#open in a new tab for hq as usual

[strangecowplant]

couple new simss

[haalyle-psychonauts-fan]

Model Replacement (Psychonauts 2 Modding Tutorial)

In case you clicked this one over the Texture Changing tutorial, I'll include the programs you need, once again, as well as a specific one you'll need for models.

Epic Games Launcher [to download Unreal Engine 4.26.2]: Link

UModel [Psychonauts 2 version, this specific version makes it so you can export the models]: Link

Unrealpak [to repack everything into a pak file for the game to read]: Link

Paint.NET [just the tool I use to change the textures]: Link

Blender: Link

Now, use UModel to extract the model you want to replace and the one you wanna to replace with. In this tutorial, I'm going to replace Raz_Rig (Raz_HQ) with Raz_P1.

Note: Raz's main HQ model used in-game uses the 'Raz_Rig' model and not the Raz_HQ_WholeBody that is found in the Outfits folder, with the other outfits. The HQ_WholeBody model IS used, but for specific cutscenes. For this tutorial, I am only changing the Raz_Rig model.

Once you have your models extract, open up Blender. Now, you'll need a plugin in order to the use the psk files in Blender. You can get the plugin here. There are instructions on how to install it on the Github page.

When you have that installed, make sure to change the Unit Scale to 0.01 and the Length to 'Centimeters'. (I'm not an expert on model stuff, I don't know what this does, but the other tutorials I used would have varying options and this is just what I use.)

Make sure to the delete the cube by just clicking it and pressing DELETE.

With all that set up, import you models. (Press the Import button and the PSK file type, then just find where you extract your models to import them.)

I typically import the model that'll be replaced first, so in this case it'll be 'Raz_Rig' and then the model that'll be replacing that, so for this tutorial that's 'Raz_P1_WholeBody'.

The Collections (top right) should look like this (just press the triangles on the left of the Armature names to have what's seen here). [Make sure the models are call Armature.]

Now, delete the mesh that's the model that you want to replace, so here I'll delete Raz_Rig (With the Downwards Orange Triangle).

Then press the mesh of the other model (in this case, Raz_P1_WholeBody) and, holding ctrl, press the top Armature. Press ctrl + P and click 'Armature Deform'.

This will put the mesh you've selected into the top Armature, leaving he bottom Armature.001 without a mesh (you can delete Armature.001 at this point.)

Press 'Armature', hold shift and press the mesh (Raz_Rig, orange downward triangle.) This will select everything between the Armature and the mesh.

Now we can go ahead and export the model. Press Export and export the model as an fbx. Now, make sure to have these options as shown.

'Selected Objects' checked on and press 'Armature', hold shift and press 'Mesh'.

Press Geometry and make sure 'Smoothing' is set to 'Face'.

Press Armature and uncheck 'Add Leaf Bones'.

Then uncheck 'Bake Animation'.

Double check to make sure you have this all correct, name your model (I usually prefer to name it after the model I've replaced, so I named this one 'Raz_Rig') and export it.

Now, open up Unreal Engine. Instead of what we did in the Texture Changing Tutorial, we gotta put in the paths for where the materials, mesh, skeleton and physic assets go.

To start off, you'll already have a Content tab. (To see the rest of the hierarchy, click the three bars that have a left facing triangle next to the Search Paths button.)

Add a new folder and name it 'Characters'.

Since we're changing Raz in this tutorial, add another folder and name it 'Raz'.

Now, for the materials, add a folder named 'Materials', 'Outfit_P1' and 'Props'. Within the 'Props' folder, add another folder named 'InternBadge' and within that folder, name a new folder 'Model' (we'll be placing the Min_InternBadge in here).

You can used where your model was extracted as a good starting point to where the materials are places.

So, I_Raz_Corneas goes into the 'Materials' folder, 'I_RazP1Backpack', 'I_RazP1Body', 'I_RazP1Eyes', 'I_RazP1Hair', 'I_RazP1Head', 'I_RazP1Helmet' and 'MIN_P1_PsychonautsPin' into 'Outfit_P1' and [as stated above] 'Min_InternBadge' in the Model folder of the InternBadge from the Props folder.

Now, since the Raz_Rig is just placed in the Raz folder itself, you don't need to move it, or the Physics or Skeletons files. You will need to rename the Physics file to 'Raz_Physics', but that's all. (If you're replacing a different model, you'll also need to rename the Skeleton to 'Raz_Rig_Skeleton'.)

Now, back to the materials. We've gotta create a 'Material Instance' for all of them. Right click the material and press 'Create Material Instance'. This will create a dupe that has the same name, just ending with Inst.

Delete the original material and then delete the 'Inst' part of the file name.

Once you've done that to all the materials, go back to the Raz_Rig mesh in the Raz folder, double click it and it'll show you the screen in the image below. Make sure to re-add all the materials onto the mesh.

You can do what I do and hover over what the original material was to insert it. (You can also press the highlight button to show which part of the mesh is connect to that material.)

Once you've done that, make sure to click 'Save' on the top left, then close that window.

Now press 'File' and 'Save All' the project, then press 'Cook Content in Windows'. Wait for the assets to cook and when they're down, left click on any of the files and press 'Open Cooked File in Explorer'.

I'll repeat what I wrote in my Texture Changing tutorial, if you've only read this one.

It'll open a window to the cooked assets, but this is NOT what we want.

You need to click on your project's name in the address bar, then go to 'Save', 'Cooked', 'WindowsNoEditor', 'Tut [or whatever you named the project]' and 'Content'. Once in Content, go to 'Characters', then 'Raz'. You'll find the Raz_Rig assets you need 'uasset' and 'uexp'.

Make a new folder anywhere else (I usually do one within the folder of the UnrealPak, where the bats are and name it whatever you're going to name your mod, make sure to add a '_P' to it. (I named mine Tut_P)

Within that folder, create a new folder named 'Psychonauts2', in that folder create 'Content', in that folder create 'Characters', in that folder create 'Raz' and within the Raz folder, place your cooked assets.

Drag and drop your 'modname_P' folder over either the UnrealPak with or without compression bats and it'll create a new pak file using your folder name.

Head over to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Psychonauts 2\Psychonauts2\Content\Paks and create a folder (if it's not already there) named '~mods'.

Drag and drop your newly create pak file in there and you're all ready and set to go!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I can made a video version if any of you would prefer!.

[asexual-spongebob]

The Waves That Lap The Shore - Chapter 24 - Oh~ Its what you do to me~

Fun fact: some of this one actually based off a A&B episode!   This one btw. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1wnpJ6lATJE&list=PL7KPUyhIJ2Ga3UqDd7b0myn0ca3DbcCyJ&index=5&pp=iAQB Also. The fun fact: the title of this chapter is from the song “Hey there Delilah” by The Plain White T’s I love Selva <3 hoping she’ll show up a decent amount in this fic. :) Here’s my hc for her :3 Selva : She/Her, genderqueer, sapphic, ace. ALSO THIS IS THE BIG ASS UPDATE I MENTIONED- ITS 2000 SOMETHING WORDS- and usually these chapters are around 1000 so yeah- Also yes, i did specify look up “Hey There Delilah” guitar tabs for this one. I’m also currently trying to figure out the song on my ukulele.

It’d been a few days since Kwazii and Paani’s eventful day in the Amazon. 

They hadn’t seen each other for a few days.

Kwazii stared out the window in the HQ, Shellington couldn’t help but notice.

“Hey Kwazii, is something wrong? You seem a bit… down in the dumps.” Shellington asked 

“Oh nothin’, other then I miss my pancake, Shellington.” Kwazii sighed. 

“I miss his stupid ass.” Kwazii added, taking a sip from his coconut water. “I miss having to stop them from doing stupid shit.” Kwazii grumbled.

“You know that their just a call away, right?” Shellington mumbled “I know.. but it just doesn’t feel the same…” Kwazii acknowledged.

“You know what?! Fuck this shit. I’m gonna go visit her.” Kwazii meowed, running down to the Launch Bay.

Captain Barnacles noticed that Kwazii was in a hurry “why are you in such a hurry?” Captain Barnacles asked “I’m going to go visit my dumbass pancake.” Kwazii panted, jumping into the Launch Bay tank “Kwazii… are sure you’ll be okay by yourself?” Captain Barnacles questioned “I’ll be fine! If anything goes wrong I’ll just give you a call!” Kwazii insisted “okay…” Captain Barnacles faltered as he opened the Octo-Hatch. 

•••

Paani awoke “what time is it?” He asked himself, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 

Paani at his Octo-Watch, it was 1 am. 

“Damn it! it was a stupid idea to take a nap at five pm..” Paani remarked “I wonder what Kwazii is doing…” he added, scrolling through him and Kwazii’s past messages.

“I miss that dumbass orange cat.” She said, then glancing over at her guitar, then picking it up. This reminded her of a song. A song she loved very much. 

Paani began playing a d chord, then a f# minor one back and forth. 

“Hey there Delilah, what’s  it like in New York city? I'm a thousand miles away, but girl, tonight you look so pretty.” Paani began to sing, strumming their guitar 

“Yes, you do. Times Square can't shine as bright as you. I swear, it's true” Paani they sang so softly It was almost a whisper, strumming their guitar.

“Hey Delilah, don’t about the distance.  I’m right here if you get lonely, give this song another close your eyes, listen my voice that’s my disguise. I’m by your side” Paani sang, slight louder this time, the strumming also louder. 

Paani was glancing over at a photo of him and Kwazii that hung up on the wall. It was from a couple days after they first met when Dashi took a group photo with everyone.

Paani couldn’t help but remember him and Kwazii’s one sided rivalry, that turned to friendship to a relationship. He then glanced at a different photo. It was funny one that Kwazii had sent him from the Octo-Watch messaging feature. He had printed it out because he found it that funny. 

Paani then glanced back at her guitar. 

“Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. What you do to me” Paani belted out

Hopefully the neighbors don’t hear me- she thought, oh wait- they don’t speak English. She reminded herself. 

••

Kwazii speed swam all the way to India, somehow. It took  him quite awhile.

It was 6:00 am in India, meanwhile it was 2 pm in Australia.

Kwazii had arrived at Paani’s house. Paani was inside making himself a snack, he had been up since one am. however. He got a message on his Octo-Watch, it was from Kwazii.

Ahoy matey! I’m here now. 

Paani stopped to grab a towel, just in case and she ran outside.

She was wearing a  Green Day tank top that looked like the sleeves had been cut off, and some light blue baggy jeans with little stars. And some old looking converse. 

“Ahoy pancake!” Kwazii purred “I missed ya so I figured I’d visit” Kwazii added, Paani was shocked.

Kwazii had really swam all the way from Australia to India to come see him???

“You must be exhausted.” Paani remarked, Kwazii nodded , Paani scooped up the pathetic looking cat in a towel.

Kwazii looked like a drenched Cheeto puff. Paani took him inside, placing him on the couch. 

Kwazii began to blow dry his fur with his paw, which was when having the boil ability came in handy. “How does your ankle feel?” Kwazii asked “much better! It doesn’t hurt anymore.” Paani beamed  “that’s good!” Kwazii smiled sleepily. 

Once Kwazii was dry, Paani joined him on the couch “is it okay if I crash here?” Kwazii asked “sure” Paani smiled softly, allowing Kwazii to crash onto his chest. 

Kwazii let out loud purrs, he was purring like a lawn mower, which took Paani by surprise. “I missed you so much” Kwazii meowed, their voice muffed by having their face buried in Paani’s shirt “I missed you too, Kwazii.” Paani said so softly it was almost a whisper, stroking the cat’s back. 

Paani then pulled the blanket over Kwazii and let it sleep, Paani put in their  headphones and started listening to Linken Park.

When you were standing in the wake of devastation

When you were waiting on the edge of the unknown

And with the cataclysm raining down, insides crying, "Save me now"

•••

Shellington and Peso were at the bottom of the moon pool, exploring.

However, something caught Shellington’s eye.

Four pieces of rocks at the bottom. Each had a different shape.

One shaped like a lightening bolt, one shaped like a burning fire, one shaped like an ice cube, and the last was shaped like flowing water.

Shellington snatched them “Hey Peso! Come take a look at this!” Shellington called, Peso swam over.

“What are those??” Peso wondered, clearly memorized “they’re stones. But they’re different shapes… and they resemble our powers.” Shellington mentioned.

Peso gathered its thoughts, “this may be a bit far fetched but… what if it’s connected to that old, tarnished compass you found in the Amazon.” Peso speculated “but the Amazon’s pretty far from Australia.” Shellington pointed out “well… you know how things can travel.. maybe it was swept away by a current?” Peso suggested “hm… thats possible.” Shellington acknowledged. 

The two then swam back to Octopod, “Hey Shellington, isn’t it Captain’s birthday tomorrow?” Peso guessed “oh yeah! It is!” Shellington verified “well I’ll make something for him.” Peso said “yeah I’ll have to figure out something-“ Shellington mumbled.

••• 

The next day

Captain Barnacles came down to the kitchen to get some breakfast.

“Mornin’ Captain!” Shellington greeted “good morning Shellington!” Captain Barnacles smiled, doing a little dance “I’m excited because it’s my birthday!” He added.

“Oh- uh- Happy Birthday!” Shellington wished.

“Thank you!” Captain Barnacles replied, heading down to the Launch Bay. 

Jumpin’ Jellyfish! It’s Captain’s birthday! I forgot!

Kwazii came in carrying a huge anchor wrapped in colorful wrapping paper “I got this for the Captain’s  birthday!” Kwazii heaved.

“I made him personalized stickers!” 

“I made him a collodge of photos from the Great Barrier Reef!

“I found a book of rare Accordion sheet music”

“Oh dear- i don’t have anything for him…” Shellington sighed “I got to wrapped up in my research earlier.. and I forgot…” Shellington added.

“It’s okay me hearty! The party isn’t until tonight! I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Kwazii assured. 

Soon everyone left the room.

Shellington glanced at the vegimals, they were chatting about making a honey cake, “that sounds delicious!” Shellington beamed, however Grouber then walked over with an empty honey container “oh… looks like we have no honey-“ Shellington sighed once again how could today get any worse? He thought in dismay.

However, Tunip pointed to the Amazon on the map  “You’re going to the Amazon to get honey? Well how about I come with you.” Shellington suggested, the vegimals nodded in agreement, “Maybe I can find something for Captain there!” Shellington added with a grin.

Maybe it won’t be so bad?

Shellington and the Vegimals rushed down the Octo-Chute into the Launch Bay, taking Captain Barnacles by surprise, “why are you in such a rush?” He questioned “oh uh- we’re just going to the Amazon to do some boring things! ” Shellington mumbled awkwardly “oh, okay, have fun!” Captain Barnacles replied, waving goodbye.

Shellington climbed into the gup, thank goodness Peso and Dashi taught me how to drive Shellington thought with relief. 

“We’re glad that you learned how to drive dad!” Tominnow smiled “me too sweetie.” Shellington said as he drove the Terra Gup 1 .

Soon they had arrived, Tunip had put on his bee keeping suit, Tunip greeted the bees, Grouber showed them that they had no honey.

“Oh sorry… we’re also all out of honey… we couldn’t get any nectar from the Vegimal’s garden.” The bee frowned.

“Oh no… they must’ve dried up from the heat…” Shellington frowned “maybe we should go look around for some healthy flowers so the bee’s can make honey?” Shellington suggested, the Vegimals and the bees nodded in agreement. 

However unfortunately to the Vegimals and Shellington’s dismay all of the flowers had dried out. 

However, something caught Tominnow’s eye as she looked around. Someone was carrying a flower pot! out of curiosity, Tominnow followed the unknown person.

Tominnow watched as the person placed the flower pot in the soil “there you go my friend!” She grinned, however she then noticed Tominnow.

“Oh? What do we have here?” She remarked, gently picking up Tominnow “hm… a stem and petals? But it also seems to be half fish?” She added “I’ve never seen anything like you!” She smiled, Tominnow let out vegimal noises.

Shellington overheard “oh no! I hope Tominnow isn’t in trouble! Come on let’s go!” Shellington exclaimed, the rest of the vegimals followed his lead.

Shellington stopped in his tracks “Hey it’s fine! Relax” the iguana said softly, “I would never harm any plant!” She added. She then said something to Tominnow in Vegimalese.

Shellington felt a gasp escape his mouth “you speak Vegimalese?” He gasped “yeah! I’ve been talking to plants for years! They’ve never responded back until now!” She said “my name’s Selva. I study all kinds of plants! From trees, to flowers I study it all!” Selva proclaimed “oh! You’re Botanist!” Shellington smiled, Selva nodded. 

“My name’s Shellington, and these are my kids, the vegimals!” Shellington said, pointing to the Vegimals “pleasure to meet you!” Selva beamed, shaking hands with the otter.

“I’m just here helping out the plants, how about you?” Selva asked “oh well… me and the Vegimals came here to fetch some honey for the Captain for his birthday cake but we didn’t get any because the bees couldn’t make honey.” Shellington answered. “So we’ve been trying to find flowers so they can make some” Shellington added.

“Oh… well unfortunately it’s been very dry here lately and there hasn’t been much rain, however I they’ll grow back soon! But until then we’ll have to look elsewhere, and I know just the place!” Selva beamed “I’ve never seen it before for myself however it’s said that in the Blue Mountains of India and there’s a flower that blooms every twelve years called “Neelakurinji” it’s said it had the best honey in the world!” Selva explained.

“Every twelve years? Don’t flowers bloom every year?” Shellington questioned “most do, but these are special” Selva answered with a smile.

“India may be far from here, but for the Captain? Yes absolutely. Let’s do this!” Shellington chirped.

Shellington began to walk away, however he noticed that Selva was still in her spot “wanna come along? It only blooms every twelve years after all.” Shellington asked “yes! I’d love to!” Selva agreed.

Selva, Shellington and the Vegimals climbed into the Terra Gup 1 and made their way to India.

“Oh my stems and petals! The blue mountains are more beautiful than I ever imagined!” Selva remarked, mesmerized by its beauty, Shellington nodded in agreement.

The group got out of the gup and onto the grass. 

“Maybe one of these?” Selva proposed “oh! A honey dew would be perfect!” Shellington agreed, Selva knocked on the melon, it sounded ripe.  “May I take this, my friend?” Selva asked, Shellington gave her a confused glance “Im talking to the melon vine.” Selva clarified “thanks my friend” Selva said softly as she carefully pulled the melon off the vine.

The Vegimals walked over to a tree with a bee colony “Can we have some honey please?” Tunip asked  “Why should we give you some? Ours is the best in the world!” The bee spat “did someone say honey???” A bear questioned menacingly “no…” Tunip fibbed, trying to get the bear to go away.

The bear let out a roar of anger, it began to chase the Vegimals around in a circle.

Shellington and Selva looked over in horror “Jumpin’ Jellyfish! Time to the Octo-Alert!” Shellington exclaimed, sounding it on his Octo-Watch.

Captain Barnacles appeared on screen “Hey Shellington! I thought you were in the Amazon?” Captain Barnacles questioned “and what’s that in that in your paw?” He added

“O-oh uh nothing!” Shellington fibbed awkwardly, trying to hide it behind his back.

“Oh and this is my new friend, Selva! She’s a botanist.” Shellington explained, Selva waved “we could use some help here… the Vegimals are being chased by a bear! Shellington urged “Alrighty! We’ll be on our way!” Captain Barnacles said before hanging up.

“Kwazii, Peso, to the Gups!” Captain Barnacles commanded, the trio rushing to the Launch Bay.

Back in India

“Wait a minute… bears like honey! Maybe try giving it that honey dew?” Selva suggested as the bear chased Shellington and the Vegimals.

“Yeah!” Shellington yelled in agreement, “here have this!” Shellington called out, tossing the honey dew to the bear.

The bear ate it up “thanks!” He said after finishing it, then running off.

“Thank goddess-“ Shellington panted “thanks for saving our hive!” The bee thanked “you deserve some after that!” The bee added.

The Vegimals then got a bottle of honey and headed back to the Terra-Gup-1.

“I’m gonna go get another honey dew.” Shellington proclaimed as he ran over to fetch one, Selva carefully picked one off the vine after asking for its permission. She put it inside.

However, Captain Barnacles, Kwazii and Peso then showed up “oh hey Captain! Everything’s fine now!” Shellington beamed “oh! Glad you’re safe!” Captain Barnacles replied “Wanna join us for the party? You certainly help me and the Vegimals a lot.” Shellington whispered into Selva’s ear, she nodded in response.

“Selva said that she’s going to

come back with us.” Shellington said “great!” Captain Barnacles smiled, they then headed back to the gups.

•••

Shellington had given Selva a tour of the Octopod “wonderful place! I especially enjoyed the garden pod!” Selva grinned “Im glad you like it!” Captain Barnacles grinned back.

“How about I introduce you to everyone else?” He proposed.

Selva nodded. 

The Vegimals then came out with a cake 

“Surprise! Happy Birthday!” Everyone cheered, jumping out, 

“I got you this, I hope you like it!” Shellington said, pulling out the honey dew “oh I do! Thank you!” Captain Barnacles thanked.

[dameronology]

when we were young (peter parker)

summary: you haven't seen peter parker for years. a chance meeting on a roof-top reminds you of your younger days.

warnings: angst, swearing

this is nwh spoiler free!! i haven't seen the film yet (2 days to go baybee) so no need to worry about that. also, there's a timeskip here so pete is aged up to his mid-20s. enjoy <3

- jazz xx

There was a picture of you and Peter Parker collecting dust in a box in your attic somewhere.

It had been taken on the day you graduated from Midtown High. He had a toothy grin, auburn eyes glinting in the bright auburn sun. Your smile was just as wide, but your eyes were a little more unforgiving. On the surface, the two of you looked like a happy high-school couple. What the photo hadn't captured was weeks of arguing; debates about college and what long distance would do to your relationship; long, gruelling fights about Peter's vigilante dreams and whether he would still have room for you in his life should he become the next Tony Stark. It was hard to know at a young age when someone was right for you, but man. You could have sworn Peter was the one. From the day you met him in freshman year, you just knew. That's why you were having such mature fights, even at your young age.

He was an integral part of your past and even more important part of your present - not to mention an intricate part of your future. You'd made plans as young as sophomore year, after all. He'd go to NYU and major in biomechanics and you'd go to London to study at your respective dream school.

Then Spiderman happened, and the Avengers, and suddenly you were barely seeing Peter when you lived blocks away from each other, let alone across the fucking world. Conversations about you future turned into arguments about his wellbeing, and before you knew it, your life had become a blur of missed dates waiting up for his I'm okay texts.

By graduation, you were barley holding it together.

By your first Christmas at college, you'd broken up.

Life went on, as it always does. You got your degree in London and chose to stay in England, building your career up from the bottom. You'd see Spiderman in the news and smile to yourself - he was still alive and kicking. Still doing exactly what he wanted to do.

You came to find that people didn't lie when they said that you'd always remember your first love. As you hit your twenties, your dating life became a blur of Tinder hook-ups and awkward dinners with mutual friends. There were a few relationships here and there but nothing ever compared to the connection you'd had with Peter. It was silly, really. To desperately search for the same things you'd felt when you were fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. You were a kid - a naive, stupid kid. Of course you were going to have grandiose dreams of a happy ever after with your childhood sweetheart. Who didn't?

One rainy Monday, you were sat in your office; the sky was grey - almost as grey as the morning news. The British government was being useless about something again, so you naturally paid no mind to it. That was hardly news anymore.

Your attention picked up when a familiar flash of blue-and-red appeared on the screen. It was just Spiderman...Spidermanning. Saving lives as usual.

You gave the tiny vigilante on the screen a little nod, before turning your eyes back to your computer screen. You switched to your Facebook tab when you heard it beep (not before checking your boss wasn't behind you).

You've been invited to an event - Midtown High School 5 year reunion.

Your brow furrowed - had it really been five years? Half a decade? It felt both longer and shorter than that.

You hadn't been back to New York in a while; it was your home, and you missed it. There had been a few whispers of head office openings at your company HQ in Manhattan and you'd been meaning to go and check them out. The timing was almost perfect.

Two days later, you emptied your savings account and booked a return flight to JFK. You'd see your parents on the Thursday that you arrived, go for your job interview at the HQ on Friday and on Saturday, you'd go to your reunion. You were feeling a nervous excitement - eager to see the friends you missed, but anxious to see the one person you longed for.

Saturday rolled by in a blur, and before you knew it, you were dressing yourself up and walking back into the halls of Midtown High. It hadn't changed that much in five years, if at all.

Every where you looked, you were reminded of your old relationship- the lockers side by side that had been your meeting place, the class photo where Peter had been holding your hand, the unisex bathroom where you'd spent way too many free periods together. It wasn't just a high-school; it was a time-capsule for one of the happiest times of your life. For a feeling you would never get back.

"You haven't aged a day."

"Ned!"

He was the first person you saw upon entering the decked-out gym and for that, you were grateful. Ned was smiling as always, barely looking a day over eighteen - even though he was an adult now, with his own successful IT company and an adorable one-year-old.

"Hey, stranger," you greeted him with a grin, pulling him into a tight hug. "God, you still look the same as the day you did when we graduated from this hell-hole."

"So do you! I mean...your hair's changed, but that's about it. And did you get taller?"

"I don't think so," you smiled. "Maybe you just got shorter."

"Oh my god, can that happen?"

"Generally speaking, no."

The sound of a third voice made you both turn your heads.

Your heart almost dropped when you saw Peter Parker. Not Spider-Man - it was Peter.

His hair was longer now, and a little more curly. He no longer dressed like a character from The Big Bang Theory - rather, he was wearing a suit. It fit him nicely (so nicely, that you couldn't not notice he'd been working out). He looked the same...but different.

"I'm going to go and refill my drink," Ned announced. Bastard.

You awkwardly waved Ned off, before turning back to your ex-boyfriend.

"Hey, Pete," you gave him a small smile.

"Hey," he grinned. "It's been what...five years now?"

Four years, nine months, and eleven days.

"Yeah, something like that."

"When did I last see you? It must have been Christmas of our first year at college."

December 12th, 2016. I'd come home for Christmas and we were supposed to be celebrating our four year anniversary. You ditched me for a Spiderman thing and I broke up with you instead.

"I think so!" you lied.

"You look amazing, by the way," he said. "London looks good on you."

"Thanks," you smiled - a gesture which he returned.

His brown eyes still creased the same way they used to - the same way they did in that graduation photo. They were a little more tired now, and his grin was more of a smile. He had stubble now too. Probably still couldn't grow a beard, though.

"I've been meaning to reach out," Peter admitted. "I went to Coney Island the other day and it made me think of you."

Coney Island. That's where you'd been for your first date. You were both fourteen years old - awkward freshman with awkward crushes on one another. Peter ate too much cotton candy and you overdosed on corndogs. There was a photo of that somewhere that you'd taken on your iPhone 4s.

"Man, that was a time," you grinned.

"I still can't eat cotton candy," he laughed. "I still think of you whenever I see corndogs."

"I think of you whenever I hear that one Train song," you shot back.

"Oh man - Drops of Jupiter," he recalled. "I haven't heard that one in years."

"It's still on some of my playlists," you admitted. "I guess it'll always have a special place in my heart."

Just like you.

"How long are you in town for?"

"Just til Monday," you replied. "I gotta get back for work."

"Of course," his face fell slightly. "You really made it big time, huh? You've done all the things you said you would."

"I guess I did."

Except for one thing - keep him.

Your head sometimes wondered off to an alternate reality - one where you hadn't broken up. Sometimes, Peter wasn't Spiderman so he'd come with you to London. Other times, he was, and you'd stay in New York and live out your Lois Lane/Clark Kent dreams.

The latter was your favourite. You had visions of him and you in a Brooklyn Brownstone - you would work at the New York alternative to your job in London, and Peter would be at Stark Industries. You'd meet on the subway after work - as you always had in high school - and then have dinner together. And every night when he came home, you'd sway in the kitchen, Drops of Jupiter playing quietly in the background. Peter would protect you from the bad guys, and you'd be his unsung hero with your constant support. His moral pillar when things became too much.

Nope. Now you weren't even Facebook friends.

"What about you?" you asked. "What are you up to these days?"

"I'm head of biomechanics at Stark Industries," Peter replied. "And I still have my night job."

"Looks like you got everything you wanted to as well," you smiled.

He gave you a nod, brain wondering off to his alternate timeline. It was safe to say it shared the same sentiment as yours.

"It's really good to see you," Peter said. "I mean that."

"Yeah, you as well-"

- you were cut off by his phone ringing. He pulled it from his pocket and let out a groan.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured. "Duty calls. I really wish we could catch up more."

You forced a smile. "Hey, it's fine."

Just like old times.

--

Later that night, after hours of drinking with M.J and Ned, you found yourself perched on the roof of your parents' apartment building.

You didn't know what possessed you to go up there. Even less what possessed you to dig out the Midtown Class of '16 hoodie that had once belonged to Peter.

Today's trip down memory lane had been bumpy. Catching up with old friends was great but being reminded of what you'd lost was bittersweet. It had become astoundingly clear that you hadn't quite let go of Peter. He still had a piece of your heart lying around, probably somewhere in one of his many, many missing backpacks. That sucked for you, because it meant you would never get it back. Maybe you didn't want it back.

Being back had also reaffirmed to you that returning to New York was the best decision for you - which was good, because you'd got a call an hour ago saying your transfer had been accepted. London was great, but everything you knew was back here. You didn't want your revived friendships with your high school friends to rely on you travelling across the world. This was home.

"What were we talking about earlier?"

You jumped at the sound of a familiar voice, turning around to see Peter.

"Hey, Spiderman," you smiled. "I think you were saying how good it was to see me."

Peter walked towards you, tugging off the mask. It brought you back to the days when you'd meet on this very roof-top in your senior year. You'd spend hours pondering on your fear of the future. Things hadn't been so scary after all.

"I'm sorry I had to leave," he said. Peter took a seat beside you, legs dangling off the edge of the roof. "I really was enjoying our conversation."

"How did you know I'd be here?"

"I didn't," he admitted. "I sometimes come here to think."

"Wow," you murmured. "Some things never change."

His eyes met yours and he smiled. "They really don't."

"I said earlier than I think about you when I hear that Train song," you began. "That was a lie. I mean...I do think of you when I hear it, but not just when I hear it. I think about what could have been, you know?"

"Is that why you're wearing my old hoodie?"

You let out a groan.

"Hey, I'm just teasing," Peter grinned. "I still have a pair of your earrings that you left in my bedroom when we were seventeen. I've moved like five times since and they've just come with me."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I think some part of me hoped that if I kept them, you would come back for them."

"I am coming back," you said. "To New York, I mean."

His eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. It just felt like the right time," you replied. "I've missed New York-"

"- I've missed you," Peter cut you off. "I know it's been half a decade but I always wonder what could have been."

"Me too," you smiled. "Honestly, I thought you'd forgotten about me."

"Forgotten?" his eyebrows shot up. "I've been trying to fall out of love with you for five years. I kept telling myself that the version of you I loved didn't exist, and that you'd grown up, but then I saw you today and...I think I love every version of you. Wait, that was so cheesy-"

"- you haven't changed one bit, Peter Parker," you cut him off with a grin.

You placed a hand on the back of his head, fingers tangling in with the soft curls at the nape of his neck. He gave you another smile and you leant in. Your lips met halfway, a warm feeling of familiarity soaring through your body. It felt like coming home after the worst trip of your life; like finally working out the name of a song that you'd had stuck in your head for years.

Relief. A beautiful simplicity that hadn't existed since you were a naive teenager.

"I never stopped loving you either," you confessed, resting your forehead against his.

"I guess we should start making up for lost time."

[hazelcallahan]

hi dani, hope you're having a good one. your gifs are so vibrant and hq! if you don't mind sharing, what's your process?

i appreciate the compliment! i first started making gifs back during my glee fandom days in 2011 so i have been doing this for a while lmao, but here's my general process (under a cut because it got long as hell):

i'm gonna assume you know the general giffing process for this - if you need me to help you out with screencaps, lmk! just make sure whatever you use is 1080p. i torrent to get the best possible quality, which is its own tutorial, but there's plenty of those out there.

open up whatever you use to make gifs - i use adobe photoshop cc that i definitely legally got - and go into file -> scripts -> load files into stack and select all the pictures.

once you've done that, go to the window tab and check "timeline" to add the timeline window to your workspace and click "create video timeline, then click the three small boxes in the bottom left to convert it to a frame animation. then go to the hamburger menu in the top right and click "make frames from layers". this will actually put the frames in reverse, so go to the same menu and click "reverse frames". from here i go the same menu AGAIN, click "select all frames", then change the frame delay to 0.05.

now it's time to crop! for the best quality, make sure your image size matches that of tumblr's. tumblr's image width is 540px, if you're doing two images side by side it's 268px, and i do not recommend doing three side by side because things get weird. the height can be whatever you want.

sharpening is another aspect of getting those gifs as crisp as possible. there are many ways to get a good sharpen, but the way i do it, you have to convert your timeline back to video timeline, so click the little icon in the bottom left:

then select all your layers, right click, and select "convert to smart object". then, with that layer selected, go to filter -> sharpen -> smart sharpen, then use these settings:

duplicate that sharpened layer, then go to filter -> blur -> gaussian blur, with these settings:

then take the layer that has both the sharpen and the blur, and set the opacity to 50%.

now it's time to colour! i have the same general process to colour all my gifs, sometimes with an added selective colour layer if i really want to amp up or turn down a certain colour. but all of them can be found under layer -> new adjustment layer. first is a curves layer to brighten up the whole thing

then another, different curves layer to add some contrast:

then a vibrance layer set to pretty high, around 80-100% but i play it by ear because the next layer is actually a gradient map set to soft light with 50% opacity to add some more contrast and tone down the vibrancy a bit

now, in order, i mess around with a selective colour layer (generally i only touch the red, yellow, white, black, and neutral colours, unless there's something i really wanna specifically bring out like the cyans/blues/greens in a lot of the arcane gifs) and for this there's no real system. you just gotta play it by ear depending on the scene. next, do the same with a colour balance layer. i usually top it off with a levels layer to add just a tiny bit more contrast, but that isn't entirely necessary as you can do the same by amping up the blacks in the selective colour layer.

once you're done colouring, go to file -> save for web. make sure to set the looping to "forever", and keep an eye out for the file size. luckily for newer gifmakers, the size limit is a whole 10MB now (though sometimes it'll cap out at something like 9.8 so stay on the safe side). it used to be a LOT smaller, iirc it was 500KB when i first started. if your gif is over size, you're gonna have to just cut out some frames by playing with the edges on the timeline window, since cutting down the colours will affect quality.

you're actually not quite done here - after you've saved it, close your file and then open the gif you just made. it'll default open in frame animation, and you'll see that the delay on the frames is actually 0.07 now. it's something that happens during the conversion to video timeline. select all frames and change that delay back to 0.05 since 0.07 is actually a noticeably slower and less smooth gif. save that the same way you did before, and NOW you're done! thanks for sticking around! happy giffing!

[rocorambles]

A Game of Cat and Mouse

Pairing: Iwaizumi x Reader

Genre/Warnings: Cop and Criminal AU (Cop Iwaizumi, Criminal Reader), NSFW, Sex Toys, Degradation, Overstimulation, Bondage

Summary: Bad girls get punished. And criminals who go out of their way to make Iwaizumi’s life hell on a routine basis deserve extra special punishment.

Author’s Note: This is for the NSFW Haikyuu HQ Gifting Event! @multifandhoem I hope you enjoy~ (I really got carried away with the plot in this fic. One day I will learn how to write porn without plot, but for now, please accept my porn with way too much plot.)

Irritating Iwaizumi Hajime might be your favorite activity in the world. There’s just something so satisfying about watching his usually calm and stoic face shatter into an angry feral mess. And maybe, just maybe, something deep in your belly stirs as he growls and snarls at you, something primal in you writhing in excitement as he bares his teeth at you and chases you. 

You’ve lived a life of sins and crimes for as long as you can remember, but hard work has taken you a long way. So really, there isn’t any need for you to continue your petty thieving ways. You’re set for life with the money you’ve accrued from the countless successful exchanges you’ve made. It’s almost obscene just how much people are willing to pay for a few shiny stones or swatches of paint on a canvas. 

And yet you can’t help yourself from revisiting your bad habits of creeping in the shadows, analyzing floor plans, strategizing routes. Only now, your plans are centered around a brooding spiky haired cop with the most beautiful green eyes you’ve ever seen instead of the number of zeros at the end of a number. 

You don’t know exactly what about Iwaizumi resonates so strongly with you. Sure, he’s handsome, but you’ve run into your fair share of handsome officers. You dare say Officer Sawamura could give Iwaizumi a run for his money in the looks department.

Maybe it’s the hints of wildness you see underneath his straight-laced façade. 

Maybe it’s the fire you see blazing behind his reserved countenance.

Whatever it is has you keeping tabs on him, has you concocting plans just sloppy enough for Iwaizumi to get tantalizingly close to you, but put together enough to have you escaping his grasp each and every time. And you cackle at the way his eyes light up when he thinks he has you pinned down, only to furiously scowl at your retreating figure when you taunt him with a flirtatious air kiss and a cheeky “maybe next time, sir”. 

It’s an endless game of cat and mouse, but you don’t think you’ll ever tire of it. And you’re beginning to suspect that even Iwaizumi finds it amusing to a certain degree. 

You had been at a loss for words when the officer had merely trudged into the jewelry store you had been waiting for him in at your last heist, only to casually lean against the wall, folding his arms across his chest as he regarded you holding the store’s most expensive strings of diamonds and pearls in your hands, teasingly holding them up to his face. And you hesitantly lower your arm, unsure what to do as the silence and stillness of the night stretches. 

There’s no growled threats or pointed firearm in your face like there usually would be right about now. And you swear there’s a hint of a smirk on the handsome face across from you as the two of you just stand there, stuck in the strange heady tension filling the air. 

But you almost drop everything you’re holding at Iwaizumi’s next words. 

“If you want my attention that badly, there are better ways of going about it.” 

It’s Iwaizumi’s turn to laugh as your trademark smirk falls off the lower unmasked part of your face and he confidently saunters over to you, strong arms boxing you in against the glass counter, enjoying the rush of power he feels about the tables finally turning as you shyly look anywhere but at him. And something roars triumphantly inside of him when you gasp as he hooks his hand under your chin and forces you to meet him gaze on. 

“I’ve spent the last few months wracking my brain for answers. Why were you suddenly committing so many meaningless robberies? Robberies of stores and items so far beneath your caliber? Was it just coincidence that you were only committing crimes on the routes and nights I was working? Was I just imagining that it seemed like you were actively trying to avoid injuring me every time we clashed? None of it made any sense. But then your stupid flirting started and it made me think that maybe there was some rhyme and reason to your suddenly erratic behavior after all.” 

There’s silence as he lets you register his words and the rattling of jewelry as he plucks the expensive strands out of your hands and carelessly tosses them back in their case. But he softly smiles when you don’t deny his words and make no move to push him away or escape. 

“I believe in new beginnings and fresh starts, so when you’re done with your thieving ways, come find me. I’m curious about the woman under the mask.” 

It’s weeks before you have the courage to even secretly trail after Iwaizumi again after that encounter and even then, you don’t do anything but keep watch over him. 

His words echo in your mind and you don’t have the urge to steal and ring an alarm to beckon him towards you. Not when the greatest treasure of all is just within your grasp whenever you’re ready to summon the will to finally reveal your identity and meet him person to person in broad daylight instead of slithering around each other in the twisted tango of cop and criminal. 

But you aren’t ready yet and you merely keep tabs on him for now, curiosity and protectiveness getting the better of you, and if Iwaizumi notices the moving shadow that seems to follow him wherever he goes, he doesn’t bring attention to it. There’s something comforting, maybe even endearing, about how you’ve become a guardian angel of sorts to him, especially with the increasing body count and grizzly crimes being committed. And although he wishes you were safe and sound, tucked far away from the ricocheting bullets and corpses, his heart warms at the bouquet of lilies he finds on his doorsteps when he stumbles back home, empty and defeated, the weight of his partner’s death from a particularly bloody shootout still fresh on his mind. 

There’s no note, no letter, but he knows. Knows that it could only be you, knows that no one outside of his team or the criminals they had been fighting with could possibly know about the death so soon unless they happened to witness the scene. And that night he sobs himself to sleep, clutching your flowers to his chest, unaware of the way you forlornly stare at him from the roof across the street, heart aching and wishing more than anything that you weren’t such a coward, that you were brave enough to slip inside and comfort him in person. 

But life has a funny way of working, of not caring if you’re ready or not and your lives crash together once more in an unexpected way. 

Iwaizumi is promoted to lead the new task force aimed at squashing down the rising crime syndicates. You’re proud of him, but you can’t quell the anxiety that courses through you as you watch every raid that takes place, wondering if and when the day will come where he’ll be outmaneuvered, keeping your own skills sharp, praying that you’ll never have to use them again, but just in case…

And you thank whoever’s listening that you had kept up with your training as Iwaizumi’s team is ambushed and overpowered one night. Your heart drops and bile rises in your throat as officer after officer crumples to the floor, but you force yourself to calm down, to find an internal steady rhythm as you glide through the shadows, swiftly and secretly making your way towards the man you’ve become so attached to. 

You fight down the panic when you finally reach him, try to still the tremble in your hands as you quickly scan the growing dark red stain spreading across his shirt from his wounds, almost collapsing in relief when you find that they’re all superficial wounds, nothing life threatening or critical. 

The silent scuffle between the two of you is awful and you’re thankful that blood loss and pain have weakened him as you forcefully drag him away, nails gripping tightly into his skin as you roughly lead him to your apartment despite his struggling, despite his desperate desire to go back and help his few remaining teammates. And you’re both fiercely snarling at each other when you’re finally safe inside your apartment, fury raging in both of you as you snap at each other. 

“You should have let me stay and help!”

“So that you could end up dead like the rest of them? You were clearly outpowered and outnumbered!”

“Well you should have just let me die then, instead of helping me escape like a coward.” 

A resounding crack echoes throughout the room and it takes you some time to register the smarting pain in the palm of your hand and the fresh red mark on Iwaizumi’s cheek. But before you can even stutter an apology, a hand is fisting the front of your shirt and lips are crashing against yours in an angry impassioned act and you whimper as you are forced to taste his frustration and gratitude, his losses and gain, his despair and hope. 

And when he disconnects and the two of you gasp for much needed oxygen, you stand in the middle of your apartment, arms wrapped around each other, only the sounds of Iwaizumi’s sobs and your comforting words flitting through the air as he buries his face in the crook of your neck and you rub soothing patterns on his back. 

The rest of the night is a domestic peaceful drawl and you gently lead Iwaizumi to an armchair in your living room before scurrying away to rummage for your first aid kit and returning to kneel between his legs as you clean his injuries, apologizing as he winces at the sting of warm water and soap against his open wounds. There’s a soothing flow as you tend to him and you relax with every swipe of the towel, fingers and hands lingering just a tad longer than they should on his skin. But you stiffen when his uninjured arm raises and calloused fingers lightly trace the bottom of your mask. 

There’s an unspoken question in the way he delicately plays around with the corners of the fabric, but it seems deafening to you as your heart races. Maybe it’s the pure intentions in his eyes or the fact that your walls are weakened in the confines of your apartment, but either way, you don’t pull away, tilting your head up and stilling in silent confirmation. And something flutters in your chest as he gingerly removes your mask, heat rising to your face as green eyes stare at your face in awe for the first time, fingertips tracing every inch and line, mapping every groove reverently. 

It feels like eternity before you resume dipping the towel into the soapy water and treating him. But bandaged and deemed well, Iwaizumi is ushered to your shower and you shove a pile of clean towels and the largest loungewear you have into his hands, fully intent on locking him in the bathroom as you get a grip on yourself. But he has different plans in mind and you’re speechless as he firmly grasps your wrist before you can retreat with your tail between your legs. 

“Stay with me. Please.”

How could you possibly deny those honest eyes? 

Swipes of a soapbar against skin become intimate caresses and before you fully register what’s happening, you’re being pressed against the wall as Iwaizumi plunders your mouth, rough hands roaming all over your body as he fully explores everything you have to offer. You whimper as the hot water is suddenly turned off, the cold air crashing against you, but you let out a content sigh as a hot body wraps you in its embrace, carrying you to the sanctuary of your plush bedding. And all you know before you blissfully pass out is the sound of your wanton moans as you break apart over and over again, on Iwaizumi’s tongue, fingers, and cock, tears and drool cascading down your face as you alternate between begging for more and crying for him to let you rest before you ultimately pass out from the deliriously overwhelming ecstasy.

The sun is barely creeping in, a few slim tendrils slipping past the cracks of your window blinds when his eyes flutter open and something warm spreads in his chest as he slowly turns to observe your still soundly sleeping figure, a small upward quirk of his lips betraying how right it feels to wake up beside your vulnerable state. And although he can’t deny the allure of your body creeping through the night, he thinks that you’re the most beautiful like this, unmasked and body unconsciously seeking his presence and warmth as you curl into his space, your face nuzzling into his chest, head perfectly settled under his chin, the soft glow of sunlight enhancing your natural beauty. 

But he grimaces as his alarm continues to blaringly ring in the background, frowning as he reluctantly separates himself from you and carefully untangles himself from your bed sheets, quietly traipsing out of your room and dialing a number on his phone when he’s out of your earshot.   

Guilt and dread claw at him as the ringtone goes on and on and his throat is dry when he hears the authoritative voice through the speakers. 

“Iwaizumi? Are you okay?!”

Iwaizumi wishes he had a glass of water as he chokes out a polite greeting and he can feel hot tears prick at his eyes as he ceaselessly apologizes. Apologizing for abandoning his men. Apologizing for a failed mission. Apologizing for being such a failure as an officer, as a leader. 

But he quickly shuts up at the sharp tone that pierces his ear as Sawamura barks his name and he waits and waits, holding his breath, preparing to give up his badge, only to splutter in surprise at the warm relieved chuckle echoing across the speaker. 

“I’m glad you’re at least well enough to give me a headache with your wallowing. Good men died and we’re going to feel their loss for a long time. I won’t deny that. But no one blames you, Iwaizumi. You’re a good man, a great officer, and an even better leader. Rest up, grieve, mourn. Do whatever you need to do for the next few days. And when you’re ready, I expect to see you in my office so we can strategize about how we’re going to honor our fallen teammates by giving these criminals hell.”

He barely has time to stammer a “yes, sir” before the line clicks shut and the tears finally roll down his face as he clutches his phone in his hands, bittersweet gratefulness and sorrow blending together. And as his cries come to an end, a determined glint flickers in his eyes as he wipes the last of the salty trails away, the resolve of a man seeking vengeance forming inside of him. 

But that could wait until he was back in the swirl and chaos of the precinct. For now, he has other loose ends to tie and he quietly walks back to your room, smiling at the sight of your still slumbering figure nestled in your blankets as he makes his way towards you, intent on slipping back underneath the covers besides you. But he lets out a muffled pained curse as his foot knocks over a box besides your bed, the crash of objects dispersing across the wood floor rattling you awake, and you blearily blink your eyes open only to stare in shock and horror as Iwaizumi curiously holds up a set of black bondage restraints and a jeweled butt plug from among the scattered items, before sending an amused look and a quirked brow your way.    

If you were drowsy before, you’re wide awake now as you lunge out of bed, throwing yourself at Iwaizumi as you frantically try to regain possession of some of your most intimate belongings, pouting when he holds the items out of reach, a mischievous grin on his face as he looks down at you. 

“Are you familiar with the stoplight system?”

You pause your futile jumping as you try and bat your toys out of his hands, balking at the underlying meaning in his question, waiting for him to just laugh it off and move on. But when all he does is bring a warm hand to gently cup your face, his thumb brushing against your cheekbone as he patiently gazes at you, letting you make the final decision, you melt and lean into his touch, shyly nodding your head as you blissfully sigh at the way it feels so right for him to be touching you. 

“Words, princess. I’m not going to be gentle. Not after all the teasing and headaches you’ve caused me. So I need to be sure you’re ok with this, that it’s what you want.” 

Brief descriptions of red, yellow, and green are barely out of your mouth before you’re suddenly being forcefully shoved onto the bed, body instinctively flailing in self-defense as you try to register what’s happening while binds are roughly being wrapped around your wrists and ankles. But you mewl in arousal as Iwaizumi’s weight settles on top of you, his hard chest pressing you against the bed as he dexterously ties you up until you’re in a spread-eagled position underneath him, unable to move even an inch. And your breath hitches at the hungry look he pins you down with as he sits back and enjoys the view of your trussed up body on complete display for him. 

But you grow impatient as the minutes drag by and Iwaizumi gives you an unimpressed look as you begin to fight against your restraints, whining for him to get on with it already. And he shuts you up with a punishing pinch to your inner thigh that has you yelping before getting up from the bed and perusing your box of toys. 

You crane your neck in every way as you try to get a sneak peek of what he has in store for you, but Iwaizumi puts that idea to a screeching halt as he slips a blindfold around your head and all you know is darkness and anticipation. Despite the way you try to intently listen for any warning, you squeal in surprise when a hot wet mouth latches onto one of your nipples, fingers tweaking the other and your entire world narrows down to your two perky buds, the lewd wet sounds of sucking filling your ears. Mouth and hands alternate and you can’t keep up with the fluctuating patterns, your breath coming out in pants, your pussy beginning to glisten with arousal, and you sigh in relief when the assault stops, glad to have a moment of reprieve, only to wail when the intense pressure of nipple clamps sears through you, the cold weight of the chain connecting the two clamps piercing your senses as it settles onto your skin. 

Pain and pleasure echo through your mind so loudly that you don’t sense Iwaizumi moving until fingers suddenly slip inside your dripping pussy and your back arches, the nipple clamp chain jingling with the movement and a rush of humiliation courses through you when Iwaizumi chuckles, commenting on how wet you are already. 

“I was going to prep you a bit more, but looks like this cock hungry hole is more than ready.” 

You’re practically salivating as something hard nudges against your entrance, already delirious just from the prospect of being filled with Iwaizumi’s cock once again, but enthusiasm turns to confusion which turns to pleasured shock as your rabbit vibrator is shoved inside of you and immediately set to its highest setting, your clit and walls stimulated so sharply, so suddenly. 

It’s so good, but it’s not enough, it’s too much, it’s not what you want. 

“Haji-Hajime, please. Want to cum on your cock. Don’t want a toy! Too much. At least turn it down. Haji-AHHHH!” 

You scream as you’re forced to an orgasm, body convulsing, jaw going slack, and you wait for the toy to be removed, wait for the settings to be lowered, only for dread and disbelief to fill you as a sticky thick substance is being inserted into your puckered hole, a lubed finger slowly entering you, taking its time to explore and spread your tight hole as the vibrator continues to ravage your pussy and clit at full intensity. And drool begins to seep from the corners of your mouth as you tumble headfirst into overstimulation as a plug replaces the fingers inside of your ass, nestling inside of you as you come to terms with the overwhelming feeling of being double stuffed. 

“Ha-Hajime please please please. Too much. I can’t-”

The plug inside of you is teasingly pulled just enough for you to feel the stretch of your hole, only to be shoved inside you once again and words are too hard to think of as the vibrator is thrust in and out of you, the slick sounds of your gushing cunt embarrassingly loud even above your whimpers. 

“Maybe I should make you cum for every robbery you ever committed. Maybe then you’ll actually behave and be a law-abiding citizen. Would you like that? Being too fucked out to even think about breaking the law?”

“No! Please! I’m sorry. I’ll be good. I swear. Just please let me rest.” 

“Sorry, princess. Bad girls need to be punished.” 

A strangled sob escapes you as the vibrator is pushed even deeper inside of you, the smaller tip grinding even further into your clit and your cries are swallowed as Iwaizumi settles besides you, affectionately capturing your lips with his as he watches you break apart once again, smirking as your body and face try to draw closer to him, seeking comfort and relief as overwhelming pleasure drowns you. 

But he doesn’t stop. Not even when your begging and pleading turns into incoherent babbles and wanton noises. Not even when you’re too tired to even move, your body only twitching here and there from overstimulation, completely slack and mindless as pleasure melts your brain into mush. 

Only when the vibrator finally runs out of batteries hours later, the mechanical whirring coming to an end, does he finally relieve you of the object and you dazedly stare at him as he removes your tear-stained blindfold, slumping in relief that it’s finally over, wanting nothing more than to curl up in Iwaizumi’s arms and sleep for a long, long time. 

But he has other plans for the two of you and even in your exhausted state, your eyes fling wide open and you weakly whimper as he positions himself in between your legs, guiding his cock to your spent hole and easily slipping inside before caging you with his arms.

Your eyes roll back at the sudden intrusion and despite how wrecked you are, how used you feel, arousal once again begins to coil up inside of you as your walls accommodate the new object. 

All you can think about is the cock inside of you. All you can think about is the way it fills and stretches you. All you can think about is the way it drags against your sensitive walls as Iwaizumi begins to piston his hips in a brutal steady rhythm. 

The room is a cacophony of Iwaizumi’s grunts, your broken moans, the sound of skin slapping against skin and you can feel yourself losing to the pleasure as the now all too familiar knot in your stomach tightens once again, your body tensing and pulling taut against your restraints as something builds up inside of you. 

Iwaizumi isn’t doing much better, so pent up from watching you beautifully fall apart over and over again in front of him, so close to the real thing as he hovers above you, memorizing the blissed out look on your face, mentally recording every gorgeous sound that slips past your lips, and this time it’s all because of him. 

He increases his pace, groaning as your walls tighten around him as if they don’t ever want him to leave them empty, something feral inside of him howling as your mouth opens in a silent scream as you crash one last time, your body shaking and trembling, your cunt spasming around him as he spills long thick stripes inside of you. 

When there’s nothing left to give, every last drop of his essence deep within you, your body boneless and limp beneath him, he gently lays on top of you, burying his face in the space besides yours, murmuring praises and words of affirmation as he blankets your body with his. 

And when you finally come back to him, eyes looking a little more clear, voice regaining your sassy tone as you demand that he undo your restraints, he’s more than happy to oblige, carefully releasing you, rubbing every sore limb, letting you use him as your personal body pillow as you throw your arms and legs around him and bury your face into his chest, almost instantly falling into a deep exhausted slumber in the safety of his presence. 

There will be proper, much needed conversations and discussions when the two of you are both awake, sitting across each other with steaming mugs of coffee placed in front of you, hesitantly yet hopefully probing for answers. What are the two of you? What does the future hold for both of you? 

But for now, Iwaizumi lets his eyes shut, lets himself be lulled by the rhythmic rise and fall of your chest as he holds you close to him, protectively curling around you as sleep embraces him.

[thetruearchmagos]

The Commonwealth Calls

Excerpt: Steel Clad Coffins (2)

Alright, Part 2, done! Here's the first part!

And they were off. Two and a dozen armtracks tearing across the open lowlands of the Bardinian countryside, their engines' guttural roars mixing with the whining of hydraulics and the heavy growls of tracks ripping up the dirt beneath them. They travelled in leaps and bounds, those in the lead stopping on a hill or outcropping to watch over the battlefield, as their comrades surged path, then joining again when others took their positions. In 30 minutes, the swift machines had pushed their way to the Battalion Group form up positions.

The scene before them was like an industrial hellscape. Apparently, it had been decided that the best location for the final meeting place pre-assault would be in the bombed out ruins of some now ancient factory complex. Amidst the cracked and broken concrete, vehicles were parked scattered about, ranging from the heavily armoured "Hoplite" infantry transports with their autocannons like predator snouts to the light wheeled scout cars, lined up like a pack of wolves in a huddled ring.

And as the Major poked her torso out through the cupola, and looked on over the assembled mass, as her Company made its way to the rally, a small utility car trundled up the narrow dirt road. At the same time, the transmitter flared up again, now on HQ's band.

"EAGER to LOCKER, EAGER to LOCKER, get your company moving onto the fueling points soon-as, the attack's been moved up to an hour from now, Clear." "Clear on, EAGER, moving up."

Her terse reply could hardly conceal Goyan's annoyance with her new orders. Still, orders they were, and the state of things made this hardly the first one she'd rather not have to deal with. She called in with her unit to relay instructions.

"LOCKER to all units, prepare to conduct refueling exercise. 1st Platoon, you're up, everyone else try not to look too conspicuous." Her instructions sent and acknowledged, her own armtrack now rolled its way down the hill, with the Executive Officer's vehicle following close. As they rode on past the burning rubble, Goyan saw the telltale round cylinders of 2 fuel trucks, and the boxy fuel pump machinery they towed behind them. Already her armtracks had lined up for fueling, 4 to a truck and surrounding them like a feeding litter of animals. In minutes the dozen vehicles had finished up refueling, and were now being led by various other soldiers to the infantry they would be supporting in the oncoming assault. "Well, I reckon it's our turn, Major. I think I heard Battalion say they wanted a briefing with us." "Certainly, Pohl, I'm sure the crew'll be able to handle a brief refueling job. Ain't that right, Klein?" Goyan and Lieutenant Klein barely heard the laughs of their crews as they clambered their ways out of their vehicles and jumped onto the well-churned ground. Already, the same motorcar that had led the column to the fuel trucks now drove its way towards the pair, as the armtracks revved their engines and trundled off. The open car, dwarfed by the hulking masses of armour all around it, pulled to a stop right in front of the two officers, and a man in combat fatigues with the rank tabs of a Captain, who sat to the right of driver, turned and called out to them. " 'Ello you two, thanks for finally gracing us with your presence! Hop in, the Colonels in a foul mood and being late won't help!" "Thank you for the insight John, helpful as usual."

Goyan and Pohl climbed over the open top doors of the car, and the assembled group sped off into the cavernous, hollow belly of the fallen factory centre, where their future would await them

[hueswrites]

hq kinktober [day2] hanamaki & matsukawa

main hq kinktober masterlist

hq kinktober [day2] hanamaki takahiro & matsukawa isseis - double penetration

includes:

simultaneous vaginal & anal sex, all consenting, established relationship, alcohol use

wordcount:

4,136

~~~

You lay in bed with your boyfriend, basking in a blissful post-sex haze while you let your eyes rest. The "ding" of a text coming through Takahiro's phone grabs your attention.

"I'm getting drinks with Issei," he says, rolling out of bed.

You glance at the time. "It's two in the afternoon," you state, giving him a disapproving glare.

"And?" He says, going to the bathroom to take a piss with the door wide open.

"I really wish you would find a job. Is Issei off today or something?"

"Nah. He had a shitty day and his dad let him leave early, so I'm going to keep him company."

You roll your eyes. "Must be nice working for daddy. Why don't you see if you can get a job with him?"

"He actually did say they need someone in the crematory, but I'm not burning up dead people for a living. Besides," he turns to look at you and winks. "You know you love having me here to cook, clean, and fuck you senseless at all hours of the day."

You roll your eyes. He had a point.

~~~

Takahiro finds Issei at the bar, halfway through his second beer and looking absolutely miserable. They greet each other with a nod and Takahiro takes the seat next to him. The bartender is is already cracking a bottle open of Takahiro's usual order, which happens to be the same exact beer Issei preferred to drink. He takes a good, lengthy sip then sets the frosty bottle down with an audible sigh of delight. He looks over at Issei. "Wanna talk about it?"

Issei groans. "No. I just wanna drink." He takes a sip of his beer.

Takahiro unzips his jacket and saunters it off his shoulders, then places it onto the empty stool beside him. He looks up at the top shelf of liquors behind the bar and racks through his brain for something to talk about that would help get his friend out of his slump. "Oikawa's visiting next week. Have you talked to him? You know that'll be a good time. Always is."

Issei only sighs in response. Well, shit. He was really down in the dumps. "I need to get laid, Makki," he grumbles.

Takahiro raises his eyebrows. "What happened with that one foreign chick? Thought you and her had a good thing going on."

"She found someone else. Said she felt like she was fucking the grim reaper and thought I'd end up giving her a curse from one of the dead bodies in the funeral home," he drops his head down onto his forearms and hides his face. "Said she couldn't get the image of dead, shriveled dick out of her head when we hooked up."

Takahiro laughs. "That's fucking weird," he says. "You don't even see the bodies. You just sell the caskets and help families through their grieving."

"Yeah, I know," he groans out in frustration. "I have a decent job making decent money and even have my own place... I guess that's the limit on the amount of good things I'm allowed to have in this life."

Takahiro scoffs. "Don't say that. You're doing really good. Shit, look at me. I've been unemployed for three months now, freeloading off my girlfriend-"

"Your hot girlfriend,"

Takahiro ignores him, continuing, "I'm in a shit ton of debt, and I've now watched every single season of that stupid Korean drama my girlfriend insisted would inspire me to change my life Honestly, that shit made me feel worse."

Issei manages a laugh and lifts his head back up, dark wavy hair now a tousled mess over his forehead. "Yeah, dude. You sound like a bum. Why does she keep you around?"

"I cook and I clean. And," a smug smirk lifts the corners of his lips, "the sex is amazing."

Issei's head drops back down onto the bar top. "Fuck you," he mumbles into the sleeves of his shirt.

"You know, she is a model and a personal trainer. There's no way she doesn't have any single, cute girl friends that would be willing to hook up."

Issei sits back up and finishes his drink, the idea now seeming to lift his spirits. "If you could find someone that'd be interested in a gloomy, boring guy like me, then I'll pay your tab-"

Takahiro smiles and chugs the rest of his beer, then locks onto the bartender. "Another round on this guy's tab, please," he shouts.

Issei chuckles. "You better work some magic, asshole."

~~~

Takahiro returns home to your apartment to find you in the living room, drenched in sweat and in the middle of giving one of your online fitness classes. As you go through the motions of squats and burpees he takes a moment to admire the way your ass jiggles and resists the urge to give it a smack. You would kill him if you did such a thing in front of her clients, and probably withhold any sort of physical intimacy from him as punishment. It's amazing that you even have the energy to workout after your earlier exertion with him in bed.

He decides to make himself comfortable on at the kitchen counter and pulls out his phone, scrolling through your list of friends on Facebook. He didn't know half the people on your list, and he was pretty sure you didn't know them either. It made sense that a popular, attractive young woman such as yourself had so many connections. When the two of you started dating, you warned Takahiro about the amount of attention men (and women) gave you. It didn't bother Takahiro one bit. He loved knowing someone as attractive and talented as you was all his.

Issei may have had the career and the independence, but to Takahiro, you were all he needed. He loved to please you. The cooking and cleaning was no chore to him. You allowed him to stay at your apartment expecting nothing but his love and respect in return. And great sex. You were definitely just as kinky and open-minded as he is.

As his thoughts focused on you, he found himself remembering the early days of your relationship. He met you two years ago at a bar when Oikawa had been in town visiting for the holidays. Both he and Issei were instantly attracted to you. Oikawa noticed their attraction to you and was able to get your number in the blink of an eye. Imagine her disappointment when she learned that neither of the two numbers that texted her the next day belonged to that gorgeous brunette with big brown eyes and a voice as sweet as honey.

He and Issei made a game out of trying to woo you. In the end, you fell for Takahiro's boyish good looks and charming personality. Not that Issei wasn't charming or good looking - you just thought Takahiro had much more going for him, with his talk of wanting to be an entrepreneur and successful business man, while Issei went right into working for his parent's funeral home.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

It's then that an idea pops into Takahiro's head. He brings up his text conversation with Issei.

He sends a text: "Wanna have a threesome with me and ___?"

Issei responds almost instantly: "You serious?"

Takahiro chuckles to himself. He replies: "Let me ask her. I'll get back to you."

~~~

After your class is finished, you shower and get yourself ready for dinner. The news plays on the TV in the living room adjacent from your dining area, but you're not paying attention. You're trying to figure out why your boyfriend is so unusually quiet. He's been on his phone since the two of you sat down to eat, only taking a bite every couple of minutes.

"Hey, Hiro," you start, irritation laced through your voice. "What's wrong?"

"Issei is lonely," he says.

"That sucks," you say through a mouthful of rice.

"He needs to get laid."

You raise a brow. "Okay. How are you going to help him with that?"

"What do you think about letting him join in on our fun?"

You spit out your food.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He smirks, eyes still on his phone. "Would you fuck him?"

"Takahiro. I'm not even gonna answer that question."

Takahiro hums. "His dick is bigger than mine, you know."

Your face flushes red. "Are you really being serious right now?"

"Yeah. You know he's always had the hots for you. Don't you find him attractive? You did back then, I know that's a fact."

You pause as if to consider. "He's cute. I never liked his hair though. He needs to cut it."

Takahiro snorts. "Babe. Think about it. You already know each other, and you said having a threesome is on your list of sexual fantasies you want to try."

"How do you know about my list?!"

Takahiro skims over your question and continues. "So is that a yes or a no?"

"But he's your best friend."

"Yeah, and that's why it'll be fun!"

You really did want to check off having a threesome from your list.

You let out a huff and frown. "Let me think about it."

Takahiro beams and starts tapping away on his phone. "Okay, so is Friday good with you?"

"Takahiro!" You shout, shooting him your best crazy eyes. You grit your teeth. "I have a class Friday night. Let's do it Saturday."

Takahiro to Issei: She’s in. You free Saturday night?

~~~

Saturday finally arrives, and you and Takahiro are both getting ready to leave your apartment for the night.

"I'm gonna need alcohol before we do this," you said as you rolled on deodorant.

Takahiro is in the bathroom, brushing his teeth. "Aww, you nervous, babe?" he garbled through his spit and toothpaste.

"Yes, Hiro. You're gonna be watching your best friend fuck me."

"Issei and I are cool like that. Always have been."

Silence follows, and Takahiro looks at you through the mirror. You've stopped packing your things and are sitting on your bed, gazing off into space. He frowns. "You know you don't have to do this if it's making you uncomfortable. I'm not gonna force you to do anything you're not sure you want to do."

You look up and glare back at him through the mirror. "I know that, idiot," and then you smile. "I'm just being a brat."

Takahiro rinses his mouth and gives his hair one last comb through before leaving the bathroom and walking over to you. He bends down to give you a kiss and ruffles your hair with his hand. "I love my little brat. Wouldn't have you any other way."

You reach up and cradle his face in your hands. "Love you too."

~~~

The three of you decided to have drinks at the bar in the hotel's lobby Issei had paid for your night together. You told Takahiro that you would feel more comfortable away from home, somewhere that you could let loose and not have to worry about cleaning up afterwards.

The conversation had mostly been the two of them reminiscing on their high school and college years, with you slurping your drink and giggling in between their exchanges. "You guys really chose to go to the same college so you could remain friends?"

Takahiro idly stirs his drink, keeping his eyes on you. Your cheeks are flushed red and your eyes are glossed over, an obvious sign that you were pretty buzzed. You seemed to be enjoying yourself, even offering little flirty comments Issei's way here and there. Takahiro thought it was adorable.

"Once Oikawa and Iwaizumi went away, everything got really boring. Making new friends is a pain," Issei explained. "I don't think other people would be able to handle our sense of humor. We like to make jabs at each other, and other people take things too seriously."

Takahiro hums in agreement. "I hate when people can't take a joke."

You finish your cocktail and the tiny little hiccup that escapes your lips has Takahiro looking at you with adoration. "I don't think many best friends would be down to fuck the other's girlfriend, either." You giggle.

Both men blushed at your blunt observation. Takahiro cleared his throat. "Uhh, you wanna get the check and skedaddle, Issei?"

Issei swallowed the rest of his drink and slammed the empty glass down onto the table. "You always read my mind, Makki."

~~~

The three of you are stripping yourselves naked as soon as you enter the hotel room. You were the first one on the bed, waiting rather impatiently for someone to start giving you attention. Takahiro was quick to climb after you, having discarded his clothes onto the floor. He placed kisses all over your face and your neck, sucking onto your breasts and pinching your hips. You squirmed underneath his touch, curling your toes in delight.

Issei goes to sit in the chair at the side of the room, and the sound of air leaving the cushion as he plops down causes you and Takahiro to stop what you're doing and look up at Issei. "What are you doing?" Takahiro asks, confused.

"M'gonna sit back and watch you two," Issei says. "Lemme see how amazing fire crotch over here really is."

"Watch it, dickhead. I'm no fire crotch. My hair's strawberry brown, idiot." Takahiro growls, returning his attention back to you. He towers over you, eyeing you hungrily. "You ready for this, baby?"

~~~

Takahiro's got two of his fingers deep inside your cunt, pumping into your sloppy, wet heat with determination to get you all warmed up for what's to come. You feel the mattress dip behind you and shiver as a second pair of hands lands on your body. Issei finally had enough as a bystander and was ready to join the action. He presses his lips to your back, between your shoulder blades, and massages his thumbs into your hips.

"Feeling good, baby?" Takahiro mumbles into your ear.

"Mmhm," you nod, both of your hands coming up to rest on his shoulders. Issei hums and slides his hands up to caress your breasts. You lean your head back against him and sigh.

"You're so soft," he says behind you, giving your nipples a squeeze. You moan.

"Tell Issei how you want to be touched," Takahiro says as he continues to work his fingers down between your legs.

"Just keep touching me like that," you breath, voice shaky.

Takahiro slides his fingers out from you and pulls back just a bit, looking at you with dark, heavy eyes. He takes in the sight of Issei's large hands enveloping your breasts, the way you pant softly through parted lips, and the rise and fall of your chest just under your collar bone. The sight makes him groan. He leans back against the headrest and strokes himself slowly.

You take one of your hands and place it over Issei's to pull it away from your breast and down to your stomach. He takes the hint and brings his fingers down further to start massaging your clit. You can feel his length pressing into the small of your back, slight moisture from the tip sticking to your skin. His fingers spread your lower lips and he smears your juices over your hole, teasing your entrance.

"Show me how good you suck Makki's dick," he mumbles against your neck.

You oblige and lean forward onto your hands, pressing one down into the mattress on each side of your boyfriend's legs.

Takahiro watches with anticipation as you lower yourself down to his hard, swollen cock. You pause to tuck your hair behind your ears and the simple action makes his heart flutter. He lets out a pleased groan as you wrap your lips around the tip.

Issei dips two of his fingers into your cunt and you moan around Takahiro's cock. He responds by placing a hand on your head, encouraging you to take him deeper.

You swirl your hips against the palm of Issei's hands like a feline swaying her tail. Takahiro's cock is deep into your mouth now, touching the back of your throat. You press your tongue against the sensitive underside as you suck your way back up, tracing the vein that protrudes through his thin skin.

Takahiro groans. "Fuck, yes," he sighs, tangling his fingers into your hair. "You are such a good girl."

Issei's roused by the sight of Takahiro melting into the bed, and suddenly feels like the luckiest guy in the world for having such a generous friend. He inserts a third finger.

You feel so full and so content. The surge of love you feel towards your boyfriend has you removing yourself from his dick to lean forward even more and plant a tender kiss to his lips. "This feels so good, Hiro," you tell him.

He grins. "I knew you'd like it, babe."

You raise yourself to stand upright on your knees and turn to meet Issei's lascivious gaze. "Let me suck you off," you say, wrapping your fingers around his wrist to stop his hand from working you any further.

"Please do," he says with a smirk. He shuffles back and collapses onto the bed, spreading his legs invitingly.

You lean down and press a kiss to Issei's stomach, then open your mouth wide to take him in. He is larger than Takahiro, so you have to widen your jaw more than what you're used to.

Takahiro watches, sliding his fingers through your hair. "You're so sexy, babe," he says, then sits up and grabs a bottle of lube from the nightstand. He figures now is the time to start working your little pucker open. He comes to kneel behind you and pours a generous amount of lube onto your ass and spreads it through your crack. He takes a slicked up finger and circles it around your tight little hole, easing the very tip in and out as he goes. "God, I love your ass," he says before giving it a light smack.

"Her mouth is something else, Makki." Issei sighs, rolling his head back to rest against the headboard. His hip stutter and buck up into your mouth, hitting the back of your throat by surprise. You grab onto his thighs and muffle a choke. "Shit, sorry," he says, but you're quick to take him back even deeper. The tickle of your nose against his stomach has him groaning loudly.

Takahiro licks his lips and slowly presses one finger into your tight hole. "Tell me if it hurts," he says, pushing his finger past his first knuckle. He pumps it slowly, feeling your muscles loosen ever so slightly. You tense when he inserts the second finger.

"Wait," you tell him, removing yourself from Issei's cock. Takahiro stops and rubs your back softly as the sting of the stretch fades away. "Okay, go ahead."

Issei inches himself back a bit to sit more upright and grabs his cock with his hand. "I'm good for now, darlin'. Just focus on feeling good." You give Issei an appreciative smile before rising up to wrap your arm around Takahiro's neck.

"More," you whisper, pushing your ass back into his hand. Takahiro inserts a third finger and you contract around him, causing a low rumble to send vibrations from his chest into your back.

Issei is back to stroking his cock as he watches Takahiro fuck his fingers into your ass. You play with your clit, the action making your legs shake. Takahiro takes his free hand and pushes yours aside, inserting his own finger into your cunt. "More," you whimper, grabbing onto his forearm. He inserts another finger, and picks up the pace.

"You feeling good, baby?" He asks you.

"So good," you whine.

Issei groans, stroking his cock faster.

Takahiro nuzzles your chin and gives you a kiss. "You wanna try riding Issei first?" he mumbles.

You nod. Takahiro removes both his hands from your body and sits back to catch his breath. You move to straddle Issei's waist and take his cock into your hand. He places both of his hands on your hips and gives you a devilish little smirk. "Ever think you'd fuck a cock bigger than his?"

You snort a laugh through your nose.

"Fuck off," Takahiro retorts from behind.

You lower yourself onto Issei's length, the stretch sending little shockwaves of pleasure through out your body. He squeezes your hips and encourages you to keep lowering your self, watching your expression the entire time.

"How's she feel?" Takahiro asks, keeping his eyes on your cunt as it swallows Issei's cock.

"Fucking amazing," he breathes, slowing rocking his hips up into you. "Not sure how long I can last."

Takahiro moves forward onto his knees. He leans over you and kisses your ear. "Think you can take two?" he says.

"Yes, please."

Issei slides down the headboard just a bit so you can hover further forward over his chest and raise your ass. You feel a wad of lube drop onto your asshole and slide down between your cheeks. Takahiro smears the liquid around inserts his finger into your hole again, just to be sure you're still ready. He removes his finger and then presses the head of his cock to your entrance. He pauses. "You good?"

"Yeah," you breathe.

He slides in slow. You have to place your hand back onto his thigh to tell him to stop while you ease into the feeling of being stretched and filled in both holes.

"Deep breaths, baby," Takahiro says, watching the muscles in your back twitch. You inhale deeply, then exhale and relax.

"Okay."

Takahiro starts to move, and Issei follows. You simply hold yourself still while both men work on finding a rhythm that lets them move together comfortably. One of your hands comes down to rest under your belly button, and you swear you feel the bulge of Issei's cock inside you.

You try taking your mind off the slight discomfort your body is feeling at such an unnatural stretch. The squelching between your legs, Issei's labored breathing as he tries so hard not to cum, the rumble of Takahiro's deep voice giving you all sorts of little praises - "good girl, you feel so good, you're doing so well, I love you so much," and your own voice getting louder as any discomfort you were feeling melts into pleasure.

"I need one of you to touch me," you say through shallow breaths, your body shaking, your hands grasping onto their arms.

"Issei," Takahiro says, quickening his pace. "Make my girlfriend cum."

Issei obliges and presses his thumb to your clit, rubbing quick, tight circles. Your body tightens up around them as you cum, moans sounding like cries as your mind struggles to handle the intensity of your orgasm,

"Oh, shit," Issei groans. "I'm gonna cum."

"Cum inside," you urge.

"You sure?"

You nod, and Issei increases his pace. He grips your hips tightly and groans as his load spills inside you.

You lean forward and give him a kiss, which he can hardly return in his current state.

Suddenly you're yanked back by your hair and pressed against Takahiro's chest, his arm snaking its way around your waist to hold you against him firmly. Issei's cock leaves your body, and Takahiro gives you one good thrust, cumming long and heavy into your ass. He lets out a string of curses into your hair, holding you tight.

His chest is heaving, having emptied every last drop.

Your head spins and your thighs are numb. "Hiro... I need to lay down," you say, tapping your hand against his arm.

"Mm," is all he can mumble before letting you go. You crawl forward and curl up onto your side next to Issei. Takahiro falls to your other side and sandwiches you in the middle.

"Fuck, that was amazing," Issei says, running a hand through his damp, curly locks of hair.

Takahiro groans in agreement, pressing his palm to his forehead, eyes closed.

The three of you lay there, catching your breath.

Takahiro rolls onto his side to face you. "What'd you think, babe?" he asks.

You hum blissfully, eyes closed. "I loved it. Let's do it again sometime."

Takahiro gives your ass a squeeze in appreciation, then reaches over to slap Issei's chest.

"Ow," Issei says, opening his eyes to see Takahiro's hand hovering above his face. He raises one of his own arms and curls his hand into a fist, smacking it against Takahiro's.

You laugh. "Did you guys just fist bump?"

"Sure did," Takahiro says, grinning proudly.

You roll your already aching body over onto your stomach and stuff your face into the pillow.

"Idiots."

[artsninspo]

EXCUSE ME MISS - II

Masterlist 

Part I

AUTHORS NOTE: Soooo, I felt like the vibes were incomplete, there were no private jets, cars, no major black girl luxury moments (they’re coming). I’m going to try to wrap this one up in 5 parts.

SUMMARY: Anon requested one with Trevante and the Reader based on the Jay-Z and Pharrell Excuse Me Miss video. So, I decided to have some fun with it.

PAIRING: Trevante x Reader, Erik x Reader

---

The light streams into the room, beams slipping through sheer white curtains.

There’s a peace to this morning, no alarms, no rushing up and down the stairs – just the faint sweet smell of pancakes and the sounds of Chels’ cheffing playlist. You find yourself smiling, letting your body sink into the plush bed surrendering to the relaxation. Slow living brings you so much joy.

You smile in appreciation of all the finishes you diligently put into HQ, like the bath and rain shower. Putting a few drops of essential oil into your diffuser as you take a shower starting on an intricate face routine much neglected over the past few months.

The door opens and Robin smiles, her full lips and bright eyes sparkle.

“It’s nice isn’t it” she smiles handing you a cup of her infamous hot chocolate and sitting on the counter.

“Its paradise” you in the feeling of stillness.

“It’s been too long”

“It has” you agree with my eyes closed at the memory of life always being so sweet.

“Imagine if we could go shopping and get massages then eat at the mansion or rent a boat for the afternoon and work on our tans” Bella smiles entering your bathroom and the three of you stand there smiling with closed eyes.

“Soon” you sigh hopefully.

“Breakfast is ready” Chels says entering with a smile.

The vibe is so right you all walk into a group hug happy and hopeful. Last night had gone off without a hitch, each of you employing the necessary tactics to make the most of the big spenders. Best of all they wouldn’t miss the change they spent to have a good time. The four of you had been working yourselves to the bone for too long.

“Let’s eat!” Bella says leaving the bathroom first you file out until Chels stops you. The other girls go along and Chels takes an envelope out of her pocket.

“Erik’s payment for this month, it’s all there”  

“Thanks”

Chels smiles before you can, you both laugh a little before hugging away all the tension and bad blood caused by the financial stresses resulting from Chelsea’s bad decisions. Everything’s a little less contentious now that she’s finally over her depression about it and outing in just as much effort as everyone else to right the wrong. It’s even better when you all enjoy her gourmet breakfast. We all clean together enjoying the morning and each other’s company for the first time in what feels like forever.

“We’re, ten grand away from paying off the balance on the house we owe in arears” Robin says making everyone smile at the good news.

“I’ll try to sell some more bags” Chelsea offer’s but her style is so loud she has a lot of trouble ridding herself of her favorite pieces.

Bells smiles, “I’ll take on some extra hours at the shop, try to get in higher paying clients – up the ante on social media hopefully it brings us in some business”

“Ill keep scouting out more opportunities” Robin adds.

“How much do we owe Erik?” Bella asks and I do the calculations closing my eyes out of stress and irritation at the realization.

“50k” the response leaves everyone equally demoralized but the doom and gloom only lasts a moment before the bass of loud music and the purr of a luxury car is in within earshot of the house.

“Speak of the fucking devil” Chels grits.

Erik hops out of his black McLaren in Nike sweatpants and a matching t-shirt his hair is braided into a style freshly cut and relocked. His eyes smile when he sees me outside which is never a good sign. He’s like a predator, baring teeth isn’t a sign of docility.

“Hey baby” he taunts coming in for a kiss only to be pushed back. “Be nice, you owe me money” he responds reaching for the door behind you only to be stopped. “Why aren’t you at work? Your hairs freshly done too” he smiles running his hands through my silk press to work my nerves.

“Erik stop” I whisper, and he steps back finally swallowing.

“You have fun yesterday?” he asks.

Of course, he knows you think to yourself. It isn’t the late payment or genuine concern for your well-being it’s his ego.

“I’m twenty-five Erik I should be able to have some fun”

“Well since you’re not going to work, owe me money and don’t want me in the house – get your stuff”

“Pardon me?”

“What now you have a problem dressing sexy to get attention and get paid, I have a job for you” He says heading back into his car. “Don’t take long I’m not in the mood”

Just like that the perfect morning is ruined by your asshole ex. You head into the house to the girls waiting apprehensively.

“I’ll be back, he knows about last night, don’t make any moves with the” I pause mouthing MONEY before getting my purse and heading out before he gets too antsy. He opens the door for me letting me in the car.

Erik and I have history.

Not all the good kind.

He pulls off taking the freeway to his side of town. I take note of his sleepy expression, the slight bags under his eyes, his casual outfit and his irritation says he’s back from a job. He’s probably been up for at least  48 hours, definitely been traveling.

“So, if you just got back who squealed on me?”

Erik smiles at how well we know each other, “Doesn’t matter I run security at Onyx now”.

That’s a new development

“I don’t know how you make time for it all. The expansion, the odd jobs, keeping tabs on me”

“I prioritize what’s important” he mocks me kissing my hand. You shoot him a look that warns against his actions but it’s no use. The worst part about all of this is that you still find him attractive. If he had it in him to promise you, he was done with all the other women and that he could be a one woman man – you don’t think you could resist giving a relationship another shot.

“So, what’s the job?”

“The usual you go somewhere looking pretty, this time you’ll be sitting beside me, shouldn’t be too hard, Babydoll”

Erik was your first real boyfriend and there was nothing traditional or normal about your relationship. You were working at a strip club and Erik was a regular. He was insatiable and the entire club lit up when he’d come in. It was clear despite spending the money he wasn’t a trick. There were countless fights over him, and he thrived on the contention. He spent quite a lot of time at the bar with you trying to find your price for a private dance, or date or a little more. Unfortunately, you werent’t repulsed by a man who chose to spend his free time in the club watching naked women. You liked the attention. Erik was attentive, unlike the others. He realized that you kept things flowing. Spotted the big spenders and sent the girls to them. With smiles and little gestures, I kept the money flowing like an expert. Babydoll was a champ whose position wasn’t shaking her ass.

“Whatever Erik”

“How much y’all rake in last night? Y’all out of hot water yet or you still close to needing to move back home. You know I left your room and closet how you left it?” Erik has no business being such an asshole. The only thing I ever did to him was leave and cut all communication. He’s the one who was sleeping with other women and telling me they meant nothing. He starts laughing when he sees that I’m frustrated with him.

“You shouldn’t treat me like this” I snap tired of it, tired of the constant provocation.

“Fuck you!” He snaps aggressively. “Fuck you, Y/N” he repeats telling me to shut up. He’s exhausted and furious about my activities last night barely holding it together. “You owe me money. You tell me to fuck off, then a year and a half later you call me crying. Chels stole from you not me. You didn’t give me a happy birthday check on me nothing. I bailed her dumbass out a year ago right, took care of it FOR YOU!” he barks not looking at the road. “Then you treat me like I ain’t shit when you can’t even pay up consistently. I could put to work everyday until its paid off but I don’t. So shut the fuck up and grow up” he finishes with flared nostrils, his dark eyes a blaze waiting for me to challenge him.

I don’t, knowing when to pick my battles, “No one put a gun to your head, you didn’t have to, if you didn’t want to” I swallow.

His jaw clenches at the truth and he doesn’t say anything else for the remainder of the drive. He opens the garage when we pull up like he’s done a thousand times when we were good. Its nostalgic and this place still feels like home when it shouldn’t. The house has a few new upgrades. It’s still immaculate and our puppy runs to me all grown up now. He heads upstairs and I follow to my old room seeing my outfit ready on a clothing rack. You look around trying not to be overwhelmed by the memories. Erik never said no when your first moved in, he was your boss and he took great care of you. Life was easy, the responsibilities were minimal. About 10% work, 10% housekeeping, 60% having fun with the girls and 20% Erik because of his demanding schedule. It was perfect.

“I’m going to be away for the next month – don’t want you out here looking desperate”

“Month is a long job”

“Don’t act like you care” he says and it’s an insult. The problem is I care too much. His jaw clenches he’s angry with me for leaving still. “Benny will be here in an hour to do your hair and make-up” he sighs stepping closer. The anger fading as he eyes my lips. It’s like he scolds himself secretly like he decides against something before surrendering to lust. We both know better.

His left hand holds my side and his right guides my head back supporting my neck as his lips kiss mine. You can’t resist the temptation and deepen the kiss. It turns him on and kisses grow more and more assertive as he tries reclaiming what’s his. You both rush to nakedness. Your eyes glance over the new keloids covering his chest. His eyes fall in self-consciousness but there’s no room for judgement as his hand traces the covered tattoo of his initials under your breasts before he takes one, kissing them both.

Straddling him your hands hold his shoulders before lowering onto his manhood as your body yearns for him. There’s no shame in taking what you want. Erik had taught you that but it’s too much to watch him, watch you ride out the waves of pleasure. Your eyes close in the rapture of pleasure holding on for better control as you contract on his manhood making his grip tighten guiding your hips in a new rhythm. No longer face to face you embrace each other breathing heavily in each other’s ears as you both begin to glow.

Erik moves from the seat to the bed peppering kisses down your back before taking you from behind. Your breaths are even more shallow as you feel his frustration, anger and resentment with every stroke.

Hate-fucking.

Its lovely. Your eyes close as your teeth sink into your bottom lip in efforts to contain the moans of pleasure threatening to escape. His ego doesn’t need further sustenance. He grabs your neck reliving you of being on all fours as he strokes to his climax filling your vigorously, recklessly, intentionally. He doesn’t lose his strength as your body goes limp, guiding you both onto the bed to lay and catch your breath.

If things were different this would only be round one of many. You’d trace the keloids on his chest, kissing them, he’d hold you, running his fingers along your back.

It wouldn’t be so empty as you get up padding to the bathroom to pee. You’d be on birth control, not having to make a mental note for a plan B. Some sweet thoughtful gesture would follow not relief when you hear him leave the room heading into the master bedroom.

You sigh turning on the shower.

He hadn’t changed a thing.

….

I sit through hair and make-up with Benny and the nostalgia is a little too much as you laugh and talk like you’re still a kept woman with no worries, that couldn’t be further from the current reality.

“Are you still writing, anything I should check out? Ideas I should run by clients? Research?” He asks invested my career and progression.

“No” I swallow, and his smile falls as he looks at my reflection.

“It’ll return Y/N. Remember, no matter what you can’t kill an artist’s talent, but practice and action make masters” he smiles a pillar of wisdom.

“Thank you, Benson,” you kiss his cheek and he nods finished. You look better than you did last night.

“Tell Bella I’ll be holding classes again; I want her to take my south-eastern slot” he reminds packing up.

“I will” you smile gutted that we can’t afford our dreams right now.

You get dressed in the teenie tiny mini dress that has a circle lace up detail on the sides, you admire the vision of 90’s video girl, glam hoochie. Twirling in the mirror you admire your look, feeling sexy again. Browsing your closet to find a high-end bag to match the outfit. You were so mad when you decided to leave, you didn’t want anything to do with Erik not even the gifts he’d purchased.

You make a pick and turn to find Erik watching you in the doorway. There’s a hint of happiness in his eyes seeing you here but there’s also a danger to him. He definitely has something up his sleeve. Besides enough nostalgia to make you reconsider being his girl again.

“You look perfect” he smiles kissing your forehead.

Taking your hand, you leave in another car and end up at a venue that you’ve never been too.  Erik holds your hand as you walk through the outdoor venue before entering private cabana’s. He stops suddenly stepping behind you so he can guide your steps forward. Your heart slows in apprehension not trusting him. Your heart races when you close in on a man that looks familiar, dark chocolate skin, and a beard. He looks up sensing us and its Trevante. You swallow feeling yourself and so does Erik.

“You really think you were gonna fuck me over this easy. Milk him and walk away from me forever?” Erik says into my ear. My blood boils as Tre looks at us confused. I try to smile.

“Erik” Tre smiles.

“Tre, this is my girl Y/N, Y/N Tre, we go way back” Erik swallows looking me over. “And were working together” Erik smiles like he’s a good guy – not the cold-hearted insufferable asshole that he is. You’re so mad you could make a scene, knowing Erik that’s just the kind of embarrassment Erik is hoping for to further bury any prospects of you and Tre.

“Hi” I manage and Erik smiles at the hoarseness of my voice.

“What you want a long island, Tre want anything?” he asks his friend.

“I’m good bro” he responds and Erik stands leaving the two of us. You look at Tre who also looks at me like I’ve done something wrong. You turn to see Erik at the bar flirting with the bartender too dizzy to know which path to take in such a fucked situation.

“I didn’t know Erik settled down” Tre comments and you look back at Erik again feeling particularly cornered.

“You work together?” you ask, and Tre looks me over before nodding his head.

“On occasion”

“Erik’s not an adversary you want to have, so stop looking at me like that.” I warn and he looks taken back. Erik returns sitting close to me and I move away despite us having company. He just fucked me only to screw me over.

“You two met last night right?”

“Bro, I didn’t know” Tre surrenders like he isn’t the multimillionaire tycoon.

“You remember at MIT all the baddest bitches in the city were mind – you think Miami is different?” Erik laughs being disrespectful on purpose as he G checks Tre who shifts uncomfortable. Satisfied with position of power Erik smiles like he’s not about to raise hell. “I told you I had the perfect girl for your VR game” Erik smiles sitting back.

I’m so confused I’m getting a headache until Tre looks me over again. His eyes study me, drinking me in. His head nods and his lips upturn into a smile before his eyes light up.

“Bro, she’s perfect” he agrees shocked.

I’m uneasy as I look at Erik he’s pissed enough to put me in a bad position. “Youre lucky I still want to fuck you or you’d be leaving here embarrassed and broke but I’m still getting break for you – remember that the next time you go out in next to nothing looking desperate and embarrassing me” Erik whispers in my ear. He’s diabolical.

“It’s a VR game” Tre smiles when he sees I’m visibly confused and uneasy. “Virtual reality, influencer culture is big right now. Our game is going to monopolize that but first I need an IT girl, a model if you will. The blueprint, someone who fits the looks of private jets and shopping sprees, the kind of girl that our players will want to be friends with and like to look at.” He explains with a smile. I look at Erik who nods.

“Obviously I need to see numbers and a contract, how much of my likeness is going to be used”

“Your face your body” Erik says.

“I’m not doing anything raunchy” you tell him, and he smiles.

“That’s all for me. You two work it out, remember I get my cut” Erik says getting up and leaving.

He’s unbelievable – you can never decide if you hate him or love him.

_____

Taglist: 

@determinednot2fall @twistedcharismaaa​ @l-auteuse​ @chaneajoyyy​ @thickemadame​ @longpause-awkwardsmile​ @klaylakayblack​ @amelatonin​ @just-juicee​ @xo-goldengirl​ @ljstraightnochaser​ @itsjustyazz​ @soufcakmistress​ @nijajoha  @iamrheaspeaks @4tprincess  @justgetitoverwith0​ @queenflaws @abeautifulmindexposed @coveredingodiv @nahimjustfeelingit-writes​@champagnesugamama​ @heavensangelxo​ @bugngiz​ @cherrystainedlipsbaby​ @tip222u​ @keiva1000​ @doublesidedscoobysnacks​ @shalynn-m​ @bakarilennox​ @tyees​ @damienwitcher 

[faerynova]

First Line Tag Game

Tagged by @wickfursfanfics

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line, then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

i actually did all 20 so this is under the cut bc its l o n g

1.) when you hit disaster, the answer will be yours to find (wheel of fortune part 1)

Kaito leaps, cape flapping behind him.

2.) maybe the worst is behind (all this history part 5)

Chuuya feels the world fall out beneath his feet when he gets the news.

3.) double date

Shinichi squints at the painting in front of them. The bright pink and green lines across the canvas are so jarring they almost distract him from the movement of Tooyama swinging Ran’s hand in the corner of his vision. “It’s ugly,” he mumbles.

4.) don’t let me go, i don’t know where i am

Seth hasn’t been the same since they rescued him from Lia Fáil.

5.) pretend

“You were happy with me,” Chuuya snarls. “It was fucked, but we were happy.”

6.) i don’t even give a fuck what i’m doing (all this history part 4)

Osamu knocks, and opens the door to Mori’s private room at HQ, a bedroom that Dazai thinks he’s never actually spent a night in, but retires to when he’s working overtime. “You wanted to see me, Mori-sensei?”

7.) eight lights

Kaito lets out a strangled noise as Hakuba presses his hand against the gunshot wound in his shoulder.

8.) the cruelest secret ever kept

In this one, Shinichi never calls Ran.

9.) a heavy heart to carry

Arago has to hold his intestines. Through the pain and fog he remembers that he has to shove them back in his torso or else his skin and muscles grow back around them and he’ll have to cut himself open all over again to put them back inside.

10.) even the demons believe

Rin goes to church every Sunday morning.

11.) run.

Saguru takes a deep breath, closing his eyes just for a moment to ground himself. He takes note of the different sensations around him: the cool breeze on the open roof, the smell of rain that will likely come later in the night, the sounds of the busy street below with cops and Kid fans alike crowding the building, heard even over the clamor of cars on the surrounding roads. He opens his eyes, and steels himself for what will come next. “Take off your cape and jacket.”

12.) i’m tired of calling out your name into the space between us (all this history part 3)

“Keep an eye on him,” Mori says.

Keep an eye on him, as if Chuuya has any control over the absolute menace that is Dazai Osamu. As if Chuuya is the one holding the leash and not the other way around, as Dazai so often boasts. As if Chuuya could actually stop Dazai from killing himself, even if he did somehow manage to keep tabs on the bastard at all times.

13.) ain’t yer fault

Kudou clears his throat, but it sounds... Off. Heiji stops halfway out the door, squinting at him. “Ya just got somethin’ stuck in yer throat, or...?”

14.) visual noise

Heiji slides the door open to his room and steps in. “I know it ain’t snowin’ that bad, so s’not like I can use that as an excuse fer askin’ this, but ya wanna stay the night?”

15.) return (a guardian without a charge part 1)

The first thing he sees is Trico out of the corner of his vision. The rest is obscured by the dirt that his face is half-pressed into. She roars at something--the other tricos? He remembers there being more. He remembers...

16.) cheshire cat in wonderland (except atsushi is the cat and wonderland is anne’s room)

“So... how do you want to do this?” Atsushi asks nervously, glancing back at the door that leads out of Anne’s room.

17.) this world is not made for you

SAGURU IS THREE, and he’s diagnosed with autism. He doesn’t know what that means, and he won’t for a while.

18.) strike funny poses, keep my weapon hand low (all this history part 2)

Tsushima Shuuji’s first memory is of hiding.

19.) the literature of possibility

They both take the shot. Gide dies instantly. Sakunosuke finds himself on the floor with the wind knocked out of him. He waits for the pain, for the darkness to take him, for peace, finally, but he only feels a heavy weight pressing down.

20.) my brother taught me how to swim (all this history part 1)

Shirase finds her quickly after following rumors about a gifted girl with red hair running around Suribachi, half-naked and usually screaming, who steals things and destroys anyone who gets in her way with some kind of telekinetic powers or super strength or flight or... a number of different rumored abilities, actually. Shirase doesn’t know what to expect from her.

-

as for patterns i start in media res pretty much constantly because im allergic to slower buildup. i’ll even just start in the middle or at the end of conversations.i also very rarely paint a background within the first few paragraphs aside from “run.” lmao.

my favorite opening line is definitely “Arago has to hold his intestines.” it was a delight to put on paper at the time and it gives me just as much of a buzz when i read it now.

aight im tagging @yarrayora, @mickeymagpie, @beeonastrawberry, and @beedok

[scoupsy-remade]

For this gif tutorial I’m going to try to keep it as basic as possible, I may add a few tips for coloring at the end, but for the most part this is going to be how I make my basic gif. Also I’m not going to use my vapoursynth to process the video beforehand, just because I know not everyone uses it and it’s harder to learn. This is going to be just a downloaded mp4 video through the gif process. Don’t let the idea that this is a BASIC TUTORIAL fool you, I’m going to try to teach you a lot of things. It’s gonna get wordy, but i will try my hardest to keep the process easy. I’m just going to explain what things do instead of having you just copy + paste my method and not know what it means. okay? okay.

Before we start though, if you plan of giffing live stages you either need to accept the they will not be super crisp and clear OR learn how to use avisynth/vapoursynth to resize the videos without quality loss.

If you just want to gif music videos or variety shows then this should still give you HQ gifs.

Other notes:

try to ONLY use 1080p and up video if possible, maybe 720p if you’re really desperate, but anything under that... it’s not going to look good at all, so try to avoid using them.

The Photoshop I am using is PS 2020, so all my screenshots will be from that version and with my weird set up. But I’ve been using pretty much the same method since cc 2015 so other than the fact that some placements and names are tweaked, it’s the same. (If you can’t find something on your version shoot me an ask and I’ll try to help! And asks I get on this tutorial I’ll link HERE for future reference) 

CUTTING VIDEO

To cut videos I’ll just use my quicktime player.

I use edit > trim to select the portion of the video I plan to gif and save that as it’s own new mov file.

which pops up this tab 

that you just slide until the part you want to gif is selected

then just save it as a new video and your done with part 1

ENTER PHOTOSHOP

Now what we’ll do is open our photoshop and import that clip into layers

FILE > IMPORT > VIDEO FRAMES TO LAYERS and select your video.

A small pop up will appear to show the clip you’re opening, you can trim it further here or just keep going by clicking okay

my setup is weird for drawing BUT you should have it looking remotely like this: 

The things you will DEFINITELY need to see are TIMELINE, LAYERS, ADJUSTMENTS. If you don’t have these sections you can add them to your screen by clicking on the WINDOW tab at the very top menu bar and clicking on them

LAYERS - this is pretty self explanatory but each row is a layer in the gif. the more layers the bigger the gif will end up, the longer it plays. So bigger clips will have more layers and end up as larger gifs in the end.

TIMELINE - This is where you can edit the gifs timing (make it faster or slower) 

We’ll be doing a bit of work with it so it’s important to know it well

ADJUSTMENTS - Best friend and worst nightmare. this is where ALL the tedious recoloring is done. VERY rarely would you not use these. 99.9% of kpop things are filmed through a green or blue lense so you’ll want to fix that to not have ghost idols

So, Let’s make a gif

Step 1 - In the top right corner of your timeline is a set of lines, click there and then click SELECT ALL FRAMES

under each frame is a time stamp (this video’s is 0.04) this decides how fast each clip goes by, or how quickly the gif moves. Personally I prefer slower gifs, but I say anywhere between 0.04-0.06 is a decent speed.

Step 2 - with all the frames selected, click on the small down arrow next to any of the frames and change the speed to your liking. (I’m going to use .06)

Step 3 - in that same tab of lines we’ll now click CONVERT TO VIDEO TIMELINE, which will change our Timeline to look like this:

Step 4 - Back in our very TOP menu we’ll click SELECT > ALL LAYERS, then on the TOP menu click FILTER > CONVERT FOR SMART FILTERS (this might take your computer a minute since our File is still pretty large.) Now our Time line will look like this: 

Step 5 - Sharpening

This one is VERY MUCH something you’re going to have to play with to get your settings to be how you like them. It’s also where I’d use topaz adjustments, BUT since I said we’re doing basic PS gif we’re just going to be using smart sharpening. SO: 

 in the TOP munu again, click FILTER > SHARPEN > SMART SHARPEN

A pop up window will appear and you can edit the settings to your liking. Mine:

Step 6 - Resize your gif or crop it to tumblrs standards:  big singal gifs have a 540px width ||  Two gifs use 268px || and three gifs use 177/178px

To do this we’ll use the crop tool and type in our dimensions in the menu bar:

and then crop to your liking. (this doesnt resize the gif it just crops to the correct ratio so we still have to shrink the gif) 

Next, we’ll resize the gif to that size in the TOP menu click IMAGE > IMAGE SIZE a pop up menu will appear and you’ll type in your resize ratio and click enter.

Now technically thats a gif. it’s TECHNICALLY done. but mine is white washed and there are words on it that I dont want so onto the coloring and blurring. 

First I’m going to show you how I blur text on gifs. because text is EVERYWHERE in kpop content and it’s hideous and I hate it. so lets kill it.

BLURRING LETTERING

First we’re going to add a new blank layer to our LAYER TAB by clicking the little box with the + inside at the bottom

Sometimes doing this can mess up the timeline’s selection but its SUPER easy to fix so lets do that. 

So in our timeline we have these two bars on each side that select what part of the gif will play. this is also where you can readjust your gif if it has extra frames at the end, or it ends up being too large and you have to make the gif smaller to save it. Just click and drag the bars back to where our gif actually ends, and all is fixed!

Now on our new layer we’re gonna take a paint brush (one of the ones with a lot of fade NOT the solid circle ) and paint over where the words are like so:

MAKE SURE ITS ON OUR BLANK LAYER AND NOT THE GIF LAYER!!

I know it looks stupid but trust me okay. 

Now in your LAYER tab we’re going to duplicate our gif layer by right clicking on it and selecting duplicate. 

Then we’re going to drag the new gif layer so that it’s above the paint layer in our LAYER tab :

Now, right click on the top gif layer and select CREATE CLIPPING MASK. it should put a little down arrow to the left of the picture, toward the paint layer. This means the gif is ONLY visible where that paint is now.

So we’re going to click on FILTER in the TOP menu again (while we still have that top gif selected!) and Go to BLUR > GAUSSIAN BLUR. a pop up menu will appear and you can just drag the radius until the text is as blurry as you want it to be. (also IF you missed part of the text, you can just go add more paint to your paint layer and it will blur wherever you paint!) 

so now my gif is like so:

So now we’ll color him, because he’s pretty washed out.

ADJUSTMENTS

This is where I’m going to be the least specific about what I do and more about what tools do, so that you can learn how to color things the way you like them!

The Adjustment tab on Photoshop has 16 options but I’m really only going to talk about 6 of them. We’ll do it in order though. All the actual adjustment tools will open in the PROPERTIES tab

Brightness / Contrast  - Pretty self explanatory, but definitely should be toward the end of your coloring, as if can effect the quality a lot. Small adjustments do A LOT so don’t go crazy, 

Levels - Levels is all about the balance of how dar or light your gifs will be if you adjust in the RGB layer it will adjust for the entire image, but if you change the selection to RED/GREEN/BLUE it will adjust just those colors hues. Also there are three small droppers to the left of the graph. using those you can select which part of the gif you want the image to recognize as the lightest/darkest part of the gif, and the tool will adjust the gifs coloring to that point. ( play with those droppers! magic happens i swear!) 

Curves - Kind of like levels but instead of how light or dark the entire image is it works more on contrast. REALLY play with the curves options, i’m sure most things you can do with other tools can also just be done in curves if you’re patient enough to learn

Vibrance / Saturation -  Vibrance will make duller parts of an image higher contract and brighter and saturation will make everything a more neon shade. or in reverse lowering vibrance will dull out the things that were already neutral and saturation will dull out the more vibrant parts of the image (usually reds)

Color Balance - Good for fixing tones. so if a live stage is SUPER BLUE!!!!! you can readjust and calm down the blues to dull them out or get rid of them completely. Again play with this its insane what it can do 

Selective Color - adjusts the different colors in your image without touching the other colors. if you wanna touch the reds, make them pinker but not change the blues and greens, you do it here

If you want MORE drawn out explanations of what each of the 16 adjustment layers do here and here are actual articles you can look at.  But it’s all about practice. playing with all the adjustments alone and together. Finding out what you like to do!

Now when you gif is ALLLLL colored and you’re ready to save it we do FILE > EXPORT > SAVE FOR THE WEB and a whole new window of options pops up. I’ll give you two examples of how to play with those options and then we’re done! 

keep in MIND tumblr’s gif limit is 10MB which is pretty huge now, but still watch your gif size!!!!

AND SAVE your done!

I hope this was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions,again I’ll have an ask tag for it and it’ll get linked HERE if people end up needing help!

Happy giffing!!!

[strangecowplant]

🖤

[daeyeolss]

how I make my gifs: a tutorial

Hi everyone! Just in case someone asks in the future + for those curious, I'm here with a tutorial on how I make gifs! If you have any questions whatsoever, please do send me an ask! I’ll be glad to help! The gif I made with this tutorial is the one right here! 

So... let’s start this tutorial with the programs I use.

Adobe Photoshop 2020 - To make the gifs, majority of the work is done in this program.

TopazLabs (Topaz DeNoise 6 and Topaz Clean 3) - To "denoise" and "clean" the gifs, as the names would suggest. Links for download: Topaz DeNoise 6 & Topaz Clean 3

KMPlayer (an alternative would be PotPlayer, or any other video playing program that allows you to capture the frames) - To capture the frames. - I use an older version of KMPlayer, though I don't know which exact version that is.

Now let’s continue onto how I use these programs to create gifs!

Step 1: After you’ve downloaded the necessary programs, download your video. The way to get the best gifs? Quality videos. That’s the first step. For K-pop performances, I recommend this website (the hq files are in .ts form, KMPlayer should be able to open these). Bookmark it! It’s really handy :) Get the video you want to make a gif from and open it in KMPlayer (or PotPlayer or any other program, but for this tutorial I’ll use KMPlayer). Open your video in said program and look for the part you want to make a gif of. Then press CTRL+G (I apologize because I cannot for the life of me remember if this was a standard shortcut or not)

Step 2: After pressing CTRL+G, you’ll be met with this screen:

I’ll briefly explain the numbered parts, but before that, these are my standard settings and just make sure you have them all the same and it should be good!

1: This is where your captured frames will be extracted to. I have them extracted to the standard folder, but you can change this if you want to. You’ll need this folder later when opening the frames!

2: Like it says, this is the image format. I use PNG in the highest quality, as the name would suggest, for the quality.

3: These are the amount of frames the program captures. Say you put in every 2 or 4 frames, you’ll get more choppy gifs. To get the smoothest gifs, put “every frame” (this in turn will increase the gif size as the amount of frames will obviously be bigger).

Once you’ve put in the correct settings and you’ve put the slider where you want the capturing process to start, press “start” (now, before you do this I recommend putting the video on mute as the audio will start to get kinda demon-y the longer you record lol save your ears pls). Then, when you’ve captured all the frames you need, pause the video, press CTRL+G again and click “stop” and close the pop-up/program.

Step 3: It’s time to open up Photoshop! Then go to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack... (for older versions/another version I used in the past this one didn’t work and I had to use the “Load Multiple DICOM Files...” instead. It should work similarly though, if I remember correctly).

You then get a little pop-up that looks like this:

All you have to do here is click “browse” and navigate to the folder where your captured frames have been saved in. Select all the frames you need, wait for them to load in and then click “OK”!

Step 4: Depending on the amount of frames you’ve selected to load in, as well as the beefiness of your PC/laptop, the frames loading part might take a little while. Photoshop is importing every frame as a separate layer into one file, so just... grab a drink or something and wait a bit! When you’re done waiting, if you haven’t already, go to Window > Timeline. This will show you the animation timeline. For older Photoshop versions this is slightly different (I believe it’s called animation). Then click “Create Video Timeline” and click the 3 squares on the left bottom side (in older versions it’s on the right bottom side, not sure). 

Step 5: After you’ve done all that, you’ll want to select all your layers. You can do this by pressing ALT+CTRL+A or going to Select > All Layers. With all the layers selected, you have to go to Layer > Arrange > Reverse. You only have to do this if you used the “Load Files into Stack” option!

Step 6: After reversing all your layers, you’ll want to go to the three lines you see in the following screenshot, and click “Make Frames From Layers”.

As the name suggests, this turns all the layers into frames. I don’t know why but the first frame will always be 5 seconds long, so to make it easy on yourself when you want to check your gif while editing, just put that on 0 for now. You can do that by clicking the seconds under the frame and clicking “No delay”. After this, check to see if you have the right frames and if you need to delete some (you can do this at any point in the process but I didn’t know where to put it in the tutorial oops).

Step 7: Time to crop the gif to the correct size! For this gif I’m using as an example, I’m making it specifically for Twitter, so the sizes aren’t that obvious (for Twitter I usually use a width of 850 px to keep it sharp, for long size gifs (more height than width for example), I add a background so that it eventually still becomes 850x850 pixels). There’s many posts on Tumblr about the correct sizes for gif/photosets, but a brief rundown of my most used sizes: one gif spanning the entire width of the post has to be 540 px in width. Two gifs next to one another need to have a width of 268 px. I use these dimensions the most! For others, you can Google! 

Step 8: After you’ve cropped the gif, you can do either of two things: either you first add the coloring of your choice and then sharpen the gif OR you do it the other way around. I usually switch these two around depending on how sharp the gif already looks before sharpening because I can’t stand looking at 2 pixels while coloring (lmao). For this one I’ll do the sharpening first.

The whole sharpening process is actually quite simple but you need to make sure that you do the following little steps in the right order or else it won’t work! Select all the layers (CTRL+ALT+A or Select > All Layers) and then click this little thingy:

Then you’re going to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters

If you don’t do it in this order, your gif will end up... well, not being a gif and not moving. If that happens, track back in your history to see if you did it in the correct order! :)

Step 9: The actual sharpening process! After clicking the “Convert for Smart Filters”, you’ll want to go to Filter again and find the Topaz Labs tabs. Personally, I usually do it in the order of DeNoise first and then Clean, but this is a personal thing, really.

I recommend playing around with the settings to see what fits the gif but here are my go-to DeNoise settings (tip: save these as a preset so you only have to click that for faster giffing!):

And my Clean settings:

Press OK when you’re done with these and then go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen. These are my SS settings (just copy these, and again, save as a preset!):

Depending on how sharp you want the gif to be, you can input the same settings or go to this in the layers and change the percentage.

Now that we’re done with these... it’s time to flatten it! Just follow these little steps:

And then you wait. Again. I know.

Step 10: After playing the waiting game, you’ll click the three little squares again and do the same thing you did earlier: “Make Frames Into Layers”. Delete the first frame. Add a coloring of your choice (can be a PSD, can be your own coloring, etc. this is honestly just... playing around with things and see what it can do). After you’ve done coloring, select all your frames (same lines as previous screenshot except now you’ll see a “Select All Frames” option, click it!) and change the time to whatever you like (I usually go for 0.05, 0.06, or 0.07. Again, just play around with this!! Try different things!) 

Step 11: Final step! Saving :) I use shortcuts a lot to make things faster so either press ALT+SHIFT+CTRL+S or go to File > Export > Save For Web. Not much to do here, just copy the following settings and save the file!

!!! NOTE: After making a new gif today I realized there’s a weird dotted border on the top of my gifs, it’s a bit difficult to explain but I had no idea what it was. Turns out that the reason why this showed up was because, as shown in the screenshot below, I had “Transparency” selected. If you’re experiencing this too, UNSELECT the transparency and it should be all good!

Also make sure that the “Looping Options” is set to Forever, or else your gif will play only once and then stop!

Tip: While making gifs for Twitter I at one point noticed that if I added in a white background, no matter what I’d do, it’d show up as yellow-y in the preview box. After googling I found that going to the options (1 in the screenshot) and then clicking “Sort by Luminance”, then double-clicking the lightest color (not the transparent one, 2 in the screenshot) and selecting white (or FFF) will get rid of this! This likely won’t be that useful for Tumblr gifs but just in case you ever want to have a white background...!

Then just... save, and upload to Tumblr! :)

Final note: Tumblr has a mix gif size of 3MB. If you have a gifset of 4 gifs you want to upload, all 4 gifs can be max 3MB each. Keep this in mind! If you’re over 3MB, delete a few frames and try again, or resize/crop your gif!

As it turns out, Tumblr has increased their gif size to 8MB, however, the quality tends to get compressed with larger gifs like that so per recommendation: keep them below 5MB! (thank you @yeoli​ for letting me know!)

I hope this helped! If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message and I’ll try my best to answer them.

[levisprincess6669]

Good Enough

Hi can I request #7 and #65 for Levi from AOT please?🙂 thank you so much 🤗

I am so sorry this took so long! I hope you enjoy reading it though ^^

I was new to the Scouts, only ever completed one expedition where many of my comrades died but I wasn't going to back down. I was assigned to Captain Levi's squad through, which was surprising as he only ever hand picked his comrades.

Training was definitely tough, and the cleaning regime which somehow only seemed to apply to our squad was a real pain. Levi was strict and seemed to always call me out on even the most minimalist mistakes.

"Alright! I want everyone to partner up for hand to hand combat!" Shouted our captain, and I instantly headed for Petra, my best friend and usual training partner.

We stood opposite each other, waiting for everyone to get enough space as to not interrupt anyone else's fights. "He's really not going easy on us today." Petra laughed silently, making sure Levi didn't hear her.

"Agreed." I giggled under my breath, watching the short man shout at Gelgar, a member of Captain Mike's squad. But apparently my amusement was not as silent as originally thought as his eyes shot to me with an intense glare.

"What was that brat?" Levi asked, turning everyone's attention to me. "Do you find this funny? Or just too easy?" There was an undertone of something in his icy voice... Hatred? Disgust? I couldn't tell but it wasnt pleasant. It made me want to crawl into a deep cave never to be seen again.

"N-no sir!" I stuttered the words out, going into a salute but because of my nerves placed my left hand over the right side of my chest mistakenly. I went to fix it, embarrassment taking over my being as I closed my eyes, hoping he wouldn't pick up on this but my luck has never been good.

"I know you're new but that doesn't give you excuses to not know a proper salute." He judged, face as close as it could be to me. "Now, since you think you're superior to everyone else here, prove it." He said loud enough for everyone to hear, shrugging his jacket off and standing opposite me in a fighting position.

"S-sir I... I didn’t mean any disrespect!" I got out frantically, not wanting to fight my squad captain in front of everyone. Petra had long since backed away from me, and stood with everyone who surround this fight. Levi was unbeatable in hand to hand combat, even if someone had trained all their life.

"This is an order. Fight me." He uttered, not breaking his posture. I nodded reluctantly, getting into a stance and waited for him to throw the first hit, which he did after realising I wouldn't attack him first.

He threw a punch, which I easily blocked, until i realised it was just a diversion and felt the knee colliding with my stomach. I jumped back quickly, getting into an even more defensive stance if that was possible. He wouldn't let me walk away so I did as told, waiting for him to attack again before grabbing his incoming elbow. This left him open and I used the momentum to jump up and kick him in the head.

He blocked with ease, grabbing my leg and twisting out of my grip just to effortlessly throw me onto the ground. I coughed from the impact, beginning to get up again.

"Just stop." Levi said simply, walking over to my hurt body and glaring down. "You're not going to beat me, and at this rate anyone." He said with venom dripping down his voice before turning away. "Dismissed!" He shouted on the way, grabbing his jacket while I just stared at him from my place on the ground.

"Y/N are you okay!?" Petra asked hurriedly, helping me up. I just nodded, forcing on a fake smile. His words hurt... He said it as if I would never be able to accomplish anything.

"Ye-yeah I'm fine." I didn’t want her help, instead I shrugged her worried hands off of me and headed towards the barracks to immerse myself in some kind of fantasy world where I didn’t have to think about about how worthless of a soldier, of a person I really was.

The bad thing is that he always treated me like this, always called me out as if he had some kind of vendetta against me. The last time we cleaned for instance, I missed a speck of dust on the top shelf of a bookcase and got assigned to clean the whole floor by myself all over again while everyone else was dismissed. “Make something useful of yourself and clean until this whole area is spotless.” I remember him saying before locking himself in his office. And that’s what I did, cleaned into the early hours of the morning to the extent that one could see their reflection in the tiles beneath their feet. Yet that didn’t satisfy the Captain. All he did was ‘tch’ and glare at me the way only he could.

I walked to my bunk, sitting down against the wall next to the bed, reaching a hand under the pillow to grab the book I was currently reading. It was a mystery book, although I believe it was roughly based on Kenny the Ripper and included a detective who really enjoyed drinking tea... Similarly to Levi. 

I groaned in annoyance, why can’t I even enjoy a book without being reminded of him like this? He always makes me brew his tea in the mornings if we have a squad breakfast, then proceeds to say it tastes like piss. I just don’t understand why he doesn’t make his own tea from the get go if he just pours mine down the drain anyway and makes another batch. 

“Hey Y/N?” Petra’s head came into view as she peaked into the room with a worried expression. “Are you okay?” She asked, slowly walking into the room and sitting on my bed.

“Yeah...” I sighed, leaning my head against the wall and closing my eyes. “Listen... Would you be able to cover for me tonight at dinner?” I suddenly asked, an idea popping into my head as I thought back to the book. The main detective liked his tea but... His assistant loved his alcohol due to all the stress and maybe I could use the same stress relieve too? It was worth a try, especially since I’d definitely be back by breakfast. 

“I- Where are you going to be?” She asked, slightly surprised at my request.

“I just wanted to have a night in the city, a little stress relieve... Apparently there’s a really nice place with cheap drinks only an hour away according to Nanaba.” I explained, begging her to agree with my eyes.

Petra nodded hesitantly. “Okay, but... Just be careful.” 

I instantly jumped up and hugged her. “Thank you! I owe you so much for this!” I exclaimed, running to the little drawer that belonged to me and picking out some civilian clothes in which it would be easy to sneak out in. A long skirt and a simple short sleeved cotton t-shirt. 

"Are you taking anyone with you?" She questioned suddenly.

I simply shake my head. "If more people go then one of the superiors is sure to catch on. We can't have that." I explained, opening the drawer again and picking out my money from it, placing it into a pouch and attaching it to my hip securely. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." I smiled, glancing out of the window now to see that night was beginning take over. "I'll see you later tonight!" I said, beginning to walk out of the barracks as stealthily as possible, aware that everyone would either be in the mess hall or heading there now, the perfect time to steal away.

I took the route through the forest, remembering there was a small hole in the surrounding fence which saves me the trouble of explaining to whoever is in main entrance duty why I'm leaving. Honestly it was easy to get out and I headed towards town, remembering the route off by heart once I reached the main road. It did take around an hour after all to get to the tavern.

There was a strong scent of alcohol as I pushed the door open, it filled my nose and I instantly let my muscles relax, not even looking at the surroundings, not taking into account who was shouting and celebrating in different areas of the establishment. Instead I headed straight for the barkeep, asking for the strongest drink, which was downed within seconds.

I took a seat right in front of the bar. "Can I open a tab please?" I questioned, it wasnt hard to figure out I was going to be here all night. The barkeep nodded but got stopped by someone.

"Nonesense! Ill be paying for the ladies drink!" The man slurred, then asked for another of what I just had. Normally I would refuse but if it saves me money then why not.

I'm not too sure how much time went by but after a few more drinks, the man was beginning to really cosy up to me in an uncomftorable way. My head was spinning so I couldn't even walk away.

"Why don't I take you to mine, rest that pretty little head of yours." The man whispered in my ear, tugging at my arm and making me stumble in the process.

"No I-" my hand grabbed the counter as everything started spinning. "I need to go back to HQ." I mumbled.

"I'll take you there in the morning." There was an undertone to his words as his hand begun to travel down my lower back.

"I said no." I tried to straighten my back but the sudden movement made everything go black and I had to sit down promptly, which made the man pull me up roughly from the seat.

"Now listen here, I paid for your drinks so you are coming home with-" He stopped talking and completely let go of me, I lifted my eyes to see him on the ground, Levi towering over him with his back towards me.

"Now you listen here, the lady said no.” The short man said, crossing his arms from what I could tell in my current position. “And if I ever see you anywhere near her again, you’ll have to deal with me.” 

“A-Aren’t you Captain Levi?” The man stuttered out, crawling away on his hands and knees before getting up and sprinting out of the building. 

With that, Levi turned to me and extended his arm. “Tch, look at you. You’re supposed to be a soldier not a damsel in distress.” His eyes were icy as he took in my appearance. Yet, without uttering a word, I turned around and started drinking yet another beverage. 

“You know Levi.” I hummed, a little more confidently than I usually would, not even addressing him with respect at the moment. “You’re making me feel like I’m not good enough.” I smiled sweetly at him, then turned back to my drink. 

“What are you talking about?” He questioned, grabbing the drink from my hand and placing it far out of my reach. 

“How did you know I was here?” I asked, yet my eyes were glued on where he placed the alcohol.

“Petra.” He answered simply. “I know you can do better than you give yourself credit for, that’s why I push you.” He sighed at the end of his words. 

“I try...” I muttered.

“Yes, and as your Captain it is my duty to ensure you perform to the best of your abilities. Now stop being an idiot.” He clamped a hand onto my shoulder. “If you weren’t worthy of being on my squad, I wouldn't have selected you. I’ll give you some slack from now on but don’t expect any special treatment tomorrow with your hangover.” At the end of his words his lips twitched, as if a small supporting smile.

“Thank you Captain...” The realisation struck my drunk mind, he seemed like he cared even though he was terrible at expressing his emotions. “Should we- should we return to HQ?” I finally asked after a moment of silence, and with a simple nod from him we begun heading back. 

[another-sonic-blog]

Hey... what about some Hanahaki SonAmy??? We know that Amy is head over heels for Sonic... but he doesn’t show it... so she gets worse... angst??

Amy had to admit that she almost fainted the moment she noticed she was coughing up flower petals.

She didn't think twice to go see a doctor to confirm it.

"Hanahaki disease."

"Are you sure?"

"Unless you secretly like to eat flower petals, then yes, I am 100% sure Ms.Rose."

The doctor had already warned her that if in two months she didn't do the surgery, she would surely die. However, doing the surgery will come at a great cost, losing the romantic feelings she has for Sonic the Hedgehog.

Death or love?

For anyone else, the answer will be clear, do the surgery right away but Amy didn't want to. She had to try one more time before she says goodbye to her beloved hero.

She had to accomplish two things. Hide her disease from Sonic and make Sonic love her back before it's too late.

.

Sonic wasn't never one for romance. He never really cared for it nor wanted it.

Although there was someone in particular who could change this ideology once in a while.

Amy Rose.

"So, any particular reason why you took me here?"

Sonic looked around the lake. It was one of those scenarios again. Amy and he will spend some time together, like a date. They will talk, laugh and sightsee the landscape. A very beautiful lake and cherry blossoms, as pink as Amy's fur surrounded them. Finally, Amy would confess his feelings for him, he will deny them and run away.

"I literally, have not much time...so I'll ask you this. Do you love me?"

This time it wasn't like he expected. Things will usually go the way he plans and they will always be in good terms. He noticed Amy was acting strange. She would usually look at him with loving eyes but now her green eyes were filled with anxiousness. Her body softly trembles and she held her stomach as if she was trying not to throw up.

"Are you alright?" Sonic avoided the question as he knew her health was a top priority for him. He walked closer to her but she pushed him away.

"I am fine...just please." Amy looked at the grass under her feet, her voice sounded tired, too tired and that pained him. "Tell me...do you love me?

It was serious this time.

But he couldn't say it, the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. He was trapped, he pushed away his feelings for so long that he didn't know what to feel. He didn't have the time to properly sit down and think about them because he simply didn't have the need to.

Because he knew that no matter the answer, Amy would be there for him.

She always is.

"No," Sonic added. "I am sorry, I don't think so."

He waited for Amy to answer. Deep down, she already knew. That his feelings couldn't just change in a few days nor few months.

She had a small hope, however, that maybe she had a special place in his heart.

"But, I really do care for you." Sonic panicked, he was afraid to make her cry. "You will always be a special friend to me."

"You will always be special to me too, Sonic." Amy smiled as she placed her hands on his cheeks, taking one last good look at who could be the love of her life.

She wished for this feeling of love to come back, one way or another.

.

Sonic had to admit that he was beginning to worry when he noticed that Amy was getting sicker by each passing week. He will bring her food and visit her once in a while and always asked her about her appointment with her doctor. It got to the point that she even had to stay for a whole week in her house. However, after that, she looked so much better.

Like a new Amy.

"Any new missions?" Sonic asked as he entered the Resistance HQ. In the beginning, he didn't want to be a part of it, he preferred going solo or with Tails. However, as time passed, Amy convinced him to stay as a full-time member.

"There are several ones, you get to pick," Amy said as she clicked a tab on her computer and opened the missions available.

"This one sounds interesting...investigating a rumor of Eggman's new biological weapon," Sonic said as he read the information on the computer.

"Oh, that one is taken, sorry."

"Who is doing it?"

"Shadow and I."

Sonic looked at her curiously, it was strange enough for Amy to take missions. According to her, she was already busy enough and couldn't afford to go. Sonic had asked her a few times already if she wanted to go on a mission with him, but she declined.

"Well, that's...great, I think," Sonic added, he looked away as he grabbed his neck. "I didn't know you and Shadow were friends."

"Yeah, we hang out from time to time."

Amy said it in such a normal manner that it took him by surprise. He played it cool as he noticed Amy looking at him.

He smiled and gave her a thumbs-up, "Well then, good luck!"

.

Sonic thought that it was going to be the end of that.

But it wasn't.

They would eat together, hang together, talk together, be together.

It was all about Shadow and Amy.

Sonic would be lying to himself if he said it didn't bother him.

"So...are you going to tell her or not?"

Tails, Sonic's best pal, knew perfectly well that Sonic wasn't doing any good. Of course, he was there to help his friend figure out his feelings once and for all.

"What do you mean?"

"You have been looking at Amy and Shadow since we got here." Tails said. They were currently at the Resistance's dining room. Tails thought that today he was going to eat his burger peacefully, but destiny had other plans.

"When are you going to realize that you like her?"

"Who?"

Tails rolled his eyes, can Sonic be more naive?

"Amy. You like Amy but you are just too stupid to realize."

Sonic quickly stopped looking at the pink and black one and turned to look at his yellow friend. "I don't like her. I am just worried that Shadow might hurt her."

"Hurt her? Really Sonic? Shadow has proven to be more than trustworthy. Look for a better excuse."

Tails was right. Saying those kinds of things were low and Sonic sighed defeated.

"I don't know...I don't know what to do." Sonic placed his head on the table and closed his eyes. "I was never interested in...those kind of things."

"Kind of things?"

"You know...Romance." Sonic turned his head to look at Tails. "I just...don't think I am fit for it."

Tails looked over at Sonic. He was doing bad, clearly. Tails had never seen his blue friend like that before and to be honest, he hated it.

"It's not about been fit...it's about making her happy."

"But what if I am not able to make her happy? I've messed up so much."

"That's true." Tails added. "But that should be reason enough for you to make her even happier."

Sonic looked up at Tails and positioned himself straight.

"Thank you, Tails." Sonic smiled.

.

"So, why did you bring me here?" Amy looked around the lake, she remembers being the same one she confessed her love to Sonic for the last time.

It was daytime when she confessed, but now, it was dark.

"The lake is very beautiful at night," Amy added. "But it is a bit cold, don't you think it's better if-"

"I like you!" Sonic said loudly as he interrupted Amy. He was blushing from cheek to cheek, waiting for Amy to respond.

Seconds passed and Sonic asked again. "Can you say something?"

"I don't know what to say."

Sonic thought that this was going to go differently. However, he still tried to stay positive.

"You can say that you like me too...because you do, don't you?" Sonic smiled as she got close to her but Amy instantly moved away.

That pained him.

"It's because of him, isn't it?" Sonic looked down to the grass under his shoes, disappointed.

"What?"

"It's because of Shadow, right? You love him don't you?"

Amy stood quiet, unable to answer.

"Don't you?!"

"Yes, I do!" Amy said almost screaming, "I love him!"

"Then, what about us?"

"There is no 'us', Sonic."

"What about all of those years you chased after me?" Sonic took a pause, trying to contain his anger. "All of those years, confessing your love to me...that love, is it really gone?"

"Yes, it is!"

"Why Amy? What did I do that pushed you away? I thought we were good with the way things were! Why Shadow? Why not me-"

"I had the Hanahaki disease!"

A few minutes passed after Amy said that out loud. Sonic couldn't believe his ears.

"Then...the day you confessed to me here...that day...you had the disease?"

"Yes."

"Did you...had surgery?"

"...Yes."

Sonic took a gulp of his saliva and continue to ask, "When?"

"Three months ago."

Sonic tried to calculate in his head, something wasn't adding up. "You began to be close with Shadow around 4 months ago, however."

"Yes," Amy added. "That's because I began to hang out with him after you denied my feelings for you."

"How did that happen?"

Sonic felt more than hurt now, he couldn't describe the strange pain he had in his heart. The weird sensation he had in his stomach.

.

"So the faker said no?"

Amy tried to clean her tears as she heard the voice approach her. She was still at the lake, looking at the water as she sat on under a sakura tree. "What do you want Shadow?"

"Me? Nothing." Shadow sat down next to the pink one. "What do you want?"

Amy couldn't control herself any longer and she threw up flower petals once again. She looked at Shadow, embarrassed.

"Don't tell anyone-"

To Amy's surprise, Shadow did the exact same thing she did.

He threw up a good amount of flower petals.

"You..." Amy looked at him surprised. "You too?"

"I didn't know what was the Hanahaki disease until I went to the doctor," Shadow said as he looked at the lake in front of him. "It's a strange disease. I am the Ultimate Lifeform, I am immune to any kind of disease but this one...because this one is different, like magic even. Luckily for me, I can't die because of it."

"But why won't you have it surgically removed? Amy added. "It must be annoying hiding all the time you have the Hanahaki disease, besides, coughing up plower petals is painful."

Shadow looked at Amy, who was really intrigued to hear his answer.

"Because I actually like it...being in love," Shadow said simply.

"Even if it pains you?"

"I've had the Hanahaki disease for a year now, I am used to it," Shadow added but he knew it was a lie, after a year, he still couldn’t get used at how painful it truly was. "But unlike me, you can actually die. You should have surgery soon."

"I know it's crazy but...I would like to keep on loving Sonic as long as I can." Amy looked at Shadow, who was listening carefully, "I won't have surgery until my time is out...I, too, like, being in love with him, you know."

"Understandable, if I was you, I would do the same thing."

Amy smiled and she asked teasingly. "She must be really special, ain't she?"

"Very."

"Can I know who she is?"

Shadow didn't say anything. He finally had the courage to only hold her hand softly,

Amy looked at his red bright eyes, and that's when she found out the answer to her question.

.

"You should have told me!" Sonic exploded with jealousy after hearing Amy's story.

"And then what?!" Amy screamed. "Would you have said 'yes' out of pity? You perfectly know that the disease doesn't get cured with fake love! I needed you to love, to really love me-"

"BUT I DID! I DID AND I DO LOVE YOU! I WAS JUST STUPID ENOUGH TO NOT REALIZE IT!"

Sonic screamed at the top of his lungs, seeing Amy's face hurt him more than the physical pain he was having.

Amy tried to be strong not to cry. Her frustation took the best of her. "I loved you...I loved you so much... and the thought that we could have been together, it really hurts."

"But Amy, " Sonic got closer to Amy and held her hands, tightly. "We still can be together, we-"

"No, we can't..."

Sonic knew this was coming, he refused to hear it, he didn't want to it. He just didn't want to accept that fact, not now, not ever.

Amy sighed as she gave Sonic one last look before leaving.

"We can't...because I don't love you anymore."

Amy walked away but Sonic tried to stop her. She didn't realize that he had fallen to his knees, holding his stomach as he tried to control the pain inside of him. He looked at her walking into the woods, disappearing out of his sight, leaving him heartbroken and alone.

and then...

Sonic began to cough up flower petals.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A/n: I live for angst SonAmy. Thank you for this nice prompt and sorry I took so long writing.

I hope you enjoyed it!

If anyone wants to send a story prompt feel more than welcome to!

[borisbubbles]

28. ITALY

Diodato - “Fai Rumore”

And we’re back to our usual disconnect, where everyone pretends to love Italy and I don’t. I cannot wait for all the Italian crazies to be OUTRAGED by this ranking (28/41 is fine for an entry I don’t care about...?) and reblog this all over the tumblrverse and inflate my reader stats. 😈 but first, let’s discuss what we have on our hands here. 

Song Analysis

There’s no way this post *won’t* end up offensive to every Fai Rumore fan, so I will resort to brutal honesty. I never, ever, *ever* cared about “Fai rumore”. In fact, I’d even say it’s strongly overrated by the gross of the Eurovision fandom? 

Okay so here’s the deal. I will not deny that “Fai Rumore” has several things going for it. The song has emotional gravitas, Diodato has a great voice and acts very well. It’s technically precise and well produced. It is very competent at what it sets out to be, which is a very standard HQ Sanremo Power Ballad. 

But here’s where I feel like I deviate from the norm: You may think “wow Fai Rumore! How brilliant, meticulous and poised”, but I think “how expected, overtly earnest and unfun?” 

The problem is, this is Boris’s Bubble and Boris doesn’t enjoy songs that feel like they belong inside a trophy cupboard, and “Fai rumore” is exactly one of those songs, don’t lie. So “meticulous, poised and brilliant” you say, well *I* say “how overtly earnest, unfun and aloof”? I have a Spotify - if I wanted to listen to good music, I’d just use that? Or one of my like 15 Youtube Playlists containing non-ESC entries? Why would I watch Eurovision, or Sanremo for that matter, for the good music when there are so many other (and easier) options available for me that align better to my tastes?

The fact that “Fai Rumore” is *too* perfect for me (and therefore very hard to empathize with imo) is one thing, which leads to other thing I need to point out. I’ll let my friend Matthew take over here, who wrote this paragraph on ESCUnited right after Diodato’s selection: 

That final sentences is bone-chilling because it’s so, so true. “I AM A SOPHISTICATED MUSIC FAN BECAUSE I FOLLOW ~FESTIVALE DI SANREMO~” is such a common trope of elistism (like, replace “San Remo” with any quality newspaper, nobel prize winning author or classical music composer and you’ll find to be nearly universally applicable to snobs across the globe), but I find it specifically ugly in Eurovision.

You see, would the same courtesy be extended to a country of lower prestige if they got a Fai Rumore? Would the same courtesy be extended to a person of colour? or a woman? How about others songs that, like Fai Rumore, emulate their country’s musical traditions (Fai Rumore is SO italian you can smell the basil), except those traditions fall outside of the western European bubble? See, it doesn’t bother me that Italians like Fai Rumore and are proud of it. They’re Italians. Of course they are! I don’t judge them for it. I don’t rly care if the odd introvert finds solace in a song of this calibre. But as soon as Matthew made the aforementioned post, people who had previously rated Diodato as a 5/6 already started adjusting their scores to 10s and 12s and, well...

It bothers me that the same fanbase that DEMANDS cultural diversity (Diodato) and/or MOAR ETHNOBOPS (Efendi) refuse to accept a Solovey or an Origo -which are a thousandfold more layered, sophisticated and daring- as an equal. 

It bothers *even more* me that people are willing to immediately give Italy a plethora of chances (especially when they choose men! fuck institutionalised sexism!), while not doing the same for a Belarus. Belarus HAS no clear musical scene or funds to really produce good music, yet produced a ridiculously good NF (with a VERY righteous winner - yes, Chakras, but also: Chakras) I’ve seen snobs SLAM VAL, mercilessly despite being an excellent left-field pick (god imagine if Yan had won Eurofest for a sec. What a nightmare). Italy, otoh, also delivered a sterling NF, have *a VERY* rich musical tradition, tons of talent and money and production value... and they still went the lowest common denominator available, and yet they receive praise, without so much as a whisper of protest from our so-called “value seekers”. This level of hypocrisy and double standard wielding, all in the name of wishing to be taken seriously delivers *such* a toxic undercurrent to Eurovision and has absolutely soured me on Diodato. This isn’t his fault, but sadly he’s become a weapon of mass misconstruction and well just because I hate the guy who pressed the big red button more doesn’t mean I automatically like ICBMs. As we come near the songs I actually give a damn’ about, I will start calling the shitpociries out. Brace yourself for it, when I rank Solovey and Da Vidna inside my top five.

Want some examples specifically pertaining to the Diodato fandom? Sure, I’ll give you some:

EJEMPLO UNO: 

Diodato fanboys openly coddling him on social media post-lockdown all “PROTECT OUR POOR MUNCHKIN FROM THE CORONAVIRUS”. Like... he’s a *thirty-eight year old adult* he can take care of himself, BACK UP OFF HIM you freaks. 

EJEMPLO DOS: 

The relevant media having baptized Diodato as THE SAVING GRACE OF THE LOCKDOWN, ITALIANS SINGING ‘FAI RUMORE’ FROM THEIR BALCONIES IN DEFIANCE OF COVID-19, which is such a bullshit narrative it’s turned my hair from black to brown.  Yes, the Italians sang “Fai Rumore”. What they don’t tell you is that they also sang many other Italian and non-Italian songs, including humanitarian anthem “Roar” by Kety Perr (cue to Katy Perry being like “OMG I’M SO HONORED TO INSPIRE SO MANY ITALIANS ::hungarianflagemoji::” on twitter.). CNN Like, Eurovision related media LOVE portraying it as a ~life-chaning confort anthem~ - the reality is that “Fai rumore”, while playing its part, was merely a tiny spoke in a giant wheel. 

EJEMPLO QUATRO:

Well take a look at how many people will reblog this post and slam it for daring to point out, what I think are really obvious truths to anyone who doesn’t suffer from musical myopia. 

In the end, the song is okay and it’s okay to love it. But if you ‘love’ it because you’ve convinced yourself that you must, and not because it genuinely means something to you, I don’t think you have grounds to criticise to criticise anyone but yourself.

NF Corner

As I said, I didn’t follow San Remo live (I never do! *gasp* blasphemy, I know), but I did plan to check it for this write-up except RAI deleted every live performance? And they won’t let me embed the few remaining vids either? 

Anyway, this happened so right-click-open this a new tab and then return once you’ve finished it. 

Backstage feuds being fought out LIVE on the stage in front of millions of viewers 😍 Apparently Morgan and Bugo were at loggerheads for a while, and had a massive row RIGHT before their performance on the second night, which caused Morgan to stray from the script and sing all the insulting things Bugo told him *to Bugo* instead of the actual lyrics of their duet. 😍 😍 😍 Bugo IMMEDIATELY stormed off the stage to the point where Amadeus had to like... literally tell the gobsmacked audience that Bugo had left the building 😍 😍 😍. This is some god-tier pettiness and I’m completely in awe of it. DEITIES. 😍

aside from Sincerogate, I would’ve embedded vidoes that contained the DRAMA (Rancore), CAMP (Achille) and UNABASHED WEIRDNESS (Levante) of this year’s line-up, but I guess RAI really doesn’t like for people to have fun. Oh well. 

Italy 2020 vs Italy 2021

Diodato is male and Italian, so yeah, guaranteed top 10 in Rotterdam, no matter what happens. Search your feelings, you know it to be true. Cynicism aside, televoters WOULD have flocked to it without thinking twice (for exactly those two reasons), passing over many better entries in the process and well... I’m tired and exhausted and I think you can guess I am not very impressed by this likely outcome. 

Not sure what RAI’s strategy for 2021 is (lol it’s RAI - they don’t have a strategy. besides Italy have bigger fish to fry than the Eurovision Song Contest as you know), but I’m not very invested either way. I could imagine them internally selecting Diodato if he’s willing to do ESC in 2021, but if this was a one-off deal (which I think it was), they will probably select another plain white bloke for you to obsess over, so no worries :-) #TuttoVaPene

FREAKY! FRIDAY! FACTOR!

I’m sort of conflicted? On one hand, god Fai Ru*snore* is SO typical of “Italy in Eurovision”, not just from a musical perspective but from a point of reverence as well. On to the other hand, when are the fanbases *not* acting insane w/r/t Italy?

San Remo was  really crazy this year, enough for me to award Italy a couple Senheads. However... if I wanted to see nice and inoffensive triumph over a bunch of deranged, gimmicky, ott masterpieces, I’d just rewatch #London1977? (offensive take #16: “people that like Marie Myriam the most in 1977 do not understand Eurovision”) Ehhhh whatevs.

Score: 2 Senhits out of 5.