ll slap some sense into you right now.”

“i only see him as a friend.” biggest lie you’ve ever said. 

utahime actually snorts, very uncharacteristic of her. “sure, sweetie. let’s see how you feel after a glass of wine and a lay with gojo satoru.” you groan and shake your head, refusing to admit to yourself the truth of his words. 

“nothing will happen.”

“yeah, sure,” she says, completely disbelieving of you. “and what’ll be your excuse when you wake up in his bed?”

you bite the inside of your cheek. “tripped and fell.”

-

when you pull up to gojo’s new building, a penthouse on the top floor of a tall apartment complex, you’re not surprised at the text that tells you to just come on up. stupid satoru, not even bothering to walk you up. 

he’s stupid, rude, and hardly chivalrous. you know that this is a bad idea, and you’ll probably regret it in a few days when the mortification settles in, but for now, who cares? 

you don’t even knock, because satoru already has the door open. he leans his tall figure against it, arms crossed over his broad chest wearing a smile on his face. his hair is a little disheveled, glasses hanging low on his nose, and you can already smell the familiar scent that tells you he just had a shower. 

“satoru.” you remember your words with utahime earlier. you’re sure you’ve seen much better looking men than this white, gangly string bean, but for some reason, you can’t really remember when. 

“hey, beautiful. mission went okay?” the care in his voice makes you remember the way he used to fuss over you when you were dating. you roll your neck out, nodding. “yeah,” you tell him. “neck hurts like a bitch, though.��

“let me help you with that,” he says, stepping aside to let you in. you place your stuff down and already as the door shuts, satoru brushes your hair to one shoulder. quickly, his hands work on your shoulders to massage the small knots out from your muscles, even without you asking. it feels good; for someone whose technique revolves around not touching people, he’s still surprisingly good at massages. 

“thanks,” you say, voice soft. 

“anything for you. you worked hard.” his voice is low, and after a few moments, you feel soft kisses pressed to the back of your neck. on your jaw. down your shoulders. you nearly shiver beneath his touch.

“seriously, satoru? straight to it, huh. i can’t shower, first?” you laugh, voice a little breathless as he brushes his tongue over your sweet spot on your neck.

“i figured we could do a second round in the shower.” 

you laugh and close your eyes, relaxing into his touch as his hand comes around to pop open the button on your jeans. your last thought before you give in is, here we go again. 

-

you wake up in the morning to the light shining in through the windows, but also to the buzzing of your phone. as you rub the sleep from your eyes, you curse. shit. four missed calls from utahime. she’s so gonna kill you at the train station. 

stifling a yawn, you start to shuffle in bed, standing to gather your clothes. before you can swing your legs over the bed however, you feel a tug by the waist. over your hips, satoru has a strong arm to pull you back in. a sleepy groan leaves him. “don’t leave,” he whines like a kid. 

“i have to go back to kyoto,” you tell him, trying to tug yourself free to no avail. 

“stay.” a strong pull drags you back to bed with him, and your back is pressed smugly to his chest. his chin hooks on your shoulder and you feel him poking at the back of your thigh. “i’ll teleport you back later.”

“satoru,” you say, tone chastising. “i really don’t have time for a morning quickie.”

behind you, he sighs. the mood seems to have dropped now, his playful childish tone now gone from seconds ago. “i’m not talking about sex. i just want you to stay. i’ll make you breakfast.”

“you know that’s not what we do. we agreed that when we were gonna do this, it wasn’t gonna be like before.” before, when you were dating. before, when you had so many problems that couldn’t be solved with just sex. now, at least you can still have the sex without the relationship baggage. 

“i miss you.”

a sigh leaves you, and you turn to face him, his arm still around you. when you meet his eyes, they’re no longer sleepy, but serious. “satoru,” you call his name, sounding serious. “you shouldn’t say those things.”

“but i do. miss you, i mean.” he sighs. “i miss seeing you more than just every few months for a fuck. i wanna see you in the mornings, and on the weekends.”

all you can do is sigh. he goes on, “we were good, weren’t we? i miss you, and i know you miss me too. i wish we could give it another try. i’m not just saying it because of last night, but… i’ll be better. i’ll really try. i’ll come every weekend, we can go on dates all the time. i’ll be less annoying.”

“that might be hard for you,” you mutter. it’s an insult, but it shows to him that you’re beginning to open up to it, and that brings a smile to his face. a beautiful one, his blue eyes filled with mirth and not obstructed by glasses or a blindfold. 

“and you’ll work on not being mean to me, right? we’ll be good together. will you give me a second chance?” 

the two of you never worked out, and you know that for yourself. you know the problems behind it all, but what a fool you were to think you could be satisfied with just this. the two of you butt heads always, but maybe it’s worth it for moments like these. it’s a bad idea but… you’ve never been fond of good ideas. 

a heavy breath leaves you, but you can’t hold back the smile. “okay.” he grins, and it’s wonderful. oh, utahime’s going to kill you.

[jpegjade]

Wedding Vibes (Spencer Fluff)

Synopsis:

reader is a wedding photographer and spencer steps in the place of her assistant photographer for the day when her assistant gets sick. spencer gets wedding fever.

Tag list:

idek but if anyone wants to join, the list is open for future fics

Trigger warnings:

none, unless you are allergic to love and cuteness

Gender:

idk if i mentioned it.

Story Below the cut!

“You’re going to be okay, right?” You asked your assistant photographer over the phone.

“Yeah! It’s just a little walking pneumonia.” They said, chuckling.

The chuckle turned into a cough and that did nothing to make you feel better about the situation. In fact, it made your nerves worse because you were thinking about the upcoming weddings you booked together.

“Hey, y/n?” Spencer walks through the front door, carrying a handful of groceries along his arms.

“Yeah, okay. Sure. Just get better, okay?” You said, getting off the phone.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were on the phone.” Spencer said, gingerly walking through the apartment.

Stepping around your gear, you watched as spencer moved through the apartment like an angel who could do no wrong. Because in your mind, he could do no wrong.

“It’s okay. I was just getting off the phone with Josh anyway.” You said, slipping the phone in your back pocket.

“You’re about to leave and meet him at the wedding, right?” Spencer said as he moved around the kitchen.

Spencer put away the milk in the fridge, something you forgot to pick up when you went to the store to grab batteries that morning. You were pacing in the living room, trying to make sure you had everything packed for the 4th time.

“Well… I’m supposed to, yes, but I might have to pick up my sister because I need a second shooter for today.” You sighed.

“What happened to that guy?” Spencer said, closing the cabinet door as he put away a few dishes you washed and left to dry.

“Josh.” You chuckle, knowing Spencer was always a little bit jealous of him. You smiled to yourself and sat on the couch.

Nothing ever happened between you and Josh. He was a guy you went to high school with and then reconnected and started photographing weddings together for the past year. It was easy to shoot with him because it wasn’t like having to watch over someone to make sure they’re doing their job right.

“Yes, what happened to him?” Spencer asked, walking over to where you were putting away your cameras on the couch.

“Walking pneumonia.” You sighed, pausing to look at him.

“I knew his cough was a little bit funny.” Spencer smiled to himself about being right but tried not to show it because Josh was still your friend.

“I’m out of a second photographer for today.” You said, groaning.

“Can I help?” Spencer said, pulling you into him for a moment.

He knew when you were stressed, you needed him to ground you so you didn’t lose all of your marbles at once. A few at a time? Sure. But he was there to make it as few as possible.

“Unless you know your way around a camera, no.” You sighed.

It took a moment for it to click in your brain before you shout up, standing up.

“Spencer, you dummy, I love you.” You said, watching his eyes scan your face in understanding.

“I didn’t say anything.” Spencer remarked.

You finished packing with a smile on your face. You figured it out and it wasn’t a bad idea. That is… If he was up for it.

“You’re going to ask me to be your assistant today, aren’t you?” Spencer finally caught on.

“You know me so well, Spence.” Finally packed, you put the bags by the door and looked at the time.

Perfect. Enough time to spend a few minutes with Spencer getting him caught up.

“Will you?” You asked, sitting next to him on the couch.

“If it means I get to eat some of the cake, sure.” Spencer smiled as he thought about all the other weddings that you brought home wedding cake and how good it was.

“I’ll get you a slice and I’ll give you my slice as bonus.” You said, a smile growing on your face at the solved problem.

—

Spencer had no clue what he was doing and it made him nervous so he did something he rarely did:

He Googled “How to be a wedding photographer.”

You took care of the driving, telling him about all of the amazing photos you want to get and how the wedding will progress. You told him about your high school connection to the couple and how this was the perfect time for him to work with you because there was no pressure. You were excited to let your high school family meet the love of your life. Then you quickly returned to how excited you were to show him how to shoot the wedding as a professional photographer.

“Do you want me to do anything special?” Spencer asked, getting distracted from finding the next article because he was so in love with how you talked about your job.

After seeing the horrors of the world, he gets to come home to you editing photos of people having their times of their lives with the loves of their lives. The most he could wish was to have those moments with you one day but he hasn’t had the courage to say it yet. every time he tried to bring it up, the intrusive thoughts returned, telling him you wouldn’t want to marry a nervous wreck like him. They didn’t even know how he was going to handle the wedding. So many people… So many germs… How had he never thought about this before. Maybe-

“I’ve dreamed about this moment so many times…” You said, bringing his curiosity back into this moment in the car as you pulled into a parking spot.

“Hmm?” Spencer said.

He always tried to hide those thoughts when they started to invade his mind but you could always tell. He knew because you would grab his hand and gently squeeze a few times to make sure he knew he wasn’t alone in his head.

“I don’t know… I see these instagram couples that are like… ‘shooting a wedding with my boyfriend today.’ And I always wanted that…” You said, smiling at him.

“Oh…” Spencer said, slightly blushing. “I’m glad I could contribute my existence to making your aspirations a reality.”

“I love you too, Spencer.” You chuckled, knowing he didn’t really know what to say.

—

The two of you went on through the wedding day, photographing the moments as you would with Spencer trying to copy some of the things he memorized on the Google searches. When he showed you images, you almost cried every time but he was always trying to figure out why. They weeren’t the most stunning images but you looked at them like you hadn’t seen anything better in your life. It was a weird feeling for him to see consistently.

It was time for the ceremony, where his instructions were to take photos throughout the ceremony of family members, guests, wedding party, things like that. He watched the reactions as the bride walked down the aisle and it hit his heart like Miley Cyrus riding the wrecking ball: He didn’t want to be the guy taking photos. He didn’t want to be the one who was in the crowd, like so many weddings before him. He didn’t want to officiate and talk about love.

He wanted to show you how much he loved you and only you. He wanted to be the one at the alter as you walked down, his eyes welling with tears while Morgan claps his hand on Spencer’s shoulder before going, “you did good, kid.”

Spencer wanted to marry you. In that moment, there was no question about it.

—

“Would you have a big guest list?” Spencer said, standing in line for dinner with you.

As wedding photographers, you always had to negotiate eating at the same time as the married couple because you needed to be ready for when they were ready. You didn’t need spencer for the reception so he was on “content duty,” which was much harder to him.

“Whut?” You said, putting a slice of salad in your mouth as soon as you sat down.

You had a tendency of scarfing down everything too quickly at the wedding so you could be ready.

“Our wedding. Would you like a big guest list?” Spencer sat down across from you at the table.

“Spencer-” You almost choked on your salad.

“I was thinking…” Spencer started, tapping his leg as people passed his chair.

It put him on edge to not be able to see everyone but he was focused on you so his world was a lot more focused.

“What if we got married? A nice venue, our friends and family, a honeymoon to follow?” Spencer was nervous because you looked confused, not excited.

“Where did this come from?” You said, sipping some of the tea.

“Meeting the bride, your friend, the groom, and everyone… How many people do you think find their soulmate? So early in life…” He was trying to make sense of this whole thing for months.

“Spencer.” You said, pulling your chair closer to him. “Are you okay?”

You put your hand on his forehead before sliding it down to his cheek.

“I love you. More than I have ever loved anyone or anything. I love you more than the stars love the light of the moon. And I never want to be without you. If you asked, I would quit my job and take wedding photos all the time.” Spencer said, still trying to assess your response.

“Spencer, what are you… Are you saying you want to spend more time with me? I can switch my schedule around, if so. I can edit at different times or…” You looked hopeful but you didn’t know how to really respond.

“I want to marry you.” Spencer said, getting drowned out by the sounds of the emcee announcing cake cutting.

“You want what?” You asked, distracted by the announcement.

“Have a wedding.” Spencer said, once again drowned out by the announcer.

You whipped your head around to the sound of chairs scooting back from the table, across the wood.

Cake cutting was the last event in the night and you were scheduled to leave right after.

“I’ll tell you in the car.” Spencer said, starting to help you pack up things up before going to the car.

—

“What were you saying?” You asked Spencer, nearly skipping to the car with all of the ideas you came up with through the car. It was exhausting but you were excited to edit them in a couple days, when you recovered.

“Do you want to get married?” He asked, putting the bags in the trunk of the car.

“Yeah, one day…” You sighed, putting in your bags before closing the trunk.

“Okay.” Spencer said, looking down at you.

“Okay?” You looked at Spencer with a puzzled look.

“Oh. Do you want to get married… To me?” Spencer said, nervous at the thought and hoping this was okay.

“Yeah… One day.” You smiled, finally catching on.

Spencer took a step back and got down on one knee.

“I don’t have a ring…” Spencer patted his pockets.

“I don’t have my nails painted or hands lotioned or anything. Take my as I am?” You asked, chuckling.

“Only if you take me home to bed, where I can hold you and think about our wedding obsessively…” Spencer took your hand in his and kissed it before standing and pulling you into one of your favorite hugs: a spencer hug.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for kind of being a homewrecker?

some background: i (22f) met this guy (23m, let’s call him rick) freshman year of college, four years ago. we became really close really fast, and we basically had all the same friends (we went to a very small school, it’s hard not to be friends with most people). unfortunately i took a year off of school after freshman year, so i kind of lost contact with all my college friends. when i came back, my friends and i reconnected immediately, but especially rick. we uh… sorta made plans to hook up at that point (we were horny and dumb and mutually attracted enough), but we got to my room and we kissed (which was my first kiss) but it was bad and i changed my mind before anything happened. the thing is, we were still friends after that, and he even told me that he was in love with me and thought that i might fall in love with him. he’s also said multiple times since then that he was being idiotic and that would have been terrible for us, and i agree, so we’re both glad that nothing happened. but since we were now in different grades, we weren’t as close friends, so that year passed without further incident.

fast forward a year (my junior year, his senior) and suddenly we’re getting closer again— we’re in a mutual club and therefore hang out a lot more. i realize at some point in november that oh shit, i have a crush on him. (sidenote— i don’t have crushes. i’d never been in love. ive realized since this that i think i might be on the aromantic/demiromantic spectrum, and i’ve always just said i’m queer because i… have had a very queer experience wrt my romantic/sexual feelings. sooooo.. this was weird). i mention this to another friend, and she informs me that rick had started dating someone.

oof.

so i don’t act on my feelings and hope that they go away. (spoiler: they don’t.) in january we hung out with a group of friends almost nightly. and rick and i flirt. oh god, do we flirt. but i didn’t even notice— that’s just the way that i interact with people, and he mirrors how people around him behave, so it was just a feedback loop of flirting while one of us was in a relationship! and the worst part is that is girlfriend (i’ll call her anne) was peripherally in the friend group; she hung out with the group sometimes, but not super often.

so obviously, a couple of our more perceptive friends tell us to shut the hell up and stop it. at this point i think, you know what? i’ll just avoid him. this lasted about two days, and then one of our mutual friends (i’ll call him joe) tells me i need to talk to rick. he can’t tell me why but i just need to talk to him.

so i text rick and i set up a time to talk to him, which i’m sure was scary for him, but i say him down and told him that we need to stop, because he’s in a relationship and it’s entirely inappropriate and i’m in love with him and he’s my best friend and i don’t want to lose him. and then he laughs. he told me then that he thought i was gonna yell at him to dump anne, because he had told joe that he wasn’t in love with her and never had been. and he thought joe had told me that so i could knock some sense into him.

so uh… he told me that he was going to break up with anne that night. (which, btw, was 2 days after valentine’s day. ouch.) he also said that that didn’t mean anything for us, but… the next day we hung out one on one all day, and then the next day, and then the whole weekend, aaaaand it was kind of a relationship. we started dating. it moved very fast, because we were already friends and we had already talked about sex in the past.

the thing that really pisses me off, though, is that another mutual friend threatened to tell anne about rick and i, so rick had to tell her at a really inopportune time instead of later. she was fine about the breakup before that, but after that she was clearly pissed, and ignored us both for the rest of the year. if it hadn’t happened that way i really think that we could’ve stayed friends, or at least stayed civil, but the way that it happened is still really upsetting to me. rick and i have been dating for almost six months now, and we’re really perfect for each other and i honestly expect to spend my life with him, but the way that it started was just such a mess and it still haunts me sometimes.

(to be clear: rick never cheated on anne. he’s been cheated on before, and has a bit of trauma in regards to that. cheating is just not a possibility for him.)

so… i know that i’m probably an asshole here, but… idk. should it bother me this much? or was it more justified than i think it was?

What are these acronyms?

[hazelira]

Part 4 of Wrong Person, Right Time - Heeseung

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 5

Anything but waiting for a message you knew wouldn’t come. But then, as you turned away, your phone buzzed. Your heart jumped into your throat. It was irrational, but you couldn’t stop the flicker of hope that bloomed in your chest. You grabbed the phone, hands trembling slightly. “Heeseung: I’m fine. You?” The words were so simple, so empty, that a stranger might have as well written them. There was no warmth or acknowledgment of the deeper connection you once shared. Just a superficial response, as if you were nothing more than an acquaintance passing by. Your fingers hovered over the keyboard, unsure of what to say. What could you say? He wasn’t offering an olive branch. He wasn’t trying to reconnect. He was being polite; maybe even that was too much to hope for. “I’m okay,” you typed back. “Just thinking about things.” Another pause. Another stretch of silence that seemed to go on forever. And then, his reply: “Good to hear.” Three words. That was all you got. You stared at the screen, feeling foolish for ever reaching out in the first place. What had you expected? That he would suddenly open up, admit he had been wrong, tell you he missed you? No. That wasn’t Heeseung. It had never been Heeseung. You put your phone down, trying to fight back the wave of disappointment that threatened to overwhelm you. You had told yourself you wanted closure, but now you realized that closure wasn’t something Heeseung could give you. It was something you had to find on your own. And maybe that was the hardest part—accepting that some people, no matter how much you care about them, will never give you the answers you need. Some people will always be out of reach, no matter how hard you try to hold on. For the rest of the night, you didn’t recheck your phone. You didn’t need to. Heeseung had said all he needed to say. And you had finally understood what you needed to understand. The wrong person at the right time. But maybe, just maybe, the right time wasn’t meant for him. Maybe it was meant for you. A time to let go, heal, and find something better—someone better. You weren’t sure when that would happen, but for the first time in a long time, you allowed yourself to believe it would. Because you deserved more than half-hearted replies and distant affection. You deserved someone who saw you, who chose you. And when the right person came along, you would be ready. But for now, you closed your eyes, breathed in the stillness, and let yourself finally begin to heal. As the days turned into weeks, you slowly began to find your way out of the haze Heeseung had left you in. It wasn’t easy; there were nights when the weight of his absence still pressed against your chest, and the quiet hours of the early morning made it difficult to shake the lingering memories. But with each passing day, you thought about him a little less.

You threw yourself into new projects, rediscovered old hobbies, and spent more time with the people who truly made you feel seen. Your friends noticed your change, offering small reassurances and support whenever the loneliness crept in. You realized that for too long, you had been waiting for Heeseung to fill a space in your heart that he was never capable of filling. And that space was slowly being filled by things you had neglected in the pursuit of something unattainable. It was on a quiet Sunday afternoon when something shifted. You were at a café, your favourite one, sipping coffee and catching up on a book you hadn’t touched in months. The sunlight streamed through the window, warming your face as you leaned back in your chair. It felt peaceful—something you hadn’t felt in a long time. Your phone buzzed on the table. You glanced down, half-expecting another notification that held no real significance. But when you saw Heeseung’s name flash across the screen, your heart skipped a beat, the all-too-familiar feeling of hope and dread stirring in your chest. Heeseung: “Hey. Do you have time to talk?” Your fingers hovered over the phone as a flood of emotions hit you. You weren’t sure if you should respond. What could he possibly have to say now? After all the cold distance, all the time that had passed, after you had begun to heal, he wanted to talk? Part of you felt tempted to ignore it, to protect yourself from opening that wound again. But another part of you, the one that had loved him deeply, couldn’t let it go without knowing why he had reached out. So you typed back, your fingers steady despite the uncertainty in your heart. “I’m free. What’s up?” Minutes passed, and then your phone rang. Seeing his name on the screen again caught your breath, but you answered before you could second-guess yourself. “Heeseung?” you said, your voice quieter than intended. There was a pause on the other end as if he was gathering his thoughts. His voice was calm when he spoke, but there was an underlying tension that hadn’t been there the last time you’d spoken.

*

*

ENHYPEN MASTERLIST

[notoriousbeb]

The My Tears Ricochet Deep Dive

While this song obviously has a clear reference to Taylor’s masters being sold to Scooter Braun in November 2019, I don’t think that’s the full story being told here.

When she released Folklore, Taylor shared via Instagram that “My Tears Ricochet” is about an “embittered tormentor showing up at the funeral of his fallen object of obsession.”

Now, why is she fallen? Because her work has been taken from her. Okay, one question answered. ✅

Now, who is the “embittered tormentor obsessed” with Taylor? Scooter Braun, of course…But see, I actually don’t think it’s that simple. I get why that’s the obvious first choice, though.

(Back story for new kids who don’t know why Scoots is trash: In July 2016, Taylor was outcast and called a snake due to a leaked phone call by Kim Kardashian and her then-husband Kanye West. Scooter was Kanye’s manager. Then Kanye put out the video of the song in question from the call—featuring a naked Taylor lookalike. Then Justin Bieber posted that video to Instagram with a photo showing him on a video call with Scooter and Kanye. The caption said, “Taylor Swift what up.” So, they’re all three supreme douche-canoes of the highest order).

However, I think Scooter’s top priority (as always) in buying Taylor’s masters was simply to make money. And if he pissed her off while doing so, that was probably a delightful bonus. But I wouldn’t say he bought her masters because he was obsessed with her. This deal was nearly three years later, and nothing had popped off between the camps in the interim.

I have more on this tormentor/obsessor/muse, concept; but first, back to Folklore. Upon its release, Taylor also revealed in a YouTube livechat that it was the first song she wrote for the album. And that leads me into a bit of timing discussion.

I think Folklore was the result of a few seismic events in Taylor’s life: a run-in with Harry at Ed’s wedding in December 2018 (which I think helped to spawn his second solo album, Fine Line); followed by talking to him during early quarantine in March 2020 in Los Angeles when the Lover tour got postponed and then cancelled; the pandemic itself pushing her, like many of us, into some serious introspection; and, of course, the sale of her masters to Scooter in 2019.

Since this is the very first song Taylor wrote that ended up on Folklore, my speculation is that perhaps it was penned in those first couple of days of the pandemic, before she reconnected with Harry in LA.

Fine Line would have been newly released—just three months prior—and on her birthday no less.

Which leads me back to the tormentor and obsessor. You know what I might find tormenting, if I were Taylor? If I’d been waiting for this one guy to grow the fuck up for years and then (perhaps after we ran into each other at our good friends’ wedding?), he confessed to me that he still wanted me but, even at 25, he still didn’t have his shit together (please see, “Renegade,” “To Be So Lonely,” and “Peter”).

Then, after I piece myself back together following snake gate, some epic twat who bullied me online back then buys my work out from under me from the guy I thought I had a good working relationship with (Scott Borchetta) and while I’m dealing with that bullshit my ex I’m still pining for releases album on my birthday with songs seemingly about us and how he still wants me.

Yeah, that’d have me plenty tormented. And feeling like, since his first album was also quite “a tip of the cap” to me (his words) as well that, yeah, someone was a little obsessed with me.

So, anyway, the lyrics:

We gather here, we line up, weepin' in a sunlit room And if I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes, too

We open at the funeral Taylor told us about. Then referencing a potential cremation. If she’s burning, so is he. Because they’re twin flames? Because they’re so close?

Even on my worst day, did I deserve, babe All the hell you gave me? 'Cause I loved you, I swear I loved you ‘Til my dying day

Does this sound like someone talking to either a bully or a former business associate? To me it sounds like a very messy, very difficult, former lover.

I didn't have it in myself to go with grace And you're the hero flying around, saving face And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake Cursing my name, wishing I stayed Look at how my tears ricochet

I can see how people could think this was about Scott, but not Scooter. But T herself said this whole thing was about one muse: The embittered obsessor attending her funeral.

Anyway, my take: it’s a lover she couldn’t let go of easily, so it ended messy.

And now he’s out promoting an album full of songs about them, pretending it’s not, because he’s a gentleman. But while he’s acting like she’s nothing to him, they both know what he said to her in private, and what those songs are really about, and no matter how much she cries and waits and wants him to grow up and come get her he just can’t — or won’t.

We gather stones, never knowing what they'll means Some to throw, some to make a diamond ring

This is a Biblical allusion to Ecclesiastes 3:5: “A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.” I think she’s referring here to an idea revisited again in “loml,” that she thought she’d be safer and maybe get the life she wanted with someone more stable, versus being in a relationship that left her starry eyed, like she was with Harry…and that’s how she wound up with Joe for six years.

You know I didn't want to have to haunt you But what a ghostly scene

Ah, would it really be a Haylor lyric breakdown if we weren’t talking about ghosts and haunting at some point? 👻 They obviously haunt one another because they can’t shut up about each other. (Not that I’m complaining!)

Two Ghosts: “We're just two ghosts swimming in a glass half empty.” ....Ready for it?: “Wonder how many girls he loved and left haunted.” Cardigan: “I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs.”

You wear the same jewels that I gave you As you bury me

Even while doing the press for Fine Line, H was wearing her ring. Should we talk some more about the Haylor ring? Or burying and graves? Nah. I think these posts sum it up very well.

I didn't have it in myself to go with grace 'Cause when I'd fight, you used to tell me I was brave And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake Cursing my name, wishing I stayed Look at how my tears ricochet

I think these lines could be a reference both to things he’s said to her and in his songs about her, particularly the pointed ones. “Lights Up,” for one, which to me, reads like an argumentative back-and-forth about why must things change in a relationship against the backdrop of fame. It also seems to include a tie to “Peter” with “I’m never coming back down,” as compared to “I didn’t want to come down.”

And I can go anywhere I want Anywhere I want, just not home And you can aim for my heart, go for blood But you would still miss me in your bones

And where is home in this case—and so many others? Each other.

And I still talk to you When I'm screaming at the sky And when you can't sleep at night You hear my stolen lullabies

I imagine this is her picturing him listening to her old albums, as she hadn’t done her rerecords yet. Also, again, doesn’t this all seem a bit…intimate and dramatic for a business relationship? Like, picture this moment in the Eras Tour in your mind, please, and tell me with a straight face that you’d sing like this for your former boss. It certainly doesn’t seem like anything you’d say to someone like Scooter. Why would she ever want to talk to him at all?

I didn't have it in myself to go with grace And so the battleships will sink beneath the waves You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same Cursing my name, wishing I stayed You turned into your worst fears And you're tossing out blame, drunk on this pain Crossing out the good years And you're cursing my name, wishing I stayed Look at how my tears ricochet

So, this is where we get into the “embittered” part of Taylor’s original description of the song’s muse—the person visiting her funeral. Why is he bitter? Because he lost her. She didn’t stay. Perhaps because his own bad behavior pushed her away. “All the light couldn’t put out the dark running through my heart?” “I know you were way too bright for me. I’m hopeless, broken.” Also, and again, please see, “Renegade,” and “To Be So Lonely,” and “Peter” and also “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus.”

[coco-cups8]

A random au Drabble I made I call Plush Heart. Feel free to look.

~~~

If you were to bring someone back to life, what cost are you willing to pay?

Logically, it’s impossible to bring someone back, the dead would always stay dead. Once a heart stops beating forever, there’s no going back.

At least, that was what Hiromitsu thought.

The PSB agent gasped, coughing and hacking until he forced his chest to learn how to breathe again. His vision swayed back into focus, revealing to him the rooftop where he took his life, the only difference being the warm glow of the sun shining down in orange hues.

The first thing Hiromitsu registered was his heart, beating and working like he didn’t just shoot through it, yet it didn’t make sense. He was dead, he should be dead. So what was this? He looked down, the bullet hole was still on his coat, he did shoot himself. Swallowing his hesitation though he’s unsure of what he’s hesitating for, Hiromitsu removed his coat and unbuttoned his shirt, his eyes widening at what laid before him.

Instead of a wound or at the very least a scar, right on his chest where he shot himself was a red heart, it almost looked like a tattoo were it not for the fact that it was made of fabric. Hiromitsu gave it a small poke, bracing himself for any sort of pain but to his surprise, the fabric just felt like regular skin to him, if with a different texture.

He feels around it experimentally, taking note of the lack of seams around the edges. It felt, weird, odd yet right and foreign all the same. The fabric pulses ever so softly to the beat of his own heart.

It was then that it dawned onto Hiromitsu that he was alive, he was actually alive. Living, breathing, heart beating… He could feel the concrete beneath him, hear the birds chirp, watch as the clouds pass by.

“I…” Hiromitsu said, stunned upon hearing his voice again, coarse yet audible. “I’m alive?… This shouldn’t be possible… But I’m alive! I’m ali- WOAH!!”

Hiromitsu yelps as he fell back down due to standing up too fast, his legs feeling like jello. He groans, his body aching from the impact of the fall before slowly getting back up again. Everything feels so real, and Hiromitsu was afraid that it might all be some elaborate, cruel illusion.

However, his fears were put to rest when he hears the door to the rooftop open. Hiromitsu flinches violently, scrambling up to get into a defensive position only to pause when the person who came up was not a Black Organisation agent but instead an old woman. She frowns a bit, “Oh young man, what are you doing up here?”

“You- you can see me?” Hiromitsu gaps, subconsciously buttoning up his shirt in the process. The old woman cackles, “I may be old but I can still see things as clear as day.”

Hiromitsu blinked back tears, letting out a soft laugh before reassuring the concerned kind woman that he’s fine, just relieved. It doesn’t feel real but there’s no doubt in his mind now, he’s alive.

He lets the kind old lady take him down the rooftop before reassuring her again that he’s alright, no calling the police isn’t needed but thank you anyways. However, he did ask if he could use the phone to call someone to which the old woman agreed and he will forever be grateful to her for her kindness and generosity.

Hiromitsu took a deep, shaky breath, he doesn’t know how long he had been dead for, it could be years and things change in shorter timespans. Still, he needs to try his luck and reconnect with his close friends before proceeding on with everything else and maybe while he’s at it, his older brother too. He briefly wonders if Taka’aki-nii knew that he had died or not but shakes it off, not wanting to think such thoughts.

So, he first called Zero but to his dismay, the number was out of service. He kinda figured but it still stung nonetheless. He tried again, this time with Kazami’s number and this time, the line connected.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“Kazami-San! It’s me, Hiromitsu!” Hiromitsu exclaimed, grabbing the area above his heart with his free hand, “Can you get Zero- I mean Rei on the phone? Please!”

“M- Morofushi-san?! No, you’re dead!” Kazami protested to which Hiromitsu pleaded, “Please, it’s really me! Remember when I helped you sort out the storage room?”

“How did you- Morofushi-san?..” Kazami gasped in disbelief as Hiromitsu nods fervently, “Yes! I don’t know how I’m alive, but I’m at the building where I- well you know.. Can you take me to Zero?”

“I- Furuya-san is currently undercover. I can call for him while I send someone to pick you up.” Kazami said, his voice still full of disbelief but Hiromitsu doesn’t care, he’ll take what he can get, “Yes, that’s absolutely fine! And I swear, I can prove it to you that it’s me once I get there, I’m not an imposter! I promise!”

“I mean, you did mention helping me in the storage room and not many would know that.” Hiromitsu overheard Kazami mutter before he exclaims, “A-anyway! If you really aren’t Hiromitsu and this is all some elaborate prank, I swear I will find you and I will torture you so much you will not be able to even recognise yourself once I’m satisfied!”

“I understand.” Hiromitsu says, sweat-dropping yet undeterred before he gives the address and says his goodbyes. With that call done, Hiromitsu exhaled a big sigh of relief, that was one thing down, one other to go… He absentmindedly massaged the patched heart under his shirt, the dull phantom pain of the bullet pulsing with every heart beat. He has to call his brother, Taka’aki deserves at least to know that he’s still alive. He doesn’t want to even think if he had discovered that he had died, his brother was always smart but he cares so much. He really doesn’t want to think of how his death could have hurt him.

So, swallowing his worries and fears, Hiromitsu steeled his resolve, dialled in the third number and waited. Each second stretched out for an eternity which only made his worry and anxiety climb higher than the Tokyo tower and by the time the call connected…. All he got was a voice mail;

“This is Morofushi Taka’aki, if you need anything, please leave a message.”

Hiromitsu sighs in disappointment but at the very least, he can contact his brother, that’s something. With a tearful, wobbly smile, Hiromitsu says, “Hey Taka’aki-nii! It’s been a while, but it’s me, Hiromitsu!! I’m sorry I disappeared for so long, I really wish I could explain it but I think it’s better that we meet face to face. I’ll call you again so that we can talk and arrange things to catch up! I really miss you Taka’aki-nii, I promise I will explain everything when we meet up! Take care, I love you!”

As Hiromitsu finished his message, Taka’aki’s phone lit up, catching the investigator’s attention. He frowned upon hearing the voicemail, unable to hold back his suspicions. Was this really true? It’s hard to say, he hasn’t really interacted with Hiromitsu for a long while and even if it really is him, it wasn’t like he could ask Taka’aki to confirm it.

Kansuke gritted his teeth in anger, glaring daggers at the plush doll left behind in the bedroom, the only thing out of place and as of now, their only evidence to Taka’aki’s disappearance. The fact that it resembles the missing man down to the smallest detail only irks him more, almost like it was taunting him.

“Where the hell are you Koumei?”

[djoseph-quinn]

Prompt: “I just need someone to talk to.” “…I’m here already, so might as well.(@dumplingsjinson)

Warnings: hurt/comfort, use of y/n, angst, mention of smoking?, mentions of cheating, breakups, fighting, not proofread, First time posting fic on tumblr let me know if there’s anything else I should add

You and Eddie Munson are not friends. Well not anymore. Once upon a time, before high school, before cliques you were practically inseparable. You thought it would always be that way but when you entered your freshman year of high school as Eddie entered his junior year you quickly came to learn that the Eddie you had known didn’t exist in the walls of the school. The kind, sweet boy who had become your best friend was nowhere to be found, in his place a cold cruel man.

The first day of high school you remember looking for Eddie in the cafeteria. You sat at his table and he hardly raised his eyes.

“Hey, Eds!” You called to which he just nodded, recognizing your presence.

The pain in your chest only grew as the day progressed. Not once did your best friend stop to say hi or check on you on your first day of high school. And that is the way it stayed. All four years. You two never reconnected. You moved on. You made new friends. You may even be called popular. You even got a boyfriend early on in your freshman year, Chance. It wasn’t what you expected from high school but you did it.

And that was your new life. You graduated high school, had a new community and were looking toward the future. It would be a lie to say you never missed Eddie. You did all the time. But he made his choice and you accepted it.

All of that brought you to today. Two weeks after graduation sitting in your parent's living room with Chance across from you. People called you high school sweethearts and the perfect couple, but now you felt so far from that.

“So is it true?” You looked up trying to meet Chance’s eyes, “This whole time you were cheating on me?” He didn’t give you the respect of matching your gaze.

“Come on Y/N, what did you expect? It’s not like we were gonna get married and be together forever what’s the big deal.”

“Oh,” was all you could say. He wasn’t wrong, you never could imagine forever with Chance but that didn’t change the weight in your heart. You felt the tears fall down your cheek. Shit. You didn’t wanna cry in front of him.

“I’m gonna go.” Chance sighed as he got up and made his way to the door.

“That’s a good idea,” you mumbled under your breath. You heard the front door open and close and then the sound of Chance’s car leaving the driveway. You finally let yourself feel. Racing to your room you look at the cursed letter that has broken your heart ‘he is cheating!’ Was all it said on a torn piece of notebook paper. Taking the note in your hand you let sobs rake through your body. The second you saw the note you knew. You had always had your suspicions but decided to ignore them. If you didn’t have Chance and the group of friends that surrounded you both, who did you have?

The thoughts in your brain kept spiraling faster and faster. In one day you went from being surrounded by “friends” and a boyfriend to being entirely alone. You knew who your friends would side with, really as you thought about it they weren’t ever real friends at all. They must all have always known he was cheating yet no one bothered to tell you. Nearly 4 years of lies and deception.

You felt the fresh air on your skin before you realized your feet were carrying you out the door. Unsure of where you were going you kept moving, letting your instincts lead you. Clouds in the sky began to grow dark as the sun fell lower in the sky. 20 minutes went by, then an hour and soon you were at your apparent destination, Reefer Rick’s cabin on Lovers Lake.

Smoking isn’t something you do regularly but when your stress levels were high or your “friends” asked you came to Rick’s to up your supply. It’s not like you could ask Eddie, and Rick still remembered you from all those years back when Eddie would take you on supply runs.

Wiping your face from any lingering tears you raise your hand and knock on the door of the house.

“This is stupid,” you said aloud to yourself, getting ready to turn and make the king walk back to your house when you see it. His van.

“Y/N?” You hear Eddie’s familiar voice as the door finally opens. The tears well in your eyes as you face him. “Hey, are you okay?”

“No Eddie I’m not. Not that you care. Whatever I don’t even know what I’m doing here. I’ll go,” turning away again you move quickly to get away from your old best friend. But he is faster than you and before you got very far he was in front of you.

“Of course, I care,” he says as you scoff.

“Where was that attitude in high school?” You bite back before you can stop yourself.

“I have always cared. You were the one who made popular new friends and a boyfriend with a varsity jacket.” He shot back.

“After you ignored me! What did you expect?” You took a deep breath to keep the tears flooding your eyes at bay. “I’m gonna go. Like I said I don’t even know why I’m here.”

“Wait shit, no, Y/N don’t go. How did you even get here? Where is your car?”

A humorless laugh left your lips “I walked.”

“At least let me drive you home,” for the first time you perfectly met his eyes as he continued, “Please.”

Every part of you thought this was a bad idea. You were already on edge, ready to break. Yet you heard yourself say “ok”

As Eddie went back inside to grab the keys you took a second to calm yourself again. You could do this.

Climbing into the car you were calmed by the smell, of weed, cigarettes, and something that is just Eddie. The nostalgia flooded your veins and made your heart feel even heavier. The van stayed quiet as Eddie started it up and began the drive to your house.

“So you smoke?” Eddie broke the silence but kept his eyes on the road. “How come you never bought from me?”

“I don’t often,” you sighed deeply. “But I guess I assumed you didn’t want to see me.” It was only half true and you knew that. You couldn’t handle seeing him either after the way he treated you so many years ago.

“Why would you think that sweetheart?” Eddie asked tenderly once again without breaking his gaze on the road. The nickname sat heavy in the

“Not this again Eddie. Not today. I feel like we’re running in circles. We aren’t friends anymore. That’s why.” That finally got him to look at you. “Watch the road, Munson.” You huffed as you felt the emotions pile up again.

Hearing it out loud was hard, even though you were the one to say it. You weren’t friends. And now you don’t think you have any friends left. You looked down at your hands and fidget with your fingers, swallowing thickly. You didn’t realize Eddie had pulled over.

“What happened today?” Eddie finally asked.

“Come on just take me home Munson.” You said but your voice wasn’t strong. But the van stayed stalled. Seconds passed in silence, then minutes. Finally, you spoke again.

“I just need someone to talk to.” You whispered.

“…I’m here already, so might as well.” Eddie was looking at you waiting for you to continue.

“Chance was cheating on me. He has been for years.”

“I know,” Eddie said dipping his head down.

“You know?” Your confusion quickly turned to anger, “Eddie why the fuck didn’t you say anything!”

“I did” He responded in a small voice. “I left the note.”

Well fuck.

“I am so sorry,” he continued in a panic. “I should have told you as soon as I found out but I didn’t want you to hate me more than you already do. You have always meant so much to me so when I saw Chance with someone else I didn’t know what to do. God, I’m so sorry y/n. I’m such an idiot. If I hadn’t been such an asshole when you started high school you would’ve never even been with that prick.” He couldn’t stop rambling, “I should have been so much better sweetheart. You deserve so much better, but I was so afraid that you would get to high school and not wanna be around me anymore so I chose for you. God, I’m so sorry. I understand if you hate me now. I’ll keep driving now and get you home. I'm sure you don’t wanna hang around me any-“

“Eddie shut up,” you finally stopped him and took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m pissed. But only because you took my best friend away from me. I have missed you every day and thought you were the one who hated me. I didn’t know what I did wrong and that sucked. But the worst part is I had to go through high school without you. I didn’t wanna do that Eds” your tears were flowing again. “ I miss you.” The heartbreak surrounding Chance was nothing like the way your heart broke when you lost Eddie.

“Oh, sweetheart you are right. I am so sorry. How can I fix this? Please I will follow you into Mordor. I will climb Mount Doom just please tell me how to fix this.” That got a laugh out of you. Of course, he is still the same nerd that you loved back in middle school.

“You’ve done enough Eddie,” you said and he looked at you with pain etched on his features. “No not like that! I mean, Eddie you were the person who told me the truth about Chance. I was surrounded by friends who knew and never said a goddamn thing.” You can’t meet Eddie’s eyes again. The hurt was too much.

“Sweetheart, can I give you a hug?”

You looked at him and nodded your head and before you knew it he was pushing himself away from the steering wheel and enclosing you in his arms.

Home.

[db-gochifan]

Dragon Ball Ships Week 2023 (2) - Day 4: Beach/Swimming Pool

Days: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Title: Reconnecting Pairing: Pan/Uub with minor Bulla/Goten Characters: Son Pan, Bulla Briefs, Marron, Son Goten, Trunks Briefs and Uub Summary: Pan and Uub decide to go to the same pool and a meeting is inevitable. Do not repost, claim to be your own work or use it without perrmission. Cross-posted on AO3

It was a typical summer day, though the inhabitants of West City and cities nearby were suffering from a massive heatwave.

“It’s so freaking hot today that even the air-conditioning doesn’t seem to be working and cool the heat down.” Bulla Briefs was lying down on her bed, cooling herself down with a fan.

“I know.” Pan replied, from the floor. “I feel like I’m gonna melt any second. Not even ice is helping today.”

“Hey, why don’t we go to a swimming pool?” Marron suggested and both girls looked at her. She seemed to be the one that didn’t mind the excessive heat that much.

“That’s a great idea, Marron!” Bulla exclaimed, sitting down. “I’m in.”

“I like it, but it’s gonna be crowded. It’s the kind of place everyone goes to when the weather is like this.”

“It’s true, but honestly who cares about this? At this point I’m down for anything to help me cool down.”

“Alright then, let’s go!”

****

Pan couldn’t help but feel a little upset at the fact Bulla and Marron drew attention from some guys on the street. It also made her roll her eyes at their stupidity and lack of common sense. Not that she thought she wasn’t pretty or anything like that, but her two best friends effortlessly became the center of attention anywhere they went. With a long silent sigh, she shook her head and tried to push such thoughts away.

“Pan, is everything okay?” Marron asked in her usual soft voice as she gently waved her hand in front of her friend’s eyes.

“Huh? Yes, I’m sorry.” She quickly smiled at her. “I was just spacing out for a moment. Nothing to worry about.”

“If you say so.” The blonde replied, but didn’t seem convinced in the slightest.

****

The public swimming pool was crowded, but not like the girls thought it would be. Still, it was quite hard for them to find a good spot. Pan laid down on her towel and decided to listen to some music while Goten and Trunks didn’t arrive, which didn’t take long.

“Hi, girls.” Goten said cheerfully and then bent over, removing Pan’s earphones. She had her eyes closed, so she didn’t notice their arrivals. “It’s not cool to listen to music when other people are around.”

“Bite me.” She took a deep breath. “I know, I just didn’t want to deal with guys looking at Bulla and Marron and ignoring me.”

“Why would they ignore you, Panny?” He sat down next to her. “You’re just as pretty as them.”

“Of course you’d say that, you’re my uncle.”

“No.” He touched her knee and gave it a light squeeze. “I’m saying this because it’s true. It makes me sad you’d even think that about yourself.”

“I don’t think I’m ugly, uncle Goten.” She sat up and looked at her feet. “It’s just that they draw more attention from guys than me. And honestly, why wouldn’t they?”

“That’s stupid, Pan. Yeah, they’re pretty, but you are too. You’re pretty your own way and shouldn’t compare to them. I’m sure there are guys out there who’d love to date you.”

“I suppose so.” She shrugged; her tone still skeptical.

Goten moved to sit beside his niece. “I know so. And who knows? You might as well find someone here today.”

She bit her lower lip. “Uncle Goten, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, Panny, you can ask me anything.”

“Please, don’t call me Panny. It’s embarrassing now.”

“Sorry, I can’t do it, Panny.” He teased her with a grin.

“Ugh.” She pressed her palm against her face, but was smiling as well.

“What do you want to ask?”

“Have you ever messed up with someone so badly you don’t know if you can ever make it up to them?”

“I believe you can always make it up to anyone. Unless you committed a crime or did something very bad, everything can be solved with a heart to heart conversation. You just have to be honest with yourself.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Well, then you did everything you could. It’s not on you anymore. But if you mean something to this person, they will understand and forgive you.” Goten assured her. “I honestly don’t see why they wouldn’t. You’re a wonderful person, Pan. And I’m proud and happy for this fierce and beautiful woman you’re becoming.”

“Thank you so much, uncle Goten. It means a lot.”

“Of course, Panny.” He hugged her. “You deserve to be happy.”

The sun was shining at its full force and about two thirds of the people in the swimming pool were actually in the water. The rest was getting tanned on their towels.

“Come on, Pan!” Goten said from the pool. “The water is really nice, you should get in.”

“In a little bit.”

“Okay, but you’re missing out.”

“Hey, Goten.” Trunks approached him. “Isn’t that your father’s pupil over there?”

“Where?” He looked around and grinned. “Yes, that’s right! It’s Uub. Hey, Uub!”

The young man blushed heavily upon hearing his name being called and seeing who had done it.

“Come here, join us!”

Pan felt her heart racing and her cheeks blushing heavily when she heard his name. She thought she would go unnoticed, but there was someone paying full attention to her.

“Pan, why are you blushing?”

“What are you talking about, Bulla?” She screamed, drawing some attention to herself. Her face was blushing even more, but she didn’t really care. “I’m not blushing.”

“Yes, you are!” Bulla insisted. “You have a crush on someone!”

“I do not! And can you please keep it down?” Pan pleaded. “I don’t want to be the center of a scene here.”

“Fine.” The blue haired woman backed down, but Pan knew quite well she wasn’t going to let it go. She also knew she wouldn’t fall for that. But for the time being, she had to avoid talking to Uub.

Bulla turned around and looked into Goten’s black eyes intently. He looked back at her and placed his hands on her hips.

“What are you thinking?”

“What if we set Pan up with Uub?”

“Bulla, I really don’t think it’s a good idea. She’s old enough, she’s capable of finding her own dates.”

“I know, but I thought maybe we could help her. You know, give her a push.”

“Uh, I’m not sure.” He squeezed her hips very lightly. “You know as well as I do that Pan doesn’t like that. In fact, no one does.”

“You have a point.” Bulla ran her hands through her boyfriend’s bare and wet chest.

“Whatever happens, she deal with it the best way she can.”

“I know…” She bit her lower lip and looked up at him again. “But she’s your niece, you know? Don’t you wanna help her?”

“Please, don’t go there.” Goten said firmly. “Of course I wanna help her, but only she can decide who’s suitable for herself or not. It’s not our place to do it.”

“Great, so we can come up with a plan to set them up.” She grinned.

“Bulla, did you hear what I just said?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “We’re gonna give them a push and let them work it out afterwards.”

“That’s not what…” Goten sighed in frustration. He was aware it was pointless to knock some sense into Bulla sometimes.

****

Pan spied the hall, to make sure she wouldn’t run into Uub. Not that she didn’t want to see him, but she didn’t wanna risk bumping into someone else if she was talking to him. She also didn’t know what to say if she ever ran into him by accident. It would be a very awkward moment. She couldn’t help but think he was avoiding her just as much, and she didn’t blame him at all. As soon as she made sure it was safe and walked out of the changing room, she collided with him.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” He blushed a little when he looked into her eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.”

“It’s okay.” She assured him. “I didn’t see you as well.”

“Right.”

“So how have you been?” Pan asked, breaking eye contact with him. “It’s been a while since…”

“Yeah.” Uub interrupted her, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. “I’ve been good. Still training with your grandfather from time to time.”

“I can see that.” The young woman felt her cheeks blushing heavily after checking his well-toned chest. That made the boy blush even more.

“What about you? How have you been?”

“I’ve been good too. You know, busy with college.”

“I get it.”

“Yeah.”

“Well…” Uub quickly glanced towards the pool and then back at her. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Wait!” In an impulse, she reached out and grabbed his wrist. “I think we should talk.”

“Pan, I don’t think we have anything to talk about anymore.”

“Right.” She let go of him. “If that’s what you think.”

“That’s how you made it seem last time we saw each other.”

“What?” The brunette woman was taken aback with his statement. “Is that how you saw it?”

“Was there any other way to see it? You left me.”

“Okay…” She bit her lower lip and looked around, to make sure they were still alone. “I want to explain myself, so can we go somewhere quieter?”

“Pan, I still think we don’t have anything to talk about anymore.”

“But I do. Please.”

Uub looked into her piercing black eyes and took a deep breath, defeated. “Alright.”

The two friends walked into a coffee shop nearby about fifteen minutes later. Pan sighed with relief after realizing neither Goten nor her friends were day, making it a safe place for them, at least for the time being.

“You can order anything you want, it’s on me.”

“You don’t have to pay for me as a way to make it up.”

“I didn’t…” Pan stopped talking when she looked at him and saw his expression. “Okay. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

“So…” She began, uncertain. “As I said earlier, I want to explain myself.”

She paused and looked into his eyes, as if she was expecting him to say something before proceeding. But no words came out of his mouth. She bit her lower lip and took a few more seconds before speaking again.

“Okay, so… it’s not what you think.”

“You already said that.”

“Right.” She pressed her palms together nervously. “I wasn’t ready.”

“Is that your excuse? You could’ve just said it.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“You did a great job on that.”

Pan didn’t like where the conversation was going, but she knew she couldn’t say anything. He had every right to be upset and hurt.

“I’m sorry.” She said eventually. “I know that saying I didn’t mean to hurt you won’t make anything better.”

“No, it won’t.” He replied. “You’re the first person I know who reacts badly to ‘I love you’.”

“In my defense, you took me by surprise. I didn’t know how to react, since we never really talked about being in love with each other.”

“And running away like that was the solution you found.” The tone of his voice was as sharp as a knife.

“I don’t know what else to say. I panicked, okay? I’m aware that it hurt you, and I’d take it back if I could. I regret it everyday, trust me.”

“I find it very hard to believe.”

“I can’t change the past.” Pan stretched her arms and touched his hands tentatively, just to see how he would react. Much to her surprise, he didn’t take them away. That gave her the push she needed to keep going. “We’ve known each other for so long. I can’t imagine my life – or myself, for that matter – without you anymore. And I really don’t want to.”

“What does that mean though?”

“It means that I’m sorry about what I did and if you let me, I want to make up for all the hurt I’ve caused.”

“Hmmm.” Uub replied very calmly, which caused Pan to begin to lose her temper. “How exactly?”

“I don’t want to run from my feelings anymore.” She took a sip of her drink. “I want to make us official.”

He narrowed his eyes, feeling very suspicious. “Right.”

“I thought you’d be happy about it.”

“It’s hard to believe anything you say now, to be honest.”

“I mean it.” The brunette girl stood up and grabbed his arm, pulling him up as well. “I want to be with you. And I want to tell everyone about it. No more hiding.”

“Still not really convinced.” The boy said, and Pan could tell his walls were beginning to come down. She was definitely going to use that in her favor.

“What if I do this?” She stood on her toes and wrapped her arm around his neck, pulling his head towards her for a kiss.

He resisted at first, but quickly let his defenses down. She seized the opportunity to wrap her other arm around him and smiled when she felt his around her waist, pressing her body against his. They pulled away from each other eventually and let their foreheads touch.

“What about that?” She asked. “Is that enough to convince you?”

“I think so.” He couldn’t help but grin. “That’s more than enough for me.”

“Come on.” Pan took him by the hand. “We gotta tell everyone.”

****

“There she is!” Bulla shouted when Pan walked into the swimming pool place again. She let out a piercing scream when she noticed she was holding hands with Uub. “Oh my God!! Marron, do you see this?”

“I do.” The blonde nodded. “But you don’t need to be so loud. It can be embarrass them, and we don’t want that.”

“I’m just happy Pan found someone! You two make a beautiful couple.”

“Thank you.” Pan blushed and looked at her uncle, who was standing behind Bulla and had his arms around her. He gave her a subtle and warm smile.

“It’s true, you really do.” Marron echoed the bluenette. “I had no idea you two were seeing each other.”

“Yeah, it’s a long story.” The young woman blushed even more, while Uub rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “What matters is that we’re here now.”

“That’s really nice and all, but I still want to know how you two got together.”

“Bulla.” Goten softly called her out and she bent to her right, to look at him.

“You don’t wanna know?”

“I think it’s something private. They will share it if they want to. If they don’t, it’s okay too.”

“You wanna know!” She pressed her finger against his chest. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“I think it’s time for us to go home.” Marron intervened, in an attempt to help her childhood friend.

****

Goten looked over his shoulder when the group was making their way to the Capsule Corp and saw Pan was the last one on the sidewalk, so he purposely started walking slower to catch up with her.

“So... Uub, huh?” He put his left arm around her shoulders.

“Yeah…” She blushed again and looked down to hide it from him.

“Hey, you don’t have to be embarrassed with it. There’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I know.” She finally looked at him. “You were right, by the way. Everything can be solved with a heart to heart conversation.”

“I told you. So he’s the guy you were talking about by the pool?”

“Yes.” She confirmed. “It’s quite a long story, to be honest.”

“You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to.”

“Maybe one day I will.”

“No pressure at all.” Goten squeezed her shoulder lightly. “Do your parents know about it?”

“Not yet.” Pan bit her lower lip. “But I was wondering if you could be there when I do.”

“Of course. I’d be happy to.”

[vldkeith]

keithtober🔪🎃💢 week one: texas or japan🇯🇵

shiro wonders if keith might like to reconnect with family someday.

☕️ko-fi | 🔗read on ao3 - please leave a kudos on ao3 if u read this story (even if it's on tumblr!)

--

For the past hour, Keith’s been doing his monthly knife maintenance in the Castleship kitchen—sharpening it, polishing it, that sort of thing. Despite the tediousness, it’s actually a pretty serene exercise, and Keith has discovered throughout the years that he enjoys this time of working methodically almost as much as he enjoys actually using his knife. It clears his mind, resets him a little; that’s why he always does it at the end of the month, so he can get a fresh start going next month.

That might’ve fallen by the wayside at this point, though. Keith estimates based on the knife’s dullness that it’s been a month since he last cleaned it, but he has no idea if it’s actually the end of the month on Earth in any way that matters. He’s been gone too long to keep track of things like that, and there’s no way he’s asking Lance, the only one who is actually keeping track of things like that.

He swipes once more, appreciating the shhhing! sound the action produces, and manages not to stab himself when someone appears suddenly right in front of him and he jumps about a mile high.

“Holy shit,” Keith curses, scrambling to get a hand around the handle of his knife, which just clattered onto the kitchen counter. He looks up quickly, sees a tuft of white hair, large muscles, and skin-tight clothes, and blows a strand of hair out of his face, annoyed. “Don’t sneak up on me when I’m doing this. I’ve told you that, like, a thousand times.”

“Sorry,” Shiro says, not sounding very sorry at all. He cranes his neck forward, examining Keith’s progress on the knife, and nods approvingly. “Glad to see you’re keeping up with this even now, though.”

“I’m not that incapable of routine,” Keith grumbles, though the response lacks bite. Shiro can be an annoying brother-dad, for sure, but an annoying brother-dad is leagues better than no brother-dad, and Keith had gotten too close to the latter to ever truly wish for Shiro’s absence again. Even now, his sudden appearance comforts Keith.

They both stand there for a moment in amicable silence, Shiro’s eyes flitting absently from the tip of Keith’s blade to the handle, before Keith grows tired of not saying anything. Shiro must’ve come for a reason, after all.

“So…?” he prompts, grasping his knife and swinging it deftly back into its sheath at his belt. He looks at Shiro expectantly.

Shiro lets out a half-laugh, amused. “So what?”

“I know you didn’t just come to grade my knife maintenance skills,” Keith responds drily, raising an eyebrow. “So, what is it? Did I fuck something up again? Leave the training robots on?”

A brief expression of sadness falls over Shiro’s face, like he’s actually hurt by the insinuation that he only shows up to berate Keith, and Keith hurries to correct himself.

“It was a joke,” he mutters, casting his eyes down. “Sorry.”

Shiro’s face lights up again, and he chuckles, reaching over to shove Keith lightly on the shoulder. The action still sends Keith stumbling about 5 inches back, though, because Shiro will never know his strength. “It’s okay. Should’ve known you were just being crabby.”

Keith mouths crabby to himself, half-mocking and half-amused, but Shiro breezes past the subject quickly before he has a chance to properly respond.

“You were right, though. I did come here for a reason.”

Immediately, Keith’s guard is up, years of disciplinary action from people who weren’t even Shiro flashing before his eyes and constructing a shield of bricks around him. He trusts Shiro more than that, though, and makes an effort not to let them pile up too high.

He stays silent, waiting for Shiro to get to the point. Eventually, Shiro sighs, raising his human hand to rub the back of his neck. “I’ve just been thinking, recently, and I wanted to know your thoughts on a certain…proposition.”

It’s not like Shiro to be this evasive—he’s not direct in the way someone like Keith is, but he doesn’t tend to waste time on hesitancy and nervousness. Keith regards Shiro suspiciously, his anxiety mounting with every passing second that Shiro doesn’t tell him what he’s getting at. Is everyone okay? Is he going to leave again? Keith’s stomach clenches painfully. He wouldn’t…

“I was wondering what you’d think about going to Japan with me someday.”

The words stop Keith in his tracks, and he’s at a complete, utter loss for a moment. The connection is clear as day—he’s Japanese, Shiro is Japanese, so why not make a joint trip at some point? But the implication of family, of genuine connection, makes Keith feel warm and nauseated at the same time.

“For—For what?” Keith croaks, and curses himself for allowing his voice to sound so vulnerable.

Shiro shrugs, but the motion is cautious, with an eye always trained on Keith for his reaction. “I have family there,” he says, talking slow like he’s choosing his words carefully, “that I’ve been meaning to visit for a while. I’d like you to meet them. And…if you have family there, too, then I’d like to meet them as well. If you’re comfortable with that.”

The mere thought of interacting with his extended family overwhelms Keith so fiercely that he has to stare at his shoes for a moment to get himself back in order, to get the room to stop being wavy and out of focus. He’s not going to think about that right now. “Where is your family in Japan?” he asks instead, forcing the subject away from his own direct relation.

Shiro hums a little, considering the question calmly. “I have some cousins and aunts and uncles in Miyagi, but my grandparents moved to Okinawa when my parents were young.”

“That’s where dad said his family was from,” Keith replies without thinking, so struck by the realization that Shiro has a relationship with the same place Keith’s dad did that he forgets how much he doesn’t want to talk about his own blood family. “Okinawa, I mean. His parents moved there when he was a teenager.”

“Really?” Shiro’s smile is broad, if a little exasperated. He shakes his head. “Well, it makes sense, I guess. With the American military base being there.”

Keith nods, remembering the sardonic, bitter comments his dad would make about the Okinawa military base. He was no nationalist by any means, but Keith had always gotten the impression that he resented the American government for having such a permanent, all-encompassing presence in Japan, of making Okinawa a military base first and a city second in the minds of the rest of the world. Keith, anti-imperialist as he always was, shared the sentiment.

By the knowing look Shiro is giving him, Keith suspects that maybe he feels the same way, too. Bold move from two guys ostensibly still in the U.S. military.

“I would love if we could go back together,” Shiro continues, his face open and earnest in the way only Shiro can be. Keith tries his best not to look away from such a blatant display of familial affection; he’s out of practice with this sort of thing, and it’s not like he was even very good at it before Shiro disappeared, anyway. But having two father figures abruptly taken from him has taught Keith that it does nobody any good to reject others’ attempts to be genuine like this, least of all himself.

He swallows hard. Perhaps he should extend that philosophy to Shiro’s offer, rather than just maintaining eye contact. “I…” he begins, but he’s not sure what to say, doesn’t know how to go about discussing this without shutting down or running away. Maybe he should just express that? “I don’t—I don’t really know what to say. It’s—like, a little scary, thinking about going there. I’ve never had contact with any of my family there. I kind of got the impression maybe they didn’t like dad or approve of him.”

Shiro frowns. “You think? Did he do anything?”

“Besides getting an alien girlfriend?” Keith asks wryly, half-smiling. “Not sure. But it would make sense that he would kind of…pull back from family after dealing with what happened with Krolia.” Keith lets his gaze drop, just this once. “I mean, would you want to bring your half-alien kid who might freak out and go alien berserk at any minute to meet your family?”

“Well, that is kind of what I’m offering to do right now, Keith,” Shiro says pointedly, making Keith turn scarlet.

“Okay,” Keith stammers, looking anywhere but at Shiro, “but that’s—that’s different?”

Shiro gives him a doubtful, amused look, and Keith huffs, folding his arms over his chest protectively.

“…Are you sure you want me meeting your family?” he asks quietly after a moment. Shiro sighs and reaches across the counter to lay a comforting hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“They already know about you, you know,” he starts, voice soft but firm, “and they’ve been asking to meet you for a while. They’re thrilled that you’re Japanese, because that’s common ground, but they also understand that you’re important to me. That you’re like my little brother. For that reason alone, they want to know you. Mostly so they can send you otoshidama お年玉.”

A chuckle breezes past Keith’s lips at that, and he finally meets Shiro’s eyes again, allowing the smile to stay on his face. This might be the first time Shiro has told Keith that he sees him as family too, he realizes. Warmth flows through his body, the kind he hasn’t been able to feel in years. “I…guess I’d like that. Mostly for the money.” He mirrors Shiro’s language back at him with a smirk, and Shiro laughs, squeezing his shoulder slightly before letting go.

“Excellent.” Shiro claps his hands together. “First thing we’ll do when we get out of this space hell is buy some tickets to Japan, then. If you and Lance aren’t too busy planning the wedding, of course,” he adds cheekily.

Keith honest-to-god squeaks a noise of surprise, sputtering, “What—What are you talking about, we aren’t even dating, he hates me, you’re fucking insane—” until Shiro silences him with a wave of his hand and a chortle.

“For now,” he says with a knowing smile, before straightening up and stretching out his back. “Anyway, I’m off to get Hunk and Pidge away from the training robots. I think they’re trying to program them to be waiters, and we really don’t need the castle’s bandwidth dealing with something like that.”

He turns to go, and Keith opens his mouth to say goodbye, but he’s cut off when Shiro suddenly pauses right in front of the door and glances back over his shoulder.

“As far as your family goes,” he begins, looking at Keith seriously, “we’ll do that when you’re ready. I won’t push you. But, think about it. It might be good for you.”

Keith takes a deep breath, and nods weakly. “Yeah. I will.”

“Thank you.” Shiro looks satisfied. He presses the button to activate the doors, and they open with a whoosh! “Wish me luck!”

“Good luck,” Keith calls as Shiro leaves, settling his head in his hands and tapping the handle of his knife idly.

It’s weird to have family again. It’ll be even weirder to have extended family, something he’s never experienced before. But it’s worth a try.

And who knows? Maybe someday Keith can build himself a life with a primary characteristic that isn’t isolation. His thoughts wander, only a little lovesick, to Lance, and then to Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran, Adam…

It’s possible he’s built that life for himself already. If he gives it a chance.

Now that is something that is totally going to wreck his loner brand image.

☆ ☆ ☆

[themculibrary]

Shang-Chi Masterlist

360-degree feedback (ao3) - bysine G, 12k

Summary: Wong sighs. “You know, where I come from, dead relatives usually show up to give you lottery numbers,” he says. “Ever thought about paying it forward?”

“He has my rings and she has my empire,” Wenwu replies. “I don’t see what else they might need.”

“Perhaps,” says Wong. “But if anything else comes to mind, feel free to share.”

“Well," says Wenwu, "I couldn’t help but overhear that your recruitment numbers are dismal.”

---

A ghost story.

alive together with you (ao3) - sanctuary_for_all katy/shang-chi G, 11k

Summary: Because her and Shaun? They were a forever kind of deal. (Scenes from Katy and Shaun's friendship, before, during and after the movie.)

All I Want For Christmas is You (ao3) - NyxEtoile, OlivesAwl katy/shang-chi M, 12k

Summary: “I’m trapped in a Hallmark movie and I need help.”

He was pretty sure that sentence didn't make sense. "Has a rugged lumberjack tried to seduce you?”

Katy snorted. “I can not articulate how much unkempt and surly is not my type. Of course, I didn’t think it was Melissa’s, but she ran into some old fling of hers. He is a Christmas Tree farmer. I can’t make this shit up. I need you to convince Jay to take a couple of days off and come up here before this gets worse.”

Shaun paused a moment. "I don't know I could convince Jay to take a couple days off is Melissa was in the hospital.”

beautiful you are my world, my true (ao3) - sanctuary_for_all xu shang-chi/katy chen, katy chen/shang-chi T, 12k

Summary: A part of him had always felt like a thief with Katy, taking what he didn't deserve, but she knew everything now and she was still here. (Set during the tail end of the movie and continues afterward.)

But I need your lips on mine (ao3) - Lizzen katy/shang-chi E, 2k

Summary: The adventure Katy agreed to didn’t include being ravished like this but she’s not-- she’s not unhappy about this arrangement.

if you liked it then you should've put ten rings on it (ao3) - laiqualaurelote T, 6k

Summary: “When did you even get to meet my dad?” Shangqi demands. “You're in supervillain prison, surely they don’t let you guys mingle.”

“Mahjong night,” says Erik, deadpan.

Other people look for retirement homes for their parents. Shangqi has to check out prisons. While sorting out his father's incarceration in Wakanda, he unexpectedly reconnects with his old college roommate, the villain formerly known as Killmonger.

isn’t it strange (i am still me, you are still you) (ao3) - smoakoverwatch katy/shang-chi T, 1k

Summary: Katy knows Shaun inside and out.

She just doesn't know if everything will change now.

lose it over you (ao3) - sepiacigarettes katy/shang-chi T, 1k

Summary; They're close, always have been, but last week tipped the scales, sent them tumbling down. He couldn't have made it through the last ten years without her, can't imagine a time where she wasn't by his side.

"Hey," he says softly, "come back to mine?"

Love Unexpected, Love Regardless (ao3) - grecianviolet katy/shang-chi T, 7k

Summary: After it's all over, Katy realizes she has some very complicated feelings to parse about her decade-long friendship with someone it turns out she's never really known. An end-of-movie emotional fix-it fic. THREESHOT, now with first kisses.

my friend has a crush (ao3) - orphan_account katy/shang-chi T, 1k

Summary: When Katy needs advice on boys, she goes to Shaun.

So it's a bit awkward to talk about her latest crush when he's the object of her affection.

Sing You a Song of Devotion (ao3) - NyxEtoile, OlivesAwl katy/shang-chi M, 53k

Summary: As they walked out, she could feel Shaun stewing and probably pissed off beside her, but he didn’t say anything, so neither did she. Instead she pulled out her phone and googled San Francisco marriage license.

They were in the elevator before he finally spoke. “This is not something I’m willing to let you do.”

“Okay, well, getting deported back to fucking China is not something I’m willing to let you do, so where does that leave us?”

Turning Point (ao3) - Simus_Dinner_Plate_Pecs katy/shang-chi E, 4k

Summary: Katy's twenty-fifth birthday does not go as planned. When she learns that everything she's ever known is a lie, she turns to the one person who she knows she can trust - Shangqi. This three-part story does contain an explicit love scene. Please read responsibly.

urs (ao3) - sunshinesketches katy/shang-chi E, 7k

Summary: “I think we should have sex.”

Her eyes fly open. “What the fuck?”

She looks over at him in the dark, briefly considering that a combination of drinks, tiredness, and sexual frustration from being around Shaun 24/7 have finally driven her insane, but he’s facing her, fully awake, and he doesn’t look like he’s joking.

“Platonically, I mean,” he immediately says. ___ Katy and Shaun try friends with benefits.

What's Behind and What's Before (ao3) - NyxEtoile, OlivesAwl katy/shang-chi M, 58k

Summary: “When are you going to get married?”

Had Waipo not asked him that daily for the last 5+ years he might have panicked. Instead, he responded the same way he always did. "We're just friends.”

Normally, she made noises and nodded. It was part of their routine, going on so long it was almost an in-joke. But this time she turned and stared at him. She looked exasperated, and like she knew he was lying. Somehow. She pulled the ladle out of the pot and pointed it at him. “If you get her pregnant and don’t marry her, I will haunt you from the afterlife.”

Of all the threats he'd had in the last week, that might be the most sincere. "I promise not to do that.”

Life on the other side of the Rubicon.

what's in a name? (ao3) - sunshinesketches shang-chi/katy T, 7k

Summary: “Ooh, I hope it’s a rich international student,” she says, excitement in her tone. “Someone who just arrived in San Fran and drives a million-dollar sports car and has tons of Daddy’s money to spend.”

He rolls his eyes. “Do you really want a guy who can barely speak English to be your soulmate?”

“I could learn Chinese,” she says defensively, “for my soulmate.” --- Katy and Shaun find each other over the years.

Zhi Shi Pengyou (ao3) - hrtiu shang-chi/katy T, 1k

Summary: When Waipo asked Shaun when he and Katy were getting married, Shaun said they "zhi shi pengyou" (are just friends). What happens when Katy starts to realize she wishes that weren't true?

[pantsusnifferr]

2021 best of post!

I procrastinated so hard last year when i was about to do my 2021 reflection! Now that i am thinking back on it, my memory’s a mess and im starting to confuse things that have happened in 2020 with those that happened in 2021. I will to the best of my ability, try to remember the biggest highlights of 2021 while writing my reflection of 2022 in a seperate post. Highlights of 2021 1. Went out of my way to watch fireworks with my sister on Jan 1 even though i didn’t feel like it. I remember i wanted to have less regrets and i definately felt like that was one step worth taking. 2. Went out of my comfort zone and decided to go out with a couple of people i met online! Definately not an unpleasant experience for sure, but i still feel like i have a lot of grow, it was something i felt like i needed and something i never thought i’d ever have the patience to do. 3. Continued HEMA and made my first sparring montage and entered my first tournament! HEMA has became such a big part of my life back in 2021, I am so glad i started it back during the end of 2020, i remember the social anxiety i felt and the apprehension before i stepped through the doors of Bastion. But I am so glad i did! It was exciting, it was something that i look forward to every week of the day, it was my obssession and something i love. I remember going to different clubs, eventually finding Oriflamme and learning italian longsword. And i concluded that year with Bashfest! My first tournament where i absolutely got wrecked haha. (But i didn’t come in last.)

4. Made geniune friends with people from HEMA, maybe E was right, perhaps i am not giving people enough chances back then. But I was glad i did, it started with going out to eat at that okonomiyaki place at the new year’s eve. And we became close and fast friends ever since. It is sad that circumstances have changed and we’ve all drifted apart, but it gives me a little hope that i’m still able to form meaningful friendships with people if i were to give them a chance.

5. Managed to diffuse a situation with a difficult and crazy business relation. I never want to deal with someone like that again, the length of time we spent on him and the amount of stress we’ve got just isn’t worth it. I was so close to quitting the entire thing but thankfully we managed to resolve everything amiciably. And the dude moved on to selling other plants, he’s someone else’s problem now. 6. Sold my switch and got an OLED switch! Isn’t really a highlight but i actually started playing it a lot more! Turns out having the ability to dock it to my PC is something i sorely needed! 7. Received my full hema kit! Too bad the jacket couldn’t fit me properly though. 8. Upgraded my PC! 9. Painted many fencing masks for myseld and my clubmates! 10. Acheived a 4.0 for my GPA. I got no idea if this is the start of me taking my studies more seriously or the start of all my unecessary stress, i still have to thank my friends who helped me out with my studies and exams though! 11. I got my vtuber model fully rigged and animated! I wasn’t satisfied with it fully so i continued to sit on it for almost 6 months before i did anything with it in 2022. A few people were essential to this step of mine, i was excited and really happy that i might actually get a chance to scratch this creative itch of mine. Too bad i fell out with one of my ‘teachers’ though. 12. bought a VR headset! 13. made a lot of shorterform videos for the company 14. was deep into fitness and diet, i managed to consistently exercise and be slightly healthier during this period. 15. Did our first live zoom workshop with gardens by the bay! managed to intergrate my streaming techniques and equipement for work! I am glad i am able to apply some of my interests to work this way. 16. Reconnected with El and RK from my AirForce days, glad to know that these guys always got my back. 17. started trying to put myself out there. 18. started investing...with mixed success.. 19. Got my feder and my rapier this year! 20. Reservist lmao, useless stay home do nothing, but i did have a nice long chat with people i used to know back during my time in service.

[tiannasfanfic]

This Ain’t High School

Adrian Chase/Vigilante x Reader

@peacemakernet Adrian Chase Appreciation Week: Day 2: Fake Dating

Summary: When you ask Christopher Smith to be your fake date for your 15-year high school reunion, he jumps at the chance to turn some heads and set the rumor mill ablaze. It should be a fun time, but, for some reason, his best friend, Adrian Chase, seems very against the idea.

A/N: While I spell checked and edited some grammar, I didn’t have the spoons for a full edit and proofread. Enjoy though! 💜

CW: None that I can think of, just some fluffy fluff with bonus Chris Smith fluff of being a good friend.

Word Count: 3,835

“Dude, you need to relax,” Chris said, watching you pace the length of his small trailer for the millionth time.

It was getting close to when you two would need to leave. It was your 15-year high school reunion and now the nerves were finally starting to hit you.

You were only going as a joke. People didn’t like you in high school. Well, for the most part. They left you alone, so you didn’t hate your school experience, but you were a weirdo even among the weirdos, and glided through your school years largely friendless. The few you had were still your friends to this day and they all thought you were crazy for going. They certainly weren’t. So, since you and the boys from Evergreen went to rival high schools, you thought it would be absolutely hilarious if you showed up with Christopher “Peacemaker” Smith. He absolutely loved this idea when you asked him.

They were all going to talk anyway, might as well give them something juicy to really gossip about.

While you had first met Chris shortly after you got out of high school and hung out a few times due to mutual friends, you didn’t really count him as a friend until after you reconnected after he got out of prison. You two always had a very brother/sister like connection, but it had gotten stronger in the last year. Chris would freely admit you were his younger Big Sister due to you being slightly younger than him and your tendency to call him on his bullshit like an older sibling would. But you both were confident you could pull off a dating each other vibe.

Neither of you had any interest in dating, he was just grateful to still have the friendship of someone who knew him from before. Chris had told you that many times and you could tell he was a changed man actively trying to be a better person. You promised him you’d help him as best you could and be patient with him. He had really worked that patience sometimes with his offhand comments, but he was getting better you had to admit.

You turned to look at him. He was almost ready and was just tucking his short-sleeved button down into his jeans. He was giving you a look that said, “stop overthinking it.” Before you could say anything, a unique sounding knock came from the front door.

“Come in, Adrian,” both you and Chris called.

The man himself slowly opened the door and walked in, balancing a case of beer on one hip. Adrian blinked in confusion when he saw Chris was dressed up, then his eyes got slightly wider as he looked at you.

“What’s going on here?” he said, eyeing you from head to foot and back again.

You quirked a brow at him. He was looking at you as if he had never seen you before, which irritated you at the moment. You weren’t dressed much different from normal. One of your nicer tops, your casual funeral/wedding pants, and a pair of your nicer shoes. The reunion was in a park on an early summer evening, not the Ritz Carlton. You and Chris both looked nice, but comfortable.

You bit your tongue, not wanting to use your nerves as an excuse to snap at him. You hadn’t snapped at him yet and tried not to since you didn’t have anything against him. Besides, despite your nerves, you were in a good mood and that would just start an argument.

“Oh shit!” Chris said and smacked himself on the forehead. “I’m sorry, I totally forgot to call you, dude. I can’t do movie night tonight, I’m taking Y/N out.”

Adrian had been walking over to set the case of beer down by the table and suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked back at you suddenly with wide eyes, then back to Chris.

“The fuck?” Adrian said, surprised. “Why?”

“She needed a date to her reunion,” Chris said, checking himself over in the mirror and doing some last-minute preening.

To your surprise, Adrian whipped his head around to look at you, his cheeks red.

“Why the fuck did you ask him?” he almost demanded, a sharp tone in his voice.

Your eyebrows shot up to your hairline.

Adrian was not someone you could read or figure out at all. You met him not too long after you started hanging out with Chris again. The fact that you hung out with Chris a lot meant you also hung out with Adrian a lot. You didn’t mind. He was just that perfect balance of adorable and sexy that made him absolutely hot as hell. While you were always very good at maintaining your composure around people you found sexually attractive, he was one of a very select few you had a tough time keeping it cool around. You did it, it was just very hard.

This should be a good thing, though, right? Hot available friend of a friend?

Wrong.

Adrian didn’t like you. You had no idea why. As far as you knew, the only thing you said to him before he immediately went cold to you was “nice to finally meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you” when Chris introduced you two. He wasn’t mean about it; he just had no real warmth towards you at all. He was polite, speaking to you only when you spoke to him first and was directly to the point when he did, he didn’t ramble to you like with other people. He wouldn’t joke with you or laugh with you, and his eyes always went blank when he looked at you, which he usually didn’t. You could count on one finger the number of times you’d gotten him to crack a smile at your humor.

Oh well. Can’t please everybody, I guess. It was disappointing though after Chris swore the two of you would be crazy about each other. Chris had really hyped Adrian up to you, and you saw what he was talking about. Adrian had a brilliance to him, only it seemed like he had walled you off from it. You had asked Chris about it finally and it seemed like he knew more than he was willing to say, but he assured you that Adrian was fine with being around you. There was that, at least. He didn’t completely hate you, just didn’t care for you. You could handle that. He wasn’t your first “I guess I’ll just admire you from afar then” crush.

This attitude change was completely new. Now it felt like genuine hostility or dislike towards you.

“He was the first person that popped into my head,” you said, answering Adrian’s question with a shrug. But now nerves were starting to get the best if you, so you turned to Chris. Though, maybe Adrian’s right and this is a sign. It was all a dumb idea, if you think about it.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you thought you saw Adrian nod suddenly before stopping. But you did see Chris’ gaze flicker briefly over to Adrian, his brow raised, then come back to you as if nothing had happened.

“Nope! We’ve had this all planned out for weeks now!” Chris exclaimed, then grabbed his keys off the table before. “And it is a dumb idea, that’s what is so fucking great about it. It’s gonna be a fantastic night! You’re going to have a blast, trust me!”

Chris was an excellent hype man when he wanted to be, and his energy soon had your nerves draining away. A grin came to your face.

“Good point!” you said and grabbed Chris’ hand. “Let’s do this!”

Chris grinned back and started pulling you out the door.

“Adrian, I know you have a key, can you lock up?” Chris said and surprised you by running to open his passenger door for you. “We better go and get to Stone Creek Park before Y/N actually changes her mind.”

“But-“

You didn’t hear the rest of Adrian’s reply since Chris shut your door after you got in. He came around the car and opened the driver’s side.

“-that big of a deal, then hang out here and we’ll get wasted after I take Y/N home,” Chris was saying as he got in the car, then promptly shut the door before Adrian could reply.

“He okay?” you asked.

“Yeah, he’s just being a little bitch about us leaving together,” Chris said, then started the car. “He’ll either get the fuck over it or finally do something about it.”

You thought that was an odd comment, but just nodded in agreement.

As it turned out, all of your nerves were for nothing. You both ended up having a lovely time. The people you most dreaded seeing weren’t even there and you reconnected with a few people you’d lost touch with. Oddly, not that many people recoiled from Chris. While a few kept their distance, most thought his story was fascinating.

The relationship ruse worked perfectly. While it wasn’t going to fuel the gossipers as much as you’d hoped, the secondary reason of going with someone you could talk to was a success. Many times, you two ended up keeping to yourselves as the old cliques grouped together to catch up. Chris stayed in character the whole time, including the kind of PDA you two had discussed beforehand. He even started doing it a lot more than you thought he would, which was great since it made things more believable. It wasn’t anything major, just slight touches that indicate a comfortable intimacy with someone; he would lean in close to talk to you, lightly place his hand on your lower back while walking, softly touching your hand every now and then during conversations, lightly bumping you with his shoulder. When he had something particularly mean to say about one of your old classmates, he’d lightly place his hand on your shoulder and steer you closer so he could lean in close to your ear. He’d whisper whatever he had to say, usually about someone you didn’t like, so it would get a good laugh out of you.

You teased him about how sweet he was being at one point.

“Why is everyone always so fucking surprised when they find out I actually do know how to treat a lady?” Chris feigned hurt, knowing full well you knew some of his past history. “Random fucking notwithstanding, when I’m actually into someone, I don’t act like a total jackass. So, I’m treating you as if I were into you and imaging how I would be several years in.” Then he chuckled. “I gotta take care of my longest running relationship, after all.”

The story was you two stuck to was simple and close to the truth. You had known each other for years but reconnected when he came home. Lies became hard to keep straight when they become too complicated. But, since Chris’ longest relationship was about seven months, and you two were claiming you were just under a year together, you were now his longest running girlfriend.

This had already become an inside joke between you two.

Periodically throughout the night, Chris took an interest in the trees scattered throughout the little park. Since Stone Creek Park was nestled in a little valley just on the outskirts of dense woodlands, there were plenty of trees in all sizes. It was odd, but you thought they looked neat to him or something. It was a nice park, and you were already planning to come back sometime during the day to meander about.

It was close to 11 when Chris pulled up outside your house. Still keeping up the ruse, he tutted at you when you went to get out. Instead, he hopped out and came around to open your door for you again.

You chuckled and got out of the car. “You don’t have to keep doing that, you know.”

“Nope!” Chris said, shutting the door, then offered his arm to you. “I’m invested now! Gotta see it through to the end!”

You snort laughed at that and took his offered arm. Chris set a slow pace as he walked you to your front door, asking you some questions about one of your classmates you had reconnected with. This turned into you telling a story from seventh grade about the person. This resulted in you two standing outside your front door for about ten minutes, talking.

“All right, this has been a lot of fun, but I better get back to Adrian,” Chris finally said.

“Do you really think he stayed there this whole time waiting for you?” you said, surprised.

Chris glanced over at one of the bushes by the sidewalk near where he was parked. You got curious and looked over to the bush yourself. It was very brief, but you thought you saw a flash of what looked like teal and white by it. You blinked a few times and figured the streetlights were playing hell with your eyes again. Chris chuckled, so you turned back to him.

“Probably, knowing him. All right, see you later,” he said and started to turn back to the car.

“Hey, at least let me kiss you on the cheek before you leave so the night ends with a kiss,” you said. “It was a good date, and it feels like inviting bad luck for both of us on our future dating endeavors if we don’t.”

Now it was Chris’ turn to laugh, and he turned back to you, shaking his head. You had some weird quirks and odd superstitions like that at times. It was never anything too bad or weird, so he usually indulged you. “Yeah, my love life is cursed enough sometimes, I definitely don’t need to make it worst.”

Chris leaned down a bit towards you as you were leaning up. Just as he turned his head to present his cheek for your lips, the bush by the sidewalk decided to start yelling.

“What the fuck, dude?!?”

You both stopped and turned to see someone in a black, teal, and white costume try to jump out of the bush, but trip and end up rolling out of it instead with several muttered curses.

Chris raised one hand in greeting.

“Hey, Vig! Fancy running into you here!”

The figure from the bushes then sprang to his feet, ran at full speed toward you both, and then skidded to a sudden stop just a couple of feet away.

It was a little dark on your street at night, so you didn’t recognize the figure until he was within the illumination of your porch light. You blinked several times as you realized this was that crime fighter named Vigilante who ended up helping Chris with Project Butterfly.

Why was he here? Surly he didn’t think you were some kind of threat to Chris? That would be ridiculous.

“Seriously, Peacemaker, what the fuck?” Vigilante snarled at Chris, completely ignoring you.

“What’s got you so steamed, Vig?”

“You know what the fuck has me steamed!”

“Nope, can’t say I do,” Chris shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “You say one thing, but do the exact opposite of what you say, so I really don’t know what’s got you so upset anymore. It’s not like you’re doing anything yet.”

It was like watching a tennis match, your gaze went back and forth between the two men as they argued. Each time your eyes came back to Vigilante, they lingered for longer and longer. There was something familiar there…

“I fucking told you I am working up to it. I will do it, I just…don’t know when.”

Your eyes got wide as it started clicking in your brain. The voice, the mannerism…

“That isn’t good enough, Vig. You’ve been saying that for months now. You’re here now, so, as my dad’s old neighbor would say, it’s time to shit or get off the pot.”

Vigilante raised a finger and his change in stance indicated he was about to retort when the shock finally abated enough to where you could finally speak again.

Your head whipped around from Vigilante to Chris, your eyes wide.

“Holy shit, Adrian is Vigilante??? The fucking Vigilante???” you said.

You looked back over to Vigilante; you could see his eyes were wide behind his visor.

“I-I have no idea who you’re talking about…”

Vigilante started to say, sounding like a panicked Adrian, but then he trailed off when you rolled your eyes and turned your attention back to Chris.

“Now that that’s cleared up,” Chris said. “I’m going to head home since you two obviously have a lot to talk about. Y/N, be sure to ask him about why he has been following us tonight ever since we left my trailer.”

Vigilante huffed, sounding uncertain. “I was not-“

“I was wondering why you kept looking over at the trees,” you said, cutting him off. “You never had an interest in being an arborist before.”

Chris nodded. “Yup. Anytime this fool saw me touch you or lean in, he’d fully expose himself and leave himself wide open to dart to a closer tree to get a better look.”

“I-I-I did no-“

“Good thing the few people at the reunion who saw him thought it was funny and weren’t freaked out,” Chris looked at Vigilante and shook his head. “Not smart, Vig. You know what Harcourt would say about this.”

While you hadn’t met any of the team he worked with (aside from Vigilante, apparently), Chris had told you enough about Harcourt to know she was serious. Vigilante’s head drooped.

Everyone was quiet for a couple of minutes, looking at Vig. Finally, Chris broke the silence.

“You gonna take the mask off? Or do I have to wrestle you to the ground and do it for you?” Chris asked him.

Vigilante sighed again, this time sounding resigned, but he slowly took his mask off. Once that was done, he rifled through a pocket for his glasses, putting them on before finally looking up at you.

You smiled at him.

“Hey Adrian,” you said with a gentle tone, knowing he had to be feeling raw and vulnerable right now.

“Hey…” he finally said.

Adrian suddenly seemed very nervous, your porch light giving away the fact he was turning red. This was also new.

Chris looked back and forth between you two then shook his head before stalking off to his car and driving off to leave the two of you alone.

That didn’t help the conversation flow any easier. In fact, it completely killed what little conversation there was. Adrian shuffled his feet and wouldn’t look at you. You were trying to be patient, but you were also tired after having to be so social today. Your spoons were low.

“Well, it’s getting late,” you finally said, figuring he would’ve said something by now had he wanted to. “You have a good ni-“

“Did you mean what you said when we first met?” Adrian cut you off suddenly with a question.

You blinked,

“That it was nice to meet you?” you asked. “Yeah, Chris had been hyping you up to me for weeks.”

Adrian blinked and finally met your gaze.

“He did?”

You nodded. “Yeah. Said we’d hit it off and I actually had looked forward to meeting you.”

This shocked the man. He stood there and stared at you for a while, then shook his head.

“No, it was before that,” he said. “You actually said it to Chris before I walked up, so I just overheard you.”

You had to think about it for a minute, and then shrugged.

“Honestly, I don’t remember saying anything to Chris before that,” you said, shrugging.

Adrian nodded. “You did. I had just gotten to his trailer and was getting the beer out of the trunk when you said something to Chris.”

You blinked. “How in the hell did you even hear that then? You were like thirty feet away.”

“I have excellent hearing since my eyesight is bad,” he said.

You were pretty sure it didn’t work that way, but whatever.

“Okaaaaay,” you said. “So, what did I say to Chris then.”

“You said, ‘Why the fuck didn’t you warn me that he’s so hot? You just said he’s really cute!’”

Now you remembered. You had said that and could remember the smirk Chris got on his face at that.

“Well, yeah,” you said. “I don’t say shit I don’t-“

Quite suddenly, you were cut off by Adrian’s lips on yours as he kissed you softly, both of his hands coming to rest on the sides of your face. The thick fabric felt warm against your skin, the textured pads on the fingertips slightly rough but not unpleasantly so. Your eyes closed and you tilted your head towards him, leaning into the kids. Adrian started to deepen it, but then broke away, taking a step back.

“I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that since you went out with Peacemaker tonight, but I couldn’t help myself,” Adrian said in a rush, rambling at you for the first time ever, and you found it to be the cutest thing ever. “It’s just, I like you so much, and he knows that, and knows I’ve been wanting to ask you out, but he went behind my back and now-“

It was your turn to cut him off with a kiss. This was what you had been wanting since you first laid eyes on him. There was a very short pause before his hands rested softly on your waist and you draped your arms over his shoulders.

After several intense moments, you slowly broke your lips and looked up at him with a smile.

“Man, I wish I would’ve known asking Chris on a fake date would get me a real date with you,” you told him with a grin. “I would’ve asked him on one months ago.”

Adrian looked confused then blinked.

“Wait…fake date???”

“Yeah, I just wanted to freak the people I used to go to school with out by making them think I was dating Peacemaker,” you chuckled. “He loved the idea since our schools have always been rivals. So, we really went as friends, but told anyone that asked we were dating.

The look of shock and then relief on Adrian’s face was indescribable. He threw his arms around your waist, picked you up and spun you around, while he made whooping noises. You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Alright, Vigilante,” you said, pulling away from him and taking his hand in yours. “Let’s get you inside before someone sees you so we can talk about all this.”

If you thought Adrian was adorable before, that was nothing compared to the smile and look of adoration he had on his face as you led him inside.

[felrend]

Characters in HFW – Part one!

Let’s get to the fun stuff you guys! How can I not talk about the wide cast of characters in this game? You thought my Aloy post was going to be long? Well buckle up buttercups! Cause we’re in for a good time!

This post will be focused on our returning characters! 

King Avad:

I was really excited for the chance to get back to Meridian and catch up with a few people from the city. I liked Avad in HZD but did not feel the connection that I saw going around between these two. He was going through grief over losing Ersa and Aloy is no ones second choice. But the moment I saw him practically rushing over to Aloy, I saw that spark that the shippers felt. The way he was so elated to see Aloy and you can tell he was trying to compose himself. He was like a kid in a candy shop at the mere thought of seeing her again. He knew she would have a strong resistance to the stature marking her honour and was quick to reassure that he put restraints on the sculpture. Because after all, he wants Aloy to come back. He is practically waiting to throw the crown away and go with her. All she has to do is say his name and I love that haha Avad also isn’t trying to hold her back which I’m grateful for. He knows what she is doing is important and doesn’t need all the answers, just the hope that she would visit him again. I don’t know how Aloy feel’s about holding such a high standard to her, but the fact that she blushed and the coy smile she gives was enough for me to be on board. Avad is a good man and he is trying to mend all the bonds that his father destroyed. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with him again and hoping we pass through Meridian for a possible DLC. Maybe even have Avad tag along for a quick side mission lol

Itamen: 

This little gum drop was such a delight! I did not think I needed any type of interaction with him after HZD but I’m so glad the developers gave us a scene with him. You can see how happy him and his mother are now that they have been saved from the Shadow Carja. He can have a real chance of a childhood, even though he’s being raised to be the next King. You can tell there is real love between the brothers and Avad just wants the best for him and Kadaman. It brought me a lot of joy to watch Aloy drop to his level to talk to him and I know she will keep her promise to come back and teach him archery lessons. Another heart stolen by Aloy! But I think Itamen stole a bit of her heart too

Vanasha and Uthid: 

Lets just get this out of the way, she wants to ride the Carja captain and he has no idea what to do with that information hahaha the sexual tension between the two of them is rampant and they just gotta make that happen. I love how she’s still the sassy bad influence that doesn’t mind calling Aloy out but also showing that she cares for the huntress. Uthid is always going to be the man of few words but you can tell he’s just as happy to see Aloy too and understands her need to take off when she has to. She’s more than earned his respect and loyalty. I better see more of them in the future! And her new outfit does nothing for her figure. Let her show off those killer abs!

Talanah:

well wasn’t this a rollercoaster of a storyline for our dear Sun Hawk? Let me get this out of the way. She deserved better. She proved why she is so beloved among the fans. She’s strong, smart, funny, a bad ass. I totally understand where people are coming from with the writing. It’s warranted but also it shouldn’t have ruined the game for anyone. I think this was another avenue for people to see that life goes on with out Aloy. Feelings might not change but affection for someone else can. Over all I’m glad we got such a long side quest with her. Right when I think it’s over, they carry it all over the map and I love that. But I don’t believe the door is closed between the two of them. You get snippets of something else there that I at least picked up on. Talanah leaves a particular gift for Aloy back at the base as well as that sweet scene between them at Barren Light. Talanah has things to figure out and the Hunting Lodge to get back to. But that doesn’t mean what they have is completely gone. I want to see more of Talanah and I doubt Guerilla Games is done with her too.

Varl: 

Oh where do I begin? He is 100% the heart of this new found family and let’s be real, he created this family for Aloy. He knew when to push back when she started to shut down, even going so far as following her for six months to make her understand that she’s not alone. Aloy needed someone just as stubborn to break through her walls. It made my heart happy that the first few hours of this game was all about teaching Varl how to use the focus and making Aloy uncomfortable with having someone else around. She had to slow down and answer his questions and have him understand how she saw the world. I don’t think it would have worked if it was anyone else but him by her side at the beginning. She needed another Nora who understood why she acted the way that she did. The torment of being neglected and shunned for 18 years. There is no way for Varl to understand that pain but he has that empathy for Aloy and the patience. I love that he calls her “the Anointed” as punishment for her running away after the battle for Meridian. He knows what makes her squeamish and will use that to his advantage to prove a point. And Aloy needs that, she needs the push back and someone to challenge her.

I also love his new found relationship with Zo. I felt bad for all of the Varloy stans but in some way Aloy needed to see that life can move on passed her. She can’t be the center of everyone’s world and seeing him move forward with someone is supposed to be painful. But I’m glad she never let that get in the way of her friendship with Varl or with Zo. The teasing between them is everything and the fact that Varl goes to Aloy for love advise is hilarious. “You’re asking the wrong person, you’re on your own”. Fucking gold. Guerilla Games also needs to give us a comic (or SOMETHING) for the bromance between Varl and Erend! I want to know what shenanigans they got up to while Aloy was gone! They clearly bonded in Meridian and I’m so grateful for that.

Now for the big moment that we have all been dreading. Gemini. The absolute worse outcome I can even think of. I know some people assumed that there would be a death in the game but Varl was not the one I was expecting. I felt my heart rip out and didn’t believe that it was real. I assumed that he would be out for the rest of the game. That he would be “the guy in the chair” because that’s what he has been this whole time. How can you give us this incredible character and kill him? Why prove that no one is safe? I understand that there is a price to war but fuck. Not Varl. Not the one that knows how to comfort Aloy or knows when to pull her out of the darkness. If it wasn’t for Varl, we wouldn’t have gotten the scenes of Aloy’s clear grief of Rost. Or the fact that she is welcoming more people into her life and most of all, welcoming their love. The moments we get after are gut wrenching and beautiful. And I hope Aloy doesn’t shut down over his loss but honours him. Varl deserved better but he was also willing to sacrifice everything to protect the one’s he loves. I don’t want to see the scene of Aloy delivering the bad news to Sona. Or well…the mixed news.

Erend:

Oh Erend. My love for him is never ending and I am a complete simp for the Captain of the Vanguard. The fact that we had to wait to see him was torture and Guerilla Games knew exactly what they were doing. The build up to them being reunited, the peak of them seeing each other and then a punch right to the heart. Erend’s pain was written all over his face and I’m glad that he is the one that shows the implications of Aloy’s actions. Where Varl comes from a place of level headed thinking, Erend is coming from the heart. She hurt him, deeply. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he isn’t afraid to show that. Which is refreshing to see from a “manly” character. Does he handle it well? No. His passive aggressive comments are just as hurtful and when he brushes her off when she reaches out was an even bigger blow. “What kinda person does that?” It shows that they are still getting to know each other, despite how close they have gotten. He doesn’t fully grasp that she has no idea how to deal with people or their emotions because she was an outcast. He was the first “outsider” that showed any interest or affection for her and Aloy has no idea how to deal with that. But it’s the small actions that mean the most to her. He takes a moment to compose himself and you know that he’s already forgiven her. He will always forgive her. He’s growing as a person too and you see that throughout this whole game.

Some people say that he’s insensitive or was dumbed down but I don’t see that at all (the dumbing down part at least). Erend is literally learning how to interact with brand new tribes that he has only heard stories about. He believes in the stereotypes because how else is he supposed to meet them? He has never gone that far West before. And if it wasn’t for Aloy or Varl, he never would have. His willingness to learn and to get to know them and their ways of life should mean something. Plus, he’s dealing with strong people who aren’t afraid to put him on his ass when he’s taken it too far. And Erend is willing to eat some humble pie. He’s also learning a whole new language with the ancient glyphs! Not everyone can learn something new so quickly. You see the different levels of learning from everyone and I don’t see people picking on them. Erend isn’t used to dealing with fragile equipment. He’s used to hammer and steal. Products that are meant to have a strong grasp, so give him a break. No one on the team is trying to belittle him, so why are you? I’d like to see you learn a whole new language and alphabet in 24 hours. I do wish that Aloy would have reached out and offered to help him study. It would have been so cute to see her sit with him and go over the data that he was struggling with. Plus, a sweet little gesture to show that she cares.

I could write a novel about the amount of love I have for Erend. Every interaction he has with Aloy it just makes me want more. The soft smiles they give each other and his willingness to be there and help is everything I could want from him. Every time she asked if he found someone to share a drink with, I was begging for her to ask if she could join him. And when they got that moment, I squealed! I wish you could have had that moment again. And don’t get me started on the end scene between them!! The way he pulled her in to his side and held her and then when he’s riding off to Vegas and looks back, there is such yearning in his eyes! UGH! I’m also super bitter about the two of them not going to Las Vegas together. She makes a point to say that he would love it and that they should go together. SO GIVE US THAT SCENE GUERILLA! I want to see his eyes light up to the holograms and finding that ember for her! Rude!! Don’t build that up and not have a follow up!

Ereloy feels like they are headed in the right direction and this is exactly what I needed from them. For Erend and Aloy to end up together in this game wouldn’t be right. She’s still too focused on the mission as well as her new found sister. But you can see she’s starting to think about the future. And I hope she can see him involved in that future in some capacity.

 Well this was a very giant post and we haven’t even gotten to the new characters! I’m sorry to keep you all waiting but I swear the next one will be about our bigger additions to the crew!

[mischiefandspirits]

Bernard Figures It Out

Was reading through all the comments on @frostbittenbucky's post and all I could think of was that it was Bernard talking to Tim. Then I got to thinking...

"I've connected the two dots."

"You didn't connect shit."

"I've connected them."

Bernard figures out Tim's a superhero... sort of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tim fidgetted nervously as he waited on the front porch of his boyfriend’s house. Bernard had sounded so serious when he’d called during Tim’s lunch to ask him to come over after work so they could talk about something.

Which Tim had done, after spending an entire board meeting just going over the past week trying to figure out what he’d done.

The only thing he could think of was that he’d ducked out halfway through their lunch date on Wednesday to give Duke some backup, but Bernard had seemed understanding when Tim explained there was an emergency at GRC Labs. It couldn’t have been a tipping point, either, since Tim had managed to only flake on three other dates over the past few months they’d been dating. Kate had been happy to cover for him as often as she could “out of queer solidarity” when she found out Tim was dating a boy for the first time and Tim had managed to trick Bruce into covering a few actual Wayne Enterprises emergencies for him when they came up.

There had to be a reason Bernard was breaking up with him, though. Had he missed something? He definitely wasn’t forgetting an important day. He was good with days and Tam was even better, so she would have reminded him on the off chance that he had forgotten.

What was he missing?

Bernard was smiling when he opened the door, but there was a nervous energy to it that had Tim’s stomach sinking. “Hey, Tim.”

“Hey.” Tim gave his own nervous smile then slipped inside.

They went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Tim frowned when Bernard grabbed a manila folder off the coffee table. Crud, had he screwed up enough that Bernard had had to make a list? He knew he was new to dating a guy, but he hadn’t thought he’d done that bad. He’d really been trying, especially with how his and Stephanie’s relationship had fallen apart at the end. “What -”

“Just let me speak, Tim,” Bernard said, waiting for Tim’s nod. “Okay, so you know Clark Kent, right?”

Tim blinked as Bernard opened the folder to show a picture of Clark. It looked like one of the employee pictures from the Planet’s website, with his dorky “I’m just a humble country boy” smile and the golden globe from their roof photoshopped in as the background. “Uh, yeah? I think so. He works for the Daily Planet, right? I think he’s worked at a few of Bruce’s events. Not a lot of outside reporters are willing to come to Gotham.”

“Exactly!” Bernard said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Tim.

“What?”

He pulled out the picture to show the next page was an article titled, “DAILY PLANET REPORTER… BATMAN!?”

A wave of relief washed over Tim and he placed his face in his hands. “Were you up all night on the hero conspiracy boards again?”

“No. I mean, I found this on a board and was up all night thinking about it, but I found it reasonably early.”

“One in the morning isn’t reasonable, Bernard.”

“Says the guy who’s always wide awake when I call to infodump.”

“Touché.” Tim leaned against Bernard and gave him a smile. “So tell me, why is some reporter from Metropolis from all places Batman.”

“First of all, living in Metropolis is the perfect cover. Everyone assumes Batman would live in Gotham, no one would consider he could be from anywhere else. Metropolis is outside the GMA, but close enough that the commute is still possible.”

“But it’s Metropolis.”

“And who would think Gotham’s Dark Knight lives in the sunshine capital? Plus, I hear he disappears a lot on the job. There’s gotta be a reason for it!”

Tim made a note to let Clark know he needs to cut back on the disappearing act some since people are catching on.

“And have you seen the guy? He is swol AF, babe.”

“Please don’t call me babe while you’re talking about how hot another guy is.” Especially Tim’s honorary uncle.

“You know I prefer twinks.”

“BERNARD!”

“I’m just saying,” he continued, ignoring Tim’s shout. “The guy is definitely hiding something! Besides, Kent is an investigative reporter. He’s gotta know a lot about cases and the underground and detective work.”

Not as much as he likes people to think, but more than he likes people to know Superman does, Tim mused. “But what about the other vigilantes?”

“Well, Kent has a cousin…” Bernard flipped through a folder and pulled out a picture of Kara. It looked like a screenshot of her interviewing Lena for CatCo. “She’s obviously the latest Batgirl. Look at her hair. And the first Batgirl and the current Batwoman were obviously Lois Lane, the red hair is just a wig. Did you see how she kicked butt at that last event she went to? She’s not as subtle as Kent. That means their son is the latest Robin. He’s exactly the right size.”

Oh, Damian better not hear about this, Tim cackled internally. His youngest brother hated being reminded that Jon was the same height as him despite their two years age difference. Damian definitely took after Talia when it came to body type, no matter what he said.

“And Kent also has a brother.” This time he pulled out a picture of Kon. The clone must have been caught by a reporter out shopping with Ma since he was carrying some paper bags and glaring at whoever was behind the camera. “At least, he’s supposedly Kent’s brother, but he was a teenager when he first showed up with the Kents. A lot of people think he’s actually Kent’s son, that Kent got a girl pregnant when they were teenagers and something happened to the mom so Kent had to take him in. Now the Kents are trying to hide it by saying the two are brothers.”

That was… scarily accurate actually. Especially given Luthor and Clark were close friends at the time that Kon would have theoretically been born.

“And that beef would explain why the younger Kent brother went all crime lord on Gotham for a while before reconnecting with the family.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Kent Jr.’s got the perfect build for Red Hood.”

Tim bit back a comment on how Kon was shorter than Jason by a good foot. Timothy Drake-Wayne should not know that. Add Jason to the list of people who can’t hear this theory.

“And then there’s this girl,” Bernard picked up a picture of Lois, Jon, and Natasha Irons walking down the street together. “No one’s sure exactly who she is, but she’s been spotted with the Kents a few times. I think the cover story is that she’s Jon’s babysitter.”

“And the actual story?”

“She’s Black Bat, obviously. That’s why she wears a mask that fully covers her face. She doesn’t want to stand out as the only African American Bat.”

“Isn’t Signal also Black?”

“Yeah, but he works in the daytime so he’s already a standout.”

“And who is Signal in this? And what about Nightwing and Red Robin?”

“Well, Nightwing’s just a Blüd who came to Gotham. He doesn’t count.”

Ouch. Sorry, Dick.

“And Red Robin is obviously an older Robin, the one who was Robin when we were kids. Kent wanted to keep him on, and I don’t blame him. As for Signal, he’s got the same backstory as all the other Robins Kent picked up, he just went the Signal route because he didn’t fit the usual Robin mold.”

“Because the female Robin fit the mold,” Tim snorted. Robin Mold, as if he and his brothers were even the same ethnicity. Or even had the same hair color. Jason dyes his hair, Dick’s is brown-black, Tim’s is pure black, and Damian’s is more a dark brown and it’s only getting lighter as he gets older.

“She didn’t, that’s the point. Kent tried to give breaking the Robin mold a chance by letting his cousin have a go at it, but he realized it just didn’t work so she went back to being Spoiler and he got a new Robin.”

Not touching that with a ten-foot pole. “Right, and where does he get the usual Robins? Please tell me you’re not back on the secret government orphanages theory.”

“No, no, no. Kent travels sometimes for his job, right? And a lot of the time he’s going to places that have been hit by disasters or major crimes. So he’ll take in some of the displaced children to train as his robins.”

Tim pressed his face back into his hands.

“You see it, right?”

Honestly, Tim was just wondering how his boyfriend could be so close, and yet so far off. “How would Kent even afford taking care of a bunch of secret -- possibly illegally acquired -- children without anyone noticing?”

“Simple. Bruce Wayne is funding him.”

“Bernard, I love you, but what the heck?” Tim blushed and looked up as he realized what he’d said, but Bernard didn’t seem to notice as he steamrolled ahead.

“It’d also explain how he can afford all the gear and how he’d be able to travel to Gotham or anywhere else Batman goes without anyone noticing. He probably has a secret Batplane or something.”

“Why would Bruce do that?”

“Because Wayne cares about Gotham, everyone knows that, and this way he can make sure someone’s taking care of the city without anyone putting two and two together.”

“And two plus two is?”

Bernard gave him a hard look. “I’m not stupid, Tim. Bruce Wayne is obviously Superman. His face is right there.”

Oh, the others are going to love this! Too bad I can’t tell Damian or Jason. Jason especially would have loved this. “Right. Bruce is Superman.”

“He is. Superman is known for being nice and Bruce Wayne’s basically all that’s keeping the city running at this point. That’s nice as hell.”

Oh my god.

“And Wayne does charity for the victims of cataclysms, doesn't he? I bet he first saves people from them as Superman and then builds them new homes for free.”

Oh my god! Why am I not recording this!?

“And the Wayne’s were rich enough to hide the fact they adopted an alien baby.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “If you’re about to tell me this is why Bruce’s parents got killed, you might want to stop while you’re ahead.”

“It’d make sense. There’re all sorts of unanswered questions about their deaths,” Bernard muttered under his breath, flipping through the folder. He pulled out another picture of Kara. This time she was in full Supergirl attire with a bus held overhead. “So if Wayne is Superman, then that’d mean your ex-girlfriend could be Supergirl. They look a lot alike and it’d explain how she got involved with you all.”

“Bernard, she has a human dad. You know, Cluemaster. The supervillain.”

“Yeah, her dad. But we don’t know anything about her mom!”

“Let me guess…”

Bernard pulled out a picture of Karen. She and Helena were suited up and talking to a group of cops, two goons held over each of Karen’s shoulders. “Her mom could be Power Girl! Some makeup and a wig and she could look just like Crystal Brown! And Damian Wayne is obviously the new Superboy! That’s why his background is such a mystery, right? He had to stay a secret until he could control his alien superpowers. That’s why he’s always so mean. It’s a cover since everyone knows Superboy is super sweet!”

Sure, when he’s not helping Damian pull pranks or using his adorable powers to put the blame on Kon and I. “No, Bernard. Damian and Steph are just very human hellspawn. And Bruce and Crystal are human too. I can’t believe you called me over here just to tell me you think Superman is both Batman’s sugar daddy and my adoptive dad.”

“Well, that’s not exactly why I called you over,” Bernard admitted, the nervous energy coming back. He grabbed Tim’s hands. “Tim -”

Tim’s stomach sank. “You are breaking up with me!”

“What? No! I don’t want to break up!”

“Why are you acting all nervous and serious then!?” Tim asked, pulling his hands away to throw them up in the air.

Bernard shook the folder. “Because I’m trying to tell you I figured out you’re Superboy!”

Tim’s brain blue-screened and his hands slowly dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I know you’re Superboy. The older one, obviously. By the way, you and Damian really need to figure out separate names.”

Forget Jason and Damian, Kon can never find out about this. He’d never let me live it down. “Bernard, you called me a twink five minutes ago. Su-” Shoot, I can not risk getting Kon’s attention! “The older one might not be as big as Superman, but he’s not a twink.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the shapeshifting at work.”

“The what?”

“Obviously you Kryptonians can shapeshift. Why else would you look so much like humans?”

… Why do Kryptonians look so much like humans? Was there some - Wait, no! Break into the Fortress of Solitude for research later! Reassure your boyfriend that you’re not an alien now! “Bernard -”

“And that explains why your step-mom was so hot.”

“Gross.”

“She and your dad were actors hired by Luthor so you could have a normal life! But now Bruce has custody so he adopted you.”

“No.”

“That’s why you and your dad were so weird with each other when I met him.”

“We were weird because he’d just gotten out of a coma not long before to find that his wife was dead so he decided to actually be a dad for once in his life, but overcompensated and became a helicopter parent to a kid who was mostly on his own for his entire life!” Tim blurted out. “I am not an alien, Bernard!”

“Well, not technically since you were cloned from Superman on Earth.”

“Oh my god! You were just talking about Steph being Supergirl! Why would I date my dad’s cousin?”

Bernard blinked. “Supergirl and Superman are cousins?”

Right, Timothy Drake-Wayne wasn’t supposed to know that. “I thought they’d said something like that before, yeah. Are people seriously saying I’m Superboy on the internet?”

“NO! No, I swear I would have led with that if I thought your identity was compromised. A few people have mentioned Wayne and Damian, but not you or Steph or Jason.”

“Wh-Jason!? You think Jason was an alien too!”

“No, not exactly, but a few times when I’ve visited I swear I’ve seen a guy in the manor who looks like Jason. It’s just been out of the corner of my eye and he’s gone whenever I look so I’ve always thought it was just Dick or Bruce or some picture of Jason that my mind was playing tricks with, but it makes sense now that I know Wayne is Superman. He must have been able to heal Jason with alien tech, but couldn’t say anything because that would give away that he’s Superman.”

Damn it Jason! And damn it Bernard! I’m dating the smartest moron in the world! “Bruce did not bring Jason back with alien technology and none of us are aliens!”

“It’s okay, Tim. I won’t tell anyone.”

Tim grabbed Bernard by the jacket and pulled him into a kiss. When he started to feel lightheaded, he pulled back, “Could someone whose skin is as solid as stone kiss like that?”

Bernard blinked dazedly at him for a moment. “How do you know what Superboy’s skin feels like?”

Tim screamed internally. “He’s saved me from a kidnapping before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I can get you the police report if you want.”

“Huh… And the others?”

“Not Supers. I can stab Damian the next time we’re at the manor if that’ll prove none of us are aliens.” He’d rather stab Jason, but that would probably only confirm to Bernard that Bruce used alien technology to bring him back.

“You probably shouldn’t stab your brother if he isn’t an alien.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “I won’t stab him anywhere deadly.”

“That’s not the point,” Bernard said slowly.

“He’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“So do you believe I’m not an alien now?” Tim huffed, letting go of Bernard’s jacket.

The blond’s eyes dipped down to Tim’s lips. “If I say no, will you kiss me like that again?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Tim said, but he kissed him anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, but I still say Clark Kent is definitely Batman.”

“Sure, Bernard.”

[tchallasbabymama]

Instinct

Hello, fellow whores. You asked for it and I hope I delivered. I present to you: T’Challa in heat❤️‍🔥! This one had me blushing, y’all.

The next request I work on will either be sugar daddy silver fox T’Challa or Star-Lord T’Challa. I know I just threw the latter in the lineup, but apparently, people are seriously feeling the lack of Star-Lord T content here and I want to do what I can to help fill the void.

Check out my masterlist to read my other stories and oneshots, and, as always, comments and reblogs are my lifeblood! Enjoy😘

Word count: 4,903

CW: SMUT, infidelity

Instinct [instiNG(k)t] noun: an innate, typically fixed pattern of behavior in animals in response to certain stimuli.

For centuries, the descendants of the great Bashenga retained their hold on the Wakandan throne. Challenge Day after Challenge Day, they beat their opponents and were rewarded by Bast allowing them to ingest the heart-shaped herb. The herb imbued them with a panther’s strength, speed, and instincts, effectively turning each of them from an ordinary man into the Black Panther. Now, strength and speed are pretty self-explanatory, but what exactly were their instincts?

When T’Challa was crowned king and ingested the heart-shaped herb, he visited the ancestral plane and reconnected with his baba. Their reunion was one full of tears, but most importantly, T’Chaka took the time to impart his wisdom to his son. T’Challa spent hours talking to his baba about life, what to expect as king, and, most importantly, what to expect as the Black Panther.

T’Chaka had warned him about what was to come, but until it happened to him months later, T’Challa was in denial. It couldn’t be that bad, right?

Wrong. When T’Challa woke up one sunny Wednesday morning, he felt strange. He felt feverish but not sick. Like most days, his morning wood stood at attention, tenting the crisp white sheets that laid across his lower half. He looked at the clock and saw that he had plenty of time to take care of himself, so he rolled to his side and reached for the tub of shea butter in his nightstand. T’Challa bit his lip as he rubbed his hands together to melt it down, but when he reached down to stroke his length, he nearly bit clean through it. He was much more sensitive than usual, and he wondered why...then it hit him. He jumped up and grabbed his kimoyo beads with his slippery hands, and he frantically opened his calendar.

“Twelve weeks,” T’Challa groaned as he counted backward to the night he became the Black Panther (the second time.) “Fuckkkk.”

He was in heat, and it was only going to get worse. T’Challa wracked his brain for ideas on what to do to fix his problem, but all he could hear was T’Chaka’s words echoing through his head.

“You should find a partner sooner rather than later. The instinct will take over you, and it will become unbearable if you do not have anyone to aid you.”

T’Challa had been so busy trying to rebuild the kingdom that his cousin damn near broke that he had forgotten to look for someone. Sure, there was Nakia, but she had moved to Oakland and their relationship quickly fizzled out. Then, there was that one Dora Milaje after he regained the throne, but that was a one-night thing and she went back to her wife the next morning. He needed to find someone, but who?

As the king’s mind wandered through his options, sweat beads began to form on his chiseled body. He knew he’d be no good today, so T’Challa typed up a message to his family and staff that he would be taking the day off. With that taken care of, all he needed to do was figure out how to get through this heat in one piece. T’Challa looked down at his dick again. It was swollen with need, and he watched as droplets of precum escaped from his tip. He couldn’t take it anymore and decided to bear through the sensitivity. Carefully, as though he might hurt himself, he reached his hand down and grabbed it in his hand. The whimper he let out was foreign to his ears, but it was all he could do when he felt the intense wave of arousal wash over him. He gritted his teeth as he began to slowly move his hand up and down his shaft. It seemed that everywhere his hand went, it left a deep burning sensation in its wake, but he just couldn’t stop. He rutted into his hand, and as soon as his thumb swiped over his reddened tip, he came undone quicker than he ever had before. His body jerked as the milky white substance spilled over his hand, and it seemed that he had plenty to give. However, instead of leaving him sated, all that did was arouse him more.

T’Challa had made a mess all over himself and decided to take a shower, but every touch of his hand, or even the water, drove him up the walls. He needed some pussy, fast. He exited the shower and allowed his body to air dry as he moisturized his mahogany skin. Minutes passed before he noticed that he was still massaging himself, too caught up in the sensation to notice the passage of time. His dick was rock hard again, and he groaned in frustration as he attempted to stuff it into silk lounge pants. He called for his breakfast to be brought to him and spent the day in his quarters, alternating between desperately jacking off and going through his contacts to find the right person. It had been so long since he had opened that figurative little black book that all of his usuals were taken, and unfortunately for him, they were hellbent on remaining faithful for some reason. As the day went on, his hunger grew in intensity, and it got to the point where neither his hand nor his sex toys could cut it anymore. He felt lost, he felt horny beyond belief, and he felt...famished.

T’Challa looked at the time again and realized that he hadn’t eaten in hours. He placed another order from the kitchen and waited impatiently for it to arrive. It wasn’t that he couldn’t wait for the food to be brought up; he was impatient because every moment that passed without him touching himself brought him more pain. He didn’t need the poor kitchen staff walking in on him feverishly pleasuring himself, so he just sat there and attempted to focus his mind elsewhere. Eventually, there was a knock at the door, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Room service,” a melodic voice called out, and T’Challa smiled to himself at his friend’s playful tone. It was Xoliswa. He hadn’t seen her in almost a week, and he was sure she was out of town, yet here she was bringing him his dinner. Xoliswa started working in the kitchen at the palace seven years ago, and they grew close over the years. He was even in her wedding.

T’Challa unlocked the door with his beads, and she came right on in with the cart full of more food than he usually ordered.

“Somebody’s hungry today,” she joked. Just as T’Challa was about to respond with some smartass remark, an aroma hit him square in the face. It definitely wasn’t coming from the heaping portions of doro wot and rum cake he ordered. It was sickly sweet and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention, as well as something else.

The king began to salivate. “New perfume?”

“No, just the usual,” Xoliswa sighed. “Why?”

“No reason. You just smell different today is all,” he gulped to keep from drooling at her smooth, brown legs that were always on display. His eyes traveled up to the curve of her hips and the thickness of her waist before grazing over her delicious-looking chest and landing on her plump lips. Of course, he had noticed her looks before, and they would playfully banter and flirt back and forth from time to time, but this was the first time he was really seeing her beauty. Not only could he see it, but he could smell her from across the room, and his body was reacting in ways he couldn’t control. His dick sprung up and immediately started to harden as he watched her ass bounce in her flowy shorts when she pushed the cart out to the balcony. She had gone too far away, and he felt the intense need to be closer to her, so he bolted up and made his way outside with her.

“Here, let me help you.” T’Challa quickly picked up the heavy tray before she could and placed it on the table before taking his usual seat.

“I thought you didn’t feel good today,” she crossed her arms over her chest, unintentionally pushing her ample breasts even closer together. His body burned at the sight, and he visualized his lips wrapped around her undoubtedly perky nipples. He needed her body on his, but he knew he shouldn’t. Xoliswa was a friend, a confidant, a married woman...

“I don’t,” T’Challa cleared his throat and tried to focus his mind on anything but her. It wasn’t working, though. “But, uh, it’s not what you think. I just needed a day, that’s all.”

“Want to talk about it?” Xoliswa asked as she leaned against the balcony. He was acting strange, and it concerned her. “You know I’m here for you if you need me.”

“Don’t say that,” he chuckled darkly as something flared inside him.

“Why not?” she tilted her head to the side and uncrossed her arms. He would’ve sighed in relief, but she just made it worse by stepping closer to him. Xoliswa placed her hands on his shoulders the way she always did and began kneading his bare flesh. Little did he know, he wasn’t the only one fighting back their arousal. Xoliswa had a small crush on T’Challa since the moment she laid eyes on his muscular frame. Had she not been in a relationship the entire time she’d known him, she would’ve dropped down on her knees and given him the business by now. However, Xoliswa loved her husband and wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing...except for the occasional nights where she closes her eyes and all she can see is him. All she can feel is the king.

T’Challa let out a low groan as her hands worked out his stress, and as usual, the sound made Xoliswa flood the panties that had gotten wedged between her fat pussy lips. The scent of her arousal traveled straight to his nostrils, and his pupils blew wide. He jumped up and crossed the balcony in just a few quick strides, needing to get away from her before he truly lost himself to his lust.

“Seriously, what’s up with you today?!”

“N-nothing, you just...you smell so good, and- Xo, I can’t.”

“Can’t what?” Xoliswa narrowed her eyes as she tried to figure out what could possibly be wrong with him...but then her eyes fell to the large dickprint in his silk pants. She had seen him in those and similar pants several times before, and although they always left little to the imagination, she had never seen him in his full Bast-given glory. But this time? This time she could almost make out every vein through the soft fabric, which made her pussy spasm with need and release more wetness.

T’Challa could see that Xoliswa was staring right at his dick, and he knew she liked what she saw by the whiff of sweet honey that wafted his way. A low rumbling started in his chest like an engine revving as the burning need in his loins intensified.

Xoliswa spoke barely above a whisper, stunned but in awe of the man before her, “Why are you-”

“My heat,” he sighed.

“Your what?”

“My heat!” T’Challa snarled, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Any other time, he would assume he had scared her, but he knew better now. He could hear her heartbeat, he could smell her dripping pussy, and he could see her hardened nipples and the way her luscious thighs rubbed together in a feeble attempt to quell the throbbing between her legs.

“W-what’s that?”

T’Challa gestured for her to take a seat, and she lowered herself into the chair across from his, squirming in her pooled fluids. Her obedience just made him harder, if that was at all possible. He gingerly sat down across from her and just stared for a moment, her breathing getting shallower with each inhale.

“One of my newly acquired panther instincts requires me to, uh, mate every three months.”

“So...you basically ovulate four times a year,” Xoliswa joked in an attempt to break the tension, but he began to growl at her again, causing them both to shudder at the other’s arousal.

“It’s more than being a little horny and fertile, Xo. I have to- no, I need to find a release, or I’ll go crazy. My whole body is on fire, and masturbating just makes it worse. I’ve been in here all day-”

“You’ve been in here jacking off all day?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s not helping?”

“Not at all.”

“Have you tried-”

“Yes. Whatever it is, I’ve tried it. Trust me.”

Silence descended upon the pair as they both stared at each other, stuck in a lustful feedback loop, chests heaving and mouths watering. Xoliswa was the first to break, so she stood and headed for the door. She had to get out of there, the atmosphere was too thick, and she couldn’t think straight with him staring at her like a piece of meat. She couldn't stand to look at him any longer or she might do something she’d regret later, but when he grabbed her wrist and looked up at her with those pitch-black eyes, she knew she was in trouble.

“Xoliswa, please,” he begged. He knew he had no business asking that of her, but he was desperate, and she just looked so damn delicious.

She bit her lip as her eyes traveled back down to his bulge that had started leaking through the fabric of his pants.

“Shit…”

“You like what you see?” his voice was lower than she’d ever heard. It seemed like everything he did turned her on more and more. T’Challa took a deep inhale so he could know for sure, and his head swarmed with the smell of her. “Yeah, you like it. I can smell that sweet pussy; it’s dripping for me, Xo.”

He had never spoken to her like that before, and every word lured her further into his trap. She had a brief moment of clarity and pulled her wrist from his grasp, taking a step back.

“T-T’Challa, I’m married-”

“Tell your body that, then,” he grumbled as he stood and stalked closer to her. She backed up with every step he took until she was wedged between his body and the doorframe. His arms went up on either side of her, and he leaned in close enough for her to feel his breath tickle her lips. “Tell me right now: do you want me?”

Her eyes darted around, desperate to look at anything but the coal irises that would surely draw her in. “I-I-”

“Say it, Xo. I want you so fucking bad,” T’Challa growled with his face buried in her neck, imprinting her scent deep in his brain. He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help but take a little bite. As soon as his teeth made contact with her skin, she let out a light moan and set his body into overdrive. He pressed his hips into her, and the heat of her skin made him whimper. The noise shocked her, and she realized just how much he needed her...as if the ten inches of clothed steel pressing into her stomach wasn’t enough of a sign.

Xoliswa had secretly wanted this for a long time. In her dreams, he’d fuck her good and deep and leave her a sobbing, leaking mess. Truthfully, if he had ever come onto her before this, she probably would have caved then, too, but she thought he was too gentlemanly to do so and pushed the dirty fantasy to the back of her mind. Boy, was she wrong. Right now, T’Challa couldn’t give a shit about chivalry and certainly didn’t care about her husband. Right now, all he wanted- no, all he needed was her body.

She pulled his curls to remove him from her neck, and he growled again at the titillating pain and the loss of contact.

“You want me?” she whispered, her lips mere centimeters from his.

“Mmm, more than anything.”

Xoliswa’s hand traveled down his body, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. T’Challa’s lip found its way between his teeth again as he struggled to maintain composure, but it all flew out the window when he felt her hand wrap around his throbbing length.

“Fuck! Xo, stop playing and-”

“You need me?” she teased as she pulled his pants down over his hips and let them pool at his feet. She wrapped both of her hands around his girth and stroked him softly. He was so sensitive that he jerked away from her hand, but she grabbed him and pulled him back in. Xoliswa had dreamed of this day, so why not make her dream come true?

Suddenly, T’Challa’s self-control went out of the window as he thrust into her hands and wrapped one of his much larger hands around her throat. She stared back at him with lust clouding her eyes as he met her lips for a hungry kiss. The taste of her on his tongue drove him wild, and she felt his dick begin to twitch. She picked up her pace and gripped him a little tighter, making him stick his tongue further down her throat. She melted into him. The firm grip he had on her made her knees weak, and just as they began to buckle, he pulled his lips from hers and said the three magic words he had uttered so many times in her dreams.

“On your knees.”

Xoliswa fell to the ground and looked up at him with her mouth opened wide for him to use. And use it, he did. T’Challa was surprised she could take all of him without any training, but he guessed her husband might have been around his size.

Her husband. He had a married woman on her knees, slobbering up and down his shaft. He had Xoliswa on her knees…

Just the thought of how wrong this was turned him on even more, and as if the same thought had occurred to her, Xoliswa started sucking harder. The spit foaming in the corners of her mouth and running down her chin soaked her chest, and the king longed to see more. He reached down and ripped her shirt down the middle, freeing her breasts from the confines of modern clothing. T’Challa grinned when he saw that not only was she not wearing a bra, but her nipples stood erect like two Hershey’s kisses ready for him to devour. Just the way he liked.

Xoliswa didn’t care that he had ruined her shirt; all she cared about was making her king cum. She wanted to taste him and swallow everything he had to give, so she grew impatient and turned it up a notch, fondling his balls in her hands as she sucked on him. Her tongue swirled around his tip, and he gripped her locs in his fist to hold her down on him as he exploded into her mouth. Splashes of him coated her throat, and she swallowed every last drop he gifted to her. She blinked up at him with those innocent-looking eyes as she sucked him like a straw, milking him for all he’s worth. Normally, he would get overstimulated at this point, but that seemed impossible. Xoliswa gave him the best head he’s had in a long time, but it still wasn’t enough to sate him.

T’Challa pulled her head off him, and the bridge of spit that connected them was a sight to see. He reached down and lifted her to her feet, kissing her once more to taste his saltiness on her tongue.

“You still...want...this pussy?” Xoliswa asked between kisses.

“Mmmmhmmm,” he grunted as he pushed up on her again.

Xoliswa pushed him away, and he looked at her like she had betrayed him. His face relaxed when he noticed the feral look in her eyes and the way her pheromones filled the air.

“Take what you need.”

T’Challa saw red, and the next thing he knew, he was buried deep inside her as he pounded her into the mattress. The arch in her back deepened as he fucked her rougher than her husband could have ever dreamed of. Xoliswa struggled to see as she reached for the sheets to hold onto, but he wouldn’t let her. T’Challa pinned her hands behind her back and continued to plow into her as she screamed.

“Fuck, yes! Just like that, baby! Ooooh, T’Challa-”

“You like that?”

“Yes!”

“Then take it. Fucking take it!” he roared as he released inside her, but neither was ready to stop. Xoliswa loved how his cum felt dripping out of her, making her pussy even wetter than it already was. Keeping it juicy for him to do whatever he needed to do to her body.

“This tight fucking pussy, Xo,” he groaned as he slowed down and grinded into her, stirring her insides. His heavy hand came down on her ass, and she let out the most adorable squeak. He smiled and did it again and again, her pussy tightening around him with every strike until she couldn’t take it anymore. Xoliswa’s body convulsed as she came all over the king’s dick.

“T’Challaaaa!” she wailed, and he stopped to massage her cheeks.

“Too much?”

She looked back at him and smiled mischievously with a glint in her eye. “No, my king.”

“I’m your king?” he teased while rubbing her clit, making her hips circle on his dick as he stood still and let her work.

“Yessss,” she whined.

“Then cum for your king one more time. I have another load for you,” he whispered in her ear with his teeth firmly gripping the lobe. His fingers tickled the underside of her clit, and she bucked her hips. “That’s your spot, huh?”

“Y-yes, my king!”

He alternated between circling her clit and strumming the underside for barely a few moments before her pussy began to grip him again. T’Challa leaned back and watched the way her pussy spasmed on him. He couldn’t hold out and exploded inside her once more.

“Mmmm, baby, I love when you do that.”

“You love when I cum in this pussy?”

“Mmmhm,” her voice grew higher in pitch the more she felt him twitch inside her.

“Good, because I’m not done with you yet.”

T’Challa pulled out slowly, and she moaned as his bulbous head dragged across her g-spot. He flipped her over with ease and slid right back into her slippery canal. She loved how full he made her feel, how he stretched her walls and beat the breaks off her pussy. But this? This felt so good.

His hips moved slowly as he stroked deep into her and gazed into her eyes.

“I just need one more, babygirl. One more, and I think I’ll be good, ok?”

“Whatever you need, my king,” Xoliswa whispered against his lips and pulled him into an open-mouthed kiss. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, and he chuckled darkly.

“You want me in there deep, don’t you?”

“As deep as you can go, baby.”

“You’re filthy. Does your husband know what a little slut you are?”

Xoliswa released all over him again.

“Oh, you like when I talk about him when I’m in these guts? You like being reminded of how naughty you are, don’t you?”

“Mhm,” Xoliswa nodded with tears threatening to fall from her eyes from how good it felt to have T’Challa inside her.

“Let me ask you something,” he leaned in close to her ear and thrust harder. “Does he fuck you like I do?”

Xoliswa frantically shook her head, “N-no!”

“Then you come to me whenever you need a taste of what a king can do for you.”

“Yes, baby!” she keened as he picked up the pace and dropped his weight on her.

“You know this pussy is mine, now, right? He can use it if you want him to, but this shit belongs to me. You’re fucking mine, Xoliswa.”

“T’Challa-”

“Mmmhm, say my name, babygirl. Tell them who owns this tight little pussy,” he punctuated those last three words with thrusts so deep she swore she could feel it in her ribs. “Who owns you?”

“T’Challaaaa!”

His eyes rolled back in his head at hearing his name fall from her lips. Her voice was shaky and hoarse, but she screamed his name over and over again as his hips pounded into hers, the curve of his dick angling just right to keep her creaming all over him.

“Fuck, baby, here it comes. You ready?”

Xoliswa looked him dead in the eye and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. “Cum in your pussy, Black Panther.”

He hadn’t expected her to call him that, but it lit something within him, and he came harder than he ever had before. He bit into her neck as he spasmed inside her, pumping her full of his essence. She came from the feeling of him releasing so much and putting it right where it belonged. Their bodies fed off each other, and when one would spasm, it would trigger the other to cum. T’Challa peppered sweet kisses all over Xoliswa’s face and spoke to her in hushed tones, “Thank you, babygirl.”

Xoliswa couldn’t speak; she could only moan incoherently. Minutes passed before their bodies began to tire of the constant state of arousal, and they slowly pulled apart. She whimpered as she felt their fluids escape her and drip slowly down her crack, and he could only watch in awe. He had never produced so much, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of Xoliswa or his heat or a combination of both. Whatever it was, he wasn’t ready to give it up just yet.

“Call Abdul. Tell him you have to work tonight,” he rasped, making a devilish smile appear on her face. She knew she was in for the night of her life, and just the thought of what was to come had her playing with her overstimulated clit. He swatted her hand away and replaced it with his own. “Call him. Now. Make sure your camera is off.”

T’Challa kissed from her neck down to her chocolate nipples and took a bite, making her yip at the sensation. “Be quiet, or he’ll catch you. You don’t want that, do you?”

“N-no, my king,” she stuttered out as she pressed Abdul’s contact card and called him.

“What’s up? Aren’t you supposed to be working? Or are you slacking off with T’Challa again,” he joked, and Xoliswa locked eyes with a smug T’Challa as his tongue swirled around her nipple.

“N-no, I’m at work,” she struggled to speak as T’Challa trailed his tongue down her body and suctioned his lips around her clit. She snapped her legs shut around his head, making him pry them open with a menacing growl.

“What was that?” Abdul asked.

“What was what?” Xoliswa chuckled nervously.

“I thought I heard something. Anyways, what’s up, sweetie?”

“I, uh-” she stopped herself and muted the call for a moment to let out a moan from the pits of her soul as T’Challa showed no mercy on her. His tongue masterfully maneuvered around her clit like he designed it himself, and the three slender fingers curling inside her coaxed another orgasm out of her.

“Take him off mute right fucking now,” T’Challa ordered with a mouth full of pussy.

“Hello? Xo?”

She scrambled to unmute the call and calm her breathing down as the king nibbled on her labia and sped his fingers up inside her.

“I’m here, baby. I-have-to-work-late-so-I’m-staying-at-the-palace-tonight!”

“Wait, slow down. I can barely understand you. Are you ok?”

“I’m ok,” she giggled as T’Challa nibbled on her inner thighs. “I’m staying here tonight.”

“Oh, no problem. Don’t let T’Challa work you too hard, ok?”

“I won’t!” she squeaked.

“Good. You get back to work, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Tell him you love him,” T’Challa whispered against her pussy lips, and Xoliswa couldn’t help but oblige.

“Abdul?”

“Yeah, sweetie?”

“I-I love you.”

“I love you too, Xo. Call me when you get off,” he blew her a kiss through the phone, and she hung up right as T’Challa started chuckling.

“You almost got us caught!” she fussed.

“You liked it. Don’t lie.”

Xoliswa bit her lip to hide her smile, but it didn’t work.

“Maybe a little.”

“Mmmhm. Nasty slut, letting me use you like this. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

Xoliswa’s pussy jumped, and T’Challa couldn’t help but smile at her.

“Maybe you should teach me a lesson,” Xoliswa moaned as she ground her hips on his fingers, and his dick hardened right back up. “Or punish me.”

“Fuck, Xo, where have you been all my life?” he groaned and pulled his fingers from her, lining the head of his dick up with her entrance.

“Married...to my husband,” Xoliswa teased. T’Challa’s nostrils flared, and she knew it was on.

She wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night.

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