#seeing others doll opinions just makes me feel crazy sometimes cause i feel like i am often the odd one out lol

[pcktknife]

all three of those dolls are hideous i rlly don’t get why everyone is praising them. they did the twins so dirty. WHY THE FUCK THEY OURPLE!!!!!!!

it absolutely drives me insane seeing doll opinions on twitter cause everytime it's ppl going crazy and the dolls are UGLYYYY!!!! (telekinesis throws everything across the room) I can't stand it! but it's also how I get like...the leaks so if I block the big accs then I don't get to see the dolls *grits teeth* and the twins look So bad. Or at least meowlody does. Do you know how hard it is to fuck up a character who's main colors are Black And White? JUST ADD 2 REGULAR COMPLIMENTARY COLORS AND YOURE GOOD I DONT GET ITTTTTT. why the purple. why the pink. why the red. why the yellow. What is Going On? omg wait mid rant realization. they gave the twins toraleis stripe pattern. they gave them her cheek stripes and took their white coat pattern away oh my god.

[lala1267]

Chocolate and Vanilla (Part 5 final part)

Summary: Elvis has now claimed you as his own, nothing will take him from you. Bad ending.

Warnings: yandere Elvis, cheating, marriage, reader isnt really allowed to have a choice or opinion, r3pe, fainting, exploitation, domestic violence, age gap.

Note: this is a very violent and sensitive chapter, read at your own risk.

It was the 70s. I was 25 and Elvis was 32. I had been living with Elvis since the day that he saw me and brought me back to graceland. I loved Elvis but I didn't love his personality. He had major mood swings, one minute he would be kissing and hugging me and the next he would be shouting and yelling at me.

I hadn't seen Lana in years, and I missed her terribly, I just wanted her to come and save me. I wasn't allowed to get out of Graceland since Elvis didn't want anyone knowing that he was dating a black girl. But you can't keep a secret forever. Soon, the public found out, the press was going crazy. In every newspaper I read, the title would be, "Elvis is dating a black"

"Elvis presley likes the blacks"

"Black girl loves Elvis" and etc. I learned to live with paparazzi following me everywhere I went. I would be outside in the front lawn with Elvis when I saw some of the press sneaking through the Graceland gates. Elvis let his temper get the best of him as usual. He went inside and got his double barrel shotgun. He walked back out, shooting at the poor people until they ran off. Elvis was an angry man. He was violent to others when he was angry and sometimes even to me. But he was quick to apologise after he had put his hands on me. I just wanted him to love me, like when he took me to Graceland for the first time and looked after me.

I had to start getting ready for Elvis's show. He always wanted me to be at his shows, so he has a pretty face to look at. I put on a red glittery dress that hugged my figure perfectly, I had on knee-high red boots with white bows. I wasn't a baby anymore, my boobs were bigger, my hips were wider, I was a woman now. I had straightened my hair like usual, Elvis wanted me to start straightening my hair and doing my makeup. I could never say no to him since I didn't feel like crying myself to sleep. I was like his doll. If he didn't like what I was wearing, he would pick an outfit out for me. If he didn't like my makeup, he would send me back to the bathroom to do it again. He could dress me and say anything to me, i would do anything he wanted. My makeup and hair were already finished, I had began to put some things in my handbag when I felt large hands aggressively grab my waist. I turned to see who it was. It was Elvis. I just turned back around and continued placing items into my designer handbag. He pulled my hips into his pelvis, he moved his hand up and down my body. He tried to unzip my dress, but I stopped him. "Elvis, not now" I said with a fed up tone. Elvis pushed me forward, causing me to fall onto the bed. He looked at me with disgust before replying to me.

"You never wanna make love with me anymore, do you even love me?"

"Just because I don't want have sex doesn't mean I don't love you"

"Well if you loved me then you would make love to me"

"Don't be stupid Elvis, no means no" Elvis's face went red and his fists were clenched, he always got his way and he wouldn't take no for and answer. He grabbed my body and lifted me up, so I was standing in front of him with my back to him. He ferociously unzipped my dress. He ripped it off my body. I was now standing with my back to tall man with just a bra and panties on.

"Elvis I said no!"

"You ain't gonna tell me no, I get what I want!" He pushed me onto the lavish bed. He was about to rip my pants of when his freind Jerry walked in. Jerry's face made a frown as he saw what was happening, he wouldn't be able to tell Elvis to stop because he would probably shoot him. Jerry stood there for a second before announcing, "uhm Elvis you need to be on stage now" Jerry said awkwardly before giving me an apologetic look. Elvis looked at Jerry with anger in his eyes. He turned back round to me and whispered in my ear, "Ya got lucky this time, honey." he got off me, he smiled at Jerry and walked out of the door like nothing happened. Jerry mouthed the word "sorry" to me before he also left the room. I had to stop myself from crying as I put my clothes back on and fixed my hair.

I was in the audience watching Elvis on stage, I saw nothing, he meant nothing to me, i sat there with no expression. I wasn't pleased, I wasn't sad, I wasn't angry, I felt nothing. Elvis had robbed all of my personality, life, freedom, and feelings. That was the day that I realised I didn't love him and that I felt nothing for him. He danced and sang all while looking at me. He expected me to clap and smile, but I just sat there motionless. My heart was stone grey, and my brain was dead. Elvis sang songs that had the most sweet lyrics. He was singing it to me. I was sitting there staring into his cold soul. A single tear dropped from my eye and rolled down my cheek, I didn't even bother to wipe it off. The press and some of the audience had noticed how strange I was acting. Cameras were flashing but not at Elvis, but at me. I snapped out of my thoughts to see paparazzi crowding me and taking pictures. The lights flashed, almost blinding my vision, I didn't realise that I had tear dropps all down both cheeks, my mascara ran down my face. I had been too stuck in my thoughts to realise. When Elvis finds out about this I would be punished severely, I could already hear his voice in my head, "God dammit, why the fuck were you crying, now its gonna be in every newspaper your an embarrasment!" A million thoughts rushed through my head, the crowd only got bigger, my breathing quickened, the room started spinning, my vision got blurry. The last thing I saw was Elvis on stage looking at me with disgust. I fell off my chair onto the ground, I was unconscious. I woke up in the bed that I shared with Elvis. My back ached. I looked down at my body to see my panties on the floor, I was only wearing a bra. I quickly got up to get some clothes on. I put some shorts on and a crop top. I already knew what had happened. Elvis had made love to me without my permission. Whilst I was unconscious. Tears fell from my eyes onto the carpet as Elvis walked in. He immediately ran to and said, "Whoa, why are you awake"

"Don't worry I know what you did to me"

"I didn't do anything I was-"

"That doesn't explain why my back is aching and I am half naked!"

"Don't raise your voice at me lil girl!" I emediantly shut up.

"Get ready we are going shopping" Elvis said through his teethe.

I had put on a short dress and some small heels. We were walking through the mall when Elvis told me, "Wait here I need to go to the toilet" I nodded in agreement as he walked to the toilets, I stood there when I saw a magazine shop. I looked through the magazines. My face dropped in horror as I saw pictures of me passing out at Elvis's show. I still hadn't gotten a punishment from Elvis since that happened yesterday, I figured that him r#ping me was my punishment. I looked at the titles of the magazines, 'Elvis's girlfriend faints at his show'

'Elvis's girl collapses'

"Elvis's girl gets raped?!" I whisper yelled to my self as I read the title. I instantly looked at the image that followed. It was me getting sexualy assaulted by my boyfriend, the picture seemed to have been taken from the bedroom window that must have been accidentally left open. Elvis was on top of me while I was unconscious, he was thrusting into me. My ears began ringing and my head began aching, I didn't even bother to stop my tears because it was already to late. Elvis was behind me looking at all of the magazines in horror. He grabbed my wrist and escorted me out of the mall. He put me in his car and we drove back to Graceland.

We got home and Elvis looked furious. He picked up a vase with flowers in and threw it at the wall, glass went everywhere. He threw a lot of items around until he locked eyes with me. He stomped towards me before gripping my straightened hair. I yelped. He pushed me onto the ground as he shouted, "It's all your fault!" My blood was boiling. This man could kill me if he wanted to. I knew I had to do something. He was on top of me ready to hit me when I kicked him in the chest with my heel. He rolled of me, yelling cuss words. But he was quick to get back up. As I was trying to run away he grabbed my hair and said, "You ain't never getting away from me." he dragged me all the way up the stairs to our room. That was where he left me.

Since that day I was just his fuck buddy. He used me for sex, and when he was done he would ignore for the rest of the day. He would sneak girls in the house at night. He was a bad man. But I was trapped here in this house forever. I missed Lana, my freedom, and my life, but he had robbed all of that from me. I was here forever.

[marshallpupfan]

You have a massive taste for Marshall Merch, so well: What, in your opinion is the most high quality items you've came across, Plushes, Toys, etc.

A part of me feels like the plush dolls are a bit hard to judge, since their quality can be all over the place. One day, you'll find a doll that looks surprisingly good, and then the next, Marshall looks like one of those knock-off characters sold at a dollar store. Still, I was able to pick out a few that I think represent some high quality, such as...

...the Build-a-Bear plush, which I think is still one of the finer plush dolls in my collection to this day. It's such a shame they don't sell these in the BAB stores anymore (last I heard, anyway).

And this plush doll from "GUND". Honestly, they often release high quality products, so I'm not surprised I'm finding myself including their name here. This one in-particular has always stood out to me.

Moving away from plush dolls, I wanted to find some items that I felt here high quality in the sense that A) they represent or look like the character quite well, B) are painted or manufactured carefully, and C) are actually sturdy or seem like they'll last.

This, sadly, leaves out some of the items I purchased recently. For example, that cup topper I got from the AMC Theater; it's nice, but Marshall's outfit on it is all red, despite his actual outfit having more color than that (such as the black on his hind legs). While it's a cool item and I'm happy to have it, that seemed like such a shoulder shrug to the manufacturers, thus I wouldn't deem it "high quality".

In any case...

One such item that fits this criteria, imo, is this item. It looks surprisingly great, the character looks quite accurate, and it doesn't feel cheap... and it's just a shampoo bottle! Crazy to think a company put this much effort into something that might get thrown away once its empty. This one was never sold in the United States, so I had to import it from the United Kingdom.

I also feel this bank fits my criteria, too. Funnily enough, this was also imported from the United Kingdom. I'd joke and say all of their products must be high quality, but I also imported a battery-powered bubble blower from them, and that thing feels so cheap and brittle, just staring at it might cause it to break. lol

The Christmas ornaments... er... hang on. That's not a great pic, huh? My phone can be so inconsistent. Sometimes it looks good, sometimes not. The flash can help, but not always. My TracFone camera is something that's NOT high quality. lol

Okay, now that I've returned with my mother's camera (after scrounging around for four AA batteries to power the thing)...

The Christmas ornaments can often look weird, hastily painted, and have eyes that appear so... off. But then you'll find ones like this that are surprisingly good. It really stands out, imo. However...

THIS is easily the best of the bunch. It's made by Hallmark, and the detail is surprisingly so good! My only gripe is the crease around his mouth, but even the Chase ornament (released a year prior) did the same thing, too. Guess it's unavoidable, since they didn't even skimp on giving the inside of his mouth some detail, too. I have to wonder if we'll ever see another Marshall ornament of this quality again? I hope we do... and I'll collect it, of course. :)

(The flash kept making the pic too dark, so this is the best I could do.)

This item also counts. It looks better than most of the figurines I've collected, and to think, it's just a simple flashlight. I guess it helps that the designs of the pups are quite simple, thus some products can get their likeness down pat so well... which makes it confusing when other manufacturers gets them so wrong. lol

This snow glove is also really, really good. The pups are a little expressionless, but other than that, it just looks great. I feel like plenty of care went into this one... which is probably why they sold out so quickly when I went looking for one. lol

I could probably find some more items, but I think this will do it for now. However, before closing this out, I would like to state one thing; just because I don't find every item in my collection to be of high quality, that doesn't mean I dislike them or something. Sure, that AMC topper I mentioned earlier might be missing some color and detail I was hoping to see, but I'm not disappointed in it at all. I was still really happy to get one! In fact, outside of a very few items, I've loved collecting everything you see in my collection thus far! Hey, something doesn't have to be perfect to be good. :)

[hubbytaeil]

Hiiiii can I request a hyuck smut with 6, 16?? Like oc being super cocky and bratty and him not being able to keep up with her sometimes so he just has to fuck her up a little bit, idk maybe turn her fierce personality into a pillow princess? I can’t believe I’m gonna ask for this but can him suck/lick her cheek?

Thanks so much for sharing your works✨💕

Donghyuck + #6 It’s a real shame that no one asked for your opinion &  #16 Did you hear something

genre: smut

contains: swearing, way too many petnames, praising

word count: 2525

a/n: this has been sitting in my drafts for a while (hence the santa claus joke) but hey she’s here, hope you like it <3

-ˏˋ⋆ ̥ prompts ̥ ⋆ˊˎ-

"Did you hear something?" "What?" Donghyuck turns his head, following where your gaze has posed. It gives you enough time to steal a punch of fries from his plate and stuff them in your mouth. When he realises what you're doing (for the umpteenth time during lunch), he is the face of disappointment. "I'm going to break this plate over your head if you do that again." He replies with the straightest look you've ever seen on him. "No, you wouldn't." You assure him, sending him a flying kiss to which Donghyuck answers with fake gagging sounds. "Drama queen." You hiss, biting onto your hangover burrito. "Oh, look who's talking." "Oh, shut up." "Someone's forgotten the scene she caused last night." You munch shaking your head left and right. "I have no idea what you're talking about, are you sure it wasn't you?"

 You tease after swallowing the big bite. "I wasn't blacked out drunk, clinging on my friend and whining like a little bitch." You snicker at how offended he looks, fists tight on the edge of the table. "So what? Are you mad you couldn't get any pussy because of me?" Donghyuck's eyes widen in shock as the restaurant falls silent. You have a sneaky look in your eyes, perfectly aware that every single client has heard your not so ladylike remark. You bite into your plastic straw and Donghyuck is not sure why his cheeks are flushed now. "I wouldn't worry too much, Hyuckie." You say after taking a sip of soda. "It's not like you would've gotten any if I wasn't there anyway." Donghyuck gives you a dry laugh, glaring at you. "As a matter of fact, you didn't get laid either, missy." "At least I got some offers" "Oh, yeah? From who? The stripper that was dressed like Santa Claus?" You chuckle remembering how absurd (and hot) that guy looked. "No, from Mark." Donghyuck's jaw drops to floor, as you finish your drink, purposely exaggerating the sounds coming from the can. "You fucked Mark?! What the fuck, y/n." "We didn't fuck." You affirm, standing up to get the bill. 

Donghyuck haunts you all the way back to your apartment until you spill every detail. "So, he chickened out?" Donghyuck laughs, anticipating the moment when he will be able to tease Mark about the entire incident. "I guess he was taken back, the poor thing." "By what exactly?" He looks at you from head to toe mockingly. You hit his shoulder purposely hard and he whines. "We weren't doing anything crazy once we got back to his place, just the usual... some groping, some kissing..." Donghyuck shakes his shoulders vigorously letting out disgusted sounds, trying to shake off the vision of his friend Mark in a sexual situation. "But then I started talking dirty and he just sort of... stared at me. Like, just staring. He looked like a deer in headlights. Just stood there." "Oh my God." Donghyuck bursts out a big laugh as he imagines everything you're saying. "Please, tell me what you said to him." He is more than ready to take written notes if that means embarrassing Mark Lee. "Well..." you hesitate, wondering if you're getting a bit too personal. "Something like 'yeah baby, I know you want to fuck this pussy, come and get it you bastard'." Donghyuck stops his steps on the concrete, not expecting to hear these words flow out of your mouth at 2 p.m. on a Sunday. You turn around and see him take in the little too graphic information. Slowly, he starts massaging the bridge of his nose, sighing, feeling unexpectedly bad for his strictly vanilla sex-oriented friend. "Y/n, of course he chickened out, Jesus. I mean... I guess you don't know him that well." You shrug your shoulders unbothered. "Whatever, he looks like he only does it in missionary." you both resume your walk. "And he probably does." Donghyuck chuckles. "I guess no one can tame me." You joke, but Donghyuck doesn't take it as such. Those word stick with him until you reach your door. It doesn't help when the wind swiftly blows under your dress while you're unlocking your door, teasing Donghyuck with a quick glimpse of your white laced panties, you don't even notice. That's when he realises, he's been staring at your ass.

The afternoon continues lazily, both of you still feeling the final effects of last night's drinks. You put on some classic rom-com you both saw thousands of times just to kill another few hours and have the excuse to slack on your couch. Every time the handsome male lead comes on you let out a weird strained sound that annoys Donghyuck until he can't take it anymore. "He's not even that good looking, y/n." "It's a real shame that no one asked for your opinion." You fire back, lifting up your leg to hit him with your foot. He groans but doesn't do anything to stop you, so you just keep on going, curious on how long he'll last. "Y/n, stop." His tone is lower than ever, he's not even looking at you but it's enough to make something snap in you. "What if I don't?" You whisper, tapping your foot on his thigh restlessly. He finally turns to you, setting up little flames all over your skin with just his eyes. He goes from your cocky smile, to the slightly visible line of your breasts, and down to where your dress is barely covering what's under it. Donghyuck grins without moving any other muscles. "Really, y/n?" "What?" You protest all the while 'casually' exposing the panties Donghyuck couldn't stop thinking about for the past forty minutes. His throat runs dry at heavenly sight, but he doesn't break. "I'm not going to fuck you just because you couldn't score some dick last night." He states, biting the inside of cheek. You huff, annoyed at him wanting to play hard to get at a time like this. You let your left leg hang off the couch, just to give Donghyuck a better look. "Then you're just going to watch." You affirm before letting your hand trail along your thigh as you reach your wetness. You had been ‘in the mood’ for quite some time, if one counts last night’s complete failure, and you noticed just how wet you were already just by touching the outside of your underwear. Donghyuck holds his breathe while his eyes scan every single movement of your fingers. You chuckle way too innocently when he coughs in the back of his throat. You never take your eyes off him as you work your way towards pleasure. You've done this so many times, it's like applying an obvious mathematical formula to you. But having someone watch you do something reserved to the intimacy of your bedroom is new kind of thrill. It feels especially thrilling with Donghyuck gawking at your skilled fingers caressing your folds with the perfect amount of pressure. You feel your breathe shortening, throwing your head back on the cushions. You pull your panties to the side and Donghyuck suppresses a low moan when you eagerly put a finger in, chasing after your high like a wild animal. He waits a few moments to enjoy the view of you pumping in and out of your heat, juices making lewd sounds that fill up his ears. "You dirty girl." Donghyuck whispers before dragging your hand away from yourself to which you whine loudly. "You want someone to tame you, uh?" Donghyuck mutters before putting your fingers in his mouth, savouring your taste. You can't help but moan at the contact, feeling sensitive in every inch of your body. "Think you can?" You blurt out and within seconds your friend has you pinned on couch. You sigh loudly when he swiftly resumes the work you had left unfinished, all the while securing your hands above your head. Donghyuck doesn’t need to ask how his fingers feel inside of you, he can read in your more than satisfied expression, he can hear it in your ever so delighted moans that come straight out of a porno. “Fuck, I should bother you more often.” you whimper in between chuckles and whimpers, struggling to keep your legs apart, overwhelmed by bliss. “I think you do that way too much already, doll.” Donghyuck remarks before aiming for your neck to place sinful kisses. His fingers work skilfully to find out when to slow down and when to speed up, you grab his bicep encouraging him whenever he hits the right spot. You start wondering why you haven’t done this earlier. Your mind is too cloudy therefore you are taken by surprise when you perceive Donghyuck sucking slightly into your cheek. You hold your breathe, surprised at your own enjoyment and you both smile at each other. You are quick to connect your lips to his, brushing your tongue against his as soon as you get the chance. “Greedy, aren’t we?” Donghyuck groans, amused and aroused at the sight of your neediness. You just hum in response, palming his member over his gym shorts. “I need it.” you plead, showing him your best puppy eyes. “I know you do, baby.” he smirks as he says this, taking his fingers out of you, completely soaked in your juices. “Look at this. Look at how needy you are.” you nod desperately at his statement and Donghyuck is beyond pleased. You, caged under him, not being able to put into words how badly you wanted to get fucked. A sight to see indeed. “How do you want it?” he asks, helping you out of your dress and underwear and removing his t-shirt afterwards. You open your legs once again, not needing an explicit answer. Donghyuck clicks his tongue in disappointment, showing off an indecent smile. “I thought you were against missionary.” he reminds you, but you are fast to bring your hands to his, pulling him over you. “I never said I was against it.” you whisper, at this point consumed in your lust. Donghyuck takes his time to caress your hair, your cheek, until his fingers ghost over your hardened nipples and over your stomach. You take in the sudden affectionate gesture, then you feel his weight over you shift and you see him rummage inside your bag from the night before that had been forgotten on the coffee table. You’re not shocked when he pulls out a condom, given that you were the one who had put it there for ‘good luck’. “I guess we can finally put this to good use. Don’t we, babe?" You hum happily, savouring his assertive yet considered tone. You sit up on your elbows admiring every second of him putting it on. “Now, where were we?” “Need a reminder?” You suggest getting closer, ghosting his lovely lips with yours. He smirks amusedly before pinning you down once again. “Ready, baby girl?” the pet names were driving you crazy in a way you had never experienced before and Donghyuck had been taking note of that every time you moaned at the sound of those words. “Interesting, knowing you I thought you might’ve like being called a whore or something.” he mocks you, aligning himself at your entrance without giving you full satisfaction. “How do you want to call me?” you moan softly in response, revealing to him your most docile nature that surely you hadn’t let a lot of people witness, let alone lovers. And you knew that he was enjoying every second of it. “Let me think... I quite like babe.” he utters as he delivers a first thrust. You throw you head back, feeling more than joyful in receiving what you had been craving. “Baby girl is nice too.” A second hip movement, this time painfully slower, in between frustration and gratification. The slower he goes the more you can feel just how much he fills you up perfectly. “I think I’m gonna go with baby girl.” you cry desperately at the third thrust, both at the pleasure and the words he whispers in your ear. “Yes, yes, call me like that.” you almost scream when he finally speeds up the rhythm. Lewd sounds of skin against skin fill up the living room, now you understand why they call it afternoon delight. “You feel so good around me, baby girl.” You smile at his statement, squeezing around him purposely, to which Donghyuck grunts happily. “Let me take care of you.” he then positions your arms around his shoulders, setting his head in the crook of your neck, delivering even deeper thrusts that make your eyes roll in the back of your head. You can’t help but turn into a moaning mess, unable to answer when he asks you how good he’s making you feel. He chuckles at the gibberish that comes out of your mouth followed by a long and strained sigh that is music to Donghyuck’s ears. “This is what you wanted, didn’t you? Getting fucked until you can’t function?” he groans before giving a sloppy kiss that can only muffle your now uncontainable whine. “Hyuck-ah.” His name is all that you can mutter as he pushes himself into you quicker and quicker. Donghyck knows that he can’t hold on any longer, not after hearing his name flowing out of your lips. “God, I want you to fuck me all the time.” you blurt out. It’s no use say that your brain can’t filter your words anymore. “All the time? Oh, don’t tempt me, y/n. I could fuck you on this couch for hours, until you can’t take it anymore.” Your mind runs wild, imagining getting stuffed with Donghyuck’s cock for hours on end, in every corner of the house. You haven’t finished yet and you’re already lusting for more. Electricity sparks throughout your body when Donghyuck balances himself on your knees, spreading your legs even further apart. “C’mon, baby. Come all over my cock, you’ve waited long enough.” He’s not wrong. Those words are enough for you to crumble under him, perceiving the familiar grip in your stomach you had longed for far too long. “That’s it baby, let go.” you can’t help but do as he says and when your high finally hits you the ungodly sounds you release are out of this world. When you finally open your eyes, you see Donghyuck still painfully hard inside of you, the pulsation almost hurting you. “Cum on me, Hyuck.” you whimper, wishing for him to feel just as good. He is more than happy to do so as he removes himself from you, discarding the condom and grabbing his member right above the space between your breasts and your stomach. “Fuck, y/n.” “Let me do it.” He lets you do as you please, letting you milk his cock with so much fervour, moaning with him, encouraging him just like he has done with you. It doesn’t take long for him to shoot his cum all over your breasts, you hum at the feeling of the warm liquid. Donghyuck takes his time to admire the sinful vision right below him. “We... are gonna need to do that again.” “Touché.”

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

(Accidental 150 Follower Special) IOTA’s Top 10 Best (and By That, I Mean Personal Favorite) Episodes of Miraculous Ladybug

Alright, I already covered what I considered to be the worst Miraculous Ladybug episodes in two parts, and now it’s time to talk about the what I consider to be the best Miraculous Ladybug episodes before I talk about... him...

I’m only putting one rule in place for this list. I'm going to try and list episodes with good qualities other than “cool-looking Akuma and awesome fight scenes”, and focus on other details like character moments and story.

Other than that, let’s get started.

These are the Top 10 Best Episodes of Miraculous Ladybug (in my personal opinion because your opinion is also valid)

#10: Mr. Pigeon

While Marinette works on sketching a design for a hat for a fashion contest where the winning design will be worn by Adrien (a rare example where the “Marinette does a thing to impress Adrien” plot actually works), a birdwatcher who loves feeding pigeons in the park is told off by the only police officer in Paris, causing him to get akumatized into the titular Mr. Pigeon, who has control over all of the pigeons in the city.

And by God, does this episode have fun with the concept.

In addition to constantly mimicking pigeon cries, Mr. Pigeon's movements are just so entertaining to watch, only aided by the creative ways he controls the flocks of pigeons.

I'm not kidding when at one point, Mr. Pigeon traps Ladybug and Cat Noir in a cage, and threatens to have his pigeons crap on them unless they hand over their Miraculous. Yeah.

This is one of the episodes that really set the standards for how outlandish the Akumas in Miraculous Ladybug could get. It kind of reminds me of an episode of the original Ultraman, where the SSSP has to find a way to move an incredibly heavy monster using increasingly abnormal strategies, like inflating it with air so it'll float like a balloon. It's clear it isn't taking itself too seriously, so the audience shouldn't either.

Admittedly, Cat Noir's feather allergy feels shoehorned in, and is only included to increase conflict, and you would think it would come up when Mayura, a bird-themed supervillain appears in the third season. But then again, that's just a minor nitpick.

It's just a really fun episode, and I wish we could see Ladybug and Cat Noir fight Mr. Pigeon again that isn't used for a cheap gag.

#9: The Puppeteer

After being told by her mom that she can't have a Ladybug doll made by Marinette, young Manon is Akumatized into the Puppeteer. But obviously, you can't have our heroes beating up a five-year-old, so instead, the Puppeteer has the power to exact control over past Akuma victims as long as she has the doll made by Marinette. So Ladybug and Cat Noir have to face off against Lady Wifi, the Evillustrator, and Rogercop, before the Puppeteer gets her hands on the dolls Marinette made of the two heroes and take control of them as well.

It's still kind of funny to think about the fact that of all the Akumas to become a huge threat to Ladybug and Cat Noir, it's a little girl throwing a temper tantrum. And like with “Mr. Pigeon”, the episode has a lot of fun with the concept, best reflected in the voice acting. You can tell that Carrie Keranen is having so much fun this episode with the stuff she says as Lady Wifi.

The fact that someone who was actually a major threat to the heroes with how she was able to easily outsmart them and also came really close to getting their Miraculous is now acting like a little kid using phrases like “super duper sorry” is even more hilarious.

I'm still a little confused as why of all the past villains, it's Evillustrator and Rogercop that get to come back, and I wish they had gotten more to say, but it's still a treat to see Ladybug and Cat Noir fighting four villains at once, especially since this was before “Heroes Day”.

#8: Sapotis

Hawkmoth akumatizes Alya's little sisters into Sapotis (supposedly based off a folktale, but I can't find anything about it online), who have the power to multiply and easily overwhelm Ladybug and Cat Noir, forcing Ladybug to recruit Alya to become a third hero, Rena Rouge.

I've been a little negative about Alya in the past, but this episode gives her some major character growth. One of the biggest problems I had with her character in Season 1 is how often she tried to figure out Ladybug's identity... despite claiming to be a huge superhero fan, who should know why superheroes keep their identities a secret. Thankfully, this episode mostly puts an end to this idea.

The episode opens with Marinette giving Alya some reasons why Ladybug would keep her identity a secret, and it actually plays into the episode.

Putting aside the stupid Rent-A-Miraculous system introduced in this episode, the idea of keeping secrets and how necessary they can be sometimes is reflected after the battle where Alya is hesitant at first to give up her Miraculous, but eventually concedes and keeps her identity a secret from Marinette (who ironically knows, but that's not important).

Even without that, this episode still has a lot of action with the three heroes fighting their way through an army of Sapotis, with plenty of banter during said action. Hell, at one point, Cat Noir says “gotta catch 'em all”. I don't have a joke here, that's just brilliant.

Out of all the introductory hero episodes, this one easily sticks out among most of them.

(Don’t worry, I’m going to talk about Rena Rouge’s character design in a later post.)

#7: Guitar Villain

I said before in an earlier post that Jagged Stone is one of my favorite characters in Miraculous Ladybug, so it's obvious that the episode where he gets akumatized would be on this list.

After a disagreement with his manager about trying to mimic the popular singer XY (who ironically lacks a Y chromosome), Jagged is akumatized into Guitar Villain, a rock star with a pet dragon who forces everyone to listen to his Awesome Solo (yes, he names his attacks too) to dance uncontrollably.

Honestly, there's not much I can really say about this episode. It's Ladybug and Cat Noir fighting a rock star who flies around on a goddamn dragon. That's one of the coolest things I've ever seen! Even the way they defeat him (which I won’t give away) is a fun jab at rock stars.

Admittedly, the episode does border on grouchy old man territory sometimes by complaining about how bad today's music is with the way they portray XY as a whiny and egotistical coward, but after watching “Silencer”, you'll be glad everyone hates him.

Overall, it's a rockingly awesome episode.

#6: The Dark Owl

Mr. Damocles, the principal of Marinette and Adrien's school, is akumatized into the Dark Owl, a corrupted version of his favorite comic book superhero (who would later turn out to be real in the New York special, but I don't want to acknowledge that), who uses his high-tech gadgets to trap Ladybug and Cat Noir, putting them in one of their toughest binds yet.

I'm a huge fan of the Adam West Batman show, so you could probably guess why it's on this list. This episode really feels like an episode of that show with how goofy and over the top everything is. Obviously, this episode has a few Batman references thrown in (even an Incredibles reference at one point), and they're all hilarious.

I just love how complex Dark Owl's traps for Ladybug and Cat Noir are, and the fact that he actually manages to outsmart them at one point. Like seriously, have you ever heard of a death trap that involves drowning someone in whipped cream? That’s totally something you’d see the Joker setting up.

I don't really want to give away the ending (which is why this part is so short), because I think it's a really clever resolution that you should check out for yourself.

#5: Gorizilla

Hawkmoth akumatizes Adrien's bodyguard into Gorizilla, whose sole purpose is to protect Adrien. His motivation? To see if Adrien is actually Cat Noir or not. So Adrien has to avoid this gigantic gorilla's wrath with Marinette, all while trying to catch a movie his late mother was in.

See this? This is Adrienette done right. This is the kind of interaction I like when it comes to romance. Marinette and Adrien spend a few scenes with each other avoiding Adrien's crazy fanbase, and Marinette doesn't stammer half of her words. Even when she interacts with Adrien as Ladybug, she still remains confident, and Adrien trusts her judgment when it looks like he might fall. I don't just want Marinette and Adrien to cuddle with each other or declare their love for each other when they get their memories wiped. I want them to interact like human beings before they actually start a relationship, and this episode is a good example of it.

Adrien also gets some good focus with the way he views his relationship with his parents, as does Gabriel with his relationship with his son. Granted, he's taking a pretty huge gamble trying to kill Adrien to see if he's Cat Noir or not as opposed to just... taking off his ring while he sleeps. Can we at least admit he's trying?

I feel they could have done more with the King Kong homage (guess who I'm talking about?), but I can understand there wasn't enough time to focus on that. It's still an important episode to watch for plot and character growth that will barely be acknowledged in later episodes.

#4: Sandboy

tHe SaNdBoY hAs ChEcKeD iN. nOw NiGhTmArEs CaN bEgIn.

Now that we got that obvious joke out of the way, let's talk about one of the most creative episodes of the show.

Tikki and Plagg, Marinette and Adrien's Kwamis (the magical beings that power their Miraculous) take part in a ritual with the other Kwamis inside Master Fu's Miracle Box to contact Nooroo, Hawkmoth's Kwami, on his birthday and get an idea of where he is. Unfortunately, Hawkmoth chooses to akumatize someone during the ritual, leaving Marinette and Adrien helpless to fight back against Sandboy, an Akuma with the power to make their worst fears come true.

I said before in my worst list when talking about “Ladybug” that there was too much going on for one episode, what with Marinette's expulsion, the attempted Scarletmoth attack, and the fake Ladybug plotlines generally being rushed through. This episode is basically the opposite of that (ironically, they're both the penultimate episodes of their respective seasons).

The Kwami ritual and the Akuma attack are perfectly staged together so one affects the other. Not only do the Kwamis have to risk aborting their ritual to reach Nooroo in order to fight the Akuma, but Marinette and Adrien have to deal without fighting off Sandboy's nightmares on their own. Both plots balance each other out into a well-crafted story.

This is also one of the only episodes in the show where the Akuma of the week isn't the man focus. Here, we don't even see what happens to get the kid akumatized into Sandboy, and instead, Gabriel senses someone with negative emotions and akumatizes the kid offscreen. This works, because it doesn't distract from the main plot too much.

Even Marinette and Adrien's worst fears beautifully contrast each other, with both managing to be unsettling in different ways, even if they both have different tones. While Adrien's worst fear is being imprisoned in his own room (the fear only made worse with Plagg's absence), Marinette's worst fear is... the real star of the episode. Ladies and Gentlemen, I think you all know who I'm talking about.

You can tell the animators had a field day with animating Nightmare Adrien. Just look at the way he moves around and the faces he makes. It manages to be terrifying and hilarious at the same time. Bryce Papenbrook's performance only makes it better, cementing this as the highlight of the episode.

This episode also does a good job at foreshadowing the main plot for Season 3 with Hawkmoth finding out about the other Kwamis and by extension, more Miraculous.

It's got plot, comedy, good action, and Nightmare Adrien, so how can you turn this episode down?

And no, I'm not talking about Nightmare Ladybug, mainly because I'm tired of all the evil doppelgangers from the worst list.

#3: Startrain

Yes, believe it or not, I managed to find a Season 3 episode that wasn't complete garbage, and spoiler alert, this isn't the only one.

Marinette and Adrien's class goes on a field trip to London by taking the train, until the driver is akumatized into Startrain, who wants to escape to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism... SPACE! So Ladybug and Cat Noir have to defeat Startrain while also finding a way to bring everyone on the train back home.

I like how this episode plays with the usual Akuma of the week formula. Unlike every other Akuma they've fought, Cat Noir points out that if they beat Startrain, everyone will die, so they have to be more strategic in their approach. They don't even fight Startrain for most of the episode, as they have to make their way to the front of the train to confront the Akuma. The action in this episode is very creative and really takes advantage of zero gravity, only aided by the design of the futuristic train the episode takes place in.

The new hero introduced, Pegasus (AKA Max, another student in Marinette and Adrien's class), is also really cool, being very intelligent and helping out the heroes progress through the train even before he gets the Horse Miraculous. It makes sense that his intelligence would be used rather than just his powers in this situation.

There are even some good character moments too. For once, Master Fu does something smart and loans the Horse Miraculous (which has the power of teleportation) to Marinette so she can still go on the class trip, trusting her and actually letting her have a life. It was also nice to see Alya stick up for Marinette by keeping Lila from interrupting her nap with Adrien.

This episode is basically like a refreshing glass of water to enjoy during the garbage fire that was Season 3.

(I’m going to talk about Pegasus’ character design later on too, don’t worry)

#2: Silencer

Lukanette shippers, ASSEMBLE!

Music producer Bob Roth and his son XY hold a contest for young artists to show off their skills, and Kitty Section, a band composed of several recurring characters, decides to enter, with Marinette helping to design their costumes. But as soon as they submit their video, they find out that XY copied their style, naturally pissing the band off.

Marinette and the lead guitarist of Kitty Section, Luka, confront Bob Roth and XY, who threaten to ruin their careers by claiming that they ripped off XY. Seeing Marinette getting threatened is more than enough for Hawkmoth to akumatize Luka into Silencer, who naturally has the power to silence and mimic the voices of others.

I talked about Luka and his relationship with Marinette in an earlier post (specifically the one where Astruc claimed that the fandom growing to like Luka counted as character development), and I said that this was one of the few good episodes this season because of their interactions. This episode basically made me realize how much Luka cares for Marinette, and the episode gives plenty of time to show the two spending time together and growing closer. It's basically everything “Oni-Chan” should have been about, giving some depth to Luka and not portraying him as a crazy person like they did with Kagami in that episode.

Silencer is also one of the more creatively designed villains this season, and has a really creative approach to achieving his goals. While the ability to steal and imitate someone's voice seems mundane compared to control over the weather, or making nightmares come to life, it's used very effectively. Silencer basically tricks the police into arresting Bob Roth while imitating the mayor's voice, and he threatens to make his life a living hell by using the connections to the voices he's stolen. Even with the hand puppet gesture, it's still unsettling to have Silencer speak in all these voices, and it would make for a really interesting horror movie.

Even Ladybug and Cat Noir's interactions are back to their Season 1 levels of enjoyment. Even though Silencer took her voice, Ladybug just makes so many expressions that do a great job at describing her feelings, which naturally plays off Cat Noir's motormouth tendencies. Whenever Cat Noir jokes about Ladybug's condition, he is rightfully called out on it and is reprimanded in some way, my favorite being when Ladybug uses her yo-yo to hit Cat Noir on the head to shut him up. Even putting aside that, they still work well together this episode and really feel like equals. I also love their silent fist bump when Bob Roth is exposed.

Again, the episode still takes the time to go on about how unoriginal today's musicians are, and how they lack artistic creativity and all that crap. Look, given how ham-fisted the writing in this show can get, are you surprised the commentary isn't subtle?

Even putting aside how much this episode made me appreciate Lukanette, it still has a lot of great moments that aren't even related to the ship itself, which is a real testament to how this show can perfectly balance romance and story when it's done right. Now if only the show could try this much with Adrienette, then people wouldn't hate the main pairing of the show this much.

#1: The Collector

Taking place immediately after the Season 1 finale, Marinette meets Master Fu and discusses the book she found depicting past Miraculous users. Marinette theorizes that since the book was in the Agreste mansion, Gabriel could be Hawkmoth. And to the surprise of absolutely no one, she's right, and in order to draw off suspicion, Gabriel akumatizes himself into the Collector.

This episode has several good writing decisions for both sides, and the choices the characters make feel natural. Gabriel akumatizing himself is such a smart move, and so is what Marinette and Master Fu do with the book at the end. This episode does a great job setting up future plot threads and establishes Master Fu's character and the mystery associated with him.

The Collector is a visually stunning villain, and his powers are really creative, leading to a great fight with Ladybug and Cat Noir, who use a great strategy to outsmart him. I also love how over the top he is in order to make the heroes believe that he's working for Hawkmoth, all with a devious smile on his face.

This was also the episode that really got me into Miraculous Ladybug as a whole. I checked out the first season on a whim after it was mentioned in a Pan Pizza video, but it was during the hiatus between seasons, and I hadn't really started using Tumblr yet, so it mostly stayed off my radar. When Season 2 started however, I really got invested in the story, and the way this episode turned out was a big reason why. I wondered what it would be like when Adrien finds out his own father is Hawkmoth, and how the story would play out after the reveal.

Despite what it led up to, I still consider “The Collector” to be my favorite episode of Miraculous Ladybug.

Well, now that I talked about that, not it's time to talk about what I consider to be the worst episode of Miraculous Ladybug, “Felix”. God help me...

[murderousginger]

Cops and Robbers

Peaky Blinders story Chapter 1

Masterlist

Warnings: none. General fluff and sass.

Word count: 4,020

--- Note: I blame @blinder-secrets for her thirst photos and @imagine-that-100 for her general amazingness and telling me I have to write this. Enjoy. 😂 ---

You had been calling them your boys since you were 8. At seven, your mother had taken you to have a playdate with Ada while she talked to Polly about grown up business. Much to your mother's and Ada's dismay, you were much more interested in playing cops and robbers with the boys. 

At first, Tommy would only let you be the damsel in distress, because even back then Tommy made all the rules. You grew tired of being the damsel quickly, and had no problem voicing your opinions. 

"I could be a robber!" You insist, stamping your foot down one morning after church. 

"No you can't, robbers don't wear pretty dresses," John said, earning an elbow in his side from Arthur. 

"John's got you there, (Y/N)," Arthur said. "And why's you wanna play with us, anyhow? I bet Ada's got another doll for ya. Playing with boys is dirty work."

Tommy nods as Arthur puts John in a headlock and the mass of them get into a wrestling match.

"Robbers can wear fancy dresses if they steal them!" You exclaimed, jumping into the fray. 

Arthur let up on his grip on John once he realized you had joined the tousle and did his best to back away, but you gripped onto Tommy's shirt and went rolling on the grass, kicking and hitting until you rolled on top of him and pressed him into the dirt.

"Let me play, Tommy Shelby, or I'll tell everyone I won," you said. 

Arthur chuckled and John let out a loud laugh as Tommy's face went red.

"I only let you because you're Ada's friend and we're not supposed to hurt girls," Tommy huffed as he dumped you off of him. "If you want to play, fine, but you get to be a copper with Arthur."

"I want to be a robber!" You yelled, upset that you weren't getting your way.

"I have to be a robber, you see, because I'm too smart to be a copper," Tommy said, losing patience. "And I want John as my robber. So you get to be a copper. Maybe next time if you don't go crying to Pol."

And after that day, they were your boys. You played with them. You fought with them. And you loved them with the fierceness of your heart. They stopped Timmy McKee from bullying you at 11, and you helped them in little ways here and there, like helping Tommy get a note to a girl, or sneaking Arthur his favorite candy after he got in trouble for a fight, or even helping John with his homework a time or two. You even got Ada to join in the games a few times and became better acquainted with her. She became your confidante in things you weren't willing to tell the boys.

Your mother was unimpressed, voicing her worries to Polly about you being "boy crazy" at such a young age, but Polly just smiled and brushed her comments off.

"She's not boy crazy," Polly said before taking a drag of her cigarette. "She's power hungry. Dangerous ambition. I like that one."

Your mother had huffed but let you be, and stopped fighting it after a few choice words from Polly through the years. Your father shrugged and decided that if you wanted to adopt more brothers, you were allowed to do so. 

Polly quickly became Aunt Polly, and you became another rowdy body at the table, dirty feet and mouth wide.

The years went on and you stuck around, helping the boys with their mischief and gossiping with Ada about boys and the girls fawning over the Shelby boys. You were just as much a sister as their own blood, and they tormented you as such.

When they went off to the war, you decided to help with Finn and help run errands for Polly. With the men folk fighting, Polly was running the small illegal business Tommy had started, keeping contacts open and illegal activities flowing through Birmingham.

Before the boys returned, you had found a nice job in London working at the Sabini club. You filled drinks and kept your head down. The club was filled with drugs and debauchery but as long as you filled drinks and kept your mouth shut around the right people, you were a blessing. You were always on time and kept away from the extracurriculars that occupied and ruined many a barmaid before you. 

Sabini had gotten so fed up with barmaids being found unconscious or otherwise preoccupied with a gentleman in a dark corner that he made a rule that no one could drink on the clock. All drinks bought for the girls were to be given once their shift was over. Like drinks were the only problem. 

You kept in touch with Polly, asking about the family and letting her know how you were doing. The money from the club paid for a modest flat in Birmingham near your mum that you mostly visited when you had multiple days off and could find a ride. Otherwise you paid one of the other girls, Liza, a small fee to sleep on her couch. 

You knew the boys were back from the war, and that Tommy had reclaimed his business from Polly. You knew Tommy wanted to expand his presence and power, and his brothers were all too eager to help him along. You even knew that they must have been doing something right, because you could hear the whispers about "those Peaky Blinders" and "that gypsy Shelby family" all the way into London. You hadn't properly seen most of the family in years and yet people in Birmingham gave you respect you otherwise wouldn't have had. You talked to Polly here and there, checking in like, and you talked to Ada when you caught her. 

Ada was always busy, with her head in the clouds and a man after her heart. You left her to her daydreams and followed yours to the money that could fix almost anything. Money may not buy happiness but it helped with comforts, and that was as close as a girl like you could imagine you'd get to being happy.

The night at the club started like any other. You wore your flapper dress with gold and maroon and your matching maroon heels. You took drinks to the patron tables; quick to slink away with a smile before a hand wandered. You were getting surprisingly good at staying just out of reach and keeping a confident smile on your lips even when you wanted to hit a man with your tray.

There was never a scarcity of available girls or men, and so any wandering eye moved on rather quickly if they determined any amount of work was required. So if you smiled and slipped through the crowd confidently, you were safe from most wandering hands. 

As you went to put an order in at the bar, you noticed another set of girls gossiping while they waited on their drinks. 

"What's the news tonight, ladies?" You said, joining the two to make a circle. "A regular find a new victim? Sid skip out on his tab again?"

"How about those Blinders taking a seat in the middle of the club?" A brunette named Grace said. 

"Blinders?" You said, "In London? What are they doing here?"

"No one's asked," she giggled. "They haven't been served yet. Once Sabini finds out, I'm not sure they'll be walking out on their own two feet."

"Well then," you said with fake contemplation, "I guess I'll have to go see if I can get a tip before that happens." 

You winked at the girls as they gasped and giggled. 

"You wouldn't!" Grace said. "Oh you're so bad!"

You took your tray and with a wink and a smile you backed away from the girls and made your way to the middle of the room. You found three men sitting at a table, coats and hats still on, looking very uncomfortable as they watched the show around them. 

"John, stop gawking," Tommy's voice rumbled. "Arthur, calm down." 

You slipped past a woman sniffing drugs off of her hand and another man pressing a different girl against a nearby table as her hand inched toward his crotch. 

"If you missed me so much, you could have just asked Pol when I'd be back in Birmingham next," you said dryly. "What are you drinking before you start this fight?"

Arthur squinted at you before he tapped his hand on the table. 

"(Y/N)!" He exclaimed, "Why, I haven't seen you in years. You were just a kid."

"We all have to grow up sometime," you said, patting him on the shoulder. "Tommy, John, causing mischief as always?"

Tommy was frowning, looking at you closely, and John was frozen in his spot as you moved around the table. 

"What are you doing here, (Y/N)?" Tommy finally said. "Pol didn't mention you worked for Sabini." 

"She wouldn't have, though, would she Tommy?" John said. "Not unless there was good reason." 

"A girl's got to make a living," you said. "If you taught me anything, Tommy, you taught me nothing comes in the way of money or family." 

"Unless it is money or family," Tommy said. "How long have you been hiding in London?"

"About a year," you said. "Running for Pol introduced me to plenty of people, and Sabini liked that I keep my mouth shut when business comes through."

"Well then," Tommy said. "How about you get us all a round of whiskeys, and one for yourself, for this unexpected reunion?" 

"I can do that," you said evenly, "but my drink won't be able to be poured until I'm done for the night. House orders." 

"House orders?" Arthur murmured. "They got fucking in the aisles and snow in every corner but a barmaid can't get a drink?"

You shrug. John still hasn't stopped watching you, so you move closer to his side of the table.

"You're being awful quiet," you nudged, "that's not the John boy I know." 

"I can't tell if I see any of the (Y/N) I know," John said. "That dress doesn't look like anything I remember." 

His eyes move over your figure slowly, and you feel your eyebrow raise in defiance. You shimmy slightly as his eyes go from your hips to your heels. 

"Robbers can wear fancy dresses, if they steal them," you said with a smile. 

A wide smile spreads across John's face as he recognizes the statement. 

"So is that what you've been up to, (Y/N)," Tommy rumbled. "Have you been playing cops and robbers without us? Find better partners?"

"You'll always be my boys, Tommy," you said. "I think aunt Pol would tell you if I got myself tied to another wagon."

"Pol only told us not to bother you," Arthur said. "That you had your own life going and you were doing fine at it."

"Seeing as you're big enough to work for Sabini, you're big enough to answer for yourself," Tommy said, a spark in his blue eyes as he leaned his elbows on the table and lit a cigarette. "How about you come back home and be our robber again? You can barkeep at The Garrison and keep us company in the back. You'll make better than here. If Harry can't keep you, I'll pay you myself." 

"But I thought I was a copper, Tommy," you said playfully. His jaw ticked as you moved your dress to sparkle in the low light. "Remember?" 

"I'm starting to think you're too smart to be a copper, too, (Y/N)" Tommy said as he pressed his hands together and pointed at you, "but don't get a big head about it." 

"I might be amenable to that," you said, smile widening into a Cheshire grin. "Only girl to best Tommy Shelby might finally get recognition." 

Arthur chuckled, opening his arm to you. You walk over to him and he moved his hand to your waist and pats your hip as he looks over to Tommy. 

"I missed this one, Tom," he said. "Finally found a mouth that gives you a run for your money."

"That mouth still get you in trouble, yeah?" John said, leaning back in his chair and putting a leg on the table. "Hard to believe Sabini could muzzle you." 

"No one muzzles me, John boy," you said moving out of Arthur's reach as you point at John. "Is your dick still doing all your thinking?" 

John turned red and sat up as he started to scowl. Tommy and Arthur both chuckling low.

"Right, well, before too long I suspect we're going to get a visit from your boss," Tommy said, smacking the table for attention. "So you need to go quit. Don't fight me now, (Y/N), just go quit. Arthur and I have some business to attend, but John, you can take the car and take (Y/N) home in Birmingham. She's done in London. I'll talk to Harry in the morning and you can start tomorrow night. Don't," he waved at your dress, "wear that. Dress how you like, but not that."

You open your mouth to fight Tommy, only to see Sabini's men whispering in the back. You close your mouth and nod, gripping your tray. 

"Looks like you have less time than you thought. I'll be outside in ten minutes, John boy." 

You walk quickly back to the bar and find Liza, the girl you stay with, and let her know you won't be staying any longer. You say goodbye to a few of the girls and with a few hugs, you slip into the back to get your coat and bag. You stop at the bar and tell bartender Jack that you quit, deciding to let him tell whoever else needs to know. 

"I'm done, Jack," you said. "I'm going back home." 

Jack looks confused before getting angry and raising his hands. 

"But you're my best girl, (Y/N)!" He tells over the music as he throws glasses into the sink. "You're the only one that's not distracted by snow or dick."

"You'll find a new best girl, Jack" you say walking backwards toward the door before turning your back and walking away. "Get 'em off the snow and they're all your best girls!"

You shrug your coat on the rest of the way before looking around the exit and noticing three men surrounding the Shelby table and voices getting louder. 

"Now's not the time to test your fighting skills, (Y/N)," John said as he hooks arms with you and walks you out of the building at a dizzying pace. 

"What's the rush?" You asked, being towed along in your heels. 

"Tommy's about to take over," John said matter of fact-ly, ushering you toward a car parked near the front. 

"I'd get your door but you're not a girl," John teases, opening his own door and jumping in. 

You open the door and barely slide in before he's turned the car on and started moving forward. 

You jump as a loud crash comes from the club and the music stops. All you hear is Arthur yelling into the mic "by orders of the PEAKY FUCKING BLINDERS." 

John laughs as you slam your door shut and you take off into the night to return to Birmingham. 

As the club got farther away, John settled into his seat. He cleared his throat. 

"I didn't even ask if you needed to pick up anything…" he said, leaving the statement open.

"I don't have much at Liza's, and she can keep most of it," you said, planning your purse on the floorboards and opening your long coat. "Anything I'm missing too bad I can always write or come get."

"Hmm," John sounded. 

"Hmm," you mimicked back.

A silence filled the car. 

"Alright, John," you said as you took your coat off. "I'm still me. You're still you. It's been a few years, but for fucks sake, relax." 

John exhaled a chuckle before bumping your shoulder. 

"Still read me like a book, I see," he said. 

"Still haven't picked up a book, I see," you said as you bumped back. 

"I let Tommy do the thinking," John shot back. "Tommy's the brains, Arthur's the brawn…"

"And you use your Shelby blues to whore any girl that'll have you," you sang back, crinkling your nose, "I see things haven't changed."

"You have," John huffed back. "When did you become a girl?"

"I've always been a girl, John boy," you spat back, "you've just been too dumb to notice." 

John laughs and you lay your head on his shoulder, squeezing his arm. 

"Might've missed this," you whisper right before you let out a yawn. 

"Yeah? Well curl up there and take a nap," John said. "I'll get us home." 

"Okay, John boy," you said as you curled your legs up on the chair and leaned on him more. "I am a little sad I couldn't get that drink with my boys. Maybe tomorrow."

"Maybe," John sounded.

---

"(Y/N), wake up," John whispered as she gently shook you. "We made it back to the garage. I need to walk you home."

You whimper and try to dig yourself more into his shoulder, not wanting to wake. John chuckles and lightly taps your jaw.

"Rise and shine," he sung playfully.

"Why couldn't you have just driven me home?" You whine, finally moving off of his shoulder. 

"Because," John said and stepped out of the car. "Tommy's got a bottle of whiskey hidden in the garage. Thought you wanted that drink."

Your eyes shot open as you tried to wake up.

"Whiskey?" You murmured.

"Thought that would wake you," he said, pulling a half empty bottle from behind some things and shook it at you. 

"Just one," you said, trying not to rub your eyes and ruin your makeup. "One. Then home."

"Ohhh," John razzed. "Spoil sport. That's not my fun (Y/N)." 

"Last time Harry saw me I was a teen getting my da from the Garrison because he was too drunk to walk home by himself and mum was a mess," you said, getting out of the car with your bag and fixing your dress. "I'd prefer I be a little put together for my first day working for him."

"How is your da, speaking of?" John asked as he held the bottle out to tease you, "and your mum?"

"Passed," you said flatly, reaching for the bottle. John's smile faultered, letting the bottle dip into your hands. "Pa, at least. The war. Mum works at the washer. I help out." 

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said. 

You shrug, taking the cap off the bottle. 

"We all lost something in the war," you said before taking a long drag from the bottle. 

"You're still as wild as ever," John said, nudging the bottle up until whiskey splashed down your chin. You gulped and lowered the bottle quickly as you dabbed the whiskey with your wrist.

"And you're still as much trouble," you said, licking the whiskey from your lips. 

John tilted his head, watching you closely for a moment in the dark garage. You watched him back, eyebrow quirked in a question. He squinted before taking a step forward and reached out to wipe a bead of whiskey from your chin and put his finger in his mouth. 

"Only as much trouble as you're willin'," he said in a low tone before taking the bottle from you and taking a big swig himself. 

"John boy," you said, taking the bottle back for another swig. "What are you doing? I know all your tricks. I helped you make a few of them."

"Thought you said you just wanted one drink," he taunted back, a boyish grin spreading across his face in triumph.

You take a deep drink and hum as you hand it back to him, watching him take one last drink before putting the cap back on and setting it on the ground near the car. 

"I need to be drunk if you're going to try me," you said smiling as you walk backward out of the garage, motioning for John to walk you home. 

"So's you're giving me a chance," John said as he tried to keep a serious face before laughing and looking down. 

He kicked a rock at his feet before looking back up at you. You raised your hand, beckoning him to come to you. Every step he moved forward, you stepped back, grin widening as you let out a giggle. 

"How about this," you said, a finger raised to stop him as you stepped out of your maroon heels. "Take your boots off. We do this as we've done before. First to the street wins."

"Wins what?" John asked, already leaning down to untie his boots. 

You pick up your heels to place them in your bag and realize you left your coat in the car as a breeze outside of the garage makes you shiver. 

"Wins the choice of if you get to kiss me goodnight or not," you said, watching John's eyes light up as he struts to your side with his boots in hand. 

He gives the slightest nod and you're already running down the gravel driveway, laughing far too loud in the dead of night, but you don't care because John is right behind you laughing just as loud. 

You both race on the gravel, too busy laughing to complain about the pain. You can hear him right behind you as you feel a warm hand circle your waist and pick you up, spinning you around so he's the first to the road. 

"No fair!" You shriek, kicking and twisting in his arms.

"You didn't give any rules!" He laughs back, putting you down once both of his feet are flatly on the road. You pout as John sets you down on the gravel, a big smile on his face. 

"I win," he said in the cocky tone you've heard him use on so many girls before. 

"You cheated," you retorted.

"You expected more from a Shelby?" He said, eyebrow cocked as he mocked you. 

"Shut up and take me home," you said, defeated. 

John laughed and took off his coat, encircling you in the smell of tobacco and warmth. He held his arm out for you to take and begin your walk down to your home. 

"I'm just a few down from mum," you said. 

"Why don't you live with her?" He asked, chewing on his lip.

"After I started taking more jobs with Pol, she decided what I was doing wasn't 'lady-like' and would hurt my chances at a husband. Said I couldn't live under her roof if I wanted to work like a man, so aunt Pol found me a spot down the road." 

"Yer mum can be a right bitch," John said, causing you to laugh. 

"You don't know the half of it," you say, squeezing his arm. 

"We all turned out alright," he said. 

"We did," you agreed. 

You walk in comfortable silence until you get to your doorstep. You let go of his arm and go to give him his coat but he stops you. 

"I'll get it 'morrow," he said, shuffling his feet. "Gotta get yours back, anyway." 

You nod, not sure what to do. You fumble your bag, reaching for your keys. John clears his throat, stepping forward.

"I think I won a choice earlier," he said, nose to nose with you. 

"You did," you said breathlessly. John smirks, looking you in the eye before licking his lips and looking at yours. He leans in and you freeze to the spot as his lips barely graze yours.

"Goodnight, (Y/N)," John whispered against your lips, raising every hair on your body. 

John turned around, shit-eating grin on his face as he trudged back to the house. You exhale, frustrated. 

"Goodnight John!" You yelled. 

All you hear is his deep chuckle somewhere in the dark.

[percydarling]

I'll be honest,if the weasley kids had a tv show I would have percy as my favourite. Bill aand charlie arent in it so I wouldnt have an opinion (they're obviously hinted at but never there) Arthur's gonna annoy me kinda, molly is really nice but she always compares her kids. Ron (as lovely as he is) can be really mean to percy and just sucky to him. I love Ginny but everyone knows jk made her because "girl power= not feminine traits!1!1!1!" I love her,I love her love for quidditch but I feel like I still clearly see what she represents and that's jks sentiments (like cho for example, as an asian it's never gonna leave my mind). The twins would be great in theory but 2 twins insulting their older brother, burning a hole through their brothers tongue? Pranking everybody ALL THE TIME? I say I love them but seriously if I studied at hogwarts I would loathe them because hey, were in class- prank somebody in a more boring one or after. Also they're way too mean to percy.

Percy is the kinda dude I'd identify with, I hate how his family shames him alot. Sure hes ambitious but at the same time I hate when they bully him for his pride in his prefect badge and his head boy badge, like CMON! Gryffindor traits??? PRIDEFUL like yeah hes gonna be happy because he feels accomplished. I remember getting into model un and I talked about it at dinner time,my siblings got kinda annoyed but did they insult me abt it? No! They understood that this was a big part of my pride. They teased me a little "Haha model un-er" or "your rooms the country your representing right? Oops I dont have my passport" regular happy sibling stuff. You dont insult your brothers pride and joy, it's obvious hes so happy about it.

If there's gonna be a show on the Weasley family, the only interestee Weasley I would be watching is for Percy. Now let's go through every Weasley.

Arthur- at work, never home, if at home in shed exploring muggle things instead of probably bonding with his children.

Molly-would do chores, help children and maybe chat with next door neigbour. A slight chance of bonding with kids. Not very entertaining really.

Bill and Charlie- I mean depends whether they're even there or gone. If they're there they'd probably argue with each other. Maybe we'll get the Bill earring story and Charlie dragon obsession. Other than that maybe sibling bonding which is always good.

Twins- I cannot emphasize enough as to why I wouldn't watch the twins, if there was such a tv show. Each episode they'll probably prank someone most probably Ron and Percy. And then these pranks would get violent and physical and they would still be the saints and Percy the villain.

I mean the twins cause Ron's phobia, almost make him take the Unbreakable Vow (Ron was 5!) and then beat his Puffskein to death.

AND PUFFSKEIN IS AN ANIMAL.

And that's only Ron. If I start on Percy the jokes are endless but let's just end with the twins tried to locked Percy in a pyramid( God knows how old!). Enough said.

Ron- We already have Ron content in the book. Do we really need more? Yes we do but not if it's Ron insulting Percy. And if this show was before Harry and Hogwarts then Ron would be a young child like 9-10 years old and I personally wouldn't be interested. I love Ron but he loses absolutely no moment to insult or bitch about his brother. Plus Ron is whiny. Sometimes.

Ginny- They'll probably make her a Mary Sue who can do no wrong. They would seriously do that and make her a female version of the twins. Sorry not interested in watching her.

When we come to Percy there are so many things we can do. We can see bonding with Bill or Charlie. Percy being a good older brother and helping with nightmares. Percy being his mother's support system. Percy helping Arthur with his work. Percy teaching Ron chess. Percy planning a prank with twins. Percy playing dolls with Ginny.

With Percy you can relate him to everyone in some way or another. We know Molly loves Percy and probably considers him her favorite. Probably. Arthur with the Ministry so Percy and Ministry. Percy going to Bill with help for studies. Percy helping Charlie research about dragons.(Percy telling Charlie his dormmate is crazy about quidditch and asking if Charlie could give him tips and an autograph)

Percy playing chess with Ron. We know Percy is protective over Ron and Ginny. So we can assume that Percy teaches Ron chess and helps him read. Percy reading to Ginny about Harry Potter.(Really though who else would have? Molly would be busy and Bill and Charlie wouldn't)

Or we can have Percy writing stuff. Short stories and articles. Percy being a writer. Percy singing , dancing or drawing. Percy sneaking to Muggle town and talking to them.

Percy finding Scabbers.

Percy going to the Lovegood residence and talking with Luna's mother because she is such an amazing person.

(And taking her death the hardest)

Also Percy bonding with Luna.

Percy bonding with Uncle Billius or Great Aunt Muriel. Also reminsing time with Uncle Gideon and Fabian.

Percy having babysitter called Lily Potter who looked just like him but with bright green eyes. She reads to him about adventure stories and tells him she loves him very much and once brought her husband with her(who's an animagus!)

(While his brothers rejoiced the fall of You Know Who, Percy cried because Miss Lily and Mr James were dead. That was the time Percy realised that bad things happen to good people)

Well to put it in short there are so many angles with Percy which makes him interesting in my opinion.

If they do make let's hope they don't screw Percy over like they did with him in that damn game.

Also for that Percy interacting with Muggles there's an interesting fanfic called Percy's Diary.

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/7542632/1/Percy-s-Diary

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Percy is the only Weasley who I can relate to which makes me love him more. I am an elder sibling, have been constantly insulted by family and friends for following rules and very rarely been put down for being excited for something.

And the whole making fun of Percy is bullying when they're laughing at him and not with him.

These 2 prepositions make all the difference when it comes to teasing and bullying.

And the twins are bullies. They are.

"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy? You should've said something, we had no idea."

This is one of the lines they say.

How much do you want to bet that the twins didn't say something like this to Bill when he became prefect and HeadBoy?

Percy was a constant butt of their jokes and pranks, including bewitching his prefect and Head Boy badges to read Pinhead and Bighead Boy respectively, and sending dragon dung to his office at the Ministry.

This is from the official wikia. People can try to make the twins saint and say it was all good natured and everything. But I will always see the twins as bullies.

And the thing is the twins and Ron never bothered to praise Percy and that just feels wrong. Everytime they talk about Percy it's qn insult. When I talk about my brother to an acquaintance I don't insult him unlike Ron.

I feel that as Percy fans we love him because he is complicated. He isn't like the rest of the Weasleys. He isn't charming or funny. He's just a normal guy trying to do better and Percy fans get it because it's relatable. We can relate to being ordinary. He doesn't have earrings or pranks or a saviour best friend. He's just a guy who follows rules and wants to be successful. Who wouldn't relate with that?

And maybe some of us have been ridiculed just like Percy so we understand. We also understand that this is Harry's biased view and all he has been told about Percy is usually by Ron or the twins who insult him on a regular basis. And Harry is no better! He uses words like pompously like he understands how a person talks pompously?

So I love Percy a lot because I relate to him and I would never in my life apologise for loving such a complicated character.

[starring-movies]

The Haunting of Bly Manor: Episode Analysis

*SPOILERS*

Episode 4 - The Way It Came

Episode 4 of The Haunting of Bly Manor has two timelines, like the majority of the prior episodes, with the present one continuing the current story and the past one focusing around Dani’s backstory and mainly how she ended up working at the manor.

We immediately find out, at Dani and Eddie’s engagement party, that they have gone “from childhood sweethearts to happily ever after”. From this it’s made clear that Dani has known Eddie from childhood, and has most likely been in a romantic relationship with him for a very long time. As a result of this, we can see how she got swept up with what everyone else wanted for her life and how it became “just what we [Eddie and Dani] were doing”, as she “didn’t want to hurt you [Eddie], or your mom, or your family”.

It’s also notable that Eddie, Eddie’s mother and Dani’s mother all call Dani, “Danielle”, rather than Dani. Knowing that these people in Dani’s past all used to call her Danielle, shows us another way in which Dani was trying separate herself from her past and escape what happened, by choosing herself to go by the name Dani rather than the name that she was called throughout her childhood.

Between Dani and Danielle, Danielle is also the more feminine version of the name. It’s apparent from all the flashback scenes of Dani, that she also used to dress much more femininely when she was with Eddie - in lots of dresses and feminine colours. Whereas in the present, she dresses mostly in jeans and t-shirts, and in more darker colours. Although she still dresses quite femininely, she doesn’t dress in nearly as much of a stereotypically ‘girly’ way as she used to. And so in a similar vein, it makes sense that she would choose to be known by the less feminine version of her name, as she becomes more of the person that she wants to be and caring less of how she thinks that she ought to appear.

During the dancing at the engagement party, ‘Higher Love’ by Steve Winwood is playing, and we hear the lyrics “bring me a higher love” repeated. Through the song lyrics we can see Dani’s own internal thoughts and wishes reflected. She does love Eddie, as she tells him later on in the episode that “I love you, so much, even still”. In spite of this, we can see from her expression throughout the party that she still feels like there is something missing between them, which is stopping her from feeling a “higher love” and is something that she wants to have.

We also get a very subtle hint that there was more than likely some homophobia amongst those that Dani knew in her adolescence. At the party Eddie’s mother brings out an old dress of hers to give to Dani and tells her that she doesn’t “think this would suit any of them. Well, maybe Carson”. Although this comment isn’t necessarily directly malicious, there is still the underlying tone that Eddie’s mother has the opinion that her son Carson would be the only one to suit her dress because he is a bit effeminate - despite it being a passing comment of Eddie’s mother’s, there is still a negative and unaccepting air to what she says. In some ways, these sorts of little comments would have been even more impactful towards Dani feeding her desire to repress herself, as although it isn’t being said aggressively, there is still a constant disapproval below the surface.

Back in the present, Jamie returns from Owen’s mother’s funeral. Dani catches herself staring at Jamie as she is taking off her earrings, and so she quickly looks down and turns away to the kitchen sink. Here we see Eddie’s spectre actually make physical contact with Dani as his hand touches her waist. Just as in Episode 3, the increasingly frightening and aggressive visions of Eddie’s spectre shows us that Dani’s feelings for Jamie are becoming much stronger.

After Owen returns from the funeral himself, they all have dinner and Flora says to him that when her parents died “I thought I was going to die too. I was sure of it, but then I thought what if I was already dead but nobody else knew, and I was walking around dead. But everybody could see and hear me, that was dreadful”. Just as Flora starts to say this, we get a shot of Hannah as she listens. This is another detail that is easily missed on a first viewing but was actually another clue that Hannah is dead, as Flora being concerned that she “was already dead but nobody else knew” is what is currently happening to Hannah.

After Miles causes a scene at dinner by asking for some wine, Dani sends the children up to bed. Dani looks into Flora’s dollhouse and we can see that Rebecca is in the room with her and Flora, as Rebecca’s doll is in the equivalent spot in the dollhouse. But we can also see that Peter’s doll is right next to Miles’ in the dollhouse, which is another clue that Peter had just been in possession of Miles’ body and so this is why he acted up at dinner.

Back in the past we see the evening that Dani broke off her engagement to Eddie. They’re having a meal at a restaurant, to separate themselves from the stress of wedding planning, and Eddie tells Dani to stop biting her fingernails because he says “you’re gonna hurt yourself”. Similarly, earlier in the episode, Eddie’s mother tells Dani “you always spot the kids that need you the most. You’d better take care of yourself as well, you know. Save them all if you can, but put your own oxygen mask on first”, and Dani tells her that “Edmund says the same thing, all the time”.

Although Eddie is trying to be caring towards Dani, by telling her to stop biting her nails and to look after herself before her students, he’s not really taking into consideration what Dani wants to do, and in a way he’s smothering her instead. Dani told Henry in Episode 1 that she wants to try to “make real difference” by helping her students, and so we know that her job is very fulfilling for her. However, Eddie trying to protect Dani by telling her to concentrate more on herself before the children, which tells us that although he might have good intentions, he isn’t really understanding or considerate of the importance that she believes that her work does for others.

In the present, while Jamie, Dani, Hannah and Owen are all sitting by the fire, Jamie says that in the “really old days” people used to use bonfires to “toss in offerings to drive away evil spirits, old bones mostly”. Jamie continues to say that you have to “build a pile of old bones and burn away the shadows. Because from here on in, the shadows get deeper, the nights get longer. We’re heading into the dark and we have to hang onto each other, so we can only carry so much”.

Jamie saying this, is where Dani gets the idea to burn Eddie’s glasses at the end of the episode. Dani has been keeping Eddie’s old glasses, which are like his “old bones”; but after hearing Jamie say this, she knows that she has to rid herself of the guilt because she can’t keep “heading into the dark”. So when Dani’s finally had enough of his spectre preventing her from advancing her relationship with Jamie, she decides to burn the glasses to “drive away [his] evil spirits”.

It’s also noticeable that Jamie says you have to burn the “old bones” to “burn away the shadows”, as most of the times when Eddie’s spectre appears to Dani, he looks like her shadow. Except for the end of Episode 3 and the end of this episode, Eddie’s spectre always appears to Dani shrouded in darkness and looming behind her, just like an inescapable shadow.

Another significant thing is Dani’s covering of the mirrors to stop herself from seeing Eddie. Eddie’s spectre appearing in the mirror is not just showing us a reflection of Dani’s own guilt, as when she looks at her reflection she doesn’t just see herself but she also sees the guilt of what she’s done as well. The connection between mirrors and death actually dates at least as far back as ancient Roman and Greek times. It’s believed in many cultures that souls of the dead can linger in mirrors, that the dead can harm the living through mirrors and just general ideas that mirrors or reflective surfaces were sorts of portals between the realms of the living and the dead.

Some old Irish beliefs even say that if you look in a mirror for long enough, you will see the devil behind your shoulder - which is exactly the type of thing that is happening to Dani, when she looks in a mirror she sees Eddie behind her shoulder. This link between mirrors and the dead means that it’s traditionally customary that mirrors are covered after a death, to prevent any souls entering or other bad things relate to death occurring. So Dani covering the mirror, either when Eddie appears or as a preventative measure, doesn’t just stop her from seeing him but it might also be a way of her trying to stop him crossing over or getting closer to her (which he does start to do when he stands in front of her in Episode 3).

During the bonfire, Dani and Jamie separate themselves from Hannah and Owen, and they go to sit in the greenhouse. Dani tells Jamie about seeing Eddie’s spectre and afterwards she says that “I’ve never told anybody that”. Dani choosing to confide in Jamie like this shows us how much she trusts Jamie, to make herself vulnerable and tell her something so deeply personal that she’s “never told anybody”.

However, more importantly, we see how Jamie has earnt and is deserving of the trust that Dani puts in her. Dani asks Jamie, “think I’m crazy?” - something that she might think she is herself sometimes - and through this question she gives Jamie the perfect opportunity to judge her, and make her feel ashamed or embarrassed for what she’s just said. But just like the way in which Jamie dealt with Dani’s panic attack in Episode 2, she doesn’t pass any judgment at all and instead even downplays what Dani says by telling her “I think you’re surprisingly sane, considering”.

It’s this complete acceptance that Dani gets from Jamie, after Dani reveals her one vulnerability that she thinks would make Jamie think she’s crazy and push her away, which prompts Dani to finally act on her feelings and kiss her - Dani has finally found someone, probably the first person ever, who knows her completely (both the good and the bad) but still accepts her and cares for her for who she is.

Finally at the end of the episode, Dani takes Eddie’s glasses out to the bonfire and burns them. Eddie’s spectre appears before her, just like at the end of Episode 3 and she screamed in terror at seeing him. However, unlike in the last episode, this time Dani isn’t afraid, but instead she stares at Eddie face to face as she confronts him. Rather than being constantly pursued the guilt, and the spectre that follows along with that guilt, she stops running and instead comes to a sort of acceptance of what happened to Eddie. Since she is ready to let go, accept what happened in her past, and move on, Dani is never haunted by Eddie’s spectre after this night.

You can read my previous The Haunting of Bly Manor posts here:-

Episode 1 - The Great Good Place

Episode 2 - The Pupil

Episode 3 - The Two Faces, Part One

Episode 5 - The Altar of the Dead

Episode 6 - The Jolly Corner

——————————————————————————

[heartofsnark]

Can You Feel The Sun? (Chapter Six): Do I Sink or Do I Float Now?

Notes: Still posting my little backlog of chapters!~  In this one we get Maelstrom, along with some Vik and Misty interactions that were really fun to write of course heavy on our precious boy Jackie too. 

Word Count:  9004

Chapter Warnings: Canon typical violence, cursing, installation of cyberware.

If you haven’t yet, you can read the previous chapter here!~

With a tightness in her chest and a heavy sigh, V answers Dex’s call. She’ll play it by ear and maybe wait until they’re in person to drop the news about Evelyn. The client really had to drag her into this bullshit, didn’t she? 

“How're things lookin', Miss. V?”

“Client had a recording that helped us out, Konpeki Plaza.”

“Beautiful. T-Bug already called, said she's workin' her magic. And the Flathead?”

“On it now and quick question, how are we getting into Konpeki?” 

“Through the front door, how else? I'm no leadhead. Ain't gonna leave no trace for them to follow 'cause we gonna do this clean an' on the hush-hush,” Dex confirms her beliefs, she needs cyberware, something. 

“Got it, on my way to get the Flathead, now.” 

“T-Bug says no chance at the chip without that bot. To work, then, Miss V.” 

He hangs up and V leaves Lizzie’s bar, night air cold on her exposed skin. She’ll swing by her apartment, drop by Vik’s, and then meet up with Jackie at All Foods. V makes a beeline to her car, starting a call and patching a call to Jackie through the radio speaker. 

“Jackie,” she signs one handed as she drives, “Met the client. Her name's Parker. Evelyn Parker.”

“OK. Whatcha waitin' for? Gimme the deets. Who is she? What's she like?”

“Shady as fuck. Doll, I think, fucks Yorinobu Arasaka and now she wants to fuck him over.” 

“Don’t seem that odd.” 

“She’s...off, Jackie. Hiding something, big, I just. Don’t trust her, don’t think she’s a bad person, just… not to be trusted.” 

“Yeah, sounds like nerves talkin' to me. Makes everyone seem suspect. Stress can kill you, y'know.”

“Yeah, yeah, so you tell me.” 

“What about Militech?” 

“I met with the corpo.” 

“V… “ 

“Hear me out, woman gave me hell and a spiked chip, wanted me to pay on Militech’s dime but the chip would have fried Maelstrom and left us cleaning up the mess.” 

“Of course, I told you, V.” 

“But, I managed to crack it. Maelstrom plays nice, I got a clean ten grand off of Maelstrom. Chrome snorters pull bullshit; we fuck them and send a middle finger to Militech while we’re at it. We can talk it out more when we meet.”  

“Alright, waitin' for ya at All Foods, ya know. Not gettin' any younger.”

“Well, grab something to eat, going to be a while longer.” 

“Chingada madre, V, what now?” 

“Konpeki Plaza, hotel we got to get into. They have a no weapon policy and way Dex talks that the only way in, is through the front door. “ 

“And?” 

“And, if shit goes sideways, I don’t want to be caught with my pants down,  in a gunfight without a weapon. Need cyberware, something they can’t confiscate, so I’ll be ready for worst case scenario. So, I’m grabbing my savings and making a trip to see Vik.” 

“Stress stress, all you do is stress, but I’m glad you’re finally spending your fucking money. What you trying to get?” 

“You’ll see when we meet up, who knows, might end up using it on some Maelstrommers.” 

“Hehe, see you soon, V.” 

V hangs up and parks outside her megabuilding, sliding her mask off and into her bag before running in. She keeps her head down and doesn’t talk as she rushes to just get her stash of cash out from under the bed. Willing the elevator to move faster and annoyed when she presses her hand to the intercom to unlock her door and it takes a second too long for the lock to validate her SID chip. She opens the under bed  compartment, finding her money stash next to her toy stash. Then it’s back out to her car and driving out to Vik’s. 

She parks in the same place Jackie did that morning, keeping her head down as she wades through the crowd, trying not to stare at the strippers in the club window across from Misty’s store and avoiding eye contact with Gary; the slightly crazy homeless man who likes to yell about conspiracies.  V peeks into Misty’s shop and smiles when she sees the woman at the little register and desk. Her face lit by the cyan neon sign advertising her prices for chakra readings. 

“Hey, V.” Misty smiles at her, she’s the cutest little thing, granted she’s a bit taller than V. A short airy chin length bob of bleached hair, heavy black makeup, and big green eyes. 

“Hey, Misty,” V signs as she walks in, her choker translator already turned on

“Heard you and Jackie have a new job.” There’s a hint of something sad to her voice, a pain to her eyes. 

“You don’t seem excited.” 

“Just...worried; bigger jobs, bigger risks.” 

“I know, I’ll do my best to watch out for him, promise.” 

“I know you will, V.” 

“You’ll have to read our cards when you get the chance.” Its become a tradition, the little peek into the future easing some of Misty’s nerves. 

“Please, Jackie’s heart chakra was a little out of whack and his aura needs tending. Keep him away from mean reds, if you can.” 

“I’ll do my best.” 

“Speaking of which…” 

“Oh no.” 

“You need to let me adjust your chakras, V!~” 

“Yeah… I don’t know about that one…” 

“Your crown and throat chakras are so messy, heart chakra too actually, you’re just spiritually kind of a wreck, V.” 

“You can tell that just by looking at me.” 

“I could tell after my first conversation with you.” 

“Funny, I’ll think about it. For now, I got to see Vik.” 

“He’s in the clinic, go on in.” 

V gives Misty a pat on the shoulder as she walks around and goes out the back door of the older woman’s store into the alleyway behind it. A soft meow rings out, just before the stairs that go down to Vik’s is a little sphinx cat with big golden eyes. The merc crouches down and scritches it’s back, smiling at the cutie, softly meowing back at it. Its such a cute kitty. One more little pat and she separates herself from the cat and goes down the stairs to Vik’s clinic. She’s not sure how Vik can stand to stay in the dank basement level clinic all day, but she’s thankful he’s always easy to find when she needs him. Through the little metal gateway door she can already see him at a workbench, watching a boxing match on a small TV. 

“Viky! How’s my favorite ripper?” She greets him as she walks through, grinning as the older man spins his chair to look at her. 

The ripper’s eyes drop down for a second seeing the box she has held to her stomach with one arm. He smiles softly, the expression forming wrinkles around his eyes. He’s an older man, dark hair just starting to thin on the back of his head. Tattooed forearms with memories of his boxing days and tinted glasses on his nose. 

“Good to see you too, V. It's been a while. To what do I owe the pleasure today?”

“Got a new gig, new fixer, sure Jackie’s already talked your ear off about it.” 

“Dexter Deshawn…  Known quantity, from the Afterlife. No denying you're movin' up…” Vik tells her but there’s a drag in his voice, V is starting to get the distinct impression that no one is as excited for this as her and Jackie are. Hell, she’s not even as excited as Jackie, Evelyn’s offer still heavy on her mind. 

“Something you’re not telling me?” 

“Keep your guard up, that's all. I've heard some things about Dex. He's not as "chill" as he makes himself out to be.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she nods, Dex doesn’t seem to shady at the moment, but she trusts Vik’s opinion, “as for right now, plan is for me and Jackie to get into a hotel, pretend we’re guests. Hotel’s got a strict no guns policy, so… need a weapon they can’t take off of me.” 

“That so? You finally caving and getting the projectile launcher?” 

“No, I was thinking Mantis Blades, actually. Quieter, if shit goes off the rails it’d be better to have something that doesn’t tell everyone where we are.” 

“And you get to add two more blades to your collection,” Vik teases, knowing her affinity for swords, knives, and daggers over firearms. 

“Hey, doesn’t hurt to stick to what I know, besides with shit getting real… need better tech.” 

“Well alright,” Vik stands and kicks away his wheeled seat, walking towards his work station, and getting the injector, “but lemme guess- hasn’t paid you yet.” 

“No, but, I brought what I got. I know it’s not enough but, if you’re fine with me paying so much now and the rest later, I-” 

Vik puts a hand up and stops her from pushing the little box of cash at him, a soft smile on his face. Jackie likes to say Vik has a soft spot for her, sometimes she doubts it but when he gives her that soft almost kind fatherly look, she can’t help but think Jackie might be right. 

���Keep it.” 

“No, don’t be ridiculous, I should at least give you something upfront, I-” 

“We'll work something out later. Right now I'm just out to make sure you get back in one piece. Keep that back for now and we can figure it out once you get paid, alright?” 

“Got no idea what I did to deserve you, Vik.” 

“Who knows?” He laughs and shoots an injection into his forearm, to help steady and loosen up his organic hand, flexing the fingers on his ripper glove, “go ahead and get comfy.” 

V nods and puts her cash stash in her bag before climbing up into the doctor’s chair, taking a deep breath. Even with Vik, the only doctor she trusts, she always finds herself nervous in his chair. She’s slowly grown more accustomed to the importance of cyberware and tech in Night City, but it still just feels overwhelming at times to think of carving out pieces of herself for it. V is fairly sure other than monks she’s one of the only people past the age of eighteen who doesn’t have optics, kids carving their eyes out as soon as a doc is willing to do it. This is important, she needs to be prepared for the worst case scenario, but she is about to have a significant portion of her arms removed to be replaced with swords. The gravity of that still sits heavy on her chest. 

“Jack in and lay those major league arms down for me.” 

Vik pulls up two tables on each side of the chair and V lays her arms down for him, trying to steady her breathing. Her eyes linger on the brand on her left wrist, the one that marked her place within her nomad clan.  She wonders if that part of her arm will be taken off, skin removed with synthetic Real Skin stuff.  He sits in his little wheeled stool, looking over her scans. 

“Looks like you’ve actually been taking your meds.” 

“Got an alarm on my phone now, nearly forgot just this morning,” she switches to spoken English, though her hands twitch to sign, she doesn’t want to move them just in case. 

“Whatever helps, last thing you need is your body trying to kill itself.” 

“But it's so good at that.” 

“Oh I know it is,” he pushes himself to get to the other side of the table, pushing a sharp injection into her arm just below her elbow, “a bit of anesthetic.” Then he pushes her sleeve up higher, so he can reach her bicep, another shot. 

“What’s that one?” 

“Anti-anxiety, though judging by the wide eyed look on your face, it’s gonna take a second to kick in.” 

“Oh, yeah… sorry.” 

“It's okay, know this ain’t your thing. Most arm cyberware is fairly invasive, but I got some tricks up my sleeve. Do my best to give you the tech you need and leave as much ‘ganic material intact as I can.” 

“I know, I trust you.”

Slowly, her body numbs. The strong anesthetic spreads into her blood and impacting every inch of her. Her breathing feels more stable and her heart rate seems to slow back to normal, a sense of calm coming over her. Vik is a good man, she knows that, he’d never do anything that isn’t needed and wouldn’t ever try to hurt her. He starts to roll out the tech to carve her arms open and put blades inside. 

She closes her eyes and lays her head back, because she doesn’t want to see, it will just freak her out more. Put her trust in fate and more importantly Vik to take care of it. V feels nothing, only soft whirrs of tech. 

“Feel anything?” 

“Never do. Ask me that every time, you know. Not as if things are gonna be any different today.”

“Sure thing, kid, I mean not like there's any risk of a stroke or paralysis. But... heh, what do I know? I'm just a doctor.”

“Okay, okay, I getcha.” 

“You got your contacts with you?” 

“Yeah, in my bag.” 

“Once we get your blades in, I’ll take a look at them, think we can bump them up with some Kiroshi tech.”

“You’re the best, Vik.” 

“So, I’ve heard.” 

“Oh, nearly forgot, you’ll get a kick out of this. Coach Fred in my building wants me to do some fights.” 

“Does he now?” 

“Mmhmm, really tried to sell it too, he believes in me. Dude, I’m fucking five feet tall, but okay.” 

“Well,” Vik chuckles, “to be fair, you may be small, but I’ve seen you take down guys twice your size.” 

“That’s merc work, Vik; don’t think they’d let me stab my opponent in the ring.” 

“That is usually frowned upon.” 

They make small talk as he works, the chatter easing her nerves, the little traces of anxiety the medicine can’t touch. Vik tries to convince her she could hold her own in a boxing fight, though unlike Coach Fred, it feels less like a sales pitch coming from Vik. From him it feels more like a dad trying to convince their kid they’ll be good at soccer if they just get out there and try it. 

“Alright, we’re done, kid. Take a look.” 

V takes a deep breath and does just that, Looking down at arms that still seem to be very much her own but with silver detailing from her knuckles to her elbows. They look nice, the Mantis Blades and Projectile Launcher are the better looking arm cyberware options in her opinion. Like accents, little detailing, rather than making arms look more tech than flesh. It’s her nails still, painted her favorite bright blue, she can still see her freckles. And when she twists her forearms she finds her brand still there. 

“Wow, really did save as much skin as you could.” 

“Mmhmm, still you, just a few added touches. The blades act on intention and reflex, stand up and give it a try. Just don’t cut anything I need.”

V gets out of the chair, taking a few steps to the most cleared off portion of the room. Vik scoots himself back on the stool. Just what she’d need, to finally get cyberware beyond the basics and end up accidentally gutting her favorite ripper. With the thought and a tensing of her forearms, the blades extend out. 

“Woah.” 

She marvels at it, the way her flesh has opened up, can see the metal compartment almost where the blades were stored and hidden inside. Carefully, she retracts the blade in one arm to touch the other. Curiously she touches where the skin meets metal, nerves in the flesh still, but when she touches inside of the compartment she feels nothing. She presses down into the steel and when she does so hard enough, she can feel it start to put pressure on real organic tissue. She pulls her fingers away and retracts the blade; extending and pulling them back a few times, getting the feel for them. 

“Take it you’re a fan?” 

“Its so cool.” 

“Still wish you got the Launcher instead?” 

“Maybe a little bit,” she tests out signing, thankful the metal additions don’t interfere with her ability to do it, “I’m good with knives and katanas, so having a cannon in my arm would add a bit of variety.”

“Maybe your next job.” 

“You can take them out and do that?” 

“Mmhmm, now-a-days even the military grade stuff is designed to be adaptable, you can rip ‘em out and change it up whenever you see fit. So, you can have whatever new tech you want when you want it.” 

“The innovations of consumerism, huh?” 

“Something like that,” he laughs, “hand me your contacts and I’ll upgrade them for you.” 

She does just that, watching him take the contacts and put them in a device. While he tinkers with those, V keeps playing with her new toys. Making sure she knows exactly what will and won’t trigger the blades. Flexing alone won’t extend them, folding and twisting her forearms. It requires the intention too, linked to she assumes her neural plants and cyberdeck.  Which means she should be able to hug someone without decapitating them, a skill she does occasionally enjoy having. Even if Jackie says her hugs are half ass.  Got to hug people like you’ll never see them again, because in Night City that might be the case; according to him. 

“All done, test them out,” Vik hands her back the contact case and she carefully places them in. The interface lights up for a moment, adjusting to the new tech.  She looks around, her vision a bit clearer. 

“Image looks clearer.” 

“Installed threat detection and weak spot detection tech too. Anyone who isn’t known to you, who the soft picks up as an enemy sees you, it’ll highlight them and tell you what their weak points are.” 

“That’s awesome, I don’t know what to say Vik, this is incredible.” 

“Figured, if you needed the blade for some hotel, you’d probably have to ditch the mask. So, it doesn't hurt to bump up the contacts.” 

“Yeah...oh…guess your right, can’t play corp hotel guest in a mask, can I…” 

“Just now realizing that?” 

“Maybe… but more importantly. The blades, the contacts. I don’t know what to say, Vik, I…”

“Say you’ll take this and remember the dosage. Two whiffs now and another two in an hour,” he hands her a medicine inhalant, “mild stim. Should boost neurotransmission in the short term and muffle some of the side effects while the implant takes.”

“Thanks Vik, seriously, I owe you big. You sure you don’t want some cash up front? I really don’t mind, I-” 

“Won’t hear it. Go on, kid. Show 'em what you're made of,” he grins at her, rolling back over to his desk, “And once you hit the big leagues, don't forget where you came from.”

A part of her wonders if it’s meant as a joke or a serious concern, knowing how much he seemed to worry about her getting a job from Dex. No matter if she hits the major leagues, Vik will always be her go to ripper. She comes up behind him where he’s gone back to watching TV and throws an arm around his neck in a sort of hug, squeezing him close. The kind of hug Jackie would mock, but full scale embraces are still...weird. 

“Couldn’t if I tried, Vik, thanks again.” 

“No problem, kiddo,” he pats her hand where it sits on his chest, “grab your candy and get going.”  

V giggles, and  pats his shoulder as she pulls away. She wonders if any of his other patients end up grabbing candy from the bowl on his desk. If Vik does the same joke with anyone else now that she kicked it off, a part of her hopes not. She grabs a handful of honeyed candies, popping one in her mouth as she leaves his clinic through the metal gate. The cat is still there when she gets back out to street level, she gives it a few more scratches, then takes the pathway back through Misty’s shop. 

“Vik take care of you?” The bleached blonde greets V as she comes in. 

“Sure did, I got swords in my arms.” 

That gets a giggle out of her, V showing off the indentations and designs of the Mantis Blades. Misty runs her fingers along them, smiling at the merc. 

“Very nice, take it you’re off to meet Jackie, now?”  There’s still some worry in Misty’s eyes, a sadness to her tone. 

“Yeah, got to get a combat bot. Shouldn’t take too long, Maelstrom isn’t anything we haven’t handled before. You know that.” 

“I do, I do,” Misty fiddles her fingers together, “its not them I’m worried about, it’s just this whole… thing with Dex and this heist. Just got a bad feeling. The bigger your jobs get, the more risks, you know. I’m sorry...sure you don’t want to hear me whine.” 

“Hey, hey,” V touches Misty’s shoulder, “its not whining. You love Jackie, it’s only natural to be worried.” 

“Thanks, Jackie thinks this job will set us up for life, that he’ll finally be able to take care of me like I deserve… “

“And what do you think?” 

“That is dreams are gonna get him killed one day and he doesn’t seem to care…” 

“He cares, he does. He just...thinks the risk is worth it, that if he does this he can build a better future.” 

“I know, just can’t shake the feeling he’s flying too close to the sun, I guess,” Misty says, wrapping her arms around herself. V knows that anxiety well and can’t say she even has the best feeling about this job. But, this is too good of an opportunity to pass up. 

“Hey, want to go ahead and do that tarot reading? Might make you feel better, see what the fates got in store.” 

“Yeah,” Misty smiles softly, “I’d like that.” 

Misty grabs her deck, the one V and Jackie picked out for her, as the merc comes around to the other side of the table. Jackie and V will be with each other the whole time, so if V’s future comes up clean, it means he can’t be too bad off. If nothing else, it offers a little distraction from anxiety and it won’t kill Jackie to wait just another ten or so minutes. 

“If my future’s clean, Jackie’s won’t be too bad. Guy’s always had better luck than me, anyway.” 

“I think he’d say otherwise,” Misty laughs, shuffling the cards, “now, focus on the recent past and what you expect in the future.” 

First card down, a man walking towards a cliff with a dog trotting along after him. 

“The Fool, that’d be you.” 

“So the cards think I’m an idiot, cool,” V rolls her eye, not missing the shadow of a smile across Misty’s lips. 

“The Fool symbolizes the beginning of a journey. You brim with enthusiasm, yet remain unaware of both your capabilities and the threats you face.”

“So...the cards think I'm an idiot.” 

“Just a little bit,” Misty teases, laying down the next card, “The Wheel of Fortune,. The danger is greater than you think. It will come suddenly, without warning. Conflict is unavoidable.”

“Fair enough.” 

Another card down, this one upside down. 

“The reversed Chariot reveals that such danger is tied to your love of risk. Do not aim too high, V.”

“I’m short, got nowhere else to aim.” 

Misty looks up at V under her brow, despite the hint of a smile, the meaning is clear. This is serious and V should take it with some level of seriousness. But, if she’s honest, V’s just happy to see Misty smiling at all. 

“And finally, The Magician… interesting.” 

“Why’s that?” 

“You may meet someone fascinating, someone charismatic. Maybe even someone you will grow to love?”

“Ew.”

Misty laughs as V makes a face at the word love and how Misty dragged the word out; the implication clear and gross. Why the fuck is fate concerned with V’s romantic life when she’s about to pull off a heist on Ara-fucking-Saka. 

“You can’t ‘ew’ fate, V!” Misty scolds her between giggles, smile now wide and bright. 

“I can when fate is being fucking gross.” 

“Love isn’t gross, V. It's beautiful.”  

“Ew.” 

“Get out of my shop,” Misty laughs and rolls her eyes, putting the cards back in her deck. 

“Talk to you, later.” 

Misty waves her off and V leaves out, content that she lightened Misty’s mood if only for a moment. She avoids eye contact with Gary as she makes a beeline back to her car, putting her new contacts back in the case and that in her bag. As useful as they are, she’ll use her mask for the Maelstrom job. For the usual reasons; enjoying her anonymity and well, people tend to take her a bit more seriously when they can’t see her baby face.  

V pulls up outside of All Foods, an abandoned food plant that Maelstrom has turned into their newest HQ.  Jackie is already parked sitting on his arch, poor guy has been waiting on her for entirely too long.  She puts her mask back on and hops out, walking up towards him, seeing his posture brighten up when he spots her walking down the street. 

“About time, V. Mi madre always said patience pays off, but christ.” 

“Sorry, a lot of shit to take care of. Most prepwork we’ve ever had to put in.” 

“Well, fill me in.” 

“Ran through the BD with the client and T-Bug, know where the chip is and where we’re trying to get too. But we need the bot from Maelstrom to nuke the hotel’s subnet and make sure we don’t catch lead from a turret. Dex paid them for it, but we got no idea if they’re going to honor that.” 

“He paid up front, hijole.” 

“Yep, I met up with the Militech rep too. Gave me the spiked chip, but I reworked it. Got a chip with clean eddies on it and a newly...adjusted… chip that will spike Maelstrom and Militech.” 

“So, what’s the play?” 

“Doubt they’re going to just honor the original buy, but if they play nice, figured we return the favor. Give them the clean eddies and call it done.” 

“But Maelstrom don’t play nice.  Gang world ain't too complicated, Might's right, the strong survive. Either you fuck others, or you get fucked.”

“Then we fuck them over right back, they want to play dirty, give them the spiked chip and take what we want. Spike chips in my left pocket, clean one in the right,” she pats her pockets, “so if you see me get the chip from the left, get ready.” 

“Understood and the new chrome?” 

“Mantis Blades, like I said, hotels got a no iron policy and if shit goes wrong, I want to be ready. And, hell, if Maelstrom plays dirty, I might get a little practice tonight.” 

“How the hell you swing those?” 

“Vik, gave me chrome on credit, again. Too nice for his own good, I swear.” 

“Pff,” Jackie laughs, “only when it comes to you, chica.” 

“Don’t know why.” 

“Told ya, he says you got a good heart. Probably give you a second one for free just for that.” 

“Enough, enough; lets get this taken care of.” 

“Into the borgbeasts den, then.” 

“Onward.”  With that Jackie climbs off his bike, leading the way and she follows behind. 

“I hate these 'borg fuckers. Just had to be them…” 

“Gang like any other,” V tells him. 

Night has fallen over the city, lit by streetlamps and fires in a trash can. Northside all but abandoned, one of the only places where the night isn’t colored by neon citylights. They walk past trash and shrapnel, towards the door. An intercom button on the wall. 

“Take the Valentinos. They follow God and the Santa Madre. Honor means something to 'em. You know what they want, how they get it, and what pisses 'em the fuck off. With Maelstrom, you just never know.”

“Think you might be a touch bias?” 

“Heh, maybe,  go on, let 'em know we're here.” 

With the V presses the intercom button waiting for it to ring, a few moment pass before a low growl of a voice finally responds. 

“Hm, don't know you.”

“Dex sent us.” V is increasingly thankful his name is easy enough to quickly finger spell. If they keep working with him, she may have to come up with a name sign though. 

“Main room. We been waiting,” the Malestom member tells her and the front doors slide open. 

The first room is dark with only a fluorescent light and the red glow of active turrets within it. There’s a distinct stink of mildew, rot, and mold. The stench of it choking V as she steps in after Jackie. 

“Cozy place. Could use a few plants, though,” Jackie makes a snide remark, as his heavy steps ring through the room, tech lines the walls and is stacked up on shelves, “Oh yeah. They look damn well prepared.”

“Food factory turned into a fucking armory, lovely.” 

“Gear from the Jacked convoy, gotta be… Must've been all over it like maggots on dead meat.”

“Everything’s marked Militech,” she confirms as they take a corner and walk down a short flight of stairs. 

“Psycho borgs chromed out with military-grade hardware worth millions... Should be fun.”

“Yeah, a real party.” 

They take a turn past a cluster of steel lockers, grime coated, with old abandoned anti-contamination suits still inside. Another turn past a neon red lit elevator shaft, the old factory is a mechanical maze. No doubt a reason why the chrome gang picked it; walls covered in their graffiti. They walk up another staircase; mines on every step, deactivating before them. 

“Anti-personnel mine,” V comments, “directional shrapnel spitter.” 

“Subtle…” 

Around a corner, through another passageway, and up another flight of stairs. Each step echoes, the entire place dark except for blips colored by red and the odd white fluorescents. Jackie stops when the steps lead to a door. Nodding his head at it, giving V the go ahead to open it. She rolls up the shutter door and is suddenly blinded with bright stark white light, chill curling around her and creeping through her thin cropped top. It makes sense, the former meat packaging plant needing a room to stay cold. 

“Stay cool… They’re just tryin’ to spook us,” Jackie tells her as she steps forward. 

Bright yellow forms patterns across the metal floor, spot lights, and stacks of crates marked Militech. Security cameras and she sees the first glimpse of Maelstrom members since they’ve stepped into the plant. One sitting on a crate, armed and watching with their signature red glowing optics. Another on a platform over seeing them. 

“Get in the elevator, fuckin’ sheep,” the Maelstrommer barks at them. 

“Thought those cabrones only swiped a couple crates, not a whole fuckin’ semi,” Jackie comments under his breath as they walk past the crates and to the end of the room. Double doors open up to a freight elevator. 

“This is going to be a hoot, ain’t it?” The doors to the elevator close and it starts it’s journey upwards. 

“It’s all right, keep chilled, V. Remember, we're on their turf.” 

“Yeah, because I’m the one who loses their chill.” 

“I’m always chill-” 

The elevator comes to a stop before Jackie can finish his though, the door on the other end opening and a Maelstrom member staring at them. He has the red glowing spider like optics and little mechanical dreads on the back of his head. What’s visible of his arms and chest is a mishmash of scar tissue and metal.  Over his shoulders, she can see two other gang members. One holding a shotgun and the other plugged into a netrunner chair, glowing under the light of red screens. 

“What do you want?” He’s the guy who spoke to them over the intercom. 

“Got a bot we need, model MT0D12, Flat Head. Our fixer already paid for it, we’re just here to pick it up.” 

“Hmm, names Dum-Dum,” he points to the side with his gun and starts to move back into the room, “Now, couch. Plant it.”

She walks into the room, and it seems like this could go well. They’ve been mostly chill, gruff sure, but nothing bad. In the center of the room just before a large roll up garage door is a table and two torn up red leather couches. Another Maelstrom member sits on the table. She doesn’t hesitate, sitting down on the couch closest to her, looking at the bright vending machine the gangers have graffitied over. Dum-Dum puts one foot up on the other couch and follows his line of sight to Jackie, who moves a little slower, his arms crossed as he moves next to the other couch and only stands. 

“Ahh, well, shit. Goes for you too,” Dum-Dum tells him and she expects Jackie to listen, he said himself this is their turf and they should keep try to stay chill. 

“I'll stand.”

Or… he’ll let his pride get the better of him and refuse.  Its hard to read the emotions on a Maelstrom member's face, so chromed you can tell what the hell is going on. But the shift in volume is telling enough. 

“This so fuckin' hard? Fuckin' ass on the fuckin' couch!”

“Make me,” Jackie says, voice low as he gets into Dum-Dum’s face. As much as he can while being nearly a head taller than the Maelstrom member. 

“Thought you'd never ask. Sit your ass down 'fore I plant a bullet in your skull.’

“Jackie,” she signs with one hand and pats his shoulder,  catching his attention, “think it’d be best to just sit down, keep everything chill, remember?” 

“This ain't gonna end well but… shit…” And with that Jackie finally sits down, sinking into graffiti covered red leather. 

“Well, all right,” Dum-Dum gets a drug inhalant from his pocket, sitting down on the table in front of V and offering it to her,  “Come on, gotta lighten up. Take a hit.”

The inhalant is red and purple; if she had to guess, Black Lace. An upper that’s high is said to feel reminiscent of manic Cyberpsychosis. Corps used to feed it to their troops by the gallon, cuts off pain receptors and made everyday men into unstoppable killing machines. 

“Appreciate the offer, but weed’s the hardest shit I touch,” V dismisses the offer as politely as she can. She knows it’d endear her to them, maybe, but… drugs aren’t really her thing. And when it is, she prefers mellow to mania. 

Dum-Dum huffs the inhalant, dipping his head back and smoke billowing from his nose. Then exhaling a steady stream of it. She can see Jackie cringing and trying not to breath in the aftermath of Dum-Dum’s high. 

“Whatever you say, straight edged princess.” 

The member sitting next to Dum-Dum moves as nother brings out a large Militech case, black with a yellow lock. It’s put down on the table with a heavy thud. 

“Here we go. The Flathead, model MT0D12.”

“Need to see it.” She’s not going go off of good faith, assuming it’s all there and works. 

“Suit yourself.”

He opens the case and she sees the spider like bot inside, it's almost cute, Dum-Dum shakes the control shard at them as he talks. 

“Fuckin' tricked out this thing. Dynamic, thermo-optic camo armor.”

He puts the control shard into a slot at the base of his skull, all but the middle of his optic eyes going dim as the bot comes to life within the crate. It stands at attention, moves it’s head and shimmies it’s legs. Just a cute mechanical spider; why did they make military combat tech cute? 

“Full cognitive immersion with a Raven controller.”

The bot goes invisible which is impressive, but V’s eye is drawn elsewhere. A steady creak and she sees the garage door behind Dum-Dum is starting to roll up. Screens and the back of a leather chair, a man sitting down visible. She can’t truly tell, but if she had to wager a guess, Royce. 

“Pimped out, prototype actuators made of titanium-vanadium-Kevlar composite.” 

Dum-Dum continues to sell them on the bot as the door fully opens behind him, the chair turning and her seeing that she was right. Royce, the newest Maelstrom leader looking into the deal with the same glowing red optics, though his set so far back in his skull he’s missing gray matter. 

“'N' watch this,” Dum-Dum says he sends the bot to move around the base,  “Fully integrated link, too, so when the spider starts crawlin' up walls, danglin' from ceilings…” He starts to sound sick, his stomach churning as he sees the view of the bot. 

“Could lose your lunch?”  V can’t help but tease, Royce is up now, one hand on the garage door. Like he’s waiting,  ready to pounce the second he hears something he don’t like. Those red optic staring V down. 

“So, what you think?” Dum-Dum asks as he returns the bot to its case.

“Exactly what we’re after, we’ll take it.” 

“Preem, sure, yeah,” Dum-Dum puts the control shard back in the case, “let’s see your cred.” 

“Brick already got paid for it.” 

A metal boom rings out, those words snapping Royce into action as he punches his fist against the door. Stomping forward and Dum-Dum jumps, rushing off the table as Royce marches towards V. 

“Brick got it…heh,” the red shine of metal, a gun pressed to her head, “I don't see any fuckin' Brick around here, do you?!”

“Fuck Brick then, lets cut a new deal,” she doesn’t hesitate, refuses to flinch or show fear. 

He presses the gun in tighter, leaning down into her face, the red optic nearly blinding. So close she can see the scars around the tech and just deeply imbedded they truly are, He lets out a low hum as he leans in, testing her and she doesn’t pull away, doesn’t break eye contact. Then he pulls back. 

“Hah! Now that's good business sense! All right, you want the Flathead? I better see some eddies.” 

She reaches into her left pocket. She would have done this clean, would have paid and been on her way. But Royce wanted a fight, wanted to put iron to her head and try to shake her down. So, she’ll burn his whole goddamn operation to the ground. 

“Got them right here,” she hands him the credchip. 

“Just like that? Without battin' a fuckin' eye?! Hahah!”

“Need the bot, just take the cash and hand it over, no trouble needed.” 

“Look at this fuckin' girl scout! You know all your knots, got all your badges?! Hahaha!”

“Hilarious, you want the money or not?” 

“Y'know, ya never did say who sent you, never did say who you're workin' for?” 

“Yes, yes I fucking did, Dex.” 

“Dexter DeShawn… The lard ass who punching-animal-fucked half of Pacifica? Mean he ain't dead?”

“Swear to god, I’m going to blow my own brains out before you can! You want my fucking money or you want to bore me to death?” 

“Fine,” he starts to grab the chip when there’s a shake in metal, a rumble and an alarm starts to blare. Walls of the factory shake, the faint sound of gunfire. 

“What the…? Shit Militech!” Dum-Dum yells out, they must have known the corp was on their tail. 

“Rusty fucking cunt,” Royce curses and the Maelstrom members start to rush out and V moves; grabbing the Flathead case and stuffing it into her backpack as soon as eyes aren’t on them.

“Shit, Militech got antsy” Jackie tells her over the alarm. 

“Who gives a shit, we got-” 

“Hey!” Dum-Dum yells back at them, from a higher platform, and for a moment she thinks he’s going to fight them for the bot, “lets get the fuck out of here, follow me.” 

Her and Jackie exchange a look, V just shrugging, if he wants to help out why not. V quickly climbs up the yellow ladder up to the platform, following behind Dum-Dum, Jackie not far behind her. Dum-Dum opens a door and it opens into what a room with consoles and the stench of meat hanging in the air. 

“Ay, huele feo, this meat! Ack.. I can taste it,” Jackie sounds like he’s on the verge of puking his guts up. 

“Production line, besides, thought you liked meat?” 

“We'll ride the line. Flip it on.” 

V follows behind Dum-Dum, climbing up a set of crates and onto a scaffolding. The production line is blocked, unmoving in years she’d assume. But on a console is a large red button lined with yellow, she punches it and metal sheets moves from the way, production line whirring to life as red lights color the metal passageways.  Dum-Dum jumps across the small gap and climbs down the ladder. 

“Hey, Doo Dum or whatever your name is, why you even helpin' us??” Jackie asks as V jumps the little gap and platforms but skips the ladder, jumping down the short distance. 

“I'm not. Helpin' myself. Soon as the shootin' starts, I got two walkin' bullet sponges with me. Sponges who'll shoot back.” 

The three walk through the narrow corridor, production line billow steam at them as the pathway opens up to another raised section of scaffolding, a section of it missing and allowing them to drop through and down onto another that surrounds a large hangar, gunfire rings out. Malestrom and Militech soldiers screaming at one another. 

“C’mon let’s go!” 

“You say come on one more time!” 

Dum-Dum rushes down the platform and into the thick of it, quick to fight alongside his fellow Maelstrommers. And god, she’s not a fan of the gang, but watching soldiers with military grade armor and equipment trying to shoot down the group of mini-borgs… Maybe she just hates corps that fucking much.  They could sneak out, let Maelstrom and Militech tear each other part, run with the bot and the eddies. 

“That whackjobs got no chance,” Jackie says, “maybe we give ‘em a hand.” 

“Lets.” 

And she jumps the banister of the platform, landing clean onto a Militech soldier’s back and extends her Mantis Blades. They slice cleanthrough his neck and he goes limp underneath her, bleeding onto the production floor.  V is up the next instant, running full charge into another man’s chest, knocking him off his center of gravity, landing on his chest and stabbing her blade through his heart before he can throw her off.  Back on her feet and fighting in the next moment. 

There is no stealth here, no technique or strategy, just kill or be killed. She moves quick, swinging a blade up to slice a soldier navel to throat. Bringing a blade clean down into another’s shoulder. Takes another’s legs out and they slice clean off, the tactical armored clothes like butter to the Mantis Blades. 

A Militech boot lands square on her chest before she can slice through them, the kick knocks the air from her lungs, staggering her backwards Her head collides with a metal door, Mantis Blades retracting as she hits the ground. The Miltech worker points his gun at her. But before his finger can pull that trigger, a machete is brought down into the junction between his shoulder and neck, ripped back out in a spurt of blood. The man goes down, Jackie behind him. 

“Got you, chica.” He says, pulling her up, a layer of blood has started to stick to both of them. And as she gets to her feet, she catches a glimpse through the window in the door. Bright red lights of servers, a large computer. 

She looks past Jackie into the room, a large swath of Militech agents taken down. Maelstrom still battling the few left in the area. She doesn’t know what will be waiting for her when she breaks through, Meredith’s promise of seeing her soon if V pulled anything like this. 

“C’mon,” V opens the door and quickly yanks Jackie into the server room. 

“The hell are you doing?” 

“Want to check something, bargaining chip, just in case,” 

Blood coated fingers swipe open the computer screen, pulling up the messages and files Maelstrom has saved. A message named Transports- LOA catches her eye, any Nomad worth their salt knows LOA is used by corps who intentionally “lose” their cargo.  She opens it, the message from Anthony Gilchrist telling one of the gang members how to get their hands on the convoy. Meredith has her mole.  V jacks into the console and downloads the fill to her neural implants. 

“What’s up?” 

“Militech rep wanted to find her mole. She tries to get payback, I got intel,” V jacks out of the terminal, “lets go.” 

They rush out of the server room and throw themselves back into the fray, slicing through Militech soldiers, as if they were never gone. V goring a soldier with both blades as Jackie blows the brains out of the last one. 

Dum-Dum leads them through the rest of the plant, turns and curves and stairways, a maze of metal. The three cutting their way through Militech soldiers one body after the other, clearing the room after room. Until they open a door at the top of a stair case, showing what may have once been a massive garage portion of the plant. 

“I’ll melt your fuckin’ skin off!”  Royce screams and laughs from inside a Militech armored exoskeleton, using it to fire off a massive gun that bursts flames around the feet of the soldiers. They shoot and fire at Royce along with a large automated robot

“We gotta help him!” Dum-Dum yells out, rushing into the fray to help his boss, Royce cackling as the soldier try to shoot him. 

“He's fuckin' happy! That's almost contagious!” Jackie laughs, him and V jumping in to help. 

Dum-Dum, Jackie, and V focus on the soldiers; trying to get their fire off of Royce, so he can focus on the heavy duty robot blasting back at him. Pure reflex as bullets fly, blades slash, and body after body falls down at their feet. Chaos, adrenaline; Royce’s manic cackling making them want to laugh too. Last bit if human soldiers down,  Its all on taking down the hulking robot that, it’s armored outside burned and damaged, but not destroyed by the heavy fire Royce blasts it with. V sheaths her blades within her arms, getting her gun from it’s holster and firing round after round into the tech. Jackie and Dum-Dum do the same; five guns, it sputters and sparks, one finally piercing the core of its circuits. The heap of metal collapsing. 

“Khe. The hell're you still doin' here...?” Royce scoffs when he sees Jackie and V are still there. 

“Helping, apparently,” V signs in response, she doesn’t expect much in the way of gratitude. But a little acknowledgement that her and Jackie did a lot of heavy lifting here would be nice. 

“Take your fuckin’ bot and go.” 

She was going to anyway, not caring about nor needing his permission to steal what they need, but the fact that he’s giving it to them is not lost on V. Maybe it’s his own odd way of showing gratitude for helping tear through Militech soldiers. Or maybe he’s just too tired to give a fuck. 

“I'll walk 'em out,” Dum-Dum offers.

“You here to kick our asses out” 

“Huh? No. Wanted to let you know I like your style,” he points them down a hallway, a door marked exit, “here you go.” 

“Can’t fucking believe that guy,” Jackie grumbles as him and V start out the towards the exit. 

“What is your problem with him? First the couch and now this?” 

“Don’t like the fucker’s tone,” Jackie says opening the exit door, “guy rubbed my dick the wrong way.” 

“Well, maybe you should stop letting random dudes rub your dick,” V teases him for his choice of words as they finally get a breath of fresh air, well, as fresh as Night City air gets. 

“Fuck- oh shit.” 

“Oh fuck.” 

Outside the All Foods gateway is Meredith Stout, surrounded by Militech marked vans and a handful of guards. They block the only exit, standing between the mercs and their vehicles. Meredith’s eyes land squarely on V; lips pulling back in a sneer, eyes brimming with contempt. 

“That the Militech bitch?” 

“Un-fucking-fortunately.” 

“You.” Meredith all but snarls, glaring V down as the mercs walk closer, standing before the corpo. 

“Me.” 

“Hmm, bet you didn’t expect to see me here, did you? Thought you could fuck me over, kill your tail and you could just do whatever you wanted?” 

“You gave me a spiked chip, were going to leave me cleaning up Militech’s mess. You tried to fuck me over first.” 

“And somewhere at the start someone fucked the corp, but in the end the corp always wins. Try as hard as you want, all you’ve done is proven I got nothing to lose by getting rid of you.” 

“Oh but you do,” V’s word make Meredith’s eyebrow raise, “I mean, if you want to know who your mole is.” 

“You know?” 

“Yeah, Maelstrom was so busy trying to fight off your men, didn’t even notice me looking through their computer. Got the file on me, could send it to you, but if you’re just going to kill me, not much point.” 

“Send the file and I’ll let you go.” 

“And how do I know you won’t blow my brains out the second it goes through?” 

“You don’t, but you do know I’ll kill you if you don’t send it.” 

V rolls her eyes and her mask interface lights up as she sends the data to Meredith; the corpo woman’s eyes glowing a bright blue light as it transfers. 

“I fucking knew it,” Meredith blurts out, “Gilchrist you sack of shit.” 

“We good?”

“I got what I needed… you know, this was pretty clever of you.” 

“Was it?” 

“Throw me off, get me to attack the plant, get Maelstrom on your side, but get the info to keep Militech happy too. Bet you’re ten thousand eddies richer and got your bot, didn’t you?” 

“Maybe.” 

“Mind like that, maybe a couple years down the line, you could be standing where I am.” 

And V’s stomach churns, her actions being compared to corporate skullduggery and backstabbing. V did what she had to and in the end she didn’t side with the corp. She bites the inside of her lip and she glares through her mask at the corporate cunt. 

“Think I’d rather ride a sandpaper dildo, actually.” 

Meredith scoffs, “let them through.” 

The sea of Militech soldier parts; the two mercs allowed to walk through. Jackie all but collapses, leaning against his motorcycle, there’s still blood sticking to his hands. She’s still coated in a heavy layer herself. 

“Not going to lie, wasn’t sure we’d make it out of that one. But, hey; no begging, no debt, eddies in a pocket and we got the bot. That’s the way to do biz, V.”

“We make a good team, plus I’m starting to think we’re just really lucky.” 

“Ain't you a ray of sunshine. But, V, it ain't a matter of luck. You decide, chica. Remember that, part of why I love this town. The city of endless opportunity. And brotherly hate. But if you got the cojones and know how to use ‘em, you can do damn near anything.”

“Or die trying.” 

“Even then you go out with a bang! And the street'll talk, the street'll remember. Win-win.”

“Rather the street talk about me while I’m alive to hear it, but maybe that’s just me; so what next?” 

“Call up Dex, let him know we got his bot for him.” 

V does just that, pulling up Dex’s contact and calling him, patching the call into Jackie’s too. Her friend’s optics glowing as the holophone rings. Dex answering after just a moment, puffing away on a cigar in the video panel. 

“How're things lookin’, Miss V?”

“Managed to grab the bot.” 

“And how’d it go? Run into any trouble? And what about the Militech angle, Bug told me you hacked some sort of cred chip?” 

“Course there was trouble, but ended up not even needing the chip. Was ready to spike Maelstrom, when Militech got antsy. While they were ripping each other’s throats out, we got the bot and an extra ten thousand eddies for our trouble.” 

“You got some balls, Miss V.”

“So, what now?” 

“Now, we get to work on doing the job I hired you for- grabbing that biochip. Get some sleep, you and Jackster. Because tomorrow, we start prepping for the real heist. Have a car picking you up in the morning.” 

With that, the fixer hangs up, Jackie and V exchanging looks. 

“What you think he’s got in store for us?” 

“I don’t know, we’re gonna have to play corpo to get into that hotel, should be interesting.” 

“Either way, I’m off for the night,” Jackie says, climbing onto his arch, “hasta luego, V.” 

She waves him off, watching him drive off down the streets of Night City. Her body and mind feel tired, limbs heavy and still caked with blood. But, she’s not sure how well she’ll sleep tonight. Nerves and excitement, there’s no telling what tomorrow will hold. 

[kimnamshiks]

You Got it Like That?

Alternately longer Title: You Got it Like That? (Damn that’s crazy)

Pairing: Wooyoung x Female Reader

Genre: Whatever the hell this plot is and Smut

Rating: Explicit

WC: 7.5k+ (below 8k that’s for sure)

Tags: Smut, light fluff, bad attempt at humor, brief Minsan shenanigans, Fingering (female receiving), Temperature play kink, slight praise kink, slight kink discovery (anal), marking kink, some other shit I’ll update if I missed it. Briefest mentions of Seonghwa

Summary: You just needed to get through this week at the resort at the hands of 20 coworkers and Wooyoung; the Sales Department Supervisor who got some raunchy photos of you the day prior.

Taglist: @atiny-piratequeen @thereal-smolchild @angel0taiyo

You stumbled through your house happily, sorta out of it since you’re still high on the party you just left from. A little drinking here and being around smokers that had you linger in the weed; the endorphins coursing through you were pretty higher than usual on this Saturday night. A friend’s night that turned into crashing someone’s party freely without judgment which made everything better in your opinion.

You were on your way to stripping off your clothes when a buzz alerted you, taking your attention away from your work at hand.

+1[245] woobieboobie Uh… I believe you sent it to the wrong person? But holy hell you really did that. Didn’t expect that this late but thank you (;

Confused, you opened the message in full and damn near dropped your phone in shock. Six photos of you in states of undress stared back at you. Provocative and cheeky (literally, ass cheeks showing in some) as you smiled happily towards the lens of your phone. Your breast pushed up in the little strappy blue chemise set you wore to show off your body littered with little bruises and fingerprints on your thighs. Even some prints were dark on your shoulders from one of your wilder nights from a quickie. Honestly, you can’t even remember who’s house you took them in..

Though you managed to send them out to for… what exactly? Looking at it, you couldn’t help but groan in dismay.

+1 [873] me [image89.jpg attachment sent] Feeling sorry that you can’t leave these on me huh. SOL~  Gotta work for it if you want it, doll xoxo

Above those photo messages were questions about the next team-building trip that your company was supposed to take for the week, discussing with your co-manager Wooyoung, from the sales department. Just brainstorming ideas on how to get the departments to know that they work together, no matter how much push back you get from each other. 

Both of you got close over the process of thinking this up and getting approval by the company head. If it brings back good results they may make this an option across the board for the rest of the departments who can’t get along. Yea you crushed on him a bit but who wouldn’t? He was hard-working, caring, pretty funny and fucking fine as shit. 

You weren’t trying to mess the good balance of friendship up right now cause of some tipsy texting.

There was one for almost every photo too! You didn’t drink that much did you?

+1 [873] me [image90.jpg attachment sent] Wanna know what you like about this pose.

+1 [873] me [image95.jpg attachment sent]    Tbh my form looks the best it’s ever been.

+1 [873] me [image105.jpg attachment sent] Call me pretty cause I almost had to beat an asshole up for saying I looked like shit tonight :(

You couldn’t do anything more than spam a message out in response and hope, praying that Wooyoung doesn’t say anything to you tomorrow.

+1 [873] me Kfajsdlgjskfjogsldfj!!! uH THANKS?! DELETE PLZ. SEE YOU TOMORROW!

+1 [245] woobieboobie ….. (:  Hmm. See you tomorrow beautiful~ ;3

Based on that response, you knew he wasn’t. The fucking troll. Regardless you made sure the pictures were saved and got ready for bed. There were no real regrets, just the slight anxiousness of the unknown

Would he ask you about it?

Did he want details?

Would he ask for more of them?

Which you wouldn’t mind if it was any of your girlfriends, but you two haven’t hit that stage yet in friendship to even know if jokes like that were allowed (from what you thought). So this was a huge deal for you.

With a sigh you set your alarm and laid down. No one was going to hear about your lapse in texting, you were going to take this to the grave.

If your dream happened to have a certain male coworker and a few Kamasutra positions no one was going to know.

When Sunday rolled around, Wooyoung was nothing but a gentleman to you. He made sure to carry your bags or help get the large group of 20 people to quiet down enough to listen. It was like he was trying to somehow stay on your good side. It had you relax enough to not think of this type of trip of anything business, just a group of people trying to understand each other at the end of the day.

His conversation light on the bus to the resort that was agreed upon, having you laugh, choosing dumb driving games to pass the time there. It was nice to see both departments playing The Movie Game or even having acapella showdowns. 

It was pretty nice. Even when they got to their destination to see their sleeping arrangement, he didn’t bring it up. Well… If he wasn’t going to say anything you would pretend like nothing went on. Wooyoung and yourself had one cabin, then there was 5 to the large cabins in the surrounding area. 

“Okay guys! We’re going to make you all pull colored sticks -- Whatever color you get we’ll throw a number and that’s the cabin. No switching at all and I mean it!” Wooyoung said above all the groans and whining.

“But you two get your own that’s not fair!” his friend, Mingi exclaimed.

San moved up with a giant pout on his lips. He knew you were sorta weak for them anyways. “Yea why don’t you guys have to do the popsicle thing too!”

You pinched his cheeks playfully, yet your voice was slightly stern. “Because Wooyoung and I made the decision to do this. We’re supposed to have fun but we are also supposed to make sure you guys stop trying to destroy each other’s job.” 

“Regardless of what happens do know you guys are still getting the normal pay that you would if you did work. So no need to worry about that.” Wooyoung assured them at your side.

Everyone seemed to relax more at that before they got the sticks to be roomed. Once it was fixed and you sent each group on to their merry way Wooyoung hip-checked you to get your attention.

“So roomie shall we get our little cabin together?” he was twirling the room key as he asked. He stuck his arm out afterward with a little wink.

“Aah… I guess roomie. It shouldn’t be so bad~.” you sang, sauntering off towards the destination. 

The rooms were beside each other, pretty spacious from everything of the bathroom to the living room and open floor kitchen. Covered in soft colors you would think it was more of someone's house than that of a resort. Both of you moved things into the respective rooms to set up, heading to sleep since it was pretty late for the first day.

“Night Woo!” you sang to the wall, getting comfortable into your bed.

“Night. Sleep well~” he sang back.

There was more shuffling on his side before you succumbed to sleeping, tomorrow’s worries for the you of tomorrow.

As the week progressed, to you it seemed as if your coworkers were actually getting along with each other. Besides the standard disagreement or someone getting into their feelings, it wasn’t so bad. You got to know Wooyoung’s team more so as you helped them when you explained why your promotions team needs their hand in hand cooperation when asked of them. Just a simple “Everyone on the same page makes things run smoother.”

You also got to know Wooyoung more so in his work environment. He made sure to repeat anything that someone needed help with, ready with a playful remark if someone would call him out on being wrong. He even entertained everyone with a little dance if someone got a question right.

He was so fucking cute you could honestly get cavities right now.

When everything was done you all would head back to either the cabins or the entertainment on the property to set up. Sometimes you had a few of your teammates, like Dahyun or even Jessi who would take you out to see all that the full resort had to offer. Drink or flirt a bit with the other distant company people who used the other spaces. 

Mingi catching you out late for talks and jokes before San would join, all of you guys laughing till your stomachs hurt. Maybe stay up later than normal around a little fire looking at the stars.

Other times it was just you and Wooyoung laughing about on the walking trail or sharing snacks with some dumb reality tv show. When you would cook he’d try to be helpful, making sure nothing was too far or too hard to reach. It was really sweet, learning more about him. From the favorite foods or movies-- learning about his whole squad of friends are apart of the company. (He didn’t tell them that he personally knew them for years, just of their working together) Mingi and San being his department while the oldest one, Seonghwa, being apart of your team. 4 other members were spread out in the other departments.

Being so domestic so quickly like it was second nature to both of you.

He even made sure to knock before trying to enter into your space or making sure everything was alright before doing something that he would consider uncomfortable for you. (“Hey I’m gonna come out shirtless!” “Okay that’s fine!” “Don’t look!” “Why cause you got cute nips or something?”) When you asked him about it, he just smiles cutely to tell you it’s to make sure you were dressed or that if you brought anyone in while he was in the shower, all parties would know.

Sometimes Wooyoung would forget of course. You would sneak glances at him every now and then; wet and soft from the shower. His body a touch pink from the hot water with his bottoms hanging off his hips.

“Like what you see~?” he’d whisper over to you when he caught you looking. 

“It’s here for show so I might as well enjoy it huh?”

“Then I deserve one too right? You are very beautiful.” He told you one time when he was drying his hair and he looked at you expectantly. Even when you flushed hard from the statement, shoving him playfully and whining, he just ruffled your hair up.

You two got comfortable enough that you would be cooking in your pjs just after a shower. Where you wouldn’t be fully dry and the clothes would stick to your frame just a bit more. He never made comments but you felt eyes on you more so than not. 

“What am I going to do once we leave here? I’m not going to have your cooking anymore~,” he lamented over the ribs he ate.

You scrunched your nose at his messy eating, even as you were thinking that he looked like a little chipmunk with his mouth full. “Well, we can always hang out after this you know. Or I can just bring food to the job?” you offered.

“Mmm…” he trailed off as he finished chewing-- eyes focusing back on you sharp and serious, “Rather just hang out with you. Then I don’t have to share at all.”

His tone was playful when he said it, but his eyes told you a whole different story. It wasn’t something you saw directed at you so it kind of made you a bit hot under the collar of your pajamas.

“I like sharing though~. It’s okay you’ll just need to work for that huh?” you giggled in the same breath to reach over and clean his face with your thumb.

You sat back without care, cleaning your hands to resume eating but Wooyoung was sort of stuck in his thoughts. Seeing you eat so cutely after doing something like that without warning had his heart rushing. Blinking back into the present he finally responded with a,

“I’ll work for it. Don’t you worry.”

The light-haired male sounded cocky, in turn, you shrugging your shoulders to continue eating.

“We’ll see about that.”

Sometimes… Mingi and San were your main trouble makers from Wooyoung’s team who continued to push your buttons when you were just trying to be informative. Mostly making you come over and show them easy steps in the program that you guys utilize to get any updates. Hands-on enough that they start to look flustered as well when you press up against them, voice soft with a bit of an edge cause your patience was running thin.

Maybe you were teasing them. No one’s gonna notice since everyone should be focused on their work anyways right? San’s face flushing harder than usual though this time. He seemed almost shy with you, whispering “Oh okay I get it now.”

Wooyoung stood off to the side of one of your workers, clenching his teeth at the scene. Trying to figure out what was going on between you three right now.

When you turned to him and gave a thumbs-up, he scoffed and focused on his work at hand with helping. You were confused at his antics but shrugged-- He’ll talk to you if something serious was going on. He was probably just pissed about something.

Later on in the day everyone seemed to be doing better now when they got paired up to work on a small project together. Quiet laughter or a little flirting here and there happened.

You moved over to Wooyoung who stood against the wall silently, murmuring “You alright..?” “‘M fine.” He gritted out, gripping his arms tight before letting them fall to the side. His brows were still pushed together in a slight frown, purple locks of hair sort of sticking to his forehead. You reached out to move them out of the way to smooth the wrinkles from his face.

“You’re not but I won’t pry. Just relax your face hun, you’ll have your face stuck like that~” you playfully jeered and bumped shoulders.

He seemed to freeze a bit before relaxing, giving you a quirk of a smile that you couldn’t help but be extra over.

A faux gasp and a coo came from you. “Aw see? You turned that frown upside down~ Good boy!”

He choked on seemingly nothing before pushing away from the wall. “Shut up dork. Let’s finish, got an announcement for everyone.” “Not even a dork!”

A call of your name distracted you both for a moment before you looked at him seriously.

“But you’ll tell me if somethings wrong right? I won’t judge you or anything, Wooyoung.”

He gave you a look that said something that you couldn’t quite understand. He nodded, making a face when Mingi came over and dragged you away in excited chatter.

“I heard there’s a dance tonight! San and I are going to take you as our date~”

“Hey how did you hear about that!” Wooyoung’s voice screamed across the area.

Both of you giggled, gossiping about what to do as well as what to wear for later that night. Both unaware of the slightly angry look Wooyoung gave to your backs.

You’ve been added to the group chat: Date night!

+1 [177] minglepringle Hope you’re ready~ Me and san will be over there soon~!

+1 [392] sanscript I look better than Mingi just letting you know.

+1 [177] minglepringle We’ll see about that.

+1 [873] me Boys I bet you both look dashing. Stop fighting I’m TRYING to finish getting dressed! Or I’m dumping both of you!

Your mind was too busy giggling at their antics in the text messages. Their playful banter and whining that you got used to over getting close with them, you enjoyed seeing it as much as you have. You also think that they may be fucking but that’s on a whole other note. So immersed into everything that you missed Wooyoung’s warning of checking in that his loud gasp had you turning quick. 

There he stood, so fucking beautiful in his all-white suit with his hair fluffed up fully around his head, the middle-parted style that fit his look too well if anyone asked you. His eyes were rimmed in light brown eyeliner; a thin diamond choker on with a pair of earrings that added to the overall expensive look. Your eyes couldn’t help but follow down the expanse of his neck to the peak of collarbone winking at you from behind the open plackets of his black shirt. It was tucked into his pants to showcase the little waist and his pants clung to thick thighs and calves. 

“Holy fuck Woo…” 

Your eyes trailed back up his form with no shame as you damn near undress him mentally. Shouldn’t do that given you guys work together but what the job doesn’t know won’t hurt anyone.

“You look... Really good.” You finally finished when you gathered yourself together, looking up to meet his eyes. They were slightly hazy and far off before they focused on you. His jaw set when he walked farther into the room.

“Thank you. I’d say the same for you though. Is that all you’re going to wear darling~?” he asked in such a soft candied voice that you got whiplash from the change of his tone, “Just a bralette and boy shorts? Think the boys would like that a lot hm? Seeing their stern supervisor looking all pretty like that.”

You sucked in a quick breath, feeling your nipples harden against the cloth at attention from his voice. Even your heartbeat began to pick up when you realized he was watching your body respond to his voice, a smirk on his features. The thought of covering yourself up shyly was the last thing on your mind as you shakily exhaled.

“Not at all,” voice in a whisper as you grab your dress to slowly slip on in front of his eyes. 

“I was just caught off guard, Wooyoung.” you kept the same tone as he tilted his head. 

Probably taking in your figure now that it was covered back up in the peach shade maxi wrap dress, long enough to brush against the floor with the slit high enough to show your legs. White liner with darkened lashes with a smudge of brown shadow with nude glossed lips was the choice of makeup.

You added a pair of brown studs into your ears as you bit your lip, giving him a slow twirl so your dress could float around you. Stopping, you asked softly, “Well? How do I look now?”

Wooyoung stepped closer to run the back of his knuckles against your cheek, opening his mouth to say something but it was interrupted by a knock on the main door from two excited voices.

“We’re here to pick you up~!”

“Move Woo stop hogging our date!”

It broke whatever air wrapped around you two that you put on your boots and felt your face heating up quickly.

You didn’t know what to say as he still stood there, looking at you with so many emotions that you felt hot yet again.

“I gotta go Wooyoung…”

He sighed and backed up, his playful air back around him “Save me a dance would you?”

You booped his nose and nodded, giving a bashful smile before leaving to San and Mingi’s insistent whining. You couldn’t really process what was going on but at this point, it didn’t matter; two gorgeous men were your date for tonight and you decided you were going to have fun.

Which you were having. The guys made you three take so many pictures you were sure there was a whole album dedicated to it now. Lots of solo shots of you making funny faces or doing runway poses that you made them do tenfold. (”Can’t wait to use this cute one as blackmail” “You wouldn’t dare!” “Oh doll, you will learn real quick I’m vindictive.” “That’s kinda hot...” Choking sound here somewhere. “Mingi plEASE”)

They layered on the compliments thick to get you to giggle or shove at them on the way there, even when they were the equivalent of models on the fashion runway themselves. Each male held the door open to the pavilion to you before all three of you walked in with each other. It was gorgeously colored with a stage where the DJ was switching up his songs in front of the large dance floor littered with people. Surrounding it were the tables that already had forgotten drinks or people’s belongings there, or just people not really dancing just relaxing with food on their plates.

The music was everything from every genre you could think of that you could sing or dance to, open bar and buffet that you won’t admit you visited more times than you’d admit. It was only to keep your mind off your roommate but it wasn’t helping when your eyes would drift over to him from your peripherals, catching him drinking at the bar or laughing loudly at something someone said. 

Fuck it. You can get lost in the dancing since you felt a little looser from the alcohol thrumming in your system. Dahyun and Jessi off doing lord knows what with whatever guys they suckered into doing their bidding for the night.

“Mingi come here! I lost you somehow and you’re supposed to be dancing with me,” you whined loudly while pulling him close and grinding on him before dropping it low to your knees.

He laughed around a whispered “holy shit” as he followed your dancing, his big hands pulling you back up to roll and dance on him again. Songs passed with the two of you sharing another drink before San joined to sandwich you in. It gathered a crowd when you three started dancing raunchier with a couple of other people. Especially with the way the two males really had you going because of their wandering hands and smoldering gazes. When you were gyrating really hard on San, he gripped your hips before trying to tickle your sides.

“You’re such a tease~. We’re definitely going clubbing when we get back to the city.” San whispered in your ear, holding up a finger sandwich to feed you.

You turned to blow a kiss at him before eating the offered food. “I would love that! I’ll go get some water and some food. I don’t wanna eat everything you’re feeding me~.”

Both nodded at you when told them you’ll take a break since you were so sweaty and out of breath from all the dancing, happily giving each of them a small peck on the cheek. You laughed at some of the comments of surprise that you got as you made your way to the bar.

Yea no one’s seen you dance like that but again you all were here to have fun right? It’s bound to happen sometime so at the end of it all, it was something dumb to think or fret over. None of them were CEO’s or anything (well you couldn’t say that for the other people at the resort, but they don’t know you.)

Yet before you could make it there you were stopped by an unfamiliar male stepping into your space.

“I’m sorry but I’m trying to get somewhere so if you could just..Move out the way please that would be great.” 

“I just wanted to tell you that your dancing out there was really sexy,” the male stated, moving into your space with an open look on his face. You didn’t really respond but you were guessing your nonresponse was a good cue to him.

“Maybe if you like for me to get you drinks we can get to know each other. Or just let off some steam, if you know what I mean.”

You stepped around him, shaking your head. “Sorry but it’s not what I’m looking for now excuse me--”

He takes a grip at your hand, tight that he had to have heard you snarling. “So you’ll dance like a slut for those two guys but you won’t even give me a look? Especially when I look better than them both?”

You bristled at the comment of him talking about Mingi and San like that, turning around to give him a piece of your mind when Seonghwa steps up to you with Wooyoung in tow.

“It seems like she doesn’t want to deal with you sir,” Seonghwa’s voice was firm, gripping his upper arm tight enough that the guy yelped and let go.

Wooyoung makes sure to stop you from clocking the guy by putting his hand onto your lower back. It was a nice touch but it didn’t calm you down at all.

“This has nothing to do with you--”

“Assholes who think their hot shit? Overcompensating too? Guys like you aren’t the ones I go for.” you spat quickly,  “Fuck with me again, or any of my people and you’ll be trying to find the best doctor in town to stitch your dick back on to yourself.” Angrily you stared him down, allowing Wooyoung to tug you away from the asshole and off to a quiet room.

Once the door was locked, he watched as you paced back and forth for a few minutes. He was even calm as you blew up.

“The nerve of that dickwad! The way I dance has nothing to do with who’s allowed to talk to me or not! Literally has no correlation.”

Wooyoung stood by the door and listened as you ranted, sipping on his drink.

“Lucky I didn’t fuck him up. I look too good to be brawlin today. He even had the nerve to talk about Mingi and San? He really fucking lucky--”

“You really fucking do and it’s driving me insane,” Wooyoung growled from behind you, having you jump from how close he was. “You look like a goddess reincarnated and I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

“Wooyou-” you began as your body responded to his closeness again. 

He slowly pressed his body against yours, unashamed at the loud gasp you gave him because of his clothed dick hitting your hip.

“See?” the male whispered, looking up into your eyes, “Being so carefree from judgment, dancing how you want. Singing loudly and having a good time regardless of who is around; gorgeous. You made sure to include everyone that was close to dance or sing because you wanted to enjoy this party.”

You really didn’t know where he was going with this but you heaved a shaky inhale when you caught him looking at your lips. 

“It just made me like you a hella lot more… Sweaty, hooded eyes were so enticing. Then when you handled yourself with that guy back there, you got so protective and serious…” he trailed off, his dick twitching against your hip again.

“Really wanted to get on my knees and eat you out right on that dance floor… it was so damn sexy you just don’t know what you do to me.”

An airy moan slipped past your lips from his confession, his response of holding you closer and a tad bit tighter had your nipples pebbling to hardness swiftly. Wooyoung’s hands slid down to cup your ass that you whined out his name.

“When you sent those photos… I wanted to have a quick jerk session. Had a hot moment of jealousy…” he whispered now, leaning in to brush his lips along the quickening pulse on your neck. “I wanted to mark you up like that. Have my fingerprints linger on you for days from holding you so hard. Wanted my mouth to find out all your weak spots to have you crying..”

Your arms wrapped around him as you shivered, hips canting slowly against him in the slow simmer of want.

“Wha- What stopped you then hm?” It was a breathy ask while you carded your fingers through his hair, your leg sliding up to wrap around his hip to hold on. You were feeling a bit faint.

His moan vibrated against your skin as he replied “Wanted to be a good boy for you. Said I had to work for it, remember? So I have been.”

Pulling away, you looked at him questioningly, his skin pinkening with an almost boyish shyness to it as he mumbled, “Was gonna wait for the perfect time so I could take you out to dinner then hopefully get to this point now.” Which done it in for you.

"Tell me more doll, wanna hear it." You purred sweetly, feeling him give a full-bodied shutter.

"Didn't want you thinking that I suddenly wanted to fuck because of those pictures. But I've looked at them once in a while this week, hoping I could get you like that myself."

He was suddenly picking you up impatiently to set you on the table in the middle of the room; his lips nipping at the skin he could reach right now as you whined under him.

"Shit, Wooyoung," a hard whimper left your throat and you rutted up against him. "Same. It's the same. I've been crushing on you but didn't wanna complicate things I.."

Your words died on your tongue as he trailed his hand along your body, letting you arch into the feather-light touch before he put his glass down. “Can I kiss you?”

Your arms shot up and tugged him half onto you, nipping his bottom lip hard before kissing him deeply. His mouth tasting of Malibu Sunset shots and something else you couldn't place, both of you groaning at the contact. Tugging at fabric to get to heated damp skin made you a bit desperate, given how many times you have imagined doing anything remotely sexual with him.

“Pretty baby, panting so hard and we haven’t even gotten naked yet huh? You want me that badly? Want my hands on your bare skin that much.” he taunted, pulling back from your grabby hands with a playful pout.

“You take your dress off and then I’ll be good for you to take my clothes off too.”

You sat up with a pout back to him, tone going sultry instead, “That’s unfair cause I really am. If you’re my good boy you’d let me take off your clothes for you. Maybe even let me choke on your dick. I’ve been wanting it for so long~”

You watched as Wooyoung’s dick twitched hard, seeing his hands shake to a stop before moving back towards you in a flash. Inwardly you cheered in victory, hurriedly breaking a few buttons off his shirt and shoving everything off his body. As a prize, you immediately went to sucking marks on to his skin-- feeling his groan of your name vibrate on onto your lips. 

You left lipstick marks in some places before sucking harshly on others such as his cute nipples and the lines of softly defined muscle, all the while he tried to push your dress off your shoulders. You made a show of sliding your hand into his pants and gripped his dick that was already slick. 

“Who’s wet now doll? Hm?” you moaned out high and breathless, skin prickling with goosebumps from the sudden attack of cold water droplets falling onto your chest.

“Baby, you will be soaked when I’m done with you. Come on, clothes off wanna try something.”

He was asking you in a rush which was sweet but you really wanted his dick in you someway so you relented your control this time to him. You hurriedly slid your dress off your body and moved to get onto the table before Wooyoung tugged you by your bra and kissed you hard again. He was mapping out your mouth like he wanted to remember every dip and curve of it; sloppy, messy and so fucking hot you knew you were dripping in your panties now. “This okay? Not uncomfortable?” he pulled his lips away from yours, gently pushing you back from following.

You swallowed, whimpering out a “Yea it’s fine” from his serious gaze at your face.

When you didn’t change your mind he relaxed and kissed you again. Stealing your breath and making you drool a bit making it hot and messy in the right way.

When cold, wet fingers slide down the curve of your breast your body curved to the touch happily, mind already dopey on wanting Wooyoung’s touch; on wanting anything Wooyoung could give you right now. His mouth moved down your neck, lapping and sucking just as many bruises into your skin in repayment to your own work. 

Wooyoung would cover the next stops of his lips with thin layers of alcohol to suck off your skin as if you two had all the time in the world, skipping past your aching breasts to apply more of the sweet liquid on your stomach then your thighs. He made you sit back on the table as he made a promise to his earlier statement and marked you up basically head to toe; his eyes dilating fully to the point of pitch blackness cause of the whining and mewling.

“Fuck. Just let me..” Wooyoung spluttered while grabbing his phone to take a few photos.

You were leaning back with your legs spread, fingers rubbing your clit over your soaked through panties frantic now. Honestly, you don’t know how you even made it through his markings because you couldn’t describe how much you loved it; probably looking too gone already by how he froze for just a moment. He joined you after shuffling his pants off to finally snatch your bra off to give some love to your aching breasts.

But not without adding an ice cube between his lips then sucking a nipple into the same space. The moan that bubbled out of your mouth was nothing less than dirty, making Wooyoung double his efforts. He did this to the other one as well to make your peaks harder than they ever felt. Bringing that same numbing cold heat combo onto your neck then back down, across your navel and your hip line. He skipped over your core to press his now cold lips onto the marks he left earlier, grinning at your pleas leaving your lips quickly.

“Please Woo, ngh! Please!” you cried, holding his head to your chest while he moved your panties to the side and slid two fingers in immediately. The shock of his cooling mouth and cold fingers onto your burning skin brings a pleasant hum to your body and even heavier wetness between your legs. 

You never knew how much you liked the combination.

“Need you, baby, please ‘m tired of waiting.” Your head buzzed as you slipped further into his ministrations, alternating from begging or crying out his name to scrambling for purchase on the table when he moved his body away from yours. You had to have left a few more marks in the shape of claws along his skin.

“Want my dick that bad? Kinda like how you're begging right now,” He pressed into you harder that you choked for a moment.

Why was he teasing even more now holy fuck. “Yes let me have it!. You didn’t let me suck you off like I asked earlier.”

“I’ll let you suck me off later, I’ll blow my load if you even so much as touch it.”

You whined even harder. Maybe you wanted him to dirty up your face, he keeps taking everything away from you. It was a fun back and forth game but you were truly wanting his dick like months ago.

It was distracting enough that you just registered the sounds of how wet you truly were, body experiencing harsh pulses of pleasure from Wooyoung’s fingers and the zip of chill his mouth left before he laved his tongue onto your clit. Harsh flicks of his tongue coupled with the perfect curling of those fingers you’ve also obsessed over sent you reeling. Such a move brought you hurling over the edge to your release quicker than you expected.

“Wooyoung! Holy shit!” you shouted, voice pitched higher than you’ve ever heard it, legs trembling around him as he sucked onto your clit to help you ride that high before layering wetter kisses to the inner thighs. Your head went back with another curse, feeling your body turn into a liquid state of pleasure, unable to ride out your orgasm on his fingers. When your eyes fluttered open suddenly you took in Wooyoung's features.

“God..” he breathed, looking up at you as if you were his whole universe at this point and slowing down his fingers, “you’re so fucking perfect aren’t you baby?” In your hazy state, you keened at the compliment, body curving up slow as if it was reaching for more praise. Slowly, you rotated your hips in small circles to beg for everything he could give.

“Oh? You want me to fuck you while you are just loose and pliant for me baby?” To your little happy hum, he smiled gently. Removing his fingers he made the show of licking them clean, gently taking off your panties and giving you a soft kiss for your patience. “Lemme get a wrapper and I’ll be right back. Okay my pretty baby? Be patience.”

Slurry on your high still, you stayed spread onto the table. “Hurry... Really wan’ your dick Wooyoungie. Need it.” You could feel your eyes tearing up at your denial of feeling him in you.

He tripped in his haste with the condom already on and picking you up into his arms much to your protest. You could see how little it mattered as he held you to rut up against your folds to slick himself up, kissing away your tears with a coo of your name and how precious you were crying for his dick like you were.

Little words whispered against your ear of "I got you, princess, shh" and "Fuck if we go past this I have so much planned for us, holy hell." You wrapped your legs and arms around him tight, leaning in to suck a lobe between your lips and tug, whining yet again.

“Wooyoungie, please. Wanna feel it for days.. Nothing else but your dick please." You hiccuped over a short sob, honestly too fucking horny to care at this point. "Please Woo please I’ve waited for you this whole time plea-”

When Wooyoung finally pushed into your body after making sure the condom was on, it gave way like a greeting. Your walls fluttering and kissing his dick inch by inch like it was meant to be there; so happy that you squeezed him tight and mewled loudly.

“Yess what I’ve been waitin’ for. Wan' it deep~. Make me yours~.” he cursed and started a slow pace.

Honestly, you couldn't believe how much patience he had given the circumstances. His strength on display as he brought your hips down when he fucked up into your body with a slowness that had you singing. He was so hard inside of you, hitting all the right ways when he readjusted his grip on your sweaty body, the slight curve helping to graze your g-spot when he was being nice to you. It was hurting just a tad from the build-up to overstimulation but it felt too good to stop. Clit being abused against his stomach while you arched to throw your hips back onto him to get him to quicken the pace.

You were moaning his name and nonsense when he slid home deeper into you, praising him. Mouthing out on how you crushed on him since all those years he helped you. From when you decided to let him get closer because you wanted to be in the same playing field. 

He paused mid-thrust with a tremble and a gasp, "Is that true..?"

Blinking past the tears you nodded, feeling bare to him suddenly.

His mouth worked around its sound for a moment, so focused on you that your breath stuttered on an exhale.

"Fuck... Fuck love, you don't know how much that means to me." He said, voice pitched so low it sounded like a snarl. Though the continuous pulses of his dick inside you spoke volumes.

Slowly you ran a hand through his sex mused hair and brought him close to your face, looking into his eyes, "Then please Wooyoung… Ruin me. Show me how much it means to you."

His resounding growl made your toes curl as he moved you two a few feet to the wall, pushing you hard against it now.

"My pleasure baby." He panted, "Gonna give you what you wanted since you asked so sweetly." He sealed his promise in a kiss before pulling out slowly.

The sudden snap of his hips made the surroundings turn to colorful constellations. Everything else fading to the haze past his beautiful expressions, the feeling of you two joined together, the cries and moans of each other’s name. Mind filled to the brim of Wooyoung, trying to kiss him but both of you are just sharing each other’s air now with little nips or licks here and there.

You don’t know how long he went at it but it felt like hours that he was pounding into you. You couldn’t even moan anymore, just whimper or keen or silently scream while he cursed in between punches of your name from his lips.

You both knew you were going to bruise on your hips and ass cheeks with how his grip tightened and loosened. At a particular shake, his fingers slid and pressed hard against your asshole, almost slipping in a bit from the dripping wetness from your folds and it tumbled you into your second release; so hard that you happened to squirt against him.

The wide-eyed look Wooyoung gave you when you screamed his name had him jerking his hips twice more before he came into the condom. He cried out to you in return, full-body shaking from its intensity that he leaned to kiss all over your face softly. Staying still and bringing you back down to him with kisses and murmurs against your skin. Breathy gravel tones from how spent his voice was blanketed you back down.

"I've been crushing on you too, you know."

"So gorgeous."

"I'm lucky to have such a beautiful princess."

"Come back to me love. I'm right here."

It was a few minutes before you gave him a satisfied smile, lazy in the afterglow and bright for him. 

"Mmm, you’re the best."

He took the time to pull out and maneuver the hold on to bridal style, holding you closer to his frame as he set you back on the table with a laugh.

“I must be if I made you squirt~.”

You swung at him weakly, hiding your face from him at that and you kept it there as he moved around the room. You could hear him bump into things, mumbling to himself before he found what he was looking for and moving back to you.

“Come on my pretty baby lets get you slightly cleaned up and get out of here. We can take an actual shower and cuddle together,” he whispered softly, moving your hands out of the way with the sappiest look you’ve ever seen on his face.

Not before he took another of you posing for him to show the additional fingerprint bruises on your lower half, then immediately went to cleaning you with feather touches in case you were too sensitive with the clean rag and water bottle he found in the room. You were getting sleepy under the treatment so you allowed him to do everything; fix your hair, help you back into your dress and watch him put your undergarments into his jacket and fold it up. Making every sure you two had everything you needed.

You even watched him get himself dress sluggish and tired as you were. Something about watching him get dressed was so enticing to you. Maybe it was the way his veins in his arms and hands looked… You couldn’t wait to trace them with your tongue sometime.

When Wooyoung offered to carry you back to the cabin you agreed happily, secretly enjoying his display of strength as you guys avoided the still pretty heavy partying people further down the hall.

“I owe you a dance don’t I?” you mumbled against his neck, curled tight to his chest.

“Yea you do.”

“Damn... We’re starting off our trysts with owing each other.” he laughed into your hair, kissing a free spot on your forehead. “Alright, that’s a bet.” 

You left it at that from his questioning hum. 

You both got back to the cabin without being caught by anyone who knew you two. He held on to your clinging form as you whined about showering later, you were tired and you just wanted to cuddle up to him and sleep. So much so he relented with a playful sigh and tucked both of you into his bed. He did take a makeup wipe to remove any lingering product on your face and his,

“So I can see your cute natural morning face~” with a kiss to your giggling lips.

The both of you held each other to sleep, tangled head to toe with Wooyoung being the little spoon. You’ll deal with the irritating clothes and washing in the morning you thought. You were excited to think you’ll wake up to Wooyoung beside you finally.

“I h a t e your friends Wooyoungie, I really fucking do.” you groggily said when you woke up to your phone’s reminder buzzes and took a look at the notifications.

“Mmm, why is that?”

You happened to look down at his soft sleep puffy face laying on your thigh, pouting up at you so you blew a kiss at him before showing him the messages.

+1 [177] minglepringle So.. heard you had a grand slamming of a time last night

+1 [177] minglepringle As well as seen him carry you off like a princess being saved by her prince~ So now we don’t have to worry about not seeing you for the rest of the night

+1 [392] sanscript A lot of slamming. Seems like our “Make Wooyoung jealous plan worked”!

+1 [177] minglepringle Glad you finally got that dicking you been thirsting over~  Congratulations! +1 [177] minglepringle DON’T EXPOSE US YOU ASSA LSDKJFLSJGSDJF--

+1 [392] sanscript Don’t forget to call us next time so we can hear better~! We’re friends now your supervisor status means nothing now!! (:< Besides you completely dipped on us and we would have asked you for a threesome but Wooyoung beat us out-- +1 [177] minglepringle sAN OH MY FUCKING LORD STFU +1 [392] sanscript What they gonna do? Beat us?

Then an extra one from an unsaved number,

+1 [524] Unkown As much as I love that you two resolved your heavy sexual tension can I get a raise for having to hear your horny asses going at it like rabbits and dealing with the Minsan duo? Thanks, boss. -Seonghwa

Wooyoung laughed hard, screeching about his embarrassment at his friends and how he was going to beat their asses. He was ranting, fumbling for his phone to give him a piece of their mind but you just watched him being animated. Still a bit sleepy, the marks dark against his skin while his eyes caught the light just right to sparkle slightly. Even when he was squeaking into the phone’s receiver at Mingi, San, and Seonghwa, you couldn’t help the happiness you felt at the turn of events.

Wonder what your friends will say once you tell them everything that happened. That would be for another day, you think as you stroke Wooyoung’s face and trace the features. He doesn’t stop talking but he does look at you with a sappy smile, wiggling and making kissy faces at you.

This was something you could really get used to.

[silviartemis]

Okay so, here's a part 2 (kinda) of this other thing

It's not necessary to have read it but since it's really short I'd suggest giving it a go.

This is Ralbert, non explicitly romantic but you could read it as such. It's been a year since Race's little Refuge vacation and Albert's a little overprotective.

*

"please put me down it's just a sprained ankle"

"Nuh uh"

"Aaaaaaaaaaalbert put me down!"

Albert did not put him down. He adjusted his grip around Race's calves and kept walking the few blocks towards the Lodge with him sprawled on top of his shoulder.

"If I put you down you's just gonna put your whole weight on it jus' to prove me wrong"

"Wouldn't!"

"Yes you would"

"... maybe. But I promise I won't! Listen I can't let the other kids see me like this Al! They need ta respect me!"

A series of images rapidly flashed behind Albert's eyes.

Race tripping on his feet and falling face first into a puddle.

Race hanging upside down from the top bunk.

Race covered in bread crumbs and chased by a flock of geese.

"Yeah I don't think that's gonna be a problem"

"Oh c'mon I don't need ta be carried around like a doll! I can walk damn well myself"

Another memory popped up, one that Albert would have rather forgotten but never seemed to fade, no matter how much time had passed. A memory that left him tense and on edge, like his whole world was riding on his shoulders.

He grew quiet.

"Al?"

"Albert?"

"For God's sake Alb..."

"I don't like it when yer hurt"

"Yeah no shit I don't like it either! But I'm fine, I promise... "

It had been almost a year since Race had gotten out of his first and hopefully only stay at the Refuge. A lot of stuff had happened in that year, both good and bad. Many older newsies had left and others had taken their place. Jack had come back and was on his way to become their new leader, with Race preparing to step in as his second in command. Albert still lived with his father but most of his time was spent at the Lodge with his friends, keeping the little ones in check and occasionally teaming up with other kids (most notably Race and Romeo) to drive Jack and the others mad with some prank.

All in all, things had been smooth sailing for a while.

Of course, one does not simply forget an experience like a whole winter in the refuge, but Racetrack Higgins was doing his very best to pretend it didn't ever happen, please and thank you. He never talked about it, never thought about it and if he occasionally skipped sleeping all together cause he couldn't bear to close his eyes for fear of never opening them again, well nobody needed to know. This plan worked fairly well most of the time, but there were certain factors that could disturb it significantly.

Namely, Albert.

The both of them took care of one another, that's how it had always been, but since the Refuge the redhead protectiveness had taken a brooding edge that hadn't been there before. Whenever Race got hurt, he'd make sure his friend was okay, throw a couple punches where necessary, and then spend the rest of the day checking on him like he was waiting for the blonde to break in a million little pieces.

That was very counterproductive, in Race's opinion. How could he pretend nothing ever happened if his friend kept trying to remind him? He was growing restless.

Though his voice sounded light and airy as usual, Albert was tense, his grip on Race tight.

"Just wanna make sure we get to the Lodge without you gettin' even more hurt, that's all"

"...yes, I know that. And I know you want to do that cause ya care about me or whatever... But I swear to God if ya don't put me down right this moment I'm gonna start moving so bad yer gonna drop me and I thinks you'd rather avoid that uh?"

"You ain't playing fair Higgins, I'd throw you on the ground myself if ya wasn't injured already..."

"But I am and you're not gonna do that cause ya love me too much ain't I right, DaSilva?"

"...go to Hell".

"Yeah, you know what? they call it the Refuge nowadays, been there done that, wouldn't recommend, but I got out almost a year ago so would you please, pleeaaase stop treating me like I'm made of glass!?"

As soon as this words left his mouth, Race knew something was off.

Albert stopped abruptly. He carefully put his friend down and turned to face him.

His eyes, locked in his Race's, were set in a hard stare, but the corner of his mouth trembled lightly. He just stood there for a little while, trying to find the voice his best friend just knocked out of him.

"It was my fault"

"What...?"

"That you got taken. By the bulls. I ran. Should've stayed with you. Don't want it to happen again."

With a shrug, he averted his eyes.

Race was petrified. He didn't understand. Albert was the one who took care of him. The one who held him when he dared let himself cry. The one who followed him around for a whole month selling the last papes he was too tired to sell. He was the one that supported him all along the way, the one that helped him find the strength to start feeling alright again.

"What the hell? Of course you ran Al or they would've caught ya too, they was damn fast! Have... Have you been blaming yourself this whole time?"

Race's hands gently cupped his friend's face, turning it towards him, but Albert still refused to meet his eyes.

"I thought you would die. I was scared."

"Albert, look at me."

When his watery eyes finally met his friend's blue ones, Race was softly smiling. In his eyes a silent plea for Albert to understand all the things he didn't know how to say.

"I was scared too. Fuck I am still. So damn scared. And I thought I could jus' forget about it but I can't and sometimes it drives me crazy. But... I know I'm safe now. I'm okay. When I saw ya comin' ta get me...I knew I'd be alright. You took good care of me. You always do. 's thanks to you if I'm alive. Okay?"

Albert took in a shuddering breath. He couldn't really believe what his friend was telling him, couldn't shake the feeling he should've done more, should've been right by his side all those months in the Refuge. Race had been suffering alone for most of it and Albert couldn't forgive himself for letting that happen. But Race didn't blame him. Race told him he did good. He took care of him. And that's all Albert needed to hear.

"...okay"

"Good. Now..." Race swiftly and as gracefully as he could hopping on one leg, flung himself on Albert's back, locking his scrawny arms around his neck "... To the Lodge, my noble steed!"

"... You're unbelievable."

[propertyofnikkisthighs]

Afraid Ch. 5

1988

Bob Rock was a genius. After the first few recording sessions ended with nothing recorded and Nikki, Tommy, and Vince just fighting with each other; he had wised up and made the decision to have the boys all record their parts separate from each other. I thought I was going to have to try to book the first flight home after the second day of Nikki and Vince screaming in each other’s faces one calling the other a diva. Not only were both of them divas, they were both assholes with huge rock and roll egos that couldn’t stand to have another big ego in the room. Mick had become my cigarette buddy when the yelling got to be too much for us. The arguing between Nikki and Vince was so bad Tommy would even leave to join us with the occasional joint to relieve our tension. I tried to only smoke the cigarettes, but Tommy was right, sometimes you just need a few puffs on a joint to deal with those two. I loved working with Bob Rock though, he was meticulous and loved to get to the point. We were working on getting Nikki’s bassline down for the song Kickstart My Heart when Bob called for a break.

“Alright let’s take a breather to eat some food or I may go crazy” He said stretching after getting out of his chair behind the board.

“I’m cool with that I was just thinking about sandwiches” I laughed stretching as well. I stuffed my cigarette pack in the pocket of my leather jacket and headed out to find something to eat.

“Hey wait up!” Nikki hollered after me. The entire week and a half we had been here he had been trying to spend as much time with me as he possibly could. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the company. He was trying to push “us being friends” so hard he even joined me for popcorn and movies in my hotel room one night.

“Did you ever think maybe I am a little over seeing your face Nikki?” I rolled my eyes, not because I was actually annoyed with him, I was annoyed with myself for not being annoyed with him.

“You really hurt me sometimes ya know that (y/n)” Nikki pouted his lower lip out at me which caused my lips to curl up into a smile.

“Your ego is too large for my little opinion to have any effect on you” I snickered, but was cut off by running into Nikki who had stepped in front of me. I looked up into his hazel eyes as he looked down at me cupping my cheek in his hand.

“Your opinion of me actually means the most to me out of anyone here” He said quietly and I drew in a quick gasp of breath. His mouth transformed into a smirk and he pinched my cheek lightly. “Wow (y/n) I didn’t realize you were so good at impersonating a tomato”

“God dammit Nikki Sixx” I scowled reaching up and pinching one of his nipples through his shirt (or ripped up cloth on his torso rather than an actual shirt) causing him to yipe a little bit.

“You know you can’t just twist my nipples all the time without taking me to dinner at least once” Nikki teased throwing an arm around my shoulder.

“Nikki we eat dinner together basically every night because you’re always coming to my hotel room to bother me” I hadn’t noticed I was now allowing Nikki to lead me and we were just walking down the road of the small town the studio was located.

“Those don’t count as dates and I want a date” Nikki said matter of factly.

“It’s not a good idea to mix business and pleasure” I poked him in the ribs lightly trying to sneak a peek at his face in order to see if he seemed to be joking.

“This would be mixing pleasure and pleasure. Music gives me pleasure and clearly it does the same for you. And we can pleasure each other” He shrugged nonchalantly, but his face held a shit eating grin.

“You’re ridiculous” I shook my head as he led me into some time sandwich shop on the corner. I tried not to think about how many butterflies were floating around my abdomen at the thought of a date with Nikki.

I yawned and leaned my head onto my upright palm closing my eyes as Bob and I relistened to the same section of the song getting Nikki and Mick’s parts together on (my personal favorite song) Don’t Go Away Mad. 

“(Y/N), just go to bed” Bob shook my shoulder.

“Helping you is my job though” I grumbled.

“So that means I’m your boss and I’m saying go to bed” He chuckled and I decided I wasn’t going to push it and went to go call a taxi on the payphone when I was confronted with Nikki on a motorcycle outside.

“What are you doing here Sixx?” I quirked an eyebrow making my way to him.

“We’re going on a date” He replied and patted the back of his seat.

“It’s midnight. No place is open for a date” I wasn’t about to go to a bar for a date if that was what he had in mind.

“Will you just hush and get on the bike?” He laughed shaking his head.

I figured I had nothing to lose by climbing on his bike so I got on behind him and put my hands on his shoulders.

“You’re ridiculous.” Nikki shook his head and moved my arms to wrap around his waist. “Hold on tight”

Next thing I knew we were peeling out of the parking lot of the studio and headed down the road. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my face into Nikki’s back allowing myself to indulge a little bit. I pressed my hands against his abdomen feeling his abs underneath my fingertips and allowed myself to picture dragging my nails down his torso having him shiver beneath me. I took a deep breath and enjoying the scent of leather, cigarettes, and the smallest hint of cologne. Before I knew it we were pulling into the parking lot of the hotel.

“Uh are we changing before the date?” I asked confused.

“No the date is here.” Nikki replied getting the bike settled and shutting it off.

“The date is at the hotel that we’re already staying at and eat at every day?” I couldn’t tell if Nikki was just fucking with me or if he was actually that lazy.

“Stop talking” Nikki grabbed my hand dragging me into the elevator pressing the number for our floor.

When we got to the floor our rooms were on Nikki pulled his scarf off his neck and covered my eyes with it. Giggling as he continued to lead me to our secret destination I squeezed his hand and felt him squeeze back. We stopped and I heard Nikki opening a door before he’s ushering me inside the room.

“Okay you can take the scarf off.” He said and I untied the scarf from my head. I was met with a pizza on the bed, some candles, and two bottles of water with a bottle of wine in a bowl with ice.

“Nikki.. This is beautiful” My jaw is practically on the floor. It wasn’t a lot, and yet it was more than she’s recieved in a long time.

“Well get comfy and I’ll put in that movie you’ve been talking about” Nikki nudged me toward the bed.

“Child’s Play?” I asked excitedly taking my jacket and shoes off before climbing on the bed.

“Yup” Nikki smiled devilishly and put the tape in the player.

I had my face pressed into Nikki’s shoulder. I officially had a fear of dolls now I think. Nikki was running a hand through my hair and laughing at me on and off every time I squealed and I tried to tell myself that me being curled in his lap was purely out of fear and not because I’ve been dreaming of being tangled up in him.

“The movie is over you big baby.” Nikki lightly removed me from his lap and shut the T.V. off.

“Listen, dolls are ruined for me forever.” I shivered nervously.

“I’ll be sure to get you a doll for Christmas then” I tossed a pillow at him and he slapped it out of the air laughing at me again.

“Fuck you Nikki if you get me a doll I will fight you.” I tried to come off as tough, but it’s hard to seem badass when you feel like a Barbie could make you cry.

“Oh whatever. I’m going to go to bed so I’ll see you in the morning.” Nikki started to head toward the door to my room.

“Wait!” My mouth spoke on it’s own volition. “Please stay with me. Uh, I’m scared”

“Where would I sleep? The floor isn’t comfortable” Nikki was looking at me funny and a lump formed in my throat.

“In the bed..with, with me.” I spoke quietly.

“Okay.” Nikki smiled and made his way to the bed. “Am I okay to take these off? Sleeping in leather pants isn’t comfortable.”

“I’m not going to sleep in my leather pants so I’m not going to make you sleep in yours.” I was up unlacing my leather pants at the same time he was and we made eye contact. I spun around unable to maintain eye contact without turning bright red. I unclasped my bra and slid it off my shoulders and tossed it to the side on top of my pants and settled into the bed. Nikki settled into the other side and an awkward silence filled the room.

“Okay well goodnight.” I choked out and shut the light off on the nightstand. I layed there staring at the ceiling while my eyes adjusted to the dark. I could see the form of Nikki laying next to me also on his back staring up. There was a loud bang outside the window and I quickly tucked myself into Nikki’s side.

“(Y/N) it was just thunder” Nikki turned onto his side wrapping me up in his arms. I could see the outline of his features and I couldn’t help but reach out to touch his face.

“You make me nervous” I let the words I’m thinking slip out between my lips.

“You make me excited” Nikki whispered back.

“I want to mix business and pleasure with you” I started to close the distance between us when Nikki put a hand on my chest and stopped me.

“You know I come with some baggage.” Nikki sighed “I’ve never been able to make a relationship work before.”

“Nikki we met in rehab shut up and kiss me before I change my mind.” And with that Nikki tangled his hand in my hair bringing our lips together. I had been picturing what Nikki’s lips on mine would feel like since the first time he pouted at me and I could not have properly imagined the way he would make me feel. I brought my hand to his chest and balled his shirt in my fist pulling him closer to me. Nikki tugged my hair and pulled our faces apart in order to catch our breath before he connected our mouths again. I moaned into his mouth and well, the next thing I knew my hands were pinned above my head.

[anathtsurugi]

All right, my fellow chickadees, a lot has been going on in the world of Anath Tsurugi. Much more than computer breakdowns and the allure of a shiny new fandom. While I don't imagine those of you who've recently started following me for my Good Omens content expected anything like this, I feel like those of you who have been with me for Star Wars and Red vs. Blue and longer might want to know some of this. Might want to know some of the things that have gone into the recent chapters of my work. I just feel like, maybe, I owe you all some sort of explanation?

No. That's wrong. I know I don't owe anybody anything. I suppose I just want to get it out into the world, get my thoughts in order, as it were. It doesn't matter so terribly much if nobody reads it; it will be a lot to take in. Mostly, I just want to tell you all a story. Because telling stories is how I cope, how I interact with reality. My need in all of this is to try and create something beautiful out of something that was painful.

So...would you mind if I told you a story?

As most things are with me, this is a story about love, about love and friendship and heartbreak and family and resilience. At the end, though, it's nothing more and nothing less than a story about love.

As some of you may have heard or picked up on, my wife and I have been attempting to have a baby. At this point, it's been roughly a year since the process began (financing, insurance coverage, choosing a donor, etc.). The first attempt didn't take, but the second one did. My wife got pregnant and we were both suddenly anxious/excited/hellafuckingnervous parents to be.

As honesty is the name of the game tonight, I would have to say that 'The Colder the Winter, the Warmer the Spring' has largely been fueled by my own anxieties over becoming a parent. Like...am I good enough to properly raise another human being? What human in their right mind would even give me the chance? What is it possible for someone as emotionally stunted as I am to give to a child? Is the love between my wife and I strong enough to do for a little one in a world that will already be against them merely for the crime of being born to two women?

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, I imagine you'll have seen a lot of this in my telling of the story of Zeb, Alex, and little Arkalia, and will probably see it more now that you know it's there. But really, that seems to have happened with a lot of the major storytelling undertakings in my life. The 400K Sleeping Beauty epic I wrote for the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle fandom was fueled almost exclusively by my pining for my then roommate, now wife. The MCU and Red vs. Blue verses I crafted sprang up around the planning of our wedding. I suppose this was just the natural next step, for us and for my craft. If you see genuine terror in my writing of Zeb's and Alex's fears over not being good enough parental figures for Ari, that is why. This is my way to ask and to hopefully deal with the answers to these questions.

So things were going well on planet Earth, or at least they were in our little corner of it. First trimester was plugging along. We were dreaming up names and having conversations about how we wanted to parent. I was going ugly early on the whole 'wait on your wife hand and foot' thing and upping my nutritional game in the kitchen. We were designing a Miyazaki nursery of epic geekdom and talking about how we'd be covered on all bases, since she's such a huge Harry Potter fan and I'm nothing if not an uber Star Wars nerd. I was learning she considered me a more fit parent (which makes zero sense to me, given that she's the one with a decent head on her shoulders, whereas me? I'm just a dreamer, and sometimes it seems that's all I'll ever be, but...yeah, that's a conversation for another time), but the point is that it was all fine. Sure it was nerve-wracking, but we'd figure it out somehow, just like we did everything else. It was what we wanted. We were in it together.

Then we got back the results from the genetic testing the doctor's office advised we have done.

And oh, no. No, it wasn't fine at all.

Trisomy 18.

I had never heard of Trisomy 18 before we got those results. I suppose Trisomy 21 is the one you hear about because it's actually survivable. With Trisomy 18, the 5% of babies who aren't stillborn largely don't make it past the first year. It was not, they informed us, an infallible diagnosis. They would schedule us an ultrasound to be certain, but the numbers were not in our favor.

We didn't talk to anyone but each other that week, not really certain how we wanted to handle things until we knew more. Some of the extended family is fairly religious and conservative and we just didn't need that bullshit on top of everything else. We didn't need other opinions. It was our decision, and the conclusion we came to was that if the diagnosis was truly that bleak, then we would terminate the pregnancy before things got out of hand...before continuing would bring harm to my wife or suffering to either her or the baby. At that point, it becomes a question of 'Do you love your child enough to take the decision onto yourself, even though it will break your heart? Do you love them enough not to force them to suffer for someone else's misguided notion of what is and is not life?'

I didn't consider much during that week the effect all of this was having on me. I told myself I had accepted and was prepared to move forward should the worst happen. My concern was largely for my wife and what she was going through. She was, after all, the one who'd been experiencing it all. We were barely out of the first trimester and she wasn't showing yet. So far as I knew, we hadn't reached the point of quickening. It was all still distinctly her experience. If I hoped for a miracle, it was for her sake, not my own. I thought, 'I can take it. I'm tough. Put the world on my shoulders and I'll carry it for you. I would give everything I am to take your pain from you.'

I am, as I mentioned earlier, very emotionally stunted. I know it was far from their intention, but the impression I received from my own parents growing up was that my thoughts and my feelings on any given matter were not particularly important. Oh, I was consulted, certainly. The veneer was there, but if the correct answer was not given, it was little better than if I'd said nothing at all. So I had long since ceased to say anything of any real value out loud. (In truth, my wife was one of the few people to make me feel that my thoughts and feelings had value, but again, that's another story.) I don't often give of myself outwardly. Trying to draw words from my throat is oftentimes comparable to trying to pull a ball of razor wire up from the pit of my stomach. Sometimes the only way I can give of myself is in writing. All the things I can't give voice to come out in my work. So I am, probably to an unhealthy degree, somewhat proud of my own stoicism. With me, it's always 'No. You don't get to break. No matter what they throw at you, you will not feel it. You will remain unharmed, unbent, and utterly unbroken.'

(Heh, shit. Writing it out like that now, I'm suddenly left wondering if that isn't the reason I'm so damn good at breaking characters. Because writing out those moments of absolute shatter are the only way I'll ever allow myself to feel them...because it isn't me breaking. But...in a way, it is. Isn't it.)

Point here being that allowing that mentality to boil beneath the surface will eventually erupt to sucker punch you in the face. That happened to me as I was leaving work to go and pick my wife up for the ultrasound. The thoughts I hadn't allowed myself to think all week suddenly started to creep in on me.

Is this...somehow my fault?

(At the level of logic, you know it's not. It's a bloody game of genetic roulette. A one in five thousand chance. But there's always the one. Somebody's always going to take the bullet.)

Was I not ready for this? Did I not want it enough?

(Ridiculous. I know what it's like to get shafted at the genetic lottery. I've been dealing with PCOS since I was 18. While the disease isn't fully understood, there is a genetic component. Saying that this was somehow either of our fault was akin to saying that my own illness was somehow my fault. Even so...even so, you can't help but ask...)

Bloody fucking hell! Did I do this? Was there something- anything I could've done to stop this?

(You know. You know you couldn't have done. But still the thought haunts you.)

I hadn't allowed myself to feel it...to cry. I don't doubt that we both hoped for their numbers to somehow be wrong, but I think we both already knew at that point that it was over, and I hadn't let myself start to grieve. So there I was, hurtling down the highway with tears pouring silently down my face.

Traffic depending, it takes anywhere from a half hour to an hour to get between the bookstore and her office, so I had time to get myself back in order. I didn't want to make this any worse for her than it already was. I know what it does to her to know I've been crying, since I do it so rarely.

(You don't get to break.)

But...well...then something happened on the way to the hospital. I had my iphone on shuffle playing the playlist I'd compiled to listen to while working on Star Wars fic, and while we were driving, our wedding song came up in the shuffle. 'Boxes' by the Goo Goo Dolls. We had our first dance to it and I sang it to her while we danced.

I need a family to drive me crazy

Call me out when I'm low and lazy

It won't be perfect, but we'll be fine

'Cause I've got your back and you've got mine

I should probably have it understood that I have 'Boxes' on all of my writing playlists. It's just the love song to me now, and as far as fic writing goes, I tend to gravitate to ships that reflect the relationship my wife and I share. Kalluzeb, KuroFai, Bagginshield, Stucky, SpiritAssassin, MaineWash, Shallura, Kanera, Klance, Sterek, Zutara, and now, of course, the Ineffable Husbands themselves. The list goes on, believe me. Every word I write for each one of my couples is my love song to her, and my experience of the love between us. If you've ever commented on the depth of love and emotion you felt when reading one of my stories, then you've felt what I've felt, and I hope I've made your world a little brighter for it. In this particular instance, though...this...our love song...if we were going to have a miracle that day, that was it. (I know. One song on one playlist, nothing particularly miraculous there. But a one in seven hundred chance during a fifteen minute drive? I was going to take what I could get.)

You are the memory that won't ever lapse

When twenty-five years have suddenly passed

Wherever you take me, it's clear I will go

Your love's the one love that I need to know

You are the sun in the desolate sky

Your life's in these words and it can't be denied

Wherever you take me, it's clear I will go

Your love's the one love that I need to know

If I hadn't been driving, I would've reached out to hold her hand then. Normally, we sing the song together when it comes on, then we play it again, maybe a third time if we're really feeling it. I couldn't sing this time, not during the first play through, anyway. I was a little too choked up. But I managed a few of the lyrics the second time through.

I don't have the words to tell you what a comfort that song was in that moment. It could've been any song on that playlist, but it just happened to be that one.

(This hurts. We're both writers, but I don't think either of us could hope to express just how much it hurts. But remember...I chose you and you chose me. You were my dearest friend and I love you more than I can ever hope to say. It hurts now. It may never not hurt, but we'll get through. We'll be fine. We'll get through it together, like we came through everything else to stand at the altar together...and how we'll come through it all again to hold a new little someone. We're here together.)

So we faced it together, got the news we were expecting. There were other tests they could've done, but neither of us saw any point to it by then. Even if it wasn't specifically Trisomy 18, it was plainly something just as bad. We made the call there, and I do want it understood that we made the decision to  terminate the pregnancy. Despite what ultimately ended up happening, I won't have that spun any other way.

So calls were made, insurances were checked out, and the procedure was scheduled. We were, unfortunately, just a touch too far outside the first trimester to safely be able to just take a pill. The abortion had to be done surgically, and my wife preferred to be put under for it, fearing she might panic if she were conscious.

And I did, of course, promise to tell you how this all started to align with the writing of the more recent chapters of TCTW, along with my beginning scraps of Good Omens fic. It began that same day, actually – the day of the ultrasound. Because I had to come home from that and write Ash's birth scene.

That wasn't all that difficult. Largely numb at that point, I didn't have much trouble writing out the dream of a happy birth. But it started to get harder a few days later when I was sitting alone in the waiting room. By then I was working on the scene where Kallus is finally able to contact Zeb after coming out of his two week coma. It wasn't even a little bit of a stretch for me to write Zeb's desperation and panic during that scene because they were my own (though I suppose I managed to spare myself a little grief writing the scene from Kallus' POV instead of Zeb's).

Another thing I ought to tell you about myself is that I'm...something of a method writer, I suppose is the term, in that I will attempt to write when I'm angry, when I'm in pain, when I'm exhausted, when I'm heartbroken, in an effort to convey the experience of these things faithfully. So, in some strange way, this was almost...familiar territory for me. To write my own feelings into the scene as it was happening. Everything came off without any trouble. The doctors came to me after it was over and told me that he'd already had no heartbeat by the time they'd begun the procedure. It was comforting in its own way. Eliminated several question marks as to whether or not we'd made the right choice. I brought my wife home once she was awake enough to be discharged, and it seemed we were pretty well on the road to recovery. But, as some of you may have already noticed, this is where we come to the part of the story where something more is lost.

My wife needed something to turn her attention to, so it seemed to us a good time to handle OS updates for my eight-year-old laptop, which was an odyssey of itself. Point being that somewhere in the middle of all this my WIP draft of that chapter was lost to the digital ether.

Everyone around me was asking why it should be so hard to rewrite the lost scene. After all, I'd written it before, hadn't I?

Yes. Yes, I had.

I had written that scene when I was alone in a hospital waiting room, heartbroken and afraid, conscious every moment for an experience my wife was blessedly able to sleep through. This was why it was so devastating to me to lose that scene. Bitter as it was, it was a piece I'd poured a large part of my heart into in a moment of despair. In its own odd way, it had been beautiful in its desolation. I had already lost something precious that day. Why did I also have to lose what I had managed to create from that anguish?

It was a moment I knew I never wanted to revisit. Nor could I ever hope to recapture the emotion of it in writing, no matter how many times I tried. I could never portray the rawness of what I'd felt in that moment. So I didn't try. The scene as it exists now is particularly disheartening to me, not because it's bad, but because it's just...not what I wrote. The scene currently in the story is hollow and has no heart. There's no truth in it. The piece of my self that I gave in that moment was lost, and I can never get it back.

So, with yet one more loss endured, I continued on. I managed to make the rest of that chapter what I wanted it to be, so I could at least be proud of that. Chapter 15 was also easy enough to handle, as it was far removed from the family and childbirth aspects of the story, simply building upon what already existed in Rebels canon. But then the time came to write chapter 16, and once again I struggled.

By its very nature, TCTW has always heavily featured pregnancy and childbirth, so there was never going to be any skirting that, but another aspect I had always planned for was Zelina experiencing the death of one of the babies she was delivering. It was always meant to be part of her character arc as a rising medic and I knew I couldn't turn away from it. My wife asked me if I could change it, but I wasn't going to do that. If I was going to change something like that, it was going to be because the story merited it, because it would benefit from such a change. It was not going to be because of my own weakness. Even so, I know I delayed writing it for as long as I feasibly could. (That was also when Good Omens started to come into the picture, but we'll unpack that in a moment.)

For all I claimed to be a method writer just a few paragraphs ago, I can tell you now that I've never had such a visceral response to a scene I was actively writing as I did that one. My fingers trembled on the keys, feeling a little weak as I moved through the words. In fact, my whole body felt weak and I had to bite down hard on my lip to keep back the feeling of nausea, everything inside of me rebelling at the notion of describing the death of this little baby. For all Zelina's experience with Akinah and her stillborn son is such a small part of the overall chapter, of the overall story, it was still the hardest thing I'd ever had to write. As with everything else, though, it seems I managed to keep this in, too, as my wife tells me none of this was outwardly visible while I was writing. I sat next to her the whole time and, apparently, the only indication I gave that anything was wrong was the fact that I was still and quiet throughout. (To give you a better standard of comparison for what she's used to, I'm normally much more expressive when I write. I'll start mouthing dialogue or testing out expressions or gestures I'm describing. I once had to explain to my brother-in-law that I was actually channeling a character when he was concerned over a horrified look I had in my eyes at the time. If I, personally, were horrified, you wouldn't know it. All you would get would be a blank slate. So of course my wife would notice something was off this time.)

It was such a little thing...such a little thing, but still it was hard. It was a relief to move on, to have death and despair conquered throughout the rest of the chapter, but even near the end of it, when Zeb is lingering over saying goodbye to Arkalia, knowing he'll have to give her up...in some small way, he speaks with my voice...saying goodbye to the son my wife and I might have had.

Of course, that particular goodbye will turn out much happier than my own did in the end. But will you be seeing me continue to deal with this a lot in future pieces? Most definitely. TCTW will continue to bear most of the emotional fulcrum (yup, little in joke there), but it's also why I've been getting into writing Good Omens fic of late. Though the theme of parenting's remained the same, it's allowed me to turn my energies toward things a little more light-hearted. This was all about the time I started piecing together my little Good Omens 'Star Wars' AU, and when I put out my mini one shot of Crowley and Aziraphale as parents. Though I have started to come up with a wider verse for that particular ficlet (because it's me; how can I not? There's actually an in joke with my wife and I whenever the subject of long fic comes up with me. She'll ask, "What's the one thing I asked you not to do?" "Write Sleeping Beauty." "And what did you do?" "Wrote Sleeping Beauty," I respond meekly.).

And for all I said my Good Omens fic is giving me the opportunity for more light-hearted fare, I have also got a story idea that deals with Crowley and Aziraphale losing a pregnancy, but also with the one they don't lose. So you'll be seeing me deal, yes, but hopefully you'll also see some worthwhile stories come out of it all since, as I said, telling stories is how I cope. You'll be seeing my newly blended concoctions of angst, loss, and sorrow, but you'll see joy from me, as well. Because, as a great storyteller once said, "...let there also be Hope. It may be a grim, thin hope...but let us know that we do not live in vain." Really, that's what writing and storytelling are to me, whether they be fan fiction or any other kind – torches against the long nights that are pain and sadness, and blades against the endless tangles of thorns that are self-doubt and fear.

Wow. Heheh. Waxed hella poetic for a minute there. But no. I don't think I'll tone it down. It's a truth, and whether that truth is used to discover the strength to be a parent through a Rebel warrior and an ex-Imperial, to find a way to live through pain with an angel and a demon who have endured for over 6,000 years, or even just to find the way to a smile with a ninja and a mage in a coffeeshop AU where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts...a truth is a truth. My wife and I might not ever be facing down giant planet-killing super weapons or averting the Apocalypse with nothing more than a flaming sword and a tire iron, but when our IRL challenges feel as insurmountable as those things, well...it helps to be able to weave a story and begin to find some of those truths.

And yes, we are doing better. It's been a few months now and we're starting over again. The going can just be a little slow since not every attempt is successful and, let's face it, assisted reproductive technology don't come cheap. And as much work as I put into my fic writing, there's not a whole lot of money to be made in the field (none at all, in fact, but...turning away from it...who really wants to read another publishing hopeful's dewy-eyed delusions of sci-fi grandeur?). So if the going seems slower with me, I do apologize. Know that I never cease to write (as I'm quite certain that if I did, I would simply go mad...*backward glance* er...well...madder, at any rate, but that's neither here nor there) and I'm hopeful of creating some good things from all this. It just...sometimes it takes a while to slog through everything. So, as always, I hope I continue to do for you. Whatever capacity you might support me or my work in, know that my wife and I appreciate it.

It won't be perfect, but we'll be fine.

[vcngttpt-a]

ALL OF THEM. @mun meme ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

@deceptivetreat || mun q&a                      

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||you are. the bane. of my existence. 

☯ Is there a muse you’ve always wanted to play?

hmm ig i’ll go with canon for this one because i have many ocs, but uh i really wanna write for seto from fragile dreams. i used to have an ask blog for him back in the day but that died quickly seeing as how dead the fandom is so- but i do love him with all my heart and i would love to be able to someday write him or something

♣ Is there an author(s) that you look up to with your writing skills?

rick riordan, marissa meyer and michelle rowen. i’ve read their books throughout middle school and high school and i still find myself going back to reread their books because i just love how their words flow as well as how engaging their plots are. i honestly hope i can reach rick riordan levels of skill whenever i get around to finishing my own novel!

♧ Is there an RP partner(s) that you credit for becoming a better writer?

one would have to be an old rp friend that we sadly don’t talk to anymore since she was the first one i started writing with a lot more back in high school as well as the one who would give me advice on how to improve and just be patient with me when i go stuck with writing our threads and also mikey (@snw-cnvs) since he also supports me outside of rp’ing to get me to write actually fiction drabbles. i just wish i could finish them lmao

♥ What’s your favorite ship with your muse?

all of my ships with mikey no i’m joking lolol i really love my ship with haneul because i’ve had him for two years now and he’s grown a lot because of his ship. he’s someone whose never believed that love was real and sure their relationship is a little rocky, but they both don’t really have the proper understanding for love until waaaay later. i also really love how whenever he’s with obe, he’s able to pull out this different side of haneul, someone whose so overconfident and quick to words, becomes at a loss for words and questioning himself a lot. i just love them best otp 

♡ Would you ever write a poly ship?

sure, i’d be down for it as long as our muses have the right chemistry as well as if i know both muns pretty well and if they’re also comfortable with it.

♦ What’s an AU that you’ve always wanted?

answered

♢ What’s an AU that you think just won’t work with your muse?

any au that causes too much of a shift in my muses’ personality. i’m usually willing to try any au but if it becomes too much that my muse basically becomes a different person i don’t like it. 

♔ What’s your opinion on teacher/student verses? Do you have any of these as threads?

eeeeh i dont really care, but i work at a school so the thought makes me like uncomfy because i don’t wanna think about work lolol but its also like fiction and i’m able to tell the difference between fiction and reality so yea. also no i don’t have any threads like that

♕ Do you like magic!anons? Why or why not?

not really. it became too much of a thing to deal with back in the day. i just like the simple things

⚜ What is the best time to write for you? Why?

nighttime because i’m fuckin nocturnal even tho i have a day job rip my sleep schedule and ever growing eye bags

★ What type of historical AU would you like to do one day?

Victorian era, or the prohibition era don’t ask me why i like them i don’t even know myself i just know i wouldn’t mind

☆ What type of fantasy AU would you like to do one day?

all of them. i’m a huge slut for fantasy in general. its one of the best things i love the most. 

☄ Do you think your muse would have liked going to high school sports games? Do you or did you go to high school sports games?

haneul: no, he’s not into those things, but also he was home schooled until he went to college

eiji: he used to play soccer in high school so yea

reese: do magic tournaments count? cause if so then yes

sage: no, i was the loser who hung out at the library with friends to sit around and read books and manga 

☾ Do you like writing smut? Why or why not?

okay, if it wasn’t obvious i used to rp back in middle school through high school and on tumblr and i have done my fair share of the sin once i turned 18. nowadays i’m pretty much like eh, but ig i could try again if the need arises, but it also depends on my mood ig? i’d have to write it with someone i’m completely comfortable writing with but also even then it’s gotten to the point i’m more like ig we can just fade to black yea? 

tbh i feel i got all the urges to write sin outta me when i was on my old en blog lmao i had so many smut threads on there i’m ashamed 

☽ Do you like writing angst? Why or why not?

yes god i love being able to break my muses because it’s so fun. like yea it also hurts because that’s my kid i’m hurting but i’m okay with that. it’s just something that adds realness to them because the world sure as fuck ain’t rainbow and sunshine

☼ What’s an FC that you’re dying to use? Why?

i have these icons that i squirreled away for awhile now and i really wanna use them but my brain is too dead to figure out who he could work for. like he was my first thought for reese but he didn’t really give off the right reese vibes so maybe i’ll dig around my oc bin and see who looks the closest to him 

or i cave and just make a brand new oc for him

☀ What’s an FC that you desperately want to play with? Why?

i’m not really picky about what fc write with tbh 

☁ What’s an FC that you refuse to play with? Why?

not really refuse to play - more like i’m eh with. if only because en used to be my main chara for a long time like, i was so deep into the magical boy lore that a good chunk of my headcanons became canon. but also it just…leaves a bad taste in my mouth even more so since the drama that happened in that fandom left me filled with fear and hesitance to rp for a good chunk like before. it just brings back bad memories and i thought i was moving past it when i was thinking about using him for reese but alas. some memories don’t leave

maybe one day i’ll either get to write en again or i can use his face as fc but we’ll see

☂ How does your muse spend a rainy day? How do you spend a rainy day?

haneul: he loves the rain and he’ll spend it either under an umbrella or just sitting there in the rain just letting it wash away his thoughts and fears for a little bit 

eiji: he’d spend it indoors playing a video game or playing with seto

reese: he’d prob be dumb and splash in the puddles because he likes to enjoy the little things. other times he’ll just ignore it and stay indoors either hanging with friends or studying and practicing his magic for his school’s next tournament 

sage: i like to spend it just lookin out my window with my kitty on my chest. i love the sound of it against the sidewalk and streets. 

☃ If your muse was cartoonized, what would their FC be? Why?

uh idk how to answer this tbh 

☺ What’s a character that you desperately want your muse to play with? Why?

toshi @ haneul *stares at @snw-cnvs* and also reese @ momo *stares at @deceptivetreat* but also i just want everyone to bother my boys i love them so much. 

☹ What’s a character that you refuse to play with? Why?

idk i’m pretty open for any character

☢ Are there any ships that you would like to write for one day? Any that you wouldn’t?

uh dunno. i’m open for any ships that have the right chemistry tbh just not haneul since he’s already taken

☣ What’s one thing that will make you drop a thread?

useless drama and or if i can’t seem to figure out where the thread is going for our muses. like if they don’t clash well i don’t wanna give tryin to grasp at straws. but i’m always down to try again unless it ends up the same than welp

♨ What’s a muse that you wished had lasted, but didn’t?

aaaah my supernatural brothers!!! i love them so much but they didn’t last and i’m not sure if i’m goin to add them on here or leave them in the void. 

❀ Do you like reblog karma? Why or why not?

i’m gonna sound old but i don’t know what that is hold on. *googles* oh okay yea no. that seems like too much pressure to do and i have too much anxiety to do that i’m sorry. 

✿ Do you have a mun FC? If so why did you choose that as your FC, and if not who would you choose?

yes. because i have so many icons it’s not even funny, but also before i got my  hair cut she looked the most like me and also i thought it’d be fun to be able to tell the difference between me and my boys 

see, back in the day i was the loser who would make ooc posts that included my muses and it was easy to have mun fc so you could do that and it was a lot fun, but it’s somethin i won’t so nowadays.

♪♩♫ Does music inspire your muse? What’s one song on your playlist that reminds you of your muse?

haneul: mirror part II

any of weiss’ songs work for him tbvh

eiji: rpg

reese: havent found one that works for him yet, so come back later

✂ Do you like to format your posts? Why or why not?

yes it’s all for the aesthetic 

✆ Other than RPing, what’s a hobby of yours?

i love to write and draw. lmao sometimes i don’t write drafts so i can write more of my novel or little drabbles that’s for friends. 

✉ Do you RP on any other platforms?

nope

❤ Have you or are you currently in love?

answered

❥ Has something ever happened for you to hate a ship? Why?

uh nope can’t say there has been.

ツ Who has been your favorite muse to play so far? Why?

haneul, eiji, lifty and shifty, and en

han and eiji because they’re both my ocs and it’s so much fun to see them develop and grow their characters more. 

en because i was able to write a lot of different aus, headcanons, and just develop a canon character until he pretty much just became my own character

lifty and shifty were my roots. i started in the htf fandom and had so much fun writing those lil shits. it was just my go fuckin crazy shit. i still have their icons and their old blog is still up and i do kinda miss them some days.

回 Which muse was the worst to play? Why?

i used to have an oc named harley who was a living doll and i haha came to hate him because i made him around the same time i created haneul and i always loved haneul because i put a lot of effort into him and not much in harley and i got annoyed and jealous that back then everyone seemed to love harley more him. so i pretty much tossed him to the curve adfhsdkfjh

sorry harley but you were also hard to write because you were too sweet and cliche for me 

✘ People come in a group. If I were to look on your blog, who would I see you interacting with the most?

@snw-cnvs and @deceptivetreat

ღ Do you have a personal blog? Do you share it with your followers or do you keep it private?

nah i haven’t used tumblr in years until now. i do have one but i don’t use it so idc it’s called @shouyoutheworld but again i don’t use it it’s…v old

▼ Do you keep your character in character even if they are one of the worst people in the world?

yes. what’s the point of writing and creating said character if you’re gonna sugar coat them?

▽ Why did you create this muse?

haneul: i wanted an oc who was really jaded and brat. i wanted to see him grow into something more even if its difficult 

eiji: i pretty much wanted a muse that i could dump all my useless game infos on

reese: i wanted a witch oc who had a rival that they both hated their guts for and eventually fall in love I’M SO RR Y THAT’S REALLY WHY HE WAS MADE FORGIVE ME BUT NOW I DEVELOPED HIM A LOT MORE FOR RP’ING PURPOSES BUT Y’KN OW

[techouspeaks]

My Favorite Animated Couples

This isn’t going to be in any order. This is basically my personal favorite official couples. That’s right, official. Meaning, they’re not just hinted and made up by fans. They are legit couples that are canon to the story. I will do a list of my favorite non canon ships too.

 I will be listing movie characters as well as anime. Meaning, if it’s animated, it’s in here, it doesn’t matter the medium. Again this is my Personal List, meaning some of my favorites may not be your favorites and these are my opinions. So take it with a pinch of salt if you happen to disagree with these couples. Onto the list!

Quackerjack and Claire from Darkwing Duck

Yeah,we’re starting off strange here, now aren’t we? Quackerjack of all characters is not someone I would call a “ladies man”, be it, most normal folks wouldn’t find him attractive. (Though fandom isn’t normal so I don’t necessarily count them...). What I mean by that is, unless there was a Harley Quinn character, a lot of people in the Duckuniverse wouldn’t find QJ boyfriend material. That is unless you’re good old Claire.

Claire only makes an appearance in the comics and only in one issue, but by god, did she make an impact on the fandom and the franchise. Quackerjack, least in terms of episodes has shown nothing more of just being a crazy guy that’s just down on his luck. (Although, some fans will tell you otherwise there’s something deeper to him but that’s another story). So it’s quite a shock and interesting that out of all the characters to give a girlfriend to, QJ would be the one, but then again, since we hardly know of his past, it only makes sense to give him something that kinda makes his more human side to come out.

I mean again, QJ has never been taken seriously before in the original animated series. The other villains, though not always deep, at least do have more of a back story. We see them become who they are. Through only a brief dialog from a security guard and QJ, we only get he’s mad because he went out of business because of the video games, that he hates passionately and that’s it.

With that being said, Claire is actually perfect for QJ and even though we don’t see them together in the comics, it’s obvious that they did have something and you can tell by their actions, facial expressions and even words, they had something that was there. Claire was willing to look past the craziness and find the humanity that was in QJ. Even going far as ordering the doll of Mr. Bananabrain, thus possibly risking her neck to find “Jacky” and seeing if she can convince him to change his ways and return to at least a standard life and job, that is until Darkwing came a long and do it for her. You gotta give props for that. She’s dedicated and it must be love for her to do that. Shoot, he must have done something right for her when they were together.

QJ, well going the rotten route, still showed sympathy in the end . He does love her and while yes he still ends up being selfish, it does show he feels bad for hurting her and just feels like he can’t be any better.

Hey I never said every couple on this list was going to be perfect or have a perfect ending. Shoot, it’s implied they stopped dating, but mainly because QJ disappeared. It never stated they broke up and he left it in an angry, hateful way.. I hope in future comics, that is if the comics are still going, that Claire comes back somehow and they can finally hit it off together, somehow or someway.

Ruby and Skullboy from Ruby Gloom

The one word that describes these two is cute…Just cute. If these two were pieces of cake I would eat them up, they’re so adorable! Which is ironic being we’re talking about…a goth girl and a skeleton….okay it somehow works well for them, somehow. I doubt they would have kids, but who needs kids when it’s the innocence of their relationship that makes them cute in the first place?

If you ever wondered what Jack Skellington and Sally the Ragdoll would be like if they were kids, these two would be a perfect example of what they would be like. Skullboy is your eccentric, curious character that only wishes to find out who is, by trying his family, which often causes him to lose focus on what’s really important. Lucky for him, Ruby is the down to earth, average girl that is the voice of reason in the group, thus she helps keep him grounded and cheers him up when he’s down. This makes their relationship standard. 

Although, yes, technically they never admit their feelings in the series but, I mean come on! You know their feelings are mutual, they shared a hug in the Last Train to Gloomville, he blushes and gets nervous sometimes around her, especially when they both played Romeo and Juliet and of course, Ruby isn’t exactly hiding it either. The Hairless Musical is another episode where they come rather close to admitting their feelings. It’s canon, even if they don’t say the become a couple, they’re canon.

And honestly, I know that Skullboy tends to get on some people’s nerves. He kinda does mine too but I can’t help but like him and favor him either. I will admit, he annoys me too sometimes with accent and all but I can’t imagine the show without him and I can’t imagine Ruby without him These two are just so sweet together, that I just don’t care. I love these two, even if they can be cringy with their corniness. It’s good old fashion innocent love and it’s definitely for me.

Hector and Imelda from Coco

(Gif from here Sorry, there’s mostly fan art of these two and not enough official pictures...)

Funny how skeletons seem to show more romantic chemistry than some human characters. In fact, most I’ve listed so far aren’t human but hey if robots can show love (Wall E), so can other things.  Hector is a straight up dork but you can tell he feels bad for leaving his family and Imelda you can tell still feels betrayed but you know it just by her expressions both on her face and postures, she still loves Hector.

Point is, these two are just adorable. Perfect chemistry, a little broken but no relationship is perfect, but these two show that yeah sometimes relationships aren’t always the classic fairytale like ending. Sometimes there are fights and people can hurt one another without meaning to. What makes it work is when the two realize when they’re wrong, lower their defenses and try to do better especially for each other and that’s what Hector and Imelda do. Least eventually. 

They’re both stubborn, especially Imelda but both eventually see they do still love each other and what happens is understandable. Hector isn’t the bad guy. He just wanted to pursue his dreams too, like any human being with big dreams does, only to realize the sacrifice he made wasn’t worth it and wanted to go home and be the responsible father he wanted to be. Imelda isn’t bad either. She was hurt when Hector left and wanted nothing to do with him to bury the pain, not wanting to admit she still loved him and had wish he came back. I like that Disney can do a realistic, human couple which is ironic because they’re skeletons...Well, okay, they were human and still are...they’re just dead humans...Anyway.

Henri and Masato (Hugtto Precure)

See, I do like gay couples when it's done intentionally without fan service or fan interference (shippings) and of course, when they're done really well and these two are done well. Okay, so it's kind of a stretch with these two, but it's pretty obvious what they're going for so I say it's legit.

These developed very nicely. It starts off that you would think these two would never end up being together like they are, especially with Masato's close minded nature at first, but Henri helps open the doors up and provides some of the well needed input to help Masato abandoned a very clear unhealthy view of things. Then you have Henri who is afraid to grow up especially since he doesn't want to become more masculine, but who's there to especially help him out? Masato, who clearly has a huge crush on him and is willing to be Henri's prince charming.

Also while we're on the subject, I do prefer MasatoXHenri over LuluXEmiru, mainly because I just see Lulu as more of a big sister to Emiru than a lover. They say they love each other, sure, but I think more so that Lulu is still trying to understand emotions and well Emiru is just a kid. I mean I'm sure it can blossom into romance but right now it just seems more like they're sisters than lovers. Masato ain't hiding it and neither is Henri! XD

Zaha and Shiru (Mon Colle Knights Japanese Version)

You may not know of this couple, at least AS a couple but yes, they are. In the original Japanese version. The stupid English dub that everyone might have remembered back in the early 2000s, made them siblings for some reason under the names Gabriollis and Spectra, but indeed, these two are lovers NOT siblings. In fact, double incest, they made Spectra in the English dub be the lover of Lark, who in the Japanese version is actually really her brother!

Stupid English dub! I dunno if it was because they thought religious people would be angry with an angel falling in love with a “fallen” angel. However, the fact they chose the name “Gabriollis”, making him an arch angel instead of a simple angel that just prevents people from giving into to temptation which is what the name Zaha came from, really makes no sense if that were the case.

Even as a kid, I always felt they were lovers. No sibling acts like they do. They are in deed in love. That’s why she wants him to gain redemption so they could somehow be together because she still loves him and doesn’t want to lose him forever. They will do anything for each other and you can tell that Zaha is grateful for having her be so dedicated to helping him. Also they are just gorgeous together! Really the prettiest couple in anime. With one coming up that tops them slightly.

Helios and ChibiUsa and Peru and ChibiUsa (Sailor Moon Super S/movie)

Kinda stretching it and also doubling down but yeah I can’t help it. Both couples are just so cute and I have to say, they have better chemistry than Usagi and Mamoru. Like, ChibiUsa at least got to know Pegasus/Helios. They started slowly as friends and worked their way into their relationship. Usagi and Mamoru, yeah they did but often times it felt forced. As for Peru with ChibiUsa, Peru I think would be cute with her too and if they had gotten together and talked to each other, I think they would have developed something there too. Either way, I’m pro both and I put them on the list because the feelings are obviously mutual enough to say “Hey good enough”. Both pairs are cute and innocent. There’s nothing sexual or anything indicating some sort of benefit. It’s just pure innocent, sweet feelings which makes their love as pretty as an angel’s. 

Adrien/Chat and Marienette/Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug)

I have yet to review this series. I’m sorta waiting for it to be near the conclusion, but yes, I’m a huge shipper of these two and I put them on the list because, yeah they haven’t found out about each other as of yet I’m typing this, but you can tell that even if they did find out about each other, it would still work out. (I hope so! That’s what they keep pushing in the series!)

I have a feeling what this series has been trying to go for is that it wants to teach Marinette to like the Chat side of Adrien as well as Adrien to like the Marinette side of Ladybug. Basically, enjoying both sides before the big reveal. And yeah, actually that is good for them to learn. Both like each other because of just one side. Adrien/Chat only likes Ladybug and while likes Marinette fine, it’s clear which side he likes more and same with Marinette/Ladybug only like Adrien but thinking Chat is fine as a friend. In a relationship, it’s important to accept all the sides to a person, even the sides we may not like the best about them. We all have those faulty sides and in relationships we gotta deal with the bad/not so best sides of our significant other or even a friend or relative.  Developing patience as well as an understanding with each other.

Ladybug does care about Chat, may not be romantically but it’s starting to be so close that she wouldn’t mind if he was Adrien and same with Adrien and Marinette. They do have their moments and chemistry that there being a big reveal soon, it probably come as a shock but upon realizing each other, they would probably accept it afterwards, now that they had a better understanding of both sides.

Either way, I see both of them as canon and I hope the creators go for it and they become officially a thing! They got fans of the show too riled up for it not to be! 

Hayate and Freyja (Macross Delta)

Excuse me, while I go fangirl scream....*WEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I LOVE THESE TWO!!!!! OMG! THEY ARE LEGIT THEY ARE LEGIT!!!* 

Okay, *clears throat* yes, I am a fan of this series and the two main lovers! I never gotten into the other Macross series. I tried but none really captured me quite like Macross Delta does and with so many wonderful characters, a story that, yeeeeah is a bit on the hurt your brain complex side, I still was able to follow it and then you have these two....The biggest dorks of all time! Out of all of them, I love their chemistry with how they tease and play around with each other but end up falling in love!

At first, I was kinda against these two...mainly because the fact that poor, sweet Freyja will end up dying shortly in her 30s because of her race’ stupidly short life spans. Still these two won me over and I’m just hoping somehow, somewhere, they find away to extend her life because by God, my kokoro can’t take it if she dies! Just no! Don’t crush my feels like that!

These two are how I picture Haruka and Close from Go Princess Precure to be like if Close had been redeemed and turned normal earlier. Teasing and just being all out dorks! Dang it!

Yugi and Tea/Anzu (Yugioh)

Yes, these two are another stretch, but I like childhood friend relationships. Why because it shows that romance takes time and you need to take time to grow and develop both as a person and in the relationships you decide to be a part of. I mean sure, couples can take their time but so many of my friends have relationships that end badly because they don’t want their significant other to think their just friends, so they jump in as lovers, without understanding that the reason why often friendships last longer than quick romance is well, because it’s too quick to develop the relationship healthily.

Enter these two. They are best friends and yet, they show they can be an adorable couple  that respect each other and will do anything for one another, simply because they are best friends first and lovers second. They risk their lives for each other, they stand up for one another when they other is down, it’s what a relationship is all about and something that people sadly miss. If you want a time of smooching, sex and romantic sceneries for the sake of it, get a one night stand! If you want something deeper than that, give it time. Don’t be afraid to be a friendship first because shoot, that’s common sense. If they just end up being your friend only, well, at least you can’t say you’re a lone, right? You got someone who at least cares you exist and knows and likes you for who you are. You’ll find the one but only if you can give it time and wow....

I just went on ramp about love advice but hey, that’s what YugiXTea/Anzu are...If anything they are a good lesson about a healthy relationship. Yeah, they never kissed or really say the words, but meh, again, sometimes it’s not words or obvious. 

[hi-i-love-u-bitch]

Broken But Still Good

Hello @gothelixar tis I your Secret Sanders! I wrote you two soft/cutesy Moxiety fics because I have no self control. I would of written you more but the holidays got me busy and my family is driving me crazy. Read them in which ever order you like and I hope you enjoy them!!!

He hadn’t meant for it to be a secrete it’s just there was never an opportunity to bring it up in passing conversation so Patton just didn’t say anything. Although, out of all the sides he had been worried about telling Virgil the most about his…hobby. It was very unusual and maybe a little bit creepy, especially for someone like Patton who was so happy, peppy, and rainbows. Virgil and the others saw him in a certain way and he didn’t want their opinions to change just because he had a weird fascination with creepy dolls.

Movies like Chuckie and Annabel didn’t really scare him so much as make him think that, maybe, if the dolls had been loved a little more, they wouldn’t be so mean. Not that he went out of his way to look for haunted dolls but dolls that were broken, torn, or a little worse for wear always had a sort of soft spot in his heart. Sometimes Thomas would go to thrift stores and flea markets with his friends and see a few ruined dolls just dying for a home. Subconsciously, he’d go over and observe them for a bit before casually moving on to something else. But on the inside, the memory of the doll still lingered and Patton was able to manifest it into his reality and add it to his collection. He’d clean them up a bit, make them some decent clothes to wear but he’d never fix their chipped paint or broken arms or balding head. Flaws were part of who we are and Patton though everyone’s flaws, be it physical or internal, were amazing and beautiful. Especially his dolls.

He had been fine to keep his weird little hobby to himself, it wasn’t something important that needed to be discussed with others. Just a fun little side project that Patton like to do in his spare time. But then he and Virgil started dating and Virgil was so nice and understanding and kind of sort of reminded him of his dolls in the sense that he needed a little more love and care and acceptance of his flaws. But Virgil was a very anxious boy who was kind of intimidated by major changes and to Patton this was kind of a big deal. It was a part of himself that nobody knew and that was just so different from what he usually sticks to.

So, he didn’t tell Virgil or the others for a long, long while. Until one day they had a Talk™, Not that they were having major problems it’s just that there were issues that needed to be addressed. Like Patton’s need to bottle up his feelings just to appease others and Virgil’s self-doubt in everything he does, especially in their relationship. It was a very difficult Talk™ but it was also a very good Talk™ that was necessary in moving forward with their relationship. It was also the necessary step forward that Patton needed to finally reveal his secret….to Virgil. Baby steps, first he’ll see how Virgil reacts and if it’s good he’ll show the others but if it’s bad…he’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

“So, what’s this big surprise you wanted to show me?” Virgil asked timidly as Patton lead him up the stairs by the hand.

“Uh, it’s not that big,” Patton assured nervously “just a little surprise, no big deal or anything.”

Virgil arched an eyebrow in suspicion, it was unusual for Patton to be nervous unless he did something wrong, like eat dessert before breakfast. But this was different, much more jittery less guilty, more…anxious.

“You don’t have to show me if you don’t want to.” Virgil soothed, pressing up close to his boyfriend as they walked down the hall towards Patton’s room.

“No, no, it’s nothing bad per-say,” Patton quickly said.

“I didn’t think it was bad,” Virgil said calmly, rubbing circles with his thumb on the back of Patton’s hand “it’s just you seem really nervous and if it’s uncomfortable for you, you don’t have to show me now. Or ever if you want to. I just want you to feel safe.”

Patton paused in front of his door, looking straight into Virgil’s eyes with a sort of fiery determination, “No, this is something important to me and…I want to share it with the people I love the most. It’s just…I’m scared that you may see me differently or think I’m weird.”

“Hey,” Virgil said gently, cupping Patton’s cheek “if any one knows a thing or two about being weird it’s me. So, I have no right to judge especially since you’ve been so open minded about my weird quirks.”

Patton sighed a breath of semi-relief, a little calmer now, “Okay, okay.”

“Can I at least have a hint?” Virgil smirked playfully.

“Well, let’s just say it’ll be a doll-ightful surprise.” Patton winked as he opened his room.

Virgil gave him a confused look, even more lost then before but still followed Patton in. The room was the same as always, pictures covering every inch of the room from photos to paintings, boxes and boxes of mementos, and tons of stuffed animals piled high on the bed. It was organized chaos, as Virgil called it, because even if it seemed messy you could always find what you were looking for. More cluttered then anything else.

At first Virgil thought the thing Patton was going to show him was in the room, maybe a quirky new stuffed animal he bought. But then Patton started leading him to the back of the room and then Virgil thought maybe he had a risqué new outfit. Something a bit outside of the “gender norm” that he was a bit too nervous to wear. But instead of leading him to the closet Patton lead them behind a wall of boxes that took them even further back into the room.

Virgil knew that their rooms in the mindscape were infinite but it still surprised him whenever he entered one of the other’s rooms that wasn’t Roman. Roman was creativity and NEEDED the space to create worlds and ideas to help Thomas in his job while the others didn’t really need something so grand. So, most times they tended to stay towards the front of the room, very rarely venturing any further back unless it was necessary. What ever this secret was, was buried deep in Thomas is subconscious, meaning Patton really didn’t want anyone to find out about it.

Finally, they reached a small door that reminded Virgil of the cupboard door from Harry Potter except it was covered in happy stickers and seemed to blend into the background. Virgil hadn’t noticed it until Patton had them stopped in front of it and nervously fiddle with the ends of his shirt.

“You sure about this?” Virgil asked once more “I won’t be upset if you ducked out now.”

“Quack,” Patton chuckled nervously before clearing his throat “but, uh, no, it’s fine. I really do want to share this part me with you Virgil.”

“What ever you want.” Virgil said sincerely.

With a deep breath Patton placed a hand on the door nob but didn’t turn it, instead he said, “Please don’t think I’m a freak.”

“Never gunna happen babe.” Virgil smiled, giving his boyfriend’s hand a squeeze.

Another deep breath, the door swung open and…wall to wall in a large square room lined with shelves sat broken, chipped, and torn dolls. Baby dolls, porcelain dolls, rag dolls, and more were lovingly cleaned and dressed in cozy little sweaters, t-shirts and ribbons. It was surprising to say the least.

“Sooo,” Patton said after a pregnant pause “I collect dolls and obviously not the normal kind. And I know you said you wouldn’t think it was creepy but I knew it was a bit of a farfetched idea so I totally understand if you do think it’s creepy because obviously any normal person would be creeped out by…” He gestures wildly around the room “This! But it’s just whenever I see one, I just think they look so sad and in need of a good home where someone can love them. So, I clean them up and fix them to a degree where they won’t fall apart anymore but I just think they have so much more personality with scars and chipped edges. So, I leave them like that and give them a home with others that they can get along with and understand how they feel and I know they’re inanimate objects that aren’t alive but to me they are! And I know it’s weird and creepy and-”

“I don’t think it’s weird.” Virgil cuts in, the understanding and sincerity in his voice caused the tension in Patton’s shoulders to disappear.

Patton tilted his head to the side in confusion, “You…what?”

Virgil shrugged, “I mean, the dolls are kind of creepy yeah and it wasn’t something I would expect of you but I don’t think you or your hobby are creepy. It’s actually…kind of fitting.”

“How so?” Patton asked curiously.

“Well,” Virgil stepped forward taking both of Patton’s hands in his own “these dolls are broken, sad little things that everyone else in the world thinks belongs in the trash. To them they’re useless and broken and can’t every be loved but you…you see them for them. You see their scars and you adore them because of it, because they’re different.” Virgil looked up at his boyfriend with such admiration and love in his eyes that Patton’s breath caught in his throat. “I love you Patton and I love the fact that you love these dolls despite their outward appearance and have given them a home where they will continue to receive that love forever.”

Patton laughed, tears pricking the edges of his eyes as he leaped forward to engulf Virgil and a giant bear hug. Virgil chuckled in turn as he hugged him back before pulling back and kissing Patton’s forehead.

“So, you’re really okay with this?” Patton asked bashfully.

“So long as you’re happy and it isn’t hurting you or anyone around you, I’m all for it.” Virgil smiled.

“Good, because I would have thought it be a bit of a chip on your shoulder.” Patton winked.

Virgil snorted, “Nah, I thought it was doll-ightfully appealing.”

They laughed and the room seemed much lighter despite the dozens of creepy broken dolls surrounding them. But even then, they didn’t seem all that creepy, maybe Patton was right and all they really needed was a little love and care. Or maybe it was the effect Patton had on him to make everything he does adorable and innocent. Either way the dolls were starting to grow on Virgil.

“So, mind introducing me to everyone?” Virgil asked shyly.

Patton beamed one of his famous light up a room smiles before once again dragging Virgil around to meet all his doll friends. Because of course each one had a name and a personality and something that was just so endearingly Patton.